In Wang Yuanqing's eyes, Lin Xiaolei is just an excellent soldier, not an outstanding one.

Although Lin Xiaolei's motives are not wrong, and it is not wrong to build a strong navy, his words, deeds and measures that violate the overall situation largely disappointed Wang Yuanqing with the navy commander.

Relatively speaking, Yan Yuqing's proud disciples Zhang Zhongxian and Lei Jingming were more "aware of the current affairs".

In terms of importance, the Air Force is no less than the Navy and can often play a decisive role. Compared with the Navy, the Air Force has an extremely prominent feature, namely its close relationship with the Army.

According to the organizational system of the Republic Air Force, the Air Force has three "faces", namely the Tactical Air Force, the Strategic Air Force and the Support Air Force.

The first two "faces" that are well known to the outside world, and many people ignore the importance of supporting the air force, and even do not know the existence of supporting the air force.

Before the 211th century, the Republic's Air Force was almost purely a "tactical air force". Except for its limited strategic strike capabilities, all combat capabilities were "tactical air force". It was not until the 1990s that the Republic strengthened its construction of "supporting the air force", laying the foundation for building an air force with complete combat capabilities.

The birth of "Support Air" is closely related to the Army.

As we all know, before Jiyouguo implemented military reforms, the Airborne Army was affiliated with the independent armies of the Air Force, and was then classified as the Army and became the only armies of the Army. The original purpose of building the "Supporting Air Force" was not to build air transportation forces, but to serve the Airborne Army. It was not until other support aircraft types, such as early warning aircraft, electronic warfare aircraft, patrol aircraft, battlefield surveillance aircraft, etc. were put into service one after another, that the "Supporting Air Force" began to take shape.

In several competitions in the 211th century, the Air Force contributed far more than the Army and Navy.

The Fourth India-Pakistan War, the East China Sea War, the Japanese War, the Vietnam War, the South China Sea War and the Peninsula War. You can see the figures of the Air Force. Moreover, the Air Force is a well-deserved landlord warfare force. Among so many local conflicts and regional wars, the most representative part is the Korean War.

Although the naval and air force made significant contributions during the war, no one could shake the status of the air force's local pillars.

Post-war statistics. During the Peninsula War, the Air Force mobilized 17 tactical fighters, 118 strategic bombers, and 486 supported aircraft; a total of 78,792 dispatches. Among them, 61,784 tactical fighters, 12,146 supported aircraft, accounting for 72% of the total dispatched ground of the aviation force; 684 combat losses, including 625 tactical fighters, and strategic bombers (all h-6m crashed due to mechanical failures during return), and 56 supported aircraft.

It accounts for 74% of the total loss of the aviation force; it has performed one mission in total. Among them, it has 382 air control tasks, 6763 battlefield support tasks, 3960 deep-sealing tasks, 163 strategic bombing tasks, 2164 air transport and airdrop tasks, and 1762 support tasks. It accounts for 81% of the total execution of the aviation force; it consumes a total of 315,840~:, and consumes 501,420~:. It accounts for 82% and 78% of the aviation force respectively.

Statistics cannot explain the difficulty of fighting, but they can explain the importance of the Air Force.

After summarizing the experience and lessons learned from the Peninsula War site, Zhang Zhongxian, then Chief of Staff of the Air Force, put forward three key points for the future development of the Air Force: Enhance the tactical air force combat capabilities, enhance the adaptability of the strategic air force on the battlefield, and build mission capabilities to support the Air Force more comprehensively.

Although the Tactical Air Force and the Strategic Air Force are two fists, the support air force is to connect the fist with the body and the arms.

In Zhang Zhongxian's words, the combat capability of supporting the Air Force determines the overall combat capability of the Air Force.

The theory of the Air Force Commander is just in line with the Republic's actual strategy, which is exactly in line with Xiang Yinghui's appetite. Because according to the reform plan proposed by Zhang Zhongxian, the Air Force's combat capabilities can be maximized and light on the burden on the country while trying to control military expenditures.

From this point of view, Zhang Zhongxian's "political mind" far surpassed Lin Xiaolei.

Zhao Rundong spared no effort to implement the second round of military reforms. Wang Yuanqing attached great importance to national defense construction at the beginning of his tenure. The two heads of state attached such importance to military construction must have extremely urgent real needs. Under this circumstance, both military branches must vigorously improve their combat capabilities and ask the government for money. If the Air Force jumped out to "grab jobs", it would not only offend the Chief of Staff, but also cause the head of state to be disgusted.

In the words of Zhang Zhongxian at the Air Force General Congress: Good steel should be used as a knife.

Among the three major military branches, the Air Force has invested the most funds in military scientific research projects. In the three-year budget from 2025 to 2027, the Air Force has invested 121.3 billion yuan in research and development funds in more than 30 projects.

Increasing investment in scientific research will inevitably weaken the Air Force's ability to purchase new equipment.

This is indeed the case. In 2025, in addition to supplementing the war consumption, the Air Force only spent 284 to purchase 127 new aircraft, a decrease of 28% from 2024 respectively; in 2026, the Air Force's equipment procurement expenditure was only 24.1 billion yuan to purchase 1c3 aircraft, a decrease of 15% and 19% year-on-year; in 2027, the Air Force's planned equipment procurement cost was 228 to purchase 98 fighter jets, a decrease of year-on-year. Although the decline in arms procurement in the Air Force entered the recovery period, the main procurement of new fighters and bombers to support aircraft purchases was very limited.

Both Wang Yuanqing and Xiang Yinghui knew Zhang Zhongxian’s little abacus.

