Chapter 1080: I can only go back to find the Chinese

For those who have not participated in the WS-10 project establishment process, what Chang Haonan told can be described as a horror story.

So the WS-10, which has already reached the upper limit of mass-produced military aircraft engines, was just tinkered with by someone else?

Several bigwigs in the materials field are even more ashamed of this.

Although Chang Haonan didn't say it, everyone knew it.

The reason why we had to compromise on the advanced structure and even carry out reverse optimization was largely due to the limitations of aviation materials.

Although the field of materials, especially composite materials, has made some progress in recent years, it is obvious that it is still somewhat lacking compared with the needs of the application end...

Jiang Fuhe, who was sitting in the second row, could only respond with a wry smile.

It was because Chang Haonan almost abruptly came up with the design plan of the WS-10, and even left enough room for it to be developed into a fourth-generation engine in the future, that he and the Gas Turbine Research Institute had to abandon the high-thrust pre-research project at hand and turn to research on vertical take-off and landing technology.

Although it is a way out, everyone knows that China will definitely use large aircraft carriers as the core of ocean-going operations in the future. There is no combat scenario of a full-scale nuclear war like in the Cold War, in which all airports may be destroyed, nor is there a separate Marine Corps as a military branch.

A pure vertical take-off and landing model...its future is uncertain.

Of course, Institute 624 has not sat idly by over the years, and has also conducted a lot of research on thrust vector nozzles and related control logic.

But compared with the complete aircraft engine model, these are ultimately just details.

"Install the intercooler on the compressor stator..."

Liu Zhenxiang, who was in the front row, repeated in a low voice:

"If I had heard this idea two hours ago, I would have called it a fantasy... But now, I'm not so sure..."

As he spoke, he half smiled bitterly, half shook his head with relief.

Just now, for a moment, he suddenly realized that perhaps it was time for his generation to make use of their remaining energy...

But now is definitely not the time to be emo.

Therefore, he quickly got over his initial shock.

After all, it is a project preparation meeting, not a simple preliminary research.

In addition to the technical route, there are more specific issues that need to be discussed:

"Comrade Haonan, you just said that using a partition heat exchanger to directly exchange heat between the cold and hot air flows, will this affect heat recovery or even the efficiency of the air film cooling system?"

This time, Chang Haonan nodded very straightforwardly:

"To a certain extent... it does."

"In fact, my original plan was to use supercritical carbon dioxide as a heat exchange intermediate medium to achieve heat transfer in the system... However, in principle, our research on the properties of supercritical fluids is not mature enough, and hastily adding it to the system may bring immeasurable risks."

"On the other hand, in engineering, driving the intermediate medium to circulate requires external power input. Although carbon dioxide can easily reach a supercritical state, it also requires a pressure of more than 75 atmospheres, which is even much higher than the normal working pressure inside the turbine, not to mention the relatively mild environment of the compressor part. Therefore, in order to ensure the integrity of the heat exchanger structure, it is necessary to set up additional metal pipe walls of sufficient strength..."

“Although high bypass ratio aircraft engines do not particularly pursue thrust-to-weight ratio, it is still a bit difficult for the AE1500, a model with a thrust of less than 15 tons, to fully accommodate such a set of things… In fact, in order to offset the extra weight brought by the current intercooler and the larger wind chill, I have referred to the experience gained in the process of foreign cooperation and used a large amount of low-density titanium alloy on the fan blades.”

"That's why I said before that at this stage, we are going to focus on the intercooler. As for the complete intercooler heat exchange equipment, it is more suitable for models with higher thrust. For example, on a 900-ton aircraft engine like the Trent 30..."

It is hard to say whether it was intentional or unintentional, but Chang Haonan just happened to reveal his greater ambitions everywhere at this time.

AE1500 is definitely not the end...

The project preparation meeting can only be regarded as the starting point of a huge project.

In the following days, the expert group reviewed the documents and preparatory work prepared by Gaofei Group in stages.

