In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 301: Missile range 70 kilometers, fighter jet radar detection range 30 kilometers? No, Harbin Institute of Technology has something better!

"Did you kid do this on purpose?"

Li Rui said irritably, too lazy to continue this banter with Xie Wei, and asked bluntly, "If the military provides some funding, can the third-generation fighter jet project move into the design phase, and when can we start manufacturing prototypes?"

"Don't tell me you don't know!"

Seeing Xie Wei's troubled expression and his opening of his mouth to refuse, Li Rui stopped him with a dark face, "There are no outsiders here. You're not even willing to tell me the truth?"

"It depends on how much funding the Air Force can provide."

Xie Wei was exposed, but he showed no embarrassment whatsoever.

"If we could support 4000 million fighter jets every year..."

"That's too little. The first year shouldn't be a big problem, but radar, engines, avionics systems, and other components all require increased investment... and the support from higher authorities for medium-range air-to-air missiles and air defense missile systems isn't actually that much..."

Xie Wei also knew that his arrival had changed history.

Currently, the PL-4's detection radar is larger than the fighter jet. If the Air Force cannot acquire fighter jets with higher detection ranges in the short term, its only option is to import them from abroad.

"Now you've proposed a new medium-range missile radar with a detection range of over 50 kilometers, which requires the Air Force to have fighter jets with even longer detection ranges to fully utilize the missile's performance... I wonder if you've considered this issue?"

"???"

Xie Wei looked at Li Rui with a completely bewildered expression.

How am I supposed to know what the problem is if you don't tell me?
"With such a poor domestic industrial base and such backward technology, how could we produce air-to-air missiles with such performance? The United States and the Soviet Union, whose technology and strength far surpass ours, have already reached what level in terms of the air-to-air missiles we have equipped?"

Seeing Xie Wei's confused expression, Li Rui sighed.

"!!!"

Xie Wei was surprised that Li Rui brought this up.

Could it be that the live-fire test of the PL-4 modified made the military leaders think about the gap between domestic and international standards?

Even with the current warming of relations, the international community is unlikely to sell its most advanced technology to China. Even if China knows about the advanced technology and equipment, there's no point in discussing it.

What about those who don't know?

In any case, China's most advanced technologies will never be made public.

"Intelligence confirms that the AIM-54 Phoenix long-range air-to-air missile, which entered service with the United States in 74, has a minimum effective range of 150 kilometers. However, other reports indicate that this missile achieved an attack range of 203 kilometers when it intercepted a high-altitude supersonic bomber target drone during a test firing at a Pacific test range in 73..."

Xie Wei really wanted to ask Li Rui where all this information came from.

They even wanted to tell the other side that Americans are best at bragging, and that even the later AIM-54C had a maximum effective range of only 135 kilometers, a figure that was also released by the Americans themselves.

During the 30 years from its entry into service in 74 to its retirement in 04, the AIM-54's only real combat record was during the Iran-Iraq War, where it shot down a few outdated Iraqi aircraft at relatively short ranges.

The only publicly disclosed combat record of the Americans is that in 99, F-14D fighters launched from the USS Carl Vinson fired two missiles at two Iraqi Air Force MiG-25 fighters. As a result, both missiles failed to hit their targets due to engine failure.

The first true beyond-visual-range (BVR) air combat to achieve results was achieved by the domestically produced PL-15 BVR air-to-air missile, which was developed during the India-Pakistan conflict: with the support of data from early warning aircraft, the PL-15 shot down Rafale, Su-30, and MiG-29 fighters at a distance of 160 kilometers.

But Xie Wei couldn't say.

If I told them the truth, my superiors would all think I was talking nonsense.

Maintaining the leaders' fear of advanced Western technology is beneficial to domestic technological development.

This is precisely the era when Americans boast the most. Even in the decades to come, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Americans will continue to rely on PowerPoint presentations to maintain their world leadership. Until the 20s, China, which was frantically trying to catch up, could not reach the performance announced by the Americans. In reality, all kinds of advanced weapons have been made public, and the Americans have not produced any equipment that can compete with similar equipment whose performance is less than 80% of the performance announced by the Americans.

Only then did the Chinese realize that the Americans were just bragging.

Americans are responsible for conceiving the ideas, and the Chinese are responsible for implementing them.

The world is so magical.

"We still have a long way to go to achieve that range..."

Xie Wei also sighed.

How much funding do you need?

"The minimum investment is 1 million yuan per year, and that's just for the technology related to fighter jets. In addition, we need the cooperation of more institutions such as Northwestern Polytechnical University to organize nationwide research and development. Within ten years, we can produce a fighter jet with a performance level similar to the current F-16."

Li Rui frowned.

Xie Wei's request was to organize a nationwide technological breakthrough!
The nationwide technological breakthrough required extremely strong coordination capabilities, mobilizing almost the entire national industrial system.

