Rule department scholar

This is really exciting!

Prior to this, the only turbofan engine in China was the Kunlun, with a design theoretical maximum thrust-to-weight ratio of 7 to 8, but the actual manufactured prototype had a thrust-to-weight ratio of only about 6.

According to international information, Kunlun can only reach the level of the third-generation engine at most, and the third-generation engine appeared more than 30 years ago. The F100, F110, and F404 in M ​​country, the RBl99, M88-3 in Europe, and the Su country Represented by the RD-33 and AL-31F engines, the thrust-to-weight ratio is around 8.

Later in the 90s, the fourth generation of aero engines appeared, represented by the F119 of the M country and the EJ200 engine of Europe, with a thrust-to-weight ratio of about 10. Among them, the F119 was equipped with the F-22 fighter, and the EJ-200 was equipped with the "Typhoon" fighter.

Time has entered the 21st century, and the fifth generation of aero-engines appears, represented by the F135 engine of country M and the F136 engine jointly developed by country Y and M, with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 12 to 13, of which the F135 engine is equipped in the most advanced F-35 On the fighter plane.

The engine design level of the Kunlun Group [-] has surpassed the most advanced engines in the world, but due to material and manufacturing constraints, it is impossible to fully utilize the performance of the design, but only a part of it is enough to produce the performance of the fourth generation or above engine.

"Enough to assemble the fifth-generation machine!"

Liu Jiankun made a conclusion, and they held an internal meeting to discuss it, and the result was the same.

The aviation group has been developing higher-end fighters, with the goal of catching up with the top F-35 fighters, but the engine is the most restricted, let alone the fifth-generation engine, not even the fourth-generation engine. The first-generation engine is placed next to the friendly country E, and it is also the most cutting-edge engine, which cannot be mass-produced at all, let alone exported to China.

Now with the design of the Kunlun Group II, as long as it can be manufactured and developed, it is enough to be assembled on the fifth-generation aircraft. By then, China will also have the world's top fifth-generation fighter.

The research and development of top-level aero engines is of great significance. If the country can independently produce more than four generations of engines, the cost can be greatly reduced, and the air force can skip the process of installing third-and-a-half-generation and fourth-generation fighters and quickly replace them with fifth-generation fighters. Generation fighter.

At that time, the Air Force will really have the confidence to say that its level of strength has surpassed the world's advanced level.

Chapter 452 There seems to be no problem with this logic?

Liu Jiankun imagines developing top-notch aero engines to support the self-development and production of fifth-generation fighters, allowing the Air Force to skip third-and-a-half-generation and fourth-generation fighters and deploy fifth-generation fighters on a large scale.

This idea is very exciting to say, but in fact, it is really just an idea. Even he himself knows that it is unrealistic. For the time being, he can only think about it in his heart. Set five generations of fighters.

Zhao Yi didn't care about targeting the fighter, but just hoped that the prototype could be manufactured according to the highest specification.

The fifth-generation fighter is definitely the best choice.

The higher the design level, the higher the requirements for the engine. The fifth-generation fighter is currently the most high-end fighter. Only by targeting the fifth-generation fighter can a higher-end prototype be manufactured.

This is also where domestic self-developed aero engines are constrained by the design and manufacture of fighter jets.

Because there was no high-end turbofan engine originally, the Kunlun engine was the first major research and development project. The investment and research and development period was too long, and the engine research and development team was not independent. As a result, the prototype must be designed and manufactured according to the design level. To target the fighters that are planned to be manufactured, that is, to consider the follow-up research and development. At present, there is no need to spend an extra sum of money for follow-up research and development. The results of prototype debugging can be used to mass-produce loaded fighters.

Targeting fighters in advance to manufacture prototypes can indeed improve the efficiency from research and development to production, but it is also a constraint on research and development, and some high-end designs have to be "partially castrated" for this.

The constraints encountered by the Kunlun engine are not too great, and the second group of Kunlun may encounter greater constraints.

If the targeted fighter jet does not have such a high demand for engines, it does not need such a high-end design. In order to save costs and speed up, some high-end designs that may cause problems will definitely be cut off.

Zhao Yi was a little worried about this situation, but fortunately, the meeting to confirm the targeting of the fighter will be held soon, and there is no need to wait too long.

The main purpose of coming to the aviation group this time is also to participate in the group's internal meeting on engine research and development, as well as the design and manufacture of fighter jets.

