The rejuvenation of a great nation: from educated youth to national treasure scientist

Chapter 323: The J- appears out of nowhere [Request full order]

Carrier-based aircraft can be said to be the only combat power of an aircraft carrier.

Without a reliable carrier-based aircraft, an aircraft carrier will have no combat effectiveness.

An aircraft carrier without combat capability is no different from a vase.

Wang Haoran has contributed a lot to the research and development of carrier-based aircraft.

The main difference between carrier-based aircraft and ordinary fighter jets is actually the huge difference in their operating environment.

It faces challenges from marine climate, wind and waves, and high humidity environment.

The structure of carrier-based aircraft needs to be stronger than that of ordinary fighter jets.

In addition, the coating on its surface also needs to have stronger corrosion resistance.

Finally, because of the limited space on the aircraft carrier, the wings of the carrier-based aircraft need to be foldable so that they can be stored in the hangar under the deck.

The above experiences actually need to be explored slowly, and improvements can be made bit by bit by exposing shortcomings through practice.

That was a relatively long process.

Today, there are still seven or eight countries in the world that have aircraft carriers.

However, there are only two or three companies that can build carrier-based aircraft.

Among them, the Eagle is definitely the best carrier-based aircraft.

Daxiong developed aircraft carriers relatively late, and its aircraft carriers are not true aircraft carriers.

Therefore, the development of its carrier-based aircraft is not very good.

When Wang Huai'en, chief engineer of Chengfei, first received the task of developing carrier-based aircraft, he was quite optimistic and felt that existing aircraft such as the J-10 could be modified to almost complete the task.

However, when he met with Wang Haoran and discussed it, he found that it was not the case at all.

The development of this carrier-based aircraft requires starting from scratch in many aspects.

Things like anti-corrosion coatings, wing folding technology, the structural strength of the aircraft, etc. all need to be started over.

Wang Huai'en wondered in his heart at the time: Can an aircraft like this, which needs to be built from scratch, really be built and successfully tested within a year, and be prepared for mass production?
This task is really a bit too urgent.

Wang Huai'en was very unsure at the time.

However, with the help of Wang Haoran, research and development work in all aspects basically never encountered any bottlenecks, because Wang Haoran always had a solution.

Finally, at the end of May 1985, the first carrier-based aircraft was developed.

After the prototype is built, it is natural to test and fly it as soon as possible.

It is also necessary to simulate harsh marine environmental conditions to test whether it can really achieve the effect of moisture-proof and rust-proof.

Of course, the stability of its structure should also be tested.

When landing, carrier-based aircraft need to use arresting cables.

This can stop a fighter jet instantly at a speed of hundreds of kilometers per hour.

This impact force is definitely huge for the aircraft.

If the aircraft structure is not strong enough, it is estimated that the aircraft will fall apart after a few interceptions.

Fortunately, during the testing process, this newly developed carrier-based aircraft performed quite well.

He successfully passed all the tests under harsh conditions.

Wang Huai'en was very grateful.

He thought to himself, if Wang Haoran hadn't been there to guide him, if Wang Haoran hadn't set the standards so high.

It is probably very impossible for carrier-based aircraft to accomplish the task in one go.

The test flights and tests lasted a total of two months.

All in all, the aircraft performed very well in all tests and test flights.

Both the Navy and the Air Force participated in the testing.

Of course, this aircraft was primarily intended for the Navy.

The Navy has hardly put forward any suggestions for rectification.

They were very satisfied with the aircraft.

Therefore, starting from August 1985, Chengfei has been preparing for mass production.

By early October of that year, the fighter jet named J-10 began mass production.

Initially, production was quite low.

After all, it was a trial production! Only two carrier-based aircraft were produced in a month.

In the second month, production increased to 10 aircraft.

After all, once it is finalized, the speed will be much faster.

Some people may ask, why does Giant Eagle's aircraft seem to be produced faster than ours?

In fact, it’s not that we can’t be fast.

Instead, we do each of our work more meticulously than the other party, strive for perfection in every component, and absolutely do not sloppy or ambiguous in every link.

In addition, our technical staff is also enthusiastic about product upgrades.

Each batch of aircraft may have slight changes from the next batch.

This change is more reasonable and can better promote the performance of the aircraft.

A senior pilot once said that although the appearance of some fighter jets seems to have not changed much, the internal design has undergone tremendous changes in just a few years.

The changes are really huge.

By early January 1986, Chengfei had mass-produced more than 1 carrier-based aircraft.

