Asan, Hanseatic Naval Air Base, Goa.
This is the most important naval aviation base in Asan. The MiG-29K imported from Damao is temporarily deployed at the airport here.
That’s right, it was originally planned to be temporarily deployed. No one thought that something would happen to the Super Sun King, so these MiG-29Ks did not have the conditions for shipboard and could only be deployed on land.
In order to train these MiG-29K fighters, Ah San specially installed a "land simulation jump platform and ski jump deck" at the shore-based test facility (SBTF) in this base, and used this to conduct take-off tests of carrier-based aircraft. and evaluation. At the same time, a special Fresnel landing mirror and arresting cable were installed not far away for the training of carrier-based aircraft pilots. Although this base cannot move and cannot simulate the shaking of the deck, it is still better than the pilots. It is much more convenient to go directly to the ship for training.
Although the Super Sun King has been scrapped, the naval carrier aviation here still maintains about a hundred hours of training every year and is ready to station the Blue Sky Guardian aircraft carrier they built, although they don’t know what they want from this aircraft carrier. They can only enter service when the time comes, and they must prepare in advance.
On this day, they ushered in a new development opportunity.
American Super Hornet carrier-based aircraft will come to them for testing. If they pass the test, they will be purchased in large quantities.
Super Hornet, the main carrier-based aircraft of the U.S. Navy! Once this aircraft joins the Asan Navy, they will become the strongest navy in the world!
Asan's navy members were very happy.
Since Sunil was still at sea returning with the aircraft carrier formation, only the commander of the base, Luck, greeted the American group as the top officer.
The first thing to land was a business jet. A group of Americans disembarked from it. The leader was a man in his fifties, wearing a suit and leather shoes, with a high nose and blue eyes. He extended his hand: "It's a great honor to be here. I’m Kenneth from Boeing.”
The Super Hornet project went through many difficulties. It was originally intended to compete for the United States' light fighter program, but it failed and the F-16 won the bid.
After that, the design team could only take the naval route and wanted to open up the naval market. However, the Navy was troubled by the cost-effectiveness of the Tomcat fighter, so it entered the navy series as a replacement model.
Although it is a third-generation aircraft with side wings and fly-by-wire flight control, its design is still very conservative, and it is even a statically stable aircraft. It was only with the Super Hornet that static stability was relaxed. .
At the same time, as for the Super Hornet, it has also evolved from a medium-sized aircraft to a heavy-duty aircraft: the maximum take-off weight exceeds twenty-five tons.
At the same time, its research and development units are also very complex, including Northrop, McDonnell Douglas, and Boeing. After years of mergers, the Super Hornet project has officially become a Boeing project.
At this time, Kenneth was very much looking forward to it. After all, the Hornet's export sales were not good, and it was incomparable with General Dynamics' F-16 fighter jets. They wanted to open up more markets. Fortunately, in the field of carrier-based aircraft, they had almost no competition. of.
"Welcome, Mr. Kenneth, our base here is about to welcome the second carrier-based aircraft with conventional takeoff and landing." Luck was very excited: "Are the fighters still behind? Do you want to take a look at our base first? "
This business jet came over first, and the Super Hornet flew behind, about half an hour later.
"Of course." Kenneth said: "Our Super Hornet has powerful performance. We can fly everything the MiG-29K can fly. We can also fly what the MiG-29K cannot fly."
At this moment, the roar of the aircraft sounded. They raised their heads and watched a MiG-29K flying toward the simulated landing area.
MiG-29K has many similarities with the Hornet. They both have a layout of twin engines and twin vertical tails, with side wings. The thrust of the engines is similar, but the air intake methods are different.
Everyone looked over and saw that the flight status of the MiG-29K was not very stable. It adjusted back and forth several times, but still failed to land successfully. It gave up one meter away from the simulated landing area and then resumed. fly.
"The MiG-29K is an improved land-based fighter. It is difficult to land." Kenneth said: "Our Super Hornet is different. It was a carrier-based aircraft when it was born, so its landing is very difficult." It will be very simple." Luck's eyes lit up: "Then after your Super Hornet flies in, can it land directly as a carrier-based aircraft?"
Kenneth's heart skipped a beat, no, this is too much!
The landing of a carrier-based aircraft is not easy, and various accidents may occur at any time. Therefore, in unfamiliar situations, it is safest for them to use conventional landing. But they have already boasted just now. If they don't agree now, then Isn't it timid?
He thought for a moment and nodded: "Of course, our Super Hornet can successfully land in an unfamiliar airport using a carrier-based aircraft. Even if your Fresnel light box is broken, it doesn't matter. We It has an automatic landing system."
“Automatic landing?” The country bumpkins like Ah San all opened their eyes wide.
"Of course. Our business jets carry an AN/SPN-46 system. It can be installed within half an hour. By then, it will be able to cooperate with our Super Hornet carrier-based aircraft for fully automatic landings. Now you have to Install it?"
“Yes, yes!”
