Chapter 548 J-31A’s first flight
Qin Tao respects these two old men. Without him, these two old men will hold up the sky of the motherland. They are each responsible for a model and work tirelessly until they finally succeed.
"Mr. Qin, when we saw this aircraft today, we still felt like we were dreaming. We never thought that military aircraft research and development could be done in this way." Mr. Song said: "If we had your ability, the J-10 could still be around two times a day." Year."
After the first flight of the J-10, it carried out intensive test flights, and the progress is still very good. However, if compared with the J-31A in front of us, there is a huge difference. After all, this aircraft is one generation ahead. .
“Yes, Mr. Qin, this plane is about to take off for the first time. We are both happy and disappointed.” Mr. Tu also sighed with emotion.
"There is no need to lose." Qin Tao looked at Mr. Tu: "Mr. Tu, we have said before that one day the Super 7 fighter will soar into the sky. By then, our motherland will truly become a major country in military aircraft research and development. "
The development of modern fighter jets is very complicated. Even in Europe, joint research and development has begun. Except for Dassault, which parted ways with other countries for various reasons and developed Rafale fighter jets on its own, other countries have actually already The loss of the ability to independently develop fighter jets is either technology or money.
The Red Empire was originally on par with the United States, but with the collapse of the Red Empire, its military aircraft research and development capabilities were completely lost. Now it can only live on its laurels.
The United States is unique in that it is developing not only air superiority fighters but also joint fighter jets, but the progress is obviously slower than that of the East.
It can be said that everyone is very happy that such progress can be achieved now. The appearance of this aircraft also represents that the domestic aviation industry has entered a new era.
“By the way, who was the pilot on the first flight?” Qin Tao asked, “Is it Lei Zi?”
Generally speaking, the risk of the first flight is very high, and it must have an experienced pilot. When the J-10 made its first flight, it was Lei Qiang, the most experienced test pilot in China, who flew it. People who are familiar with him directly Called Lei Zi.
It's just that after the J-10's first flight, there are still a large number of scientific research projects waiting for him, so Qin Tao doesn't know whether Lei Qiang can come to participate in the first flight ceremony.
"Yes, Mr. Qin, it's me." At this moment, Lei Qiang, fully clothed, came over.
When the J-10 made its first flight, Lei Qiang's whole body was very nervous, his face was red, and his blood pressure was horribly high. After all, the first flight at that time was very risky. For him, he was ready to sacrifice, but he was still very nervous and worried because he was afraid that the plane would crash and there was no scientific data left for the research and development personnel to analyze.
For foreign test pilots, as long as they complete the first flight, they can retire and live without worries for life. However, Lei Qiang did not. He still stayed on the front line of test flights and continued to do various difficult test flights.
Moreover, he is also receiving training on the J-31A. He will not let his life have any regrets. He has flown two models and two generations of aircraft for the first time in his life. It is worth it!
“I didn’t go through the back door.” Lei Qiang said with a smile: “There were more than a dozen test pilots who wanted to make the first flight, and there were also three old-fashioned pilots. After some competition, I finally stood out.”
Lei Qiang is very proud.
If you want to fly for the first time, you must have a thorough understanding of the aircraft. Once a fault occurs, the test pilot must be able to determine where the fault occurred, the cause, and provide the best solution. Lei Qiang was the first J-30 to fly 1A has done a lot of work to become the test pilot for the first flight.
“Leizi, if this first flight is successful, our group will reward you one million!” Qin Tao has never been stingy with these heroes who conquered the sky.
Lei Qiang shook his head with a smile: "Mr. Qin, I didn't come here just for the bonus. If we wanted to make money, we would have gone to civil aviation professionally. If you had money, reward all the designers. They are so dedicated to this aircraft." I work hard, almost 17 or 18 hours a day, all year round."
No matter what era, there will always be a group of people who work hard and forget about food and sleep for their own ideals. It is with this kind of energy that science and technology will gradually catch up with and surpass the world level, and the motherland will prosper.
“Of course there are rewards for technical staff.” Qin Tao said: “After the first flight is successful, all technical staff will receive an additional two months’ salary as a reward. However, what is given to you is what is given to you, and there is no need to refuse.”
Two months' salary is very small compared to one million, but there are so many technical staff that the total number is still very large. Mr. Qin is very happy. He will never treat his hard-working people badly.
At this time, after hearing Qin Tao's words, the people around him suddenly became excited.
Their salary is already quite high. If they can get two more months of salary as a bonus, it will be an unexpected bonus.
“Okay, the time has come, let’s send the test pilot onto the plane.” Zhao Dangsheng said.
