The day after the visit flight, the two pilots received the notice.
Departing from the empire's homeland, the cargo plane traveling across this continent has already taken off. The Jizhou Squadron is required to wait halfway to take over from the empire's fighter planes and provide escort for this transport plane in the second half of the flight.
The central part of the continent, which is mainly where transport planes pass, is not the core area of the empire. It is an airspace where illegal armed groups such as air pirates and warlords roam. Therefore, in order to avoid accidents, it is necessary for fighter planes to escort the entire journey.
Relevant personnel have already formulated a flight plan for the two fighter planes - after taking off, the fighter planes need to leave Yin Mulan's national border, arrive at the rendezvous point about 500 nautical miles away, and then hover and wait at the rendezvous point. After the cargo plane arrives, it will
Contact through a specific communication channel, and the two fighters of the Jizhou Squadron will join the cargo plane's route, take over from the imperial military aircraft that had been escorting the cargo plane before, and safely escort the cargo plane to Yin Mulan's territory.
This cargo plane is not a military transport plane, but a special cargo plane contracted from a freight company. Since the current situation in Yin Mulan is tense, but it is not a war zone after all, many freight companies are rushing to accept this transportation job.
And to be honest, as long as it is an order from the military, even if it is transportation to a war zone, these freight companies are willing to accept it - after all, by completing the military's commission, they can build a good relationship with the military, and then they can get more orders smoothly.
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The goods transported are said to be basic supplies that Yin Mulan is in urgent need of when the war begins, such as medicines and maintenance parts.
After confirming the mission, two F-15Es in anti-aircraft configuration took off from the Yin Mulan Air Force Base with two external auxiliary fuel tanks and flew eastward according to the predetermined route. They would hover and wait at the rendezvous point in the middle of the continent.
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The farther away from the coastal area, the more desolate the scenery on the ground feels.
Especially in the cold winter season, after flying hundreds of kilometers inland, looking down from an air of 10,000 meters, I feel that the ground is a monotonous earthy color and bare, and not even a hint of green or white snow can be seen. After flying for a while, Wang Yu came to the conclusion that there was nothing interesting about the scenery here.
Let’s look up at the blue sky above our heads, family.
"No. 1, this is No. 2."
Wenxuan suddenly spoke in the communication channel.
Since there is no radio silence rule in the team, Wang Yu said: "No. 2, please speak."
"I personally don't know much about this, but is it common for imperial air force pilots to escort cargo planes?" Wenxuan seemed to have some doubts about this mission, so he asked at this time.
"Of course it's not common. Even if this freight company takes orders from the Air Force, it is still a private enterprise." Wang Yu thinks the answer to this question is obvious. "We escorted him this time simply because this transportation is for the military."
It’s just Fang’s commission.”
"It means that if they are running other civilian businesses and need to fly through such uneven airspace, then they can only rely on themselves, right?"
"Yes, but if they are really in danger and send out a distress signal, the military's fighter planes will still go to help as soon as possible, just like the navy ships that provide escort for ocean-going ships."
Wenxuan expressed his understanding and then stopped talking.
"What should these private freight companies do?" Liu Lingxin, who was sitting in the row behind Wang Yu, had been listening to the conversation between the two, and then asked, "You shouldn't just leave it to fate, right?"
Wang Yu thought for a while and replied: "Generally speaking, the cargo planes of these freight companies will not take the initiative to cross such dangerous airspace. They will choose some safe and stable routes. But if they really have to, they will have to start from the air where theft is rampant."
If they pass through the airspace, they will hire escort fighter pilots from some large security companies registered in the empire to provide them with full escort work."
"Eh?! Is there such a situation?" Liu Lingxin had obviously never paid attention to this aspect before, and was surprised at this time.
"Are you referring to the existence of security companies, or the fact that security companies can hire pilots?"
"They are all there." Liu Lingxin asked, "Isn't a security company a place where rich people hire bodyguards?"
"What you are talking about is called a security company... Large security companies can already be said to be mature systems. They basically carry out military business, such as the 'e&p' company registered in our empire, and the 'River Valley' of the Asia Federation across the sea.
'They all belong to such large military security companies, which have troops that have received complete formal military training and are responsible for providing customers with the services they need. After retiring from the army, many officers will choose to join such security companies as instructors and the like.
of."
"To put it simply, they are mercenaries with national background." Liu Lingxin smartly understood the meaning of Wang Yu's words.
Wang Yu thought for two seconds: "Well, it can be said that mercenaries allowed by the state are responsible for overseas business."
The two F-15Es kept the formation distance and arrived at the scheduled rendezvous point after an hour of flight time.
Wang Yu asked Liu Lingxin to switch the fighter's radio to the corresponding channel as required, and then began to hover and wait.
