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 seemed 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 some 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 mention 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 department, 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 name of the military, and then selling them cheaply to himself, was the best way to reduce costs.
Ever since establishing his own aviation department, 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 chimed in, "Boss, what are these big ones you mentioned? 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 named with numbers, like FAB-1500 or FAB-3000.
The numbers represent the kilogram weight.
In other words, the Willi equivalent.
For instance, FAB-1500 means the warhead weighs 1500 kilograms, and you can guess the blast power from the number.
That's the budget option Peterovich mentioned. FABs are typically unguided aerial bombs, but can be outfitted with a guidance kit to become precision-guided munitions—though their accuracy is mediocre at best.
But when it comes 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 something more fun: ODAB-1500. How about that? Do you like them?"
Song Heping asked Vasily with a grin.
"Suka!"
Vasily exclaimed in surprise.
"You can get that thing?!"