CHAPTER 364: CHAPTER 170: LENDING A HAND

"The mercenaries have arrived in Han Shui City."

Inside Base 011, Chen Jian finished reading the intelligence from Han Shui City.

"These mercenaries really aren’t very strong. We gave them so much equipment, and nearly a hundred people fought one level-four creature, yet there were still over a dozen casualties. I really have to hand it to them."

Hearing this, Lei Jie shrugged and said:

"Have you ever thought that, to them, this is actually a great victory?"

"They took down a level-four creature at the cost of only a dozen people."

"If every mercenary group had such terrifying loss ratios, I guess all the large creatures in this world would have been wiped out."

"...That’s also true."

Chen Jian nodded helplessly and then said:

"Anyway, focus on building the airplanes and increasing the number of balloons."

"Once the planes are ready, they should immediately support Han Shui City. There’s still a level-three creature there, and with their current strength, I guess they won’t be able to stop it."

"Understood, I will make arrangements."

Lei Jie replied:

"I’ve already serviced the aerial bombs; most of them are still usable."

"The prototype should be able to carry at least two 250 kg aerial bombs, which should be enough to deal with a level-three creature."

"However, the biggest problem now isn’t the plane, but the pilot."

"I was originally considering letting Zeng Yi or Ji Xing fly, but on second thought, they might not actually learn this... I might have to go myself."

"Isn’t the risk a bit too high?"

Chen Jian frowned and said:

"This thing doesn’t have an ejection seat. Are you sure you can fly it?"

"Not a big deal."

Lei Jie scratched his head, then answered:

"The Mosquito is very light, and even without power, it can glide and land smoothly."

"Moreover, our structure is simple, and the design has enough power redundancy. If worst comes to worst, just pull the nose up and land vertically, which can keep the descent rate within a safe range."

"...Sounds nice when you say it."

Chen Jian looked at Lei Jie, his expression serious, and said:

"You have to understand, your value is far greater than that of an aircraft."

"Losing a plane is a small matter; if something happens to you, it’s a big deal."

"So my suggestion is still to sacrifice some payload to install an autopilot system for transitional training use."

"Let others learn to operate it with the help of the autopilot system; you shouldn’t go up yourself."

"That’s impossible."

Lei Jie shook his head and said:

"This is the first aircraft we have built; its significance is immense."

"I have to be the first to fly it, no choice."

"However, I’m already considering the autopilot system. By dismantling a swarm robot, we can achieve autopilot within the signal range, which isn’t difficult."

"Of course, being autopilot doesn’t mean entirely unmanned; our goal has always been long-distance combat. If we add signal limitations, the aircraft would be virtually useless."

"So, no matter what, we still need to train our own pilots."

"Any candidates?"

After Lei Jie finished speaking, Chen Jian asked accordingly.

"Not yet — but haven’t those residents from Qian Island Lake Town been operating excavators these days?"

"That’s our preliminary screening. Theoretically speaking, anyone who can operate an excavator well shouldn’t have trouble flying a plane."

"Wow, is that really a valid comparison?"

Chen Jian shook his head with a helpless laugh, but after thinking it over, he realized Lei Jie might have a point.

Is flying a plane really that difficult?

In fact, during World War II, the average training for German Army pilots was only about 160 hours, and that was for selecting high-speed fighter pilots.

They needed to learn many complex flight maneuvers and how to aim, shoot, maneuver, disengage, handle emergencies, take off, and land.

Training in these extra maneuvers took up at least 90% of a pilot’s total training time.

And if the requirement is merely to get airborne and rely on an electro-optical gunsight to accurately drop bombs...

It might only take two hours.

After all, even the takeoff and landing maneuvers could be handled by autopilot.

Thinking of this, Chen Jian suddenly felt relieved.

"Then choose yourself; by this standard, there are quite a few residents who could be pilots."

"However, I suggest you still prioritize selection from within the Huaxia Army first."

"After all, this is also a kind of honor, and if outsiders surpass insiders, it would be a pretty negative factor for our team management."

"I understand."

Lei Jie nodded, walked out of the 011 fortification with Chen Jian, and continued to say:

"The ammonia synthesis plant is expected to start its first batch of production tomorrow. Once ammonia water is made, we can begin producing nitric acid."

"The platinum and rhodium catalysts are in place, and the equipment is in production. It’s expected that the first batch of nitric acid can be produced in three days."

"That fast?"

Chen Jian asked curiously:

"Platinum is easy enough to explain, but where did the rhodium come from?"

"We have some inventory ourselves, but most were collected from the Ring Chamber of Commerce — He Shuo instructed them to gather a large number of car catalytic converters, which are basically enough for us."

"Smart."

Chen Jian said, impressed:

"I was initially considering whether we would need to find a warehouse stocked with a large inventory of rhodium to try our luck."

"Eventually, we will have to. The greater the output, the greater the catalyst consumption."

"Instead of recycling deactivated catalysts, it’s simpler to dig up graves and try our luck."

"But that’s something to worry about much later. For now... we’ll make do."