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

In fact, for Americans, it is somewhat difficult to accept that China's fourth-generation fighter jets suddenly appeared before their eyes. However, their own air force is already equipped with nearly 200 F22A aircraft and has more experience in using stealth aircraft. Both in reality and psychologically, they still have a clear advantage.

In addition, the F35, which has lower costs and more uses, has also entered the high-frequency test flight stage. Although the vertical take-off and landing and carrier-based models still have many problems to be solved, the most basic land-based model seems to be going smoothly at least for now. The United States alone is expected to have a similar number of equipment to the F16, reaching an astonishing 1500 or more. If the purchases by its allies are included, that number will probably double.

Therefore, judging from the current situation, as long as there are no major problems with the F35 project, which is almost certain to succeed, even if China's new generation of aircraft is not inferior in quality, the number of aircraft it can produce will be enough to overwhelm its opponents.

Therefore, although their sense of crisis exists, it mainly comes from the possibility that their decades-long technological advantages may be wiped out.

At least at this stage, there will never be any idea that "we are no longer able to defeat the Chinese army."

But China and the United States are not the only players in this world.

By this time in 2009, the communication effect of the Internet has begun to take shape.

Once an incident develops, the impact it causes is often difficult to fully control.

When the superiors were formulating the first flight plan, they obviously did not consider the feelings of other countries.

Or maybe I’ve considered it, but didn’t think it was important…

Later in the day.

Khabarovsk Territory, Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

Gagarin Aircraft Manufacturing Plant.

As the easternmost city in Russia's territory spanning eleven time zones, it is even two hours later than China time.

Mikhail Strelets, an aviation engineer who had just finished dinner, walked slowly to the newly built C16 workshop, preparing to work overtime in the evening to check the latest ion plating production line that had just been assembled and not yet completed.

Thanks to the in-depth cooperation with China in previous years, their United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) obtained relatively sufficient resources and was able to increase investment in radar-absorbing materials, finally allowing the Obninsk Institute of Technology to deliver a batch of trial products before the first flight of the T50 project.

But the aftermath of the alliance's disintegration has far-reaching consequences, and it is impossible to completely break the situation by just making a few clever moves.

Also because of the in-depth cooperation with China, they delivered all the raw materials and spare parts that were supposed to be used to repair and rebuild the ion plating equipment to the other party as export products a few years ago.

The chaos of more than a decade in between also led to the loss of a large number of technical personnel, including Strelets himself, who was forcibly promoted to replace Mikhail Simonov, who was too old to undertake front-line research and development tasks, and Mikhail Pogosyan, who also had to take care of administrative management.

That’s right, the three people’s names happen to be the same.

As an engineer trained in the Soviet education system, his theoretical knowledge was certainly not a problem, but he still seriously lacked experience, especially management experience.

As a result, now that the time has come, we realize that we were only concerned about the materials before, and did not consider that the existing equipment is simply unable to meet the energy requirements for coating.

Not only the external coating of the machine, but even the coating process of some key large components was affected.

At this point, Moscow simply decided to build a new coating production center in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

This is the C16 workshop that Strelts is paying special attention to.

In fact, the working habits of the Slavs can be described as lax.

Unless there is someone supervising them with a whip, they will rarely take the initiative to work overtime.

So usually, only a few section supervisors will be present after dinner, and they will not actually do any work. Instead, they will make arrangements for the next day's tasks in advance and try to make the most of the few hours they have.

But today, as soon as Strelts reached the fork in the road between the living area and the work area, he noticed that the entire C16 workshop was brightly lit, and unlike usual, only a small conference room on the side of the second floor had lights on.

At first, he thought it was just some careless security guard who forgot to turn off the light.

This is not uncommon in Gongqingcheng.

However, just as Strelts quickened his pace to the door, preparing to find the relevant person in charge to say a few symbolic words, he noticed that the group of his subordinates who were supposed to be waiting in the small conference room were now surrounding a man in a suit and helmet and walking around inside.

The Gagarin Factory is a military stronghold. No matter how relaxed the security is, not just anyone can enter the core area.

So he immediately realized that it might be someone from above who came for a surprise inspection.

At this moment, perhaps hearing footsteps behind him, the other party suddenly stood up and turned around, looking in the direction of Strelts.

"General manager?"

The latter stopped immediately.

Although he was mentally prepared, he still didn't expect that the head of the group would be there in person.

Then, a sense of crisis arose from the bottom of my heart——

The first prototype of the T50, No. 051, has actually completed more than % of the manufacturing work. It was expected to become the first major project in the Russian Federation in nearly years to be completed on schedule without delay.

As a result, due to their own negligence and mistakes, the first flight, originally scheduled for the third quarter of 2008, was delayed for at least half a year.

Under such circumstances, the entire Gagarin Factory was still in a leisurely working state.

He is not some meritorious designer that others cannot afford to offend, so he is likely to be criticized.

