Genius is just the threshold for me!

January 28th, Sunday.

Students and office workers across the country finished their last day of make-up classes and overtime work and ushered in a three-day May Day holiday.

After school in the afternoon, Lin Dong and Xu Qingling once again slipped away first.

Go back to the family compound, then go to Laboratory No. 78, and enter Xu Ziming's final assembly workshop.

Xu Ziming, who was resting on the side after a busy day, saw Lin Dong as he passed by the workshop and gestured towards the workshop inside.

"Go in and take a look. Everything's taken care of. The rest of the system is your job."

"Ziming, is it done yet?"

But before Lin Dong could go in to check, Wang Xingguo's shouts rang out at the workshop entrance, and the next moment, Wang Xingguo and Jiao You also walked in.

"It's inside, go see for yourself," Xu Ziming replied irritably.

"Let me see..."

Wang Xingguo eagerly rushed in, hoping to go inside with Lin Dong.

A black metallic aircraft gleaming under the lights came into view.

The fuselage is flat and the nose is designed with sharp angles.

Without canards that primarily perform at low altitudes, the fuselage is a prismatic triangle, paired with twin engines that blend seamlessly with the fuselage lines and feature a distinctly serrated design…

"This looks like Hot Generation 3..."

Wang Xingguo carefully examined the aircraft and nodded, saying, "But the overall design is sharper, the nose is more pointed, and the wave-riding surface under the fuselage is larger."

"Can this really fly at Mach 10?"

Jiao You held his breath, then suddenly looked at Xu Ziming outside and asked, "Engineer Xu, what is the weight and cost of this fuselage?"

"Empty weight 1.34 tons, maximum takeoff weight 3.15 tons, fuselage cost 2.2 million, total cost 3.5 million..."

Xu Ziming's voice came from outside, his tone filled with an indescribable calmness.

Ever since he started doing freelance work for Lin Dong, making toys, he hasn't felt much about money anymore; all he wants now is a vacation.

"Hiss—1.34 tons, costing 3.5 million?"

Jiao You took a deep breath, staring wide-eyed at the small flying device in front of him, which was only a little over seven meters long. "This isn't a flying device! This is clearly its own weight in gold!"

In the first few months of 13, the price of gold continued to fall, and the current average price in China is only 283 yuan per gram. Based on this calculation, one ton of gold would be worth only 3.8 million yuan.

However, the cost of this Hot 4 aircraft alone is 350 million, and it can be said that every part of it is made of gold.

"The main issue is that thermal protection and materials are quite expensive."

Lin Dong looked around and nodded in satisfaction.

Because it uses a supercharged engine, the designed speed has reached Mach 10.

这种飞行速度，一些机身前缘部位的温度可以达到2200至2500摄氏度，高负荷区域温度达到1650至2000摄氏度，其他低温区也能有900至1600摄氏度。

Such terrifying temperatures, coupled with the terrifying impact load and overload of Mach 10, destined the entire aircraft to be made of extraordinary technology and materials.

The overall structure and wings require cobalt-chromium-tungsten-nickel alloys. Not to mention that key parts require high-melting-point, high-strength Hastelloy alloys, there are several layers of protective coating on the surface alone.

A layer of carbon-carbon high thermal conductivity material, a layer of deposited silicon carbide coating, and then an outer layer of hafnium carbide ceramic coating.

Especially hafnium carbide, the raw material alone costs 1.3 yuan per kilogram of high purity. Add to that the processing cost, which is dozens of times higher than the material cost, and using just a few dozen kilograms would cost tens of millions of yuan...

"Xiao Dong... what is this?"

At this moment, Wang Xingguo squatted down as if he had discovered something, pointing to a low-temperature protection zone under his stomach, an optical quartz convex lens with a diameter of about 50 centimeters.

"Super Optical Cannon"

Lin Dong glanced at the location Wang Xingguo was pointing to and explained, "It has a 38-centimeter aperture, an adjustable focal length from 0.6 meters to 4.5 meters, a 15-centimeter sensor array, and multi-point laser-assisted focusing. Weather permitting, it can directly capture clear facial expressions on the ground from an altitude of 3 meters."

"3 meters in the air, can you see people's facial expressions clearly?"

Wang Xingguo's eyes widened suddenly: "You've built a super optical reconnaissance aircraft!"

"More or less."

Lin Dong smiled and said, "A small supersonic ramjet aircraft can't carry too many weapons. Its main purpose is to accelerate faster, higher, and farther, and to enjoy the scenery."

For this Hot No. 4, Lin Dong did not design laser weapons, and did not even equip it with radar.

In addition to its core modules such as communication, positioning, and control, the entire aircraft also includes a scaled-down 360-degree optical imaging system.

The remaining feature is this 280-kilogram super optical aerial photography cannon, which accounts for 20% of the aircraft's empty weight and can be used for close-up shots.

After all, small aircraft have limited payload capacity, and at a speed of Mach 10, there is no point in adding lasers.

If we really encounter enemy aircraft, we can just deploy the Mach 5 Hot No. 3.

Lin Dong originally planned to install a laser weapon on Hot No. 4 again, but this time it would be placed on top.

Thanks to the extremely weak attenuation of lasers at high altitudes, laser weapons with a ground range of 10 kilometers can easily achieve an effective range of hundreds of kilometers when fired into space from the critical airspace.

This way we can try to secretly launch a few satellites.

This will prevent a bunch of reconnaissance satellites from flying overhead every day at Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group.

However, after calculating the difficulty of aiming and locking, this plan was abandoned due to its excessive weight.

