Chapter 757 The flying toad almost fell
Leader Liu reacted.
Mr. Lin originally planned to participate in this project, and there was no need to send people from the Air Force at all. However, as soon as Leader Liu pressed the button, Qin Tao took advantage of the situation and said, the person sent by your Air Force is Mr. Lin!
In this way, their millions of start-up capital will be wasted?
It seems that Mr. Qin will definitely not be able to settle the score.
"Okay, then please ask Mr. Lin to take charge of this project." Leader Liu nodded: "This project is related to the future of the Air Force. Only people like Mr. Lin are in charge, and our Air Force can rest assured."
“Well, I am very satisfied to be able to accept this kind of task after retirement, and I will try my best.” Mr. Lin said: “Okay, Taozi, let’s go to Chengdu now!”
Mr. Lin has always been a do-it-yourself character, and now he can’t wait even more.
“I don’t think I can find anyone when I go to Chengdu. They are all at the Flight Test Institute now,” Qin Tao said.
If the aircraft is in the research and development stage, it will be in the aircraft design institute. When it reaches the prototype production stage, it will be in the aircraft factory. When the prototype is produced, it will naturally be in the flight test institute. The developed aircraft needs to go through It takes a long test flight to finalize it.
Mr. Lin nodded: "Okay, let's go to the flight test institute."
The flight test institute is very busy. Aircraft of various sizes are conducting various test flights here. The yellow-skinned J-31A looks a bit unusual among them, because it has never been on the runway since it flew here!
When other aircraft called during test flights, it was always me who was already aligned with the runway, requesting to take off. The J-31A’s call was always from me on the tarmac, requesting to take off!
"Mr. Qin, Lin, you are here, welcome." After meeting Qin Tao and Mr. Lin, Pleshakov immediately greeted them excitedly.
“Lao Mao, how is the recent progress of the experiment?” Qin Tao asked.
“We are gradually expanding the flight envelope, and so far, the test flight has gone well.” Pleshakov said: “Qin, our vertical take-off and landing solution is the most suitable choice!”
The Sea Harrier's solution is not suitable because the mid-mounted engine will bring huge structural waste. The Yak-38's solution, the lift engine will cause serious deck ablation. Now, using a lift fan is the most reliable solution for vertical takeoff and landing. Got it!
Looking at the fighter plane preparing to take off, Qin Tao nodded and asked: "What is the service life of our lift fan clutch?"
“Now after further improvements, the lifespan has been increased to ten hours.” Pleshakov said: “It is already capable of serving.”
"Ten hours? So little?" Mr. Lin was a little surprised.
"That's a lot. This lift fan clutch is only used during takeoff and landing, and the time of each use is only two or three minutes. In this way, ten hours is enough for more than a hundred takeoffs and landings." Qin Tao Said: "When this thing was first developed, its lifespan was only a few minutes."
The biggest technical problems in the vertical take-off and landing method of the lift fan are the drive shaft and clutch. If these are overcome, it means that the vertical take-off and landing fighter has become mature.
Of course, these studies also represent the progress in material technology in China over the years, and the products developed can also be used in other aspects, such as the automobile industry and so on.
While he was talking, a fully dressed test pilot came over. He was not wearing a helmet, so he could still see his appearance. When Qin Tao looked over, he was immediately overjoyed: "Leizi!"
Lei Qiang had a smile on his face: "Mr. Qin, are you here? I thought I would have to see you at the air show."
Lei Qiang is not only the chief test pilot of the J-10, but also the J-31A. He has accumulated a lot of flying experience on this kind of aircraft. Therefore, he will definitely go to the Zhuhai Air Show this time. Moreover, There will also be an air show.
“Have you already thought about the performance project?” Qin Tao asked.
"Of course, we will definitely demonstrate the excellent performance of the vertical take-off and landing fighter." Lei Qiang said: "When the test flight is completed, if there is still fuel left, I will fly back to give you a show."
After saying that, Lei Qiang walked up the gangway.
Qin Tao nodded: "Okay, let's wait and see!"
Obviously this is not the first time Mr. Lin has come here. He has seen vertical takeoffs and landings countless times, so he is already very calm.
The roar of the engine sounded. The J-31A pulled onions on dry land, slowly took off from the tarmac, and then changed its attitude. The whole process was smooth and smooth without any lag, which fully demonstrated the reliability of the flight control system.
Zhao Dangsheng stood there, watching the plane leave. As the deputy chief designer and flight control designer, he was also very satisfied with his product. He was full of pride at this time.
