Early the next morning, Song Heping arrived at the hangar to see the Da Maozi team fussing over the two SU-24 fighter-bombers.
A few days earlier, Song Heping had taken to the skies with one of the pilots, Peterovich, to test out the allure of this Soviet-made fighter-bomber.
Song Heping had never been in a fighter jet while in the military, only transport planes and helicopters for airborne drops.
Peterovich carried that Russian arrogance, although his country had fallen, he still maintained the mindset of a major power.
Even though he was now one of the "Musician" Defense Company's aviation employees, drawing a salary from Song Heping, he still wanted to assert his pride over his boss.
So, after taking off, he deliberately pulled many high-G maneuvers, hoping to make Song Heping vomit right then and there as a prank.
Surprisingly, after all that, although Song Heping seed a bit tense, he didn't throw up!
This earned him Peterovich's admiration.
Da Maozi are all tough.
They always pay due respect to the strong, but if you're weak, they'll kick your butt and spit in your face.
Song Heping's composure had won Peterovich's respect.
Upon seeing him enter, he hurried over to greet him.
"Hey, boss, do you want to have so fun in the skies today?"
Facing Peterovich's enthusiasm, Song Heping replied indifferently, "We'll take to the skies only for necessary training. Why bother flying otherwise? Aviation fuel isn't cheap!"
Indeed, the plane used a turbojet engine, so its fuel consumption was not small. In fact, not just the SU-24, but all Russian aircraft guzzle fuel.
Flying once, even for only half an hour, could burn through tens of thousands of US Dollars for Song Heping, not to ntion aircraft wear and tear.
What do they say, "For every cannon shot, a heap of gold"?
Song Heping was feeling it now.
Fortunately, he bought his fuel from General Ramas.
And as a shareholder of the school, General Ramas naturally couldn't allow the school's costs to be too high. He would sell military aviation fuel at a halfway price, as if doing a favor and fattening his own wallet under the table.
Actually, one of the reasons Song Heping initially brought Seras on as a shareholder and gave him dividends was precisely this.
While the company now had an aviation departnt, before buying any fighter jets or helicopters, Song Heping had considered the maintenance costs and daily fuel consumption.
If he had to expense it on the company's account, just keeping these beasts afloat would cost a pretty penny.
But by hanging the expenses on Venezuela's Special Soldier Military School, and running the expenditure through the school's accounts, the situation was totally different.
He could confidently go to General Ramas for all kinds of perks, including fuel and parts.
You see, Venezuela also had quite a few Soviet-made combat aircraft. If they needed parts in the future, having Ramas procure them from the Russians in the na of the military, and then selling them cheaply to himself, was the best way to reduce costs.
Ever since establishing his own aviation departnt, Song Heping had realized that without money, one really shouldn't dabble in planes—as they gobble up gold.
However, to help the ELN dominate, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.
Without such hardware, you simply can't catch the AUC by surprise and win a resounding victory.
"Peterovich, you're on inspection duty today," said Song Heping as he glanced at his watch.
"The weapons and ammunition allocated to you will arrive today. You'll check the goods with the suppliers. You're the experts in this field, so see if the goods are up to snuff before anything else."
"Boss, did you buy all the mounted weaponry I requested?" asked Peterovich.
"Each plane gets two Kh-58 anti-radar missiles, two 'Aphis' R60 air-to-air missiles, and two precision-guided bombs. Most importantly, I've got two big ones for each of your planes!"
"You really didn't need to buy so many precision-guided munitions," Peterovich said. "There's nothing of high value around here that's worth the expense of such pricey ammo. Just buy conventional aerial bombs; we can hit the targets!"
"No," replied Song Heping. "Either we don't do it at all, or we do it right. There's an old saying in our country, 'To do a good job, an artisan needs the best tools.' If you don't have formidable gear in hand, how can you fight a battle, let alone win a victory?"
Bombardier Vasily chid in, "Boss, what are these big ones you ntioned? Are they FABs?"
What he referred to as FABs were actually the general designation for a series of Russian aerial bombs.
There are many types under FAB, mostly nad with numbers, like FAB-1500 or FAB-3000.
The numbers represent the kilogram weight.
