Chapter 1045 The world's most powerful early warning aircraft!

2003 was indeed a special year.

Everything that happened in the previous life was repeated exactly on this timeline.

Fortunately, Chang Haonan is no longer a student who has no choice but to do things his own way.

In order to avoid possible risks, he went back in early January to make an annual performance report and then simply settled in Haojing.

Of course, on the surface there must be another explanation for this -

One is to follow up on the development of the KJ-2000 airborne data system, and the other is to some extent...

avoid arousing suspicion.

It was Zhu Linyu who reminded him of this.

After winning the Philippine Medal at the end of 2002, Chang Haonan, who had won both an international award and three national science and technology awards, was included in the 2003 academician selection despite his age.

Although he was included in the selection, any discerning person could see that his achievements and the connections behind him were too strong, so there was almost no possibility of him failing to be selected.

In the nomination recommendation letter alone, there were more than a dozen bigwigs who signed their names, including but not limited to Du Yishan, Ding Gaoheng, Song Jian, Liu Zhenxiang, Li Jie, Wu Wenjun and even Mr. Qian.

In fact, in the selection of the National Highest Science and Technology Award in 2002, many people nominated Chang Haonan.

It even ranks second in the entire list.

However, when it came to the final decision, the superiors only approved Academician Jin Yilian, who pioneered China's supercomputer industry.

The main consideration is that when this award was established, its nature was closer to a lifetime achievement award.

And giving a lifetime achievement award to someone who is less than 27 years old...

Others' careers have just begun, and you are here to summarize their lifelong achievements?

It's inevitable that people have a bad sense of déjà vu...

It would be more reasonable to wait until you leave the front-line research position.

In short, unlike most people who need to frequently maintain connections during the critical stage of the selection process, what Chang Haonan needs to do is to stay away from Beijing as much as possible at this time.

To prevent someone from engaging in performance art.

For example, they might jump out and exclaim that the academic cliques are invincible.

Maybe it's a bit strange to put this hat on someone of this age.

However, it is not surprising that strange things happen to Chang Haonan.

After all, being an academician under the age of 30 is an extremely unconventional thing in itself.

Although this kind of clown is unlikely to affect the final selection results, as the first in the entire Aviation Power Group, or at least the first batch of academicians, Zhu Linyu still hopes to have as few troubles as possible at the public opinion level.

This just happened to suit Chang Haonan's intention, so he took advantage of the situation and plunged into the workshop of Gaofei Group...

……

In fact, by the end of 2002, most of the subsystems of KJ-2000 were already ready, and the only ones that really needed to be tackled were the data link and the air command system.

Now, half of Gaofei, half of the 14th Institute of China Electronics Technology, and Chang Haonan himself are all focusing on the KJ-2000.

The project progress is naturally not a problem.

What's more, Chang Haonan also adopted a hardware-first development strategy to minimize the impact on the final assembly schedule.

Finally, after the hard work of multiple units and thousands of people.

On February 2003, 2, the KJ-15 left the apron completely under its own power for the first time and slowly drove along the taxiway to the waiting area...

This is certainly not the first time it has come to this location—

Prior to this, the prototype numbered 2000-01 had completed four-wheel taxiing tests.

Even in the last test two days ago, it reached a speed of 120 knots and smoothly lifted the front wheels off the ground.

It proves that there are no major flaws in the aerodynamic design, especially the center of gravity and heading stability.

But today is especially special.

Because the KJ-2000 will actually fly into the sky for the first time.

In the flight control room of the tower, dozens of eyes were fixed on the plane in the distance.

Even for an "old hand" like Chang Haonan, who has already gone through the entire research and development process of multiple models and confirmed all previous test results of KJ-2000, it is unrealistic to say that he has no psychological pressure at all when facing the maiden flight of such a key model.

Not to mention Liang Shaoxiu, who was in charge of the model for the first time.

After all, as long as it is a project, there will be hidden dangers.

And the engineering of heaven will maximize the consequences of hidden dangers...

As time passed, plane 2000-01 became smaller and smaller in everyone's sight, and finally stopped at the end of the take-off runway.

