Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1370 The Longest Plank (5k)

It's a short story, but it's a big deal for these comrades.

Gao Zhendong was completely unaware of the details, but he was clear about the direction. As long as the direction was found, that would be enough for his comrades, so he didn't write much.

The comrades who developed the early warning aircraft are very familiar with the structure of the Tu-4. When they saw these few dozen words, they couldn't help but slap their foreheads!
"This... the original engine rotation direction is different from the current turboprop! The original design to counteract the deflection torque caused by the rotation of the engine blades and the blowing of the airflow is now almost completely ineffective, and because the direction is opposite, it even has the effect of aggravating the deflection torque."

Just those few words opened up the comrades' minds.

"Yes, I think the second reason may also exist. The sidewash airflow, which is in the opposite direction and has greater power, has a huge impact on the vertical tail fin, which may also bring about a roll moment."

After thanking the military representative, the comrades quickly turned around and followed the newly opened line of thought, continuing their investigation downwards.

The military representative was all smiles. See? I told you it would work! As for the fact that the comrades had forgotten about him after using him, he didn't take it to heart at all. It would be a surprise if those comrades could still keep their composure now.

Gao Zhendong didn't know how the matter was ultimately resolved, but he knew that there was no further news about it, so he assumed that it had been resolved by his comrades.

As for whether it's the original fixed throttle offset scheme that artificially creates a thrust difference to compensate for the deflection, that doesn't matter.

As long as the problem is solved, it doesn't really matter what the solution is. This aircraft is a modification of the existing Tu-4, and no new aircraft will be produced. Moreover, the number of aircraft produced is destined to be very small. As long as the problem is solved, that's all that matters.

Redesigning the airframe and anti-deflection measures of the Tu-4 might not be as cost-effective or efficient as a method similar to fixed thrust difference.

Gao Zhendong is very strict about the province's spending on this matter.
-
At another base in the desert, a comrade stared blankly at the latest requirements sent by the Defense Committee, while also showing surprise on his face.

"For the terminal stage of long-range and above ballistic missiles under development, a three-warhead support and delivery mechanism is proposed to be designed according to the following dimensions, and space for a more complex control system and delivery weight should be reserved in the terminal stage. Current work is still mainly focused on single warhead design, but the work related to three warheads should be given certain attention."

The requirement is clear: a single warhead is necessary, but the design of a three-warhead warhead must be prepared in advance.

Such a clear requirement undoubtedly indicates one thing—the miniaturization of warheads is showing some promise, and the outlook is quite optimistic. Otherwise, the usually cautious National Defense Commission would not have made this request.

The National Defense Commission has not specified the overall projection weight of the three warheads, indicating that the degree of miniaturization of small warheads is still unclear, but this is already good news.

Even if it is miniaturized, it can still only launch one warhead at a certain distance. However, if the weight of this warhead is reduced, it can bring a greater range.

"This is great news! Hahaha! It's all done in one go!"

"Hmm, this is exciting. A single warhead is so boring." For them, the difficulty of a single warhead is almost non-existent. After all, whether it is the rocket engine, the control and guidance of a single warhead, they actually share the technology of the lower stage. These technologies have little to do with the number of warheads.

The only thing that's complicated is the existence of inflatable decoys, which was mentioned by a comrade at a certain meeting, making the warhead a bit more complex.

That's why they say that a single warhead is ineffective.

"Coincidentally, some of the techniques used to prepare decoys can actually be used on multiple warheads, especially this kind of cluster warhead."

"The task is even more important now, hahaha." The task is even more important, but the smiles on the comrades' faces are even brighter.
-
The capital of Lanzhou, the headquarters of Triangle Aircraft Company.

"How's our new plane coming along, my Mr. Besson?"

At this moment, the person with a wide smile on his face, trying his best to show a smile to his regional jet project director, was the president of Delta Air Lines.

Besson was confident: "Everything is progressing smoothly. The main design of the aircraft has been completed, and we have already started feeding materials and began production of the aircraft for static testing."

For aircraft used for static testing, the requirements for subsystems are not as high as for the complete aircraft model, so materials can be cut and produced in advance. For Triangle Aircraft Company, which needs to develop the aircraft as soon as possible so that it can enter the grand plan of competing with the Wang Guolao for the market, every second counts.

"Ha, that's great news. Very fast, well done, my supervisor."

"Mr. President, the fact that this plane was able to move so quickly is thanks to your many bold decisions and efforts beforehand." Director Besson's expression was very natural. Who said that white people don't understand social etiquette?

Regardless of whether it was true or not, his words undoubtedly pleased the president greatly: "No, no, no, I just did what I was supposed to do. Mr. Besson, it is your efforts that have made all of this possible."

"No, no, no, we cannot ignore your enormous role in this contest with the Kingdom. It was your many bold decisions to cooperate with the East that brought us better software, faster design computers, and even greater human and equipment resources." For Besson, the director who led the project, he had never fought such a rewarding battle before.

