Chapter 704 Explosive Design Plan
No. 14, Fuxing Road.
This is also in Gongzhufen, just across the road from the compound where Qin Tao's father-in-law lives, so Qin Tao can come here on foot.
Actually, this meeting has nothing to do with Qin Tao. He is a shipbuilder. However, Mr. Lin strongly invited him and he also wanted to see the excitement, so he came over.
●Today’s meeting is the bidding meeting for the fourth-generation heavy-duty aircraft! The 601 and 611 institutions participating in the meeting will compete fiercely just like the third-generation aircraft bidding, and finally select the most suitable plan to enter the next stage of research and development.
This meeting is crucial for both institutes. For Institute 601, they have lost the opportunity to develop third-generation aircraft and can only produce Su-27 series aircraft. If they are in the bidding for fourth-generation aircraft, If they fail, they will be completely reduced to a foundry. For the 611 Institute, they have made gains in the third-generation aircraft, and now they must make further progress to secure their position.
The competition between the two sides must be quite fierce, and of course Qin Tao wants to come over and watch the fun.
When he walked into the compound, he happened to see a group of people getting out of the car. When those people saw him, they all waved their arms excitedly.
"Mr. Qin, it's great that you are here to attend the meeting!" Mr. Gu first said to Qin Tao.
"Mr. Gu, I remember you have retired, haven't you? You are getting stronger with old age." Qin Tao said.
Lao Gu shook his head: "Yes, I am retired, and I am here to join in the fun this time. The leader of our bid this time is Lao Li."
Mr. Li, the designer of Institute 601, stretched out his hand with a smile: "Mr. Qin, we look forward to your valuable vote for our project."
Speaking of 601, the first thing that comes to mind is Mr. Gu. After all, after the reform to the chief engineer system, Mr. Gu became the chief designer of the J-8, and the only self-research project that 601 can produce is the J-8. .
However, there are still many capable people in Institute 601, and Mr. Li is one of them.
He was born in 1938 and graduated from the Department of Engineering Mechanics and Mathematics of Tsinghua University in 1963, majoring in fluid mechanics. You can tell by looking at his major. After entering the 601 Institute, he became engaged in aircraft aerodynamics. He has been devoted to the aerodynamic layout of aircraft throughout his life. superior.
In the early 1990s, Mr. Li led a team to start research on the aerodynamic layout of the fourth-generation aircraft. It can be said that they started no later than the 611 Institute. During this period, they considered Qin Tao's proposal, but it is unknown whether it was ultimately adopted. .
After all, the Sukhoi Design Bureau also approached Qin Tao and asked their Mingzhou Group to join Sukhoi's fourth-generation aircraft research and development. It seems that the Sukhoi Design Bureau is also skeptical of the capabilities of the 601 Institute.
Now, after hearing what Mr. Li said, Qin Tao quickly shook his head: "I'm here to join in the fun, but I don't have any voting rights."
"Then we're here to bid. I heard that you also want to modify a dual-engine large version of the fighter to participate in the bidding." Mr. Gu said with a smile.
"That was just something I said casually after drinking too much. We don't have the energy." Qin Tao said: "If this meeting is held two or three years later, when we have matured the vertical take-off and landing fighter aircraft, it will be almost enough to participate in the bidding. ."
"Fortunately we started early, otherwise we would have been running around." Mr. Gu said with a smile.
While chatting, a group of people walked into the building and entered the conference room.
Mr. Song and the others came earlier and were already seated in the conference room. There was a box beside Mr. Song. Needless to say, it contained aircraft design information. Judging from the thickness of the box, there should also be a model.
Qin Tao was already full of expectations. He did not catch up with the third-generation machine selection meeting. He was still a high school student at that time. The scene of how Mr. Song turned the situation around in just a few minutes and turned from a supporting role into a protagonist was widely known in later generations. It is rumored that Qin Tao will personally participate in the selection meeting of the fourth-generation aircraft, and the scene will be very exciting.
In fact, at Mr. Lin's age, it's time for him to retire. However, Mr. Lin can't sit still. He has worked in the Air Force all his life and doesn't want to retire, so now he also participated in the meeting, but as a re-employed person, he sat in the lower seat. , so when he saw Qin Tao, he immediately waved.
“Mr. Qin, come here and sit here with me!”
Qin Tao walked over quickly and sat next to Mr. Lin: "Mr. Lin, why didn't you sit up there?"
"It's not interesting up there. It's better here. We can still chat. It's too restrictive up there." Mr. Lin said: "Have you heard? It is said that the 601 Institute has brought an explosive design plan this time. They are full of confidence and must get it." The next fourth-generation heavy-duty aircraft will come.”
“An explosive design? Isn’t it the aircraft I suggested to them?” Qin Tao was curious.