Compared with the model of the same name modified from the Il-76 in the previous Ring Project, this aircraft is about one-third smaller in size, and the size of the antenna cover is also smaller. At first glance, it does lack the visual impact of a large platform.

However, thanks to the back-to-back straight-line antenna design, the array size and the number of T/R elements have not been reduced.

In addition, China's own progress in the field of electronic technology in recent years has made the effective detection range of this radar far exceed that of all its competitors around the world during the same period.

This naturally includes the Falcon system that China once sought but could not obtain.

"Unit 01 reporting!"

The steady voice of test pilot Captain Lin Hai came over the radio.

It has been almost 7 years since Chang Haonan first participated in the project, and the test pilots who were active in the mid-to-late 90s have basically retired due to age.

Lin Hai is the best among the new generation.

Compared to the people in the tower, he did not show much nervousness when facing the risk:

"We have arrived at the take-off area. All flight-related subsystems are operating well. The engine speed and control surface feedback have been tested and confirmed to be correct. Request for take-off!"

The verification subjects of the first flight only include basic flight performance and do not include the functions of the mission payload.

In fact, the command system designed by Chang Haonan is still in the process of software debugging, and it will take some time before it can be installed on the aircraft.

"Permission to take off, and wish you all the best for the first flight!"

Even the flight commander's voice wavered slightly.

Since the Flight Test Institute is located here, the control tower in Yanliang has witnessed too many test flights and finalizations.

But there are actually not many models that actually made their maiden flight.

Therefore, if you only listen to the voices from both sides, you might think that Lin Hai is the one who stayed on the ground...

"Roger that! Get ready for takeoff!"

Lin Hai's reply was immediately transmitted over the radio, and aircraft No. 01 began to slowly accelerate on the runway.

Compared with tactical aircraft weighing more than ten tons, the KJ-2000's taxiing time before takeoff is quite long.

And this is one of the most heart-wrenching processes in the entire test flight——

The downwash effect of the radome on the horizontal tail cannot be completely eliminated, and the simulation of this complex influence, whether by numerical calculation or wind tunnel testing, can only be limited to flight under certain conditions.

But the biggest risk for takeoff and landing is uncertainty.

Therefore, every change in the angle of the horizontal tail hits everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.

So much so that in the end, everyone's heartbeat was somewhat affected by Hirao's rhythm adjustment.

When approaching the middle of the 3600-meter runway, aircraft No. 01 finally lifted its front wheels.

The plane had actually already exceeded the minimum take-off speed, so the rear wheels also overcame gravity and left the ground lightly.

Only the scorching heat waves from the two engines were left, washing over the runway in the early morning...

"call--"

For the first flight, as long as it can take off smoothly, it may be a bit of an exaggeration to say that it will be 80% successful, but at least it is half successful.

The remaining half is basically concentrated on landing.

Fortunately, the whole process was smooth and uneventful.

According to pilots' feedback, after the cross-sectional shape was optimized, the adverse effects of the radome on flight quality were mainly concentrated in heading stability and reduced flexibility in pitch control.

This was not an unacceptable problem for a large aircraft that spent most of its time flying steadily behind the battle lines.

"Not bad, very good."

Chang Haonan put down the telescope and shifted his sight from Unit 01, which had already landed safely, to Liang Shaoxiu next to him:

"At least qualitatively, it is highly consistent with the simulation results before your design."

"As for the difference in control rate, it depends on the analysis after the data is recovered..."

As a "senior" who led the latter to work on the project many years ago, this evaluation is basically equivalent to -

It's time to start training.

Liang Shaoxiu also let out a long sigh and raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

It looks like he wants to say something.

But in the end I couldn't say it.

He just held Chang Haonan's hand tightly.

And a little further away.

Wang Xiaomo, the project's chief engineer, came to Qiao Chenqing, the head of the Air Force, and said what he had wanted to say for a long time but had been holding back because he didn't want to open the champagne in advance:

"Commander Qiao, I can now confidently assure you that this is the most powerful AWACS aircraft in the world, bar none!"