Chapter 58: Irrefutable Evidence

As the old general's voice trailed off, the anticipated applause did not fill the conference room.

The silence was broken by a slender figure.

An elderly man with white hair and gold-rimmed glasses stood up. He was Qian Xuemin, a leading authority in the field of domestic aerodynamics and the deputy head of this review committee.

"Comrade Du Yuze," Academician Qian began, his tone calm yet carrying the weight of a thunderbolt. "Your 'small steps and quick running' sounds very pragmatic. But forgive me for being blunt, your very first step could be a bottomless abyss."

Everyone's heart skipped a beat.

"You say you will use extreme aerodynamic design to make up for the shortcomings of the engine. That statement itself violates the fundamental laws of aerodynamics. An aircraft, especially a fighter jet pursuing high maneuverability, has its aerodynamics, flight control, and engine as an organic whole of mutual compromise and check-and-balance. What makes you think that relying solely on aerodynamics can drag an engine with a 'heart condition' to fly out the results we desire?"

This question was sharper and more fatal than the old general's interrogation earlier.

Du Yuze did not shy away. He saluted Academician Qian. "Reporting to Academician Qian, your question is precisely the core that our Prototype No. 01 needs to solve. We don't 'think', we have data."

Instead of returning to the PowerPoint slides, he gestured to Shen Qingyun and Li Weiguo behind him.

Shen Qingyun immediately stood up and connected a bulky VCR to the projector. Li Weiguo unfolded a huge blueprint covered with dense curves and data tables.

"Academician Qian, esteemed experts. Please look at the big screen." Du Yuze picked up a laser pointer and pointed it at the curtain.

The videotape began to play. The footage was shaky with heavy visual noise, obviously not a professional promotional video. On the screen was a heavily modified J-7 trainer aircraft, with many peculiar sensors and small control surfaces added to its wings and nose.

"This was a flight test we conducted half a year ago. On this J-7, we simulated some of the aerodynamic characteristics of the J-XX and equipped it with our self-written first-generation flight control stabilization program."

In the footage, the aircraft executed a violent climb and roll maneuver. Its attitude instantly became extremely unstable, and the nose began to pitch up uncontrollably.

A flight control expert blurted out, "Super-stall maneuver! Using a J-7 to do this, has he lost his mind?"

Everyone held their breath. The pilot's life was hanging by a thread at this moment.

However, just a second before the aircraft was about to enter a spin, a few unremarkable control surfaces on the wings suddenly made minute deflections at an extremely high frequency. The crumbling aircraft, as if caught by an invisible hand, was forcibly stabilized from the brink of a stall and resumed level flight.

A collective gasp of shock swept through the conference room.

"This is our answer." Du Yuze's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears. "We admit that the engine thrust is insufficient. Therefore, we must push the available angle of attack of the aircraft to the limit. Through active control technology, we allow the aircraft to still fly stably and remain controllable in areas where others would stall. We use software to squeeze out the very last bit of potential from the aerodynamic layout. This is the only way we can trade for super-maneuverability with existing technologies."

He paused, and the laser pointer directed toward the blueprint unfolded by Li Weiguo.

"This is the latest compressor performance curve of the JY1 improved variant. Chief Designer Liu's team continuously conquered two technical bottlenecks within three months. Its surge margin is seven percent higher than the design index. This means it can withstand more severe intake flow distortion. This provides the most fundamental safety guarantee for the extreme flight maneuvers we just saw."

Academician Qian pushed up his glasses and walked over to the blueprint, his fingers tracing over the slightly upward-curving line. He did not speak, but his tightly furrowed brows relaxed for the first time.

"Talking on paper is something anyone can do," an abrupt voice sounded. It was a deputy director from the Materials Research Institute, surnamed Sun. "No matter how fancy your aerodynamics and flight control are, an airplane has to be built in the end. The design of the J-XX has extremely high requirements for structural strength. You said you'd use aluminum alloy for the first step, but what about the critical load-bearing components? Like the wing boxes and main spars. If you use aluminum alloy, the weight simply cannot be brought down. If you use composite materials, Academician Wang himself said the technology is immature, so what will you build it with?"

This question was equally realistic and cruel.