Entering the jet age, landing carrier-based aircraft has become increasingly difficult, and accidents have remained high. At this time, some people are thinking: Can technology be used to reduce the difficulty and develop a fully automatic landing system to allow carrier-based aircraft to land? The landing is easier?
The U.S. military had a real need and began to develop a fully automatic landing system in 1948. It finally entered the practical stage in the 1970s. It uses an instrument landing system and the radar is AN/SPN-10, which is installed on the CVA-59 USS Flats aircraft carrier and F-4 carrier-based aircraft; however, the accuracy is still not high enough. The longitudinal accuracy of the landing is plus or minus 30 meters, and the horizontal accuracy is plus or minus 30 meters. The accuracy is plus or minus nine meters, and the lateral accuracy is plus or minus three meters. This kind of accuracy cannot guarantee a safe landing at all, and it is still mainly manual.
After the 1970s, the AN/SPN-42 radar was developed, and the accuracy data was reduced to half of the original. Carrier-based aircraft could finally use semi-automatic landings. This system was used to guide them at long distances. In this way, a perfect glide line can be obtained, and manual takeover is performed until landing. This system was installed on the John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier (CV-67) and continued testing.
After 1985, the United States developed a new generation of fully automatic landing system, using the Hornet to verify the performance of fully automatic landing guidance. Just recently, the Yankees also completed the system at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. The world's first fully computer-controlled short takeoff and landing maneuvers, achieving fully automatic landing.
They brought this automatic landing system, of course, not only to help pilots land in unfamiliar places, but also to sell this system to Ah San. The price of this thing is not cheap, but it has certain effects on ships. Help, Ah San will probably like it.
Looking at the expressions of the Asans at this time, Kenneth was very satisfied and immediately asked his men to install it. With this system, the Super Hornet would have no problem even if it landed using a carrier-based aircraft.
The MiG-29K that had not landed just now landed on the runway next to it in the conventional way. After coming down, I was sweating profusely. I heard that there was automatic landing technology here, so I ran over immediately, even wearing a flight suit. Didn't even have time to take it off.
“Sir, was it you who failed to land just now?” Kenneth looked at the pilot and asked.
"It's me. I have obviously operated the plane according to the instructions of the Fresnel lens, but I don't know why, but it just can't come down." Pilot Sinha was helpless.
"Your skills are very good. The problem of not being able to land is not your problem, but the problem of the aircraft. It's because Da Mao's technology is too backward. What we flew here is a two-seater. You can go up and experience our aircraft in the future. "Kenneth said.
Training carrier-based aircraft pilots is not easy, so if nothing else, the first batch of Super Hornet pilots in Asan must have switched from MiG-29K, and now Kenneth has begun to fool them.
“Really? That would be great.”
"However, it is still difficult for you to change the flight. After all, there are no instruments in our cockpit. They are all LCD displays. Our HUD is also larger and can display a lot of data." Kenneth continued, this is not the case. Not alarmist, but showing off.
What’s so good about Lao Maozi’s airplane? Nowadays, in watch shops, there is only one display screen at most, and the HUD is also an ordinary refractive HUD, which is very small.
“Glass cockpits are a trend and we all like them,” Sinha said, nodding.
Soon, there was a roar in the distant sky.
Accompanied by a MiG-29K, a Super Hornet spread its wings and flew over. The two planes flew together. It can be easily seen that the Super Hornet is larger, so start pulling it from the cockpit. The side strips that came out extend all the way back and are very large. You can even see white smoke appearing on the side strips. The humidity at the seaside is high, so it was actually pulled out under such circumstances, which is surprising.
Below the side strips and on both sides of the belly, the rectangular air inlets look better, much better than the original circular air inlets, and they are not completely rectangular, but more similar to a parallelogram, just like the inlet of a stealth aircraft. Same breath.
Looking back, although it also has double vertical fins, the vertical fins are cambered, which is much more beautiful than the vertical fins of the MiG-29K.
Just from the appearance, they are very satisfied.
Sinha’s eyes are filled with longing. Will he be able to fly such a fighter jet in the future? That's great!
"Everyone, our fighter will fly around your base and then land on a ship. Since the pilots are tired from the long flight, there will be no flight performance. Anyway, this aircraft will be tested here. , there is plenty of time to show everyone, the super Cobra maneuvers of the Su-27 can be realized on our aircraft."
At the Farnborough Air Show, the Su-27's Super Cobra maneuvers shocked the world and left a deep impression on everyone. When talking about this fighter, everyone will say: It is really maneuverable, but it is a pity that it is hindered by the radar. , Lao Maozi’s electronic system is too backward!
In fact, many third-generation aircraft can do this kind of action. When it was still the YF17, this aircraft once raised the angle of attack to 105 degrees and maintained it for 20 seconds. This was 14 years earlier than the Su-27.
Although the U.S. Navy is cursing big bugs and giving me the Tomcat, in fact, the performance of the Super Hornet is still remarkable.
