Chapter 1082: 1-Shaped Antenna
In fact, in Chang Haonan’s original idea, the platform and the equipment were originally intended to be complementary.
However, he did not expect that the French would turn around just when he was so busy that he was exhausted, so he had no time to organize the three companies personally.
Only Liu Yongquan can communicate with Liang Shaoxiu alone.
So the situation becomes that the former is surprised "how come there is suddenly a ready-made adaptation solution?"
The latter was shocked as to “how the early warning aircraft plan was sold without any notice?”
As for the Electronic Technology Group...
Guo Lin was taking basic tests in Jinling at the time, so he didn't make it in time.
But it's not a big problem.
The two parties haven't even signed an agreement yet.
The so-called "overall design plan" cannot directly provide all the detailed technical details.
Early warning and command systems are inherently highly customized products. Even if the platforms are similar or even the same, the specific designs are likely to vary greatly.
The focus of this phase is still on the aircraft structural layout and the basic performance of core subsystems.
The main purpose is to provide feedback that is acceptable to Dassault in terms of performance and schedule.
As for the specific research and development work, we will have to wait until Dassault shares the complete design data of Falcon 8Z.
Therefore, after a brief review of the known situation, Liang Shaoxiu assigned several people from the project team to help Liu Yongquan sort out the relevant documents...
This period of time was certainly fulfilling for them.
But for Ed Steiner, who had been waiting for news in France, it was different.
Considering that the Falcon 8Z itself has not yet been put into commercial operation, he is not in a hurry to look at the plan.
But now that the inquiry letter has been sent, there should be a feedback email indicating whether it is possible or not, right?
In the past, China's response to business issues was generally within a week.
Some important things can even be calculated by the hour.
But this time, there was no news for nearly a month.
The exchanges between the two sides on the Falcon 8Z test flight continued as usual, but whenever he mentioned anything related to the early warning aircraft in meetings or emails, the Chinese side would simply respond with phrases like "actively discussing and researching".
He also tried to contact Liu Yongquan directly to inquire about the situation, but the reply he got was that Mr. Liu was on a business trip and could not get through the phone...
In Edsteiner's view, it was obvious that the other party was deliberately avoiding him.
But now that things have come to this, he has no other choice but to calm down and wait.
Until one day in early July...
The assistant pushed the door open hastily.
He was holding a few pages of official documents in his hand.
It looked like it had just been printed out and hadn't even been put into a folder yet.
"Doctor, the reply letter from China has arrived!"
As he said this, he strode forward and placed the documents on the desk.
Although the other party did not directly specify what the reply was, looking at his anxious look, it was not difficult for Edsteiner to judge that it was what he cared about most.
He sat up almost instantly, and the movement was so violent that the chair under his butt made a sharp sound.
But the next second, perhaps considering his leadership image, Ed Steiner took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and forced himself to slow down his movements.
"understood."
He nodded casually:
"You go back first, I'll find you later if I have something."
Then he pulled out a pen from the pen holder and calmly turned his gaze to the first page of the document on the desk.
however……
After subconsciously skipping over the first few lines of routine politeness, the first sentence he saw was -
In response to your request, we have completed the overall structural design of the early warning aircraft antenna...
"???"
Edsteiner's right hand holding the pen shook violently, and the pen cap on the back almost flew off.
He closed his eyes and gently pinched both sides of his temples.
Then reopen your eyes.
Only then was I sure that I was not seeing things.
The other party did not simply respond with an intention of "cooperation".
Instead, within this month, I worked out the overall plan...
Edsteiner raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, feeling a little at a loss for a moment.
But on second thought, the plan of jointly developing early warning aircraft was first proposed by the Chinese.
It seems reasonable that the other party had already prepared...
Although he found a seemingly reasonable explanation, he had forced himself to stay calm in the beginning, and after what happened, he couldn't pretend any longer and read on quickly.
The Chinese side’s meaning is very clear, that is, the basic plan has been prepared, but because the formal cooperative research and development agreement has not yet been signed, it cannot be sent out directly according to regulations. You need to send a delegation over.
Moreover, the current design is only a rough outline. If we want to go deeper into the details, we need to obtain detailed design data of the Falcon 8Z platform.
At the end of the reply, a special paragraph was added saying that the last two to three years may be a critical period for the explosion of the light early warning aircraft market. There are not many competitors at present. It is hoped that both parties can unite and not cause a lose-lose outcome due to some minor differences.
It is not difficult to see that the other party has something else to say.
At least we already know that Edsteiner wanted to find a third party to cooperate with some time ago, but ended up having no other options and was forced to go back to his old love.
It’s just that we are all decent people, so some things cannot be said too clearly.
Of course, it is also urging Dassault to make a decision as soon as possible.
It even has a bit of PUA suspicion.
However, it is still visible.
But this passage really captures the psychology of Ed Steiner.
So, the assistant who had just returned to his office and hadn't even had time to drink a sip of water was called back by a phone call...
……
Just one week later, a delegation led by Didier Casoré set off from France to China.
Although Casore had not had much contact with the Aviation Power Group before, and this was his first meeting with Liu Yongquan, he originally supported cooperation with China on the early warning aircraft project, which was completely in the same direction.
Therefore, the talks between the two sides went very smoothly, the brainstorming phase was quickly concluded, and they began to confirm the preliminary design plan.
In fact, logically speaking, there are only four or five types of early warning aircraft antenna layouts.
In Casore's opinion, since the Chinese are already equipped with a medium-sized early warning aircraft with a T-shaped cross-section antenna, what they are going to use this time is likely to be a scaled-down version of it.
The key is how to integrate a fully functional system into a relatively small platform like the Falcon 8Z without causing fatal impact on the flight quality and fuselage structure.
However, when Liu Yongquan turned on the projector and presented the plan on the screen, he suddenly realized that he might still be too young.
What appeared in front of the Dassault delegation was a straight-line antenna.
In theory, this should be considered a classic design of balance beam structure.
But it is not like Ericsson's solution, which relies on several thick support frames to be installed on the back of the machine.
Instead, it is fixed by a slender structure similar to a bracket.
The only difference is that this "hanging rack" is upside down.
It's like having an extra ventral fin on the back of the aircraft...
Thanks to this design, the distance between the antenna and the fuselage is very close, which greatly reduces the impact of the entire structure on the efficiency of the vertical tail.
Since the horizontal tail is completely above the surface, there is no problem at all.
And because there are no pylons to disrupt the airflow, there is no need to worry about stability during high-speed flight...
In short, all hidden dangers seem to be completely avoided in terms of aerodynamics.
The only problem is.
In order to ensure the number of T/R components, the size of this straight antenna is...
too long.
It takes up almost 60% of the back of the phone.
Moreover, the weight of the entire antenna is concentrated on that narrow line.
A civilian aircraft will not have particularly exaggerated structural margins.
This installation method has no effect on the lift surface and control surface.
But Casore was almost certain that the body of the machine itself could not withstand such a high intensity load...
