Chapter 608: Promoting Project No. 10

Next.

The ‘Eagle’ advanced trainer continued to test-fly, and the second prototype was produced.

If it was a project funded by the state, it would not be so extravagant. It would continue to test-fly, accumulate experience, and solve problems. It would take at least one or two years before the second prototype was manufactured.

However, this project was funded by Panshan Group itself, and there was no need for state funding. Panshan Group had money, so it naturally started to manufacture the second prototype.

Even if there were no problems with the test-flight work later, the design would be finalized soon and mass production would begin.

This advanced advanced trainer is more important to the Air Force than the ‘J-7A’ advanced trainer.

Because the ‘Eagle’ advanced trainer has strong combat power and can play a role on the battlefield.

Liu Tao and his team held a meeting on the issue of technology authorization.

In the past, if a unit made a technological breakthrough, other units could use the new technology free of charge as long as they applied to the higher authorities.

But since the reform and opening up, it has been different.

The economy has gradually shifted from a planned economy to a market economy. Although there is a dual-track system, the country is also gradually improving the market.

There are company laws and patent laws introduced by the state, and the protection of patents and intellectual property rights is increasing.

Liu Tao attaches great importance to this aspect.

The J-7 can use this new technology, and the J-8 can also be improved, no problem, but it must be authorized. If it is exported, a part of the authorization fee must be paid.

The latest J-7 series aircraft are the J-7III and J-7IIIA. The J-7III is equipped with a JL-7 radar and a turbojet 13 engine that imitates the P-13F-300 engine equipped on the MiG-21MF. The J-7IIIA is based on the J-7III and is equipped with a turbojet 13F1 engine with increased thrust, a HK-03 sight replaced with a head-up display, a JL-7A fire control radar, a combined electronic countermeasure system, and a new chaff/flare dispenser.

Yu Ximing of Guizhou Aircraft Group leads the team, drawing on the advanced technology of the "J-7" advanced trainer, and is improving the J-7 to form the J-7E. However, the J-7E has just completed the design and has not yet produced a prototype. Now there are newer technologies, so naturally we need to improve the J-7E on this basis.

The latest model of the J-8 is the J-8II, and the chief designer of the J-8II is Gu Songfen.

And now Shenfei is also further developing the improvement of the J-8II.

Three days later, Liu Tao came to the 611 Institute.

Liu Tao attaches great importance to the J-10 fighter, because no matter how the J-7 and J-8 are modified, they are still second-generation and a half fighters. The foundation is there, and no matter how they are modified, they can never reach the performance level of the third-generation aircraft. They can only be used for emergency and are transitional products.

This can be seen from the fact that there are still a large number of J-5 and J-6 fighters in the air force equipment, while there are very few J-7 and J-8. The number of J-7 and J-8 air force equipment is far less than the export volume.

"Chief Engineer Liu, we are all very happy that you are willing to participate in Project No. 10. In this way, how about you serve as the chief designer of Project No. 10?" Song Wencong said happily.

Liu Tao smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Forget about being the chief designer of Project No. 10. It's not necessary! My time to participate in Project No. 10 is limited, and it's impossible for me to stay in Institute 611 for too long."

Song Wencong saw that Liu Tao was determined, so he didn't say anything.

He gathered all the people in Institute 611.

Song Wencong said with a smile: "Comrades, everyone put your work aside. Today I will introduce you to the famous Comrade Liu Tao. From today on, Comrade Liu Tao will participate in Project No. 10. Everyone applaud and welcome him!"

The applause rang out warmly.

Yang Wei clapped vigorously, with an excited look on his face.

He didn't expect that Liu Tao would really come to participate in Project No. 10.

Song Wencong personally introduced the main personnel of Institute 611. Many of these people are well-known in the industry.

The reason why Institute 611 was established was actually part of the thinking of the Third Line Construction. Institute 611 was actually a backup of Shenfei Design Institute.

Once a war broke out, Institute 611 could take on the responsibility of Shenfei Design Institute.

When the 611 Institute was first established, many of them were the backbone technical forces from the Shenfei Design Institute.

"Comrade Liu Tao, what do you think of the J-10?" Song Wencong asked, leaving only the core of the 611 Institute in the conference room.

Liu Tao smiled and said, "The J-10 fighter jet is benchmarked against the third-generation aircraft of Europe, the United States, and the Soviet Union. At present, the canard layout is the best."

The canard layout is the mainstream of the third-generation fighter jets, especially medium-sized fighter jets. European third-generation fighter jets basically adopt this aerodynamic layout.

For example, the French Rafale fighter jet, the Typhoon fighter jet jointly developed by several European countries, and the Swedish JAS-39 Gripen are all canard layouts.

Aircraft with canard layout do not have much advantages in normal flight conditions, but when the aircraft needs to perform high-intensity maneuvers such as pitching up, circling with a small radius, etc., strong vortices will be generated on the front wing and the main wing of the aircraft. The mutual coupling and enhancement between the two vortices will produce stronger lift than the conventional layout; at high angles of attack, the canard only needs to reduce the lift to generate the nose-down moment, thereby effectively ensuring the controllability of suppressing excessive nose-up at high angles of attack.

Song Wencong and others were surprised. They did not expect Liu Tao to be so optimistic about the canard layout.

"According to what I know, the current development work faces several major problems that need to be solved. The first problem is the power problem. As a third-generation fighter, the J-10 must be equipped with a high-thrust turbofan engine, but we do not have such a mature product at present. If we choose to imitate foreign high-thrust turbojet engines, although the difficulty is much smaller and the risk is relatively small, the turbojet engine does not conform to the trend of future development. Moreover, this type of engine has high fuel consumption, short life, and poor reliability, and it is difficult to meet the needs of the J-10." Liu Tao said.

Aircraft engines are very technical and one of the core keys of aircraft. They directly provide the power required for the aircraft to fly and are the heart of the aircraft. They have always been known as the "flower of industry" in the world. They directly affect the performance, reliability and economy of the aircraft. They are an important manifestation of a country's scientific and technological, industrial and national defense strength.

At present, there are only a few countries in the world that can independently develop high-performance aircraft engines, such as the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France, and the technical threshold is very high.

China's aircraft engines are mainly imitated from Soviet aircraft engines, but the performance of the imitated aircraft engines is unsatisfactory, and the quality and performance are far behind the same type of Soviet engines.

After the reform and opening up, China imported F-14, F-15, and F-16 fighter jets from the United States, and also imported some spare parts for maintenance and purchased more aircraft engines for these three fighter jets. Naturally, relevant domestic units also carried out imitation research projects.

It is not a simple matter to develop an aircraft engine. Even if there is a real object there for you to study, it is very difficult to imitate. So far, these aircraft engine development units have not yet produced a high-performance aircraft engine.

At present, the most advanced aircraft engines in China are the WP-7C engine of the ‘J-7A’ and the WS-2M used by Liu Tao for the ‘Eagle’ advanced trainer.

However, these two aircraft engines are advanced, but they are not high-performance aircraft engines.