After all, the aircraft we used to fight were all Mach 2 aircraft, so there was no need to design additional aiming and stabilization platforms. With its superb aerodynamic and flight control, the Hot Hot could serve as a platform on its own.

However, this option is not feasible if the goal is to destroy satellites.

The slowest satellites travel at 7.9 kilometers per second, or Mach 23, and they are much smaller than fighter jets.

At this point, a high-precision aiming and stabilization platform needs to be added, and coupled with the weight of the laser weapon itself, it becomes excessively heavy.

Ultimately, after using two generations of laser solutions, they switched back to the first-generation Hot Air aerial photography solution, replacing it with a super aerial photography cannon.

As for the idea of ​​shooting down satellites, we can only try it when the next generation of detonation engines is developed, with significantly reduced engine weight and greatly increased thrust.

As for medium and large fighter jets with supersonic engines, there's even less hope for that in the short term.

Compared to small fighter jets, medium and large fighter jets require upgrades in both materials and manufacturing processes.

Current technological levels and DD9 third-generation single-crystal nickel-based alloys simply cannot withstand the test.

Lin Dong chatted with Wang Xingguo and the others for a few minutes, then went back to Lab 78 to get his laptop. He connected it to Hot Hot with a high-speed serial cable, found the flight control system that he had written and optimized over the past year, entered the password, and pressed Enter.

Di-

The code on the entire screen scrolled like flowing water in an instant, and a large amount of system data was written into the Hot Hot Number's main control center through the high-speed serial port.

"The flight control system of a Mach 10 aircraft..."

Seeing Lin Dong begin flashing the system, and looking at the blackened Hot No. 4 due to the hafnium carbide, Wang Xingguo asked somewhat nervously, "Is it really okay to just flash it like this and let it fly without conducting multiple tests?"

"Godfather, don't worry."

All speeds above Mach 5 utilize waverider aerodynamic configurations. The Hot 3 can cruise at Mach 5 without issue, and the Hot 4 at Mach 10 will also be fine; there's no fundamental difference between the two.

Lin Dong calmly replied, "My control theory has already been verified on the Dongfeng-21D, so there won't be any problems."

soon.

Lin Dong finished flashing the system of Hot Spicy No. 4, carefully checked it three times to make sure there were no problems, checked the weather and satellite timetable, and then said to Xu Ziming, "Uncle Xu, please fill up the fuel tank for me."

I'll apply for a BeiDou communication link now, before it gets dark and there are no satellites flying overhead.

As Wang Xingguo said, with a 38-centimeter aperture and a 15-centimeter sensor array, this is a super optical reconnaissance aircraft. A single photograph taken from it is measured in grams.

Ordinary satellite antennas simply cannot meet the communication bandwidth requirements.

We must apply for a dedicated high-throughput satellite communication link, just like we did with the WZ-8 before.

Using Comrade Lin Weiliang's BeiDou access rights, Lin Dong quickly applied for a BeiDou communication link and then submitted a test flight application form.

Once the application is approved, she will call out to Xu Ziming through the blocked passageway door.

"Uncle Xu, it's ready! Open the door..."

Xu Ziming had just finished refueling Hot No. 4 when he heard this and pressed a button next to him. The gate leading to the test flight field began to slowly rise and open.

hum-

The next moment, the two engine fan blades of the Hot No. 4 started running simultaneously, and a strong airflow immediately swept through the entire assembly workshop.

"Dad, I'm going to go check next door."

As the air currents ruffled her hair, Xu Qingling saw Hot No. 4 starting up and quickly ran to the adjacent Laboratory No. 78.

Buzz!

After Xu Qingling left, both engines accelerated.

The aircraft slowly made a circular turn in place, and then glided out of the final assembly workshop.

Rumbling--

As soon as it drove out of the workshop, the engine roared twice and spewed out two wisps of black smoke.

The next second, the black smoke dissipated, the kerosene burned, and blue flames mixed with pale yellow plumes shot out, the sound of the engine suddenly turning into a smooth roar.

"That's the voice!"

Jiao You's ears twitched involuntarily, and then he said with certainty, "I heard this engine sound the first time I came to Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group last year. So this is the sound of a variable-cycle engine... No wonder it sounded so different back then."

"Beep—Hot Shot No. 4 is operating stably; the intelligent system is initiating a self-check!"

"Wireless communication control is stable, altitude measurement module is normal, internal and external temperature sensors are normal... System self-test complete, the brand new Hot Air is ready for takeoff!"

As soon as Jiao You finished speaking, the system self-check announcement came through the open, blocked door from the neighboring laboratory, number 78.

Less than twenty seconds.

Using the latest chip this year, the system performance has been greatly improved. Hot No. 4 completed its self-test, and then the engine's exhaust flame suddenly surged.

boom--

The engine unleashed a surge of power, and the Hot 4 sped into the adjacent test field, its entire fuselage thrusting into the sunlight, reflecting a black metallic sheen.

The Hot 4 had barely taxied sixty meters at the test site when it pitched up and shot into the sky, followed by a violent, steep climb that sent it soaring into the heavens.

Once it was above a certain altitude, the entire Hot Air No. 4 resembled a majestic giant eagle, its fuselage tilting in the sky, followed by a burst of intense flames from its engine exhaust.

boom!!!

A fierce wind swept across the sky.

Under the sunlight, the fuselage of Hot No. 4 quickly became blurred, with white mist swirling around it.

The next instant, Hot Air 4 pierced through the fog of the sound barrier cloud, roaring eastward across the sky, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into a black dot and disappeared on the horizon.