Chapter 1693: Spiral of Despair

Just then, the sound of footsteps came from the stairs, breaking the suffocating deadlock.

The two who just didn't know how it would end breathed a sigh of relief and turned their heads at the same time.

The visitor was Odom Mankoff, the testing supervisor at the Fort Worth plant.

He walked quickly to McIntosh, a folder in hand, and reported, "F-01B test aircraft BX-35 has completed all ground checks and system initialization. The test station is ready and can initiate vertical takeoff and landing mode verification testing at any time."

This news was like a shot in the arm, relaxing McIntosh's tense nerves a little.

He quickly took the document from Mankoff, his eyes quickly scanned the key pages, and his fingers tapped on the important data.

After confirming that everything is correct, close the folder and hand it back to the other party.

"Very good, Odom, very good...start the testing process immediately."

Then he turned to Elginbridge:

"Thomas, you'd better pray that the 'alternative plan' we've prepared is successful... Otherwise, as I just said, neither of our two families will be in a good situation."

Previously, in the face of China's counterattack, Rolls-Royce almost immediately chose to remove itself from the two major powers and admitted that its supply would be affected.

Lockheed Martin's idea is to find an alternative solution by itself and Pratt & Whitney, and eventually announce to the outside world that everything is normal, so as to maintain the external image of the JSF project as much as possible.

But Elginbridge just curled his lips in disdain, made no response, and silently followed McIntosh and Mankoff down the stairs.

On the way to the dedicated testing workshop, he finally spoke, his tone filled with undisguised doubt:

"Chauncey, with all due respect, I'm not optimistic about your so-called 'alternative plan'... The timeline is too short and the verification is too insufficient."

McIntosh was furious at this cold shower and clenched his fists.

But he suppressed his anger, took a deep breath, and retorted in a slightly stiff voice:

"This F135-600 engine, equipped with a new lift fan, has already completed bench testing in Indianapolis and has performed the best of the three alternatives... and is very close to the original version."

Elginbridge opened his mouth, as if he wanted to list a bunch of technical risks and potential problems.

But seeing Mackintosh's determined expression, as if the arrow was on the string and had to be shot, he finally swallowed his words, just shook his head heavily and said no more.

He knew that Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney had been forced into a corner and had no way out.

A few minutes later, the three entered a more open test workshop with a high dome.

On the central test bench, an F-01B fighter jet with the number "BX-35" painted on its vertical tail is firmly fixed to the test bench by a hydraulic clamp.

The surrounding technicians had already evacuated to a safe area, and several test engineers were sitting behind the console, ready for action.

The F01B with the number BX-35 was originally planned to be delivered to the Maritime Self-Defense Force to be used to transform the 20DDH into a light aircraft carrier to counter the growing Chinese Navy.

However, plans cannot keep up with changes. It happened to be the first aircraft that could not be shipped due to the lack of lift fan, so it was naturally chosen as a test aircraft.

While McIntosh and Mankoff were confirming the final instructions, Elginbridge slowly walked around the test aircraft outside the safety line.

His gaze finally stopped right behind the plane.

The thick tail nozzle of the F135-600 engine is exposed, but the movable baffle originally installed inside the tail nozzle to reduce the infrared signal characteristics has been removed.

I think this is to ensure that there is enough thrust.

But in reality, the thrust loss caused by this baffle is only about 2%.

"They don't even let go of this little thrust loss..." Elginbridge sneered in his heart, thinking that it seems that Pratt & Whitney and Lockheed Martin's confidence is far less than they appear.

The performance of this 'replacement' is probably quite limited."

"Attention everyone!" Mankoff's booming voice boomed over the workshop radio. "BX-01 vertical take-off and landing mode test, phase one, ready to launch!"

As the command was given, the huge lift fan air intake cover on the back of the BX-01 quickly flipped up and opened, revealing the complex fan structure inside.

At the same time, the iconic three-bearing rotating nozzle at the tail is also rotated 90° under hydraulic drive, perpendicular to the ground, and locked into place with a "click".

The entire aircraft has fully entered a simulated vertical take-off posture.

Mankoff took a deep breath and exchanged a look with McIntosh, who nodded slightly.

"Start the engine! Enter takeoff power!" Mankoff issued the key instructions.

"Start engines! Takeoff power!" the command was repeated and executed.

Om-!

A low and powerful hum of the starting motor was heard, followed by a sharp whistling sound that tore through the air!

The core of the F135 engine was ignited, the turbine rotated at high speed, and violent gas gushed out, pushing the vertical nozzle at the tail to spray out hot and twisted airflow downward.

