Homo Sapiens

May 25th, 2021.

Hongsawaddy.

Kachin State. The Qingye Airlines Company aircraft manufacturing base in Mengguan Town.

After a torrential downpour, the sky was still blanketed by dark clouds.

The MiG-25 production line, which had completed its debugging over a week ago, officially began assembling the first batch of 20 fighter jets today.

Carl, Wang Haoran, and the others personally participated in the assembly work.

This was a drawback of the old production line. Even after modern automated upgrades, some processes could still only be done by manual assembly.

Two engines, extremely similar in design to the R15B-300 turbojet engines used by the MiG-25, appeared on the hoisting platform.

Wang Haoran asked in a low voice, ”Are these the improved Chixin turbojet engines from our factory?”

Mu Ziying, who had also come to help, replied with a smile, ”Yes. This is one wild heart.”

According to Qingye Aviation’s internal renaming scheme, this heavily modified version of the MiG-25 would naturally not use its old name. Instead, it was designated the ”Osprey-1” fighter jet, or ”Osprey” for short.

After replacing a series of components with new materials, the Osprey’s empty weight was only 7.3 tons.

Meanwhile, the two Chixin turbojet engines increased the Osprey’s thrust by 35.2%, with a 6.3% increase in fuel consumption at maximum power output.

An extremely powerful bio-chip formed the Osprey’s super-brain, capable of achieving perfect human-machine synchronization with a New Human pilot.

Some of the Osprey fighter’s current parameters are as follows:

External dimensions are basically identical to the MiG-25.

Engine Thrust: Maximum thrust 2 x 116.59 kN, afterburner thrust 2 x 148.39 kN.

Airframe Empty Weight: 7.3 tons.

Normal Takeoff Weight: 43.5 tons.

Maximum Takeoff Weight: 47.5 tons.

Internal Fuel Tank Capacity: 14.5 tons.

Payload: 21.7 tons.

Maximum Speed: Mach 3.7.

Normal Cruise Range: 4,432 km, or 5,658 km with auxiliary fuel tanks.

Supersonic Range: 1,532 km, or 2,021 km with auxiliary fuel tanks.

Among these stats, the most critical were engine thrust, payload, and range. Clearly, the Osprey fighter had seen massive improvements in these three areas compared to the original MiG-25.

This was mainly due to improvements in engine technology and the aircraft’s integrated supercomputer system, which reduced the Osprey’s fuel consumption to only 46.8% of the MiG-25’s at cruising speed.

As long as it didn’t push past Mach 3, the Osprey’s range would be significantly greater.

For perspective, the D-30F6 turbofan engines used in the MiG-31, which Lucia later developed based on the MiG-25, only had a maximum thrust of 93.1 kN per engine and an afterburner thrust of 151.9 kN.

These figures were nearly on par with the Chixin engine.

As a heavy fighter, the Osprey was actually more powerful than its contemporaries in the same class, like the Su-27 and F-15.

After all, its 21.7-ton payload was enough to blow a whole host of other fighters in its class out of the water.

And the increase in payload was mainly due to the weight saved by using new materials.

Furthermore, thanks to the assistance of the supercomputer, the Osprey had also shed the MiG-25’s clumsy performance in low-altitude, low-speed dogfights.

After all, the human brain is suited for fuzzy analysis and creative inspiration; in terms of reaction speed and knowledge reserves, it can hardly compete with a bio-computer.

During a dogfight, a pilot’s reaction speed and calm composure are often put to the ultimate test.

In this regard, a New Human assisted by a supercomputer could basically dominate a normal human.

The Hongshawa Air Force and Qingye Aviation had run several simulated battles with the supercomputer. In aerial combat simulations where a New Human piloted the Osprey, they achieved a win rate of around 86%.

Those failed combat logs weren’t actually complete failures, either. They were instances of being swarmed by enemies or facing super-saturation attacks.

After all, even an army of ants can take down an elephant.

In the simulations, the computer didn’t care about one-on-one duels; its only goal was to win. Therefore, the computer would use every resource at its disposal and employ any means necessary.

New Humans were still human, after all. Faced with a relentless computer, even they sometimes couldn’t hold their ground.

