Chapter 1126 Pre-connection Process

If Al Kentz's idea could be foreseen by the Chinese side, Liang Shaoxiu would have to laugh out loud three times, and then give Chang Haonan a title like "Little Zhuge".

It's a pity that I can't.

At the beginning of the 21st century, China's presence in the Middle East was almost non-existent.

Lao Wu's activities are mainly in the Kurdish Mountains and the South Caucasus, and he cannot reach the level of the GCC.

Even the bidding work was carried out by people sent by Dassault in order to avoid suspicion.

The Aviation Power Corporation and the Electronic Technology Corporation only sent a few engineers in the name of accompanying personnel to be responsible for providing technical support.

Otherwise, if Party A asks something out of the ordinary and you can’t answer it, it would be really embarrassing…

But this piecemeal approach is not conducive to understanding the situation of competitors.

Therefore, whether it is Liang Shaoxiu or Casore, they are still doing things with the mentality of facing a formidable enemy.

The good news is that as early as two years ago, Torch Group reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Dassault Software, allowing the new version of TORCH Multiphysics to be compatible with front-end design software such as CATIA, thus saving a lot of troubles such as mesh misalignment or model adjustment.

In addition, Dassault actively cooperated this time and provided complete design parameters of the fuselage, which saved a lot of effort in the early design process.

However, even so, time is not entirely on China's side.

Due to the special fixing method of the "Gaoming" radar, Gaofei Group needs to modify the entire tail wing, more than 8% of the back and about 70% of the belly of the Falcon 30Z aircraft.

This workload is not only far greater than the Global Eye developed by the Swedes using the balance beam solution, but is even comparable to the G550 Sea Eagle using the conformal array solution.

If the construction period of KJ-200 and KJ-2000 is followed, the entire process will last at least 6-8 months.

Taking into account flight tests and basic functional tests, it may take until the end of the year or even early 05 to conduct actual aircraft tests in the UAE.

Although it did not exceed the 18-month deadline given by Party A, if it was much slower than the other two competitors, it would inevitably be suspected of rushing the work with a low degree of completion.

The bigger problem is that when the development of the early warning aircraft has been essentially completed, the longer you delay at the factory stage, the more information will be leaked.

Considering the large number of people and eyes in the workshop, this is a situation that is impossible to completely avoid.

Both parties have a clear understanding of this point.

Therefore, after David informed the UAE of his test schedule at the speed of light, Casore found Liang Shaoxiu almost immediately:

"Liang, David's actions are faster than we thought."

He sat down opposite with a serious look on his face:

"The UAE has received news that IAI is preparing to conduct actual machine testing between May and June this year..."

In just a few years, Cassole's hair turned from black to gray.

Liang Shaoxiu subconsciously glanced at the calendar on the corner of the table:

"That means there are still four months left..."

After saying that, he frowned slightly:

"But I remember... two months ago you said that you expected the modification work on the G550 to continue until this summer?"

Testing in May and June means the aircraft will be able to make its maiden flight in April at the latest.

And now it is early February.

It is equivalent to entering the final stage of modification...

What's going on?

Liang Shaoxiu complained in his heart, "No wonder you French are not good at fighting."

If it were on the battlefield, this level of lying about military intelligence would have earned one death penalty...

And Casore also looked embarrassed:

"The information we obtained before was that the Kingdom of David would keep Unit 01 for its own testing, and provide the slower-progressing Unit 02 to the UAE for testing. If the bid is successful, it can also be delivered as the first mass-produced unit... But now it seems that the Kingdom of David has directly taken Unit 01..."

“Is it so important?”

Liang Shaoxiu couldn't help but be a little surprised.

In fact, both Dassault and Ericsson sent their first prototypes directly there for testing.

But that's because both France and Sweden are in a very stable external environment and are not in a hurry to use one or two early warning aircraft.

But the situation in David's country is obviously different.

It is really urgent.

You know, modern early warning aircraft can not only command air combat, but also conduct large-scale battlefield surveillance or organize air units to carry out ground attacks.

