Chapter 71 Killing Two Birds with One Stone

The MiG-25, as a fighter plane that can fly at three times the speed of sound, uses specially made weapons that must be able to adapt to high temperatures. No aircraft cannons were installed during its design. Now it is necessary to modify the aircraft cannons at the base, which is definitely beyond our capabilities and will also bring danger to the flight.

For example, how stable is the aircraft gun at three times the speed of sound? For another example, when shooting at three times the speed of sound, will the vibration have a destructive effect on the aircraft? For another example, will the gun smoke produced by the aircraft gun stop the engine? These are all unknown, so when Ivanov heard Andrei's words, he immediately denied it intuitively. It's too dangerous!

"Do we have a better solution?" Andre asked.

Everyone shook their heads. Although the performance of their R-40 missiles was acceptable during target practice, there was a huge difference between target practice and actual combat. Especially now, they had to hit a target traveling at three times the speed of sound, and their missiles were really not powerful enough.

The death order from above came down, we must shoot down the Blackbird! The 513th Regiment, which had failed repeatedly, would definitely be scolded by the commander of the Far East Military Region's Air Defense Force. As an aviation regiment equipped with the most advanced Soviet interceptors, it actually failed to shoot down the Blackbird!

"In that case, let's get started!" Andre said, "Gather the maintenance personnel in the conference room. I want to hold a meeting for them."

Obviously Andre was prepared.

Although Ivanov is one level higher than Andrei in terms of military rank, Andrei is a Soviet hero! His words carry a lot of weight. Since Andrei has decided to do this and there is no better way for the time being, Ivanov knows that he must give it a try.

Andrei didn't want to discuss it with Ivanov in advance. His boss took a great risk to protect him when the KGB guy wanted to take him away. Andrei was grateful and respected Ivanov from the bottom of his heart. It's just that time is running out now. That carefree American reconnaissance plane is simply here to insult the Soviet Union! The other party must be shot down tomorrow! Now, there is not much time left, we must be quick!

In terms of status, ground crew members are lower than pilots, which can be seen from their meals. In order to ensure the health of pilots, pilots have a special pilot restaurant with a reasonable diet. The food allowance is five or six times that of ground crew members, and those ground crew members eat in the same cafeteria as the base guards.

However, ground staff are crucial to pilots. The ground crew's mechanics are responsible for maintaining the fighter jets. Every time they return from a mission, the pilots only need to park the plane on the runway, and at most follow the ground crew to slide the fighter jet into the hangar. The mechanics need to inspect the fighter jets and provide support for the next takeoff. Any negligence by the mechanics may lead to a major flight accident.

It can be figuratively said that the maintenance staff is the pilot's nanny.

But now, the maintenance personnel at the Sokolovka base are a little special...

The clothes were not very neat, and some of the maintenance workers even had a few oil stains on their clothes. Of course, you could also smell the unique smell of alcohol.

"Okay, everyone, be quiet." Seeing that these maintenance personnel were quite lax, Andre suppressed his unhappiness and said.

Finally, they calmed down. Andrei glanced at Ivanov and saw Ivanov nod. Andrei continued, "I called everyone here this time because I want to gather everyone to work together to find a solution. We now have a mission to install a machine gun on the MiG-25 fighter."

"How is this possible? We don't have that level!" As soon as Andre finished speaking, a voice came from below.

The person who spoke was a young man in his thirties. He had long hair that covered his eyes, and there was a look of disdain in his eyes. While he was speaking, a unique smell of vodka came out of his mouth.

Andrei knew this guy. He was the nephew of the base commander Kozhedub and the current captain of the maintenance brigade, Akim Vasilyevich.

Before Andrei shot down Belenko, Belenko said on the radio that the last time Andrei's fighter plane malfunctioned was caused by inadequate maintenance by the ground crew, and the main person responsible was this guy named Akim.

At that time, for various reasons, Andrei did not hold Akim accountable. At that time, Andrei did not have such ability. But now, it is time to rectify the discipline of the 513th Regiment! To change the current situation in the Soviet Union, let's start with the ground maintenance brigade of the 513th Regiment in Sokolovka!

Today Andre proposed to modify the machine gun. Of course, it is not as simple as modifying the fighter plane. It also means to stir up a wave of opposition to the current nepotism, fight back against corruption in the military, and carry out reforms!

What was he afraid of? He was already a Soviet hero, the deputy commander of the 513th Regiment, and his big backer was Andropov, who hated corruption even more!

What does this guy have? His backer is none other than Kozhedub, the commander of the Sokolovka base!

Although Belenko's defection was related to his personality and experience, it was also related to the environment. Here, Belenko felt helpless and had the idea of ​​defecting. Belenko has received the punishment he deserves, and others are no exception!

"Then what level are we at?" Andre put away his thoughts and asked Achim in front of him. Now, this Achim is the chicken that Andre killed to scare the monkeys!

What level are we at? When Akim said this, he felt something was wrong. No matter what, the other party was the deputy regiment commander with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and he was not comparable to the captain of the maintenance brigade.

"Captain Andrei, our maintenance squadron is mainly responsible for the daily maintenance of fighter planes. We have received training on this. Even if we want to overhaul the engine, we have to send it to Vladivostok." Akim said, "We are now going to add cannons to our planes, but we don't have the skills to do so. Everyone, am I right?"

After hearing Achim's question, some ground crew members immediately responded: "Yes, that's right, Captain, we really don't have that level."

"Machine guns are the most basic equipment for our fighter planes. They have existed since the first appearance of aircraft. In World War II, all our fighter planes were equipped with machine guns. Take our current air defense equipment, for example. MiG-21, MiG-23, Su-15, which aircraft does not have machine guns? If you can't even add machine guns, it only means that you didn't study hard when you went to Vladivostok for further studies last year!" Andrei said, "Now, this is a mission! It must be completed!"