The automation of fighter planes is a very magical thing. As long as the altitude hold is turned on, the fighter plane is stabilized at a certain height, and then the slope is turned to the side and the attitude hold is turned on. Finally, the autothrottle is turned on, and the fighter plane can achieve a stable height, stable radius and stable speed.
Fully automatic circling.
With the development of fighter aircraft, the degree of automation will become higher and higher, and the workload of pilots will become less and less.
After circling about a circle and a half with a radius of ten kilometers around the rendezvous point, they received a call on this channel from an Imperial fighter plane.
"This is the Star Alliance Empire cargo plane transport formation, approaching the rendezvous point."
The person responsible for communication should be a certain fighter plane, which provides escort for the cargo plane during the first half of its flight as it takes off.
According to intelligence, Wang Yu knew that the escort fighter team was codenamed "Cross Star".
Since the flight altitude at this time is above 10,000 meters, the outside temperature is about minus 40 degrees, and the air humidity is sufficient, so when the high-temperature exhaust gas emitted from the tail nozzle of the jet engine condenses immediately after encountering the cold air
, forming a trail cloud that can be clearly seen even when standing on the ground and raising one's head.
At this time, as long as a jet aircraft is flying at this altitude, it will drag a "cloud belt" along its flight path.
It looks magnificent, like a fighter plane actively smoking.
Similarly, such contrail clouds can also help pilots observe the positions of other aircraft.
This time, without even entering Eileen's direct forced discovery range, Wang Yu used his outstanding strength to capture several white lines on the horizon.
This is the cargo plane they will escort on this trip.
Wang Yu spoke to Wenxuan, and then the two fighter planes began to speed up, preparing to take the initiative to approach the cargo plane formation.
At the same time, he connected to the communication: "Cross Star, this is the end of the day. We have arrived at the rendezvous point and have obtained visual contact with you. We are located at the three o'clock direction at the same altitude as you."
"I see you, um, very good. This is Cross Star. The formation has arrived at the rendezvous point at the scheduled time, and we will hand over the cargo plane to you."
"Received, we will take over the escort mission. You can leave. Thank you for your help."
"Transfer escort rights and we begin to leave."
Wang Yu saw that the track clouds in front of him suddenly separated. Two of the track clouds pulled out a beautiful arc and began to turn sideways and descend in altitude, while the remaining one maintained its original flight altitude and altitude.
The heading remains unchanged.
Presumably it was the two planes of the Cross Star Squadron that broke away.
Like a relay, the two sides completed the handover of the escort mission in a few words.
No nonsense, the Cross Star Squadron turned around and left.
Wang Yu switched the channel to one that could communicate with the cargo plane, and then called: "Cargo No. 1, this is the Imperial Air Force's Jishi Squadron, which is about to take over the escort mission of the flight formation. Please reply after confirming receipt."
"Received, nice to meet you." The pilot of the cargo plane said immediately, and at the same time began to report his flight status, "Our current altitude is 11 kilometers, Mach number 0.83, and heading 290."
Wang Yu couldn't help but curl his lips when he heard this data. This guy was flying so fast, and he had to push the accelerator to keep up.
In fact, the maximum cruising speed of a large passenger aircraft can reach Mach 0.9, which is more than 900 kilometers per hour.
So don’t underestimate such big aircraft, these things can cruise faster than most fighter planes.
After complaining about how awesome the engine was, Wang Yu drove a fighter plane close to the cargo plane that was flying smoothly.
"We will join you from your right."
The two F-15Es remained in formation, shortening the distance between the two sides, and soon flew beside the cargo plane.
Then Wang Yu pushed the accelerator slightly to let the fighter's speed climb. At the same time, he used radar to measure the proximity rate with the cargo plane. He soon approached not far from the side of the cargo plane. Then he stabilized the speed, adjusted the direction, and finally steadily
The companion flew about one nautical mile away from the left wing of the cargo plane.
Wenxuan, according to Wang Yu's arrangement, went to the right side of the cargo plane.
The fleet formed like this at an altitude of nearly 10,000 meters.
"It's a cargo plane converted from a wide-body double-decker civil aviation aircraft." This mission basically had nothing to do with Liu Lingxin, so she looked at the cargo plane attentively and accurately recognized the model of the cargo plane. "This kind of cargo plane
The machine can hold a lot of things. It seems that the empire sent a lot of materials to Yin Mulan this time. Is the relationship between the two countries really so good?"
"These supplies are not free aid from the empire." Wang Yu smiled, "Guess, who are the crude oil from the oil fields along the coast of Yin Mulan and the extracted seabed natural gas mainly supplied at low prices?"
Liu Lingxin was stunned: "...So it's not free assistance?"
"Of course it's not free assistance. No matter how good the relationship between the empire and Yin Mulan is, they still have to settle their accounts." Wang Yu said, "Isn't this normal?"