At the end of April, the first batch of 12 fighters of the FC-1 Thunder ordered by the Pakistani side took off from Chengdu, flew over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and transferred to Lhasa halfway, and finally arrived in Pakistan. The Pakistani side expressed great enthusiasm and excitement for the arrival of the Thunder Dragon, and held a grand welcome ceremony.

Because the total order volume of the Thunder Dragon has reached more than 300 aircraft, even if Cheng Feifei expands production capacity and discontinues the production of other types of aircraft and non-aviation products, coupled with Qi Yiming's great help, the annual output has just mentioned 100 aircraft. In the second half of last year, Chengfei completed the production and manufacture of Iran's last 30 Thunders, but did not deliver them all at once. This year's production plan is mainly to complete the order of 50 aircraft from Pakistan, and the order for the South Rods will also be inserted this year, and the new order from Saudi Arabia will not start production until 1987.

Unlike the model of the United States selling F-16s to Pakistan, the Chinese side provides a complete set of facilities for Pakistan and provides training services for Pakistan in Pakistan. Therefore, 8 of the 12 Thunders are two-seaters, which is convenient for Chinese instructors to train Pakistani pilots.

The delivery ceremony was attended by the current Pakistan Air Force Chief of Staff Jamal, who facilitated the Thunder trade, while the Chinese side was composed of Li Zefan, assistant to the president of AVIC, Wang Yingong, deputy director of the Chengfei Foreign Affairs Office, and a representative of the Shenghua Group.

Admiral Jamal excitedly shook Li Zefan's hand and said in English: "With FC-1, the strength of our air force will definitely be significantly improved, and I am really grateful for the help of the Chinese brothers!" ”

Li Zefan just smiled earnestly and said, "Where, where." ”

He pointed to a group of pilots who looked very serious and said: "These dozen pilots are flight instructors who have recently returned from Iran, and they have experience in piloting the Thunder Dragon. If necessary, it is incumbent upon us to help Pakistan defend its sovereignty over its airspace. ”

It is taboo to participate in other people's wars, but this taboo is often broken. The Soviet Union has sent a large number of pilots abroad, from the Korean battlefield to the Vietnam War, and even in the Angolan Civil War and the Ethiopia-Eritrean War.

Originally, China adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, and let pilots fight other people's wars, not to mention the possibility of losses, the trouble that is easy to cause is enough of a headache. But because Qi Yiming was in urgent need of experience points, he had to make a big show of this kind of service of selling planes and sending pilots, although these pilots represented other countries, but the results they played were all Qi Yiming's experience points. When Qi Yiming raised this kind of thing to the point of the fate of national development, the high-level had to agree with his move.

It's just that you have to think of a good excuse to do such a thing, so after-sales service has introduced such a project.

Of course, Jamal thanked him and added: "In recent days, the nuisance of the Soviet army and the puppet Afghan regime to our borders and airspace has become more and more serious. On the 19th of last month, the Soviet and Afghan armies bombed border posts in our country, and on the 10th of this month, the Soviet troops began to storm Tani again under the heavy bombardment of the air force. On the 12th and 16th, just before your arrival, we had two more encounters with the air forces of the Soviets and the Afghani army. Excitingly, we shot down a Soviet MiG-21 by a Mirage fighter in the second air battle, and the result was achieved. ”

Li Zefan congratulated the Pakistan Air Force, but he had to ask: "So how is the performance of the J-6 used by your country?" ”

As soon as this question came out, Jamal and the rest of the Air Force looked somewhat embarrassed. The fighter that has been on duty in the airspace along the border line is actually the J-6, but in the air battle on the 12th, the three J-6s fired missiles in the face of two enemy planes in a row, either the missiles went towards the sun, or because the J-6, a transonic fighter, could not catch up with the enemy at all, so that the missiles could not enter the range, and finally the Pakistani side had no choice but to transfer into the Mirage III and Mirage 5.

Admiral Jamal was very wise, and replied with a playful hand: "The J-6 has made great contributions to our maintenance of national airspace security, and it is a good fighter that is very suitable for our army." ”

Li Zefan has not fully understood, but Wang Yingong and others over there have roughly guessed what happened, the level of the J-6 can no longer be used as the main fighter in the eighties, and in the face of MiG-21, MiG-23 and other fighters, it is difficult to form any advantage in the generation of semi-transonic fighter J-6.

Wang Yingong also sighed in his heart, originally the J-6 was also the main fighter in China, but now the Air Force has even taken down the J-7, and thousands of J-6 either don't know where they were sent to be dismantled, or they were distributed to various cities as a small park attraction, anyway, the Air Force will not take a look.

Jamal pointed to a row of mighty-looking Thunder Dragons and smiled: "I believe that the Thunder Dragon will bring glory to our Air Force!" ”

Pakistan hosted a banquet for the Chinese personnel who came, and the representative of the Shenghua Group also gave feedback to Qi Yiming about the J-6 by Jamal and a group of Pakistani Air Force generals today. After receiving the report, Qi Yiming did not realize that a large number of J-6s were indeed useless in China, and there was no need to even mothball, which was a decision made in consideration of the strong production capacity of Qi Yiming's base. How good it is to mothball the J-10 that you don't need or something, and the mothballing of the seven masters and eight masters is too much to occupy space.

