The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master.

A secret meeting room inside the U.S. Embassy was filled with smoke.

Looking at the satellite images projected on the wall, the Pentagon delegation remained silent for a long time and just kept smoking.

Of course, everyone here knows that the Chinese people started the project of developing a new generation of main fighter jets several years ago.

However, according to Lockheed Martin technicians, the fourth-generation fighter jets have undergone almost essential changes compared to the third-generation ones, and the extent of their evolution is far greater than any previous generational upgrades, almost equivalent to the leap from the last generation of electric fans to the first generation of hair dryers 60 years ago.

Even for powerful countries like Britain and the United States, it took more than a decade of research and development and testing to finally complete the transition between the new and old generations of technology.

This was despite the fact that World War II served as a catalyst.

As for the fourth-generation fighters themselves, there are not many examples to refer to.

In the era when the United States had the strongest comprehensive national strength, the ATF project took a total of 11 long years from the beginning of development to the first flight.

Even if we start counting from the time when Lockheed Martin's YF22 proposal won, it has been 6 years.

As for the old rival on the other side of the Iron Curtain, due to the disintegration crisis, the MiG 1.44 and I-21 projects, which were developed at the same time as the ATF, remained in the early verification stage forever. It was not until 2006 that the T50 project, which barely combined the technologies of the first two, was re-initiated, which was approximately the same time as China's Project .

However, after all, with the accumulation of past experience, the intelligence department's previous analysis has always believed that the former will be the first to make a test flight around 2009, and it may take another 8-10 years before it is officially put into service.

In other words, the combination of F22+F35 can still maintain its technological advantage for at least 10 years.

As for the latter, there has never been a particularly accurate analysis conclusion, and it is usually just brushed aside as "progress may be slightly slower than T50."

Although some reports also mentioned that based on the analysis of Rongfei Group's material procurement and personnel rotation, China's R&D progress may be much faster than expected.

However, when it comes to intelligence analysis, it is actually most taboo to add ambiguous qualifiers such as "possibly", "probably", and "perhaps". Not to mention that some units will use the traversal method to write down almost all possible results in order to shirk responsibility. If this is not done, when there is a meeting to share the blame afterwards, they can always find the part that was guessed correctly to shirk responsibility.

The result is that the reference value of intelligence further decreases, which leads to the situation that even if the intelligence itself is correct, decision-makers have no confidence to adopt it directly.

In short, faced with this photo, the entire delegation was at a loss as to what to do.

Of course, this includes Gates himself.

As the afternoon meeting time was getting closer, he finally became a little restless.

In fact, Americans are not unfamiliar with this kind of operation of giving the negotiating party a "warning".

It’s just that in the past they were basically the ones doing the work for others, but this time the situation has finally changed.

"Everyone, tell us what you think."

Gates said as he raised his hand and waved it in the air, dispelling the thick smoke that almost blocked his vision.

"Although this afternoon's meeting was just a preliminary one and the actual issues won't be discussed until tomorrow, if we are suppressed by the other party first, it will be difficult to carry out the follow-up work..."

Now that the boss has spoken, it’s not easy for anyone to remain silent.

But because I was completely unprepared, and it was impossible for me to boost others' morale and destroy my own prestige at this time, I didn't know what to say for a moment.

Fortunately, someone soon broke the silence:

"Although the report said the plane was in the process of taking off, and the infrared detection results also showed that there was an obvious heat flow at the tail of the engine, the satellite image was almost a bird's-eye view from directly above, and the projection of the plane happened to be above the runway... Could it be a ground test, or a simple false target?"

Although rationally, everyone knew that this speculation was unlikely, now was the time when we needed to build confidence the most, so after hearing this speech, many people actually nodded.

However, most people still cannot convince themselves to believe such an outrageous judgment.

In particular, Ms. Marina Legolo, who was in charge of liaison with the country and was the first to report the situation, directly provided new information:

"I'm sorry, gentlemen."

She clicked the mouse a few times and switched the image projected on the screen to another set of photos.