From 2025 to 2027, the new fighter jets and bombers purchased by the Air Force are all two-seat coach models, and are all provided to the coaching force, specifically for use in the coaching force.

Passenger.

Needless to say, Zhang Zhongxian has his own little abacus.

If the head of state expands its military for practical purposes, then the war will not be long. The Air Force has no need to grab military expenses from other military branches before the war breaks out. As long as the training is done, the pilots are familiar with the new fighter jets, and after the war breaks out, they will apply for war appropriations and purchase new fighter jets in large quantities.

This is exactly what Zhang Zhongxian is smart. Of course, the Air Force has its own uniqueness and is simply incomparable to the Navy.

Not to mention, a fighter production line operates 24 hours a day and can build fighter jets within one month, and the shortest production cycle of fighter jets is only 1 month. The Navy is completely different. No matter how big a shipyard is, one ship can only build one warship, and the construction cycle of the warship is several years. What's more, the Air Force can purchase coaches and pilots who are familiar with the performance of new fighters in advance, but the Navy cannot purchase "coach warships" in advance. In fact, there are no "coach warships", and it is even more impossible to train fleet officers and soldiers in advance.

Various reasons have made Zhang Xian win a good reputation.

It has to be admitted that Zhang Zhongxian has excellent abilities in commanding the Air Force.

Focusing on supporting the Air Force, it can maximize the combat effectiveness of the Air Force. Before 2027, the Air Force purchased 22kj-22c early warning aircraft, 12kz-19b battlefield monitoring aircraft, 3 dy--1 electronic warfare aircraft, jy-166 large tanker aircraft, 2y-14b tactical transport aircraft, 39 y-15b large transport aircraft and 24y-166 strategic transport aircraft, and upgraded and improved according to the new model standards 211 kj-211, 8kz-119, 27 dy-14, 120y-1460y-15.

In fact, the Air Force did use good steel on the knife.

On the surface, the scale of the Republic** has not expanded much. In June 2027, the size of the air force aircraft fleet still did not reach the level before the Peninsula War. In fact, the combat capability of the Republic's Air Force has increased by at least 30%.

According to the evaluation report submitted by the United States Rand Company to the Corner, by the end of 2027, the combat capability of the United Nations Air Force will reach 150% of the Peninsula War, equivalent to 90% of the overall combat capability of the United States Air Force. Rand Company also specifically mentioned that the Republic Air Force's expansion of the scale of the transport aircraft fleet is extremely clear and targeted.

Of course, Lan Company did not know that the Republic Air Force secretly purchased several new types of support fighter jets and supporting equipment.

When reporting on the development of the Air Force, Zhongxian did not clearly mention that the Air Force used secret funds to purchase new types of support fighter jets and supporting equipment, because all procurement plans were approved by Wang Yuanqing himself, and the head of state attached great importance to confidentiality work, and there was no need to speak in front of so many people in the General Staff.

"Overall, the development progress of the Air Force exceeded the pre-estimation." Zhang Zhongxian did not forget to show the strength of the Air Force. "According to the most conservative estimate, by October this year, the Air Force will complete the first phase of reform work, and the overall combat capability will be increased by more than 50%. Of course, if more funds can be obtained, more new fighter jets and bombers will be purchased before obtaining more funding, so that each combat force can obtain more training opportunities. The combat capability of the Army can be further improved. Overall, in the foreseeable future, the Air Force will have enough confidence and ability to defeat any enemy in the surrounding areas of the Republic!"

Hearing Zhang Zhongxian's words, Lin Xiaolei sneered secretly.

Xiang Yinghui did not notice the expression of the navy commander and asked the Air Force commander: "In this way, the Air Force is very eager to purchase more new fighter jets as soon as possible?"

Zhang Zhongxian glanced at the head of state's expression and nodded.

"Head of First Nations..." Xiang Yinghui also looked at Wang Yuanqing.

"Submit a detailed procurement plan report as soon as possible and send it directly to the head of state." Wang Yuanqing glanced at the participants and said, "The construction of the army, navy and air force is satisfactory. Although there are some unsatisfactory aspects, they are all difficulties that can be overcome. I will take back the reports of the other three independent armies and I will not introduce them here. Through the past two years of reform and development, the military strength of the Republic has been significantly improved. I believe everyone knows clearly that this round of military reform is not only Mr. Zhao's long-cherished wish, but also very urgent.

The actual purpose of this is. There is enough intelligence to prove that Japan is secretly planning to launch a war against us. Although we will not lose to Japan like we did a hundred years ago, Japan now has nuclear weapons and the ability to destroy us. Whether for individuals or for our descendants, we will never tolerate such things, nor will it tolerate a Japan with nuclear weapons eyeing us. Although the intelligence work has not achieved the final result, we must be prepared and be prepared to fight a full-scale war with Japan!"

As far as the words are concerned, no one dares to take them lightly.

Lin Xiaolei also focused his attention at this time and no longer treated the meeting as a joke.

"From today on the rise, the troops will enter a state of combat readiness. We must be able to come and fight when we come!" Wang Yuanqing glanced at the participants again and said, "It's getting late, and I won't delay everyone's rest time. Except for General Xiang, Commander Lin and Chief of Staff Zhang, everyone else will go back to rest."

Lin Xiaolei was obviously a little guilty when he was kept by the head of state.

It seems that in order to encourage Lin Xiaolei, Zhang Weichang pulled the chair a little closer and did not let Lin Xiaolei fight alone. (To be continued,)
Chapter completed!