Du Yuze did not answer. He looked at Wang Zhen in his team.

Wang Zhen, Academician Wang's proudest disciple, walked onto the stage without a word, carrying a heavy black case.

With a click, the case opened.

Inside were neither documents nor models, but a section of a complex-shaped component glowing with a carbon-black luster. Judging from the cross-section, it was a typical aircraft wing spar structure.

"Director Sun," Wang Zhen began, his voice somewhat hoarse, as if he had pulled countless all-nighters. "This is the 1/2 scale carbon fiber composite main wing spar of the J-XX that our laboratory completed just last month. We used domestically produced T300-grade carbon fiber and improved the resin formulation and autoclave molding process."

He took another document from the case and slammed it onto the table.

"This is its static test report. We loaded it up to 150 percent of the design load before yielding occurred. It is twenty-two percent lighter than a titanium alloy structure of equivalent strength. When Academician Wang said the technology was immature, he meant we cannot yet produce it on a large scale, at low cost, and with a high yield rate. However, for one or two prototype aircraft, sparing no cost to build a few key components is something we can do."

Physical evidence, test reports.

The ironclad evidence spoke for itself.

Director Sun's face flushed red and turned pale. Ultimately, he sat back down and said nothing more.

The questioning did not stop there.

"What about the avionics?" A field-grade officer from the Air Force Equipment Department stood up. "Comrade Du Yuze, in your proposal, the flight control, fire control, and radar are all next-generation new items. Integrating so many brand-new, incompatible systems together is a workload no less than developing a new aircraft from scratch. Can your flight control software handle such a massive data stream? We don't have a ready-made 'data bus' for you to use."

This was the challenge of system integration. For a modern fighter jet, the hardest part was not building the shell, but integrating countless subsystems into an efficient whole.

This time, Shen Qingyun stood up.

He appeared somewhat nervous, but still walked to the projector and changed to another videotape.

"Reporting to the Chief. Regarding system integration, we have also made some... small attempts."

The screen lit up.

The footage was no longer an aircraft, but a ground laboratory. Next to a huge equipment cabinet, countless cables connected several different workstations. On one screen was the radar signal echo map. On another screen was a simulated flight attitude indicator.

"This is the avionics integration laboratory of our Factory 303. On the left is the prototype of the next-generation phased-array radar that we borrowed from a sister unit. On the right is the flight control computer developed by Chief Engineer Lin's team. In the middle is the conversion protocol and data bus we wrote ourselves."

Shen Qingyun pressed the play button.

On the radar screen, several moving light dots appeared. At the same time, on the flight control computer's screen, data representing fire control calculations refreshed rapidly and automatically generated an attack flight path.

"We used software to build a bridge, allowing the flight control computer to 'understand' what the radar 'sees'. Although it is still very rudimentary and the transmission rate is not high, it proves one thing: our integration approach is viable."

Shen Qingyun turned to the field-grade officer and bowed deeply.

"We did not wait for national project approval, nor did we wait for funding from superiors. Using our own funds and every available resource, we have already walked the hardest path in advance. The proposal we present today is not a PowerPoint presentation, nor is it an empty conception. Rather, it is a path we have walked step by step over the past two years. With these achievements, we have reduced the risks of the entire project to the absolute minimum."

The conference room fell completely silent.

All previous skepticism seemed so pale in the face of these videos, data, and physical objects.

This was not a team painting grand illusions in the air.

This was a team showing everyone the heavy, tangible fruits they had already grown.

The old general had not spoken all this time. He simply watched quietly, looking at these young people and the crude yet powerful evidence they presented.

Finally, he slowly spoke and asked the last question.

"Why wasn't all of this that you've done written into the formal application materials?"

Du Yuze stood at attention, his voice ringing clearly throughout the conference room.

"Reporting to the Chief! Because a military pledge is not used to claim credit!"

"We only want to tell you and all the experts one thing: Factory 303 has the capability, and the determination, to win this battle."

The old general slowly nodded.

He picked up the military pledge on the table, picked up a pen, and signed his name next to "Approval for Project Initiation."

"Then put all of this," he said, "into the formal report. Tomorrow, submit it to the Military Commission."