Daming 1805

Chapter 462

Zhu Jingyuan calmed down the emotions of the craftsmen as much as possible, trying to make them understand and accept such changes.

Then start talking and arranging future tasks with them:

"We can't be obsessed with the past, there is still a lot of work in the future.

"Let's talk about the jet engine and the plane first.

"According to the specific type of jet engine, it will be used in various types of fighter jets, bombers of various levels, as well as large transport aircraft and large early warning aircraft in the future.

"In every possible usage scenario, a suitable model must be designed accordingly.

"The current experimental small twin-engine fighter, as well as the [-]-kilogram small turbojet engine it currently uses, will continue to be upgraded in the future.

"But they are not developed as main fighter jets, but advanced flight trainers, so they use a two-seat design.

"The main fighter of the future will have a bigger body and a bigger engine.

"The weight of the new engine is relaxed to 1000 to [-] kilograms, and the thrust must be at least [-] kilograms, preferably more than [-] kilograms.

"Based on an engine of this size, design a single-engine fighter, a twin-engine fighter, a twin-engine bomber or an attack aircraft.

"For these three types of aircraft, carrier-based aircraft should be designed simultaneously, and twin-engine fighters strive to achieve supersonic flight.

"Design a larger jet engine, maximum for large bombers and transport aircraft.

"The weight can be relaxed to [-] kilograms, and the thrust must be at least [-] kilograms, preferably more than [-] kilograms.

"Then design a turbofan engine based on these three engine sizes."

These research and development goals proposed by Zhu Jingyuan basically refer to the status of jet aircraft in the 50s in the previous life.

Single-engine fighters are between MiG-17 and MiG-21, and twin-engine fighters are between MiG-19 and MiG-23.

At the same time, it also takes into account the development and extension after the 60s, that is, the transition from turbojet to turboprop.

Regarding the concept of turbofan engine and turbojet engine, Zhu Jingyuan introduced it to the craftsmen of the Ordnance Department headed by Li Rui and the craftsmen of Daming Aeronautical Laboratory a long time ago.

Turbojet engine, turbofan engine, turboprop engine are three typical turbine engines.

The source of power is a gas turbine, and the structure of the core machine is similar to a cylinder that runs through the front and back.

There are main shaft, paddle, combustion chamber and other structures in the middle.

The oil supply pipeline injects oil into the combustion chamber and ignites, and the high-temperature gas is injected backwards and drives the main shaft through the paddles.

The engine that mainly relies on gas injection to provide thrust is the turbojet engine, referred to as "turbojet".

It is characterized by faster speed and higher fuel consumption at low speeds.

The rotation of the gas turbine is mainly used to drive the main shaft, and the main shaft drives the front or rear propeller fan. The engine that uses the propeller fan to blow the air to provide thrust is a turboprop engine.Referred to as "turbo propeller".

The characteristics of "turboprop" are exactly the opposite of those of "turbojet", with relatively slow speed and low fuel consumption, which are close to piston engines.

The turbofan engine is referred to as "turbofan" for short, and its structure is between the turbojet and the turboprop.

On the basis of the gas turbine of the turbojet engine, a larger cylinder is placed outside the gas turbine.

Fan paddles are installed at the front end of the cylinder to blow air backwards in the space inside the cylinder.

Therefore, the power source of the turbofan engine has two parts, and the gas injection and the fan blowing each provide a part.

The characteristics of the turbofan engine are also between the turbojet and the turboprop.

The speed and fuel consumption are largely affected by the ratio of the two power sources.

The ideal design of a turbofan engine is that the speed is as close as possible to a turbojet engine, and the fuel consumption is close to that of a turboprop engine.

Li Rui and the craftsmen around him, listening to Zhu Jingyuan's introduction, while nodding in agreement, sighed in their hearts:
According to this plan, the army's future main aircraft will be fully replaced with jet engines.

In the space for the propeller engine, there are only a few directions that Zhu Jingyuan did not mention for the time being.

Li Rui was over with emotion, and couldn't help asking:
"Your Highness, do you have any plans for the weight and size specifications of these aircraft?"

Zhu Jingyuan thought for a while:

"The engine specification is determined, and the size of the aircraft is determined to a certain extent.

"At least there is a general scope.

"As for more specific details, the attack should be discussed with the military.

"According to the actual needs of the military, according to the future strategic planning, to formulate the specific specifications of the aircraft.

