Chapter 722 Lost five planes (plus 2)
Take a look at the mainstream transport aircraft. Whether they are A-50 or E-3, they are all large aircraft with a take-off weight of more than 150 tons. The current Yunjiu, even with a modified D-227 engine, has a maximum take-off weight of 150 tons or more. The weight is at most seventy tons, which is less than half the weight of those early warning aircraft. In this case, can it still be used as an early warning aircraft?
“You are not planning to build an aerial radar aircraft, are you?” Jinchenko continued to ask.
The airborne early warning aircraft not only needs to move the radar into the sky, but also needs to move the command and control system into the sky. Otherwise, a massive amount of information must be transmitted through the data link, which will obviously delay things and cause system delays.
In later generations, perhaps aerial radar will become popular again, and there may even be some unmanned early warning aircraft, but those are all based on the extremely advanced electronic technology. Now, it is obviously not up to that level!
Jinchenko was a little curious.
"No, of course what we want to do is advanced airborne early warning aircraft." Qin Tao said: "You should also know that we lack advanced early warning platforms in China and there are not too many large early warning aircraft, so we can only use our existing We are transforming a medium-sized early warning aircraft on the platform. Although our body is smaller, we can still realize the functions of an early warning aircraft with our advanced electronic technology."
Are you kidding me? Our carrier-based early warning aircraft has been successfully developed. It can perform airborne early warning and command functions with a maximum take-off weight of more than 30 tons. Now that we are developing the Yunjiu platform, isn’t that just fun?
Lao Maozi's electronic technology is backward, but it does not mean that our electronic technology is backward. Look at our advanced civilian processors, which have already caught up with the world's advanced level. Our chip manufacturing process will also lead the world. Are we still afraid that electronic equipment is not light enough?
“The overall performance is not inferior to the A-50, and can even be compared with the E-3A. After all, this early warning aircraft is an early model and its performance has long been outdated.” Qin Tao said.
Jin Qinke took a deep breath: "Mr. Qin, can we join this kind of modification project?"
As soon as this sentence came out, everyone present was stunned. These old guys don't regard themselves as outsiders, right? What's this? This is our most advanced airborne early warning aircraft! It is an important weapon of the country, how can you let outsiders like you take over it!
"Of course." Qin Tao did not hesitate: "Mr. Jinqinke, you are engaged in aerodynamic shape. I hope you can help us improve the shape of the early warning aircraft. After all, our early warning aircraft is carrying a large plate, which has a great impact on aerodynamics. big."
Although there is Air Police 2000 in China, it is a large early warning aircraft after all. Moreover, the few domestically modified ones were originally tinkered with by Qin Tao from the production line. During production, they were modified according to the A-50 airframe platform. Therefore, what we get domestically are semi-finished products.
Now, if we want to transform on the Yunjiu platform, we have to start from scratch. With these old guys joining in, it is of course very suitable to engage in aerodynamics. If nothing else, the basic skills of the old guys are quite solid.
If you only touch a casing and don't touch the electronic system, there's nothing to worry about. Besides, even if you touch the electronic system, as long as you don't tell them what the function of a certain integrated circuit is, they won't know what level their own circuit is. Yes, when electronic systems have evolved into the era of integrated circuits, they are almost the same as blind boxes.
"Okay, I will work hard." Jinchenko said: "In the Red Empire era, when the superiors decided to develop a new airborne early warning aircraft, we recommended our An-124 platform. Unexpectedly, it was used by the Ilyushin Design Bureau We were ahead of the game, and the IL-76 was simply not big enough, resulting in a serious lack of performance. We had already done a lot of experiments at that time, and we had enough confidence. Now, I can finally work on the early warning aircraft project again."
So that's what happened, Qin Tao realized it, he was holding his breath.
Lao Maozi's original early warning aircraft was the Tu-126, which was modified from the body of the Tu-114 passenger aircraft. The radar it carried could detect bomber-sized targets three hundred kilometers away and guide Tu-126s flying in nearby formations. The 128 interceptor aircraft went to intercept. With the technology of that era, this early warning aircraft did not have the ability to look down on the land and could not filter out the target in the clutter on the ground. But this is not important. After all, this kind of Figure-126/128 hybrid The main task of the formation is to patrol the vast northern waters of the Red Empire and prevent US strategic bombers from launching nuclear missiles at the Red Empire in the Arctic region. It does not need to intercept ultra-low-flying targets at all.
In the 1980s, the Tu-126 began to be replaced by the A-50. No one knew how the competition was going. Looking at Jinchenko’s unconvinced attitude now, we know that the An-124 early warning aircraft was also bid for, but was rejected by Iran. Er-76 was replaced.
