Chapter 676: The big dog owner has a very high vision
Across the ocean, McDonnell Douglas.
"Today, Saudi Arabia sent a delegation to inspect Dongfang. Dongfang's vertical takeoff and landing fighter was perfectly demonstrated in front of them. That model has been completely mature." X-35 engineer Schnoder said: "Damn it, we took the wrong route. So far, our vertical take-off and landing fighters are still very difficult, especially the problem of deck ablation, which is almost unsolvable!"
Schnoder had long discovered the disadvantages of using a lift engine, so he once proposed to replace the lift fan with a lift engine. However, due to the deterioration of the company's financial situation, they did not have the funds at all. To modify the design, we can only build a prototype first, so that we can defraud the military's research and development funds.
"Yes, this route is wrong. However, fortunately, our competitors are not much better. The X-32 they designed has many problems, so although it has made its first flight, it still needs major changes. If we It’s not too late to make changes now.”
"Yes, it's too late to make changes now, but where's the money? Our project funds have been spent!" Schnoder clenched his fists.
A lot has happened in the past few years.
It became increasingly difficult for McDonnell Douglas to operate, so company leader Stonecipher repeatedly diverted funds from their projects to keep the company afloat.
However, the company still did not hold on. Last year, the company was merged by Boeing, and the once brilliant McDonnell Douglas Company came to an end. Stonecipher was also brought to court for misappropriating military research and development funds.
However, their X-35 design department was not merged with them.
Boeing is working on the X-32. What does it mean if their X-35 design department also goes there? Then there will be no more competition as advertised by Americans! Regarding the F100 engine, the U.S. Air Force has realized the harm caused by a dominant company, so they firmly disagree with the military aircraft research and development department.
In this way, the X-35 design department became an abandoned baby, and they did not know where their future lay.
They are fighting among themselves.
While they were in turmoil, the technology of the Orientals was developing rapidly. Now, seeing the progress made by the Orientals, they are itching with hatred.
咣!
At this moment, the door outside was pushed open.
Everyone looked outside and saw their old rivals from the bidding days.
"Daniel? What are you doing here? There are our secrets here, you can't come in." Schnoder shouted.
“I am the person in charge of this project, why can’t I come in?” Daniel said.
“You? How is that possible?” Schnoder was surprised.
"I want to tell you some good news. The military has officially approved that Lockheed will take over our department. The formal acquisition process may take some time. However, given that we are already seriously behind on the joint fighter project, so , we at Lockheed must start work immediately, and now, I am already the person in charge of this project.”
McDonnell Douglas was merged, but Lockheed was still thriving. Although they failed in the initial bidding, they still had the last laugh. This is their money-making ability!
How to outperform your competitors? The answer is to merge the competitors! It's that simple.
Of course, Lockheed also has this capability. The F-22 fighter jet they manufactured is progressing smoothly, demonstrating their leadership in military aircraft research and development. Now, hand over the X-35 project for the Joint Fighter Aircraft Bid to them. The military It's reassuring.
Furthermore, mergers require a large amount of funds, and a large part of these funds will offset the misappropriated research and development expenses. In this way, the research and development of this aircraft can also enter the fast lane.
No matter how you look at it, this is good news.
However, for Schnoder and others, this is not necessarily the case.
“You probably already know what the fatal problem is with your plan, right?” Daniel continued to ask.
"Yes, we use the lift engine solution. This solution will cause the gas ejected from below to overheat, eventually leading to ablation of the deck. This problem is almost unsolvable. Moreover, during vertical takeoff and landing, the gas ejected downwards will be ejected downwards. The hot flames may also be sucked into the engine, causing a sudden loss of engine power," Schnoder said.
There is something wrong with their technical route!
“So, we plan to change the plan next, and use the lift fan like Dongfang. This can avoid many problems. Dongfang has successfully developed it, and we must speed up our efforts.”
"Humph, you also know that your route is wrong!" Daniel said: "At the beginning, we knew that the route of this lift engine was wrong, and only the lift fan was the most suitable, but you guys are actually here Laugh at us! You won the bid with this immature plan, but our mature plan was actually rejected!"
Speaking of this, Daniel became very angry.
"Yes, we took the wrong path. Fortunately, Lockheed took over. We believe that this fighter will be successfully developed soon." Schnoder said.