This can be squeezed out to form an airplane, which can be said to be a level of importance that is taken very seriously.

Hearing Liang Shaoxiu's words, the expression on Casore's face turned playful:

"Perhaps... it's because the other party also knows the role you play in this model?"

After staying in China for the past two months, he has become well versed in the art of adding fuel to the fire.

Although the former's expression did not change much, his slightly narrowed eyes still revealed his inner restlessness——

It is impossible to hide cooperation of this level as Falcon 8Z from real insiders.

Just as the Chinese side was excited after learning that David was participating in the bidding, the other party would naturally give an extraordinary response in order to avoid embarrassment.

After a few seconds of silence, Liang Shaoxiu seemed to have made up his mind:

"Mr. Casore, we can try to shorten the whole aircraft modification period to about 3 months..."

In one sentence, the opponent's Cassore's heart and lungs were suspended.

For a moment, he even forgot to blink and just stared at Liang Shaoxiu in amazement.

"However, this requires your full cooperation..."

Cassore nodded subconsciously, and then it took him two seconds to react:

"Wait a minute... haven't we already fully cooperated?"

"What else needs to be done?"

Liang Shaoxiu waved his hand:

“This time it’s not just about the design, your factory needs to get involved.”

Casore was a little confused:

"But the planes have already been delivered to China...our factory can't do anything except provide spare parts, right?"

This time, Liang Shaoxiu just smiled mysteriously and did not give an immediate response.

Instead, he operated the computer in front of him.

Soon, with a creaking sound, the printer next to it spit out several sheets of A4 paper.

Cassole leaned over to take a look.

Printed on it is a structural diagram of the middle part of the aircraft, which is also the most critical part of the entire modification.

"In fact, the hardware of the radar system, including the radome, has been basically completed."

Liang Shaoxiu said as he picked up a pen and circled several horizontal beams on the map:

"In the entire modification work, the longest time is spent on these panels composed of skins and long spars."

"Especially the part where the back of the aircraft is connected to the radome. Due to the complex geometric deformation and pre-connection force, it is impossible to rely solely on the processing accuracy of the shape and size of the parts themselves to ensure a qualified assembly during the assembly process. Therefore, a large number of jigs with positioning and clamping functions are required during the wall panel assembly process to ensure the precise geometric shape and assembly quality of the parts to components..."

Casore is also an experienced veteran, so he is naturally clear about these details:

"That's right... because the skin and the long stringer are large in size, weak in rigidity, and easily deformed under stress, it is difficult to use the pre-connection process like other parts..."

Seeing that the other party had already taken action, Liang Shaoxiu changed the subject:

"But we have a new technology that can calculate in advance the initial gap between the skin and the long stringer, as well as the deformation accumulated during the positioning and clamping stages. In this way, we don't have to transport all the loose parts to the assembly line for installation separately. Instead, we can pre-connect them after the large parts are produced... If the process level is high enough, it can save about 40% to 50% of the modification time..."

Cassore's breathing hitched.

But on the surface, he maintained the same posture and did not move.

He just glanced at Liang Shaoxiu.

"That sounds a bit radical..."

His eyes were full of suspicion:

"And...why didn't you use this technology in the first place?"

Liang Shaoxiu rolled his eyes slightly:

"Of course it's because the technology is so new, so we need to test it on your side..."

In fact, the basis of this technology is the flexible adjustable production line developed by Yao Mengna in her early years.

However, it was not until Chang Haonan solved the problem of calculating the deformation of large-size plates and frames at the end of last year that the technology was truly usable in engineering.

As a result, he didn't pay attention for a moment, and the words that were originally a complaint in his heart were actually said out loud to himself.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear you clearly...what did you just say?"

Fortunately, it was spoken in Chinese, so Cassore didn't understand.

Liang Shaoxiu quickly pretended to clear his throat:

"I said, because the new process has very high requirements for workers and equipment, we need your factory in France to get involved to ensure full-power operation..."