Munitions Empire

In a factory ten times larger than before, rows of unfinished aircraft are placed at an angle, stretching from the entrance to the deepest parts.

Workers, clad in work attire and special rubber shoes, stand beside the internal supports of these aircraft, intently installing various components.

These aircraft are so massive that they make the adjacent workers appear diminutive. Visiting Air Force representatives are conversing with the workshop director, pointing at the new Yinglong Fighter Jets, offering numerous practical suggestions.

The aircraft's ejection seat ensures that pilots can safely escape even at twice the speed of sound, and the ejection remains effective even when the aircraft is on the brink of crashing.

Such a system is unavailable in other countries, nor do they possess aircraft that can be equipped with it: even if desired, their aircraft's load capacity and cockpit size simply cannot accommodate such an ejection seat.

The internal structure of the new aircraft is complex, and the jet engines are equally difficult to replicate. The industrial crown jewel of the Great Tang Empire continues to belong solely to it, and it will take other countries decades to even attempt to catch up.

The labor achievements of hundreds of thousands of workers in the Great Tang Empire are not easily surpassed. Overtaking on curves requires miracles, and evidently, such miracles have not occurred in the countries of the Eastern Continent.

"The assembly work of the Yinglong Fighters has always gone smoothly. We have the best workers and the best factories," the workshop director proudly introduced his work conditions.

"We need more aircraft. Yinglong's production is the highest priority, so we're counting on you," the military representative said, looking at those aircraft taking shape with satisfaction.

They are hastily manufacturing the new fighter jets, preparing for cross-sea combat. Now, over a hundred Yinglong Fighters are in service and have undergone numerous modifications in the process.

For instance, the latest Yinglong has added optical sensors, allowing the pilot to use the helmet sight to directly lock onto combat targets.

Such advancements sharpen the air combat tactics of Tang Country pilots, making target strikes more efficient.

Additionally, the Great Tang Empire has chosen long-range air-to-air missiles for both Yinglong and Feisha. The latest missiles can target objectives 60 kilometers away—a distance not as the furthest data but one that allows locking onto targets, making escape nearly impossible.

Despite the still hefty cost of the missiles, increased procurement has reduced costs somewhat. The Great Tang Empire plans to equip its air force with 20,000 such missiles, roughly equivalent to the total number of air force planes in other nations.

In addition, the Great Tang Group is also producing short-range combat missiles for the air force, and their performance has been enhanced. At the very least, they can now distinguish between the sun and the exhaust plumes of allied planes.

Advancements in computing allow infrared combat missiles to possess a level of "intelligence," capable of identifying and comparing the basic contours of locked targets to the data in their image libraries to discern the correct target.

Such combat missiles are already very smart, greatly decreasing the opposing aircraft's chance to evade them. Additionally, half of the countries on the Eastern Continent don't even have decent onboard alert systems.

Even with the F-16's reputedly excellent field of view, the pilot's vision still has blind spots, and it's impossible for them to constantly monitor environmental changes while flying. Without alert systems, pilots will be entirely unaware of impending missiles.

They are essentially blind, only realizing they've been attacked after being hit by a missile. Then, they're left only with frantically pulling the ejection seat handle, praying they haven't been penetrated by flying debris.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of better materials and limited aircraft load capacity, most countries have not equipped their planes with better protection for their pilots. Thus, once Tang Country's air-to-air missile hits a target, the pilot's survival chances are very low.

Recently, whether it's the Dwarves who just equipped the Qiangwu or the Elves with the 104 Fighters, or Suthers and the Laines Empire currently equipping other fighter jets, all are pleading with the Great Tang Empire for humanitarian reasons to sell the onboard alert technology to them.

On one hand, they can't afford to keep losing pilots. After all, planes can be replenished, but pilots cannot be trained in a short time.

Pilots today are entirely different from those of past propeller aircraft. They are more professional and advanced. Given such circumstances, no country can possibly roll out squads of thousands or even tens of thousands of pilots as in the past.

In recent years, most countries have only managed to maintain about 1,000 jet fighter pilots, maybe a few hundred more or less.

Further expanding the pilot teams is unlikely, primarily due to cost and time constraints.

Given the undefined tactics, inadequate comprehension of aircraft performance, and extreme passivity on the battlefield, the difficulty of training pilots is imaginable.

So everyone is turning to the Great Tang Empire: if they can improve pilot survival probabilities, allowing shot-down pilots to safely return to the battlefield shortly, it might significantly enhance their air force combat power in a brief period.

Another reason is that countries wish to give their pilots some psychological comfort: no joke, pilots are on edge, not knowing when a missile might strike, seriously impairing their combat readiness.

That kind of silent pressure is the most overwhelming, leading uninformed pilots to have no heart for combat and often outright refusing to take off.

This situation renders nations with thousands of planes almost powerless to fight, making the urgent solution the ability to detect the incoming Tang Army missiles and alert pilots.

After all, such devices would allow pilots to eject early or make evasive maneuvers... In general, such devices would grant every country's air force on the Eastern Continent a bit more courage.

Naturally, the Great Tang Empire did not immediately agree to sell such vital devices. Tang Mo is contemplating whether or not it's worth it to offer this technology.