Air-launched ballistic missiles are actually not special among similar weapons.

Both the United States and the Soviet Union developed similar products for various purposes during the Cold War.

But generally speaking, if it is used for general ground attacks, then no matter how you look at it, the cost performance is not high -

Due to the physical limitations of ballistic altitude and the inherent deficiencies of inertial guidance, the terminal speed (penetration capability) and hit accuracy of medium/short-range ballistic missiles in those days would not get better just because you moved the launcher into the sky. On the contrary, tactical aircraft could only carry one missile at a time and were subject to airspace management restrictions. The firepower density would be lower than that of land-based launch vehicles.

The only advantage is that the launch platform itself is more flexible, but in the context of world war, this does not seem to be a particularly important advantage.

So these models basically did not cause much waves.

Only a few countries with special tactical needs have equipped themselves with some of them.

Instead, it has been developed in the two niche fields of anti-satellite and anti-missile system target missiles.

But then again.

If the application of new technologies can really allow air-launched ballistic missiles to take advantage of their energy, reach hypersonic speeds at the terminal, and improve their hit accuracy, then their advantages over land-based models will be reflected.

Therefore, Zhang Fuzhong's expression changed from confusion to joy after just a moment:

"Academician Chang's idea can just avoid the current shortcomings of China in solid rocket engines and propellants... In addition, the requirements for the hyperspeed wind tunnel are also very low."

"On the one hand, as long as the problem of heat-resistant coating is solved, even using traditional cold wind tunnels, we can simulate the flight of the double-cone warhead to a certain extent. On the other hand, launching from the air itself has an initial energy advantage. If we can handle the nose cone part of the flying body, it will be easier to achieve a sufficient terminal speed compared to land-based launches..."

Until the beginning of this century, he was involved in the research, development and improvement of the Dongfeng 11 (A) missile, so he was quite familiar with the country's technological accumulation in ballistic missiles.

Moreover, although the technical route of this air-launched ballistic missile is a bit mixed and is not exactly the same as any existing domestic model, compared with the air-breathing high-altitude missile, Zhang Fuzhong himself and his 9th Academy of Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation are destined to play a greater role in it.

Huang Ruisong originally wanted to argue for his plan, but he was not a reckless man after all, so he looked around before speaking.

It turned out that quite a few people had already shown expressions of approval.

In fact, the rocket-powered option is indeed more familiar to most units involved in the project.

Apart from him, the only company that has done research on air-breathing ramjet engines is the Aviation Power Group represented by Chang Haonan.

Now that the latter himself does not advocate starting with the inhalation style, let alone the attitudes of the rest of the people.

Therefore, after carefully considering the power comparison between the two parties, Comrade Lao Huang immediately decided not to insist and smoothly made a 180-degree turn:

"We haven't done much research on liquid rocket engines in our institute, but the 306 Institute has previously developed a co-injection RTM process to solve the problem of mass production of supersonic missiles. This process can achieve one-time molding of modified epoxy resin as the substrate of the load-bearing layer and modified phenolic resin as the substrate of the heat protection layer..."

"This technology has been applied to the new air-to-ground missiles developed by our sister units, and the feedback has been very good. It just so happens that the absolute size of the double-cone warheads of medium- and short-range missiles is not large, and is also within the allowable range of the new process..."

"..."

Since even Huang Ruisong has changed his mind, at least for now, there are no more differences on the R&D route in the entire conference hall.

Everyone's attention naturally focused on the plan proposed by Chang Haonan.

When it comes to the overall configuration of liquid rocket propulsion and a double-conical head, the ones who should have the most say should actually be the First and Sixth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology.

The former is the oldest and largest overall research unit for launch vehicles in my country, while the latter is responsible for the development and production of most of my country's launch vehicle power systems.

Of course, because the power has the lowest technical risk in the entire verification missile, the representative from the Sixth Academy only made a very brief speech, saying that the specific situation must wait until the performance indicators are determined, but no matter what propellant is finally chosen, it is guaranteed that it will not hinder the entire project.

However, the hospital next door has more to say:

"I guess many of you know that we had a less than successful attempt at the double-cone configuration in the early 90s... Although we did take a detour at the time, we still preserved the relevant technical data, and a small team has been conducting relevant research. After today's meeting, I will include this team in the hypersonic project."

The representative sent by the First Academy, Xing Muchun, was once the deputy chief designer of the Long March 2F and had considerable say in the unit.

