Great warships

Chapter 1222: Keep your eyes open and try not to be cheated
Newport News Shipyard, USA.

This is the only shipyard for aircraft carriers of the US Navy. It not only builds aircraft carriers, but also modifies them.

For an aircraft carrier that has a service life of more than 40 years, it needs to enter the dock for modification every 15 to 20 years to upgrade many of its outdated equipment. If it is nuclear-powered, the deck must be cut open and the nuclear reactor inside replaced with fuel, which can take one or two years.

Currently, the only aircraft carrier being built at the Newport News Shipyard is the Ford, and there are two or three aircraft carriers being modified. Among them, the Kennedy is the most conspicuous because there is a long row of sheds on its deck, which is as long as one hundred and fifty to sixty meters!
The construction of the USS Kennedy began in 1964, it was launched in 1967, and it entered service in 1968. Nearly forty years have passed since then. When it was first built, it was originally planned to use nuclear power, but later it was felt that nuclear power was not yet mature, so heavy oil boilers were used instead.

So, it is the last conventional-powered aircraft carrier. Some say it is the Kitty Hawk class, while others say it is a modified version of the Kitty Hawk class. In short, this aircraft carrier is already old and should be retired.

No one thought that the U.S. Navy would use this aircraft carrier as a test ship for modifying the electromagnetic catapult. When the people at General Atomics received the news, they immediately felt a wave of nervousness.

They have been testing at the Navy's Lakehurst Air Force Engineering Station for several years, and there have always been constant problems. There are still so many problems that have not been solved, and now they are going to move the electromagnetic catapult onto an aircraft carrier!

This is simply forcing someone to do something they are not prepared for!

"Sulic, you must speed up, the navy can't wait." George Sulic, the person in charge of the electromagnetic catapult system, was busy in the long iron house on the deck, and then he heard a voice.

He looked up and saw Rolf Barthes, the project manager of the Ford aircraft carrier, walking in with a heavy heart: "The Navy hopes to use this aircraft carrier for experiments first and complete the electromagnetic catapult experiment as soon as possible, so that when our aircraft carrier is equipped, we will have successful experience to learn from."

It was originally intended to be equipped on the Ford, but the progress was too slow, so the Navy decided to use the old ship for modification and testing.

"Installation on an aircraft carrier is a huge project, and you are unwilling to give us the dock, so we can only moor here. The slightest shaking of the deck may cause serious errors." Suliqi said: "Even a one-millimeter installation error will cause the catapult to be scrapped. We must be careful."

Sulich soon found a reason.

Once the seawater is drained from the dock, the aircraft carrier will be fixed in place. However, on the dock, even a 100,000-ton aircraft carrier will shake slightly. This is inevitable. It does not matter under normal circumstances, but when a catapult is to be installed, it will cause serious interference.

The electromagnetic catapult requires very high precision.

"In other words, the electromagnetic catapult on our Ford must be installed before launching?" Bartz asked.

"No, after you weld the hull, you must launch it into the water and outfit it for a while to release the stress on the hull. Then you can drive it back to the dock and hand it over to us for installation."

This is no joke. The welded hull will have residual stress. After launching into the water, the hull will be deformed. It has no effect on normal use, but for the electromagnetic catapult that requires excellence, it was originally installed, but after launching into the water, it was found that the original straight line became a twist, and it had to be started over again!
"That's impossible. Once you launch it, you can't go back to the dock. Our dock is very valuable."

For any shipyard, the dock is a valuable resource. India's aircraft carrier has been launched many times just to free up the precious dock. Barthes asked to launch it and then return to the dock?
As the previous aircraft carrier goes down, the next one will come in!

"That's absolutely not possible. When the Orientals installed the catapult, they didn't see them driving back to install it again."

"Only the people on earth know how the Orientals did it." Speaking of this, Suliqi was helpless. He had no idea that his side's research and development was obviously earlier, but in the end they got up early and arrived late, and their progress was far behind that of the East!

"By the way, I heard that the Russians suddenly have electromagnetic catapult technology. This technology should be from the East. Our intelligence personnel should have obtained the technology."

"Really? Where?"

"Here." At this moment, a voice came from outside.

Michael Rand from a department of the Naval Aviation System came in with a USB flash drive in his hand: "We have obtained some technical content, which can be handed over to you, but..."

The intelligence was obtained by the relevant departments, and General Atomics is a private company. It should not have handed over such intelligence to the other party. However, this company is the only one in the United States that is researching electromagnetic catapults. In order to make their own electromagnetic catapult mature as soon as possible, they must hand it over to the people in front of them.

"but what?"

"You must ensure that the electromagnetic catapult is installed and tested within one month!"

