Chapter 47: A Fortuitous Coincidence

Around noon, the rain had just passed and the sky cleared. Sunlight streamed through the lingering clouds, casting its glow over the bustling tarmac. Lao Jia stepped carefully through the puddles along the path, arriving at the Bi Fang drone exhibition area in front of Hall 13. He noticed Long Wuyang, Cui Yinuo, and Sun Mengjie enthusiastically explaining their aircraft to the crowd, while some handed out brochures.

Without greeting them, Lao Jia slipped on his sunglasses and quietly stood beside the drone, blending into the audience to listen in on their comments. The spectators gathered around the plane, chattering excitedly.

“Is this plane real? Did it fly here by itself or was it towed?” a male spectator asked.

“Of course it flew here on its own,” Long Wuyang said proudly. “It came all the way from Jiangcheng, flying for over five hours, including two and a half hours circling in the air. The airport was crowded, giving priority to military aircraft, so we had to keep circling, but it allowed us to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Zhuhai and Macau.”

“Oh, that’s impressive! At airshows, many drones are just display models towed in by trucks. The only ones I’ve heard of flying in are the Caihong and Wuzhen drones. I didn’t expect you guys could do it too!” another male audience member chimed in.

“Does this drone have a nickname?” a female spectator asked.

“Yes, its nickname is ‘Bi Fang,’ a fierce bird of prey from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. It’s a fierce fiery bird with only one leg, a white beak, red feathers, and it can breathe fire!” Long Wuyang animatedly gestured as he spoke vividly.

“Wow, that’s fierce! Not only do you build excellent planes, but you also gave it such an imposing name!” the crowd marveled.

“Can this drone operate on an aircraft carrier?” a man in the crowd inquired.

“Judging from the specs, it definitely can. As long as the Chinese Navy needs it, right?” a middle-aged man asked Long Wuyang knowingly.

Faced with such a sensitive question, Long Wuyang smiled without answering. Lao Jia watched this and felt quietly pleased, thinking, “This kid has matured a bit; he knows his limits when bragging now—what can be said and what cannot.”

Lao Jia then stepped onto the tarmac and greeted Long Wuyang and the others. Upon learning that some officials had just visited the drone, he saw that Dr. Yu Ying had accompanied them.

Lao Jia asked communications officer Sun Mengjie, “Did you find the source of the interference?”

Sun Mengjie excitedly replied, “Yes! We found it the very next day! I asked the control tower and then checked with several anti-drone manufacturers in the exhibition area. One private anti-drone equipment company happened to be testing their device. They had just started testing for five minutes, and we happened to land during that window.”

Lao Jia was surprised. “Only five minutes? Such a coincidence? It almost sounds like fate.”

Sun Mengjie also found it unbelievable and said ruefully, “Yeah, they checked the flight schedule in advance to see that no drones were landing that evening, so they chose that time for their startup test. Our drone was delayed, so it landed during their test. Isn’t the world just full of such coincidences?”

Lao Jia pondered this and said thoughtfully, “So in research work, you can’t rely on luck. You have to anticipate even rare events. By the way, is their anti-drone equipment really that powerful? Could it interfere with our drones?”

Sun Mengjie answered, “Yes. Drones use civilian fixed frequencies, and anti-drone devices target these fixed frequencies for interference. But when they tested that night, they only powered on and connected, without setting interference to maximum. If they had, it could have been dangerous.”

Still puzzled, Lao Jia pressed on, “But didn’t we switch to satellite communication later? Satellite signals can’t be jammed, right?”

Sun Mengjie confirmed, “In theory, satellite signals can be interfered with too. The Tiantong satellite communication system we used is operated by China Telecom. It’s unlikely any device at the airshow could jam Chinese satellites.”

Lao Jia suddenly understood and laughed softly, “Of course, why would you shoot yourself in the foot? No wonder Dr. Yu was so calm that night—now the answer is clear.” He felt a newfound respect for Dr. Yu.

Yet, Lao Jia was still unsatisfied and asked, “Do we have any countermeasures against jamming?”

Sun Mengjie explained, “Interference and anti-interference are a constant battle, like a game of one-upmanship. When we return, we’ll focus on enhancing our anti-jamming capabilities against anti-drone equipment. The mainstream approach is likely to adopt frequency-hopping technology similar to military drones. This can greatly improve resistance to interference, making jamming nearly impossible.”

“Nearly impossible? What does that mean? Military drones still can be jammed?” Lao Jia was confused.

Just then, Cui Yinuo approached, overhearing the question, and chuckled, “Teacher Jia, if you want to jam military drones’ frequency-hopping technology, there’s only one way: using the ‘full-channel jamming’ technology from Liu Cixin’s sci-fi novel.”

“Oh?” Lao Jia’s interest piqued immediately. “Is full-channel jamming really impossible to counter? In that novel, the technology called ‘Flood’ was terrifying—it knocked humanity back to the farming age. All electromagnetic signals vanished, disabling electronic devices on both sides. People resorted to stone-throwing and stabbing, just like on the Sino-Indian border today, where both sides fear an accidental hot weapon clash and revert to cold weapons. Chinese border guards used wolf-tooth clubs and Qinglong Yueyan sabers, ha!”

“Exactly! If full-channel jamming were used, it would be mutual destruction—both sides would lose. Humanity would have to rely on feather messengers or carrier pigeons for communication,” Long Wuyang joked as he joined in.

Lao Jia laughed at their words, looked around at these passionate and intelligent young people, and felt a warm surge in his heart.

“All right, no more jokes. You should get back to work,” Lao Jia said with a smile, clapping his hands to signal everyone to return to their posts.

Long Wuyang and Cui Yinuo nodded and turned back to introduce the drone’s features to the audience. Sun Mengjie picked up her tablet and began recording the visitors’ feedback and suggestions.

Lao Jia stood quietly to the side, observing everything, yet felt as if something was missing, leaving a hollow emptiness inside. He walked over to Sun Mengjie and sincerely said, “Mengjie, when you have some free time, could you explain to me the principles of anti-drone technology and the latest advancements?”

“Of course, Teacher Jia, you’re too kind. Let’s chat over lunch,” Sun Mengjie replied with a cheerful smile.