In terms of Lao Maozi's electronic technology, the An-124 with a larger take-off weight should be more suitable. It can carry a larger number of electronic equipment. However, the An-124 cannot land at the frontline field airport. This should be the reason why the An-124 was used by Iraq. The reason for the replacement of Er-76.
Of course, after the new millennium, Lao Maozi also knew that his A-50 transport aircraft was outdated. Therefore, for a long time, there were many rumors that Lao Maozi was trying to use the An-124 as a platform to develop a new generation of early warning aircraft. , but if you think about it, it’s false news, because the Antonov Design Bureau is in Ermao, why didn’t Da Mao find its own Ilyushin?
Lao Maozi has limited funds, and it is impossible to develop more advanced early warning aircraft, so these are just the thoughts of some people at best.
At this time, Jinchenko looked excited, seeming to be excited about the upcoming project.
After the Air Police 2000 and Air Police 600 projects, there were of course plans to use the Y-8 as the airframe platform to modify the early warning aircraft. However, due to my own lack of experience, I originally planned to first develop the Air Police 200, which is a balance beam early warning aircraft. On the basis of gaining enough experience with this early warning aircraft, we will develop the Air Police 500, which will be a big deal.
The Air Police 200 project is actually a tasteless project. Using the Yunba as a platform, there is no need to worry about platform limitations. However, due to lack of experience, I dare not install a large plate on the back of the Yunba, and can only put a stick.
This stick has little impact on the aerodynamic layout, but the performance of this stick is limited: it can only scan the areas on both sides, and there will be blank spaces at the front and rear. Therefore, after the balance beam project was completed, the Air Force did not have a large amount of equipment.
Now, with the arrival of experts like Jinchenko, the Air Police 200 project can be abandoned, and the Air Police 500 can be built directly. This is a real early warning aircraft.
Qin Tao couldn't help but be full of expectations.
Two engines, carrying a big plate, will the emergence of this early warning aircraft cause a sensation around the world? The market for this kind of early warning aircraft is definitely not small. For example, Laoba will purchase this kind of early warning aircraft. There is no need to compare. Dongfang's early warning aircraft is definitely the most advanced!
With Yunjiu, the navy's various high-tech aircraft will also have qualified carriers, and the navy will develop faster.
While Qin Tao was excited about this project, Victor and others also came to Asan to sell the An70 transport aircraft to Asan.
At this time, Asan was isolated from the whole world because he detonated the mushroom bomb. Seeing that the Antonov Design Bureau actually came to seek cooperation, they were moved to tears!
"The performance of your transport aircraft is good, we can purchase it!" Ah San immediately decided to place the order: "Moreover, we still have a batch of An-32 transport aircraft that need to be overhauled. I hope you can overhaul these transport aircraft for us."
"Of course it's no problem." Victor nodded in agreement and sighed in his heart. Mr. Qin is really awesome. There are no problems with the path he pointed out. It seems that he will communicate with Mr. Qin more in the future!
The agreement was signed on the same day. On the one hand, Asan was grateful, but on the other hand, he was also afraid that the Antonov Design Bureau would abandon the project after receiving pressure from the outside world. They had to cook the raw rice before they could feel at ease.
The evening breeze blew on the land of Hanzhong. This was the most comfortable season of the year. Qin Tao and Zhao Ling came back from the dinner reception and took a walk in the evening breeze, feeling the rare relaxation.
"Mr. Qin, I just received news that the Antonov Design Bureau has signed an agreement with Asan and his colleagues. Asan will order one hundred An-70 transport aircraft." At this moment, Xu Zhengyang quickly took a few steps and walked towards Qin Tao reports.
If Asan really obtains one hundred An-70 transport aircraft, it is obviously not good news for our own side. This means that Asan's battlefield delivery capability has been greatly increased.
"Don't worry, the research and development of the An-70 transport aircraft has not been completed yet. There is still a long way to go. In this process, any accidents will happen." Qin Tao didn't care at all. This project was promoted by him. Of course, we will not watch the project develop in a direction that is unfavorable to us.
Xu Zhengyang understood immediately that Mr. Qin had already made plans, but he had not arranged anything for himself.
"It will take at least five years for the research and development of this transport aircraft to mature. How will the situation change in five years? By then, Asan may be able to purchase a more advanced C-130 transport aircraft, so how can Asan be so interested in it? -70, besides, the An-70 transport aircraft was not independently developed by the Antonov Design Bureau. This project has a lot of equipment provided by Da Mao. You said, Da Mao will look at the exit of the An-70 and block its own Il- Is 76 arms sales the way to go?”