"Personally, I just want to remind you that the Navy's carrier-based aircraft must be limited to less than [-] tons for the time being.

"This is the upper limit of the ejection force of the aircraft carrier catapults that have just entered service."

Li Rui nodded again in agreement, indicating that he had made a note of it.

At this time, Zhu Jingyuan turned to the turboprop next to him:

"Then there is the issue of early warning aircraft. Regarding the reconnaissance aircraft that you are planning to install radio detection equipment, where are the craftsmen going to put the detection equipment on the aircraft?"

Li Rui subconsciously agreed:

"The current idea is to have two, mounted on the nose or under the belly.

"For aircraft with twin-engine turboprop or turbojet engines, the engines are placed on the wings or tail of the aircraft, leaving the nose of the aircraft free.

"If it's a fighter jet, you can install more artillery here, and a reconnaissance plane can be used to install radio detection equipment.

"However, the shortcomings are also obvious. In this way, the detection equipment can only detect the front, and cannot directly see the rear and the bottom, so everyone thinks that this setting is actually more suitable for fighter jets...

"It is obviously more reasonable for the detection function to hang the circular detection antenna under the belly of the aircraft.

"The artisans originally supported this plan.

"However, the early warning aircraft you requested, Your Highness, needs to be equipped with detection equipment of the standard of a capital ship, and this creates a new problem.

"Limited by the height of the aircraft's landing gear, the detection antenna under the belly of the aircraft cannot be made too large.

"If you want to install a capital ship-level detection antenna, you can only put it on the north side of the aircraft.

"But this obviously affects the detection of targets below.

"The area under the belly of the aircraft may become a blind spot for this detection equipment..."

Zhu Jingyuan smiled and nodded after listening:

"A small reconnaissance plane that can hang a radio detection antenna under the stomach.

"Even like a bomb, it can make a detection equipment pod module that can be suspended.

"Directly use conventional bombers as temporary reconnaissance aircraft when needed.

"The design of the detection antenna on the nose of the aircraft is indeed more suitable for aggressive fighters and bombers.

"Anyway, most of the original single-engine propeller fighters had their cannons placed on the sides and wings.

"The pilots are already used to it, and it just doesn't need to adjust the corresponding training logic if it continues to be placed on the side.

"As for the large main antenna of the early warning aircraft, I think it can only be placed on the back of the aircraft.

"As for the lack of detection under the plane, I don't think it's a particularly big problem.

"First of all, a small antenna can be added on the belly of the aircraft as a blind detection for the targeted lower area.

"A piece can also be added to the nose, which is specially used to enhance the detection directly ahead.

"At the same time, in most cases, there is a process for external targets to approach the early warning aircraft.

"It is impossible for the opponent's planes and warships to suddenly cross time and space to the blind spot directly below the AWACS from a distance of hundreds or even thousands of kilometers that is not directly visible.

"In most cases, the enemy's aircraft should appear obliquely above the AWACS.

"The enemy's surface ships are also obliquely below the early warning aircraft.

"Finally, we can also make this special aircraft fuselage more slender.

"Let the detection antenna extend from both sides of the fuselage, and detect the area under the fuselage from both sides of the fuselage."

What Zhu Jingyuan said was the typical design of the rear-view early warning aircraft.

In fact, the early warning aircraft is more inclined to be modified with a passenger aircraft rather than a transport aircraft.

The main reason is that the body of the passenger plane is thinner, and the belly of the transport plane is obviously a lot fatter.

A bigger belly can hold a larger single piece of cargo, but it will also block the greater range of more radar antennas on the back.

Of course, the best early warning aircraft is specially designed, and it is thinner and taller than a passenger aircraft.

However, when Zhu Jingyuan uttered these assumptions, the craftsmen led by Li Rui were also shocked when they suddenly realized.

Li Rui couldn't bear to ask directly:
"Your Highness... the detector antenna extends from the fuselage to the outside? How big is this antenna?"

When Zhu Jingyuan heard this question, he realized that craftsmen in this world had never imagined the picture of a plane carrying a large plate two or three times wider than the plane itself.

Although I said before that we need to use capital ship-level detectors, they still didn't think so exaggeratedly.

That's why the antenna is placed on the back of the machine, and there will be blind spots under the fuselage.