Finally, on May 2003, 5, the project request for the Aviation Power Group's AE31 high bypass ratio turbofan engine was officially approved.

Moreover, it is extremely rare that Comrade Chang Haonan serves as both the chief engineer and chief designer, and is in charge of this highly anticipated model.

This can also be seen as a signal released after the establishment of the Industrial Construction Committee...

……

And during these days, Chang Haonan gradually immersed himself in the new project.

Some of his previous arrangements were also gradually tightening up...

Paris France.

Dassault Aviation headquarters.

Charles Edelsteiner was in his office, listening to his assistant report on the test flights of the Falcon 8Z prototype in the past month, as well as the testing and publicity plans for the second half of the year.

Overall, it went very smoothly.

Except for a few test subjects that require weather conditions, the rest can basically be passed in one go.

Even in the most optimistic timetable before, I never dared to think of such a scenario.

So much so that this model may be put into commercial operation in late 2003 or early 2004.

To this end, the project team even plans to conduct ultra-long-range tests in advance for publicity purposes.

Of course, as part of a test flight project, it is definitely impossible to reach the limit of range in one step.

Therefore, the plan is to start with the 9000-kilometer Paris-Los Angeles route and gradually increase to the final 12000-kilometer Beijing-New York route.

"and many more……"

Hearing this, Ed Steiner suddenly interrupted:

"Can't we use Paris as the center for flight tests? We can take off from Paris and fly to different destinations..."

He has always felt that the Falcon Z project has too much Chinese influence.

However, things have come to this point. It is definitely impossible to get rid of China's influence in technology.

But the French flavor of Falcon 8Z can be enhanced as much as possible at the commercial level.

At least the market should be made aware that this is a Dassault aircraft.

However, the assistant shook his head:

"The mainstream routes for business jets are to a few regional central cities around the world. Paris is too close to these places... It's less than 9000 kilometers to the west coast of the United States, and even to Asia and South Africa it's less than 16000 kilometers. But Sydney is too far away, more than kilometers..."

Modern business activities, even after the United States replaced Britain as the new world hegemon, remained Europe-centered for a long time.

This unique locational feature is usually treated as an advantage, but today, it played a little joke on Ed Steiner.

Just when he was about to say something else, a figure suddenly appeared at the office door.

Edsteiner looked up and noticed that the visitor was Didier Casore, head of Dassault's aerodynamics department and person in charge of the overall design of the Falcon Z project.

In the past half month, the other party has been in contact with the Ericsson team in Sweden according to his arrangements to verify the feasibility of installing a complete "Ericsson" early warning system using the Falcon 8Z as the carrier aircraft.

Now that it suddenly appears here, there is a high probability that there is a result.

Considering that the Falcon Z itself was almost a done deal, Edsteiner thought for a moment and temporarily stopped communicating with his assistant. Then he quickly stood up and invited Casore who was outside the door in.

"Didier, the Swedes..."

Ed Steiner asked anxiously before he even had time to sit back in his chair.

But before he could finish his words, he stopped abruptly.

Because, judging from the other party's expression, the result may not be optimistic.

Sure enough, Casore opened his briefcase, took out a thick report, and placed it in front of Edsteiner:

"Just from the perspective of payload weight, even a complete version of the Erieye system does not exceed 4.5 tons, and even the smaller Falcon 7Z can carry it."

"But the antenna design proposed by the Swedish side is not optimistic. The balance beam antenna with active phased array design is large in size and weight. It is not a big problem for the lower-speed Saab 340 and 2000, but if it is to be installed on our Falcon 8Z, I am afraid that we will have to make major changes to the wing stabilizer design and most of the fuselage structure..."

"However, considering that the aircraft's main wing profile was optimized by China, if we can get their support, I think it won't take too long..."

Ed Steiner's expression gradually became stiff.

Especially when I heard the last sentence——

As Casore said, if China can support this, this improvement may not take too long.

But the problem is, didn’t I want to cooperate with the Swedes in the first place because I didn’t want to be controlled by the Chinese?