Chapter 1462 The Delegation from the North

Chapter 1462 The Delegation from the North

A week later, Huairou Science City.

Chang Haonan stood in the reception hall in the center of the wind tunnel, gazing at the two huge experimental facilities not far away through the thick observation windows.

The 25-meter-high concrete structure stands tall like a modern pyramid, and its exterior is covered with special sound-absorbing materials, which glow with a strange matte luster in the sun. The two diversion pipes extending from the main air intake are like the back of a giant dragon, winding and disappearing into the mountain shelter in the distance - there is a compressed air storage facility with a power equivalent to that of a small county town.

JF10 and JF14.

These two behemoths that can simulate flight environments above Mach 10 are definitely the jewels in the crown of the world's hypersonic research. They are also one of the key reasons why China can catch up in the field of hypersonic research and development.

"Boss Chang, the delegation has arrived and is undergoing the first routine security check."

The assistant reminded softly.

Chang Haonan nodded and took a final look at the reception plan in his hand. Every detail of today's show must be perfect.

Moreover, in addition to acting, he also has another "side mission".

The Russians have been silent on several types of hypersonic weapons, but their actual progress is much more optimistic than that of the Americans.

However, they themselves may not know this yet.

Perhaps you can take advantage of this information gap and test the other party's bottom line.

"Invite them in."

Chang Haonan adjusted the collar of his suit and put on a professional smile.

Soon, the door was pushed open and a group of more than ten people walked in.

The leader was a tall Slav with short gray hair. Next to him was a Chinese entourage who was introducing the basic situation of the scene to him, including Chang Haonan's identity.

"Hello, Academician Chang, I am Sergei Ivanovich Yegorov, a senior engineer at the Russian Machine Building Research and Production Association."

The other party stepped forward, shook hands with Chang Haonan and introduced himself.

Then, he added another sentence:

"It's an honor to meet you. Before we set off on this trip, our President even mentioned your name..."

With the increasing speed of information circulation, it is no longer possible for Chang Haonan to hide his identity as easily as he did ten years ago.

Especially since Huairou Science City as a whole is actually a semi-open research facility, and only the wind tunnel center has a particularly high level of confidentiality. He has been working here in and out for several years, and it is impossible for no information to leak out.

Now that I hear him say this, I feel a little embarrassed...

"Welcome to Huairou Science City, Mr. Yegorov."

Chang Haonan quickly adjusted his attitude and greeted:

"I have long admired my name."

This is not a false compliment, but Yegorov once presided over the development and experimental tasks of the famous "Cold" series and "Rainbow" series hypersonic verification aircraft in the late 90s, and is a well-known figure in the field of hypersonic fluid dynamics around the world.

In the early stages of hypersonic project planning, Chang Haonan did a lot of research on several projects handled by the other party.

“Please allow me to introduce the basic situation of the JF-10 and JF14 wind tunnels.”

Chang Haonan said as he led everyone to the observation area:

"This is the world's largest and most advanced hypersonic wind tunnel, capable of meeting flight conditions up to Mach 14 and total airflow temperatures of 8000K, fully meeting the testing requirements of all types of hypersonic aircraft."

Yegorov and his technical team stuck to the observation window, staring intently at the precise test section structure inside the wind tunnel. Chang Haonan noticed that when several Russian experts heard the conditions of "12 Mach, 7500K total airflow temperature", they exchanged surprised looks.

TsAGI's wind tunnel did not go astray like the Americans, but due to lack of funds and technological gaps, the simulation conditions are still far inferior to the JF14 in front of us. More importantly, the scale is much smaller and can only carry out 1:3 or 1:4 scale model tests.

In fact, Chang Haonan still had reservations when revealing the performance of JF14.

“Yes, our magnetic bearing technology and new cooling system solve the bottleneck problem of traditional wind tunnels.”

He added casually, as if this were just a trivial technological advancement:

"This allows us to conduct long-term, high-precision aerodynamic tests, and the final verification of the DF-17's waverider shape was completed here."

There is a mixture of truth and falsehood in these words, and no one can verify their authenticity anyway.

