Chapter 156: Unprecedented

Within the field of vision, the fighter jet began to taxi toward the takeoff runway. Flames surged, and the vector nozzles adjusted to the optimal thrust angle in preparation for takeoff! Following the silent countdown in everyone's hearts, a deafening roar erupted. After just a brief taxi, Mighty Dragon 01 soared straight up into the air, its roar echoing like a dragon's chant as it pierced directly into the clouds.

The dark gray fuselage, highlighted by the sunlight, resembled the golden scales of a divine dragon facing the sun, flashing with a brilliant and dazzling light. It was so powerful, so elegant, and so poised!

After climbing to a sufficient altitude, the fighter jet plummeted downward, then quickly pulled out and climbed again, followed by another dive, leveling off and accelerating. Its fierce movements and dazzling flight across the blue sky were accompanied by an endless succession of sonic booms. Superior performance and supreme technology were fully displayed in this soaring leap.

"Mighty Dragon 01, execute an envelope-circling flight!"

"Received, Mighty Dragon 01 beginning envelope-circling flight!" The first envelope was the previous flight limit envelope, the level flight speed envelope, which Mighty Dragon 01 conquered with absolute ease. This prompted the personnel in the ground control room, monitoring the data, to excitedly clench their fists, their joy evident on their faces.

"Mighty Dragon 01, conduct speed-g overload envelope testing, and begin hypersonic penetration testing!"

"Received, Mighty Dragon 01 hypersonic penetration test, current speed 3.2 Mach!"

"3.22 Mach! Ground recording data—our aircraft is simply too fast!" Excitement once again flooded the faces of the ground crew. They had anticipated that the data for the J-20 Mighty Dragon would be impressive, but they never expected it to be dazzling to such a degree! On its very first super-cruise, it directly broke three—3.22 Mach! What concept was this? It meant a staggering speed of about 66 kilometers per minute, nearly 4,000 kilometers per hour, touching the very threshold of world records.

It was double the speed enhancement of previous fighter jets. It was not that the previous achievements were lacking, but that the J-20 Mighty Dragon was simply too formidable! It was the aircraft's near-perfect aerodynamic layout that provided the smoothest slicing through the air, and it was the Mighty Dragon's heart that provided it with a surging and unstoppable power.

This was not unprecedented in the history of world aviation; for instance, the American SR-71 Black Bird held a speed record of 3.35 Mach, and the former Soviet Union's MiG-25 had once achieved 3.2 Mach.

However, those were light reconnaissance aircraft, whereas the Mighty Dragon was a multi-role heavy fighter. For such a fighter jet to achieve a speed of 3.22 Mach—once this data was released, it would undoubtedly outshine all rivals and deliver a dimensional reduction strike.

"Mighty Dragon 01, report current status!"

"Approaching top speed. Engine operation is normal, no vibration observed, no malfunctions, everything is optimal!" Xiang Leiming's voice in his report was as calm as ever, but deep within his heart, an infinitely suppressed surge was churning.

Their new fighter jet had flown, and it could fly this exceptionally well! 3.22 Mach—had he not piloted the aircraft and generated this data himself, he simply wouldn't have dared to believe it. Was this real?

Ever since the inception of the J-20 project, they had simultaneously initiated selection, picking the best among the best to select the top pilots, followed by rigorous training and elimination until only the most elite remained, all to prepare for the new fighter jet.

Two months ago, he and his comrades had suddenly received a top-secret mission to undergo intensive training for the new fighter jet. With hours of flight training every day, daily repetitive high-intensity ground physical training, hundreds and thousands of operations and commands, and hundreds of thousands of words in the flight manual, he had memorized every single detail.

When executing the actual mission, he had already prepared himself to sacrifice his life for the country and had even written his farewell letter. However, he had never expected to fly and generate such record-breaking data. How the fighter jet's performance truly was, the pilot flying it knew best. He felt that the Mighty Dragon under his command had not yet reached its absolute ultimate limit.

He had been momentarily dazzled by the data just now and had fallen just a fraction short of pushing it to the absolute limit—that was his piloting error. After landing, he would definitely have to write a self-criticism.

"Mighty Dragon 01, maintain supersonic cruise!"

"Mighty Dragon 01, high angle of attack envelope-circling flight!"

"Mighty Dragon 01, prepare to pull up and conduct super-maneuverability testing!"

Following a series of commands, Mighty Dragon 01 entered a thrilling spiral climb, executing a rolling maneuver while maintaining a high-angle climb. Such intense movements were seamlessly completed before it smoothly pulled out.

"Falling Leaf Climb! Mighty Dragon 01, report flight control status!"

"Engine normal, flight control operating well! No vibration observed during high angle of attack super-maneuverability!"...

Based on Mighty Dragon 01's speed and current fuel consumption, the ground crew quickly calculated that the Mighty Dragon's maximum cruising range could reach 20,000 kilometers, and its maximum combat radius was at least 6,000 kilometers. These figures were once unimaginable, yet now they had become reality, truly soaring through the blue skies and truly transforming the phrase "beyond-visual-range" into tangible, concrete data.

A Chinese fighter jet had overtaken on a bend to reach the summit of the world, turning the Raptor—once an object of vigilance—into a mere figure galloping behind, impossible to catch. Tears slipped from the eyes of countless engineers. Their Mighty Dragon was a true divine dragon whose might shook the four quarters!

Yang Wei looked up into the blue sky. Even though he could no longer see the figure of the Mighty Dragon at this moment, his eyes remained brimming with hot tears. He had done it; he had provided the Mighty Dragon with a super-first-class heart, allowing it to battle the vault of heaven and triumph in every endeavor.

Thank you, Wu Tong! Caught off guard, Yang Wei raised his hand in a salute and bowed deeply to Wu Tong.

"Chief Yang, you mustn't!" Wu Tong stepped forward to support Yang Wei. To let such a senior figure bow to her—she truly felt she couldn't bear such a blessing!

"Chief Wu, count me in too. Thank you!" Lu Xiao put down the communication microphone, stood at attention right where he stood, and raised his hand to give Wu Tong a standard military salute. They were soldiers, and they thanked Wu Tong with the highest respect of a soldier.

"Wu Tong, I should also..." Lin Zheming was about to follow Lu Xiao's action. As the head of the aviation corporation, his emotions at this moment were just as surging and turbulent as those of the two chief engineers. Back then, when he approved the funding against immense pressure, it wasn't that he had no worries; if not for Elder Cheng backing them up and the genuine data, he truly would not have signed off on it.

However, looking at it now, how wise his decision to approve the funding back then had been. Choosing to trust Wu Tong was one of the most correct choices of his life.

"Chief Lu, Chief Lin, please stop adding to the chaos. The Mighty Dragon's success today is the result of everyone's joint efforts and hard work. I am merely an insignificant link in it, having achieved a small success by standing on your shoulders. Please spare me!"

Trying to solve one problem only for another to pop up, Wu Tong managed to steady Chief Yang, but over on the other side, Lu Xiao's gesture was inescapable, and seeing Lin Zheming about to follow suit, she suddenly found herself flustered and overwhelmed.

"Alright, alright. You guys can just secure some practical rewards for Wu Tong later, let's skip all this formalities. We are all contributing to the country, no need to distinguish who came first!" Elder Cheng laughed heartily as he intervened. The achievement of his young disciple brought him immense pride, almost overflowing across his face, as a teacher who could barely claim to be one.