A genius? I just love studying.

Chapter 280 Seventh Generation Machine

Chengdu Aircraft Industry Research Institute

On the bitterly cold track, Duan Xiaofei stood at the starting line. The collar of his black woolen coat was turned up high, but it still couldn't hide the fact that his ear tips were red from the cold.

He gazed at the distant control tower, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Today is the second day of the Lunar New Year. It should have been his and his wife's turn to take their three-year-old daughter to his mother-in-law's house for dumplings. But at this moment, standing behind him are more than thirty of the core members of Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group. Among them are Academician E Weinan, whose hair and beard are already white, Professor Yuan Xinyi, who looks exhausted, Sister Zhou, who is known as the "workaholic" in the final assembly workshop, and young engineers Yang Chi and Deng Ting who have just graduated...

The cold wind made everyone's faces stiff, but their gazes were fixed like nails on the sky ahead, which was surrounded by police tape.

"You're back," someone whispered.

Everyone's breath caught in their throats at the same time.

A crack appeared in the clouds, and the silver-gray fuselage pierced through the mist, like a sharp sword cleaving the sky.

This is the J-60, a seventh-generation fighter jet independently developed by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group. It adopts a tailless design, which overturns tradition. The diamond-shaped fuselage is perfectly integrated with three sets of variable curvature canards. The flexible skin on the trailing edge of the wing automatically undulates with the airflow and shines with a dark purple light in the sunlight. This is a brand-new special effect that combines carbon nanotube composite materials with smart skin technology.

The fuselage is covered with a nano-level radar-absorbing coating, the air intake adopts an S-shaped deep-buried design with a plasma screen, and even the engine exhaust nozzle is wrapped with serrated guide vanes. From the front, the transition between the belly and the wing is almost integrated with the sky.

The nose cone has a built-in quantum radar, and the fuselage changes color with the flight background, almost blending into the sky. Even the vertical tail rudder integrates a miniature laser communication device.

Behind the elliptical air intakes on both sides of the fuselage, two WS-18X variable cycle engines are faintly visible. These are the fourth-generation engines designed and developed by mathematicians Chen Hui and Yuan Xinyi. The ceramic blades are based on the latest research results of Academician E Weinan and can withstand temperatures of 4,000 degrees Celsius!

The pale blue flames emitted from the tail nozzle are finer and more concentrated than those of traditional fighter jets—this is a high-altitude beast with a thrust-to-weight ratio of over 12!
"This isn't an airplane! It's a flying starship!" Yang Chi's hand, gripping the binoculars, trembled slightly. Because he had also participated in the development of the seventh-generation fighter jet, he understood even more just how terrifying this steel monster was.

The roar of the J-60 grew louder as it approached. Duan Xiaofei felt the runway beneath his feet vibrate. As the fighter jet climbed to an altitude of 500 meters, the pilot began to adapt to the performance of this steel beast and started to display its violent aesthetics.

The J-60's canards suddenly swung downwards, its nose rose at a 65-degree angle, and its fuselage became almost perpendicular to the ground, forming a wall. The vector thrust from its tail nozzles emitted intense flames, tearing a brief vacuum in the air—a maneuver that traditional fifth-generation and sixth-generation fighters would never dare to attempt.

This is also the result of Academician E Weinan and his team. The new material they synthesized using Chen Hui's model is not only lighter, but also twice as strong as the traditional sixth-generation fighter jet fuselage material!
Soon, the pilot leveled the fuselage, and two movable canards suddenly popped out from under the wings to assist in lift. The speedometer needle instantly broke through Mach 2.0, and the snow on the ground was lifted hundreds of meters into the air by the air blast, like an artificial snowfall.

After a thrilling, high-speed flight, the fighter jet suddenly entered a silent mode. The temperature of the engine exhaust nozzles plummeted, and the radar-absorbing coating absorbed 99% of the radar waves. On the radar screen of the control tower, the J-60's signal shrank from the size of a fist to the size of a fingernail, and finally disappeared completely.

Not only that, the people on the ground with binoculars also lost sight of the J-60. All they could see was a blue sky and white clouds. The huge fighter jet had simply disappeared from their sight, just like the invisibility magic in myths and legends.

The entire process was smooth and seamless, without a single unnecessary step.

Although the fighter jets have become stealthy, data is still being transmitted back to the ground continuously.

"Maximum speed Mach 8.2, high-speed cruise speed up to Mach 6, service ceiling 45000 meters, range 6200 kilometers, supersonic cruise time 220 minutes..." Duan Xiaofei trembled as he flipped through the real-time data on the tablet. "Stealth performance RCS is only 0.00008㎡, two orders of magnitude lower than the F-47's 0.00015㎡!"

