Chapter One Hundred and Four: Project Report, Part One

Time naturally passed quickly, and the formal briefing on the new aircraft design to the higher authorities and the foreign side was about to begin. The prearranged scale model had already been completed, and it looked exquisite, perfectly capturing the aircraft’s aerodynamic profile.

When everyone had arrived, Yang Hui still had not seen the chief designer the institute director had mentioned. It seemed he had truly failed to show up. Yet among the delegation from the republic, Yang Hui spotted a familiar figure: Marshal Nie, the very man who had once arranged his fate.

In fact, the chief designer had intended to come in person, but an important emergency had arisen at the last moment, so another figure capable of holding the line was sent instead.

That man was Marshal Nie. Among the ten founding marshals, he was the one who had done the best in military industry and scientific research. The two bombs and one satellite program had been personally overseen by him. It was also during that period that Yang Hui was born, lost his parents, and then encountered Marshal Nie.

By 1983, Marshal Nie was already among the nation’s highest leaders, so coming to preside over the new aircraft review meeting was entirely appropriate. Beside him was his daughter, Nie Li; in 1983 she happened to be serving as vice director and secretary-general of the Science and Technology Committee under the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, so her appearance here was perfectly normal.

Behind them came the deputy director from the Commission for Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense, whom Yang Hui knew, while the others were less familiar to him. By the time Yang Hui, in later years, truly had the chance to deal with the ministries in the capital, these people had long since stepped down.

The conference room was very large. The front row was reserved for important figures, including the foreign-side leaders, Prince Sultan and Madad. The lesser figures naturally sat farther back. As for Yang Hui and the people from the Shenyang Institute, they sat behind the leaders as well, but the two sides were clearly separated, and at a glance it was obvious they were the opposing camps in this round of “competition.”

The numbers, however, were wildly unbalanced. The base side, all told, had just over ten people. Looking at the opposition, it was a sea of heads; one glance made it obvious that the Shenyang Institute had abundant manpower and that, with so many people working together, the new aircraft would surely be turned into a combat-ready force in no time.

Seeing that the promised chief designer had not come and Marshal Nie had come instead, Director Bai was puzzled and also a little worried.

“Yang Hui, now that the chief designer isn’t here, the pressure on you is even greater. Don’t be afraid. The chief engineer and I are both firmly backing you.”

Hearing that Director Bai was still worried about him, Yang Hui smiled. So what if the chief designer did not come? With Marshal Nie here instead, he felt even more assured. After all, back then Marshal Nie had personally looked into Yang Hui’s life and, in the end, arranged for him to be taken in by the marshal’s own guard, which was now the old man in Yang Hui’s home.

Before the old man retired, he had often taken Yang Hui to Marshal Nie’s house. If one were to speak of it, there was indeed some fate between Yang Hui and Marshal Nie.

“It’s all right. Everyone can relax. When I was little, I was often taken by the old man at home to visit Marshal Nie, so I’m not at all unfamiliar with him.”

With that, Yang Hui inadvertently revealed the truth and, at the same time, put on quite the show. This raised his standing in the eyes of the people at the base to a new height, something Yang Hui himself had not expected.

Hearing that Yang Hui had known Marshal Nie since childhood, the leaders from the base were both surprised and delighted. In that case, choosing Yang Hui to give the presentation had truly been the right decision.

The meeting began. Marshal Nie offered a few brief remarks, then sat down and let the others speak. Leaders of his rank would never care for long-winded speeches.

After that, representatives from the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, the military, the foreign side, and the aviation ministry all took turns speaking. Even the Foreign Affairs Ministry, which seemed only loosely connected, made a token appearance. Since the project involved foreign funding, the Foreign Affairs Ministry had to come and have a look.

At last, the formalities were over, and they moved on to the main point. According to the arrangement, the first presentation would be given by the Shenyang Design Institute. Putting their briefing first was the aviation ministry’s only real concession to them—but did speaking first necessarily help? The failure of Project Ten last time was a cautionary tale.

At that moment, a man from the crowd on the Shenyang side stepped forward. He looked the part, dressed and carrying himself like a true research professional. One could tell at a glance that he was technically capable. The later prominence of the Shenyang Institute, which produced so many academicians, had not come about by accident; it was the result of years of accumulated technical depth.

He took his place at the front and displayed the slides. The big screen now showed the Shenyang Institute’s new proposal.