A massive amount of real-time data quickly flashed on the huge display screen next to the console:

Engine speed (N1, N2), exhaust temperature, fuel flow, lubricating oil pressure...

The most eye-catching thing is the rising green curve in the center of the screen - the total upward pull measured in real time by the ground platform sensor.

That is, the actual takeoff thrust acting on the aircraft.

McIntosh stared at the curve, his fists clenched unconsciously.

The shrieking sound continued to rise, reaching a heart-pounding peak, and the ground of the entire test workshop was shaking slightly.

The tension curve on the screen also rushed upwards like an arrow!

25000...30000...35000...

The curve began to slow down after crossing 36000 ibf and eventually stabilized at a value of 41000 ibf (about 18600 kgf).

A suppressed groan erupted from behind the control console.

This is very close to the nominal thrust of the F135-600 at takeoff (18900 kgf)!

For the first time, a relieved smile appeared on Mankoff's tense face. He looked at McIntosh excitedly: "Sir! The total thrust is 41000 pounds! Very close to the requirements in the manual, even better than in Indianapolis!"

McIntosh let out a long sigh, his clenched fists finally loosened, and his face showed the first real smile in several months, which also had a bit of a sense of surviving a disaster.

He even looked sideways at Elginbridge next to him with a bit of show-off, as if to say: "Look, we did it!"

However, before the smile on his lips could fully unfold, he was ruthlessly interrupted by a quick and sharp report:

"The thrust distribution is seriously unbalanced! The lift fan's contribution is insufficient!"

At the control console, an engineer in charge of monitoring the thrust distribution system turned pale and repeated it in a panic.

Mankoff and McIntosh's expressions were instantly frozen on their faces, as if they were frozen in ice.

McIntosh glanced sharply at the main control screen.

At this point, engineers have placed more detailed thrust distribution below the main thrust curve:

Lift fan thrust: 35%

Main engine tail nozzle thrust: 48%

Left wing root roll control nozzle thrust: 9%

Right wing root roll control nozzle thrust: 8%...

Clear alarm information flashes on the top layer:

[The lift fan thrust is insufficient and the vertical lift capability is impaired.]

"This..." Mankoff cried out, "How could this be?"

McIntosh felt a chill running from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

The total thrust meets the standard, but the distribution is completely messed up?

This means that not only will the F-35B be unable to take off vertically or hover stably in the air, but even its more commonly used and practical short-range takeoff capability will be affected.

Even if the thrust is forcibly balanced by narrowing the tail nozzle, the take-off distance will be significantly extended and the payload will also be greatly reduced.

For some smaller carriers, such as the Cavour or Juan Carlos I, it may not even be possible to take off normally.

Elginbridge walked up to McIntosh at this time, without any surprise on his face:

"The original lift fan blades used a pre-deformed structure, so the entire F135-600 engine mounting structure, the F-35B's dorsal air intake shape, internal flow paths, and even the flight control software's trim logic were all deeply optimized and adjusted around this design... This is something both you and Pratt & Whitney should be very clear about."

He turned his gaze to the fighter plane on the test bench that was still roaring but destined to be unable to take off, and said with a hint of sarcasm:

"But you're like a cornered bug, forcing a solution that was abandoned during the design phase into this sophisticated system... It may 'appear' to have good thrust on the test bench, but it's completely incompatible with the aircraft as a whole."

"Even if there aren't any major issues today, in actual flight, once complex maneuvers and high G loads are encountered, this mismatch could cause catastrophic failure at any time—fan stall, thrust drop, or even structural resonance disintegration... In other words, discovering the problem on the ground is actually a good thing."

Every word Elginbridge spoke was heart-wrenching, like a hammer, hitting Mackintosh's heart.

Veins bulged on his forehead and his teeth chattered, but he couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.

Because he knew very well in his heart that every word Elginbridge said since the moment they were in the assembly workshop was true.

At this suffocating moment, a panic-stricken figure rushed into the testing workshop.

He completely ignored the tense atmosphere and the ongoing test, his eyes anxiously searching the crowd until he finally locked onto McIntosh. He then trotted forward and whispered hurriedly in a voice that only a few people nearby could barely hear:

"Just received the latest news. A strange, never-before-seen shuttle-shaped aircraft appeared at Beiling Airport in Shengjing, China. Preliminary speculation suggests it could be... a technical verification aircraft or prototype for a sixth-generation fighter jet."

The moment he heard the news, McIntosh's pupils contracted suddenly.

This news, like a bolt from the blue, finally became the last big stone that broke the camel's back.

The supervisor, who had worked at Lockheed Martin for nearly 30 years, felt a black screen before his eyes and then completely lost consciousness.