In the early morning of July 31, 190 AH, in the hinterland of the huge continent, west of Lake Balkash, in the territory of the Federal Republic of Locha.

Under the cloudless blue sky, except for the endless Gobi Desert and a few scattered sand dates, there is only the heavily guarded military base.

Viewed from afar, it looks like a sand castle built by a naughty boy on the beach.

In the sky, against the backdrop of the morning glow, a huge group of planes is flying towards this direction. At the head of the pack was a squadron of 8 single-engine medium fighters.

All of them are the 32nd batch of "Zhan-10B" fighters delivered last year.

Compared with the "Zhan-10A" and the previous batch of "Zhan-10B", the most significant change in the 32nd batch is the addition of two oblique light-load external attachment points in the front section of the air intake, which can be used to mount navigation pods and guidance pods, thus greatly improving the ground strike capability.

The "Zh-10B" has thus become a real multi-role fighter.

With its unparalleled agility, the Zhan-10B remains an air superiority fighter with the best grappling performance among third-generation fighters.

Because it is very agile and the response time of the operation is extremely fast, in private, pilots like to put the word "Xun" in front of their official name.

The difference between one word and the meaning is very different.

"Raptor" turned into "Velociraptor".

In addition to agility, another advantage of the "Zhan-10" fighter is that it is cheap, not only the purchase price is low, but the use and maintenance costs are also very affordable.

It is precisely in this way that the "Zhan-10" has become the third-generation fighter with the largest number of equipment in the Imperial Air Force and even in the world.

To date, the number of equipment in the Imperial Air Force alone has exceeded 2000 aircraft, and more than 1000 have been exported to dozens of countries.

According to the manufacturer's estimates, the production of the "Zhan-10" series will exceed 5,000 aircraft.

Behind the "Battle-10B" group was a squadron of 8 twin-engine heavy fighters.

It is the "Zhan-11B" nicknamed "Tyrannosaurus", also known as "Tyrannosaurus Rex".

Strictly speaking, the "Zhan-11" is the first type of the Imperial Air Force, or the ideal third-generation air superiority fighter, which was once pinned on by the Imperial Air Force.

It is a pity that the "Zhan-11A" was completely grounded shortly after its first flight because the engine was not reliable enough, and the batch delivery time was repeatedly postponed.

After solving the problem of the engine, the "Battle-10" was delivered to the Air Force in batches, and the number "11" was used.

Compared with the "Zhan-11A", the deeply improved "Zhan-11B" is mainly replaced with a radar with better performance, and a unified standard interface is adopted in the engine compartment, so that other engines can be used according to customer requirements. Other improvements are aimed at improving the reliability and maintainability of fighters.

If you want to say, the "Zhan-11" is a real pure air superiority fighter.

Stimulated by the Polish-Iranian War, the Imperial Air Force made it clear at the design stage that it did not need to consider ground combat and did its best to improve maneuverability.

In addition, the Air Force insisted that the "Battle-11" be able to carry out interception missions and replace the special interceptor aircraft.

As a result, with an internal fuel coefficient of up to 0.35, the "Zhan-11" flew at a high altitude of Mach 2.75, making it the third-generation fighter with the fastest flight speed and the largest combat radius of the whole internal fuel except for special air defense interceptors.

When carrying four air-to-air missiles on interception missions, the combat radius of the "Zhan-11" reached 1,500 kilometers.

It's just that the shortcomings of the "Battle-11" are no less prominent.

In addition to the fact that the agility is not as good as the "Battle-10", the biggest problem is that it is too expensive, and even the deep-pocketed Imperial Air Force cannot afford it.

In fact, this is also the key reason why the "Zhan-10" can be favored by the Imperial Air Force.

To date, less than 700 Battle-11s have been produced, nearly 200 have been exported to allies, and the number of equipment in the Imperial Air Force is around 500.

This scale is only a quarter of the size of the "Zhan-10".

However, no one can deny that the "Zhan-11" is an advanced fighter with extremely great potential for improvement.

As early as more than eight years ago, the "Zhan-11D," which was improved from the "Zhan-11A," defeated the "Zhan-10D," which was improved from the "Zhan-10A," in the "Advanced Multi-Mission Air Supremacy Fighter" tender initiated by the Air Force, and last year it received a bulk purchase order from the Air Force.

It's just that this multi-role fighter was renamed "Battle-16A".

Because it was only put into production last year, the number of equipment of the "Zhan-16A" is less than 100, and several wings equipped with this type of fighter are still undergoing refitting training.

As for how powerful the combat capabilities of this multi-role fighter are, no one can say for sure.