Does Li Ruineng not understand the difficulty involved?
Xie Wei didn't say it explicitly, and he naturally pretended not to know.

The Air Force can barely scrape together at least 100 million yuan in research and development funding each year if it grits its teeth.

The problem is that this cannot be solved simply by an annual budget of 100 million.

One hundred million only covers the costs of research and development related to fighter jet technology; other supporting costs are not included.

"I will explain this to my superiors. Let's wait for the results."

Li Rui took a deep breath and said to Xie Wei.

“Principal, we don’t actually need a nationwide technological breakthrough; we already have a detailed plan, but…”

"But what?"

Upon hearing that a nationwide technological breakthrough was not required, Li Rui looked at Xie Wei with eager anticipation.

As long as it's not a nationwide effort, it's not a problem.

With the reform and opening up, it's impossible to organize another nationwide technological breakthrough without funding.

"We need sufficient support from above; we're short-staffed, so we need to bring in more people; we need complementary support, so the higher authorities need to allocate resources to relevant units based on our needs..."

"It's that simple?"

Li Rui was somewhat skeptical.

Xie Wei nodded, "It's that simple. If the higher-ups agree, they'll guarantee an annual investment of 100 million yuan. Within three years, the first-generation prototype will at least reach the taxiing stage... How much it can be improved in ten years depends on the higher-ups' investment. I can't guarantee anything else, but as long as I have influence over the school's decisions, the school's subsidy will not be less than the higher-ups' subsidy..."

At this moment, Xie Wei was too lazy to care about anything else.

If development of the J-10 had started five years earlier, the J-20 might have been completed more than ten years earlier.

Once the Gulf War shocks and wakes up the bigwigs who were focused on building up their artillery, the country may change its research and development investment ahead of time, even before a war like Kosovo, where victory was achieved through air power, occurs.

"it is good!"

Li Rui made no further comment.

He also understood that Xie Wei's suggestion proved that the school's technical team already had a complete solution.

Harbin Institute of Technology ultimately belonged to the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry.

The fighter jet project was under the jurisdiction of the Third Ministry of Machinery Industry.

If the military doesn't invest, and the school focuses its resources on this first, the leaders of the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry will probably be the first to disagree.

"Did he really say that?"

Long Yaohua's brows furrowed into a deep frown.

He was quickly considering how much room for maneuver there was in what Li Rui had said.

Further cuts to military spending after the new year are a foregone conclusion. The Air Force has too many areas where it needs to spend money: its fighter jets are not only outdated but also insufficient in number, and the air-to-air missiles it uses are also outdated; the construction of ground-based air defense systems also requires a lot of funding, and there are currently no reliable air defense systems; the construction of air force bases, radar stations, etc., all require money.

Not a lot.

The annual military budget is not much. The technology and equipment in all aspects are far behind the international level, and even basic defense is not possible.

What to do?
"Yes! The relevant school officials also explained to everyone that these are actually prepared for the third-generation fighter jet... Before this, the school had this idea, but it was not implemented due to funding and other issues."

Li Rui explained.

Long Yaohua did not rush to answer.

Li Rui didn't say much either, but waited silently.

"Let's wait until we understand the situation from 601 and 112 before making any decisions. If the J-8II's performance can be improved..."

Long Yaohua sighed inwardly.

Before the mission, the military commanders had already given instructions that if the performance of the Harbin Institute of Technology's PL-4 variant met the Air Force's requirements, then it should be prohibited from being exported and kept for the Air Force's own use.

PL-4 may be an advanced technology, but it is not.

Its detection range is farther than that of fighter jets.

Based on the current situation, even the J-5, as long as it has the ability to launch missiles, can lock onto the target with its own infrared seeker once it gets close to the detection range of the PL-4 under the guidance of a ground radar station.

The pressure has been put on the J-8II project.

“给歼-8II配套的雷达是由780厂在204雷达基础上改进的208雷达，即使研制成功，也不具备下视能力……探测距离仅有30公里……”

Facing a group of bigwigs, Liu Zhimin, director of Institute 601, introduced the development of the J-8II.

The already grim-faced bigwigs became even more serious upon hearing this.

An air force commander asked with a dark expression, "So, even if the J-8II is successfully developed, it won't have the capability for medium-range interception?"

"Sir, that's certainly the case at the moment. Even with the single-pulse 208 radar, progress at Factory 780 is far from ideal. The J-8II program's feasibility study has been completed, and it has entered the formal development phase. Based on the current situation, the overall design will not take more than two years."

As the chief designer of the J-8II, Gu Songfen felt that the purpose of his superiors' visit was somewhat unreasonable.

The overall design of the fighter jet was not a problem for either Factory 601 or Factory 112.

The problem is that the supporting infrastructure isn't keeping up.

