We are all reborn, who wants to be the richest man?

Chapter 698 Aviation Industry Development

Moscow United Aircraft Engineering Group, where Luo Nianzhong came to after leaving the Far East.

"What are the test results of the Il-96-400?"

The Il-96-400 aircraft is the first large twin-engine wide-body passenger aircraft developed by the Ilyushin Design Bureau, and its competitor is the Boeing 777 that has just rolled off the production line.

Since Luo Nianzhong integrated the United Aircraft Engineering Corporation in 1991, Luo Nianzhong has asked the Ilyushin Design Bureau to focus its main efforts on the research of this twin-engine wide-body passenger aircraft.

Although United Aircraft Engineering & Manufacturing Corporation sold a lot of Il-96-300s thanks to hype at the time, it is certain that four-engine passenger aircraft will become history and exit the stage, and twin-engine passenger aircraft will be the way to go.

Now, four years later, the Ilyushin Design Bureau has finally produced a finished product, and it is time for inspection.

"The Il-96-400 has now obtained the domestic airworthiness certificate and is applying for it in other regions..."

Luo Nianzhong waved his hand to interrupt Novozhilov's report. This was not what he wanted to know. He only wanted to know the performance of the aircraft.

"Let's talk about the parameters."

“伊尔96-400一排最多可以容纳11个座位，可搭载337名到405名乘客，在这点上，我们远超刚刚下线的波音777。

The maximum passenger capacity of a Boeing 777 is only 368, which is much narrower than ours.

Of course, this is the international version, the domestic version cannot reach this level, and can only carry a maximum of 330 passengers."

"Two versions?" Luo Nianzhong wondered, "Why is it so?"

Novozhilov glanced at the people from the Soloviev Design Bureau and explained.

“The main reason is that there is a gap in technology between the group’s own engines and those of foreign engine manufacturers.

The international version of the Il-96-400 uses the Pratt & Whitney PW4000 high bypass ratio turbofan engine with a thrust of over 52000 pounds.

装载这款发动机的伊尔96-400航程最大可以达到11800公里，不过因为我们的载客量和最大起飞重量比波音777大，所以在航程上低于波音777的最长航程型号的13100公里”。

The longest-range model of the Boeing 777 will be further extended in the future, eventually exceeding 15000 kilometers, but that will be two thousand years from now.

Now, this shortcoming in range is really nothing, after all, I have a much larger passenger capacity.

“至于国内版的伊尔96-400采用的则是索洛维耶夫设计局最新量产的ps90A2发动机，最大航程可以达到10500公里”。

It's still lack of power. Although the difference in range is not big, the domestic version still has less passenger capacity.

Since we were talking about engines, Luo Nianzhong took a break and looked in the direction of Director Soloviev.

"I heard that the latest generation of ps90A3 engines has entered the test phase? How is the progress?"

"It's going very smoothly and if nothing goes wrong we will be able to start mass production next year."

Soloviev is still old, so he resigned from his consultant position at the Soloviev Design Bureau last year and officially began to enjoy his retirement life.

The current director of the Soloviev Design Bureau, Gepdoyev, is in his 50s. He also has a technical background and is a technical expert.

"The power of the ps90A3 engine is basically the same as the current Pratt & Whitney PW4000, and it has reached 4000% of the level of the PW4000, especially in terms of fuel consumption, which is not inferior to the PW at all."

The thrust of civil aviation engines is one aspect, and fuel consumption is also a major focus. No matter how high the thrust is, it is useless if the fuel consumption is high. On the contrary, if the fuel consumption is low, it doesn't matter even if the power is a little worse, companies will still place orders.

After all, the range is to fly farther, and fuel consumption is the cost-effectiveness.

After learning about the progress of the Solovikov Design Bureau, Luo Nianzhong brought the topic back.

"I heard you are researching a larger wide-body aircraft?"

"That's right. It is temporarily named Il-96-500. According to our conception, this passenger aircraft will adopt a double-decker structure and its maximum passenger capacity can reach 800 or even more than 1000 people."

"What stage are we at now?"

"It has just started and is still in the drawing stage."