The F-47 is America's sixth-generation fighter jet data. However, according to intelligence obtained by China, America's sixth-generation fighter jet is currently still in the PowerPoint stage, and they have recently encountered considerable troubles in the development of their sixth-generation fighter jet. It is unknown how many years it will be before it can be put into practical use.

In the control tower, Lao Zhao, who was in charge of international intelligence, tapped on the projection screen: "America's NGAD is still testing variable cycle engines, and Canada's Sukhoi 100 hasn't even finished its stealth coating... Our J-60 skipped the sixth-generation-plus and used all the technological reserves of sixth-generation fighters."

Swish!
Three hours later, another small black dot appeared in the sky, falling swiftly like a meteorite onto the runway and coming to a steady stop at the end of the track.

The moment the hatch opened, Duan Xiaofei felt his heart almost leap out of his chest.

Pilot Chen Mo took off his helmet, his face still flushed from the flight, and strode towards the crowd, his military boots crunching on the snow: "Report, all subjects successfully completed!"

Chen Mo is one of the best pilots in China. Only the best pilots are qualified to test fly new fighter jets. This job is usually quite dangerous. Especially since the sixth-generation fighter jet was only announced two years ago, everyone was skeptical when they suddenly heard about the seventh-generation fighter jet.

So when they heard about the seventh-generation fighter jet test flight project, everyone hesitated, but they still signed up enthusiastically.

After going through rounds of selection, Chen Mo finally qualified. Everyone was both envious and worried. Some of his comrades even patted him on the shoulder and told him that if anything happened to him, they would help him take care of his family.

Looking back now, it's kind of funny.

The seventh-generation fighter jet has truly been successfully developed. As a pilot who has flown sixth-generation fighter jets, he can feel the power of this seventh-generation aircraft.

And all of this is the result of the hard work of the people in front of us.

These people are truly remarkable for completing the iteration of a new generation of fighter jets in just over two years.

"Director Duan, this seventh-generation fighter jet is fantastic!"

Chen Mo approached Duan Xiaofei, gave a solemn military salute, and expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the engineers.

Photographer Xiao Wu frantically pressed the shutter button, and the J-60 in the lens gleamed coldly in the snow, with the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group logo on the fuselage gilded by the sunlight.

"You don't need to thank me. I only did some insignificant work. You should thank Professor Yuan, Academician E Weinan, and all the mathematicians and engineers who have worked day and night to solve our engineering problems!"

Duan Xiaofei pointed to the more than thirty core engineers behind him who were developing the seventh-generation fighter jet, "The credit all belongs to them!"

Chen Mo looked at the dull engineers shivering in the cold wind and snapped to attention, giving them another military salute.

Yuan Xinyi looked at the middle-aged man standing straight in front of him. At this moment, his posture seemed to overlap with the J-60 behind him, like a giant steel sword standing in place, expressing his most sincere gratitude to them.

This feeling was something he had never experienced before when he was researching pure theory. For some reason, a sense of emotion suddenly enveloped him.

"There is another major contributor who is not here."

Academician E Weinan sighed softly.

Duan Xiaofei looked up at the sky. The belly of the J-60 cast a long shadow on the snow, like a sword pointing to the sky.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute."

He ultimately suppressed the urge to immediately go to America to pick up Chen Hui and take him home. "Once the stability test is passed, we will immediately launch the rescue operation!"

He didn't hide it from Chen Mo.

Chen Mo is one of the best pilots, and he will definitely need to participate in the rescue operation.

"The greatest contributor?"

Based on Duan Xiaofei's words, Chen Mo had some guesses, but he still wasn't sure.

Although the pilot's training was very rigorous, he wasn't completely off the internet; he had also heard a little about Chen Hui being detained by America.

"It's Professor Chen."

Duan Xiaofei simply stated it outright.

"The seventh-generation fighter jet is also related to Professor Chen?" Chen Mo was unaware of the secrets behind it. "Professor Chen is not only related to the seventh-generation fighter jet, but he deserves at least 80% of the credit for our rapid development of it."

Duan Xiaofei affirmed, "Professor Chen's contributions far exceed your imagination, not just in terms of seventh-generation fighters."

"Professor Chen's significance to China is far greater than that of the seventh-generation fighter jet!"

"80%?"

Chen Mo was secretly astonished. It wasn't just the seventh-generation fighter jet. He had only heard about that genius mathematician online before, and even thought that the media was exaggerating. But now, after hearing the rumors about Chen Hui from Duan Xiaofei, he realized that this genius mathematician was far more powerful than he had imagined.

He was also part of the system, so of course he understood that there were some things Duan Xiaofei couldn't tell him.

But from Duan Xiaofei's few words, he could also sense the great significance of what Chen Hui had done. It couldn't be anything small that could be compared to a seventh-generation fighter jet.