Through repeated combat simulations, not only did Hongsawaddy’s confidence soar, but Qingye Aviation also grew much more self-assured.

Previously, many of Qingye Aviation’s engineers and designers had thought the MiG-25 was obsolete and that it was a waste of time for the company to build it.

Now, they finally understood.

The assembly work proceeded in an orderly manner.

Watching the Osprey fighter take shape before their eyes, everyone grew uncontrollably excited. They all wanted to see the Osprey soar through the blue sky as soon as possible.

The excited engineers and technicians practically forsook food and sleep, throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the assembly work.

「Over half a month later.」

The first Osprey fighter was finally assembled and underwent a comprehensive inspection.

The air force also sent a professional ground crew and five test pilots.

Coincidentally, the area around Kachin State had been experiencing drizzly and overcast weather recently.

The neighbors to the west and north could lock onto the aircraft’s position with high-powered radar.

However, the Osprey’s fuselage was coated in a very thin layer of heat-resistant, radar-absorbent material, making the probability of a radar lock very low.

The pilot, equipped with a pistol and an auxiliary exoskeleton, sat in the cockpit and pressed the button to close the canopy.

[System self-check initiated...]

[Fuel level: 14.5 tons...]

[Air intakes clear of foreign object debris...]

[Avionics systems all normal...]

The pilot communicated with the control tower for a moment, then pressed the engine ignition switch.

Instantly, the engine nozzles spewed pale blue flames. The flames rhythmically pulsed with miniature shockwaves—the aftershocks of the detonation waves within the engine.

The Osprey rapidly accelerated down the runway.

Liftoff.

Watching the fighter jet once again soar into the blue sky, Carl and Mikoyan exchanged a glance, both their faces revealing uncontrollable excitement.

The pilot activated the onboard supercomputer’s synchronization system, then began performing various low-altitude, low-speed dogfighting maneuvers.

If a fighter jet specializing in low-altitude dogfights were present, it would likely have a hard time contending with the Osprey.

After all, both the Osprey and its pilot were basically using cheat codes.

After a series of maneuvers, the Osprey began to climb, fully demonstrating its true nature as a high-altitude, high-speed fighter.

However, since Kachin State is a border region, with borders to the east, west, and north, supersonic flight was only possible by heading south.

The Mach cone generated by supersonic flight became somewhat visible, even within the overcast cloud layer.

The pilot pushed the throttle all the way forward.

The Osprey entered a ’berserk mode’. The detonation waves inside its engine’s combustion chamber surged instantaneously, unleashing a burst of power so terrifying it could tear a normal engine apart, forcefully pushing the jet to its limit of Mach 3.7.

After burning through more than half his fuel and flying over seven hundred kilometers south, the pilot finally ceased his violent acceleration. He then entered cruising speed and flew back in the most fuel-efficient manner.

Upon returning to the airport, Carl, Mikoyan, Wang Haoran, Mu Ziying, and all the other engineers burst into a simultaneous cheer.

After several minutes of celebration, Carl clapped his hands. ”Alright, colleagues, we’ll split into two groups. One group will coordinate with the flight tests and keep maintenance logs. The other group will focus all their efforts on assembling the remaining fighters.”

”Alright!”

”I can’t hold back anymore. I’m ready to go all out.”

”Hahaha...”

Both groups worked very smoothly. After all, the reason they chose the MiG-25 in the first place was because it was cheap and came with a complete, well-developed set of blueprints.

The Osprey fighter’s aerodynamic layout and internal component placement were largely unchanged; it had merely reduced the weight of its parts and improved their overall performance.

The few modifications that were made were primarily to the engines.

As the twenty Osprey fighters were progressively assembled, the testing process also accelerated due to the increased number of test samples, and all kinds of test data were rapidly accumulating.

This test data was actually crucial, as it would inform future fighter improvements and provide the onboard supercomputer with more operational models.

And this series of tests, obviously, could not be completely hidden from the outside world.

After all, supersonic flight produces sonic booms, and people in some parts of Hongsawaddy were already aware that planes had been flying around in the sky these past few days.