Behind the heavy fighters are 4 "Y-10A" strategic transport aircraft.

As the world's first strategic transport aircraft with a wide fuselage and a carrying capacity of 150 tons, the "Y-10A" is a well-deserved air master.

Not to mention medium fighters, even heavy fighters, are small in front of her.

These four transport planes carried all the support equipment and materials of the two fighter squadrons, as well as hundreds of ground crews.

It was precisely by relying on the powerful carrying capacity of strategic transport aircraft that the Imperial Air Force became a global air force, with the ability to project military power to any location in the world.

Already at the time of the Mossa crisis, the great military value of strategic airlift was recognized by the Imperial Air Force.

In those months, without a large fleet of transport aircraft, the Imperial army would definitely have to abandon the city of East Mossa due to poor security.

It's just that, like the "Battle-11", strategic transport aircraft are simply too expensive.

To date, the Y-10A has less than 100 aircraft. In the Imperial Air Force, there are as many as 600 50-ton Y-11 series.

In addition, the requirements for the airport of strategic transport aircraft are also very high.

The Y-10A, when fully loaded, requires a hard runway of up to 2,500 meters, and less than 10% of airports in the world have such a long runway. In contrast, tactical transport aircraft such as the Y-9 can take off and land on a soft runway less than 1,000 meters long.

It is precisely for this reason that as early as more than 10 years ago, the Imperial Air Force proposed to develop a large transport aircraft that could adapt to various occasions.

To put it simply, it can carry the heaviest and largest land combat equipment, has the adaptability of a tactical transport aircraft, and can land with a full load on any runway with a length of not less than 1,000 meters, including field airfields, which is only simply cleared, and take off again with no load.

To sum it up in one sentence, it is the carrying capacity of a strategic transport aircraft and the tactical flexibility of a tactical transport aircraft.

These requirements are not generally high.

As a result, after more than 10 years of hard work, the first full-scale prototype has not yet been built, and it is expected to roll off the assembly line as soon as next year.

It is undeniable that the massive transport aircraft are the backbone of the Imperial Air Force.

Behind the Y-10A group, there are two large tanker planes, one Finger-6C airborne early warning command plane, and one Detective-29C electronic reconnaissance plane.

All three support aircraft use the fuselage of the "C-29" civil airliner.

Because there was no need to go to the front line to carry out missions and operate hundreds of kilometers behind the battle line, the Imperial Air Force did not specifically design and manufacture support aircraft platforms.

The use of civil airliners can greatly reduce the cost of daily use and maintenance.

If transport planes supported the backbone of the Imperial Air Force, then tankers, early warning command planes, and electronic reconnaissance planes were the catalysts for combat effectiveness.

It was with these support aircraft that the Imperial Air Force became a whole, and its combat efficiency increased exponentially.

In the final finale, it is the absolute main force of the Imperial Air Force.

That's right, strategic bombers!

The first is 4 H-9D heavy bombers.

This is the oldest of the main bombers of the Imperial Air Force, which has been in service with the Imperial Air Force for more than 30 years and was the absolute workhorse during the Polish-Iranian War.

In that war, which left the Imperial Army in vain, a total of 211 H-9s were lost, of which 143 were shot down in the line of duty.

As a result, the "H-9" became the strategic bomber with the largest combat losses after the war.

It's just that the Imperial Air Force did not abandon this bomber, which had been in service for more than 30 years, and continued to improve and increase its combat efficiency.

The key is that the "H-9" is extremely reliable and has a bomb load of up to 35 tons.

Although in the face of a modern air defense system dominated by air defense missiles, the "H-9" can no longer form a formation like in the Polish-Iranian war, where dozens of planes form a formation, fly over the target and drop hundreds or even thousands of tons of bombs, and completely destroy the target by means of indiscriminate bombing, the "H-9" still has great value by virtue of its powerful bomb-carrying capacity, a range of more than 10,000 kilometers, and the use of cruise missiles with a range of 1,500 kilometers.

With cruise missiles as its main weapon, the "H-9" far surpasses that of various bombers developed later.

This was followed by four beautiful "H-10A" variable-sweep wing strategic bombers.

Although it is the first strategic bomber in the world to adopt a variable sweep wing layout, strictly speaking, the "H-10A" is not an excellent bomber.

This bomber is a product of ultra-low-altitude penetration tactics.

Initially, the Imperial Air Force had high hopes for this strategic bomber, capable of flying continuously at Mach 1.1 at an ultra-low altitude below 500 meters, thereby breaking through the enemy's air defense network, and was ready to purchase hundreds of them to replace all strategic bombers, including the H-9.