We are very clear about our position. Apart from insisting on technology sharing and implementation, we have not demanded any control over this project. We know what is appearances and what is substance.

This made the president even more satisfied. It seems that his words were not all flattery; I did play a small role in this matter.

"Easterners? They can bring about such a big change?" To be honest, apart from achievements in computers and some subsystems, he didn't know what role the Easterners played in this competition.

"Yes, Mr. President. The high-speed computers and collaborative software you had them bring have given us a powerful weapon to catch up with the Kingdom. And their exceptional insights into certain subsystems have greatly reduced the possibility of us making mistakes and wasting time."

"Hmm..." Keep going, I love to hear it.

"Their large number of highly qualified personnel undertook a significant amount of basic design work, which greatly freed up our staff, allowing them to focus their energy on management and technical decision-making..."

Since we don't really have the skills for the time being, we won't take on a task beyond our capabilities. Apart from the technical advantages that Gao Zhendong mentioned, we strictly adhere to the principle of relying on our own abilities, cooperating effectively, reducing the pressure on our friends in Lanxi, and undertaking more practical work. We are very cooperative.

"Hmm, very good. Easterners are trustworthy partners; they're even a bit naive." The president was quite satisfied with this.

"Moreover, their aviation research infrastructure is more than sufficient for researching aircraft at the passenger plane level. For example, they undertake more than half of the wind tunnel tests. You know, our wind tunnels are not enough, but they have them." For Mr. Besson, such a partner is too rare to ask for more money.

Northwest Heavy Aircraft, the National Defense Commission, and civil aviation authorities: We are clear about when money is important and when it is not.

"Moreover, they have some very distinctive parts and components industries, which is a great help to us in defeating the Kingdom Laos."

Theoretically, Shin Kong Electric could produce the components for the glass cockpit, but for the people of Lanzhou, it is undoubtedly more technically reliable to have them made by us.

Moreover, Shinshin Electric has no intention of getting involved in this field. It's fine for them to customize some components and parts for home appliances, and it's enough for them to promote their products as being used in aviation.

"So how's their part going?"

"There are no issues with the schedule. The subsystems they are responsible for are not numerous, but they are very important because they are distinctive enough, and their schedule meets our requirements. For this reason, I am even willing to wait for them. In the earliest test aircraft, traditional mechanical hydraulic control was used. The fly-by-wire control system is a very important subsystem, and they need enough time. With their capabilities and our experience, I believe that given enough time, they can bring us even greater surprises."

The Kingdom's new regional jet is also still under development. In fact, because of the existence of the 707 and 727, its competitors only really started designing their new regional jet this year, which gives Mr. Besson more confidence in terms of time.

At the same time, having access to a large number of computers brought by the Easterners gave him greater confidence in his success. Compared to the much larger and more complex computer systems, the Easterners' C6132 wasn't the fastest, but it was definitely the most convenient and abundant. As the Easterners aptly put it, many ants can kill an elephant.

Fun fact: It only took Wang Guoqiang three years from designing the 737 aircraft to its first flight, and it was extremely successful. Compared to the same company in the new century, the difference is like night and day.

To counter the Kingdoms, who have already achieved great success with the 707 and 727, he needs all the new technologies and features that can surpass the Kingdoms in terms of actual functionality, performance, and marketing.

“That’s wonderful! Keep up the good work, my director. Is there anything else you need?” “Nothing for now. If I had to say, I need floppy disks, lots of floppy disks… This aircraft is rather large, and the computers and software provided by the Easterners are generating drawings with an excessively high level of detail and data precision,” Mr. Besson said with a smile.

"Isn't being tall a good thing?"

“Very good, but as you know, anything good comes at a price. The price of higher precision is that we need a lot of floppy disks to store data, and the consumption of floppy disks is quite high.”

The Blue Giant already had very basic hard drives for sale, but these devices had no advantage in data density compared to floppy disks used by the East. On the contrary, their price, comparable to gold, was a heavy burden for Triangle Aircraft Company.

They preferred to build a temperature- and humidity-controlled, electromagnetically isolated, dust-free, and sterile storage facility for floppy disks rather than make extensive use of the massive hard drive from the Blue Giant.

"Yes, you can directly make your request to the Easterners, and they will fulfill it." Besson's words pleased the president. His words were less of a request and more of a boast. After all, he himself was qualified to make supply requests directly to us, so there was no real need to mention it to the president.

—Our achievements are already too numerous to contain.

This is similar to the tactic of saying, "The biggest flaw of a leader is that he doesn't take good care of his health."
-
"Comrade Zhendong, your biggest shortcoming is that you don't take good care of your health." Looking at Gao Zhendong in front of him, the defense committee leader was somewhat helpless.

This kid has never stopped, and now he's come looking for me again, so he must have some new achievements.

