Chapter 1209: Crossing the River by Feeling the Americans

Chapter 1209 Crossing the River by Following the American

After all, the development route of the fourth-generation fighter jets is a major event that will determine the situation of the main equipment of the air force in the next twenty years or even longer.

It is impossible that the matter is over with just an opening meeting within the aviation industry.

The seminar may not produce any decisions, but the final conclusions must be reported as an important basis for the final decision.

Including several brother units such as Aviation Power, Electronic Technology, and Ordnance Industry, which only played supporting roles on the scene, they also had to submit research status and feasibility reports related to their own tasks.

Although these things may seem insignificant, they involve a large number of industries and units.

It will take several months to complete all the complicated tasks one by one.

It would be great if we can start the project approval process before the end of the year.

However, Chang Haonan had been planning to develop the fourth-generation engine for a long time, and the list of 80 technologies he had submitted previously had already played the same role to a large extent.

So it only took about a month to help Liu Yongquan, Wan Zhonghui and other key technical personnel from the 606 Institute sort out the follow-up work content.

Just as he had said to Sun Cong before, as an improved version of a mature model, the WS-10G can be left to the new generation of engineers who are gradually maturing to complete it on their own.

As for Chang Haonan himself, he did not go to Haojing again so soon as Zhang Hongbiao had worried.

Because the liquid rocket engine planned to be used for the hypersonic verification missile will soon begin the first phase of ground testing.

This time, the two rivals on the other side of the ocean coincidentally set their sights on the same place...

……

A month later.

Beijing, Institute 101 of the Sixth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology.

Although the Sixth Academy itself is located in Gaojing, as a large unit with nearly 10,000 employees, its subordinate institutions are naturally spread all over the country.

Among them, Institutes 165, 101 and 801 are the only three places in China that can conduct systematic tests of liquid rocket engines.

In terms of geographical location, the most convenient one is of course the 165 schools located in Haojing.

However, the new model engine test area here is mainly aimed at large thrust engine testing, and the relevant modification preparations for the kerosene-liquid oxygen system have been completed, making it difficult to carry out the tests required by Chang Haonan in a short period of time.

Fortunately, the liquid engine on the verification missile is not large in size, so after troubleshooting and resolving a number of technical problems found during the subsystem testing, it was directly loaded onto a truck and transported to the Yungang Test Center.

Of course, these are all things that happened in the past month or so.

Today marks the official launch of the first phase of testing.

Coincidentally, the Pentagon also officially announced its own hypersonic weapons development plan in the early morning of the same day Beijing time...

As soon as Chang Haonan sat down, Chen Zhiwei, who had been waiting in the small meeting room, pushed a newspaper on the table in front of him:

"Academician Chang, please take a look at this."

As he spoke, he had an irrepressible smile on his face.

"Ok?"

Chang Haonan lowered his head and saw a headline printed in eye-catching black font at the top of the page:

"Shock the world! The US military will be equipped with a new type of ultra-high-speed cruise missile that can hit the world within an hour!"

Before he could read too much detail, Chen Zhiwei couldn't wait to continue speaking:

"The slogan that the Americans raised this time actually coincides with the concept you proposed before!"

"Conquer the whole world in one hour, what a resounding statement!"

In addition to excitement, there was also a hint of regret in his tone:

"It's a pity that we took into account the international impact and did not publicize it in the public media. Otherwise, the Americans would have followed behind and reaped the spoils of our efforts..."

"..."

Even with Chang Haonan's current composure, he couldn't hold back after hearing this.

After all, the idea of conquering the world in one hour was originally coined by Americans.

When he was giving a report at the Xijiao Hotel at the end of last year, he used it briefly in order to let the non-professional leaders below have an idea of hypersonic weapons.

I originally thought that the content of this high-level internal report would not spread too widely.

Who would have thought that the effect was so good that the superiors quoted it verbatim in the documents issued.

Anyway, some of the middle-level managers in the project team also saw this sentence...

"Cough cough..."

Chang Haonan coughed to conceal his expression:

"We are still in the stage of keeping a low profile. It won't be wrong to keep a low profile. There is no need to compete with the other party for these false names..."