One month? Are you kidding me? A year is enough!

But...if he doesn't agree, then Rand will most likely hand the information over to other companies and start another competition.

"Okay, one month is enough." Suliqi nodded: "Give me the information."

Before Rand handed the information to Sulichi, Bartez at the side spoke up: "You have been installing for three months, and you have only installed about 20 meters. Next, how can you ensure that the remaining 100 meters can be installed within a month?"

You can't just talk nonsense. You just said you wanted a dock. What about now? It will take another month to install it. In short, the dock will not be given to you. Don't push the responsibility to us when the time comes!

You can't just use the dock whenever you want! The dock arrangement of the shipbuilding company is usually finalized one or two years in advance. If he uses it, then everything will be in chaos.

"We will take half a month to install all the modules. After they are in place, we will make precise adjustments at one time," said Sulich.

They are now installing and debugging one piece at a time, and they are procrastinating. In fact, this is mainly because they know that the technology is not mature yet, so they have to test it after installation, but they have no confidence, and problems are bound to arise during the test after installation.

It would be better to just slack off here.

Now, with the technology from the East, it's easy! First get the technology, then use the technology from the East to conduct research, compare it with our own to find problems, and soon our electromagnetic catapult will also mature!

So, in order to get the technology, he is willing to make any commitment.

"Okay, as long as you can do it!" Rand handed the information to the other party.

But Barthes came to his senses: these guys had been procrastinating before, and now that they have hope, they have started to work seriously. How shameful, pitiful, and sad!

Taking the information, Suliqi quickly inserted it into his laptop and opened it.

"Hey, why can't I open this file?"

"What format is this?"

"We need to use Loongson computers. The instruction sets of our computers are different from theirs." The subordinates reacted quickly.

Now, computers are divided into different camps. Loongson computers, relying on their super high performance, have surpassed other products and have become the world's mainstream products. However, in order to avoid leaks and accidents, the United States continues to use Intel computers, which are incompatible with instruction sets and programs and have now been marginalized.

Even in the United States, most people prefer to use Loongson, and only special departments use Intel computers to avoid leaks.

"Change the computer!"

Soon, the USB drive was inserted into a Loongson computer used for entertainment, and the file was finally opened. Suliqi studied it carefully.

The technical principle of the electromagnetic catapult is not complicated. It is mainly composed of a linear motor, an energy storage system, a frequency conversion control system and a power supply system.

The first thing we look at is the linear motor part, which is to simply spread out a motor and convert its rotation into translational motion.

The technical route used by the Orientals is exactly the same as ours, but why did they succeed while we encountered problems repeatedly?

Sulichi continued reading and saw the frequency conversion control system part.

Outsiders always think that the linear motor is the key. After all, the power of this linear motor is tens of megawatts, and the instantaneous power can even reach hundreds of megawatts. The temperature can soar to hundreds of degrees the moment the power is turned on.

However, frequency conversion and control systems are more important!
The Americans use a medium-voltage AC system, and linear motors are also AC motors. However, in order to make linear motors work, high-frequency AC power is required, so a frequency converter is needed. It is not an easy task to power a motor of tens of megawatts.

The inverter only works for a dozen seconds, but its power is extremely strong when working. Even the power consumed by the cooling system alone is more than 500 kilowatts.

This system is very important to the Americans. They have been keeping it secret, even though they have taken photos of other systems and shown them to the outside world, they have never shown this system.

For Sulichi and others, this system is the most difficult, but I don’t know how the Orientals solved it?
Sulichi opened it and saw densely packed circuits inside, some of the components he had never seen before.

"Bring this USB drive back to our company, translate it, and let everyone in the company study it." Suliqi knew that he could only take a rough look at it to determine whether the technology inside was real or not, and finally he would have to let people in the company take a look.

They certainly cannot use Loongson computers and have to use their own Intel computers. Even though they are not compatible now, it's just that they haven't done anything yet. In fact, Intel has invented special translation software to facilitate data transfer between the two computers, but it just takes time.

"Yes." The subordinate took the USB drive and went about his business.

He didn't know that the moment this USB drive was plugged into their own computer, their technology would no longer be a secret.

East.

"Boss Qin, everything went smoothly." Xu Zhengyang said, "They attached great importance to our technology. They brought the technical information back to their company and started translating it. Before their computers finished running the translation program, all the information in their computers had been sent to the server we designated."

"Well, they didn't notice anything?"

"Yes, our electronic technology has far surpassed theirs, so it's too easy to do this. If they weren't using an intranet and we didn't need to build a bridge, we would have been able to obtain their technology long ago."

"Okay, then give all these technical data to the Russians."

"We don't want to keep a copy?"