"Of course, we will quickly catch up and surpass us. We must not let the Easterners ride on our heads!" Daniel said: "They are just taking advantage of it. They are still unable to compare with us in terms of strength, especially because their engines are lagging behind. We have the most powerful engines in the world, and the thrust of our F-135 is a level they will never be able to reach."
"Yes, you are right. We will work hard. Now, just give the instructions." Schnoder said.
"Okay, the first order I gave was to fire more than 20 technical staff led by Schnoder."
“Why?” Schnoder was stunned immediately.
Why? Of course it was for revenge. At first, Schnoder dared to laugh at them. Now that the villain has succeeded, of course he needs revenge.
However, this is also a normal process.
When a new company is merged, a group of people must be replaced.
These people are either old-timers who usually like to be lazy and don't work and take advantage of the company, or they are unwilling and always want to do some small tricks below to cause trouble for the company and hinder the company. If these people are not replaced, How to develop the company's business?
Use the most drastic means to replace a group of people, so as to show the chicken to the monkey and let the remaining people work hard without always thinking of evil ways.
Of course, as for now, it’s retaliation, simply because Daniel doesn’t like Schnoder.
Schnoder has been working on this project for many years. If he is retained, it will be of great benefit to the continuation of the project. Moreover, although the prototype they built uses a lift engine, they have already begun to try to use a lift fan.
It’s just that there is no room for two tigers in one mountain, and Daniel just wants to get rid of Schnoder. Otherwise, seeing him every day will make his mood very different, and how can he still work?
"Because when you were developing this fighter, you took the wrong route and wasted a lot of time and money." Daniel said, "Actually, letting you go now is already a gift to you, and there is no accountability. If you are asked to compensate for the losses your fault has caused to the company, you will definitely not be able to afford it."
"Okay." Schnoder knew that there was no point in saying anything else. Since he wanted to drive himself away, he would just leave.
Schnoder returned to his desk, packed up his personal belongings, and left quietly. He was accompanied by a group of elites. If these people stayed, they could shorten the development of the fighter jet by at least half a year. However, this **** Daniel would definitely not do this. He does not have such a large capacity.
The performance of the East brought great stimulation to the West. Under this stimulation, the joint fighter project finally got on the right track, but time has been wasted.
For Dongfang's fighter planes, all that is left to do is expose their flaws through constant use and continue to fix the loopholes, and this kind of fighter plane was finally sold.
"Now that you have determined the carrier-based aircraft, we can determine the specific research and development of the aircraft carrier next. We will set up the meeting of this aircraft carrier at the Mingzhou Shipyard, and by the way, I will show you our shipbuilding industry." Qin Tao smiled and sent out the invitation.
Salman and others nodded.
The second design office of the aircraft carrier is in Huating, but there is nothing interesting to see there. Instead, they went to Mingzhou Shipyard, which made them even more excited.
Spring flowers are blooming everywhere, and the Mingzhou Shipyard is also a lively scene. When everyone arrived at the shipyard, the first thing they saw was the 052C anti-aircraft ship under construction.
The first one has already been commissioned. Next, the other five destroyers in the first batch are under rapid construction. On the slipway here, three destroyers were built in batches at one time. After all, the number must be small to **** the aircraft carrier. .
Although the confidentiality of this kind of ship is the highest, it is only in the hull building stage and various radar equipment has not been installed yet. There is still no problem in looking at it from the outside.
Looking at the advanced warships splashing with sparks from the arc, Salman said with some emotion: "Your development of warships has reached a world-class level. At present, in addition to the American Aegis system, it is your kind of Chinese Aegis."
There is really no third model in the world, not now, not even in the future, because it is too expensive.
This is confidence, technological confidence!
“I just don’t know, do you have any plans to export this system?” Salman asked.
Sure enough, big business owners are rich. After buying an airplane, they want to buy an aircraft carrier. After buying an aircraft carrier, they also want other **** warships. The entire system is worth tens of billions of dollars or even hundreds of billions of dollars. Big business.
However, it’s not the time yet!
The aircraft carrier can be sold. After all, before the Navy ordered it, the Mingzhou Group was already manufacturing aircraft carriers for export. However, this Aegis battleship really cannot be sold at the moment.
The 346 Haizhixing radar and Hongqi-9 air defense missiles used above are the most advanced technologies in the country, and of course they cannot be sold immediately.