"Mr. Qin, if the test flight goes well, it is estimated that this aircraft will be ready for service soon." After the plane left, Zhao Dangsheng came over and said to Qin Tao: "The research and development of our foreign trade aircraft can be said to have achieved An overall success.”
Thinking about the hardships of development along the way, Zhao Dangsheng was very emotional. Their aircraft has created many firsts: the first stealth aircraft, the first fighter aircraft developed with self-financing, the first fighter aircraft sold on a large scale, The first vertical take-off and landing fighter...
Now that this aircraft is finally finalized, he looks back on the past and feels excited.
“Yes, it’s finished soon. What do you think next?”
Hearing Qin Tao's question, Zhao Dangsheng was stunned. Yes, what are you doing after it's finished? They haven't thought about this.
The aircraft will definitely need to be further modified, but that is a small project and not worth mentioning. They also need other models, otherwise, their design unit will have nothing to do!
"Qin, I am very satisfied to see the success of the vertical take-off and landing fighter aircraft and the success of our Yak-141 in the East." Pleshakov said: "However, if there are new projects, then Better."
Thinking of his experiences over the years, Pleshakov was filled with emotions. On the Damao side, the Yak-141 had already died, but in the East, he was very pleased that it had finally reached the end. At the same time, he was also looking forward to new arrivals. model appears.
“We will talk about the new model after today’s test flight is over,” Qin Tao said.
We can’t say it now. What should we do if they are too excited and affect the test flight?
"I heard that the Americans on the other side went in a big circle and finally returned to the same technical route as us." Pleshakov said: "However, they have been delayed for several years. This lift It will take at least five years for the fans to mature, and they don’t want to let the vertical take-off and landing fighter make its first flight within five years.”
Zhao Dangsheng did the job of deceiving the outside world, but Pleshakov has been paying attention to it. Now that he thinks about Mr. Qin's methods, he admires him very much.
Qin Tao smiled and said: "This has nothing to do with us, Lao Mao. We have an old saying in the East. To put it nicely, it is called Dong Shi imitating frown. If it is not nice to say, it is called painting a tiger instead of being like a dog. They have not succeeded in imitating ours. It is their fault. Own."
Across the ocean.
There was a roar from the engine test bench. On this test bench, there was a huge F-135 engine. At this time, Pratt & Whitney designers were talking endlessly there.
“This is the most powerful fighter engine in human history. This engine makes us feel as if we have obtained alien technology!”
The F-135 engine is improved from the F-119 engine. The core engine is basically the same, except that the air flow and bypass ratio of the engine are increased, and the operating temperature of the engine is raised; thus its thrust is further increased.
The price of this increase in thrust is a decrease in high-altitude and high-speed performance. After all, the windward area has increased. However, the fighter jet driven by this engine does not pursue strong air superiority combat capabilities, but is multi-purpose, more similar to an attack aircraft, so it can still Accepted.
Now, there is an additional drive shaft in the front of this engine, which is connected to a cylinder placed vertically in front. It looks a bit weird, but if compared with a certain piece of equipment exhibited by Mingzhou Group, it is very similar.
"Yes, with the F-135 engine and our lift fan, we will be able to complete the research and development of our vertical take-off and landing fighter as soon as possible." Daniel said: "Our progress is already far behind the East, we must speed up .”
They have already seen the J-31A on the list of the upcoming Zhuhai Air Show. Unlike last time, the J-31A this time is not a general term for the three-type fighter aircraft, but it specifically refers to the vertical take-off aircraft. The one that was reduced.
"Our technology is higher than that of the East. We just took the wrong route before." Stanley said: "Now, we are moving on the right route, and we will definitely be able to catch up and surpass them soon."
“Now, it’s time to put it to the real test, combine power!” Daniel shouted.
Just now, it was just the F-135 engine roaring. Now, following his order, the cylinder placed vertically in front, that is, the lift engine, roared with the combination of power, and huge thrust came from the cylinder. It came from below the tube that the first test run was about to be a complete success!
At this moment, a pungent smell came, and everyone's expressions changed.
“Quick, stop immediately!” Stanley shouted loudly. He had already seen that the fan clutch had started to smoke!
Tens of thousands of horsepower are transmitted, and the fan clutch can no longer bear it!
The engine test run was stopped, and when I took it apart, I found that the fan clutch was burned out!
"Is this technical route correct?" Daniel was confused again: "Dongfang's test run went very smoothly, and there was no similar situation at all. How could ours be like this?"