Xu Zhengyang understood that Mr. Qin was sitting firmly on Diaoyutai because he had long seen the stakes, and Antonov Design Bureau would eventually be happy in vain.
“The Antonov Design Bureau belongs to the Red Empire, not the Ermao.” Qin Tao said a concluding sentence.
Xu Zhengyang nodded, even if his side did nothing, this arms sale would not go smoothly, so there is nothing to be afraid of.
“By the way, in order to show his gratitude to the Antonov Design Bureau, Asan also decided to send their An-32 transport aircraft to Ermao for overhaul.”
An-32 transport aircraft, overhaul? Qin Tao's eyes lit up. Now that he has met him, why don't he do something by himself?
Looking at Qin Tao's look, Xu Zhengyang knew something was going to happen.
In the field of transport aircraft, the An-32 is a strange existence. Its shape is very different, with a high-wing monoplane and the engine installed on the top, just like a seaplane. Of course, it does not have any water take-off capability. It is designed this way just because it inherits the foundation of the An-26 transport aircraft.
Compared with the An-26, its biggest change is the use of a more powerful engine, which is almost twice as powerful as the An-26. It has excellent flight performance and is also suitable for use in plateau areas.
Since the aircraft body is strong enough, especially when the landing gear is extended, the landing gear door is still closed, so it can dive and descend at a large angle. You can often see the An-32 with its nose down as if it is about to hit the ground. Same as above, leveling out the moment before impact, and then landing easily. Of course, this action also has another use: dive bombing.
The An-32 was originally just a transport aircraft, but it was used as a dive bomber, and Asan was no exception. They started importing the An-32 in 1984, and some of them were directly converted into bombing trainers to train bomber pilots. Some of them were directly used as bombers. They were very satisfied with the performance of this aircraft, so a total of 125 were imported.
Ah San is also willing to reciprocate the favor, especially in the current isolated situation.
The first to be overhauled were the five An-32s in the worst condition. After signing the contract, the Asan Air Force began preparations.
They took off from their base in their home country early in the morning, and in the afternoon, they flew to the civil aviation factory in Kiev.
The Antonov Design Bureau was responsible for design during the Red Empire era, and construction was mainly carried out by the Ulyanovsk factory. However, there is also a specialized civil aviation factory in Kiev, which belongs to the Antonov Design Bureau. Therefore, they This factory can be completely used for transformation.
However, due to the lack of orders, the factory has long been in a state of abandonment, and even the runway is overgrown with weeds. Fortunately, the An-32 is an aircraft with a solid structure and can land even on flat land in the wild.
“Hello, brothers from South Asia, welcome to you.” Sergey, the head of the civil aviation factory, stood on the runway, looked at pilot Asan who got off the plane, and greeted him warmly.
Shakti, the leader of the team this time, frowned and looked at the scene around him. Can their aircraft really be overhauled here? From the looks of it, it's not as professional as their domestic aviation maintenance companies.
“Excuse me, are you really sure you can repair our aircraft?” Shakti asked.
"Of course, we have formulated a complete overhaul plan to ensure that these aircraft will be repaired to the same level as brand new soon." Sergey said: "Now, you have all worked hard, let's go have a drink first how?"
"We still have to take care of the planes." Before Shakti finished speaking, Sergey put his arm around his shoulders: "Hey, my friends, don't worry, we will drag these planes to the hangar. , the maintenance will start tomorrow. We have prepared delicious food, you must be hungry all the way here, right? "
This is true, they just ate something randomly on the plane, and now their stomachs are starting to growl again.
However, they did not expect that when they arrived at the restaurant, there was not much food waiting for them, but instead bottles of vodka! Sergey raised a bottle: "Cheers to our cooperation!"
Then he raised his neck and blew down a bottle of wine. After drinking, he looked at the people in front of him: "What, you don't drink? Are you looking down on us?"
In the era of the Red Empire, Lao Maozi liked to get guests drinks, and this is still the case now. Shakti and others could not just walk away, and soon became drunk.
While they were drinking, five An-32s were dragged into the workshop, a large and dilapidated production workshop. Several people looked at these aircraft and swallowed their saliva silently.
“Now, the price of scrap aluminum is 10 hryvnias per kilogram, and each aircraft has at least five tons of scrap aluminum,” said one of the people.
“If these planes are sold, it will be a good sum of money!”
What should be sold in the factory has been sold long ago, and the rest cannot be demolished or taken away. There are not many workers in the factory. The factory does not pay wages, so they have to find ways to make money on their own. Even the security guards are only two old men left.
These people at the scene were called back because they needed to repair the aircraft, and they planned to make preparations before the maintenance, but now, they are obviously tempted.
