The Iranian Air Force sent four fighter jets, but in fact, only two Thunders were actually responsible for combat missions, while the remaining two F-4s were used as cover to respond to the two main fighters after entering close combat.

There are a total of 7 pylons for the Iranian version of the Thunder for export, and since this is an interception mission within a small combat radius, the Thunder's internal oil combat radius of more than 600 kilometers can make it unnecessary to mount auxiliary fuel tanks. So except for the pylons under the belly, which did not carry weapons, the other six pylons were equipped with air-to-air missiles. The wingtips are two PL-9 close-range combat bombs, and under the wings are a total of four PL-12A medium-range interception projectiles on the left and right.

"The target is locked, at a distance of 45 km, it has entered the non-escape zone, PL-12 launched!"

An FC-1 is the first to launch two Thunderbolt-12s, a medium-range air-to-air missile that is often dropped from a pylon, ignited in mid-air, and then directly attacked the opponent.

The PL-4, with a speed of up to Mach 38 and an overload of 12G, rushed headlong at its own enemy. Immediately after that, another FC-1 also rushed to launch a round of two PL-12s at the opponent at this time, because it had already entered this distance, and the medium-range bomb could only have two rounds of launch opportunities at most, because the plane flew very fast, so it was almost a few minutes before both sides could be within the line of sight.

The four air-to-air missiles guided by the active radar found their enemies one after another, and when the radar siren on the Super Flag attack plane emitted a sharp buzzer, the Iraqi Air Force pilots, who had not yet discovered the enemy, could not help but be shocked. The Iraqi pilots who were able to fly only five Super Flag attack planes were actually the best in the Iraqi Air Force, but in the face of such a large gap, they could not resist at all.

A Super Flag and a MiG-23 were shot down directly, but the pilot of the Super Flag was lucky, and after being hit, he pressed the ejection button, and a white parachute in the sky slowly slid towards the sea. It's just that in this area of water, where Iraq is not yet powerful, even if he escapes by ejection, the possibility of him returning to his home country is very small.

The MiG-23 was directly blown up, and the pilot may have died or lost consciousness when he was hit, and crashed into the sea with the plane.

In the blink of an eye, the partner died, which greatly stimulated the remaining two Iraqi fighters. However, instead of taking any retaliatory measures, they immediately turned around and fled north, hoping to avoid the pursuit of the Iranian air force.

At this time, the pilot of the MiG-23 also drove his fighter to Mach 2 in a particularly unrighteous manner, completely ignoring the super military flag that could only reach Mach 1 at most, and fled home without hesitation.

"Target, launch!"

If the opponent's will to resist is a little stronger, and the two sides may still have a chance to enter the dogfight, of course, at that time, the FC-1 Thunder still has a better degree of maneuverability and agility than either the Super Flag or the MiG-23. But now the Iraqi pilots turned around and ran away without thinking about it, and instead removed the only threat they had from the four fighters of the Iranian Air Force.

The pilot bit the tail of the attack aircraft with his head in his hands without any obstacles, selected the PL-9 as a weapon, pressed the launch button, and a PL-9 shot out in response, chasing the infrared trail behind the butt of the super military flag. This super military flag also wanted to make a rolling action, but at such a close distance was the inescapable zone of the PL-9 missile, and this combat missile hit the back half of the attack aircraft violently, and the super military flag that had lost its engine fell into the sea with black smoke.

I don't know if the ejection seat of Lu Dao was out of order at this time, and he couldn't see the Iraqi pilot eject for a long time, but the Red Alert pilot didn't have the slightest pity for them.

Although the other Thunder that pursued the MiG-23 was not as fast as the MiG-23, there was a maximum distance of 30 kilometers between the two, and the PL-9 had a range of only 15 kilometers, but the PL-12A said that there was no pressure at all. Without any suspense, the Thunder pilot launched a PL-12, and the MiG-23 was not even equipped with a radar siren, and it was not until it was hit that he realized that he was finished.

This air battle finally ended with a 4:0 victory for the Iranian Air Force, and the two Thunder Dragons each achieved two downed results, but the F-4 that followed the cover still wanted to grab the merit during the air battle, but completely became the foil of the Thunder.

The Iranian Air Force's efficient interception of Iraqi fighters preparing to carry Exocet anti-ship missiles with the help of early warning aircraft has also greatly boosted the morale of the Iranian army and convinced some air force personnel that it is valuable to trade with China to exchange FC-1 for F-14.

It's just that although everyone knows that this is only the first performance of the Thunder Dragon wearing the Iranian battle robe, it soon became the brightest star in the Iranian Air Force one after another, almost single-handedly reversing the decline of the Iranian Air Force in the face of the Iraqi Air Force, especially the second batch of 12 Thunder Dragons arrived in Iran, and the Iranians gained more combat power.

