Dominate South Asia

"Is this model of ours okay?" Watching the American leave, the person sitting on the chair behind, Ahmed, a technician from the Pakistan Aviation Industry Company, asked the engineer Hills next to him. .

They are from the Pakistan Aeronautical Industries Corporation. Now, Pakistan's aviation industry has just started. In the past, it was just a J-6 overhaul factory. Now, it can repair F100 engines, Tomcat fighters, and A-7 fighters. This is their limit, although they are also fighting with others Countries work together, such as developing Gripen with Swedish technicians, developing Engraver with South African personnel, and developing new fighter jets with Chinese personnel, but most of them are in the observation and learning stage. Pakistan's own The aviation industry is currently unable to undertake the important task of designing an aircraft.

At this time, the Pakistani aviation industry brought a model. It was not noticeable at the Farnborough Air Show. This model was not really studied by them, but was instructed by President Hamad. Next, they spent several days making it.

President Mhamad fully explained the advantages of this model to them, giving them the illusion that President Mhamad was an experienced aircraft designer, and he also had a very pioneering spirit. There are many theories that they have never heard of. Now, with this model, they want to bring their own design to the world. For the time being, no one seems to be interested.

For a long time, except for a reporter who came here to take a photo, no one came at all.

It seems that this time it will be in vain.

The whole morning passed like this, next to the exhibition stand. While he was calmly eating the lunch he brought, suddenly, a large group of people surrounded him.

These people are all Americans, and their eyes are almost burning with fire. Looking at their model is like seeing a lover.

"How did you get this model?" the leader said. Judging from the fact that he was over fifty years old, he should be a senior technician. There was a hint of trembling in the other party's words, and he was speechless.

Well, someone finally took the bait! Looking at the Americans arriving, Hills said, "We designed this ourselves."

Designed by yourself? The American opposite said: "How did you design this kind of aircraft? What is its design idea?"

"Stealth performance. Now, radar has become an important means of detecting aircraft. Our fighter aircraft. It is to be invisible in front of the radar, so that the other party cannot detect us. We expect that our stealth method can make us invisible. For a bomber the size of a B-52, the radar reflection area is about the size of a ping pong ball," Hills continued.

The other party's eyes widened, as if he didn't believe what Hills said.

"How did you do it?" the other party asked.

"We have our own dedicated electromagnetic laboratory. In the laboratory, we design various shapes to detect the reflection of radar waves. An aircraft like ours, no matter which direction the other party's radar waves come from, can always be reflected to other parties. direction, and cannot return to the original radar receiver. In addition to reflection, more important It is absorption. We have developed a special coating that can absorb radar waves in the microwave band. Reflection and absorption can greatly reduce the probability of being discovered by radar and improve our stealth performance. . We also used computer-aided design to help us determine a more suitable shape.”

Stealth performance! In this era. Stealth is also a technical standard set by the US military for subsequent fighter jets around the world. It has not been promoted and there is no market. Most aircraft designers think this is something only found in science fiction novels.

Only the United States knows the impact of stealth performance on future air combat and has spared no effort to develop various stealth aircraft. Now, the first stealth attack aircraft, the F-117, has entered active service in the United States.

Americans began to study these technologies in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, the first stealth product, the F-117, was finalized at Lockheed's Skunk Works and equipped with the U.S. Air Force. It has been kept in extreme secrecy. In its current state, it would not even fly during the day. Every flight was at night, and even pilot training was conducted at night. The level of confidentiality was the highest. It was not until 1988 that the United States released photos of the F-117.

Now, no one in the world except the United States knows about the existence of stealth aircraft, and no one can design a stealth aircraft. They simply cannot get rid of the inherent image in their minds.

Now, Pakistani technicians have actually built a model of a stealth aircraft. Moreover, the model of this stealth aircraft is very similar in appearance to Northrop's advanced tactical bomber, which is the later B-2. It is even more perfect than their aircraft!

This type of aircraft from Northrop has been designed for ten years. It was originally a flying-wing layout, but had a vertical tail. It was only later that it was improved to have no vertical tail, which can further reduce the radar reflection area.

At the beginning, the tail of the flying wing was a pointed triangle, and later it became a W shape. This was the result of many calculations.

And now, the opponent's model is a large flying wing, with a W-shaped tail, a crew cabin in the middle, an equipment cabin, and an engine air intake on top.

Seeing the opponent's model, how could the American technicians not be interested? The people who came this time were the team led by Fred, the vice president of Northrop. He came here mainly to promote the company's F-20 fighter to the world. This fighter was developed by the company with its own funds. It was originally intended to replace the F-5 fighter. Unfortunately, it was rejected and no country was willing to equip it.

Unexpectedly, such a fighter was seen here, which coincided with the stealth aircraft developed by our side!

Was it plagiarized by the other party? Absolutely impossible! The fighter developed by Northrop is the most confidential project. For this project, Northrop bought an idle factory of Ford Motor Company in the Picosfora area of ​​the suburbs of Los Angeles, specifically for the development of this stealth bomber. This factory has no windows, and the base is under 24-hour surveillance by the military and security personnel. These security measures to prevent leaks alone cost $2 billion. The computer rooms here are surrounded by metal plates to prevent electromagnetic radiation. Workers in key positions even have to undergo polygraph tests.

Take Fred himself, for example. A few years ago, before being approved to participate in the plan for this fighter, his Canadian wife actually had to change her nationality and become an American citizen. Even in Congress, only 8 members knew about this.

This aircraft is absolutely impossible to leak, and Northrop has finally determined the current appearance after years of research and exploration, which is exactly the same as the appearance of the stealth aircraft in front of him. How can this not surprise Fred?

This should be the result of independent research by the other party. The establishment of electromagnetic laboratories, the design of this aircraft, the application of stealth coatings, and the use of electronic computer-aided design are all processes carried out by Northrop.

I really didn't expect that Pakistan's aviation industry would develop so fast! Although they are still backward in many aspects, such as the most important engine, they cannot produce it themselves, but if they put a lot of effort in a certain aspect, it is still possible to make a breakthrough, such as the current stealth design! Now that no other country pays attention to stealth performance, they have made such progress!

Fred still has a sense of loss. Now, his stealth bomber is still a confidential project. After many years, the project will be declassified. The outside world still thinks that his company copied Pakistan's design. After all, the appearance was announced by others first.

"Then how do you solve the control problem of the aircraft? For example, how to turn without a vertical tail?" Fred continued to ask.

"We have designed four speed brake rudders at the back, two of which are stacked together, with a rotating shaft in front, which can be unfolded up and down. When the left side is fully unfolded, it is equivalent to the left rudder, and so on. When only the bottom is unfolded, it is to press the operating lever." Hills said: "It must be controlled by telex operation, and the maneuverability will not be very high. Our fighter is just a bomber. At the same time, we have another plan to improve our Tomcat fighter and make it have powerful stealth performance."

What Hills said is a problem that has troubled Northrop for a long time. Without the tail, how to control the turning of the fighter? When Fred joined the team, he proposed the idea of ​​the speed brake rudder. Now, the other party said it easily!

They have obviously considered all the problems properly, but due to Pakistan's limited technology, they can only stay on the design drawings at most. It is not easy to actually manufacture it!

"Can you share your designs with us?" Fred said, "I am Fred, the vice president of Northrop Corporation. I am very interested in your designs."

The two sides came to the same conclusion and finally designed a similar aircraft, proving that this Pakistani airline has some skills. Fred extended a sincere invitation. (To be continued ~^~)