The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 401: New Aircraft and the Significance of Scientific Research

After reviewing the report from his eldest son Zhu Jingkun and making targeted decisions on the relevant matters, Zhu Jianxuan looked up at the calendar and clock on the wall.

It was decided not to add more burden to the officials before the New Year, which was already busy enough.

In the past two years, they have been busy setting up administrative agencies in the occupied areas, and also carrying out reforms to split the Judicial Supervisory Office and establish an independent judge system. They have been very busy.

Let's assign them these new tasks after the beginning of next year.

At the same time, I was preparing for some other things.

Zhu Jianxuan summoned two university scholars and asked them to reorganize Zhu Jingkun's report according to his instructions.

Apart from Zhu Jingkun's analysis and suggestions, he copied down his investigation process and findings and sent them to all his sons over the age of fifteen.

Ask them to write their own analysis and suggestions based on these situations and hand it in to you before the holiday.

This thing is equivalent to their winter vacation homework.

The next morning, after getting up and having breakfast, Zhu Jianxuan took a car through the Beiyuan New Palace and went to the Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Sciences opposite the west of the New Palace.

Before Zhu Jianxuan moved, the offices of the Academy of Engineering and its headquarters were both located in the southwest corner of the old Forbidden City.

After the move, the residences of the two academies were also moved. This was all at Zhu Jianxuan's request, in order to demonstrate his emphasis on scientific research and engineering.

Zhu Jianxuan still maintains his decades-long habit of visiting the Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Sciences every now and then.

Understand the current scientific research and engineering progress, and make suggestions and requirements.

Zhu Jianxuan's respect, coupled with the actual achievements of the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering, led to the fact that senior craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty had an extremely high status in the court, the same as or even higher than senior bureaucrats.

However, except for a small number of craftsmen who work in engineering, construction, and technology-related departments, most ordinary craftsmen do not have administrative power.

Zhu Jianxuan often went to the Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Sciences, so he would not ask the officials and craftsmen here to greet him in advance.

After Zhu Jianxuan entered the two compounds by car, he would go directly to the meeting room and office, or even directly to the laboratory.

Most of the craftsmen continued to do what they were supposed to do, while those in charge of management and reception would come out to accompany Zhu Jianxuan and introduce him to the projects that he was more interested in.

Today, Wang Lai, one of Zhu Jianxuan's first-generation disciples, and Zheng Fuguang, an outstanding scientific research craftsman of the new generation, accompany Zhu Jianxuan on visits.

Zhu Jianxuan first went to the turbine laboratory today to see the new generation of turbine engines that are being upgraded and developed.

It has been exactly ten years since the turbine engine project was officially launched in the fifteenth year of Tiangong.

If we start from the preliminary research of basic theories and the verification of the feasibility of principles, the time will be even longer.

Thanks to sufficient preparation, the right direction and ideas, as well as strong financial and personnel support, the project went quite smoothly.

In the year when the project was officially launched, the laboratory produced three prototypes that could operate continuously.

Then, following Zhu Jianxuan's instructions and requirements, he made several typical turbine engines that Zhu Jianxuan had seen in his previous life.

In the following years, the basic design was continuously improved and a model suitable for mass production was formed.

Turbine engines are a large category, and their principles are very similar, just like the wind blows the windmill to rotate, and the windmill drives other equipment by rotating the shaft.

Turbine engines have several typical subclassifications, depending on the method used to drive the turbine into rotation.

In terms of use, there are two types of engines used on ships: steam turbines and gas turbines, and four types of engines used on aircraft: turbojets, turbofans, turboprops, and turboshafts.

Based on the location of combustion, steam turbines are external combustion engines that require a separate boiler to provide steam.

Gas turbines, turbojets, turbofans, turboprops, and turboshafts are internal combustion engines. The fuel burns directly in the cavity inside the turbine, and the expanded gas drives the turbine directly.

Steam turbines are easier to implement and have lower material strength requirements, but they are larger in size and heavier in weight.

The situation is reversed for gas turbines and aircraft engines.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty completed the steam turbine early and used it on a large scale on military ships.

However, the research and development of the following types of engines were not officially started until diesel and gasoline engines were mass-produced.

It was not until the 15th year of Tiangong that the corresponding project team was officially established.

Among these engines, the first to be completed was the "turbojet", whose full name is "turbojet engine", which is the simplest internal combustion turbine engine.

The structure consists of a single cylinder containing several layers of metal fan blades, with a structure in the middle for fuel spraying and ignition.

After the fuel is ignited, the gas drives the fan, which sprays out violently backwards, creating a forward driving force.

It has the highest fuel consumption and highest instantaneous performance, and is suitable for high-altitude and high-speed fighter jets.

