Chapter 696: Astronaut Squad

Above the blue sky.

Accompanied by the roar of the high-speed airflow, the two fighter planes flew past one after the other, shuttled back and forth up and down the tumbling clouds, and chased each other.

Biting the ass of the plane in front, the sight had already locked on the tail flame of the fighter ahead. Nie Yun, holding the joystick in his hand, took a deep breath and pressed the launch button with his thumb.

Soon, the voice of the ground exercise command post came to my ears.

"Hit the target."

"Prepare for the next subject drill."

Won!

Relieved, Nie Yun stretched out his hand to loosen the edge of the helmet, and replied calmly.

"receive."

It is naturally impossible to use live ammunition in the usual confrontation drills. Instead, they are replaced by photoelectric transmitting and receiving devices installed on the two aircraft. After aiming at the opponent, the beam is launched as a substitute for the missile. If it hits the target, the photoelectric receiving device on the target aircraft receives a signal, and the exercise command post will announce that it has hit the target, and the "shot down" aircraft will exit the exercise.

Of course, the confrontation exercise is only a part of the entire exercise, and it is naturally impossible to return to the voyage before the entire exercise is over.

After the exercise headquarters announced that the previous aircraft had been shot down, the two fighter planes "turned enemies into friends", changed their flight formations and began heading to the designated airspace, ready to start the next exercise.

Just as Nie Yun was gearing up to start the next exercise subject, the voice of the exercise command post suddenly came from his ear.

"The exercise is over, return immediately."

Exercise over?

Nie Yun was stunned.

Surprisingly, he replied anyway.

"Received, the exercise is over, and we are returning."

Looking at the blue sky for the last time, Nie Yun raised his right hand and gave a thumbs up to the comrades in the cockpit of the friendly plane next to him. Immediately afterwards, he swung the joystick, operated the J-20, and returned in the direction of the air force base.

...

Accompanied by the roar of the huge airflow, after a brief shake of the silver-gray fighter, the rear wheels of the landing gear firmly touched the runway. After a brief period of taxiing, the parachute ejected backwards, dragging the fighter plane taxiing on the runway to a slow stop.

The ground crew rushed forward, and the canopy slowly opened.

After handing over the pilot's helmet to the ground crew, Nie Yun followed in the footsteps of the captain of the flight test team, walked to stand in front of the officer, and gave a military salute.

The stern-faced officer returned a military salute.

"This is the Nie Yun I told you about, the J20 test pilot, the ace of our flight test team."

He looked away from the J20 not far away, looked at the test pilot, and nodded slowly.

"Comrade Nie Yun, you have worked hard in training."

Nie Yun replied cleanly: "It's not hard, this amount of training is very common for our flight test team."

Looking at the energetic young man in front of him, he nodded approvingly.

After pausing for a moment, he put on a serious expression and spoke.

"Our Air Force Equipment Department has a critical mission and needs two excellent pilots. Now I need to ask for your opinion, whether to go or not, you just need to answer my sentence."

Air Force Materiel's mission?

Is it testing some new weapon?

Thinking of this, Nie Yun's heart suddenly became hot.

"Where the organization needs me to go, I will go there."

Smiled: "Have you thought about it clearly? Don't even ask what the task is?"

Even if you ask me about this kind of confidentiality, you can't tell me...

With such thoughts in his heart, Nie Yun answered sonorously without changing his expression.

"Think it over!"

nodded.

"Row."

"Then from now on, your organization will be transferred from the flight test brigade to the astronaut brigade."

Air...

Astronaut brigade? !

The moment he heard these words, Nie Yun was dumbfounded.

...

It's impossible not to be disappointed.

Nie Yun never expected that the Air Force Equipment Department would assign him to the astronaut brigade. And the so-called mission turned out to be to test a space shuttle manufactured by a private enterprise that cooperates with the national defense unit, which is the so-called Xiangrui.

Although the astronaut brigade is not bad anymore, and those who can enter are elites selected from a million, but when he thinks that he can no longer drive the -20 and gallop in that fascinating blue sky, he still feels a little bit disappointed .

However, obeying orders is the bounden duty of a soldier, and there is nothing to complain about if you are lost.

Thinking of this, he temporarily put aside the thoughts in his heart, and turned his gaze to the young man standing opposite him.

Is this the legendary Professor Lu?

Apart from being... a little handsome, he doesn't seem to have much in common.

While the two pilots were secretly looking at Lu Zhou, Lu Zhou, who was holding a document in his hand, was also observing them carefully.

Of course, the focus of his attention is not the appearance of the two, but whether they have the basic qualities to become a qualified astronaut.

【Nie Yun, male, age 32, driving J-10, J-20...】

[Nie Han, female, age 29, pilots H-6, Yun-20, Yun-8...]

Temporarily averting his gaze from the file in his hand, Lu Zhou looked at the two and asked a question.

"Are you brothers and sisters?"

The two replied in unison: "Yes."

Lu Zhou asked out of curiosity: "How did you choose?"

The woman with neat short hair replied very simply, "The chief asked me if I wanted to fly higher, and I said yes, so he let me come."

Although there is nothing wrong with this answer, I don't know why Lu Zhou always feels a little bit funny.

Coughing lightly, Lu Zhou continued to look at Nie Yun.

"And you?"

Nie Yun replied briefly: "The order of the chief."

Seeing something from that expression, Lu Zhou nodded clearly.

Returning his gaze to the file in his hand, he said casually while turning the next page.

"Although the Xiangrui is not a fighter jet or a bomber, I guarantee that flying it will be more interesting than the latter two, and... the meaning of this will be more noble than the latter. I guarantee that many people will envy you at that time, you Comrades in arms will regard you as their pride, so, no matter what you think, it is enough to do what I tell you."

To be honest, if it wasn’t for the space agency’s refusal to approve, Director Li of the Science and Industry Bureau would even call him in the middle of the night to ask him what he was thinking. Lu Zhou really wanted to be the test pilot for the first flight. His improved physical fitness may not necessarily be worse than that of ordinary pilots.

But whatever, don't agree.

When the technology is mature and safe, there is always a chance to go to heaven, and there is no need to grab this first time.

After reading the information in his hand from beginning to end, Lu Zhou cleared his throat, looked at the two and continued to ask.

"How much do you know about space shuttles?"

Nie Yun: "An aircraft that can travel to and from outer space and the atmosphere."

Nie Han reacted a little slowly, hesitated for a while, and said, "My opinion is the same as my brother's."

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded: "That's right, but these words cannot summarize all the characteristics of the space shuttle. Before getting on the space shuttle, I hope you can have a comprehensive understanding of it."

"In the next three months, there will be special people responsible for teaching you what our space shuttle is, how to operate it, and most importantly... how to save yourself in case of an accident."

"The task is very heavy, and the time is only three months. I hope you can go all out."

The two pilots stood up straight and answered neatly.

"Yes!"