“But what can we do without being discovered?”
“Yes. After all, this is Asan’s plane. If we sell it, there may be problems.” Some people began to worry.
"It is precisely because of Asan's plane that there will be no problems." A middle-aged man named Ivan said: "If it was our plane, the superiors might investigate it, but it was Asan's plane that was lost. What are we afraid of? Just throw it away, who cares?"
“But how can we sell such a big plane?”
Ivan had a smile on his face: "Of course we will fly out. At night, we will drag the plane to the runway, fly away secretly, and fly across the Dnieper River. There is a scrap metal recycling company opposite, and they have special dismantling equipment. The machine can dismantle the plane into pieces in one night, and no one will know that we did it. With this money, we can immigrate to Europe, don’t you think?”
"Fly there? Okay, let's go all out. After selling these planes, we can immigrate to Europe and never live here again. Ivan, can we not give up the hryvnia? Let them give us dollars. !”
“It should be no problem. I’m very familiar with the boss over there. When we’re done, he can arrange for us to leave.”
The guys were drunk and didn't know anything. Sergey was waiting for instructions from the Antonov Design Bureau and didn't go to the site to check. He didn't know that some workers he hired today actually flew the plane away. !
Moreover, he was so happy that he didn’t go to the workshop until the afternoon of the next day. He was completely dumbfounded when he looked at the empty production workshop.
What about the plane? Where did the plane go?
Five An-32s disappeared mysteriously, and where were the personnel responsible for maintenance? Where have those skilled old workers gone?
Sergey felt annoyed for a while. Could it be that the plane was dismantled and sold by those old workers? It's not that bad. If it's going to be sold, there has to be some movement!
“Quickly, go to the doorman and check if any trucks have come in or out from last night to now.” Sergey shouted to his assistant.
Soon, the assistant gave a negative answer: No, no trucks have come in or out since last night!
There were no trucks coming in or out. Could it be that the plane flew away? No, those workers have no experience in flying airplanes!
Is it possible for a pilot who has never studied in a formal aviation school to operate an airplane?
The answer is really possible. This kind of thing happened in a large airline in DaMao. The pilot who had more than 2660 hours of flight experience and carried thousands of passengers actually relied on a fake aviation academy. Graduation diploma, self-taught!
Among Lao Maozi's mechanics, there are also many capable people. They are familiar with the structure of the aircraft and the operation of the aircraft. Except for the fact that they have never been in the sky, they have done everything else. Now, in order to sell the aircraft, they Taking the risk, he took off in a plane, then flew to the road outside the scrap collection station. He handed the plane to the scrap collection station, got the money, and went directly to Europe!
Moreover, even if Sergey goes to the scrap collection station now, he can't find anything, because the aircraft has been dismantled into eight pieces by the disassembly machine transformed from an excavator, and some of it has even entered the metal smelting furnace.
“Mr. Sergey, where is our plane?” Just when Sergey didn’t know what to do, Asan’s representative Shakti came.
“Your plane...is lost.”
"Lost? Are you kidding me? Today is not April Fool's Day!" Shakti didn't take it seriously. Bicycles are easy to lose, and so are motorcycles. But when you get to a car, it's not easy to lose them. On a plane? Has the world heard of it? Can the plane be lost? Or were all five lost at once?
“You look at me like this, do you think I’m joking?”
"What? Really?" Shakti's expression changed: "You have to get it back for us, this is related to our future cooperation!"
“You can fly over five more, and we can overhaul these five for you free of charge.” The only thing Sergey can think of is this compensation plan, let them lose money? That is impossible.
Asan has more than a hundred An-32s, all of which need overhaul. According to their plan, the first few will be overhauled here in Ermao, and the remaining ones will be overhauled in Asan's own country. Now, five have been lost, and five more will be flown. Come here, how is this possible? He doubted that the second batch would be lost.
“You’re kidding!”
Antonov Design Bureau helped Asan maintain the An-32, but these aircraft were inexplicably lost. This incident spread quickly and became a joke. After hearing about this incident, Qin Tao was also very emotional.
"This is the sunset of the empire. After the collapse of the Red Empire, they have become worse and worse day by day. What a pity. This is clearly a management mess!"
Zhao Ling looked at Qin Tao seriously: "We didn't participate?"
“What we are involved in is, at best, collecting some rags. We don’t know anything.” Qin Tao said.
At this moment, Xu Zhengyang walked in, holding the news he had just received.
PS: It’s the last day of the month. Please give me a monthly pass. On May Day, the monthly pass will be double. Please give me a guaranteed monthly pass!
(End of this chapter)