No wonder America detained Professor Chen.

Even though they had never met, Chen Mo suddenly felt an urge to rush to America and rescue Professor Chen.

"Come on, let's go to the cafeteria for dumplings."

A breeze blew by, carrying with it a faint aroma of dumplings, which Duan Xiaofei had arranged for the cafeteria to prepare in advance.

He waved, and everyone happily followed him toward the cafeteria.

Chinese New Year is of great significance to the Chinese people. On such a day, no one doesn't want to reunite with their family. But this year, they couldn't go home, yet it was the happiest Chinese New Year they've ever had!

……

Washington, D.C., S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters

Nick stared at the documents on the table, his head spinning.

America's Christmas is closer to the Chinese New Year, as it is the time when they are working.

Of course, this is only in theory.

Workers at Boeing’s two plants in St. Louis and Illinois went on strike.

Worker strikes are naturally not under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s jurisdiction, but he still has to deal with this one.

Because Boeing carries a sacred mission.

This year, the president awarded the America sixth-generation fighter jet development project to Boeing.

As for why it was handed over to Boeing, the reason is simple: Lockheed Martin's previous F-35 deliveries were a disaster. To date, 180 F-35s have been completely retired from service because they are no longer usable.

Even the F-35s in service have all sorts of problems. After the problems are discovered, they are sent back to Lockheed Martin for rework in batches. In Lockheed Martin's words, this is called parallel development.

In reality, Lockheed Martin simply assigned the American Air Force to undertake the testing tasks for them.

Ultimately, the American Air Force is not clean either, because they have only fulfilled less than a third of the F-35 orders promised to Lockheed Martin. This has resulted in Lockheed Martin losing a huge amount of money in the early stages of research and development, forcing them to resort to such methods to cut costs.

If they dare to fool even the client, you can imagine how they treat their workers.

This is even with Lockheed Martin's successful bid for the F-35. Companies that failed in the bid went bankrupt or were acquired by other companies because they couldn't recoup their costs due to the large amount of research and development they invested.

For example, the YF-23, which was defeated by the F-22, saw its manufacturers, McDonnell Douglas and Northrop, fall into financial difficulties. In the end, McDonnell Douglas was acquired by Boeing, and Northrop merged with Grumman.

Even Boeing, which is still in operation, is in a similar situation to Lockheed Martin.

In 22, citing inflation and soaring prices, they requested a 15% price increase from America's purchasing department, and a contract was eventually reached.

But they did not raise the workers' wages.

Since they know about inflation and soaring prices, don't they know that it's already difficult for workers to make a living with their meager wages?

As a result, a strike broke out at the Seattle factory that year, and the labor dispute only ended when Boeing agreed to raise wages by 38% over three years.

However, the St. Louis and Illinois plants did not participate in the strike, and naturally, they were not included in the wage increase.

Furthermore, they were threatened that Boeing would move the factory from both locations if they went on strike, so the workers chose to lose their jobs over a pay raise.

Given America's current situation, if they lose their jobs, they may not be able to find work for a long time.

However, this year Junfang announced that it would award the F-47, also known as America's sixth-generation fighter jet contract to Boeing.

Upon hearing the news, the workers immediately organized a strike.

Nick's mind raced as he recounted the events leading up to this incident, and a headache struck him. He had to solve this problem; otherwise, when would America's sixth-generation fighter jet ever take to the skies?
America's exploitation of manufacturers, in turn, led to manufacturers exploiting workers, which in turn caused workers to strike, making the development of the sixth-generation fighter jet seem increasingly distant. This only made America more eager to exploit manufacturers, thus creating a cycle of mutual oppression and persecution.

……

Beside Carnegie Lake, Chen Hui, wearing a vest and shorts, ran along the lakeside, sweat dripping from his smooth muscles onto the ground.

The snow in Princeton had long since melted, and winter had passed and spring had arrived; it was already March.

Lin Xiaotang followed Chen Hui, panting, her long legs carrying her. She looked at Chen Hui as if he were a monster.

It should be noted that as a special agent, her physical fitness is no less than that of many male special forces soldiers, but whether it is explosive speed or endurance, she is far inferior to Chen Hui.

Finally, just as Lin Xiaotang was about to give up, Chen Hui stopped and began to walk slowly along the lake.

huh... huh...

Lin Xiaotang was breathing heavily.

Once her breathing had calmed, she spoke, "The Black Bird has already taken flight. Are you ready?"

"Xuan Niao" is an alternative name for the seventh-generation fighter jet. This was told to Chen Hui by Duan Xiaofei of Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group. These older folks just like this way of naming things.

The morning sun rose from the lakeside, just like the radiant smile on Chen Hui's face.

But he shook his head. "No rush, let's play around with them a bit more."

(End of this chapter)