A Naval Aviation Unit Tempers Officers and Soldiers' Combat Capabilities Using Real Air Situation Data
A Naval Aviation Unit Tempers Officers and Soldiers' Combat Capabilities Using Real Air Situation Data——
The Battle Begins After Training "Ends"
■ Fu Lin, Wu Fenghang
Recently, just before dawn, a certain Naval Aviation unit launched a long-endurance, high-intensity flight training exercise.
"Timed takeoff!" At the command of the tower controller, several aircraft lifted off in succession and flew to the designated airspace.
"Dense cumulonimbus ahead"—"Push through, maintain your state"…… During the flight, the co-pilot reported meteorological radar information, and the aircraft commander made rapid assessments of weather impacts and swiftly took countermeasures.
"This training coincided with the offshore fog season, and the complex meteorological conditions posed no small challenge to the participating pilots," said a leader of the unit.
"Establish the data network, distribute situational awareness information!" Upon reaching the mission airspace, mission-compartment aircrew rapidly commenced operations, integrating air situation data across the airspace, building data links, and analyzing simulated target information one by one.
Deep into the night, the flight line was ablaze with lights. After dozens of hours of basic subject training, the exercise entered its critical phase—the unit would conduct a high-intensity adversarial training exercise together with a fighter aviation unit during the final sortie.
Under cover of darkness, maintenance officers and soldiers moved busily back and forth conducting pre-takeoff inspections of the aircraft; pilots sat gathered in the tactical deduction room, repeatedly studying meteorological data and electromagnetic spectrum distribution in the target airspace; at the command stations, staff officers rapidly briefed coordination key points to sister units……
"Roar——" Accompanied by a tremendous thundering sound, the aircraft split the night sky and shot straight toward the heavens. At the same moment, hundreds of kilometers away, multiple fighter aircraft screamed into the air and flew toward the designated airspace.
On the tower's air situation display screen, red and blue cursors flashed and jumped; over the intercoms, various commands and reports rose and fell in succession.
"'Enemy' missile target detected!" Inside the mission compartment, aircrew fixed their eyes on multi-source information, fingers moving rapidly across keyboards and touchscreens, fusing and processing real-time data shared from onboard radar and unmanned aerial vehicles from friendly adjacent units, weaving a three-dimensional battlefield "perception net (感知网)."
"Locked by 'enemy' target—execute evasive maneuver!" Guided by the controllers, fighter pilots matched wits and courage against the "enemy" aircraft, using cloud cover to rapidly climb and seize altitude advantage, releasing chaff to jam "enemy" radar tracking…… Through round after round of offense-defense transitions, pilots' battlefield situational awareness and decision-making capabilities were effectively tempered.
"Organizing long-endurance, high-intensity flight training is aimed at tempering pilots' hard skills (过硬本领) in genuine combat and resistance, continuous operations, and promoting deep integration of the system-of-systems (体系深度融合)," the unit's leadership explained. This training focused on examining the force's capabilities in nighttime long-range maneuver and target reconnaissance, search, and identification under complex electromagnetic environments, as well as multi-platform coordinated strike.
As the east gradually brightened, the last participating aircraft returned safely. Yet before the officers and soldiers had time to rest, the telephone in the combat duty room suddenly rang—higher authority issued an urgent order: an unidentified air situation (不明空情) had appeared in a certain airspace; immediately dispatch aircraft to advance and conduct reconnaissance and response!
The duty crew acted on the order at once, immediately entering a combat state and completing all pre-takeoff preparations; inside the tower, the command team that had just finished their mission rapidly returned to their respective stations. Despite continuous operations, everyone remained in high spirits, giving their full effort to meet the challenges ahead.
The roar of engines once again reverberated across the airfield as pilots who had just completed long-endurance, high-intensity adversarial training climbed back into their aircraft and took off again. This time, what they faced was not a simulated enemy situation, but a genuine "adversary." A battle transitioning from training to "combat" (由训转"战") quietly unfolded between sea and sky……
At sunset, the aircraft returned, the mission accomplished in full. Maintenance officers and soldiers moved swiftly, commencing a new round of inspection and maintenance; pilots and command support personnel sat together to conduct an after-action review. Using video playback and other methods, they analyzed flight parameters frame by frame, identified shortcomings and deficiencies, and formulated corrective measures.
"In this training exercise, the continuous sortie flight hours increased by nearly one-third compared to previous exercises," a unit leader stated. Statistical data showed that this around-the-clock flight training exercise broke the unit's record for continuous long-endurance flight. "What we broke through was not only a matter of duration, but also the capability boundaries of continuous operations, rapid response, and system-of-systems support (体系支撑) under complex conditions."