Everyone moved out of the way, and Lei Qiang stepped onto the plane with vigorous steps, preparing to take off. Zhao Dansheng was beside him, waiting for the canopy to be fastened, and took one last look at the cockpit before getting off.
“Many parts of this prototype aircraft are purchased from outside, such as the ejection seat. We use K-36D. Domestic supporting manufacturers still need to work hard.” Pleshakov told Qin Tao.
Qin Tao nodded: "We do still have shortcomings in many subsystems, but we will catch up."
Pleshakov agreed very much with what Qin Tao said. The East has changed so much in recent years, and he was very emotional.
The roar of the engine sounded, and everyone stopped talking and stared at the fighter plane.
Zhao Dangsheng stood in front of the plane and used body movements to direct. Lei Qiang operated the plane, and the rudder surfaces began to swing regularly.
After Zhao Dangsheng left the runway, Lei Jian increased the accelerator and released the brakes.
Many aircraft have taken off on this runway, including the J-7, J-10, and now the J-31A, which is even more meaningful. This is the first fourth-generation aircraft!
The black fighter plane taxied on the runway, which touched the hearts of many people.
The speed of the fighter plane became faster and faster. The front wheel was raised and it continued to slide for a while relying only on the two rear wheels. Then, the wheels left the ground and the plane took off.
On the ground, a burst of applause sounded.
“Stealth aircraft are more eye-catching.” Mr. Song lamented: “What our 611 cannot afford to lose is that we also have to develop stealth aircraft!”
Qin Tao turned around and said with a smile: "Of course you are going to do it, Jian Shi is just the beginning!"
As he spoke, the roar in the sky continued.
The aircraft with butterfly wings is very interesting when viewed from below.
The previous J-5 and J-6 had swept wings, which meant inserting two swept-back wings on the fuselage. By the time of the J-7 and J-8, it became a delta wing, which is equivalent to inserting two right-angled triangles on both sides of the fuselage. wings. When it comes to the J-10, it uses a canard layout with a large delta wing at the back.
These wings are either perpendicular to the fuselage at the rear or swept back. What about this butterfly wing? The leading edge of the wing is swept back, and the rear edge of the wing stretches forward, like an isosceles trapezoid-like structure, very similar to the wing type during World War II.
This is of course to avoid the appearance of an angle at the connection between the trailing edge wing and fuselage, which will cause excessive radar reflection waves. As long as it is a stealth aircraft, whether it is a wing or a tail, basically the trailing edge must be swept forward. That's all, no matter how big or small it is.
The black fighter plane is very conspicuous in the blue sky. Just like the J-10's first flight, it actually just circles the airport a few times, then aligns with the runway, and lands to complete the first flight.
When the plane landed smoothly, the two Young Pioneers who had been prepared presented flowers, one put it around his neck and the other held it with his hand. In this state, Lei Qiang had an intimate moment with the fighter plane after its first flight. group photo.
The whole process seemed uneventful.
“How do you feel?” Qin Tao asked Lei Qiang with a smile.
“Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?”
"Of course it's the truth." Qin Tao looked at the bearded man who was more than ten meters away from him. The customer would definitely not be able to hear it.
"This is an ordinary aircraft." Lei Qiang said: "I don't have the feeling of flying a J-10 at all."
When the J-10 made its first flight, Lei Qiang flew the fighter into the sky and suddenly shouted: I*!
Everyone was startled, thinking something had happened, and then Lei Qiang became excited: This plane is much more agile than the previous one!
The third-generation aircraft has fly-by-wire flight control and a canard layout, so the J-10's maneuverability is first-rate, and its rolling and other performance is better than that of the Su-27.
After getting used to flying the J-10, flying the aircraft in front of you will naturally feel boring.
After Lei Qiang finished speaking, he glanced at Qin Tao: "Don't you feel disappointed?"
This evaluation is not high. Why doesn't Mr. Qin look disappointed?
"After flying the J-10, flying the Su-27 will probably be mediocre. How can our aircraft compare with it?" Qin Tao was open-minded: "Leizi, the main purpose of our aircraft is stealth." On the premise of ensuring stealth, it does not become a pure attack aircraft like the F-117, but it still has combat capabilities, which is already very good."
At present, the only mature stealth aircraft is the F-117. Its aerodynamic shape is so weird that many people feel that it cannot fly at all, and it is absolutely impossible to fight in the air.
The F-22 is powerful. Qin Tao also admires it. As long as the engine is powerful, bricks can fly into the sky. The F-22 has two engines with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 10, so it can certainly stand out from the crowd.
This fighter of ours is multi-purpose and not an air superiority model, so we cannot ask for too much.
