50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 784 Race against time
The fighter jet that was being warmed up was different from the J-6 and J-7 that he had seen before, which were our regular J-6s and J-7s. The overall shape was much longer than the former two.

Its nose is conical, it has two seats, and it is white with red paint. The number on it is clearly painted: J-8II01.

Goodness, Old Xu has really made a name for himself this time. Isn't this the first prototype of the J-8II?

He no longer had time to go back and ask Xu Yimin why he was given a prototype. This thing was just being tested; could it even carry people?
Although I don't recall any failures in the J-8II's tests, one can't be too afraid of the unexpected.

However, he couldn't find a reason to refuse the escort, because with his access to information, he shouldn't have known about this new fighter jet that was being tested.

Moreover, two service soldiers were already waiting next to the aircraft, holding a new flight suit in their hands.

Having no other choice, Sun Zhiwei took the flight suit and changed into it in the car.

What he didn't know was that it wasn't that Xu Yimin had a lot of influence, but that Xu Yimin had requested on the phone that the journey be made directly from Beijing to Shenhe.

That's 1900 kilometers, which is beyond the range of the standard J-6 and J-7 models.

Furthermore, he requested a two-seater configuration, and currently, only this J-8II at Beijing Airport meets the requirements. Coincidentally, this J-8II is about to conduct a long-distance test flight.

Here we have to talk about this test flight process. The aircraft came from Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, and the local airport was only responsible for take-off and landing and did not know the details of the aircraft.

After Xu Yimin called, the airport staff asked the pilots which plane could fly directly to Shenhe.

As luck would have it, the J-8II test pilot happened to be there and overheard the question, so he offered to let the pilot know that his aircraft was up to the task.

Then I asked how many seats it had. Hey, a two-seater. Alright, you're the one.

"Comrade, an important comrade needs to go to Shenhe immediately. Can you deliver it to him?"

Our pilots have only one standard answer when faced with a mission: "Mission accomplished."

Thus, by a twist of fate, this mission to send people on a flight and conduct a long-distance test was accomplished.

Soon, Sun Zhiwei finished changing and smoothly boarded the back seat of the J-8II, which was about to take off. A few minutes later, the test aircraft soared into the sky and officially took off.

Speaking of this J-8II prototype, it is the latest model of fighter jet independently developed by our country.

It changed the air intake design of the previous models, replacing the previous front air intake with a dual air intake on the left and right sides in the middle.

From then on, our aircraft were able to carry more advanced radar and weapon systems, giving domestically produced aircraft a qualitative leap in performance.

The J-8II has a maximum level flight speed of Mach 2.2, making it the fastest fighter jet in China.

If Sun Zhiwei wanted to save time, besides taking the Dongfeng Express, there was no other machine in China faster than this experimental machine.

What does Mach 2.2 mean? It translates to a speed of 2695 kilometers per hour. From Beijing to Shenzhen, it would only take a little over 40 minutes.

So, before Sun Zhiwei could even get used to the new aircraft, they had already arrived at Shenhe Military Airport.

After getting off the plane, Sun Zhiwei waved goodbye to the pilot, changed his clothes at the airport, and then asked them to send a car to take him to the Cathay Pacific branch.

Once he's at Cathay, he'll be able to leverage the power of the Robert Group.

He used Cathay Pacific's telegraph channels to send a direct message to Subi Island, ordering the two frigates to be fully armed and set off immediately for the Gulf of Aden.

Ships are much slower, so he had the escort ships set off first, and then he would catch up by plane from behind, which would save a lot of time. This evacuation operation was racing against time, and the two cargo ships arranged by the country to transport personnel were abandoning their mission midway and turning back towards the Gulf of Aden.

Sun Zhiwei knew that two cargo ships alone could not enter the port of South Yemen. If they forced their way into the port, they risked being hit by two bombs dropped from the sky, resulting in the destruction of the ships and the loss of life.

Therefore, the speed of the evacuation depends entirely on how quickly Sun Zhiwei's two frigates arrive in the Gulf of Aden.

Soon, a black-plated Mercedes-Benz departed from Cathay Pacific's Sham Ho branch and carried Sun Zhiwei directly across the border to Kai Tak Airport on Hong Kong Island.

Then comes the most time-consuming part: waiting for the route application to be approved.

Captain Ivan had already submitted the route application when he departed from Beijing.

However, applications for civil air routes are not granted immediately upon submission; approval can only be granted after air traffic control vacates the corresponding routes.

This wait lasted for more than four hours. By then, the two frigates on Subi Island had already set sail and were currently sailing on the route to Malacca.

Sun Zhiwei arrived at Kai Tak Airport at 5 p.m. and waited until 10 p.m. before finally getting the flight approved.

Then there was another half hour of takeoff scheduling, and it wasn't until 11 p.m. that the Gulfstream 3 finally took to the skies.

At this point, the dual-frigate fleet had traveled halfway to Singapore.

Two and a half hours later, at 2 a.m., the Gulfstream 3 successfully arrived at Subi Island.

After disembarking from the Gulfstream III, Sun Zhiwei, despite his exhaustion, went straight to a Black Hawk helicopter, a fire support type, that had been prepared at the island's airport.

Originally, both Black Hawk fire support helicopters should have been loaded onto the frigate, but they deliberately left one behind for Sun Zhiwei to pilot and chase after them.

More than an hour later, as Sun Zhiwei's helicopter was about to arrive at Singapore Port, he spotted the fleet of frigates in the distance.

Just then, two medium-sized military torpedo boats sailed out from the Batam Island naval base opposite Singapore Port. Their target was clearly Sun Zhiwei's two frigates.

Sun Zhiwei was flying right behind the two torpedo boats.

Seeing that they clearly had ill intentions, Sun Zhiwei didn't even bother to warn them. He simply used the Vulcan cannon mounted on the belly of the Black Hawk to fire at the speedboat below.

Immediately, countless bullets rained down from the Black Hawk onto the two speedboats speeding across the water.

Because they did not expect the attack to come from behind, the two torpedo boats were completely unprepared.

Their flight path was a straight line, so naturally they couldn't avoid the bombardment of the Vulcan cannon.

As Sun Zhiwei's Black Hawk swept across the sky above them, the two torpedo boats were immediately hit squarely, and the boats were instantly torn apart by blood and flesh, a truly gruesome sight.

Even so, Sun Zhiwei was still not at ease. After flying over the speedboat, he prepared to turn around and fire another burst of bullets at them.

Just as he was about to take action, a violent explosion suddenly came from behind him. It turned out that the torpedoes on the two torpedo boats had detonated.

Alright, no need for finishing blows. Sun Zhiwei piloted the Black Hawk to catch up with the escort ships ahead, and then landed the helicopter on the escort ship that did not have a helicopter on board.

(End of this chapter)