The "not very successful attempt" he mentioned was during the demonstration phase of Project 921, when they once chose a double cone as the shape of the rocket's head, and even went so far as to consider integrating the spacecraft and rocket into an integrated design.

That is, there is no need for an additional fairing, and the spacecraft is installed directly on the top of the rocket to save thrust and space as much as possible.

In the end, of course, it was abandoned because it was too radical.

But lessons are also part of experience, and it is better than knowing nothing.

"In addition, if the terminal speed still cannot meet the requirements after using air-launched liquid engines, we can consider a head-body separation design, abandoning the first-stage booster stage at the apex of the trajectory, and installing an additional booster engine with relatively small thrust inside the warhead to provide additional acceleration during the descent of the warhead. We have accumulated a lot of technology in this area..."

"And if conditions permit, we can also let the comrades from the Sixth Hospital test it..."

Xing Muchun's voice sounded normal at first, but it suddenly stopped when he said this.

After a slight hesitation, he turned to look at the representative of the Sixth Hospital sitting next to him:

"Can your project be done here..."

There was a hint of curiosity in everyone's eyes, but after hearing the last sentence, they all understood what was going on. I'm afraid it involves confidentiality issues.

Although the confidentiality level of the people sitting in this conference room is definitely top secret, they belong to different units and research directions after all.

A lot of content is still not suitable for spreading too widely.

"That can be revealed."

Fortunately, the latter gave a positive answer:

"Institute 11 of our institute has a 350 kg rocket engine that is already undergoing ground testing. Although the thrust is not great, the volume is also very small..."

Chang Haonan raised his hand to stop the other party from continuing, and then asked tentatively:

"It's PBV..."

"Yes."

The representative of the Sixth Hospital nodded slightly.

This answer made the former hesitate for a moment.

PBV, which stands for Payload Booster Vehicle, is a payload booster.

After the multi-stage boosters of the intercontinental missile have completely finished their work, they are used to launch multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles into different orbits.

It is an essential key technology for top-level strategic nuclear deterrence.

As of 2005, China did not yet have any strategic missiles capable of carrying multiple warheads, so this research by the Sixth Academy was obviously extremely important.

"The warhead of our verification missile only has a guidance system but no warhead. The original plan was to add a counterweight."

After some thought, Chang Haonan replied cautiously:

"If it can be installed without affecting the performance of the warhead itself, then I agree to add a verification item to it..."

Whether it is hypersonic weapons or multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, they are all part of the strategic deterrence capability.

Then we should be considered a family.

We should help each other...

……

The meeting then continued for several hours.

Even lunch was prepared by the cafeteria and delivered to the conference room for on-site consumption.

The overall design of this air-launched ballistic missile gradually took shape during discussions among the public.

It is somewhat similar to the AGM183A, which is a larger round but has no fairing and instead uses the entire nose cone as a separate warhead.

Of course, the performance on paper, mainly the range and terminal speed, is definitely worse.

But in 2005, this was definitely a remarkable performance.

As the meeting was drawing to a close, Li Rongwei, a representative from the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology, who had hardly spoken before, suddenly raised a new topic:

"Academician Chang, I have heard from you and your colleagues that the ballistic peak of this type of test missile is about 150-180km, which means it flies in the atmosphere throughout the entire process. Especially when it is at its fastest speed, it is in the denser atmosphere at the end. Do we need to avoid ablation problems?"

"For the Shenzhou spacecraft reentry capsule, our institute has a new type of thermal insulation coating made of modified polysiloxane as the matrix, compounded with heat-reflective fibers and silicates. The thermal conductivity is only 0.02W/mK. It is a relatively mature product, but the cost is a bit high. However, there are only a few test rounds anyway, so it can add a layer of insurance in terms of thermal insulation..."

It should be said that the entry point chosen by Chang Haonan for this hypersonic weapon is quite ingenious.

Even more successful than he expected.

Many key technologies have been accumulated to a certain extent, and they can be realized with a little effort.

This is the kind of situation that the project team likes most.

And the risks are relatively controllable.

So at the meeting just now, Chang Haonan accepted almost all technical applications within a reasonable range, and even completed the division of work at the first plenary meeting of the project.

But this time, he did not nod:

"This technology is very valuable, Comrade Rong Wei... Perhaps the new coating material you provided will be used in the future air-breathing hypersonic stage."

"But for this test round... I plan to only keep the two parts of the matrix, the bearing layer and the heat protection layer, and then use the sweating active cooling technology to control the temperature of the warhead surface!"

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