"Mr. Qin, your thinking is different from others." Lei Qiang was a little curious: "We are all engaged in fighter jets. Of course, we all hope that our aircraft will be as maneuverable as possible. When engaging in various air combats, we can easily Bite the enemy's tail and launch air-to-air missiles."
"That era has long passed." Qin Tao said: "Do you know what the future air combat will be like?"
"Mr. Qin, just say it straight away." Mr. Song on the side said with a smile.
"With the support of the data link of the early warning aircraft, our stealth aircraft does not turn on its own radar system and engages the enemy completely silently. It flies to a distance of one hundred kilometers from the enemy aircraft, or it may be closer, and then launches its own air-to-air missiles. , when the air-to-air missile enters active guidance, the stealth aircraft can turn around and return."
In the whole process, there was no aerial combat at all! The stealth aircraft actually acts as a launch platform for air-to-air missiles!
“What if the missile misses the target?” Lei Qiang asked.
“Then let the second batch of stealth aircraft go over and continue doing this kind of action. In short, in the era of stealth aircraft, the role of fighter aircraft is that of the previous shooters. They are used at long distances and try not to get into a dogfight situation.”
“Why?” Lei Qiang was puzzled.
“Because it’s expensive.” Qin Tao said: “The fourth-generation aircraft is much more expensive than the third-generation aircraft. If it is shot down, the loss will be too great. If you want to fight, a third-generation aircraft is enough.”
“That’s right, then, there is no need for fourth-generation aircraft to engage in close combat?”
"No, this ability must be maintained." Qin Tao continued: "After all, if you walk a lot at night, you will always encounter ghosts. When fighter jets fly in the sky, you will always encounter uninvited guests, forcing you to enter a state of air combat. Among them. Of course, we don’t strive for mobility, we rely on advanced avionics and excellent air-to-air missiles to deal with our opponents.”
This aircraft of our own is actually a high imitation of the F-35. Of course, an aircraft of this level does not rely on maneuverability to fight air combat, but relies on information capabilities.
Later generations of the U.S. military once conducted similar air combat simulations. In one exercise, two F-35 stealth fighters defeated eight F-16 fighters. However, this is completely a win-win style. One of the F-35 fighters turns on the radar and transmits the precise coordinate information of the F-16 fighter to another F-35 fighter through a data link. The latter performs silent target shooting at long distances. After the fight was over, the two planes switched roles and continued.
If two F-35s are blocked and engaged in a fight by eight F-16 fighters, Feidian will definitely be tortured.
The maneuverability of the stealth aircraft needs to be able to reach the average level of the third-generation aircraft. It does not need to be too high. It is meaningless to pursue high maneuverability like the Sukhoi Design Bureau.
However, Mr. Song on the side started thinking.
After the first flight, there was of course a celebration party. Qasim was extremely excited: "Today's first flight is of great significance to us! We look forward to this aircraft completing all flight projects as soon as possible and equipping our army as soon as possible." !”
Vertical take-off and landing fighter jets have little to do with them. After all, they cannot have a powerful navy, let alone an aircraft carrier. At land-based airports, ordinary aircraft are enough.
The model in front of them is first of all a carrier-based model, with strengthened landing gear and a carrier hook, but it doesn't matter to them. After all, the Tomcat they are operating now is a carrier-based aircraft, so it doesn't matter if it adds some weight. As long as the performance is strong, their pilots have long been accustomed to using AWG-9 to target the enemy, and then using Phoenix missiles to cover the target. After the target is blown up, they still don’t know where the attack came from.
“Yes, we will do our best. We look forward to completing all test flights of this aircraft as soon as possible. Don’t worry, you must be the first user to own it!”
The celebration banquet was very lively, but Mr. Song was still frowning, thinking about something.
Afternoon, conference room.
The technicians gathered together and were still immersed in the joy of the first flight.
"Next, we still have a lot of tasks to do. The current 02 aircraft is used for static testing. We also need 03 and 04 aircraft so that we can complete a large number of test flight subjects. We also need to coordinate domestic The supporting department will complete our other subsystems, and by the time of the 05 sorties, we hope to be a full-status aircraft," Pleshakov said.
The first test flight will definitely be the aerodynamics. After that, there will be testing of avionics and other systems. Now, many of the equipment are not available yet, such as the tall full LCD screen display, the sci-fi helmet and voice input.
“In terms of avionics, should we use flat-panel slot radar instead? After all, active phased array radar is too expensive.” Zhao Dangsheng said.
At present, after hard work, domestic avionics has finally overcome the difficulties of flat-panel gap radar, and has begun to equip a large number of aircraft on aircraft, which can be regarded as reaching the international mainstream level.
However, Mr. Qin actually gave them the idea of using active phased array radar.
