The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 866 Unmanned Reconnaissance Aircraft

Today, China's Air Force is in the leading position in the world's second tier.

All 767 J-5 fighter jets ever produced have been retired from service. In addition to being exported, only a small number are left for training and performances, and are exhibited in museums.

The J-6 fighter jet was discontinued 10 years ago, with a total of 5205 produced. It has also been the main export aircraft in recent years, with half sold and half given away, but there are still a large number of J-6 fighter jets in the country.

By the millennium, that is, in 2000, the J-6 fighter will officially withdraw from the equipment sequence of the Chinese Air Force.

This also means that in the future the J-6 will be sold whenever possible, whether it is sold as a second-hand aircraft, sold at a discount or given away, or converted into a reconnaissance aircraft for export.

This part is mainly exported to Iraq, Persia, Africa, Southeast and South Asia, and Latin America.

The price is very cheap, even the poorest countries can afford it.

The J-7 and J-8 series fighter jets are currently the intermediate force of the Chinese Air Force, while the hundreds of imported American aircraft and equipped J-10 and J-11 fighter jets are the top combat power.

The number of third-generation aircraft currently equipped by China is second only to that of the Eagle Sauce and the Polar Bear.

The J-7K and J-8K are second-generation and a half fighter jets.

The current shortcomings of the Chinese Air Force are transport aircraft, early warning aircraft, refueling aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft, and bombers.

The Chinese Air Force has all these types of aircraft, but they are not advanced and are relatively backward.

Although it is backward, it can still be used.

The reconnaissance aircraft development center is now aiming to build the J-8G. Once it is completed, China will be able to reach world-class levels in tactical reconnaissance aircraft.

As for reconnaissance aircraft, since their main purpose is reconnaissance, reconnaissance cameras and other items are crucial.

In order to develop the J-8G, the country has mobilized thousands of people in this regard, divided them into multiple scientific research projects, and worked on conquering related technologies.

Liu Tao also saw the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft project.

The concept of drones has been proposed very early. It has been 1914 years since the British proposed the concept of drones in 80. At that time, the British proposed the concept of drones with the aim of developing a small radio-controlled aircraft for military purposes.

In 1917, the first automatic gyro stabilizer was invented in the United States, and the Curtiss N-9 trainer aircraft was converted into the first radio-controlled unmanned aircraft.

In 1935, the "Queen Bee" UAV developed by the United Kingdom came out. It is a radio-controlled full-size target aircraft and is considered the "pioneer" in the history of modern UAVs.

It can be said that all major military powers and powerful countries in the world are researching drones.

There is even a concept that future fighter jets will be unmanned.

Unmanned reconnaissance aircraft are naturally one of the key points.

China's development of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft did not start now, but as early as the 60s.

The Air Force shot down several Firebee drones belonging to the US Strategic Air Command. Two of them were recovered intact and sent to research institutions for analysis and imitation. Beihang University repaired a Firebee drone and successfully returned it to the sky. In the late 70s, China began to imitate the Firebee drone and named it the WZ-5 drone. The Chinese name is naturally Wuzhen-5.

The WZ-5 unmanned long-range reconnaissance aircraft is carried and launched by a mother aircraft, which was originally a specially modified Tu-4 'Bull' bomber, and later changed to a Y-8 transport aircraft, and then recovered by parachute.

The Wuzhen-5 unmanned long-range reconnaissance aircraft has a wingspan of 9.76 meters, a length of 8.97 meters, a height of 2.18 meters, an empty weight of 1060 kilograms, a maximum take-off weight of 1700 kilograms, mission equipment of 65 kilograms, a fuel weight of 62 kilograms, a maximum speed of 800 kilometers per hour (at an altitude of 17500 meters), a range of 2500 kilometers, a flight time of more than three hours, a maximum flight altitude of 3 meters, and uses a WP-17500 turbojet engine with a thrust of 11kN.

As China's only unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, the WZ-5 is undoubtedly not advanced at present.

At the very least, when used in East Asia or the north, the probability of being shot down is very high.

Therefore, a powerful unmanned reconnaissance aircraft was needed. Liu Tao personally went to Beijing to attend the launch meeting of this unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.

At that time, he proposed that the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to be developed should be positioned as a high-altitude, high-speed, long-flight unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, mainly used for large-scale continuous reconnaissance and surveillance in low and medium intensity conflicts.

The main reason Liu Tao came to Guifei this time was to participate in the development of this UAV.

The development of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft includes aircraft models, aircraft engines, etc., but reconnaissance equipment such as airborne radars, TV cameras, infrared detectors, as well as defensive electronic countermeasures equipment and digital communication equipment are equally important.

Because this is an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, its purpose is to be used for reconnaissance, and these are the main equipment for its reconnaissance capabilities.

And these are China’s shortcomings.

Even if the R&D team was given sufficient funding, it would not be possible to develop an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft that would satisfy Liu Tao in ten years.

So, he planned to get involved personally.

Over the years, Liu Tao has personally participated in a large number of projects, and he has a very clear understanding of China's scientific research capabilities.

In terms of scientific research capabilities, even after more than a decade of accumulation and rapid development, China is still far inferior to the Eagle Sauce and the Polar Bear. There is a clear gap compared with European powers and Japan.

Workers are easy to train.

However, high-end talents, especially pillar high-end talents, are not easy to cultivate.

This is also a historical debt left over from the past.

If the teachers haven’t learned it clearly, how can they teach their students to understand it?
As for the entire knowledge system, it will probably take 10, 20 or even 30 years to catch up with the advanced countries in Europe and the United States.

China is too big and has too many people.

Engineers are easy to train, after all, practice makes perfect.

But when it comes to knowledge, especially innovation, it is not something that can be solved by just practicing makes perfect.

What Liu Tao did was actually a case of forcing things to grow.

This has given countries such as Europe and the United States the illusion that China is in an era of scientific and technological explosion, which is why so many advanced weapons and equipment have emerged and the entire industrial system is improving at an alarmingly fast speed.

Even in many European and American media journals, when it comes to military strength and comprehensive national strength, China is ranked third, second only to the United States and the Polar Bear.

Even in terms of scientific research capabilities, China is ranked third.

After the two third most powerful countries in the world were beaten to a pulp, many countries now believe that China is the third most powerful country in the world.

Even its military strength and comprehensive national power have surpassed those of Britain, France, Germany and Japan.

In fact, this is just an illusion, an illusion created by Liu Tao.

And this illusion caused a chain reaction.

There are some chain reactions that even Liu Tao could not have imagined.

Now, Liu Tao hopes to develop an advanced unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to meet China's current and future development needs.

As military equipment, it is necessary to ensure that it can serve for twenty to thirty years.

(End of this chapter)