Coincidentally, at this time, the first domestically-made aircraft carrier had just completed various preliminary sea trials.

Therefore, the deployment of carrier-based aircraft on board ships was put on the agenda.

It takes a long time for an aircraft carrier to form combat effectiveness.

After the carrier-based aircraft are put on board, they still require a relatively long period of training.

Because the take-off and landing of carrier-based aircraft on an aircraft carrier is definitely a technical job.

It also tests the pilot's courage, patience and resilience.

It takes a long time to train a mature carrier-based aircraft pilot.

But, all in all, everything went well.

On the morning of January 1986, 1, carrier-based aircraft began to board the ship.

The main way for carrier-based aircraft to board a ship is actually for the pilot to take off directly from a land base and directly onto an aircraft carrier.

This method is easy to operate and does not require complicated mechanical equipment.

Of course, this is also a great test of the pilots' psychological qualities.

However, carrier-based aircraft pilots have actually undergone rigorous and comprehensive training on land.

Take the landing training for example. It requires at least dozens or hundreds of trainings to ensure that there are no mistakes.

But even so, landing a plane directly on an aircraft carrier is still a new challenge for pilots.

Zhang Chengjie is a pilot with 8 years of military service.

He started flying fighter jets since the J-6 era.

Of course, he came at a good time. The old plane had not been in use for many years before the country developed a true third-generation fighter, the J-10.

Because Zhang Chengjie performed well in training and combat exercises, he also became one of the first J-10 pilots.

When Zhang Chengjie first drove the J-10, he was very excited.

Because this is a truly modern fighter jet!
At first, Zhang Chengjie didn't know what the main advantages of the J-10 were over the J-6.

Can advanced electronic equipment really significantly enhance the combat effectiveness of fighter jets?

After driving the J-10, Zhang Chengjie was shocked.

He found that this third-generation fighter was leading in all aspects.

Its engine performance is powerful, which makes the J-16's maneuverability much better than that of the F.

The J-6 is simply incomparable.

In addition to its powerful maneuverability, the J-10's avionics and radar are also very powerful.

When Zhang Chengjie was driving the J-10 and practicing with his master, he experienced for the first time what beyond-visual-range locking was.

The radar on this fighter jet can actually lock onto targets more than a hundred kilometers away.

This is incredible. The missiles it carries have also been greatly improved, and it can hit targets tens of kilometers away and hit them accurately.

Zhang Chengjie thought, no wonder the Emperor was so arrogant, saying that he could defeat dozens of our fighter planes with just one fighter plane.

They could aim at us and shoot us from outside the visual range before.

But in the J-6 era we could only engage in close combat.

Our motherland is amazing!

In such a short period of time, such a powerful third-generation fighter was developed.

Zhang Chengjie has been flying the J-10 for more than three years.

His base had previously been somewhere in Dongshan Province.

He had also fought against his opponents before.

It can be said that the J-10 can definitely gain the upper hand when competing with opponent aircraft.

In the past, the eagle would come to provoke and tease the dragon.

Now, if they come to cause trouble again, Zhang Chengjie and his comrades will make them miserable.

After all, Longguo is now also leading in electronic warfare equipment.

Zhang Chengjie had long known that his country was developing an aircraft carrier.

He originally thought that it would take at least a few years to accomplish this.

Unexpectedly, in October 1985, Zhang Chengjie heard that the first domestically-made aircraft carrier had been manufactured and outfitted, and had begun sea testing.

Zhang Chengjie thought, since it has been tested overseas, it means that it will soon be able to form combat capability, right?

He was just thinking about it when the organization called him for a talk.

The organization hopes that he will participate in the selection of carrier-based aircraft pilots.

Zhang Chengjie was overjoyed.

He really didn't expect that he would have the opportunity to become a carrier-based aircraft pilot.

He participated in the selection and stood out among thousands of people and was selected to fly the J-15 carrier-based aircraft.

Zhang Chengjie started participating in training in mid-October.

It was only at this time that he realized that his country's carrier-based aircraft had already been produced.

The appearance of this carrier-based aircraft is quite nice, and it is not very similar to the J-10.

After seeing the parameters of the J-15, Zhang Chengjie was even more shocked.

Because the empty weight of the J-17 reaches more than 27 tons, and its normal take-off weight can reach tons.

The maximum take-off weight is over 32 tons.

It can carry more ammunition and its combat radius can reach 1500 kilometers.

