The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 608: Promoting Project No.
Next.

The 'Eagle' advanced trainer aircraft continued its flight tests and production of the second prototype began.

If it is a project funded by the state, it will naturally not be so extravagant. It will continue to conduct test flights, accumulate experience, and solve problems if there are any. It will take at least one or two years before the second prototype is manufactured.

However, this project was funded by Panshan Group itself, without any funding from the state. Panshan Group had money, so naturally it started to manufacture the second prototype.

Even if there are no problems with the subsequent flight test, the design will be finalized soon and enter mass production.

This advanced trainer aircraft is more important to the Air Force than the 'J-7A' advanced trainer aircraft.

Because the 'Eagle' advanced trainer aircraft has powerful combat capability, it can play a role on the battlefield.

Liu Tao and his team held a meeting to discuss the issue of technology licensing.

In the past, if a unit achieved a technological breakthrough, other units could use the new technology free of charge as long as they applied to the higher authorities.

But things have been different since the reform and opening up.

The economy is gradually shifting from a planned economy to a market economy. Although there is a dual-track system, the country is also gradually improving the market.

These include the company law and patent law introduced by the state, and the protection of patents and intellectual property rights is increasing.

Liu Tao attaches great importance to this aspect.

The J-7 and J-8 can use this new technology to improve their aircraft, no problem. However, authorization is required, and if it is exported, a licensing fee must be paid.

歼7系列飞机，最新型的是歼7Ⅲ、歼7ⅢA。歼7Ⅲ是装备了JL-7型雷达以及仿制米格-21MF型配备的P-13F-300型发动机的涡喷13型发动机。歼7ⅢA则是在歼7Ⅲ的基础上换装了增大推力的涡喷13F1型发动机、由HK-03瞄准具换成抬头显示器、JL-7A型火控雷达，组合式电子反制系统，新型箔条/热焰弹投放器。

Yu Ximing of Guizhou Aircraft Group led a team to improve the J-7 to form the J-7E, drawing on the advanced technology of the J-7 advanced trainer, but the J-7E has just completed its design and has not yet produced a prototype. Now that there are newer technologies, it is natural to improve the J-7E on this basis.

The latest model of the J-8 is the J-8II, and the chief designer of the J-8II is Gu Songfen.

Now Shenfei is also further carrying out improvements to the J-8II.

Three days later, Liu Tao arrived at Institute 611.

Liu Tao attaches great importance to the J-10 fighter jet, because no matter how the J-7 and J-8 are modified, they are still second-generation and a half fighter jets. Their foundation is there, and no matter how they are modified, they can never reach the performance level of third-generation aircraft. They can only be used for emergencies and are transitional products.

This can be seen from the air force equipment, which still has a large number of J-5 and J-6 fighter jets, but very few J-7 and J-8. The number of J-7 and J-8 air force equipment is far less than the export volume.

"Chief Engineer Liu, we are all very happy that you are willing to participate in Project No. 10. How about you be the chief designer of Project No. 10?" Song Wencong said happily.

Liu Tao smiled and waved his hands, "Forget about being the chief designer of Project No. 611. It's not necessary! My time to participate in Project No. is limited, and I can't stay in Institute for too long."

Seeing Liu Tao's firm attitude, Song Wencong didn't say anything else.

He gathered all the people in the 611th Institute. Song Wencong said with a smile: "Comrades, everyone, put your work aside. Today I will introduce to you the famous Comrade Liu Tao. From today on, Comrade Liu Tao will participate in Project No. . Everyone, please welcome him with applause!"

There was warm applause.

Yang Wei clapped vigorously, looking excited.

He didn't expect that Liu Tao would actually come to participate in Project No. 10.

Song Wencong personally introduced the main personnel of Institute 611, many of whom are well-known in the industry.

The reason why Institute 611 was established was actually based on the thinking of the Third Front Construction. Institute 611 was actually a backup of the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation Design and Research Institute.

If a war breaks out, Institute 611 can assume the responsibility of Shenfei Design Institute.

When the 611 Institute was first established, many of its key technical personnel came from the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation's Design and Research Institute.

"Comrade Liu Tao, what do you think of the J-10?" Song Wencong asked, leaving only the core members of the 611 Institute in the conference room.

Liu Tao smiled and said, "The J-10 fighter jet is benchmarked against the third-generation aircraft of Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union. At present, the canard layout is still the best."

The canard layout is the mainstream of third-generation fighters, especially medium-sized fighters. European third-generation fighters basically adopt this aerodynamic layout.

For example, the French Rafale fighter, the Typhoon fighter jointly developed by several European countries, and the Swedish JAS-39 Gripen all have canard layouts.

Aircraft with a canard layout do not have many advantages under normal flight conditions, but when the aircraft needs to perform high-intensity maneuvers such as pitching up, circling with a small radius, etc., strong vortices will be generated on the aircraft's front wing and main wing. The mutual coupling and enhancement between the two vortices will produce stronger lift than the conventional layout; at high angles of attack, the canard only needs to reduce the lift generated to generate a nose-down moment, thereby effectively ensuring the controllability of suppressing excessive nose-up at high angles of attack.

Song Wencong and others were all surprised. They did not expect Liu Tao to be so optimistic about the duck style layout.

"According to what I know, the current research and development work faces several major problems that need to be solved. The first problem is the power problem. As a third-generation fighter, the J-10 must be equipped with a high-thrust turbofan engine, but we do not have such a mature product at present. If we choose to imitate foreign high-thrust turbojet engines, although the difficulty is much smaller and the risk is relatively small, the turbojet engine does not conform to the future development trend. Moreover, this type of engine has high fuel consumption, short life and poor reliability, and it is difficult to meet the needs of the J-10." Liu Tao said.

Aircraft engines are highly technical and one of the key cores of aircraft. They directly provide the aircraft with the power required for flight and are the heart of the aircraft. They are known as the "flower of industry" in the world. They directly affect the performance, reliability and economy of aircraft and are an important manifestation of a country's scientific, industrial and national defense strength.

At present, there are only a few countries in the world that can independently develop high-performance aircraft engines, including the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France, etc., and the technical threshold is very high.

China's aviation engines are mainly copied from Soviet aviation engines, but the performance of the copied aviation engines is unsatisfactory, and they are far inferior to the same type of Soviet engines in terms of quality and performance.

After the reform and opening up, China imported F-14, F-15 and F-16 fighter jets from the United States, as well as some spare parts for maintenance and purchased more aviation engines for these three fighter jets. Naturally, relevant domestic units also carried out imitation research projects.

The development of an aircraft engine is not a simple task. Even if there is a real object for you to study, it is very difficult to imitate. So far, these aircraft engine development units have not yet come up with a high-performance aircraft engine.

The most advanced aviation engines in China at present are actually the WP-7C engine of the J-7A and the WS-2M engine used by Liu Tao for the Eagle advanced trainer aircraft.

However, although these two aircraft engines are advanced, they are not high-performance aircraft engines.

(End of this chapter)