Or to be more precise, it should be a set of web page screenshots, but it includes many photos.

Judging from the angle, it was obviously shot from the ground, and the content is an airplane that has just taken off and is climbing in mid-air.

"At the beginning, we did consider the possibility of faking flight traces to fake the first flight, but public intelligence analysts effortlessly found a large number of related discussions, pictures and videos on the Chinese Internet almost at the same time, and from at least three different angles... Perhaps it is easy to trick satellite reconnaissance, but at least so far, there is no technical means that can directly deceive the human eye from so many angles."

Legolo switched pages while introducing:

"The airport is located in the western suburbs of Chengdu, but in fact it has been considered an urban area in recent years, and the Chinese have made no move to control the area around the airport. They even pulled out two verification aircraft and placed them on the apron forty minutes before the test flight. So when the actual takeoff took off, there were already quite a few onlookers gathered around. Even when the staff of our Chengdu Consulate went to check the situation later, they saw quite a few security guards and police officers around to maintain order..."

The detailed report that the intelligence department subsequently gave was very thoughtful, and even translated the intercepted Chinese pages into English.

Therefore, everyone can easily read the above content.

Most of them are cathartic and celebratory in various ways.

Of course, there are some technical analyses based on known conditions, but this kind of judgment based on visual and imaginary means little. What's more, this aircraft still seems to be in the technical verification stage, or at most the early prototype stage, and there is still a lot of room for adjustment later.

Moreover, from a strategic perspective, the slight performance differences between equipment of the same generation are not very important.

"It seems that most people's first reaction is similar to ours..."

Major General Scheer, who was sitting opposite Gates, loosened his tie slightly to make it easier to breathe:

"In the BBS topics before 11 a.m., even Chinese people generally believed that this was fake news. As for the pictures, they were photoshopped. It was not until more and more video materials and eyewitness accounts appeared that people confirmed the authenticity of the whole thing."

"There is no doubt that this arrangement was deliberate."

The member who spoke first said in a muffled voice:

"Although the news of the plane's test flight could not be kept completely secret, the fact that so many people gathered to watch in less than an hour, and the heated discussions on the Internet showed no signs of being suppressed, clearly shows that there was official power behind it."

Legolo nodded:

"That's right... Actually, according to our investigation, there were several blurry photos on the Internet about a week ago, but the relevant discussions were quickly blocked or hidden. Some of them were released again today, and similar situations have appeared on many websites. It can be basically confirmed that there is a unified command."

Just at this moment, a new picture appeared on the web page on the screen.

It had nothing to do with the plane that had just taken its maiden flight, but rather the situation when the Pentagon delegation got off the plane.

This made Gates curious.

"Marina, wait a minute..."

He called out to Legolo who was about to click the mouse:

"This photo seems to be related to us... What does it say, and why is there no translation like the other pages?"

However, this question made the other party feel embarrassed.

But in the end, the corresponding translation was released.

The title is very straightforward -

[I think today was chosen on purpose for the first flight. If you don’t believe me, go watch the news. When Gates got off the plane, his expression was so solemn that it was almost written all over his face…]

The responses below also expressed their agreement.

[Is this a literal show of strength? ]

[I heard that the other party came here this time just to threaten us to eat up part of his debt, but I was threatened before we even started talking, hahahaha...]

[In fact, judging from the current situation, helping them maintain their debts would be beneficial to us, and it might not be impossible, but the premise is that we must not agree to the other party's demands in the form of threats...]

【………】

Originally, Gates wanted to find a slightly lighter topic to dispel the depressing atmosphere in the conference room.

As a result, not only did the depression not get relieved, but it added an extra layer of embarrassment.

Gates, in particular, had a terribly gloomy expression, and was obviously very annoyed by this, but he could do nothing about it.

In fact, he was listening to Legolo's report on the embassy's preparations, and his serious expression was just due to the atmosphere of the diplomatic occasion.

Moreover, judging from the time, the plane had not yet made its maiden flight when this photo was taken, and it was even less likely that the delegation would receive future news in advance.

