Chapter 1076 Critical Design Review of F136

In fact, even in the eyes of Watson and Elino, Hartmann's introduction of Chinese technology into the core subsystems of the F136 project should be a very tightrope-walking operation.

Therefore, it should be done in a very cautious manner.

But the actual situation was completely beyond their expectations...

Just three days later.

The other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland.

In a conference room at Lockheed Martin's headquarters, a small meeting with a slightly tense atmosphere was underway.

Sitting at the head of the conference table with a gloomy face was John Schwartz, the technical director of the Joint Strike Fighter project.

"A few days ago, Pratt & Whitney's F135-PW-100 engine passed the critical design review and is expected to complete assembly of the first production engine in September this year and start testing before the end of the year."

Schwartz read the report in front of him slowly, then raised his head and looked at several senior R&D personnel from General Electric and Rolls-Royce in front of him:

"Everyone, as far as the entire project is concerned, the JSF is progressing very smoothly, but the F136, which is the backup power option, has been unable to pass the third phase of the critical design review..."

He did not continue.

But the meaning is very clear.

I am very dissatisfied with the current progress of F136.

"But...Mr. Schwartz, wasn't the contract for the F136's System Development and Demonstration (SDD, the fourth phase of the American development process) originally expected to be signed before the end of 2005?"

Daniel McKemick, who is in charge of the JSF power project at General Electric, felt a little embarrassed.

This is totally different from what we agreed before.

The F136 is equipped with a series of high-tech features including variable cycle, pre-deformation design, and permanent magnet power generation system.

We will be very lucky if we can complete the project as planned.

Now suddenly moving the time node forward by two years is simply asking for his life.

Moreover, it does not comply with the terms of the previous contract.

But Schwartz shook his head:

"I also hope to continue a promising project like the F136, but the Department of Defense and the Congressional Accountability Office have different opinions."

"They determined that the F136 program was too cost-ineffective and therefore requested that further funding for the replacement engine be stopped."

"Unless we can clearly achieve the new project milestones by October this year, it will be difficult to obtain project funding for the next 10-2005 period."

After hearing the name of the Congressional Accountability Office, McKemick frowned.

On the one hand, this department is indeed very powerful.

And they have the power base to cut off their funding sources.

on the other hand……

He also saw the contradiction in Schwartz's words.

The Accountability Bureau is not a department that sits idle every day and does not have enough energy to pay attention to secondary projects.

Their audit object will only be the JSF itself, and will not single out the F136 or F135 engines alone.

In other words, if the JSF project was really "progressing very smoothly" as Schwartz said, the GAO would not pay attention to it at all.

A more likely scenario is that JSF itself has had major problems at the audit level.

The kind that can't even save Roma's face.

Of course, it is impossible for anyone to be responsible.

But we have to do something, at least to make it look good.

The F136, which was originally intended as a backup and had a high probability of becoming a money-eating beast, became an "acceptable" victim for both sides.

Anyway, everything seems to be going well with F135 now, so it doesn't matter if we don't have F136 as a backup.

It can also save a lot of money on paper, so that the JSF project will no longer be at risk of overspending in a short period of time.

As for reaching a clear project milestone before October...

It's just a nice way of saying it -

It's already May.

Given the efficiency of the JSF project, the review itself would take two to three months.

In other words, they have to complete all preparations for the third phase of the critical design review by August at the latest...

Don't you go to heaven?

But the problem is that the YF120 that General Electric came up with in the ATF project had already failed.

You know, civil aviation power does not really need variable cycle technology that takes into account both supersonic and subsonic conditions.

Europe has no plans to develop a new generation of fighter jets in the foreseeable future.

Therefore, if the F136 fails again, all the research and development efforts they have previously invested in the field of natural variable cycles will basically be wasted.

Perhaps General Electric, with its huge scale and business, can afford this loss.

But McKemick, as the project manager, absolutely cannot do that.

Now that the F136 is gone, even if he is not unemployed, he will most likely have no future.

For a moment, the air in the entire conference room almost froze.

However, just as McKemick was about to argue according to the agreement, Neil Brown, the JSF project manager from partner Rolls-Royce, signaled him to calm down for the time being.

This made the former hesitate for a moment.

Brown is the JSF program manager.

Not the program manager for the F136 engine.

There isn't much difference between the two positions at GE.

But it's completely different at Rolls-Royce.

Because the lift fan of the F135 is also designed by Rolls-Royce.

In other words, for Brown himself, no matter what the result of JSF's power selection is, he can be on the winning side in the end.

It’s just a matter of whether you win big or small.

So the interests of the two people are not actually completely consistent.

But in the end, considering that confronting Party A head-on was not a good idea, McCann chose to temporarily accept Brown's suggestion and said that he would recommend to the company to speed up the development of the F136 and strive to complete the key design review before October.

……

After leaving Lockheed Martin and boarding the business jet back to Evendale, McKemick couldn't help but give Schwartz some warm and high praise from a distance.

But no matter how much an outburst occurs, it can only serve to vent one's anger.

It doesn't really help solve the problem.

At this moment, Neil Brown took the initiative to come to him:

"Dan, we have to do something before October."

He said straight to the point.

At this point, MacKenzie was about to collapse, and he no longer tried to hide his feelings:

"Don't think I don't know, Neil. Even if the F136 project is terminated, you can still make a lot of money in JSF, right?"

The other party did not deny it:

"Indeed."

Brown replied:

"But we have also invested 136% of our R&D resources in the F40. We cannot just watch this model die suddenly."

"Can……"

McCann stopped talking as soon as he opened his mouth.

He suddenly realized that the reason why the other party was so calm was probably not because he was stepping on two boats at the same time:

"Do you have any idea?"

"Schwartz made it clear."

Brown turned his head and looked through the porthole at the airport building below which was getting smaller and smaller:

"As long as we can get through critical design review by October, there's no chance we'll lose funding before 10."

"And a few days ago, Tom Hartmann, the director in charge of F136 design, reported to me that he had found a way to use permanent magnet power generation technology on the F136."

MacKenzie was happy at first, but then he felt something was wrong.

If the problem could be solved so quickly, there would have been no need for Luo Luo to drag it out for so long.

So, he almost subconsciously asked:

"any solution?"

"Don't worry about it."

Brown is tight-lipped, but that’s probably because he doesn’t know exactly:

"In short, it is expected that a specific design plan will be available soon... As for the natural variable cycle and pre-deformed blades, at least on paper, it is not difficult to achieve them."

The so-called critical design review is somewhat similar to the design plan argumentation.

There is no need to build a real thing.

The first prototype will not be produced until the system development and demonstration stage.

The prototype will take even longer.

McKemick, who is also an experienced person, felt that something must be wrong, but he couldn't care about too many details in the current situation. He could only focus on the main contradiction:

"But didn't you hear what Schwartz meant just now?"

He asked back anxiously:

"The timeline is obviously just an excuse. The point is that the Ministry of National Defense doesn't want the F136 as a backup model. Even if we can get through this time, they will find other reasons to kill us sooner or later!"

"Of course I heard it..."

Brown shrugged indifferently:

"So, our next goal is not to actually design the F136."

"Ah?"

The McCann family was stunned.

Brown patted his old friend on the shoulder:

"Delay the time, get as many rounds of funding as possible, and then find a way to stop the loss..."