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

As the saying goes, you can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child.

Since we want to do something big, we have to release some bait first.

But we can't really reveal too many secrets.

It is obviously impossible to allow foreigners to have direct contact with the J-20 in verification state, and it is actually impossible to achieve the ultimate goal.

After much deliberation, they decided to sell the large microwave darkroom built by the 14th Institute of Electronic Science and Technology in Yudu.

Although the technology behind this thing is no less sensitive than the J-20 itself, the microwave test center is a fairly large area, just like the wind tunnel base. The really important control room and analysis center are in separate buildings. The darkroom itself is just a room full of absorbing cones and sensors, so it's nothing for people to look at.

On the other hand, the structure of the test center is relatively complex, and it is easy to arrange some clues for the other party to discover, thereby guiding others to "infer" the desired conclusion.

This is easier to gain people's trust than telling them the same thing directly.

After submitting the plan, the superiors quickly approved it.

Chang Haonan decided to go all out and took advantage of the "China-Europe Aviation Industry Exchange Month" to ask Liu Yongquan to directly invite several European technicians, including Edsteiner, to visit the Yudu Microwave Testing Center.

The nominal reason is to enhance mutual trust between the two sides and hope that Airbus A320neo can choose the AE1500 engine "developed" by Sirocco as its first power.

Europeans can actually guess that there must be other tricks involved.

The so-called enhancement of mutual trust is basically some routine formulas, and although the latter thing has not been officially announced yet, it has been discussed almost completely.

There's no need to make such a big move.

But there is no way. Large microwave darkrooms are indeed rare. In addition, the maiden flight of China's fourth-generation fighter has been the most discussed topic in the international aviation community in the past two months.

Even if you know it's a bait, you still have to eat it and taste it.

In addition, Chang Haonan also specifically instructed that Rolls-Royce's project manager Tim Bodie should not be included in the invitation list.

Because the latter had been deceived by him once before with almost the same trick, not only might he be on high alert, but it might also affect other people in the same group...

……

When Ed Steiner got off the Coaster minibus, he felt his hair almost immediately covered with fine water droplets.

A bit like the weather in London, which he hated the most.

However, the Frenchman's attention was soon attracted by the gray buildings built on the mountain in front of him. He saw that the honeycomb-shaped vents on the thick reinforced concrete exterior walls were like countless pairs of silent eyes.

"Please put on your special clothes and shoes first, and then follow our instructions to visit..."

Although Europe does not have large-scale equipment of the same scale, we are all high-level players after all, and we have seen small microwave darkrooms used in research institutions.

So no one said much. Everyone changed into their equipment as quickly as possible and lined up to wait to enter like elementary school students on a spring outing.

Although Liu Yongquan was the leader of the entire tour group, he was not an expert in the field of electromagnetism after all, so when it came to the specific introduction, Yang Jie from the 14th Institute was in charge.

"This is the second-generation multifunctional electromagnetic field comprehensive test equipment we completed three years ago, which is generally known as a microwave darkroom. It can shield the interference of external electromagnetic waves, so that the measurement activities are not affected by the external electromagnetic environment. At the same time, it can suppress the internal electromagnetic multipath reflection interference and build a pure electromagnetic measurement environment that absorbs almost all incoming waves..."

The two of them led a group of curious babies to a gate with a sign that said "RCS is near" and continued:

"The entire test center includes one antenna far-field laboratory, two antenna near-field laboratories, two RCS far-field laboratories, three RCS near-field laboratories, and one EMC laboratory... and what is in front of us is the RCS near-field test area."

After hearing this through the translator, although the Europeans had expected it, they still couldn't help showing expressions of regret on their faces.

After all, if you just walk around and take a quick look, it doesn't seem to be very interesting.

Of course, if you think about it, this seems more reasonable.

After all, even the Americans only allowed them to take a glimpse from a distance of a few dozen meters.

However, just as they were preparing themselves mentally, they saw Yang Jie take out an ID card and swipe the door open.

"Please keep up with the pace, the structure here is quite complicated."

Judging from the meaning, it seems that they are being asked to go a step further?

Edsteiner even suspected that the other party was preparing a sting operation, just waiting for his group to enter and then arrest them in the name of espionage.

Of course, this outrageous thought only flashed through his mind for a moment, and his feet moved faster than anyone else and he was the first to step in.

“We have specially set aside the RCS near-field laboratory No. 2 for you to visit up close to demonstrate our high level of trust in our European partners…”

Although rationally, everyone knew that this was a speech made for the occasion, Yang Jie's words still made the Europeans feel emotional.

Even moved.

After all, no matter what others say, the decision to take you for a close visit is always real.

Anti-static shoes made a distinctive squeaking sound as they stepped on the floor. Edsteiner noticed that the wave-absorbing spikes on both sides of the corridor had a peculiar gradient structure, gradually transitioning from light gray at the entrance to inky black in the depths.

The moment I entered the door, even the sound of my breathing seemed to become much clearer than before.

The tour route was obviously carefully designed. Just before Yang Jie was about to close the door, a group of technicians happened to come towards him pushing three equipment vehicles.

Edsteiner subconsciously turned around and found that Yang Jie seemed to be very flustered. He was waving his hands quickly behind him, signaling the other party to leave quickly.

In a split second, he saw that each cart was tightly covered with silver-gray anti-static cloth, but when the second cart turned, the corner of the cloth was lifted, revealing half of the S-shaped air intake curve.

However, judging from its outline, it looks nothing like the No. 2001 aircraft that made its maiden flight last month.

Instead, it has a single vertical tail, belly air intake, and the canard and main wing are not located on the same horizontal plane.

In other words, it is closer to the existing J-10.

When he wanted to stick his head out to take a closer look, Yang Jie had already closed the door:

"This darkroom contains a total of 10375 radar-absorbing spikes, and the shell structure shielding body is welded..."

Although the latter has concealed most of the sensitive information during the introduction, it is still impossible to be foolproof.

For example, some people have begun to observe whether the main structure of the shielding shell is completely dependent on the civil engineering steel columns and steel beam frame outside the shell.

But Edsteiner's mind was still immersed in the moment just now.

At this point, he had basically confirmed that the overall design of the model was that of a J-10.

It's just that it seems to be more bloated overall, as if some extra facilities have been added in the abdomen.

"Maybe the bomb bay?"

Ed Steiner speculated.

In today's era of beyond-visual-range air combat, non-stealth aircraft are also tested for radar cross-section area, but this is generally done as a by-product during the test flight, and the data is only approximate, so there is no need to go to so much trouble.

So, if we make a reasonable guess, does it mean that China has not given up its efforts to develop a stealth-enhanced version of the J-10?