Subsequently, in the four air battles with the Iraqis, the Thunder participated in each of them, and with the assistance of the ZDK-03 early warning aircraft, it shot down 7 Iraqi fighters in a row and damaged 3 fighters, without any losses on its side. The Thunder's astonishing combat efficiency and level have also attracted the attention of the air forces of other countries in the world, especially Pakistan, which has a tradition of military procurement with China and is in urgent need of stronger fighter jets.

Last year, that is, in the second half of 1984, Lieutenant General Jamal of the Pakistan Air Force personally went to Beijing to discuss with the Tujia the improvement of the J-7M, which became a fighter that uses Western avionics and Western power, has air intake on both sides of the nose, has good maneuverability, has a large range, and has a certain ground attack capability.

At this time, when Chengfei cooperated with the British Marconi to cooperate with the success of the J-7M fighter, almost all the ambitious aircraft manufacturing companies in the world saw that the J-7M with small size, cheap price and guaranteed combat power would become a big selling fighter (the fact is that the J-7 can be called China's export version of the national fighter and was included in the top ten fighters in the world), so they expressed to the rabbit family that they would further cooperate to improve the J-7M to adapt to the market.

After research, Cheng Fei prepared a plan called "J-7CP", but at the beginning of 1985, a small butterfly named Qi Yiming jumped out, instigated a few wings, and directly blew the entire small temple of the Rabbit family with a typhoon, including Cheng Fei.

Originally, Chengfei's main work was to continuously improve the J-7 series and use it for foreign trade, and by the way, accumulate skills and develop new fighters for the country. However, Qi Yiming sent a group of engineers to Chengdu in March with several truckloads of materials and a prototype of a J-10. So Cheng Fei is still doing foreign trade projects in addition to making money, and other energy is invested in absorbing new skills. Originally, two lieutenant colonels of the Pakistani Air Force visited Chengfei in March, but Cheng Fei couldn't care about any more J-7CP and blocked them back in the name of company rectification.

The Pakistani side was puzzled and disappointed, and finally did not go to Chengdu to continue discussing the progress of the project, but began to consider other issues.

It was at this time that the Pakistan Army in Beijing, which went to the 617 factory, heard about the replacement of fighter jets between the Rabbit family and the Persian camels, and also heard the name of the FC-1 Thunder for the first time. At that time, the people in the army did not particularly care, but only explained to the air force.

Air Force Lieutenant General Jamal was amazed, originally he thought that the progress of the Rabbit aviation industry was clear, but he did not expect that the Chinese brothers would actually use the aircraft they made to move the Iranians who are now fighting the war and replace them with high-end fighters such as the F-14. However, even so, Jamal did not rush to contact the Chinese side, but went to the United States to discuss with the United States the issue of introducing other technologies.

When he arrived in the United States, the United States began to spread that China would buy the first batch of 30 F-14 Tomcat fighters from the United States, and that it would also carry out a major upgrade with the United States on the basis of the Tomcat. Jamal has dealt with Grumman a lot, and knows that these defense contractors are rabbits and eagles, and if they agree to cooperate with the Chinese, it must be profitable.

It was also around this time that the air battle between the Iranian and Iraqi air forces began to appear in the newspapers, and at this time Qi Yiming began to engage in three or four again, he directly transmitted the photos of FC-1 to some big news media in the United States through Grumman's relationship, and even sent a video of the Thunder test flight to CNN. So the Americans realized for the first time that the scientific and technological strength of the Chinese who wanted to buy the F-14 with them should not be underestimated, and the combat power of the fighter they designed looked more powerful than that of the F-16 Shenma.

There is also a small episode here, where the president of Grumman International, Pellehaq, expressed great interest in the Chinese FC-1 and thought that the two sides could also cooperate on this project.

Qi Yiming, of course, understands that the little Jiujiu in Grumman's belly, and the Grumman, who is not very good, can simply cut out a little money to even a little, and anyone with a discerning eye can see that China can't get a $10 million Thunder Dragon fighter, and its combat power is stronger than that of the F-16A/B (at this time, the F-16 does not have AIM-120, and only has a range of about 40 kilometers semi-active AIM-7, which is not the same as the later modification), and the price is only about half of the F-16, and its export market will be absolutely bright.

The F-14 project with China is enough to bring Grumman back to life, but if he can work with China on the Thunder project, it will definitely make Grumman develop again.

It's just that Qi Yiming's IQ is sound, and he can make all the things he can do, and he will only allow others to follow him if he is insane. Therefore, Qi Yiming expressed to Grumman that cooperation could be discussed, but on the other hand, he did not carry out any substantive work, and he would not even tell Xiaolong which aircraft manufacturing company produced it.

Grummen also noticed that Qi Yiming was not very enthusiastic, and they didn't have a good way to persuade Qi Yiming to change his mind. However, these guys with limited discipline have focused on the PL-12A air-to-air missile, which the FC-1 shines in air combat. This missile is much smaller than the Immortal Bird, and although the range has been reduced by half, its actual combat performance is only stronger.

If Qi Yiming can get the skills of this missile, resell it to produce his own copycat version, and sell it to the United States, it will also be a good deal.