Then there is the more complex "turbofan", whose full name is "turbofan engine". A large cylinder is put outside the turbojet cylinder, and a group of fans are added inside the large cylinder.

This type of engine not only sprays gas backwards, but also rotates the fan between the two layers of cylinders to provide additional thrust.

It has medium fuel consumption and medium performance, and is suitable for medium and large transport aircraft and civil airliners at medium and low speeds.

The second is the extreme product of the turbofan, the "turboprop", whose full name is "turboprop engine", which transforms the complex small fan confined in the cylinder into a large exposed fan.

The special appearance of a turbopropeller is very similar to that of a traditional piston propeller at first glance, but the internal drive method is completely different.

It has the lowest fuel consumption and lower performance, and is suitable for medium and low speed and small and medium-sized transport aircraft and passenger aircraft.

Compared with its other two brothers, the turboprop is a "lower performance" engine, but compared with traditional piston propeller engines, it is a superior alternative.

After the advent of turboprop engines, the power density quickly exceeded twice that of piston engines, and the size and weight were halved at the same power.

Compared with piston engines, turboprops have a greatly simplified structure, which greatly reduces the failure rate and significantly improves maintainability.

Therefore, except for scenarios that are extremely insensitive to power but extremely sensitive to fuel consumption, turbopropellers can directly replace piston propellers.

The last thing to be completed is the "turboshaft", the full name of which is "turboshaft engine", which will add a steering gear set to the turboprop to drive the propeller parallel to the engine body.

It has medium fuel consumption and lowest performance, and is usually used to drive helicopters and vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

Turboshaft engines have more special requirements.

While tackling the research, development and design of turbine engines, the Academy of Engineering is also simultaneously designing aircraft powered by turbine engines.

First, replace the old piston engine-driven aircraft that have performance requirements with turbine engines, and then design special jet aircraft.

While conducting experiments to verify the hypothesis and obtain data, continue to optimize and adjust the initial design.

Under the direct guidance and requirements of Zhu Jianxuan, the design and manufacturing craftsmen continued to work hard for more than five years and achieved mass production of several basically mature typical jet aircraft.

First up is the "Frontline Fighter".

However, it is not the "fighter plane" that Zhu Jianxuan knew in his previous life. In terms of function, it is closer to the attack aircraft in his previous life that had some air combat capabilities.

But they are called fighters by the craftsmen and soldiers of this world.

Because of Zhu Jianxuan's forty years of hard work, the Ming Dynasty's air force and naval aviation have become so powerful that they are like gods compared to other countries.

They have no actual need for air combat in this world, and their main task is unilateral output and ground suppression.

Therefore, the most important aircraft are ground attack aircraft, not fighters responsible for air confrontation. They don't even have the concept of air confrontation at all.

The appearance of this type of aircraft, which has been officially designated as "New Combat Type 4", looks very similar to the American A Skyhawk attack aircraft from the s.

Because Zhu Jianxuan thought the nose air intake was ugly, he adopted an air intake design similar to the Skyhawk and F9F-6 Cougar, with the air intake located at the junction of the wing and the fuselage.

The aircraft's parameters are also very close to those of the Skyhawk, with a length of 12 meters, a wingspan of 12 meters, a maximum speed of 900 kilometers per hour, a maximum range of 3000 kilometers, and a maximum load capacity of 4000 kilograms.

This new type of fighter is certainly not the first jet aircraft manufactured by the Ming Dynasty.

Before that, some earlier and more basic jet aircraft were built, such as the German ME262 and TA183 during World War II, as well as the British Meteor.

However, according to Zhu Jianxuan's requirements and instructions, they all remained in the stage of exploration, verification and testing, and did not consider large-scale mass production.

Because the Ming Dynasty was not Germany and Britain in World War II, it did not urgently need to use immature technology in the military and expect to gain an advantage on extremely harsh battlefields.

Not only did the Ming Dynasty not have the need to take such risks, but because its advantage over its enemies was too great, the development of its military equipment had gradually exceeded actual needs.

Even without Zhu Jianxuan's direct request and his consistent provision of personnel and funds, the research on jet aircraft might not have been able to continue.

In the eyes of traditional literati and scholars, piston-propeller aircraft had already made the Ming Air Force the best in the world, and continuing to develop jet aircraft was just "playing around".

Zhu Jianxuan understands this truth. Technological upgrades that are not driven by actual demand will be difficult to sustain on their own for a long time and may even regress.

It is precisely because he knows these principles that Zhu Jianxuan wants to use the power in his hands to force the research and development to continue.

Implement the technologies you understand in this world, record them as completely as possible, and save them in the most appropriate place possible.

If after I leave, there really is a regression in military technology due to decades of peace.

