Chapter 394 One person drives an industry

"By the way, I remember that before, the Persians also said they wanted to ask us to improve the F14."

Speaking of the Persian Air Force, Chang Haonan also recalled the situation a few months ago, so he asked Zhong Shihong:

"So, are you already upgrading the TF30 engine?"

No matter how you say it, the F14 is an aircraft from nearly 25 years ago. Even if China is not as comprehensive as the United States in terms of the overall development level of the aviation industry, there will be no problem in most places if it wants to renovate or improve such an old model.

The only trouble is motivation.

Although the TF30 engine performance is very good.

But again, it's still a serious turbofan.

And the main defects are the unreasonable design of the compressor and poor matching of the flying head. The production and manufacturing process is still quite good.

So it’s really not easy to upgrade TF30.

"It hasn't started yet. In fact, even the specific improvement plan in terms of power has not been determined yet."

Zhong Shihong shook his head:

"We just shipped a TF30 from Tehran some time ago that has reached the end of its life. We are inspecting the situation. In short, because there is no original technical data at all, it is really difficult to upgrade the technology. We are currently discussing with the other party whether it is simply a life extension maintenance. , it is better to simply wait until the domestically produced turbofan 9 is produced, and then give them a new engine."

The prototype of the turbofan 9, the SPEI MK202, has an afterburning thrust of 9.2 tons, which is slightly smaller than the 30 tons of the TF412-P-9.4. However, the former still has considerable potential for increasing thrust. The key point is that the performance under working conditions must be much more stable, at least There is no need for pilots to practice the art of shutting down and restarting a surge engine during maneuvers before takeoff.

In addition, the length and diameter of the turbofan 9 are smaller, which not only meets the fitness requirements, but can even be the same as the F4 after the engine change, saving space and increasing some fuel carrying capacity.

Or add an auxiliary power unit (APU) to the rear half of the fuselage to generate electricity——

Because the F14 was designed too early, the power consumption of the high-power radar was not fully estimated, resulting in a tight power supply situation.

In short, it is a huge advantage no matter how you think about it.

The only problem is that although the current progress of the domestically produced turbofan 9 cannot be said to be perfect, at least it is still far away from the Persians' expectations...

"It depends on whether the Persians can afford to wait. For us, we can't make much profit regardless of overhaul or upgrade. The main benefit is to increase our popularity."

Chang Haonan's personal interest in the F14 is just for curiosity. After all, he has never really been exposed to any type of variable-sweep wing aircraft. However, from a practical perspective, the overall performance of this model actually does not meet the requirements of the times.

The huge dead weight, low reliability and high maintenance time caused by the complex mechanical structure cannot be solved by simply changing the engine.

The F4 upgrade project, which is large in volume but low in technical difficulty, is the main source of profit.

Zhong Shihong nodded in agreement:

"This is true, so the main plan we are promoting here is to wait a little longer and then change the engine directly. This will increase the combat effectiveness even more, and it will also help our engine gain a reputation."

If it were left in the past, this kind of engine that has not even been installed and tested, even if it is just a domestic model with a prototype, will not be taken into consideration at all.

But times have changed.

The success of the Turbojet 14 and the subsequent series of results produced by the Seiko Project have made everyone more optimistic about the progress of the Turbofan 9.

"By the way, speaking of Project Seiko, how has the progress been in the last two or three months?"

Although Chang Haonan is known as the general consultant of the Seiko Project, he has not been directly involved in specific projects for a while because he has been busy with Project 10 and other issues such as software design.

"After all, it has only been half a year, and many projects have just started. However, some specific technical results have been produced, especially in welding and casting processing."

When it came to the Seiko Project, Zhong Shihong's tone became obviously more solemn.

The main reason why he was promoted from the director of the technical department to the deputy general manager was actually the Seiko Plan.

At this time, another person next to him answered:

"Mr. Chang, I think that compared to the specific new technologies, the more important value of the Seiko Project is to provide us with a relatively open communication platform. Before, the information was too closed, and everyone sometimes didn't know each other. Other people’s research level has led to many repetitive projects.”

There were other people nearby who also agreed:

"Yes, last month our factory turned a profit for the first time in the past five years, thanks to Mr. Chang's new technology and the platform provided by Seiko Project."

Chang Haonan turned around and looked around. He remembered that this person should be a production manager from Jianning 331 Factory, and his name should be Yu Fei.

The latter immediately explained:

"We spent four months in the first half of the year updating our technology and conducting a process upgrade on the turboshaft 8A engine, and finally achieved a relatively satisfactory technical index."

"The turboshaft 8...is used on the straight 9, right?"

Chang Haonan confirmed casually.

Compared with the turbofan engine that has attracted much attention, the two types of aviation engines with output shaft power, turboshaft and turboprop, have received relatively little attention. However, in fact, until more than 20 years later, they are still China Airlines. The biggest shortcoming in the power field.

"Yes, straight 9, and civilian model H410."

Yu Fei nodded:

“Not to mention the original turboshaft 8A, the low cycle life of several key components is only about 1% of that of the prototype Ahaye 40C. Once the high temperature reaches 30 degrees Celsius or above, the available power will drop off a cliff, which will not even ensure that the helicopter is unloaded. It was very difficult to take off, let alone transport people and cargo, causing users to complain endlessly.”

"Before, Jiangcheng and Yangcheng, several cities with relatively good economic development levels, originally wanted to purchase a batch of police helicopters. After contacting Bingcheng, they brought a prototype aircraft for a test flight. The result was that the customers were frightened. Dare to use it..."

The people around him chuckled.

But there was absolutely no intention of ridicule.

If I had to say it, it would be self-deprecating.

In fact, similar embarrassing situations are not isolated cases. It can even be said that almost everyone engaged in aviation in this era has encountered similar scenes.

Not to mention the civilian models, which give users more choice, even the military models will be rejected.

"Fortunately, it was a coincidence this time. The first batch of our improved new engines just rolled off the production line and completed testing. We hurriedly shipped two units and replaced them, which was barely accepted by customers."

"General aviation is indeed a big market. If this area can be maintained well, there will definitely be great potential in the future."

Chang Haonan was quite pleased to hear this story.

After all, users are accustomed to this kind of thing, and it is actually difficult to change it in a short period of time.

In particular, the user scale of general aviation is often not very large and they are not very sensitive to costs.

So much so that in previous lives until the 2020s, there were almost no domestic models of police helicopters in major cities in China, and most of the market was occupied by companies such as AgustaWestland and Eurocopter.

And now it is undoubtedly a good start.

It's a pity that the size of the Z-9 is really not enough, and the Z-8 model has huge fundamental problems. Unless the entire aircraft can be redesigned like the Z-8L later, it may be difficult to save it.

In addition, Lanxiang Machinery Factory, which produces turboshaft 6, is considered to be first-rate weak even in the aviation power system. Chang Haonan almost forgot about it when he wrote the report before.

All in all, it can only be said that there is a long road ahead.

At this moment, the sound of high heels tapping on the ground came from far and near.

"Director Chang!"

Chang Haonan turned around and found that it was a venue staff member.

"Director Chang, our conference is about to start. Regarding the specific agenda, Mr. Liang still has some things to confirm with you. Backstage..."

Looking at Chang Haonan's leaving figure, Liu Yongquan once again touched his bald head out of habit:

"Mr. Chang has driven our entire industry forward by himself..."