Its maximum speed can reach Mach 2.4.

Its maximum ceiling is as high as 2 meters.

This parameter is much better than the Eagle's F18 carrier-based aircraft.

The F18, also known as the Hornet, has a maximum take-off weight of only 28 tons, and its combat radius is only a little more than 1 kilometers with aerial refueling.

Its maximum ceiling is only 1.5 meters.

In other words, the J-18 is much stronger than the F in all aspects.

However, Eagle generally uses steam catapults, which can launch heavier aircraft.

The first Dragon aircraft carrier still uses a ski-jump take-off mode.

Zhang Chengjie was a little worried. Can such a heavy J-15 carrier-based aircraft really take off from an aircraft carrier by ski jumping?
Zhang Chengjie began to try to fly the J-15.

He quickly became familiar with the temperament of the J-15.

This fighter is quite easy to fly and very friendly to pilots.

After becoming proficient in flying for about twenty hours, Zhang Chengjie began to practice take-off and landing on an aircraft carrier model built on land.

When he took off from a fake aircraft carrier's ski jump runway for the first time, he was very excited.

This fighter jet can successfully take off at a distance of about 100 meters by using a ski-jump deck.

Moreover, takeoff is quite easy.

This was something Zhang Chengjie had not expected.

After all, on an ordinary runway, when he drove the J-280 at full acceleration, the shortest take-off distance would be about meters.

This ski jump deck is pretty awesome.

After Zhang Chengjie successfully completed the ski-jump takeoff, he completed a flight landing on an aircraft carrier model more than 20 minutes later.

It was also accurately stopped by the arresting cable.

This is called success in one go.

This also earned Zhang Chengjie an award.

Zhang Chengjie trained for more than two months.

During this process, he has been waiting for news: when can the domestically-made aircraft carrier start to put aircraft on board?

He was getting a little impatient.

After all, taking off and landing training on an aircraft carrier model on land is definitely different from taking it on a real aircraft carrier!
The time came to 1986, and on January 1, Zhang Chengjie finally received the notice to board the ship.

He was overjoyed.

The fact that the aircraft can be put on board means one thing: the aircraft carrier has made all preparations.

There are no problems with the power equipment or anything like that.

After the aircraft is on board, it will be put into service after a period of adjustment.

In that case, Longguo will have its first domestically-produced aircraft carrier!
This is a major event!

In the past, countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and even Spain all had aircraft carriers.

And we, the great dragon, can't even own an aircraft carrier.

This is a very shameful thing.

If you don't have an aircraft carrier, then your fleet can forget about traveling further.

Because, without air power, if a conflict really happens, you will be crushed by the other side.

The navy has always been a thorn in the side of the dragon.

The old man once said that for many years, imperialism has come from the sea, so in order to protect our own security, we must have a strong navy even if we have to sell everything we have.

The country has also been working hard to build its navy.

However, we were very poor and had no technology at the beginning. Even after more than 20 years of development, our navy can only be regarded as a near-shore navy and cannot enter the deep ocean at all.

Now, finally, we have our own aircraft carrier!
Moreover, before we had aircraft carriers, we already had large, all-round warships like the 052D.

The Dragon Kingdom's navy began to take off.

At 1 a.m. on January 13, Zhang Chengjie and his comrades received an order to take off from the base and fly to the aircraft carrier anchored in the Bohai Sea and land according to the guidance of the signal coordinates.

After receiving the order, Zhang Chengjie and his comrades took quick action.

They had been preparing for this day for many days.

Zhang Chengjie flew the fighter plane for only twenty minutes before he arrived at the vast white ocean.

He soon saw an aircraft carrier parked on the open sea below.

At this time, Zhang Chengjie's plane was about 1 meters above sea level.

After communicating with the aircraft carrier, he immediately adjusted the flight direction according to the instructions and began to land.

The fighter plane he was flying was getting lower and lower, and finally it was only about a hundred meters above the sea level.

Only then did he realize how huge the aircraft carrier in front of him was.

In fact, the simulated aircraft carrier used for taking off and landing on land is in proportion to the first domestically-produced aircraft carrier.

However, it feels different when placed on land or held captive at sea.

Zhang Chengjie was very calm. He lowered the nose of the plane again according to the procedure and landed very accurately on the landing runway on the aircraft carrier.

The plane's speed after landing was about 250 kilometers per hour.

Zhang Chengjie simply activated the landing hook quickly and aimed it at the arresting cable.

(End of this chapter)