At the beginning, he suggested that the 601st Research Institute develop a fourth-generation stealth aircraft based on the Su-27. The workload of doing so would be minimal, and it could be done together with Lao Maozi. But when we think about the attitude of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, is it possible? Is 601 Institute starting a new business?
“It shouldn’t be, or it’s just one of them.”
one of a kind? The 601 Institute worked really hard this time. For the fourth-generation heavy-duty aircraft, they actually started several projects simultaneously?
“Mr. Qin, guess what surprise they will bring us?”
Qin Tao thought for a moment: "Isn't it a three-wing elongated fighter?"
At this time, all Qin Tao can think of is the bidding model of Institute 601 in his original world. It is codenamed Snow Owl. Its biggest highlight is its super long structure, so that an extra long bomb can be placed in its belly. How big is the cabin? Medium-range bombs can be mounted in series front and back, and at least ten rounds can be mounted. For ground attack, the Eagle-21 I planned can be stuffed into it.
I don’t know if Institute 601 will adopt this solution as the main bidding model. If so, there is no hope. This thing does not meet the needs of future air combat at all, and it follows the old path of the F-111.
“They are very secretive. I don’t know yet. However, I believe your judgment may really be three-winged. After all, 601 is good at this aspect.”
Over the years, the 601 Research Institute has done nothing. On the basis of the J-8, they have explored the statically unstable model of fly-by-wire flight control, adding canards to the front, and on the J-5, more It officially uses movable canards. Although the technology belongs to Lao Maozi, after all, they are also imitating it, so they still have some understanding.
While the two people were communicating quietly, the bidding began. The leader on the rostrum exchanged a few words and then began to call names.
“Let’s start with Institute 601 first and see what projects they come up with that dazzle us.”
Mr. Li stood up and walked to the introduction position on the side of the rostrum. At the same time, a special CG picture of a fighter plane was displayed on the big screen. Its angular shape showed that the need for stealth was taken into consideration. However, it The fuselage is a bit long and looks very special. Looking at its wings, many people opened their eyes wide.
“It’s indeed a three-winged one, Mr. Qin, you are really a Zhuge Liang.” Mr. Lin sighed with emotion.
Qin Tao just speculated that it was a three-wing surface, and now it turns out to be a three-wing surface!
"Everyone, our design office has a total of two design plans. Right now, we are mainly promoting this three-wing layout fighter plan. Its project code is 98. We followed the trend and gave it the nickname Snow Owl." Li Said the old man.
It is indeed a snowy owl! Qin Tao also became curious.
"The first thing you see should be its three-wing layout. Yes, this is our mastery of aerodynamic layout in recent years. We believe that the three-wing layout will become the mainstream in the future. Compared with the canard layout, it The area of the front canard is greatly reduced, reducing the radar reflection area. Compared with the conventional layout, it can provide a certain head-up moment. In this design, our aircraft can ensure that it meets the target at more than 60 degrees even without a vector engine. Even if the angle is high, the aircraft is still controllable, and the movements of the cobra in the air are trivial for our aircraft."
When he heard this, Qin Tao was already shaking his head. His train of thought was wrong!
The Su-27 series aircraft currently built by 601 Institute have good maneuverability. They are also the ones who have the deepest cooperation with Lao Maozi, so they will not be affected by Lao Maozi. In their eyes, maneuverability is probably more important than stealth. , well, it should still be super maneuverable and can do all kinds of cool moves at air shows.
“However, everyone doesn’t know that the biggest feature of our fighter plane is not its three-wing layout, but its built-in bomb bay, next page!”
As the screen turned to the next page, everyone looked at the open bomb bay of this fighter jet in surprise.
“So long?” Someone immediately exclaimed.
"Currently, we have designed many internal mounting solutions. For example, when performing air control missions, two five-missile rotating pylons can be arranged in series in front and back, and ten PL-11 and R77 missiles can be easily mounted. Such medium-range air-to-air missiles, and we also have side bomb bays to mount close-range combat missiles. The maximum number of missiles it can mount can reach twelve. In this way, the number of built-in missiles of the stealth aircraft can truly reach one. If it can only carry four medium-sized and two close-range aircraft, it is not considered a heavy-duty aircraft."
Mr. Li meant what he said, and Mr. Song below smiled.
"If you still need to perform ground attack missions, the rear bomb bay can be mounted with ground attack bombs, or the front and rear bomb bays can be connected in series to form one large bomb bay. All weapons currently in service in the Air Force, including various cruise missiles, They can all be stuffed in, after all, its built-in bomb bay is more than eight meters long and can be further expanded to more than nine meters."
Mr. Lin's eyes lit up: "This is a good plan. In this way, our air-launched ballistic missiles can be mounted in it!"
Qin Tao shook his head: "Mr. Lin, this is going to follow the same path as the F-111. Is this meeting going to develop a heavy fighter or a fighter-bomber?"
