Leitao’s fingertips had just brushed the navigation coordinates for Harbin when the star-filled sky outside the cockpit was suddenly swallowed by leaden gray clouds. The AN/APG-81 radar’s weather mode activated automatically. On the holographic display, a blizzard two hundred kilometers in diameter was moving toward Changbai Mountain at a speed of twenty meters per second. The snowflakes appeared as dense silver noise on the radar, resembling a spiderweb of death currently being woven.
"Warning: temperature in the area ahead has plummeted to -40°C. Severe convective turbulence detected," the electronic voice turned sharp. "Engine compressor is ingesting ice crystals; power output has dropped by 37%."
Leitao’s pupils contracted. He knew that although the F-35B’s F135 engine was equipped with an anti-icing system, the compressor blades could still suffer from surges due to icing in such extreme low-temperature, heavy-snow conditions. He quickly switched to manual mode and pulled the throttle to increase thrust, but he heard an abnormal metallic grinding from the engine, as if a giant were rolling gravel in its throat.
Chapter 486