The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master.

Chapter 1055 Business jet for military use?

However, Rob Boudin apparently didn't notice Ed Steiner's slight emo side.

For him, who is only responsible for test flight missions, his lifelong interest is focused on exploring the performance limits of a model, and he is not very willing to care about the conflicts of interest in the research and development process.

Therefore, after a short pause, he continued:
"In fact, from my personal feeling, this aircraft is far from reaching its limit. If it performs a shallow dive during the test flight as originally planned, it should be able to break through to a higher speed..."

Robb stretched out his hand and made a downward dive in mid-air.

This somewhat crazy proposal frightened Edsteiner so much that he shuddered and thought to himself that you test pilots are really not afraid of death.

He did think about cheating by doing a shallow dive at first, but that was because according to the estimates at the time, the Falcon 8Z was too large and had a thick fuselage, so its maximum airspeed in level flight could not even reach Mach 0.9.

In this case, the risk is still within controllable range by taking advantage of the tailwind to perform a shallow dive and accelerate.

But now, the actual flight result is about 40km/h faster than the original calculation.

Even though this number is not very high when calculated proportionally, the deviation is less than 5%.

But this is the transonic range.

It is no exaggeration to say that the impact of every 1km/h speed change on airflow and structure is unpredictable.

At least it was unpredictable for Ed Steiner.

It would be fine if it could just keep flying level.

After all, there is no longitudinal overload. Even if you find that the speed has entered the danger zone, you can achieve a smooth deceleration simply by slowly releasing the throttle.

At least there won't be any major problems like plane crashes and casualties.

But if it goes into a dive, the situation will be difficult to predict when it is time to level out.

In case of rudder lock or even wing break...

Ed Steiner just thought about it for a moment and felt a chill down his spine.

If nothing unexpected happens, Falcon Z will be the last major project he is responsible for in his career.

Now that the big plans that were drawn back then have now come true, the remaining task is to ensure that the model can be smoothly implemented and achieve commercial success.

He is too old to do risky things.

"It's still not necessary."

Ed Steiner decisively refused:
"It is sufficient to meet the maximum and minimum speed tests. Now that we have exceeded the design indicator of 0.92, the focus of subsequent tests should be shifted to the allowable envelope range under this speed, rather than blindly continuing to accelerate."

"Moreover, according to our flight control program settings, no matter what the aircraft's airspeed exceeds Mach 0.9, an alarm will be issued and the aircraft will automatically enter the deceleration procedure."

As he spoke, he connected the data recorder that Robb had just brought to a dedicated reading device, preparing to personally confirm the test flight data, and then extract the more eye-catching sections from it to use as promotional material.

"Ok?"

Robb was stunned:
“Is there such a restriction?”

"Well... we added this specifically based on lessons learned from some typical air crashes that happened in the past."

Ed Steiner's answer was somewhat ambiguous, and he obviously didn't want to continue to dwell on this topic:

"Of course they were not installed during the test flight. You test pilots definitely don't need them... But it's hard to say for pilots of commercial airlines... Including the dive you just mentioned, large-angle climbs and dives may be restricted at the flight control level in the future."

Robb next to him suddenly showed a look of enlightenment.

We are all in the same circle.

At this point, it's hard to guess what the reason is.

"Anyway, remember to make arrangements as soon as possible..."

Just as Edsteiner was about to end the conversation, another voice came from behind him:
"In fact, Charles, based on our analysis of the engine operating data during this test flight, the SeA650 has the potential to further increase thrust..."

The two turned around and saw Ian Vista walking out of a small cubicle next to them.

"Of course I know that."

Ed Steiner had a matter-of-fact expression:
"But the Falcon 8Z is already the largest model in the entire series. Even if we redesign an engine with greater thrust, I'm afraid it can only be used for regional aircraft..."

Obviously, he got it wrong.

I thought the other party meant that based on the same core engine, they could design a product with a higher thrust level.

This is indeed something that makes sense.

After all, the SeA650 can essentially be regarded as a non-afterburner model with a small bypass ratio.

Even if nothing else changes, just replacing the fan with a larger one can increase the thrust to 9-10 tons.

There's just no suitable installation object.

But Vesta shook his head:
"It's not a redesign... I mean, judging from the performance, the SeA650 itself can still squeeze out some extra thrust, but it is currently limited by the engine control program."

"Of course, what I see here can only be regarded as some superficial phenomena. For the specific situation, we still need to seek the opinions of our Chinese partners..."