Of course they don’t know that it took Dongfang several years to find suitable materials and several more years to perfect them. In this field, Dongfang is already more advanced than them!
They still look at the East from the past and think that the East is backward. These are all illusions. In fact, the East has caught up in many fields. Whether it is fighter planes or warships, the East is no worse than theirs.
In the future, it will even be surpassed.
“Should we go to the Eastern Air Show to see if we can learn something?” Stanley said.
Although I was fooled by Easterners in the past, after all, only Easterners have succeeded. Now if you want to find inspiration, of course you have to go to the East to find inspiration.
"Okay." Daniel nodded: "We must gain something. We can't wait. If we wait any longer, Boeing's X-32 will be developed."
The Boeing Company.
"In terms of research and development of fighter jets, our Boeing Company is the strongest!" Hudson looked at the aircraft in front of him and was very excited: "Our vertical takeoff and landing fighter is about to begin testing, but Lockheed's They are still overcoming the difficulties of the lift engine, their progress is too slow, the final victory must belong to us!"
They originally completed their first flight three years ago, which was a conventional take-off and landing version, but the military was very dissatisfied after seeing it! Takeoff and landing performance is too poor.
This is the weakness of the traditional delta-wing fighter. Since the military is dissatisfied, of course they have to make modifications. They have done a lot of work and launched a new 373 configuration. Compared with the previous 370 aircraft, they have significantly modified the main wing: Changed from delta wing layout to regular layout! The sweep angle of the leading edge of the wing remains unchanged, but the trailing edge of the main wing is changed from 20 degrees forward sweep to 20 degree sweep backward, which greatly reduces the wing area, thus leaving the tail space and adding a horizontal tail. For an aircraft Changing the shape of the wing would almost mean starting over from scratch, but Boeing managed to do it!
Moreover, not only conventional take-off and landing fighters, but also vertical take-off and landing models have also begun testing.
Compared with other models, this model adds lift nozzles on both sides of the fuselage. Just like the Pegasus engine of the Sea Harrier, it can eject air from the front and rear, so that the entire aircraft can be lifted up.
“Now, let’s focus on the most glorious moment!” The person in charge of Boeing was also very excited: “Get ready to take off!”
The mouth in front of the big-mouthed X-32 engine is opened. This is also Boeing's first initiative: adding a retractable lower mouth. When a large flow of vertical take-off and landing is required, this shutter is opened, and the engine can inhale a large amount of air. When flying normally, retract the mouth. This will meet the need for stealth and completely cover the engine blades.
So, when you see the mouth of X-32 open, it means that it is about to take off and land vertically!
The roar of the engine sounded, and the F119-PW-614 engine at the tail started working.
Since their prototype was manufactured relatively early, they could not wait for the F135, so they could only make do with this engine temporarily and modify it later.
Under the fuselage, the nozzle begins to rotate.
The design of the X-32 heavily refers to the design of the Sea Harrier, but there are some improvements.
The Pegasus engine of the Sea Harrier fighter jet is placed in the middle of the fuselage, so not only the front nozzles must extend from both sides, but the tail nozzles must also be deflected from both sides, but the nozzles of a normal fighter jet should be at the tail.
So, the X-32 fighter jet forcibly lengthened the engine, extending from the back of the big mouth to the tail of the aircraft. (There is no accurate data, but visual inspection is at least eight or nine meters. Among them, there are at least two or three meters of pipes as thick as the engine, which are used to transmit airflow. They serve no other purpose and are properly wasted. These spaces can be arranged as It has a built-in bomb bay.)
In this way, the front two nozzles are not the air flow drawn from the engine compressor, but directly from the engine's outer duct. As for the tail, they use a simple two-dimensional vector nozzle with a baffle. , even conventional fighter jets have them, which can function as vector engines.
However, in terms of efficiency, it certainly cannot be compared with a three-section vector nozzle that rotates to 90 degrees.
Without the advantage of the time traveler, if we look at the current X-32 and X-35 individually, both are innovating. The X-32 is not necessarily that bad, it just didn't make it to the end.
Because the engine occupies a large amount of space, the X-32 cannot arrange a belly bomb bay, so it arranges bomb bays on both sides. The two bomb bays are destined not to be connected.
Under everyone's gaze, the X-32 fighter's landing gear action tube began to cushion, and slowly, slowly extended to its original length. Then, the wheel left the ground, one centimeter, two centimeters, three centimeters. …
This is the most exciting moment!
