"Red Fox-1 to Red Fox-2, report your aircraft status immediately!" The commander's concerned voice came through the communications channel.
"Red Fox-2's right canard is damaged. Engines normal, avionics normal, aircraft remains controllable," Liu Jun reported.
Hearing Liu Jun's report, the commander aboard the KJ-3000 relaxed. Losing a canard was not a major issue for a J-15; its design redundancy was more than enough to get it home.
Next, following the commander's orders, Liu Jun flew to the designated airspace. Another data link connected and began guiding him.
Following the data link's instructions, Liu Jun soon spotted a black dot within visual range. As the distance closed, it grew larger—a J-15S in low-visibility paint, with a fuel tank mounted beneath its belly.
After spotting Liu Jun's approach, the J-15S maintained steady flight according to refueling procedure. Its wingtip marker lights came on, and the operator in the rear seat deployed the hose.
Unlike last time, when he could let his instructor handle the refueling, this time Liu Jun had to control the aircraft and take on fuel himself.
He worked the throttle and brought his airspeed down to 600 kilometers per hour. The Flying Shark slowly approached the hose released by the J-15S. The drogue opened in the airflow, and the J-15 extended its refueling probe.
Maintaining his heading and speed, he slowly approached the drogue and precisely inserted the probe. Liu Jun made minute adjustments to the controls, countering the wake turbulence generated by the tanker's engines.
Connection successful.
With a rushing sound, a massive amount of aviation fuel flowed into the J-15. The refueling operator in the rear seat of the J-15S stared in surprise at the J-15 below and to the side, its canard damaged.
The fuselage skin was damaged in many places. Half of a canard was