"Besides, even if we really carried out public propaganda, the Americans would not suffer any loss in terms of public opinion. They would definitely choose other statements at that time, and the result would be the same."

As he spoke, he carefully read the contents of the newspaper again -

Although the title has a bit of the flavor of XX Shock Department, the current clickbait has not yet developed to the lawless level that it will be in a decade or so.

Therefore, the main text below is quite substantial and almost takes up the entire page.

Also included is a high-definition color picture of the X43A and the X51A.

However, the latter has gotten rid of its identity as a "technology verification aircraft" and has been officially named the AGM180 cruise missile.

It includes Type A for air-launched, Type B for surface ship-launched, and Type C for submarine-launched.

The overall appearance is almost the same as X51A.

The length of the warhead was slightly lengthened only to accommodate the additional warhead, and the weight of the flight body without boosters was increased from 680kg to 800kg.

The basic model AGM180A is expected to be ignited in 2006 and conduct its first flight test before the end of 2008.

"It seems that the Americans are getting a little impatient..."

Chang Haonan put down the newspaper in his hand.

It has been ten years since he was reborn, and many details of his past life have become a little vague in his memory.

But he was able to confirm that the first test of X51A was conducted two or three years after the Beijing Olympics.

Therefore, the Americans apparently deliberately advanced their research and development schedule.

"I guess it was the events in July that made them feel a sense of crisis."

Chen Zhiwei also nodded in agreement:

"The U.S. military has relied on its air superiority and has always used short-range guided missiles as its main ammunition. Although stealth aircraft have great advantages, they can still be discovered in advance by a complete air defense system, resulting in a reduction in the suddenness of the attack..."

"But if hypersonic weapons are used at a distance of 200 to 300 kilometers, for example, the time left for our air defense system to prepare will be extremely compressed."

Although the massive naval and air confrontation two months ago was suppressed by both sides, it is no secret to industry insiders on both sides of the Pacific.

Chang Haonan stared at the newspaper on the table for a while, then waved his hand in relief:

"Deterrence works both ways, just like the atomic bomb back then."

"In the overall context of a strong enemy and a weak us, having an additional means of mutual deterrence will obviously be more beneficial to us..."

At this point, he suddenly remembered General Chen's brilliant poem "Ode to the Atomic Bomb". He had to suppress his smile and hold back the rest of his words.

However, Chen Zhiwei is obviously not so optimistic:

"But the timetable that the other party has made public is still much faster than ours..."

By this time in 2005, although the US military had canceled a large number of equipment that had been developed since the end of the Cold War, the reason given, at least on the surface, was problems with the development path.

The development process for retained models such as the F22 fighter and the Virginia nuclear submarine has been relatively smooth.

Therefore, most people will definitely take Boeing's hypersonic weapons development plan seriously.

Moreover, it must be admitted that the development of the United States' hypersonic program has been going smoothly so far.

While Chang Haonan was still considering using a rocket engine + double-cone warhead to make a verification missile, Boeing's X43A using a hydrogen-oxygen fuel scramjet engine had already successfully completed two test flights.

"We just need to follow our own pace and not be led by others..."

Chang Haonan replied:

"X51A was originally just a small project of the Air Force Research Laboratory, and even the funding was scraped together... Now that it has been officially registered by the US military, it is natural that the construction period will be reflected. It is normal that it is ahead of schedule..."

He certainly knew that the United States' subsequent hypersonic weapons research and development was not going smoothly.

But it is neither convenient nor ready to say it out so early.

Firstly, there is no evidence to explain it, and there is no guarantee that people will just make a mistake on this timeline.

On the other hand, it also brings a sense of urgency to Chen Zhiwei and others.

After a pause, he continued:

"In addition, letting the Americans scout the way ahead is also beneficial to us to some extent..."

Chen Zhiwei's expression also relaxed a little:

"Yes, we have to cross the river by feeling the stones..."

"..."

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chang Haonan also returned to the main topic:

"Let's not talk about the Americans for now..."

"What's the situation at the test center?"