However, this last sentence is 100% true.

When the Dongfeng-17 was mentioned, the atmosphere in the room became noticeably subtle. The expressions of the Russian delegation members were complicated, with envy and a hint of reluctance.

"I heard that your country is also developing two hypersonic weapons?" Chang Haonan asked at the right time.

Yegorov nodded:

"The theoretical design has been completed, and we are currently in the wind tunnel stage to improve some details. It should be put into testing soon..."

This is of course just a public statement. In reality, due to the limitations of wind tunnel capabilities, the "Vanguard" will take at least 5-6 years to be put into service, and the air-breathing "Zircon" will be even later.

In fact, this was also the main reason why he rushed to China after seeing the Dongfeng 17.

Although the X51A failed twice in a row, it has accumulated a lot of actual test data. The HTV2, which is less technically difficult, has also been under development for many years. Seeing that it is about to finish last in the hypersonic weapons competition, it is naturally anxious.

Chang Haonan nodded, pretending to think:

"Indeed, without sufficient wind tunnel test data, it is too risky to conduct live-fire tests directly. The X51A is a lesson learned."

"X51A?"

Yegorov was already thinking about this in his mind, and now that Chang Haonan suddenly mentioned it, he almost couldn't hold back the calm expression on his face:

"Academician Chang also studies American projects?"

The control room suddenly fell silent, and Chang Haonan noticed that the military representatives in the delegation pricked up their ears:

“It’s just an academic exchange.”

Chang Haonan deliberately made an awkward expression as if he had let something slip, and then lowered his voice:

"But now that it's mentioned... According to our analysis, X51A has a flaw in its calculation method for the waverider's compressed airflow."

Yegorov's eyes widened:

"This... shouldn't this be the most core technical secret?"

"The laws of aerodynamics exist objectively."

Chang Haonan shrugged, pretending to make up for it quickly:

"By combining some features of the two failed test flights with our own theoretical model, it is not difficult to reversely deduce the problem. Simply put, they used the wrong turbulence model when dealing with the shock wave-boundary layer interference, which led to the inevitable longitudinal instability during the transition to a dive at the end of the trajectory."

This explanation, which was densely packed with professional terms, left the delegation members with non-technical backgrounds confused, but Yegorov and several other experts were visibly shocked.

A young technician standing slightly behind him lowered his voice and asked Professor Leonid Lebedev next to him:

"Can this kind of thing...really be reverse-derived through theoretical models?"

Lebedev shook his head almost without thinking:

"Of course not, unless they get X51's..."

The old man suddenly realized that he had said something wrong, glanced at the members from the Ministry of Economy and Trade behind him, and swallowed the words "design drawings".

At the front of the queue, Yegorov continued to ask:

"You mean... even if the scramjet engine works properly, the X51A cannot fly stably?"

"Of course you can understand it that way."

Chang Haonan answered affirmatively:

"But on the other hand, it also means that the X51A doesn't have any major hardware problems. As long as the other party can find the problem through multiple tests, they can quickly reverse the unfavorable situation of the first two test failures..."

This was of course a pure smokescreen, but Yegorov resonated deeply with it.

The situation with the next-generation submarine-launched ballistic missile RSM-56 they are developing is similar. The results of the first dozen or so test launches were terrible, but after modifying part of the control logic, they immediately achieved multiple consecutive successful test launches.

This is exactly the characteristic of software systems compared to hardware defects.

It is possible that the problem cannot be solved in ten years, or it is possible that everything will be solved in the next second.

During the following visit, although Yegorov was obviously still immersed in the amazing information about the X51A and tried to get back to the topic several times, Chang Haonan said that China currently does not need external support in the field of hypersonic research, and directed the topic to possible areas of cooperation between the two sides, especially Russia's technological and experience advantages in nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear facility construction.

The meaning here can almost be said to be explicit.

"I am not an expert in the nuclear industry, so I can't confirm anything directly."

Yegorov stated:

"But I will report this news as soon as I return home. I believe the Atomic Energy Company will be very willing to join us and further expand the market in Asia..."