But this quote out of context is too apt and extremely deceptive to the majority of people who are not willing to get to the bottom of the issue.

What is even more disturbing is that after a period of irrelevant analysis, the final conclusion is actually correct...

Once this matter gets out, Gates' image as a clown will probably be completely confirmed.

Because at the press conference not long ago when he took office, he clearly stated that "our air superiority can be maintained at least until around 2020..."

What's worse is that the content on the webpage gave Gates a hellish association -

About 45 years ago, someone made a bold statement that as long as I live, China will never be able to build an atomic bomb.

Everyone knows what happened next...

In 1963, this man died due to his brainstorming while riding in a convertible.

A year later, China successfully detonated its first atomic bomb...

Fortunately, a knock on the table interrupted Gates' embarrassment:

"Threat, this is a blatant threat!"

Michel Flournoy, the accompanying deputy, let out an angry growl.

It should be noted that it has been 20 years since the end of the Cold War, and during this period no country has dared to directly slap the face of the American representative in such a naked way.

Due to some legal process issues, he arrived at the office later than several other colleagues in the Ministry of Defense, and only received the formal approval of his appointment yesterday before he set off.

It's like getting slapped in the face on your first day at work.

No one can bear it.

"I think the more this is the case, the more we need to take a strong stance."

Flournoy put it bluntly to Gates:

"Otherwise, once we take the lead in showing a tendency to compromise, the other side will certainly seize this opportunity to pursue the victory. The subsequent talks between the Ministry of Commerce and the Federal Reserve and China will be even more difficult to achieve their goals. Even if the Chinese agree, we may have to pay a heavy price..."

Economic affairs have nothing to do with the Department of Defense. The Pentagon's interference is just to create empty cards.

I will put pressure on you first, and then use the withdrawal of pressure as a bargaining chip to exchange for actual benefits.

To put it bluntly, they came here just to get something for nothing.

If putting pressure on someone fails and they are threatened instead, then let alone "getting something for nothing", even "you can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb" may not be possible, and they may end up like a sheep falling into the tiger's mouth.

"But, Michelle... Whether our attitude is strong or not is not entirely determined by our attitude..."

Although Gates still had a cold face, his mind was still clear:

"Since the other side chose to conduct a semi-public maiden flight of a fourth-generation fighter jet at this time, it is indeed a threat, but on the other hand, it is also showing us that they are not afraid of facing extreme pressure... at least not at the military level."

He deliberately put emphasis on the word "afraid".

This means that although the Chinese have gained a certain advantage through surprise attacks, they are still in the stage of proving that they are "not afraid".

As we all know, the more you emphasize something, the more it tends to be lacking.

This means that in the head-on collision between the two sides, the opponent is still at a disadvantage, while our side still holds the initiative.

What's more, they have cards to play other than military.

Regardless of whether this judgment was made sincerely, it did have the effect of stabilizing the morale of the troops.

Scheer understood what Flournoy meant and continued:

"Then, Mr. Minister, do you mean that we should change our negotiation strategy to one of procrastination?"

Gates nodded:

"That's right... The current situation has changed too much compared to our plan. No matter what, it is impossible to achieve the desired results through this visit alone, but the trip cannot be canceled at the last minute, so the best option is for us to maintain the status quo and wait and see what new decisions are made in the country..."

After hearing this, Flournoy secretly curled his lips and thought to himself, "What you said sounds nice, but in reality, you were caught off guard by the Chinese and didn't know how to respond for a moment."

However, on the one hand, he couldn't come up with any ideas, and on the other hand, the other party's decision at least guaranteed that he would not be blamed, so he just grunted a few times and finally nodded.

Perhaps he saw the other party's emotions, and Gates added calmly:

"I think after this incident, the relationship between our two sides will no longer remain a single-level military confrontation, but will begin to be seen as an all-round strategic competitor..."

Having said this, he paused and slowly scanned the dozen or so faces in front of him:

"So everyone, be mentally prepared..."