The J-8II needs a pulse-Doppler radar with look-down detection capability, but currently China does not even have a single-pulse detection radar.

"The air-to-air missile design team at Harbin Institute of Technology is developing a medium-range air-to-air radar with a range of 50-70 kilometers. If the radar detection range of a fighter jet is insufficient, can such a missile perform effectively?"

Long Yaohua asked.

"..."

Even CEO Gu was dumbfounded and didn't know how to answer.

If a fighter jet has a detection range of 30 kilometers, how can your missile have a range of 70 kilometers?

What other fighter jets are needed to provide target parameters for missiles?

"Sir, to truly unleash the full potential of this type of long-range missile, the radar detection range of the fighter jet needs to be increased to at least 90 kilometers, and the lock-on range needs to reach 60 kilometers or even 70 kilometers or more..."

Liu Zhimin reminded the leaders.

This difficulty...

"Sir, has Harbin Institute of Technology made a breakthrough in radar technology?"

General Gu's eyes lit up immediately. "If Harbin Institute of Technology achieves a breakthrough in PD radar, the combat performance of the J-8II can be greatly improved! Especially when combined with their air-to-air missiles, it can completely possess beyond-visual-range air combat capabilities..."

He also participated in the project cooperation between Institute 601 and Harbin Institute of Technology.

With the formal assignment of the J-8II project, the main task of Institute 601 became the development of the J-8II.

The development of the J-8 was mainly to meet the needs of the Air Force's high-altitude operations, highlighting its high-altitude and high-speed combat performance. Compared with the J-7, it has a significant improvement in range, climb rate, and firepower.

However, the Russian Tu-22M Backfire bomber can perform supersonic penetration at low altitudes.

Faced with such a fighter jet, the J-8, which is primarily designed for high-altitude and high-speed combat, is simply unable to intercept it.

The Russians not only deployed a million-strong, heavily armed army along their northern border, but also a large number of Tu-22M Backfire supersonic long-range bombers, ready to bomb the Chinese capital at any time.

Who can feel at ease?

The design specifications of the J-8II were entirely aimed at defending against the Backfire bomber.

Even with full consideration of low- and medium-altitude combat performance and all-weather interception and attack capabilities, the supporting infrastructure couldn't keep up, and General Manager Gu's team had to compromise with the backward industrial base during the design process.

"Not yet, their radar project hasn't even entered the formal development stage!"

"Sir, the most promising radar project from Harbin Institute of Technology is their synthetic aperture radar using a planar array antenna. The theoretical design for this radar has been successfully demonstrated, with a minimum detection range of 90 kilometers... Since we don't know when they will begin development, our design can only reserve space for replacing this type of radar..."

Mr. Gu's words stunned all the bigwigs.

They just came from Harbin Institute of Technology.

Throughout the entire visit, no one mentioned to them that the school had any synthetic aperture radar!

"what happened?"

Long Yaohua looked at Li Rui with an unfriendly expression.

The people from Harbin Institute of Technology kept their mouths shut; no one mentioned it once during the entire visit.

Even Wei Guosong, who was in charge of the radar development project, didn't mention it at all.

"Sir, I've been away from the school for quite some time now. I guess this is a preliminary research project or an exploration of new directions after I left..."

Li Rui said awkwardly.

"Principal Li, your school's synthetic aperture radar project using planar array antennas predates the PD project based on the 204 radar. The school's computer, integrated circuit, optoelectronic technology projects are all supporting this project!"

Mr. Gu thought that Li Rui was unwilling for the school to cooperate with 601.

He had previously visited Harbin Institute of Technology and worked there for a period of time, so he knew that their goal was to develop third-generation fighter jets.

Just because Institute 601 is currently working on the J-8II doesn't mean we shouldn't apply advanced technologies to it.

Long Yaohua's gaze toward Li Rui grew increasingly murderous.

He was on the verge of exploding.

It was made very clear at Harbin Institute of Technology that the military would support the military even if it had to tighten its belt, and Li Rui was even asked to give the school a detailed account.

Who would have thought that the school's most advanced technology projects were all guarded against them?

How can people accept this?
"I really do not know……"

Li Rui was about to cry.

That damn Xie Wei, he ruined my life!
Even though he was cursing Xie Wei in his heart, Principal Li knew that if he didn't give an explanation now, it wouldn't be easy to get away with it.

He had asked the Air Force for money quite a bit before.

"Actually, that project was too advanced. The supporting infrastructure can't keep up now. When I left school, even the theoretical demonstration wasn't finished... If I had to say, this project is actually familiar to everyone. It's a miniaturization of the 7010 long-range early warning radar and the 110 monopulse long-range tracking radar, and it integrates the technologies of both radars..."

"Suck~"

A collective gasp filled the technical room.

(End of this chapter)