Then, because of turmoil and division, war breaks out again, and when there is a need for military and technology again, people can refer to the technical documents they have left behind.

Of course it takes time for them to learn and recover, but at least it is much faster than if they had to figure it out from scratch.

Scientific research relying on archaeology is always faster than creating something from scratch.

At the same time, making technology and products as complicated as possible is also a typical means of monopolizing technology.

This experience, when applied to the military, would make military technology increasingly complex and military facilities' demands for logistics increasingly urgent.

Then, by controlling military logistics, military technology and military equipment, we can prevent the military from getting out of control on a large scale.

Relatively speaking, a piston engine can be considered a durable product. As long as it is properly maintained and repaired, it can be used for many years.

Although compared to jet engines, piston engines have a more complex structure and are more time-consuming to repair.

But the maintenance techniques for piston engines are actually much simpler, not much different from those for cars.

Jet engines, on the other hand, are more like consumables. Their service life is directly calculated in hours. The more vigorously they are used, the faster their life is consumed.

Because the structure of a jet engine is relatively simple, it is relatively quick to repair, but the problem is that many parts cannot be repaired and can only be replaced.

When maintaining a fighter jet engine, usually the engine is simply pulled out, replaced with a spare, and the old one is returned to the factory for disposal.

Therefore, for piston propeller aircraft, ordinary mechanical repairmen may be able to master the repair technology through careful study and exploration.

Even using manual machine tools and hand tools, it is possible to complete the production and replacement of some simple accessories.

But jet aircraft are complex and require true professionals to maintain.

So from this perspective, we must continue to tackle military technology, continue to upgrade Ming's military equipment, and make the Ming army more dependent on the industrial base.

Zhu Jianxuan asked the craftsmen to continue learning and exploring, and to spend more time to make more mature and complete products.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty's first officially mass-produced jet fighter directly reached a level close to that of the Skyhawk and Cougar.

Only after it reached this level was Zhu Jianxuan approved for mass production.

Then after more than two years of preliminary preparations, this "new combat type 1" aircraft has now begun to be equipped in the Air Force.

The corresponding carrier-based aircraft models were also completed simultaneously.

The Ming Dynasty did not have the American-style conflicts between the navy, army and air force. All equipment systems were under the control of the court, and all equipment updates were presided over by Zhu Jianxuan himself.

Therefore, carrier-based aircraft are not developed independently, but are completed simultaneously with ground-based aircraft.

Moreover, the structures of early jet aircraft were relatively simple, and the commonality between ship-borne models and ground-based models was relatively high.

The Skyhawk has a carrier-based version, and the Cougar is also a carrier-based aircraft.

So the two new aircraft projects were started at the same time and completed basically at the same time.

The aircraft ranked after the new fighter-1 is still not a typical fighter, and the Academy of Engineering did not design any fighter at all.

So the second-best aircraft are the larger "fighters," which are actually various bombers, as well as larger strategic bombers.

Hang the engines on the wings, use a larger fuselage, and install more engines.

Get a longer range and a larger payload.

The Academy of Engineering designed a twin-engine small bomber, a four-engine medium bomber, and a six-engine strategic bomber.

The performance parameters are increased sequentially and deployed according to different needs.

The completed models after these bombers were transport aircraft and passenger planes that shared the fuselage with the bombers.

Then there are the early forms of early warning aircraft.

When Zhu Jianxuan was in the 15th year of Tiangong, he made special arrangements for the research of radio detection technology with the goal of creating the "radar" of the previous life.

The radio detection project was given high priority, even above the jet itself.

Because the Ming Air Force already has a superior position, the marginal benefits of continuing to improve its attack power will be less effective than improving its perception capabilities.

The effect of radio detection is even more "magical".

It can detect hidden targets in the dark, see targets beyond the naked eye’s field of vision, and enable aircraft carrier tactics to take shape.

The materials and devices required for radio detection equipment are also more sophisticated.

Another scientific research project carried out simultaneously with the radio detection equipment was transistors and transistor computers.

These have already entered the third industrial revolution, that is, the scientific and technological revolution, and are technologies that truly make ordinary people feel magical.

For those who don't understand it, it is difficult to infer its internal working principles simply through external observations.

Therefore, the scientific research is more difficult. Even with Zhu Jianxuan's guidance, the speed is much slower than that of an airplane.

Although radio detection research was started very early and early warning aircraft research began at the same time as fighter aircraft, it was completed after passenger aircraft were completed.

However, since we have Zhu Jianxuan's guidance, the research and development and design will naturally be a leap forward, and the final product will be in a more mature form.

There are two turboprop engines hanging on the wings, and a large disc-shaped antenna is staring at the back.

(End of this chapter)