Mr. Lin immediately realized, yes, if this plane is operated like this, wouldn’t it become a fighter-bomber? If a heavy fighter jet does this, will it not be overweight?
Heavy fighter aircraft are also afraid of being overweight! The F-111 is a living example.
At that time, the U.S. Air Force needed fighter-bombers and the Navy needed carrier-based interceptors. At the request of many leaders, the Navy and Air Force, which had always been at odds, were forced to come together to jointly develop the F-111. The Air Force's was the A-type, and the Navy's was the A-type. Type B.
The Air Force's aircraft was very successful. After it was developed, hundreds of them were produced and used for decades. However, the Navy's F-111B never had any sense of existence. It only produced a few prototypes and was dismissed because it was too heavy. The Navy gave up.
You can compare the model of the Air Force, which has a dead weight of 21 tons and a maximum take-off weight of 45 tons. The model of the Navy needs to strengthen the landing gear and other structures, and the empty weight must be larger. At that time, the Navy's most powerful catapult could only eject weapons below 30 tons. Aircraft, if the Navy uses this kind of aircraft, it will not even be able to fill the fuel tank, let alone mount weapons. The maximum take-off weight of the naval version of this thing is 39 tons, which is far beyond the endurance of the aircraft carrier.
However, the radar developed for the F-111 found its way into use and was used on later Tomcat fighter jets.
The F-111 was eliminated by the Navy because of its bulkiness. Now, the fighter in front of us has two rows of built-in bomb bays. The size of the whole machine will definitely not be small. From a visual point of view, the length of the aircraft will be more than 23 meters, which is longer than that in the air. The handsome J-8 is still long! It is even longer than the current Su-27 series of heavy fighter jets of the Air Force. Wouldn’t this length affect maneuverability? Will the aircraft break into two pieces if it is overloaded?
He frowned.
None of the third-generation aircraft successfully developed internationally has built-in front and rear dual bomb bays in tandem. This is because the bomb bays are too long, which will cause the body to be elongated, which will lead to a series of problems.
In China, it is not just a matter of mobility, the key is also the engine.
The longer the aircraft, the greater its weight. Are there any qualified engines in China to propel it?
"In order to promote this fighter, we plan to use a turbofan-15 engine. According to the 624 Institute's plan, this engine modification can output 18.5 tons of thrust. Two units have a thrust of 37 tons. This means, Our fighter aircraft is limited to a total weight of 37 tons, and can also have a thrust-to-weight ratio of more than 1. As for its maximum take-off weight, it can be increased by five tons."
Of course, the aircraft designers of the 601 Institute are aware of the coordination of performance in all aspects of the aircraft. They took the mobility issue into consideration when designing, so they assumed that the engine would be used in the turbofan-15 modification that is under development. .
The existing turbofan-15 is mature, but its thrust is only 15 tons. Two 30-ton engines cannot support a 37-ton aircraft, so they assumed this engine.
Qin Tao shook his head again.
The WS-15 is mature, but after all, this is a complete set of R-79 engines. Everything belongs to Lao Maozi. Although we have begun to improve this engine, it will definitely take a long time. , twenty years of sharpening a sword is not an exaggeration.
This means that if the project of Institute 601 is successful, the original engine will definitely be used during the test flight.
Everyone present slowly came to their senses. From the initial enthusiasm, they became a little skeptical. They had learned the lessons of many failures and also knew the difficulties of developing advanced turbofan engines.
“Let’s introduce its appearance design next.” Mr. Li continued to introduce this fighter. He was confident that this fighter would be successful in bidding!
The more time is wasted on this fighter, the less time will be spent introducing another stealth aircraft.
"Next, let me briefly introduce to you our second stealth aircraft. Its internal project code is 99, nicknamed Golden Eagle." Mr. Li said: "This fighter is equivalent to a stealth fighter based on the Su-27. The modification is just like a certain domestic unit that has always wanted to transform a fighter-bomber into a stealth aircraft. In this improvement, the space in the center of the belly air inlet is filled to serve as a built-in Since the bomb bay is only a shape modification, after the wind tunnel, its flight control data can be simply fine-tuned to meet the needs of the aircraft. If the Air Force chooses this aircraft, we are confident that it will be available within five years. Regular service.”
Everyone looked at the slicked-down Su-27 with mixed emotions.
But now is not the time to comment. We need to wait until the 611 Institute introduces its project and has lunch, and then discuss it in the afternoon.
In the eyes of everyone, Mr. Song walked up. He was holding a shiny model in his hand. It looked like it was 3D printed from titanium alloy. It was quite luxurious to bid with such a model.
"Everyone, the model in my hand is the product we are bidding for. As you can see, it uses a diamond-shaped nose, a parallelogram air inlet, and the nose layout is the same as that of the Mingzhou Group. We have gone through a lot of Experiments have proven that this layout has the smallest radar reflection area. The American F-22 also has this layout, so we adopted it."