In other words, the Willi equivalent.
For instance, FAB-1500 ans the warhead weighs 1500 kilograms, and you can guess the blast power from the number.
That's the budget option Peterovich ntioned. FABs are typically unguided aerial bombs, but can be outfitted with a guidance kit to beco precision-guided munitions—though their accuracy is diocre at best.
But when it cos to blast power, precision is secondary.
It's as they say, if precision isn't enough, power makes up for it.
With brute force, miracles can happen.
"It's not FABs. I've got sothing more fun: ODAB-1500. How about that? Do you like them?"
Song Heping asked Vasily with a grin.
"Suka!"
Vasily exclaid in surprise.
"You can get that thing?!"
He was very astonished.
ODAB, like FAB, is also a generic term for a series of bombs.
Unlike FAB, which is a high-explosive aerial bomb,
ODAB is a thermo-baric bomb, a proper thermo-baric bomb.
In terms of destroying fortifications and buildings, FAB has the advantage, but in eliminating ground personnel, it's just a little brother compared to ODAB.
Also marked by numbers for explosive power, ODAB-1500 ans this thermo-baric bomb has an explosive yield of 1.5 tons!
Generally speaking, a powerful thermo-baric bomb can cause over 300 kPa of overpressure within 5 to 10 ters and still over 100 kPa at 50 ters.
The extre limit of overpressure humans can endure is barely 50 kPa, so the overpressure produced by ODAB-1500 within 50 to 100 ters is enough to completely flatten the human body. After the blast of the thermo-baric bomb, there will be a low-pressure area, making the already crushed bodies rapidly expand and ultimately tear apart.
At the center of the explosion, temperatures around 2500 degrees Celsius will be reached, charring human tissue. Even for soldiers lucky enough to avoid all the above attacks, there will still be a lack of oxygen in the core area of the thermo-baric bomb explosion, and those unable to escape will ultimately suffocate to death.
Therefore, bombs like ODAB are hailed as one of the most powerful non-nuclear munitions in the Russian arsenal.
A single bomb dropped, and all living beings within its impact radius would instantly beco corpses, to describe it as a mass destruction weapon would not be an exaggeration.
Vasily's surprise was because these items are seldom sold to the outside by the Russian military, due to so technical issues.
That Song Heping could actually buy them!
That was indeed miraculous!
A few Da Mao pilots looked at each other, originally thinking that managing to get FABs was already aweso, but now they'd actually brought in ODABs...
"Boss, who are you planning to go to war with this ti?"
Peterovich had previously never asked Song Heping where these two planes would be used.
He had assud a defense company might be engaged with drug cartels or local forces at most.
Getting an FAB was already a big deal.
Now they were actually going to use thermo-baric bombs...
Who were they planning to slaughter?
"You don't need to ask, but I absolutely guarantee your safety, just do as I say, and relax, I'm not out to seize power."
Song Heping reassured these Russians.
"I intend to use these to demolish the enemy's psychological defenses and have them give up resisting directly, you get it? Only then is it the most rciful approach. Have you ever heard, 'Thunderbolt thods reveal a bodhisattva's rcy'?"
"Bodhisattva... rcy..." Peterovich failed to comprehend the Chinese wisdom behind these words.
"Old squad leader, the weapons have arrived!"
In the midst of their conversation, Jiang Feng ca over to report.
"The convoy's at the gate!"
"Let's go check it out together outside!"
Hearing that the ordered weapons had arrived, Song Heping was overjoyed.
General Rama's strength in Venezuela was unquestionable.
Such large-scale arms transport could co in through normal channels boldly.
Having big military brass backing you up sure felt great!
Several pilots followed Song Heping out of the hangar and saw five container trucks approaching from the direction of the unfinished school gate.
"Jiang Feng, go with so n and bring them here!"
"Alright!"
Jiang Feng sprinted away.
Song Heping watched the five trucks and suddenly felt nervous.
These were all massive weapons; caution was paramount.
He felt the hairs on his face stand on end.
"Nikola! Nikola!"
Song Heping called out loudly for the ground crew boss Nikola's na.
"Hurry over here, you need to direct the unloading later, don't fucking blow us all up, we've all been entrusted with this!"
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