Volume 1, Chapter 59: Opposition

The tip of the pen descended, and the signature was complete.

The old general gently pushed that thin pledge of commitment back to the center of the table.

A pin drop could be heard in the conference room. Du Yuze felt the nerves that had been taut for several hours finally show a trace of slackening. It was done. They had won the first round of this nearly impossible mission.

"I object."

A quiet yet exceptionally clear male voice broke the silence.

Everyone followed the sound. The speaker was a senior colonel sitting in the middle of the long table, wearing the insignia of the General Armament Department on his shoulders. His surname was Liu, and he was the section chief responsible for the budget of aviation equipment funds—a man who held the purse strings.

Section Chief Liu ignored the gazes of the crowd, adjusted his glasses, and picked up another evaluation report on the table concerning the financial and resource status of Plant 303.

"I completely understand the General's sentiment of cherishing young comrades and encouraging innovation. However, I must raise questions from a different perspective." He tapped the report on the table. "Plant 303, a factory whose main business is maintenance and avionics upgrades. What was their average annual R&D budget over the past five years? Less than eighty million. Now, what kind of project do they want to undertake? A next-generation fighter jet. The estimated total investment is tens of billions. Chief, this is not a project; this is a bottomless pit."

He turned to Du Yuze: "Director Du, your report was brilliant, and your videotape was persuasive. But you avoided a core question: Where will the money come from? Where will the personnel come from? What makes you think that a single factory can shoulder such a massive undertaking? The nation's annual military budget is fixed. If it is allocated to you, other projects will have to be shelved. Whose project gets shelved? The mature ones that can immediately form combat effectiveness, or this... PPT whose outline hasn't even been written yet?"

These words were like a basin of cold water, extinguishing the enthusiasm that had just ignited.

The senior colonel who had previously questioned the system integration immediately echoed: "Section Chief Liu is right. Engineer Shen's demonstration indeed proved the feasibility of the concept. But that was in a laboratory, using two devices for peer-to-peer communication. A real fighter jet has over a hundred avionics system nodes. The complexity of the data traffic and the electromagnetic environment is ten thousand times that of the laboratory. This technological chasm cannot be bridged by enthusiasm alone."

The atmosphere in the conference room froze once again.

Before Du Yuze could speak, another weightier voice rang out.

"I don't just think there is a chasm in their technology; I think their direction is fundamentally wrong."

The speaker was the chief engineer of Plant 112, Senior Engineer Gao. The nation's most advanced active-duty fighter jets came from their plant. He was of a similar age to Chief Designer Lin and was one of the authoritative figures in the domestic aviation industry.

Senior Engineer Gao looked at Du Yuze without concealing his attitude: "Wasting precious resources on a brand-new, highly uncertain platform is irresponsible to the country. Our most urgent task right now is to deeply tap the potential of existing mature platforms. Our J-10C still has huge room for upgrades. By retrofitting it with a higher-thrust engine and upgrading the radar and fire control, its combat effectiveness can be instantly increased by thirty percent. These are tangible, visible results. It can be mass-produced and equipped by the troops within a few years."

He picked up a document, obviously well-prepared. "This is the J-10D improvement proposal put forward by our Plant 112. We suggest concentrating our efforts to accomplish major tasks, rather than dispersing resources on such high-risk exploratory projects."

Du Yuze's heart skipped a beat. He had anticipated resistance, but he hadn't expected it to come so quickly and fiercely. A man holding the money and a competing technical rival were launching a two-pronged attack, every single word hitting the vital spot.

He knew very well that Senior Engineer Gao was right. The J-10 improvement plan was currently the safest and most cost-effective choice. This was also the mainstream opinion within the military.

His own J-XX plan was like an intruder, trying to snatch food from someone else's bowl.

Shen Qingyun's face flushed red. He wanted to argue, but Du Yuze gestured for him to hold back.

Du Yuze met Senior Engineer Gao's gaze: "Chief Gao, I respect you and Plant 112 for your contributions to the national aviation industry. The J-10D is a good plan, but it cannot solve the problem of 'generational gap.' What we are discussing today is not how to win the next war, but how to avoid being utterly defenseless in the war after next."

"Generational gap?" Senior Engineer Gao sneered. "Young man, airplanes don't fly on concepts. You haven't even tested in a wind tunnel, nor do you have a single prototype, yet you talk to me about generational gaps? Your airplane currently exists only on videotapes and in your imagination."

"Our airplane also exists here."

A steady male voice intervened in the debate.