This will have to wait until later, when the Hongqi-9A, which uses liquid-cooled 346A radar and has a longer range, comes out, can these existing weapons be sold.
Of course, you can’t say that now: you wait until we have new weapons, which are considered low-end products, before selling them. This will definitely make customers dissatisfied.
"I'm very sorry, my friend, you may not know that the production process of this phased array radar is very cumbersome and the scrap rate is very high. Therefore, our relevant units are currently producing at full speed, which is only enough for our own ordering. Therefore, there is currently no way to sell the four-sided phased array radar. Otherwise, if we produce it, the radar array may not be installed until three to five years or even more than ten years. This is irresponsible to the user. We are absolutely You can’t do this kind of thing!”
Qin Tao said firmly, and Salman could only nod.
"If you need to order an air defense ship from us, we recommend that you purchase our frigate version. Even though it is a frigate, it has a displacement of about 4,000 tons, uses vertical launchers, and has excellent multi-target attack capabilities and interception The ability of the ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming anti-ship missile is just that the power system is slightly slower. Of course, if you can purchase an LM2500 gas turbine, or decide to use a gas turbine produced by us, the speed can still be increased to 30 knots. "
The anti-aircraft destroyer cannot be sold for the time being, but the anti-aircraft frigate is the flagship product of the Mingzhou Group!
At present, the 054 frigate is still in mass production. Passing through the slipway where destroyers are being built here, you can see the frigates under construction on the other side.
The frigate with its stealth appearance also looked very beautiful. However, Salman looked back at the Aegis ship and shook his head.
No, rich people are only interested in expensive things.
"The construction of an aircraft carrier takes three to five years. By the time the aircraft carrier is launched, the radar production technology of our Aegis battleships may have improved. When the radar production increases, you will be able to place an order." Qin Tao said: " Now if you don’t like this frigate, you can wait a little longer.”
Salman nodded: "Let's wait and negotiate the design of the aircraft carrier first."
Everyone returned to the office building. The floor-to-ceiling windows with a good view could clearly see the busy dock outside. After everyone sat down, the slide projector was turned on and Qin Tao introduced them.
"Since you have chosen a carrier-based aircraft with vertical take-off and landing, we will focus on introducing the design of this aircraft carrier with ski-jump take-off and vertical landing." Qin Tao said: "On this aircraft carrier, we have used Lots of new designs.”
Can there be a completely new design? At the defense exhibition, didn't the aircraft carrier displayed by Mingzhou Group already have many novel designs?
What other new designs are there now?
Everyone is full of expectations.
Babic and Makarov are both busy with the domestic aircraft carrier project. After all, that is a key project, and the Saudi one is just an intention at the moment. Therefore, drawing out the drawings is also simple and is directly provided by the first design office of the Mingzhou Group. Did it for you.
There is no rush to wait until Saudi Arabia has made a complete decision and transferred to detailed design, and then hand it over to the second design office for detailed design.
Everyone sat in the conference room and looked at the projection on the slide projector.
"Whether the design of an aircraft carrier is scientific or not depends first on whether its deck design is appropriate." Qin Tao said: "We designed a ski-jump take-off and vertical landing aircraft carrier solution. This is currently only used by small British aircraft carriers. However, , our displacement is larger, so our deck will be more advanced, and everyone can see how advanced our deck layout is."
The larger the displacement, the easier it is to arrange.
As the slide appeared, everyone suddenly became excited: "There can be thirty carrier-based aircraft on this deck!"
If a hangar is added to this, wouldn't it be possible to accommodate fifty carrier-based aircraft? However, is this definitely a 40,000-ton aircraft carrier? The French aircraft carrier deck does not have such a large capacity.
This is of course due to the advantages of ski jump takeoff and vertical landing!
"Let's start from the front. On the left side of the bow, we designed a 12-degree jump deck. We have already tested it at our Wasteland Village base. This jump deck is sufficient to ensure the normal takeoff of carrier-based aircraft." Qin Tao said: "At the same time, the plane on the right side of the bow can be used as a parking area for carrier-based aircraft, where five carrier-based aircraft can be parked diagonally."
The bow of the ship has finished speaking and continues to move backward.