When Yang Hui saw the new design from the Shenyang Institute, he could hardly stop himself from cursing under his breath. This design... could you people be any lazier?

The images on the screen were not especially clear, but the general aerodynamic layout could still be made out: single-engine, belly intake, a mid-swept wing with leading-edge extensions similar to the F-16, and leading-edge maneuver flaps. The wing arrangement was virtually indistinguishable from the American F-16. The only difference, if one had to point to one, was that the new aircraft lacked the tail boom at the rear; everything else, down to the horizontal tail, had been made the same as the F-16, with a single vertical fin.

Looking at this layout, one could only feel that they were gearing up to develop a two-seat trainer based on the F-16. What exactly was the Shenyang Institute trying to do?

Prince Sultan, seated nearby, could no longer remain calm. Seeing this familiar yet unfamiliar fighter, he turned and quietly asked Madad what on earth was going on.

“Madad, have you revised the requirements? Are they supposed to copy the F-16 two-seat trainer?”

It was not only Prince Sultan who could not make sense of it; Madad could not either. What exactly was China trying to do here? Hadn’t it been agreed that they would cooperate with the 0011 Base in the southwest to develop a new trainer? Then the Shenyang Institute was inserted, with the explanation that having an additional plan would be safer, and they accepted that.

But now they had produced something like this. The most important task, after all, was still training on the J-7. Training Pakistani F-16 pilots was only a side assignment. Yet from the new aircraft alone, there was absolutely no sign of any connection to the J-7 at all.

Seeing that the leaders below had no comment on the new aircraft’s aerodynamic layout, the Shenyang presenter began introducing this “new trainer.”

“According to the requirements put forward by the Pakistani side, the new aircraft needs to be able to train F-16 pilots, so we conducted an in-depth analysis. After continuous design trade-offs, we arrived at this aerodynamic solution. Yes, it looks very much like the American F-16, but it is in fact a completely different aircraft.”

When the interpreter translated the words, Prince Sultan shook his head firmly, signaling that he did not understand.

“Hello, we do not need such an aircraft. If we need F-16s, Saudi Arabia can buy them directly from the United States. I honestly cannot see any major difference between your plane and the F-16. Are you copying the F-16?”

Hearing the Saudi side accuse them of copying the American F-16, the people from the Shenyang Institute were about to explode. What did he mean, copying the American F-16? Our new aircraft was modified from the J-7. Admittedly, the changes were quite extensive, and some aerodynamic design ideas from the J-13 had been referenced in the process, but this was absolutely original. Original. When the J-13 was designed, no one had even known about the American F-16.

After seeing and hearing so much, everything finally became clear.

The Shenyang Institute was being even bolder than the base. Yang Hui’s side had merely been borrowing a hen to lay eggs, but the Shenyang Institute had turned it into borrowing a corpse to bring it back to life. What corpse were they borrowing? The corpse of the J-7 trainer. And what spirit were they returning? The spirit of the J-13. To put it more plainly, they were preparing for the later struggle over Project Ten.

Once he understood that, Yang Hui no longer held out any hope that the Shenyang Institute would succeed in cutting in and taking over this opportunity. What the Shenyang Institute was trying to do was make a trainer based directly on the F-16, which was an outright third-generation aircraft. They had selectively magnified one point in Pakistan’s requirements for the new trainer: the need to train on the F-16.

They were taking an unconventional approach, trying to use this trainer project to hitch themselves to the new Project Ten as well. In 1983, the choice of which方案 Project Ten would adopt was still under discussion, though the military clearly favored the 611 Institute’s plan. If the Shenyang Institute wanted to reverse its disadvantage, it would have to seize the new trainer project. Then it could merge the new trainer project with the Shenyang Institute’s Project Ten design plan.

By then, with up to 450 million dollars of foreign investment on the table, they could naturally seize Project Ten at home as well. The Shenyang Institute’s calculations were not to be dismissed; through the foreign side’s need for F-16 training in the new trainer, they were trying to pry open two projects at once.

If it succeeded, then rather than saying the foreign side had invested in a new trainer, it would be more accurate to say it had invested in the Shenyang Institute’s Project Ten plan.

But this scheme was destined to fail. The Pakistani side already had an F-16 two-seat trainer. Their proposal to use the new aircraft for part of the F-16 flight training syllabus was only meant to save costs. The new trainer’s primary purpose was still training on the J-7. If it could not train on the J-7, then there was nothing more to say.