At this time, for the Asan Navy, there was nothing to say. They raised their heads and looked at the Super Hornet flying in the sky. It looked so beautiful. They imagined the scene of flying this kind of aircraft in the future. They My heart is already racing.
The two planes circled the sky, and then the Super Hornet entered the landing pattern.
"We have a video recorder in the cockpit. After landing, everyone can watch the video. When the plane flies over, the pilot does not need to do any operations. The control of the plane is completely handed over to our automatic landing system. Especially at night, the visibility is serious. In the event of a decline, this system will increase security even more."
Ah San sounds awesome, but in fact, their aircraft carrier does not have night combat capabilities at all. It is easy to take off, but landing at night is not so easy, and it may crash.
Even in the United States, not all pilots have the ability to land at night. The use of this system now makes night landings for carrier-based aircraft easier, and everyone is of course happy to see it.
“Yes, this system is great, we will introduce two more in the future.” Luck said.
As he spoke, the fighter plane was getting closer and closer, the landing gear and landing hook had been released, and the glide line was impeccable.
The guys stood on the side of the landing area, watching the plane gradually approaching, listening to the roar of the engine, and feeling more and more excited.
Sinha looked at the main landing gear. Can the L-shaped structure withstand it?
"We know that the MiG-23 uses a kneeling landing gear. We didn't expect that the most advanced carrier-based aircraft in the United States also use this kind of landing gear. Can it withstand the impact of landing?" Sinha couldn't help but ask. .
"Of course." Kenneth said: "We know that ordinary fighter jets use strut-type landing gear. The wheel spacing of this kind of landing gear is too small, and it is easy to interfere with the weapons mounts under the wings, so we specially This rocker-type landing gear was developed, using special alloy steel that is more advanced than 300M alloy steel, which can fully withstand a descent rate of 7.8 meters per second, and can also increase the wheel spacing to 3.11 meters, greatly increasing the landing gear. The stability of the ship.”
The landing gear of the Super Hornet is special. It bends backwards like a human leg kneeling down. This kind of landing gear is not said to be very strong, but the Yankees relied on advanced material technology to forcibly build this kind of landing gear. Extremely strong. More than any previous landing gear.
At this time, the Super Hornet continued to descend with a steady attitude. It almost hit the runway perfectly without making any large-angle adjustments. All carrier-based aircraft landed so domineeringly. Sinha looked at Seeing the kneeling landing gear violently collide with the ground, I felt a pinch in my heart.
But it didn't matter. I didn't hear a cracking sound or see the fuselage deflect. The plane continued to fly forward steadily. Just when the front landing gear just landed, the landing hook hooked accurately. The second blocking rope was blocked.
pretty!
Watching this aircraft demonstrate a perfect landing operation in front of him, Sinha was very impressed. Although he had flown hundreds of sorties, his landing success rate was less than one-tenth, and he often encountered Various accidents, this time he saw the American fighter plane landing so easily. As a colleague, he was very impressed.
Luck was also very satisfied: "Yes, this aircraft is more suitable for aircraft carriers!"
At this time, the Super Hornet, which had hooked up the blocking cable, continued to slide forward, continuously pulling the blocking cable forward, forming a triangular structure. As the blocking cable was stretched, the speed of the aircraft also continued to increase. Lower, lower again.
Perfect, very perfect!
Crunch…
When the subtle sound sounded, no one paid attention. After all, the roar of the engine was in their ears. However, the pilot Sinha heard it. He looked at the blocking rope in horror, watching the originally tight blocking rope suddenly There was a loud bang, and then, the arm-thick blocking rope broke into two pieces, and the port instantly turned into a broom. At this moment, the entire blocking rope began to swim on the ground like a snake.
The blocking cable is broken!
“Hide!” Sinha shouted loudly.
In an instant, everyone was in chaos.
Kenneth stood there, his eyes full of disbelief. What a stupid mistake this was. How could the blocking rope be broken? Before he could react, there was chaos around him, and then, there was a soft sound like a whip hitting a person, snap, snap, snap, snap!
No one can escape!
The blocking rope was like a sweeping leg, sweeping from underneath the onlookers. After the first sound passed, screams could be heard.
Ah, ah!
Kenneth also felt a terrible force coming from his legs, and then his whole body fell down, causing severe pain in his calves.
Snapped!
A severed leg fell next to him. He was so surprised that he lowered his head to look. Fortunately, the calf had not left his body, but his feet had been twisted to one side and were shattered!
Thanks to the buffer provided by Ah San beside him, who blocked the sweeping force of the blocking rope with their bodies, he was able to preserve his intact legs. However, Ah San's medical skills here are not very good, and it may not be good for his future. I have to spend half my life in a wheelchair.
When the American Super Hornet landed at the Hanseatic Naval Air Base in Asanga, it broke the blocking rope and broke the legs of all 38 people watching the landing! When the tragedy reached the formation at sea, Sunil was immediately confused.
The senior officials of the base and a few unlucky pilots were all disabled for some reason, and seven or eight Americans were also injured!