There was not much preparation for the meeting, and it went straight ahead quickly, but looking at the people who participated in the meeting, you can see how important it is. The lowest level to be able to participate in the meeting is also the deputy designer of the engine R&D team, which is lower than Zhang Gangchuan. People at the first level, and other aviation group internal personnel, also have several deputy designers and deputy general managers.

Half of the participants were not members of the aviation group, including representatives of the Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Aeronautical Materials, senior deputy ministerial leaders, representatives of the Air Force and Navy, and even a leader with the rank of major general.

and many more.

Soon the meeting started.

Although the meeting directly involved the design and development of Kunlun Group [-], Zhao Yi was mostly in a state of observation, because many topics and reports were related to the current situation of the domestic air force, the development direction of fighter jets, and the adaptation of various fighter jets. Tasks and national defense-air-military related issues, such as the mass assembly of some fighters are used to suppress Taiwan-sea, Southeast Asian forces and the like.

All in all, it's complicated.

As an observer, Zhao Yi heard a lot of topics, and also learned about the domestic air force and fighter jets, and immediately felt that what Liu Jiankun said was unreliable.

Designed to target the fifth-generation aircraft?

Difficult!

At present, the fighter jets in service in China are still dominated by second-and-a-half-generation and third-generation fighters. The general direction in the future is to upgrade the main fighters to third-and-a-half-generation and fourth-generation fighters. It sounds like they are very close to fifth-generation fighters.

Actually not so.

The J-10 and J-11 series of fighters with mature technology in China that can be produced independently, but most of the engines used are also imported, and the performance is only up to the level of three and a half generations of fighters.

The plan of the Aviation Group and the Air Force is to deploy J-10 and J-11 series fighters on a large scale, that is, to replace three and a half generations of fighters on a large scale, plus dozens of imported fighters starting with the word "Su", so that the air The army has thousands of third-generation and a half fighters, and it can be regarded as completing a stage of upgrading.

At present, the independent design and development in China, the performance of which is determined to reach the level of fourth-generation fighters, or even close to the fifth-generation fighters, can form an absolute advantage over third-generation and a half fighters. How far is the fighter from mass production? Even if the technology of the J-20 fighter is mature, it is unlikely to be mass-produced quickly.

Because, type and cost.

The J-20 is similar to the F-22 of the M country. It is a heavy fighter with complete equipment advantages. The potential of a heavy fighter is limited, and bulkiness is the biggest problem, making it impossible to become a carrier-based aircraft, and its future use potential is limited.

Cost is also a huge issue.

The cost of the F-22 in country M is as high as 20 million to [-] million U.S. dollars. The cost of the J-[-] has not been made public, but it will certainly not be less than [-] million U.S. dollars, not including the investment in the research and development stage.

In order to 'get rid of' the F-22 that only has deterrent capabilities, country M has developed a low-profile version of the F-35, which is currently recognized as the most technologically advanced fighter jet. The cost of the F-35 is still very high, but it can be loaded on an aircraft carrier. The potential is not on the same level.

The discussion at the meeting of the aviation group is also related to the "reduced configuration" of the J-20. They have long drawn up a plan to develop a "reduced version" of the J-20, which is the J-31.

J-31, designed as a medium-sized fighter, its performance will not be much worse than J-20, and it can be loaded on an aircraft carrier. Immature, the J-20 is not perfect on the drawing board.

J-31, which is the design of the second group of Kunlun, is aimed at the fighter model.

The second half of the meeting revolved around J-31. Li Jianming, the design director of J-31, gave two reports and put forward his own design opinions, but in fact, anyone could hear it. The design of 31 is at most half done, and many designs are not perfect, and it is easy to find problems.

For example, the wing problem.

The design of J-31 is an integrally formed composite wing. Someone suggested on the spot, "The F-2 has been loaded with an integrally formed composite wing. There are many problems. For example, the performance of resisting impact loads such as shear stress is poor. The resulting stress concentrations and drastic deterioration of structural strength are extremely poorly tolerated."

"As a carrier-based aircraft, the flight is much lower than that of a land airport, and the operating environment is even harsher. If it is difficult to make violent maneuvers, should it be like the F-2, which can only take off in a regular manner?"

Li Jianming can only answer this, "Currently, we are still researching and improving..."

no doubt.