Even the Navy is worried about the high cost. During the bidding process, the 052C and 052B were built separately. Mr. Qin actually wants this aircraft to have such advanced radar equipment?
"Radars are expensive, so they should be sold more expensively." Qin Tao said: "Our aircraft is branded as a fourth-generation aircraft. We are destined to be unable to achieve supersonic cruise, but we must achieve it in other aspects. Yes, if it doesn’t have an active phased array radar, can it be called an advanced fourth-generation aircraft?”
At present, there is only one fighter aircraft equipped with this kind of radar, which is the American F-22. This is the world's first fourth-generation aircraft. Now, President Qin actually requires the J-31A to be equipped with this kind of radar. It is really hard to understand. accept.
It’s too expensive.
Mr. Qin was not afraid of the expense and strongly requested to be on this radar.
"In future air combat, active phased array radar is a must. If we want to catch up with the world's advanced level and surpass it, we have to make more efforts. Anyway, the test flight will take several years to complete. The radar can be released first. "In the future, perhaps this active phased array radar technology will be more mature and the cost will be lower."
Okay, since Mr. Qin insists, we will listen to Mr. Qin.
The information warfare capabilities of fourth-generation aircraft are quite powerful, and the important equipment is this active phased array radar. Qin Tao will never lower his requirements, otherwise how can he show it off?
The meeting lasted for an hour or two, and all the next tasks were set, and everyone was very excited.
After coming out, Xu Zhengyang whispered to Qin Tao: "Mr. Qin, Mr. Song wants to talk to you."
"Okay." Qin Tao said, "I'm thirsty, so I'll go to his place to drink a pot of tea. By the way, tell Xiaoling that I'll go back later."
In the morning, Zhao Ling attended the first flight ceremony. After lunch, she went back to the guest house to rest. She was indeed sleepy.
Qin Tao originally planned to go back after the meeting, but now he has to delay for a while.
In the office, Mr. Song was sitting at his desk working. On his desk, the model of the J-10 was very beautiful.
“Mr. Song, you look very worried today. If you are unhappy about anything, tell me and it will make me happy.”
Mr. Song smiled and said, "You are always such an optimist. I have been thinking about something today and I feel that what you said is wrong."
“Really? What’s wrong?”
"You said that the advantage of a stealth machine is to use its invisibility to sneak past the killer in the sky, fire quietly, and then escape. However, there is a premise for your setting." Mr. Song looked at Qin Tao: "You are talking about fourth-generation aircraft versus third-generation aircraft. What if it is fourth-generation aircraft against fourth-generation aircraft?"
Qin Tao smiled. As expected, Mr. Song was sensitive enough and could think of all these things.
"If both sides have stealth, then neither the early warning aircraft nor our own airborne radar will detect the enemy aircraft at a long distance. After encountering it, it may be within visual range. Therefore, close combat It will still explode!" Mr. Song said: "Your current J-31A can only be used to deal with third-generation aircraft, and cannot deal with aircraft of the same generation!"
"That's right." Qin Tao said: "This is also in line with our export rules. We can't cause trouble for ourselves. Anyway, this aircraft is mainly for export."
"What about ourselves?" Mr. Song couldn't help but ask: "We ourselves need a stealth aircraft that can carry out combat. It needs to have excellent air combat performance! Only in this way can we gain advantages in future air combat, especially in F In the shadow of the -22 fighter, we need advanced aircraft even more."
"Then what?"
Qin Tao is not in a hurry at all, because he has long known that the J-10 is just the beginning. For the 611 Institute, the road of independent development of the aviation industry will continue! Now Mr. Song must be thinking about fighting twenty.
"We need a domestic dual-engine heavy-duty air superiority fourth-generation stealth aircraft!" When Mr. Song said this, he was obviously getting excited: "Our current thrust is the turbofan 15, so we use the turbofan Fan Fifteen is the scheduled engine, so that the total weight of the aircraft can be enlarged to 30 tons. When the turbofan Fifteen is modified in the future, the power will be more powerful. Of course, considering the gap with the West, we may not necessarily We must pursue supersonic cruise capabilities, but we must not be inferior in other abilities!”
"We must have strong mobility. Considering our technical strength, I think the duck layout is the safest. We are the best at this aerodynamic layout, and the mobility is absolutely no problem!" Mr. Song said: "We want to give our motherland Hold up the sky of the future!”
“Song Lao, since you have this idea, then start working on it. When the J-10 completes its test flight, you can start this project.” Qin Tao said.
“But, didn’t you say that the duck layout is not conducive to stealth?”
Qin Tao was stunned, it turned out to be his own fault?
(End of this chapter)