In order to appease North Korea, Pyeong Taejong threw dozens of J-6s to Kim Il Sung, but later thought it was good, and detained 200 J-6s, which were specifically intended to be used for military aid. Also on the same fate were the J-5, most of which were recovered, and a small amount was left for military reinforcements. However, more than 500 J-7s and less than 100 J-8s have been assigned to Qi Yiming, and after a round of modifications, they will be mainly used for export and storage.

Qi Yiming also carefully pulled these seven masters and eight masters to the repair shop of his Red Police base and carried out some upgrades and modifications. Among them, the equipment such as direct current and rangefinders that have been eliminated have also been replaced with relatively rudimentary avionics systems. The newly modified J-7 and J-8 actually adopt a unified configuration and are equipped with electronic equipment such as fire control radar, fire control computer, friend or foe identifier, and new sight, which enables both to launch PL-5E short-range missiles, which has limited the level of combat.

Qi Yiming on the front foot finished changing a batch of J-7, and the rear foot of China Aviation Technology and AVIC sold 12 to Sudan at a unit price of 4 million US dollars, because it was a second-hand mobile phone used by PLA, although it was modified, but the price was also relatively low. This money is basically equal to the money earned in vain, the Air Force and the enterprise side have split it in half, and Qi Yiming has not even made any hard money.

He doesn't mind having no money to take it, it's the most annoying thing to play games without his own gods.

This time, the minibus said that the J-6 was not enough, and Qi Yiming, in the spirit of a responsible ally, immediately asked the minibus through relevant channels: "The J-6 is not enough, how about some new goods?" The J-8s that the PLA has withdrawn, a total of 82 aircraft, are leased to you for a symbolic $8 million a year. In addition, we also support trade-in, J-6 can be exchanged for J-8 according to a discount of 5%, the opportunity is precious, don't miss the opportunity! ”

After learning of Qi Yiming's unreliable move, Liao Huairen came to ask him why he was doing this.

Qi Yiming said as a matter of course: "Pakistan is the most precious friend of our Great Celestial Empire, is it an ally of allies, supporting Pakistan and strengthening Pakistan will be of great benefit to us in the future. To be honest, I don't think the 82 J-8 early models in my hand can be sold, so it's better to be a favor. With an income of $8 million a year, at least it can be used to make investments, boost the country's economy, or pay benefits to workers. As for the J-6, the trade-in is a bad taste, anyway, crushing the crane and crushing two J-6s can produce one J-8. We price the J-8 at 6 million, and they exchange it for the J-8 at a discount of fifty percent, and in general, they exchange three J-6 for one blunt-headed J-8, which is equivalent to me earning a J-6 material for nothing, and a J-10 will come out after saving four, and in the final analysis, it is still earned. ”

Liao Huairen listened to Qi Yiming's explanation, and his head hurt from his complicated thoughts, so he could only say: "It's good if you think it's suitable, alas, I can't control you guy." ”

The proposal was put on Pakistan's desk, much to the surprise and delight of the Pakistan Air Force. 82 J-8s, with a relatively complete avionics system, and the PL-9E combat missile, which is not inferior to the AIM-5M / L, but from its Mach 2. In terms of flight speed of 2, it is much more used than the J-6, which can only eat the dust of enemy aircraft.

It's just that the Pakistani side doesn't quite understand that most of these J-8s have only been in service for a few years, so why can't the Chinese brothers look at it? It stands to reason that even if China has mastered the technology of manufacturing new advanced fighters, it is an inevitable choice to maintain a certain scale of old fighters as a transition. It is internationally rumored that China has installed more than 100 advanced fighter jets, but this should not make the Chinese ignore the existing national defense risks and take this step.

Or that the J-8 itself has serious flaws, so that the Chinese can only give up, and finally develop the STOVL model of the J-8V. It's a pity that they don't know, these two aircraft are called J-8 except for the name, but in fact they don't look like each other at all.

In order to facilitate the Pakistani investigation, Qi Yiming specially transferred a few J-8s and flew directly to Pakistan for their inspection. After a period of time, the Pakistani side came to the conclusion that although the combat power of the FC-1 is not the same, it is not a problem to torture the J-6 or confront aircraft such as the MiG-21 and MiG-23 head-on. It is also somewhat cheaper to maintain than the F-16 and FC-1, suitable for an underdeveloped country like them.

Pakistan immediately initialed an agreement with representatives of the Shenghua Group who were still in Pakistan, and in June, all 82 J-8s were transferred to Pakistan. Later, after receiving unanimous praise from the Pakistani pilots, the minibus sent all the J-6s back to China in exchange for 78 J-8 fin whales.

In the end, Pakistan formed a fleet of 160 air Cai Guoqing, and became the only country in the world to operate J-8 fighters.