Their plane finally took off!
Three models of one aircraft, everyone knows that the vertical take-off and landing model is the key. As long as they can perform vertical takeoff and landing perfectly, they win!
“Awesome, we succeeded!” Hudson said excitedly, but as soon as he finished speaking, his expression changed: “Damn, no!”
Just after taking off less than half a meter high, the X-32B suddenly fell down! In front of everyone's eyes, the plane was about to fall to the ground.
At a height of half a meter, there is no horizontal speed. Even if it falls, it should not cause too big a problem. At most, the landing gear will break. However, this is unacceptable to everyone, which means that they The first flight of a vertical take-off and landing fighter failed!
At this moment, the engine roared louder. Apparently, after discovering the unexpected altitude loss, the test pilot fully opened the throttle!
The output of the engine became stronger. Finally, the X-32B staggered to an end and continued to rise vertically.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“Test flight is over! Check the reason!” Hudson shouted with a dark face.
“Our vertical take-off and landing was a complete success. Inform the people in the White House and Pentagon House of this news.” The person in charge of Boeing took a long breath and then said.
Reporting good news but not bad news is a universal principle. An accident did happen here, but they must not tell the military. They have to say that their test flight was successful. As long as it can fly, it is considered a success. As for the accidental drop, it was just a small episode.
After the plane landed, Hudson immediately started analyzing the data and quickly found the problem.
"During takeoff, overheated exhaust gas was sucked into the air inlet, causing the engine thrust to drop sharply." Hudson said: "Damn, this is supposed to be a shortcoming of lift engines. How come we also encounter this problem? Already?"
A jet engine needs to inhale fresh air to have enough thrust, and inhales its own exhaust gas. On the one hand, overheating is on the one hand, and on the other hand, these exhaust gases are all burned, and there is no oxygen in them, so they cannot support the engine to continue burning. Of course, the thrust will plummet.
Vertical takeoff and landing using the lift engine method. Since the injection is directly facing the ground in front, it is easily sucked into the engine air inlet, causing the thrust of the main engine to drop sharply. However, they do not have this layout, so why do they encounter this problem?
This first vertical takeoff and landing was unloaded, so the engine still had extra thrust. Full throttle saved the fall, but what about normal use in the future? How to deal with it?
“Can it be solved?” the person in charge asked.
“If you want to solve it, you need an engine with more thrust.” Hudson said: “We may try to use the F135 engine on the next prototype.”
“That engine is thicker and will further reduce our normal flight performance.” The aerodynamic designer on the side immediately expressed his objection.
The unique layout of the X-32 originally resulted in a relatively thick fuselage and high wind resistance. Although many performances are better than the Sea Harrier, their aircraft is not competing with the Sea Harrier, but with the X-35.
“Let’s first solve the problem of vertical takeoff and landing. The powerful power of the F135 may further enhance the performance of our aircraft.” Hudson insisted.
They must ensure their lead. Although they are laughed at as flying toads, they must win the bid!
Lockheed already has the F-22. If Boeing loses this project, they will have nothing.
How can our counterparts on the other side of the ocean make such rapid progress?
Just when Boeing and Lockheed were having headaches for vertical take-off and landing fighter jets, it was already a brightly lit night for Qin Tao.
Everyone in the conference room had excitement on their faces.
"In terms of take-off weight, it is not as good as the Tu-160. After all, the engine used by the Tu-160 has afterburner. However, in terms of bomb load, we are not inferior, and in terms of range, it is even greater than the Tu-160. This is really a difficult task. Engineering."
“The key is to have stealth, but the appearance of this bomber should be different from that of our fighter jets. After all, it has four engines.”
“It’s difficult and interesting to have challenges. Our team wants to challenge difficult projects.”
Everyone was very excited.
“Everyone, as of now, the most mature stealth bomber project is the B-2, so our stealth bomber will also have a flying wing layout.” Qin Tao unified everyone's thinking.
“The most difficult thing about flying wing layout is flight control!” Zhao Dangsheng said.
"Yes, our domestic drone manufacturing factory is also studying the flying wing layout, so in terms of flight control, we can learn from each other and study together." Qin Tao said: "In terms of aerodynamic shape, we can also learn from and Improve. We don’t have to worry, even if it takes five years to conduct basic research, it is still worth it. Now, I would like to introduce to you that Mr. Lin will stay in our team in the future and join the research and development of this project!"
“Welcome Mr. Lin!” Zhao Dangsheng took the lead in applauding.
(End of this chapter)