"It's useless for us to keep it... Well, then let's keep one copy and study their weaknesses."

Our own electromagnetic catapult is already mature, and there is no need to use the Americans' immature electromagnetic catapult technology. However, it is also possible to study why the Americans failed.

The Americans' technology is mainly given to the Russians to cheat the Indians out of their money. After all, we cannot give them our real technology!

Asan has already headed to Damuo happily.

Tomsk State University is located in Tomsk, the city is the most famous education and technology center and university town in Russia. This national university has a long history, dating back to the Tsarist era in 1878, when it was called the Imperial University.

Now this university is also one of the top four national universities in Mao.

When Alex came here, he was still somewhat worried. After all, he had been deceived many times. Would he be treated the same way as he was in the UK last time when he came to Russia?

"In theory, Da Mao has hardly invested in research and development in recent years. So, if they have technology, it can only come from the East. We have to be smarter this time. We must get access to real information and confirm that Da Mao has the ability before discussing cooperation with them."

"That's right!" Raja, a famous motor expert in India, nodded: "I don't understand other things, but when it comes to motors, I am the most professional!"

Since the electromagnetic catapult is essentially a linear motor, this team must of course look for motor experts. When they cooperated with the UK, it was Raja who led the team, but they learned nothing. Now, they will definitely not be fooled a second time!

As they were talking, everyone entered the conference room. At the entrance of the conference room, there was a scaled-down model of an electromagnetic catapult.

If it were in the past, they would definitely gather around to see what was going on, but now, having been cheated once, they are no longer interested in models. After all, as for models, they can make them themselves.

"Everyone, welcome to Tomsk State University. We are very happy to introduce our technology in the field of electromagnetic catapult to you." Volkov, the project leader of the Damao electromagnetic catapult and the dean of the School of Electrical Engineering of Tomsk State University, spoke.

There was a round of applause.

"Really? That's great, we want to know the real technology!" said Alex.

"Everyone, what we are going to introduce is the real technology. As we know, the power of a normal linear motor is only a few hundred kilowatts, but if you want to use it in an electromagnetic catapult, you need 30 megawatts. With such a strong power, how to dissipate heat is a big problem." Volkov said: "We will now introduce the progress we have made in the field of linear motors."

The projector turned on and a structural diagram appeared on it. When Raja saw it, he took a deep breath.

This structural diagram is very detailed! Every detail is so realistic, especially the professional electromagnetic shielding and heat dissipation structure. This is definitely not something to fool people, but a real research project!
The electromagnetic catapult not only needs heat dissipation, but also requires a special electromagnetic shielding mechanism because it generates a strong magnetic field when working. Otherwise, the magnetic field generated when working is equivalent to detonating an electromagnetic pulse bomb, and the entire ship will be shut down.

"Okay, I'll start with the stator part of the linear motor..."

The meeting lasted more than four hours. Volkov said that a group of Indians were taking notes very seriously. However, even so, by the time of lunch, they felt that they had only touched the surface.

This must be true. Russia must have obtained the full set of electromagnetic catapult technology from the Orientals!
At lunch, Raja answered in the affirmative.

"If Russia really has this technology, then we can definitely get it from Russia. Anyway, our technology comes from Russia and has nothing to do with Orientals." Alex tried to cover up his mistake.

"Yes, if the technology is complete, we can definitely make electromagnetic catapults by ourselves, and we don't even need joint research! I just don't know how much money the Russians will ask us for."

They were slaughtered by the British and were very angry, but there was nothing they could do. They could only learn from their mistakes. Now, how would the Russians wield their sword?

After lunch, we went to the conference room again in the afternoon, but the technology was no longer explained.

"Mr. Volkov, we want to buy all the technology you have developed in the electromagnetic catapult. How much does it cost?"

There's no need to beat around the bush, just say what needs to be said.

"One billion." Volkov said, "For only one billion, we will give you all the technical information. You should know that what we introduced this morning is just the tip of the iceberg. The real technical information is as high as 8G!"

"You already have all the information?"

"Of course. You pay the money and we give you the information. We promise that we won't be like the British, where you spend money but still don't get the technology."

The Russians want 1 billion, and that is justified. After all, India and the British jointly developed the project, which also cost 1 billion. Moreover, even though they paid the deposit, they still didn't get the technology. However, we have all the technologies ready.

"We hope that you can pay a deposit of 200 million US dollars first, and then give us all the information. After we verify the authenticity of these technical data, we will give you the balance."

"How is that possible? The whole world knows that you Indians will not ask for the balance back. We are not as stupid as the French." Volkov said, "However, we can divide the information into four parts, each worth 250 million US dollars. You pay first and we will give you a corresponding copy of the information."

"it is good."

(End of this chapter)