"Behind the jump deck, we designed a take-off runway. The take-off point is at a distance of 160 meters. With this distance, the carrier-based aircraft can take off normally even without using the vertical take-off and landing system. If Using the vertical takeoff and landing system to assist ski jump takeoff is enough to ensure a fully loaded takeoff. Even if the aircraft carrier speed is zero, we can extend the takeoff point to the end, which is a takeoff line of more than 260 meters long, which is enough to ensure the takeoff of the aircraft. "
The total length of the deck is 264 meters and the width is 64 meters. This deck is based on the plan of the Charles de Gaulle with a displacement of 40,000 tons. However, the total deck area of the aircraft carrier is not much smaller than that of the Queen Elizabeth.
The length of the latter is 280 meters and the width is 73 meters.
This difference in width means that the deck of this aircraft carrier can now accommodate one less row of carrier-based aircraft.
Behind the Queen-class aircraft carrier, the right side can accommodate two rows of carrier-based aircraft, and the left side can accommodate a row of carrier-based aircraft. In the aircraft carrier deck design in front of us, the left side of the take-off runway accommodates a row of carrier-based aircraft, and the right side only accommodates a row of carrier-based aircraft. There can only be one row.
Compared with the Invincible level, it is equivalent to the Invincible level having an extra row of parking areas on the left. This row of parking areas is quite impressive.
“On the left side of the take-off runway, we designed a parking area for fifteen fighters, which is also the parking area for the main force of our aircraft carrier. The nose of the aircraft faces the runway. When needed, the aircraft can be taken off at any time by simply dragging it out. "Qin Tao continued to introduce: "Next, let's look at the right side. The ship island is arranged in the middle of the starboard side. There is an elevator at the front and rear. Five carrier-based aircraft can be docked at the front and five at the back. In this way, the deck can realize The docking of thirty carrier-based aircraft.”
Compared with the Queen class, the back has become a row of parking areas, and at the same time, the double ship island has become a single ship island.
“This design looks very good!” Salman nodded.
“However, the location of the ship island seems to be a bit forward. The layout of the flue may be a waste of space. Can the ship island be placed at the back?”
The ship island is not only to accommodate aviation and navigation personnel, but more importantly, it is to accommodate the chimney.
Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers do not need chimneys, and the ship islands can be arranged in any position. The Charles de Gaulle is strangely designed in the front. American aircraft carriers are all centered and have a tendency to gradually move backward.
The Queen-class aircraft carrier uses gas turbines and uses a dual-island solution. Each island has a chimney, and a gas turbine is placed directly under the island. This facilitates operation and avoids complicated detours for the chimney.
Eastern aircraft carriers do not yet have nuclear power. Saudi Arabia only has oil, so it must use an oil-burning engine. The engine must be placed at the very back to facilitate the drive of the propeller. The chimney is in the middle and the engine is at the back. It seems uncoordinated.
Hearing this question, everyone reacted: Yes, how to solve this chimney problem?
"Placing the ship island in the center makes it easier to observe the situation before and after, which is very beneficial to command and dispatch. In order to solve the problem of the chimney being too long, we decided to place the engine directly under the ship island. Now, let's look at the perspective view. This picture can It’s relatively easy to see the layout of the engine.”
The engine is arranged under the ship island? How can this be? The chimney is shorter, but the drive shaft is longer!
For transmissions with tens of thousands of horsepower or even hundreds of thousands of horsepower, the shorter the transmission shaft, the better!
This group of people came not only to fly, but also to build ships. They immediately realized the problem.
“That drive shaft will be very long!”
"We don't use a transmission shaft." Qin Tao said: "I have also said that this aircraft carrier is a transcendental one. We will use a brand new integrated electric propulsion system on this aircraft carrier. The engines under the island are only used for Generate electricity, and then comprehensively match the power through the entire ship's power grid, including the propulsion system."
Big businessmen have ideals. They need the most advanced equipment at all times. Of course, this aircraft carrier must be a transcendental one!
Without advanced technology, can it be recognized by big investors?
On the 002 aircraft carrier, because the electromagnetic ejection and electromagnetic arresting systems are used, the entire ship's integrated power system has been used. This system has been tested on land many times to ensure that it will not fall off. However, this system does not The propulsion system is not included. After all, the power required by the propulsion system is too strong, and it is not possible to make such a large propulsion motor for the time being.
However, if the displacement is reduced from 80,000 tons to 40,000 tons, you can try it. It happens to be on this Saudi aircraft carrier to test your own brand-new technology!
As for whether there will be any problems? Qin Tao believed in Ma Gong unconditionally.
(End of this chapter)