49: Pilot Yu Xu, victorious in battle after battle, making great achievements in the sky!

“Are you kidding me? You’re saying the U.S. Military fighter jet was shot down by that fighter jet from Darwin City?”

“How is that possible!”

“They haven’t even entered the engagement zone yet.”

“There must be something shady going on. Were those military experts bribed by the Anti-War Army?”

“What are you talking about? If they were bribed, it would be by the U.S. Military, right? Accept reality, the first victory goes to Darwin City, haha, though I don’t know how this result came about…”

Now, with a global audience flooding into the live stream, there are various camps and stances, mainly divided into two categories.

The Western camp naturally favored the U.S. Military, while the anti-Western camp, based on the principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, naturally preferred Darwin City.

Both sides engaged in a fierce online debate.

Then, the host and commentator of the live stream finally came out to clarify.

“Let me tell everyone what happened.”

“The outcome of this first match lies in the fact that most people, including the U.S. Military pilot Gabreski, fell into habitual thinking.”

“The biggest framework restriction for this duel is that both sides can only use traditional dogfighting + autocannon combat mode, and cannot use fire control radar to assist in locking onto enemy aircraft, so aiming can only be done visually when shooting.”

“The range of the F35A’s autocannon is only a few hundred meters, specifically, an effective range within 500 meters.”

“Fighter jets are almost always in a high-speed state, and the accuracy of autocannons is low. They usually only open fire when both enemy and friendly aircraft enter the range of 200-300 meters.”

“So most people would assume that the engagement radius of both sides would not be beyond 500 meters.”

“The pilot Gabreski probably thought the same.”

“But on the Darwin City side, the female pilot named Yu Xu was different.”

“According to the data, she should be a novice. She might not have the concept of a fighter jet’s close-range engagement radius and would attack once she discovered an enemy aircraft.”

“So you see, after both fighter jets entered the combat airspace, Yu Xu’s fighter jet deliberately adjusted its direction of advance, keeping it almost on the same straight line as Gabreski’s fighter jet body, and then Yu Xu opened fire.”

“The range of the F35’s autocannon is only a few hundred meters, but when Yu Xu opened fire, the linear distance between the two aircraft was over one kilometer.”

“Since fire control radar assistance for locking is not enabled, both sides can only visually lock onto targets and open fire. In both sides’ vision, the opposing aircraft body is facing directly, and the size of the nose is roughly a small white dot. In this situation, it is neither easy to aim nor within the range, so it should not have been fired at this moment.”

“But note, the aircraft itself is also flying at high speed. The initial velocity of the autocannon superimposed on the speed of the fighter jet, plus the fact that the two aircraft were flying directly towards each other, meant that the actual range effect already exceeded the original range, and the autocannon hit the enemy aircraft.”

“So, in this case, Gabreski himself made a conceptual error.”

“Although fifth-generation fighter pilots adopt beyond-visual-range combat and do not primarily focus on close-range dogfighting, since this rule was established, he should have had various psychological pre-judgments, but he clearly did not. Even with the opposing aircraft’s nose pointing directly at him, he still held onto the old idea that the autocannon’s range was only a few hundred meters.”

“Of course, there is another factor.”

“The aircraft models are consistent. The number of autocannon rounds on the F35A is only between 150 and 180, and will not exceed 200 at most. However, the autocannon’s rate of fire is 3300 rounds per minute, meaning the fighter jet can only fire continuously for a maximum of 4 seconds. This causes the pilot to maintain a certain cautious mindset about opening fire, otherwise, if they fire prematurely and run out of ammunition, there will be no ammunition available.”

“Gabreski assumed the opponent thought the same way, he guessed wrong, and he lost.”

“Of course, the most dramatic thing about this first aerial combat was not the decisive loss or the clean win, but the incredibly good luck of the pilot Yu Xu.”

“Aiming visually from a long distance at the start, she only fired once, and she actually hit.”

After the commentator finished his lengthy explanation, the audience in the live stream suddenly understood and exclaimed:

“So novices have a BUFF bonus! They dare to attack from far away, almost like blind firing.”

“Yu Xu’s luck is truly boundless, but I’m very happy, haha, the U.S. Military’s misfortune is my greatest source of joy—”

U.S. military base.

Aris was furious again in his office, smashing another coffee cup.

He pointed at the Air Force Lieutenant General in front of him and cursed incessantly.

“Mabry, is this the pilot you chose? He was shot down in just one encounter, and after he landed, he still had the nerve to complain, saying he was attacked from outside the domain and that the American military cheated!”

“Fuck you—”

The general was splattered with saliva on his face but didn’t utter a single word in defense.

After Aris vented his anger, another general cautiously advised: “Commander, this is indeed Lieutenant General Mabry’s dereliction of duty for choosing a careless pilot, but the reprimand should wait until the entire aerial combat duel is over.”

“After all, there are two more matches, and we are already behind.”

The ground battle in the morning ended in a 3:3 tie.

The decisive match was in the afternoon.

It was a best-of-three series, and the American military had already won one round, gaining the initiative.

Aris also calmed down and looked at Air Force Lieutenant General Mabry.

“Mabry, I won’t say anything more. The second aerial combat, we must win!”

“Yes!” Lieutenant General Mabry responded loudly, his legs almost sparking from the forceful movement, showing his current mood.

For this second match, after careful selection by the U.S. Military, Major Davis was chosen. He is currently a training instructor for an Air Force wing.

Although Major Davis is a bit older, he has flown all major U.S. Military aircraft types from 3rd generation to 5th generation and is very proficient in aerial combat dogfighting.

Against the American military’s novice pilot Yu Xu, Major Davis’s strength will be overwhelming!

Major Davis held his head high, his voice loud and proud.

“Air Force pilot Major Davis reporting to you, Commander, I will successfully defeat the enemy aircraft, I will not return without victory!”

Aris nodded: “Very good, if you return victorious, I will apply for a promotion for your military rank.”

Major Davis’s expression became even more excited.

Meanwhile, in Darwin City, although Fang Le was happy about the first victory, he was very cautious and connected with Yu Xu: “Should we switch to a substitute?”

The rules did not require a person not to participate in combat consecutively, but each aerial combat is a double drain on both physical and mental energy.

Yu Xu’s voice was clear and bright: “I can continue to fight, Commander!”

Soon, the second aerial combat arrived.