Test pilot Wang Zhen stood up. He was not in military uniform, wearing a simple jacket instead, but his posture was straighter than any soldier in the conference room.

He walked to the projection screen, pointing to the simulated flight attitude indicator in the image.

"I don't understand overly complex protocols and buses. But I understand this." Wang Zhen's finger tapped the screen. "A month ago, at the invitation of Chief Designer Lin, I went to Plant 303's laboratory to fly their simulator. It wasn't a computer game; it was a hardware-in-the-loop simulator connected to the flight control computer and radar prototype."

Everyone's attention was drawn to him.

Wang Zhen continued: "Chief Gao, you said the J-10C is good, and I agree. That is the best plane I have ever flown. However, when I needed to simultaneously process information from the radar, data link, electronic warfare pod, and ground tower during a combat exercise, my energy was not enough. I had to make choices; I had to give up some information in order to fly the plane well. This is the limit of human beings, and it is also the limit of the aircraft."

He turned around to face everyone in the conference room.

"In the simulator at Plant 303, I experienced for the first time that an aircraft can 'understand' the battlefield better than I do. When the radar detects a target, the flight control system automatically plans the optimal attack route and evasive maneuvers without requiring my intervention. All I need to do is issue the command to 'attack' or 'disengage.' It liberates the pilot from an operator into a decision-maker."

Wang Zhen's speaking pace was not fast, but every word fell like a hammer on everyone's heart.

"Chiefs, experts. The gap between us and our opponents in the future will no longer be how much greater the engine thrust is or how many dozens of kilometers further the radar can see. The real gap is the time it takes for a pilot to make a correct decision on a rapidly changing battlefield. Whoever is 0.1 seconds faster survives."

Finally, he looked at Du Yuze and Shen Qingyun.

"I don't know if their plane can eventually be built. But I can be certain of one thing: their train of thought is correct. This is the path we must take in the future. Rather than painting a wall whiter, it is better to knock it down and see the scenery behind it."

With that, Wang Zhen sat back down, saying nothing more.

The conference room fell into a prolonged silence once again.

Section Chief Liu furrowed his brows tightly. He wanted to refute, but he found that he had no way to refute Wang Zhen's words. He could question the budget and the technology, but he could not question an ace test pilot's judgment on future air combat.

Senior Engineer Gao's expression also changed. He could disparage Plant 303's technology as a laboratory toy, but he could not deny that the combat mode Wang Zhen described was precisely the ultimate goal pursued by air forces worldwide.

The old general had not interrupted anyone's speech the entire time. He listened and thought.

Finally, he picked up the phone on the table and dialed a number.

"Connect me to the Air Force Operations Department of the Military Commission."

A few seconds later, he spoke into the microphone.

"It's me. Regarding the next-generation fighter jet pre-research project, the review meeting has a result today."

He paused and swept his gaze across the room.

"Meeting opinion: Principally approve the establishment of the J-XX project proposed by Plant 303. Yes, that young man's proposal."

Section Chief Liu raised his head abruptly.

"Regarding the funding issue, the General Armament Department and the Air Force will split it four-sixty, allocating a sum of startup funds in advance. The amount doesn't need to be much—just enough for them to expand the software and hardware integration laboratory tenfold, and enough for them to complete the preliminary aerodynamic layout design and wind tunnel testing. Let them speak with results."

Senior Engineer Gao clenched his fists tightly under the table.

"Plant 112's J-10D proposal will proceed simultaneously. Walking on two legs, acting as mutual backups. Tell them this is competition, not internal friction. Whichever proposal can meet the military's needs faster and better, the state will invest resources into it."

The old general's words allowed for no argument.

"That's all. Compile the meeting minutes and report them tomorrow morning."

He hung up the phone and stood up.

"Today's meeting ends here."

He walked up to Du Yuze and handed him the signed pledge of commitment.

"Kid, what was said on the phone is just procedure. This piece of paper is the promise I'm giving you."

The old general's grip was very powerful.

"A military pledge is not for taking credit; well said. But once a battle is won, there must be rewards. I am waiting to celebrate your success."

With that, he turned and strode out of the conference room.

Holding that thin yet overwhelmingly heavy piece of paper, Du Yuze stood at attention and saluted a standard military salute.

It wasn't until everyone else had left the conference room that Shen Qingyun collapsed into a chair as if drained of all strength, feeling that his entire back was soaked through.

Du Yuze walked over to him and patted his shoulder.

"Let's go."

"Where to?"

"Go home and write the report. The war has only just begun."