Seeing Novozhelov's excitement, Luo Nianzhong poured a basin of cold water on him.

"Let's suspend and seal this project for now. We won't consider it for at least the next 20 years."

"What's the reason?" I originally wanted to make you happy, but I didn't expect to be rejected.

Why? I don't want United to go the way of the Airbus A380.

"In terms of the number of passengers on a single flight, it is rare for a route to have more than 400 passengers per flight, let alone a larger number. In my opinion, such figures will not increase much in the next years.

Fuel consumption and cost performance are the main considerations for airlines when purchasing aircraft, and this type of aircraft is not used at all for the time being."

These old Russians have started to fall into their old habits again, thinking that bigger is better and stronger.

We have to admit that the scientific research level of these Russians is really strong. In terms of engines, they have caught up with Pratt & Whitney in just five years.

In the field of wide-body aircraft design and development, Ilyushin can be said to have beaten Boeing.

Doesn't Boeing want to increase the number of passengers on the Boeing 777 to more than 400? It's not that they don't want to, but they can't.

Aircraft design is not that simple. Increasing the passenger capacity cannot be achieved by making it longer or wider. It requires an overall design that considers multiple aspects including mechanics, structure, and airflow.

The matter of Il-96-500 was settled, and reports from various design bureaus and supporting factories were heard.

The development here is basically steady, and the speed of development makes Luo Nianzhong satisfied, but there are also unexpected things.

This accident was not bad, but too fast, so fast that Luo Nianzhong did not expect it.

"Integrated modular avionics system?"

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“Yes, just like Honeywell’s AIMS information management system.

All I can say is that we and Honeywell have the same idea, but our development speed is a little slower, but the function is definitely not inferior to Honeywell's."

AIMS, the first generation IMA framework, evolved into the bus ARINC629, which was specially developed for the Boeing 777.

Later, people said that Russia's avionics system was poor, but was it really backward from the beginning?

As early as the Su-27, Polar Bear began to study the central integrated processing system, but later suspended the research and development for various reasons.

In the field of civil aviation, what was the earliest avionics system like? It was distributed.

Each avionics system is independent and uses its own proprietary processor and equipment.

This approach has the advantage that the rate of fault propagation within the system is low.

The disadvantage is that it relies on system upgrades and has high maintenance costs.

Later, the joint avionics system was born, and these subsystems were connected in series for the first time.

The operation is simpler, but the problem of high maintenance costs has not changed.

It was not until the emergence of integrated modular avionics systems that the entire avionics system became a whole.

Although there are disadvantages, for the civil aviation field, the reduction of maintenance costs is the most tempting cake.

Honeywell is the leader in integrated modular avionics. I didn’t expect that United Aerospace Engineering & Manufacturing Group would catch up with it. This is really a surprise.

"Yes, in order to commend your research and development achievements, the Magnificent Mountains and Rivers Plan will start with you."

The Magnificent Mountains and Rivers Project sounds very grand, but it is actually just a publicly funded tour.

There is no way. Although the United Aircraft Engineering and Manufacturing Group was established, it still cannot avoid the fate of being poached.

For top scientists, they have high salaries and are reluctant to leave their hometowns.

But the power of the Mesozoic era has already been tapped away.

The strategy of those Western companies is very simple. They invite you to visit under the pretext of inviting you, but in fact it is a free tour.

When you see how well the Western developed world is doing, some people don't want to go back to turbulent Russia.

Luo Nianzhong has no say in national sentiment, and for these talents, they should stay if they can.

There are a limited number of top scientists, and these Mesozoic people are the backbone. Who can guarantee that there won’t be any great people among them?
Don’t you guys like bustling places? Well, let’s go directly to Hong Kong Island.

Compared to Hong Kong Island, the West now seems backward.

Therefore, Luo Nianzhong planned to let the employees of United Aviation Engineering and Manufacturing Group go on a public-funded tour to Hong Kong Island in batches. If there were those who really did not want to return to Russia, Luo Nianzhong could just take the opportunity to establish an aviation laboratory in Hong Kong Island.

It not only increases Hong Kong Island’s GDP, but also attracts talent.

(End of this chapter)