I know you're in good health, but this workload is really unbelievable.

The National Defense Commission is well aware of the difference between killing the goose that lays the golden eggs and taking a steady, long-term approach.

"It's not that exaggerated, hehehe. Now that we've thought of it, we'll feel uneasy if we don't bring it out quickly. Time waits for no one, boss." Gao Zhendong said with a smile. It was really hard to refute this. People who occupy the moral high ground are just that difficult to deal with.

"You... okay, okay, what is this? A computer chip?" The leader looked curiously at the plastic box in Gao Zhendong's hand, inside which was a chip that looked almost identical to the C6132.

However, the leaders knew that chips may look similar on the outside, but there can be big differences inside. After all, if you compare a transistor to a house, a chip can be described as a city.

"C6132N, the superior replacement of C6132."

The C6132, made using NMOS technology, is named by Gao Zhendong in such a simple and unpretentious way.

"Oh? What's the difference?" Although it's just a difference of one letter, the leader knew that things couldn't be that simple, especially since this thing came from Gao Zhendong.

"In terms of usage, it's no different from the C6132. The only difference is speed; it's 7.5 times faster than the C6132!"

Damn it! ! !

Even a well-informed leader almost swore.

"Is this the thing you mentioned, the one that's ten times faster than PMOS?"

Being ten times faster is not the same as actually being ten times faster. Gao Zhendong mentioned this thing not long ago, and it can already improve performance by 7.5 times so quickly, which is an extremely astonishing figure.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Yes. This was done by the comrades of Factory 1234 working day and night."

"You taught them, didn't you?" It wasn't that the leaders looked down on the comrades from Factory 1234, but given the size of the gap, it was highly unlikely that Gao Zhendong would personally intervene.

Gao Zhendong nodded and smiled, but didn't say anything.

"Hmm, no wonder you were so sure that exporting the semiconductor production line wouldn't affect us. It turns out your backup plan has reached this point." Recalling the semiconductor production line that Luo Guo had exchanged for the graphite reactor, the leader felt somewhat guilty; he had been ripped off too badly.

He never expected Gao Zhendong to act so quickly; he had barely finished the research before Gao Zhendong had produced it. Normally, from discovering the principle to practical application, it takes at least three to five years, right? This was fast!

Unexpectedly, their speed was only three to five months, which made the leaders of the National Defense Commission feel somewhat sorry for their comrades in the north.

"Isn't this pace of upgrading a bit too fast?" The overwhelming sense of success even made the leadership wonder if the pace was too fast. Bill Gates's lament was not without reason.

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "The pursuit of computing power is eternal. We can delegate low-end technologies, but we always need to maintain a leading position in the high-end."

The problem is, putting everything else aside, the C6108 is already quite advanced...

To be honest, although the C6108's speed is not high, combined with its size and energy consumption, it is still far ahead of the competition in foreign countries.

However, the leader cannot say this.

"Good! Well said! Comrade Zhendong, thank you very much for your unremitting efforts in the field of computers!" He could imagine how much change and benefit this would bring. Even just considering the economic benefits, the comrades in the Ministry of Foreign Trade would be overjoyed.

What he couldn't have imagined was that, a little over a decade later, the kingdom's computer industry would generate over 210 billion kingdom currency. That was 210 billion back then, and even though the Bretton Woods system had collapsed, it was still an astronomical figure.

Gao Zhendong smiled and shook his head: "Boss, that's not what I wanted to talk about today."

The leader suddenly realized, "I knew it! Given Gao Zhendong's personality, it's impossible for him to come all the way here just to show off his new achievements and ask for credit."

I guess this is just a side project; the real point of his visit will be what he says later.

"What do you want to say? Come, come, have some tea, and tell me slowly." The leader handed Gao Zhendong a cigarette.

“Actually, it’s related to this thing…” Gao Zhendong pointed to the plastic box on the table.

"this?"

"Yes. With its emergence and the implementation of the technology behind it, I think there is a technology that we can consider implementing."

"What technology?" Seeing Gao Zhendong speak so solemnly, the leader's interest was piqued to an extremely high degree. Comrade Zhendong rarely spoke with such seriousness.

"Supercomputer!" Gao Zhendong wrote a few words on a piece of paper on the table and handed it to his leader.

This is almost the last and highest piece of the computer system under current technological conditions.

Fun fact: the amount of water a wooden bucket can hold can actually be determined by the longest plank – tilt the bucket.

This kind of thing only becomes meaningful after computer chips and semiconductor technology have developed to a certain level; otherwise, the weak performance of previous computer chips would not even be enough to cover the interconnection costs.

Regardless of the technological route taken to achieve ultra-high-speed computing, and regardless of the type of supercomputer, the chip itself or semiconductor technology must reach a certain level.

"Supercomputer?" These words alone were enough to grab the leader's attention.

(End of this chapter)