Zhu Jingyuan smiled and said:
"Let's go to the meeting room, don't wait here, just find me a pen and paper, and draw my thoughts..."

The craftsmen headed by Li Rui quickly agreed.

A group of people followed Zhu Jingyuan into the building of the test site and found a small conference room.

The craftsmen here prepared the equipment, and Zhu Jingyuan began to draw after sitting down:
"The land-based AWACS is easier to design, so I'll just draw the ship-based AWACS.

"Except for the design required by the carrier, the ship-borne early warning aircraft is a typical feature of an ordinary early warning aircraft."

Speaking of early carrier-based early warning aircraft, what Zhu Jingyuan thought of was the E2 of the United States.

Of course, there is an earlier E1, but the airframe itself is too small, the radar antenna is too big, the aircraft is difficult to control, and the overall design is not reasonable.

Since Zhu Jingyuan has the experience of later generations, he directly referred to the more mature E2 to design.

It has a slender fuselage, straight wings, a wide tail, and a disc-shaped antenna that is much wider than the fuselage.

Ordinary people in future generations who don't care about military equipment will probably be surprised when they see the shape of this aircraft.

The craftsmen of this era will find it incredible at first glance.

Li Rui looked at the round plate that Zhu Jingyuan had drawn, and couldn't help muttering in a particularly astonished tone:
"This disk? An antenna? This diameter is really three times that of the fuselage. How big is it?"

Zhu Jingyuan recalled the data:
"The diameter of the detector antenna is about six to eight meters, the length of the aircraft is sixteen to 18 meters, and the wingspan is 24 meters."

Li Rui was stunned for a few seconds, while slowly accepting this strange size, he then asked a new question:
"Your Highness...an aircraft of this size...and carrying such a large antenna, as well as supporting equipment and generator sets, the weight of the entire aircraft is likely to exceed sixteen tons...

"Isn't the largest catapult on our aircraft carrier only capable of ejecting sixteen tons of aircraft?"

Zhu Jingyuan evaluated and recalled that the weight of E1 seems to have reached 2 tons, and the weight of E24 is directly [-] tons.

But it's not a big deal:

"It's no problem for the AWACS to exceed [-] tons, and it is enough for an AWACS on an aircraft carrier to carry at most four.

"In most cases, it is only necessary to fly one or two aircraft.

"Leave a path in the middle of the deck, let the AWACS start taxiing from the rear of the deck, and just take off normally.

"The power of our turboprop engine has exceeded [-] horsepower, and the power of two turboprops has [-] horsepower.

"As long as there is a distance of 200 meters, plus the speed of [-] knots provided by the aircraft carrier itself, it is enough for a [-]-ton aircraft to take off.

"Of course, this usage will affect the overall scheduling efficiency, but the impact of one or two early warning aircraft is relatively limited.

"Also, our more powerful catapult is also in development.

"This effect lasts for more than ten years at most. When the first batch of catapult aircraft carriers are replaced during the first overhaul, they will be able to catapult and take off like ordinary fighter jets in the future."

Zhu Jingyuan wasn't thinking blindly by himself, but went to check the memories of his previous life again.

The direct reference object is the E2 early warning aircraft of the United States.

In that world, there was only one country with carrier-based early warning aircraft in that era, and there was no other country.

The E2 was in service from the early 60s to the end of the 80s, and it never took off by catapult.

They are all the same as ordinary carrier-based aircraft in the World War II era. They taxi and accelerate normally and take off normally, but the weight of the E2 is much heavier than that of the World War II aircraft, so taxiing starts from the rear of the deck.

On the decks of American aircraft carriers before the late 80s, there was a guide line running through most of the deck from the back to the front, which was used for the early warning aircraft to take off by itself.

The length of this line is not much different from the length of the Kuznetsov's reload point take-off route, except that there is no upward bow for ski jump take-off in front.

At the end of the 80s, the U.S. Navy changed the E2 early warning aircraft to catapult takeoff in order to further optimize the efficiency of deck scheduling.

As a professional craftsman, Li Rui made a simple feasibility assessment in his mind from the perspective of technology:

"In this way...the [-]-ton AWACS takes off directly, and the impact on deck scheduling is really not that big...

"The larger 24-ton catapult project is expected to be completed in about five years.

"The new warships that start construction two years later can be built according to the corresponding standards.

"Only the few ships built in the past two years need to replace the catapult after more than ten years..."

(End of this chapter)