Don’t be new and innovative, just be down-to-earth!
"There are many advantages to doing this. For example, the inlet duct extends backward and can be made into an S shape, perfectly hiding the engine turbine blades." Mr. Song introduced: "At the same time, in the space in the center of the inlet ducts on both sides , which happens to be the location of our belly bomb bay. Our bomb bay is conventional and can only carry four medium-range air-to-air missiles inside. If it is optimized in the future, two more can be mounted. At the same time, the side bomb bay can Mount two close combat bombs."
The experts at Institute 601 are very confident. Six medium-range bombs and two combat bombs are enough for what? After a high-intensity battle, it was exhausted. Will we rely on machine guns next?
"The back is our commonly used canard layout. Even though our engine power is insufficient, we still chose this aerodynamic layout to achieve its maneuverability indicators." Mr. Song said: "On the engine, we choose two The existing turbofan-15 is used as power, with a maximum thrust of 30 tons. Therefore, the empty weight of our fighter aircraft is limited to 20 tons, and we try to achieve an empty weight of about 17 tons. In this way, there is enough fuel and ammunition in an air combat state. load.”
(The empty weight of the J-20 has always been a mystery. The empty weight of the F-22 is 19.7 tons. How much is the empty weight of the J-20, which is larger than the F-22? The best theory is 15 tons. This statement also comes from A well-known domestic military magazine talked about how much the fuselage can be saved by using 3D printing technology, and how much large-area composite materials can be saved. However, I still have reservations, thinking that after using various advanced technologies, reducing it to 17 tons is already very counterproductive. Oh my god.)
Even if it has an empty weight of 20 tons, it can still carry 2 tons of air-to-air missiles and load 8 tons of fuel, so as to achieve the goal of a thrust-to-weight ratio of 1. If the distance is far away, it can fly over with full fuel. After arriving, part of the fuel will be consumed, and the weight will be pushed in air combat. The ratio easily exceeds 1.
This fighter plane in front of me is already the master of aircraft design of 611! Qin Tao looked at the model in Mr. Song's hand and was very interested. However, Mr. Song just stood up and walked forward with the model. After reaching the rostrum, the presentation document was also opened.
After all, this model is not big, so big people can’t see it very clearly, but the projection screen is more clear. More than ten years ago, when bidding for the third-generation machine, an optical projector was used, but now it is electronic and can be directly connected to the computer. on, the photos will be displayed.
“This duck layout is very particular,” said a leader.
The J-10 fighter jet has a conventional canard layout, which is like inserting delta wings and canards onto the fuselage. But now the layout of this aircraft is integrated.
“There are lines in front of the main wing, are they side wings?” Someone has already asked.
“Everyone, the question time is in the afternoon. Now I would like to give an introduction to Mr. Song.”
The person who asked the question could only suppress the doubts in his mind. Fortunately, Mr. Song opened his mouth and said: "Since everyone is interested in this, I will explain it first. An American aircraft designer once said that the best canards are On the enemy's aircraft, this means that the canard's stealth is not good. In order to reduce the radar reflection area of the canard, we deliberately placed the canard on the same plane as the main wing behind it."
The function of the canard is to generate vortices. Therefore, the position of the canard is generally higher than that of the main wing. This makes it easier for the main wing to use the vortex pulled out by the canard. Now on the same plane, it is easy for the canard to control the pitch of the aircraft, but the efficiency of pulling the vortex is It was too low, so Mr. Song specially designed the side wings.
In the third-generation aircraft, side wings are already very common. A long strip extends forward from the front end of the wing, which can also pull out vortices. However, this design has never been seen in the canard layout.
"After this, we used a combined vortex lift system. The vortex lift mainly comes from the edge vortex and the main wing leading edge vortex. The canard vortex induces the fusion and superposition enhancement of the first two, which is stronger than the simple edge vortex. It is also better than a simple canard, effectively ensuring the aircraft's high-angle-of-attack flight capability. Now, let me introduce to you our full-motion vertical tail."
The normal vertical tail is vertical, with a rudder surface behind it to control the deflection of the aircraft. In order to pursue stealth, the vertical fin is made into an outward-inclined V shape. This makes the control complicated, because the rudder surface is deflected. Sometimes, it also functions as part of the horizontal tail.
And now, the vertical tail still needs to move at full speed?
The complexity and difficulty of this thing are probably beyond the capabilities of ordinary aircraft design, right?
Qin Tao's face was full of excitement. The J-20 is so awesome. It adopts an unprecedented and extremely complex design of lifting body + DSI air inlet + full-motion canard + large side strips + tailless delta wing + full-motion vertical tail. , only the 611 can tame such a beast, and achieve the performance required by the fourth-generation heavy-duty aircraft even if the engine is not powerful!
(End of this chapter)