It is a pity that the modern air defense system, strengthened by early warning command aircraft, and long-range precision munitions represented by cruise missiles, have sent ultra-low-altitude penetration tactics to the grave.

As a result, the Imperial Air Force ordered only 150 H-10As, and has received only more than 70 so far.

The number one problem with the H-10A is to achieve both low-altitude supersonic penetration and the variable swept wing that must be used for intercontinental range.

This aerodynamic layout that adjusts the lift-to-drag ratio by changing the sweep angle and taking into account both long range and high speed has a very fatal flaw.

The structure is complex.

As a result, not only are the deaths heavy, but also the reliability is very poor, the daily maintenance is even more disastrous, and the equipment and maintenance costs are frighteningly high.

In addition, combat readiness is very low.

In fact, this is also the main reason why the Imperial Air Force had to keep a large number of "H-9s".

As for the next generation of strategic bombers, they are still under development, and they are extremely secretive.

At present, the only thing that can be said for sure is that this bomber will subvert all bombing tactics and even completely change the face of future warfare.

According to outside speculation, it will be a bomber that cannot be detected by radar.

If this is the case, then the air defense system with radar as the core will become an ornament!

Relying on stealth capabilities, this bomber can penetrate deep behind enemy lines and destroy the enemy's tightly protected strategic targets with precision-guided munitions.

At that time, strategic bombing will become an art!

No one can deny that the bomber is the heart and soul of the Imperial Air Force.

The Imperial Air Force was born out of the Army's Strategic Air Force, which relied on bombers and gained its current status through large-scale strategic bombing.

The motto of the Imperial Air Force is: destroy the enemy on the ground.

For decades, the Imperial Air Force has been offensive, and its equipment construction has all revolved around strategic bombing.

When approaching the base, the two "Zhan-10B" in front suddenly accelerated by diving, and broke through the speed of sound when flying over the base.

A sonic boom like a thunderbolt swept through the base.

After going around in a circle, the two "Zhan-10B" flew back again.

By the time they landed on the runway, the other 6 "Zhan-10B" and 8 "Zhan-11B" in the squadron had already landed.

The transport plane hovered in the distance, giving up the landing channel to 2 fighters.

In order to shorten the landing and taxiing distance, and to improve the wind, the two "Zhan-10B" also released a deceleration parachute when landing.

By the time the two pilots climbed out of the cockpit, Li Tianling, the leading air force colonel and the captain of the tactical aviation group, had already driven the military vehicle over.

At this time, the first "Y-10A" was about to land.

"You two, when can I save some snacks?" Li Tianling roared loudly, not only angry, but also related to the roar of the transport plane.

He regretted what had started with him, because before he set off, he had put the two stunned young men in the bench.

"Brigade Li, isn't this what you taught us?"

"That's right, you've always taught us that the Imperial Air Force has to be vigorous in everything it does, and no matter where it is, it's the number one protagonist."

As soon as the two subordinates said this, Li Tianling laughed angrily.

It was Du Dashuang who spoke first, and Du Xiaoshuang followed by those who met.

Yes, they are twin brothers, but there is a clear difference in appearance.

Not only in the brigade, but even in the whole wing, and even in the whole military region, these big and small pairs are famous, but mainly notoriety.

In the previous three years, they had won the first place in the two-plane joint air combat of the Imperial Air Force's "Golden Eagle Competition" for three consecutive times.

In other words, the two brothers are telepathic, and their tactical coordination is simply seamless.

But as a result, the two failed to win the "Golden Eagle" medal, which symbolizes the identity of the champion of the competition, because they failed to meet the daily assessment standards for 3 consecutive years.

In a word, it is to be open.

For these two guys, Li Tianling simply hates iron but not steel.

If it weren't for the personal relationship between the three generations, Li Tianling would have let them get out of the way.

That's right, Du Dashuang and Du Xiaoshuang are the grandsons of Marshal Du Kang.

As for Li Tianling, it is even more promising. His grandfather was the first commander-in-chief of the Imperial Air Force and the first generalissimo of the Imperial Air Force, Li Yunxiang, while his maternal grandfather was the Imperial Field Marshal, the former assistant Lian Xusheng, who was known as the "number one father of the Imperial Air Force".

He also had an equally powerful father-in-law, the former commander-in-chief of the Navy, the Generalissimo of the Navy, who was called "the most outstanding commander of the Imperial Navy".

If you want to say it, only Li Tianling can suppress the big and small two pairs.

Soon, transport planes, tankers, early warning command planes, electronic reconnaissance planes, and bombers all landed on the airfield.