At least so far, the design of the J-31 still has problems. Fortunately, the center of the meeting was the engine problem. After a series of discussions, Liu Jiankun finally announced the result.

The design of the second group of Kunlun was divided into two parts, and one part was handed over to the Kunlun engine group. Combined with the original design of the Kunlun group, those new designs and improvements that might have problems were cut off, and a brand new engine design was merged and started. The prototype is still aimed at the J-10.

This engine was named WZ-A2.

At the same time, the Kunlun engine group continues the original work, that is, continues to debug the Kunlun engine, and strives to allow the Kunlun engine to complete the adaptation of the third-generation and three-and-a-half-generation fighters, that is, to ensure that the 30-year-old Kunlun engine has achieved results.

The second group of Kunlun was renamed the "War Eagle" unit, with the goal of developing the most high-end engine. The prototype was aimed at the J-31 fighter, and the engine code was named WZ-A1.

WZ-A1, WZ-A2, the code name shows the source of the design.

……

End of the meeting.

The second group of Kunlun was renamed the "War Eagle" group, which is equivalent to completely drawing a line from the Kunlun group. Even the latest research and development work of the Kunlun group is based on the design of the "War Eagle" group.

Of course, in the beginning, the second group of Kunlun did R&D and design, relying on the foundation laid by the research and development of Kunlun group.

The two sides can be said to be mutually beneficial.

Zhao Yi came out of the meeting room and was led by the staff to another small meeting room. He met Gao Mingfu of the Aeronautical Materials Research Institute and Li Jianming, the designer of the J-31. He mainly came to communicate with Li Jianming.

Gao Mingfu came over to get acquainted with Zhao Yi. He is a representative of the Institute of Aeronautical Materials and is in charge of the manufacturing process of the WZ-A1 engine. The manufacture of the engine prototype is very closely related to aviation materials.

In this regard, the Institute of Aeronautical Materials is a professional, compared with Zhang Hongtao and Li Rongmao are laymen.

Zhao Yi and Gao Mingfu met once before, and they only exchanged a few familiar words, and then they waited for Li Jianming, who came belatedly.

Li Jianming is really busy.

Regarding the design of the J-31, he needs to communicate with several departments, even the military department. The purpose of a fighter design must be to complete the mission in service. The design of the J-31 needs to be considered, and it will serve in the future. Subsequent tasks.

For example, some fighter jets are designed and manufactured to deter the neighbors in the south. Because the military strength of the neighbors in the south is relatively weak, there is no need to design too high-end, and it is meaningless to consume more costs.

Some fighters are designed to fight against the power of the eastern countries. The eastern countries have the support of country M, so they need technical performance to play a deterrent role, and the design and manufacture must be high-end.

This is the case with the J-31.

The problem encountered by the J-31 is not the use limitation, but the required application is too wide, the technology is too high-end, and under the premise of adapting to a lot of performance, it still needs...weight reduction?

Li Jianming only felt that it was too difficult.

He felt that other departments probably didn't think about it carefully, so they kept putting forward design requirements for J-31, but how could it be possible to do all of them?The domestic fighter plane design, manufacturing experience and technology must have found some characteristics, but it must be admitted that there is still a certain gap with the international ones. Without the support of many technologies, it is impossible to improve performance by design alone.

Li Jianming walked into the small conference room with depression, and still smiled when he saw Zhao Yi. He held Zhao Yi's hand and said, "Academician Zhao, I really didn't expect that you would come to design the engine. With your participation, in the future You don’t have to worry about engine performance issues anymore.”

"You're welcome!"

The two exchanged a few words of mutual compliment.

In fact, it was Li Jianming who kept saying that Zhao Yi really didn't know about Li Jianming, probably because the designers of fighter jets didn't make too much publicity to the outside world. They couldn't say they made contributions in a low-key manner, but they certainly wouldn't be reported by too many media .

Soon the topic turned to the WZ-A1 engine.

The Warhawk team needs to know the parameter requirements of the J-31 for the engine in order to know how to make a certain degree of revision to the design to manufacture the prototype of the WZ-A1.

When faced with this problem, Li Jianming complained again and again, "It is difficult to finalize the design. Academician Zhao, you have also seen that there are still many problems in the design of J-31 that have not been resolved, and even the design requirements have not been determined."

"It is difficult for us to determine the design in a short time, and it is also difficult to provide specific parameter requirements for the engine."