Fortunately, it was not the first day that Pogosyan was in charge of Sukhoi. He knew that times had changed and that he could no longer make demands based on the enthusiasm of the workers 20 years ago, so he did not show any obvious dissatisfaction.

He just took two steps forward and pulled Streler to a place a little further away from the crowd.

"Misha."

Pogosyan glanced at the assembly workshop about 200 meters away and asked in a complicated tone:

"Have you seen today's international news?"

Strelts was a little confused by this question.

In fact, he watched TV a few times in the cafeteria at noon, but on the one hand he really didn't remember what was broadcast on it, and on the other hand he felt that if he nodded it would seem like he was being lazy.

So finally I shook my head:

"I haven't had time... I just came back from Obninsk this morning, and have been busy debugging the equipment since this afternoon..."

Pogosyan sighed and took out a few unbound documents from his briefcase:

"About six hours ago, China made its first flight in Chengdu with its first stealth fighter. Judging from the fuselage number, it should be named J-20."

Strelts was stunned for a moment, then took the news briefing woodenly.

Because there is plenty of time to organize the messages, the content is quite rich.

It not only includes photos obtained from the Chinese Internet, but also preliminary analysis results of the plane.

Of course, emphasis was also placed on the Pentagon delegation's visit to China on the same day.

Bogosian naturally didn't have time to wait for the other party to finish reading, so he quickly said:

"The intelligence department's analysis believes that although the aircraft's appearance suggests that it is a technology verification aircraft similar to the Type 051, its actual completion is very high. It may only lack a fire control system related to weapons. Apart from some appearance details related to aerodynamics and stealth, which may still be adjusted, it is almost equivalent to a prototype."

Strelts had also read to the later part, and at a certain moment his eyes widened:

"It mentioned here... that two planes appeared at the same time today?"

Generally speaking, each verification aircraft is produced specifically for a certain technology, and there are only two possibilities for multiple aircraft to appear at the same time.

First, there is too much content to verify, and the risk of integrating it into an aircraft is too high.

Second, they must be wealthy enough to be willing to pay double the cost for progress.

Pogosian nodded, and then explained:

"Only one plane actually took off for a test flight, but according to eyewitnesses, there was another plane that had not yet been painted with a number at the test flight ceremony earlier. The two planes were almost identical in appearance, with only slight differences in the shape and color of the engine tail nozzle..."

Hearing this, Strelts showed an envious look and let out a long sigh of helplessness.

"call--"

In fact, the power planning of the T50 project is also divided into two steps. First, the AL41F found in the archives will be used to complete the test flight and preliminary equipment, and then the new generation of products, which currently only have a code name, will be replaced when the time is right.

However, due to insufficient resources, the No. 052 verification aircraft originally planned to be used to test the new power was not able to start construction at the same time, which was in sharp contrast to the situation in the southern superpower.

Following the helplessness, there is also a sense of shame.

After all, even if the production plan of No. 052 was really launched as originally planned, it would just be stuck in the final stage before final assembly due to the chaotic management, just like it is now.

"General Manager, we will do our best to speed up the progress..."

Before he could finish his statement, Pogosyan interrupted him with a wave of his hand:

"I am also partly responsible for letting the Chinese complete the first flight before us. I was too focused on even distribution of resources and didn't take into account the special needs of the T50 project..."

UAC now has several orders of magnitude more resources than in the 90s, but as a top-notch paperhanger, Pogosyan needs to take into account MiG and Sukhoi's third-generation and a half fighters, Ilyushin's improved Il-76 transport aircraft and Il-96 improved tanker, and Yakovlev's new generation of mainline passenger aircraft...

If you want to use one table of food to entertain ten tables of guests, you will definitely end up focusing on the head and not the butt.

"But now is not the time to pursue responsibility..."

Pogosyan still has a clear sense of priorities:

"The Kremlin hopes to see a second-stage prototype by the end of 2012 and to put it into mass production by 2016. How much additional investment do you think is needed to achieve this goal?"

Obviously, Moscow is a little anxious now.

Their current situation is somewhat similar to that of China in the 1980s, 1990s, and they particularly need some landmark achievements to prove themselves and restore the confidence of the people.

Despite this, Strelts did not dare to take on too many responsibilities:

"It's too early to talk about mass production now..."

Then he changed the subject:

"But if we can increase funding by 50% and increase our staff by one-third, we should be able to produce a second-stage prototype by 2012."

This is totally an exorbitant request.

Each of the dozen or so projects that UAC is currently supporting is a treasure in the aviation field.

The palms and backs of the hands are made of flesh, so even if they are tilted, it is impossible to reach such an exaggerated degree.

But Strelts knew that his general manager was now a popular figure in the Kremlin and could even influence the allocation of resources in other industrial fields to a certain extent.

Sure enough, Pogosian was silent for a moment after hearing this, and then seemed to have made up his mind:

"never mind……"

He gritted his teeth and decided to sacrifice his reputation:

"If you make the Navy suffer any more, I will bear the blame!"