Edsteiner couldn't help but curl his lips, subconsciously wanting to complain that it was a bit inaccurate for the other party to call China a "partner".

But when the words came to my lips, I thought of the situation of Falcon 8Z and felt that I had no right to criticize others.

In the end, he swallowed it back. Rob, who was standing next to him, immediately began to look forward to the opportunity to achieve a higher level flight speed, but then he remembered that Edsteiner had clearly stated that there was no need for this, and he didn't know what to say for a moment...

The atmosphere between the three people suddenly became silent...

……

Fortunately, just when Vesta was feeling a little embarrassed because of the awkward silence, another figure appeared at the door of the hangar and walked in hurriedly.

Said that Cao Cao Cao Cao arrived.

It was Liu Yongquan who came to inspect the test flight on behalf of China.

Vesta breathed a sigh of relief and rushed forward to ask about the feasibility of further increasing the thrust of the SeA650 engine.

"Liu, take a look at this data."

He stuffed a few charts in his hand into Liu Yongquan's hands:

"Even at the very edge of the flight envelope, the peak vibration data measured by the sensor is still only about three-quarters of the maximum allowable amount. In this case, why can't a higher speed limit be opened at the control program level?"

The latter came here this time because he received news from Chang Haonan and was going to discuss with Ed Steiner the feasibility of expanding the market scope of Falcon Z.

As a result, as soon as I entered the door, I was asked a technical question.

So much so that I was a little confused at first.

It was not until I took the chart and looked at it for a long time that I finally came to my senses.

Then, he showed a slightly embarrassed expression——

Because this speed limit was specially added by Chang Haonan.

Under normal operating conditions of SeA650, the vibration situation has indeed improved because the rotor bearing of the No. 5 fulcrum has been replaced with a non-contact magnetic bearing. As Vesta said, the engine speed can be increased by about %.

Considering that this is the first time that magnetic bearings have been put into practical use, in order to ensure that everything is foolproof, a backup rotor bearing and a corresponding mechanical actuation system are set up.

If the speed is further increased, the magnetic bearing will not be a problem, but the mechanical backup may not be able to withstand it.

But the fundamental reason for this slightly awkward design is that Chang Haonan used SeA650 as a guinea pig for technical verification.

How could he explain this to the other party?
"Cough-cough-"

Liu Yongquan looked away with a guilty conscience, while his brain raced as he began to organize his words:

"The design indicators of the SeA series engines are set according to the requirements of Party A... that is, Dassault. When the performance is sufficient, the main focus is to retain a larger safety margin. There is no need to pursue more extreme paper data..."

Then he looked at Ed Steiner who was not far away:

"Isn't that right, Doctor?"

The latter was somewhat surprised to be suddenly called out, but Liu Yongquan's answer just met his requirement of not wanting to cause any unnecessary trouble, so he nodded immediately;

"Yes."

"In the test flight that just completed, the Falcon 8Z has reached an airspeed of Mach 0.92. Further increasing the thrust will reduce the cost-effectiveness and have a negative impact on safety..."

"..."

After a lot of struggling, the two of them finally managed to deal with Vesta and Robb, who were both obsessed with pursuing the limit.

"call--"

Ed Steiner sighed and shook his head helplessly:

"How come these people working on aerospace engines don't have any idea of ​​risk control at all..."

After I finished speaking, I realized that the occasion seemed a bit off, so I quickly added:
"Oh... sorry, I wasn't talking about you..."

"It doesn't matter……"

Liu Yongquan didn't care about these details. After making sure that there was no one else nearby, he quickly switched to the main topic of his trip:
"Doctor, I came here specifically because I received a request from my superiors to ask if your company has any plans to introduce the Falcon 8Z into the military market?"

According to his thinking, his hint was already very obvious.

Is there any other way for business jets to enter the military field except to be converted into special aircraft platforms?

It should be said that if Edsteiner was from another company, he would most likely understand what Liu Yongquan meant.

however.

He is from Dassault.

Dassault, business jets, military.

These three key words put together instantly diverted the thinking of the other party, an old comrade in his sixties.

"Military market?"

Ed Steiner had a "are you kidding me" look on his face:

"The Falcon 8Z can indeed be equipped with an all-weather optoelectronic system, but that is..."

Having said this, he subconsciously glanced at both sides, then lowered his voice a bit:
"That's to transfer the Damocles pod technology to you...No normal user would choose to install it...And in the 21st century, there won't be any madmen who would install two missiles on a business jet to perform low-altitude penetration..."

(End of this chapter)