Zhao Yi frowned and asked, "We can make a prototype first, and after debugging, if there is a difference in performance, we can fine-tune the design of the J-31 or correct the engine performance."

Li Jianmin nodded after thinking, "This is also possible, but the general parameters, I still need to discuss it with other people when I go back, and communicate with other departments..."

He said a lot in a row.

Zhao Yi listened for a long time, and asked simply, "Professor Li, how long will it take?"

"... a few months!"

Zhao Yi frowned again, "It can't be shorter." A few months is a bit too long, and the prototype cannot be produced at once, but the setting parameters have to wait for a few months, and the time is wasted by waiting .

Li Jianming shook his head apologetically.

The two did not agree.

Maybe it can't be said that there is no agreement, the atmosphere is still very polite, the main point is that the J-31 cannot be finalized and designed, and even the rough parameters cannot be provided.

After Li Jianming left, Gao Mingfu said consolingly, "Academician Zhao, in fact, compared to the design of fighter jets, a few months is already very fast. The construction of J-31 must be a long-term work."

"Not to mention the J-31 whose design has not been finalized, even the J-20 that has already been tested for flight, the specific design has to undergo many revisions, and maybe even the engine has to be replaced. Isn't the Kunlun group aiming at the J-20? ?”

Zhao Yi shook his head depressedly, "However, a few months is too long, I just want an argument, and... this kind of thing, say a few months, maybe it can be delayed for a year, or even longer."

Gao Mingfu did not refute, he acquiesced to Zhao Yi's statement.

Zhao Yi went back to the hotel depressed, but after thinking about it, he was still very unwilling, so he walked back quickly and found Liu Jiankun directly.

Liu Jiankun had just returned to the office to take a break after dealing with the follow-up work of the meeting. After that, he had to deal with several designers, managers and military representatives. His work was indeed very busy.

At this time, the assistant reported, "Academician Zhao is here."

"right away."

Liu Jiankun stood up and walked out, and saw Zhao Yi in the living room next to him, "Academician Zhao, aren't you going back to the hotel?"

"There is a problem with the J-31 design."

Zhao Yi said dejectedly, and asked, "I came here to ask, is it necessary to adjust the design according to the parameters given by the target fighter?"

"That's it."

Liu Jiankun nodded and explained, "After the prototype is manufactured and debugged, it can be directly loaded on the fighter plane for test flight. If there is no targeted fighter plane, the engine will not be used temporarily after it is manufactured. The engine that is not going to the sky is just an experiment. No one knows. Whether the performance is stable."

"But the design problem of J-31 has delayed our progress." Zhao Yi frowned, "If they are not sure about the parameter range, don't we have to wait?"

"Theoretically so." Liu Jiankun was silent for a long time before explaining, "That's right. Because within the group, the engine research and development team and the fighter design team are integrated, directly related, and not independent. If abroad, the engine team It is a separate department that can do research and development at will, but correspondingly, it also consumes a lot of funds, because the turbofan engine developed by us has not yet had a successful precedent, and it has always been like this."

"Then is there any other way?" Zhao Yi asked simply.

Liu Jiankun thought for a while, and tried to come up with a method, "Target other fighters?"

"This is fine!"

"but……"

Liu Jiankun said, "Currently the fifth-generation aircraft design is only J-31, and J-20 is a heavy fighter, and the design has been finalized. The engine may not be replaced. The adaptation to the Kunlun group is just for them to experiment."

"Because there is a high probability that dozens or hundreds of J-20s will be produced in the future. If we can really use self-developed engines, it will definitely reduce the cost greatly and improve our own technology."

"For the fifth-generation aircraft, what we need most is a high-end carrier-based aircraft. The fuselage must be light and flexible, support supersonic flight, preferably supersonic cruise, the maximum flight distance is more than 1800 kilometers, and it can carry at least three guided missiles. bomb……"

Liu Jiankun made a lot of demands in succession.

Zhao Yi nodded his head when he heard it, and he somewhat understood why Li Jianming couldn't finalize the design.

Then, he said, "Why don't we wait for the J-31 to finalize the design? Our Warhawk team is also idle, and we are also applying to design a fighter that is compatible with WZ-A1?"

"As long as the design is approved, can the prototype of WZ-A1 be produced?"

Liu Jiankun was stunned. It took him a long time before he nodded, "...Ah, yes. But Academician Zhao, you don't have experience in designing fighter jets, do you?"