#1016 - Sun (V)

Arasaka and Militech are old rivals, especially after the Fourth Corporate War, where contracts from different companies led them to develop new weapons.

Arasaka possesses the world's most advanced aircraft carriers, capable of traversing the Pacific from Japan to Night City, even as the seas become increasingly dangerous. Militech, in addition to the burgeoning mercenary groups and individual cybernetics, boasts large fighter jets, bombers, and transport aircraft capable of transoceanic operations.

The development of aerial military power in this world has consistently favored smaller combat aircraft. However, after losing to Arasaka, Militech underwent a second reform, during which they unprecedentedly proposed a completely new direction for development:

Newly developed fighter jets began to gradually evolve towards being heavier and more multi-purpose. Simultaneously, they abandoned the so-called small-space maneuverability and turning agility design philosophies, no longer constrained by fuel consumption and operational costs, instead emphasizing supersonic cruising and supersonic maneuverability, and seeking beyond-visual-range engagement capabilities in combat.

Although the New Air Force has not yet directly clashed with Arasaka's forces, based on its performance in the Metal Wars, Myers is full of confidence in the New Air Force employing these new fighter jets. All she needs is time to develop.

Currently, she can no longer afford to hold back. The proud New American Air Force soars across the skies of America, patrolling this land.

The Sky Fortress B-80 strategic bomber, the largest military aircraft in the world, combines transport and strategic bombing functions, featuring a massive bomb bay and extreme durability, equipped with advanced electronic counter-countermeasures and long-range strike capabilities.

The Falcon A-35 supersonic fighter, employs a special coating for anti-interference and radar stealth, paired with heavy machine guns and missiles, working in concert with the Sky Fortress.

Myers, wearing a holographic display helmet, watched as the Air Force sliced through the sky straight towards Night City. As the fighter jets swept across the central region, what she saw made even the President of the New United States somewhat horrified:

Huge mushroom clouds rose from the three locations attacked by nuclear bombs, the city's power grid was paralyzed and plunged into darkness, and fires spread.

The fires in Texas were even more exaggerated. Although there was almost no oil left in that area, there were still a large number of alcohol and wheat farms and processing plants built, and now all these buildings are buried in the sea of fire.

Iowa City and Las Vegas each had different chaotic situations, meaning that within a few minutes, six states were completely out of control!

And in the western region, she had already received news that the cities were not at peace—

It was pointless to consider whether the common people were rebelling again or whether local officials and corporations wanted power, because the way those three nuclear bombs hit their targets was incomprehensible!

No one saw the planes! Some advisors were even beginning to narrow down the answer to the most unlikely, but also the only, option:

Those were missiles, and they were ultra-long-range missiles fired directly from Night City, with the entire Midwest and West within their range!

With such deterrent capabilities, Washington's control would only weaken!

She had once felt that those three criminals were not a threat, especially during the time after losing Riel. Although they were capable fighters, one of the fundamental reasons why criminals are criminals is that they cannot establish a society, control the law, or resist the tide of the times.

But she never thought that the kind of dramatic change that made combat commanders feel horrified would also appear on a macro level!

A set of awesome cybernetics, a mysterious Sandevistan drive, a heart-stopping gun, and a war machine. These things are not comparable to a nuclear missile that can threaten half of America!

Times have changed.

The only chance for the old era to suppress the new era is to pick the fruit when the new era has just sprouted. If you can't pick the fruit, you must use all the power of the old era to crush the things of the new era!

However, the situation quickly became abnormal—

Something incredibly bright shot straight from the ground to the sky, like a meteor rising from the ground, hitting her fighter jet!

Boom—

[Pilot #0045: Mayday! Mayday! I've been hit—]

Myers' pride was nothing in Riel's eyes.

This world has been in a state of conflict since World War II. There have been four global wars, one after another. Political chaos, environmental degradation, and resource scarcity have led to a continuous decline in population.

Such a flight squadron is already an ace-level force. If Militech continues to develop and creates three or four such squadrons, it might really make the New United States a force to be reckoned with.

Technologically, these new fighter jets can already be considered fourth-generation aircraft, but in Riel's eyes, they are still backward. The more fatal problem is the New United States' production capacity.

The Metal Wars have been over for seven years. Myers, as the president of a defined "hegemon," has still not completed the sorting out of domestic affairs. Outside, there are various companies watching covetously, and inside, there are various greedy bureaucrats who secretly control their own companies, or take money from outside companies. A law faces many difficulties from the federal level to the local states, and the dispatched commissioners even encounter assassinations.

Such a New United States is as divided as this world, and a world that is heading towards destruction cannot create anything earth-shattering.

The air was torn apart, the fighter jet's wings vibrated violently, and from the pilot's perspective, a humanoid figure exceeded the jet's maximum speed on the radar!

[Pilot #0045: Something's wrong, unknown target approaching, speed approaching Mach 4!]

[Pilot #0045: He's too fast, I can't dodge—]

Rumble—

The fighter pilot's world seemed to freeze. He felt as if he had been cut open, like a bird struck by a bullet, losing power, leaving only the image before death in his eyes:

The fighter jets in this world are based on a human-machine connection technology, simply summarized as transferring a person's consciousness directly to the fighter jet, turning the fighter jet into a cybernetic body, and the brain is the central processing unit of this cybernetic body.

Sandevistan is a neural component in the human body, and in fighter jet operation, it is a driver program. Current imprints fighter jet information into the pilot's brain in a special way, and then returns, as if they have really become fighter jets—

This also means that they can feel the damage: he was cut open.

The "person" who cut him open had huge metal wings and dazzling thrusters, holding a plasma weapon emitting a sun-like radiance.

But what cut him open was not that weapon, but an armor-piercing missile. The missile pierced the armor outside the fuel tank and struck the core directly, and then his once proud "body" shattered in the air.

At the same time, his comrades were also shattered: a speed of Mach 2.5 is already an advanced level in this world, but unfortunately, this proud number is too far behind the enemy.

The fighter jets exploded in the air.

It was impossible to win!