Dominate South Asia

Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Company, formerly known as the state-owned Hongdu Machinery Factory, was founded in 1951. At that time, the People's Republic of China had just been founded and everything was waiting for improvement. It is one of the 156 key projects in the national "First Five-Year Plan"; it is also a Chinese training aircraft, attack aircraft, It is a production base for agricultural and forestry aircraft, coastal defense products, projectile looms, motorcycles and engines. The first aircraft of New China took off from here. In later generations, this company was renamed Hongdu Aviation Industry Group and became a large enterprise focusing on training aircraft.

The main reason why this company has become such a large group is its efforts in training aircraft. Hongdu Group specializes in training aircraft, and in later generations it raised its own funds to develop a newer generation of training aircraft.

When the Pakistani delegation showed up at the Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Company, the leaders of the company and the air force followed them to the scene to greet them.

A thin old man stood at the front of the crowd, extremely excited. There were age spots on his wrinkled face due to weight loss, but he was still in high spirits.

He was the company's chief designer, and later became known as Shi Ping, the father of K-8.

In 1934, Shiping was born into a poor family in Boyang County, Jiangxi Province. After liberation, Shiping relied on government grants to study in middle school and college. After graduating from Nanjing Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Shiping came to Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Factory and has been working there until now. He participated in and presided over the imitation of various types of aircraft such as An-2, Dongfeng 103, Chujiao 6, Qiang 5 series modified aircraft, etc. And research and development, and now, the research and development of Jiao-8 is the key event of the entire company!

The Jiao-8 project progressed slowly until Pakistan participated and contacted a suitable engine. This project has just been put on the fast track. Now, the President of Pakistan is visiting and directly came to China Southern Airlines. How can they not be excited!

Finally, the Pakistani special plane was on the runway. After getting off the plane, Mhamad went straight to the small plane on the other side of the runway.

Trainers are small. The length of the aircraft is only 11 meters, including the pitot tube on the nose. The wings are ordinary straight wings without sweep, and there are rounded engine air inlets on both sides. As a trainer aircraft, the front and rear cockpits occupy a lot of space. The large volume, especially the rear cockpit, also provides a good view after being raised.

Compared to what a variable sweep wing. In terms of advanced technologies such as wing-body fusion and enlarged side strips, the aircraft in front of us has nothing to do with it, but. This aircraft has good control performance and can complete various flight maneuvers such as tail thrust. It has low operating cost and is very suitable for training pilots. In later generations, this seemingly inconspicuous trainer aircraft was exported to third world countries in large quantities and was one of the few aircraft models that could earn foreign exchange.

In those African countries, this trainer aircraft is even directly equipped with bombs. The bombing mission can be carried out.

"President Hamad, this is the J-8 aircraft we developed." Shi Ping introduced to Hamad: "In accordance with your requirements, we are equipped with Martin-Baker ejection seats and flight aircraft made by you. Instrument system, instrument landing system, TACAN navigation system and radio, etc., and also equipped with efficient environmental control in cooperation with American Aerospace Equipment Company system, and cooperated with the American Garrett Company to design the intake and exhaust system. Now, this aircraft has completed flight tests in China and will soon go to the United States to complete the engine distortion, rotating balance, environmental control system, ejection rescue and electronic flight instrument systems. If the cross-linking and other tests go well, it will be finalized and produced by the end of this year.”

The speed is very fast! A lot of advanced electronic equipment is produced in Pakistan, with advanced technology and low cost. The ejection seat is produced in the United States. The engine is provided by the United States, so. Many flight tests of this trainer aircraft will be conducted in the United States, which can shorten the development cycle faster. Americans have installed this engine on many aircraft and have rich supporting experience, which can greatly shorten the development process. .

"Okay, okay." Hamad was very interested. He climbed up the ladder, sat in the cockpit, and looked at the instruments in front of him. Although it was still mainly conventional instruments, there were also two LCD screens. In this way, the pilot modified When flying the main fighter, it will be easier to adapt.

"Can you take me on a flight?" Hamad asked.

Hearing Mhamad's question, the Pakistanis present were stunned. This is not an aircraft that has been put into service, but an aircraft that has not yet been finalized. There are many unknown instability factors in the performance of this aircraft. Flying like this , too risky.

Shi Ping also looked embarrassed and said: "Well, President Mhamad, we are not ready yet. We have prepared a report. Can you listen to our report?" Obviously, the risk is too great and he cannot bear it. .

"Okay." Mhamad said: "I also want to hear about our aircraft and how the project is going."

It can be said that the super seventh and fourth generation aircraft are joint developments that have just been confirmed by the two parties, but the Jiao-8 is completely jointly developed by both parties. Pakistan needs this trainer aircraft and has signed a contract with Nanchang Airlines.

Sitting in the conference room of Nanchang Airlines, Chief Designer Shi Ping, still looking excited, said to Mhamad: "According to our original agreement, you are responsible for manufacturing part of the fuselage and avionics equipment. Final assembly is done here and now we have built five prototypes aircraft, two of which are used for static testing. Now, we have completed more than 60% of the test flight projects. By the end of this year, after the test flights of all projects are completed, we can start manufacturing simultaneously. I hope you will do a good job. Ready to manufacture pre-production airframe parts.”

The technical difficulty of the Jiao-8 is far lower than that of other aircraft, and the development project is progressing very smoothly. After listening to Mr. Shi’s words, Hamad immediately expressed his position: "Okay, we can fully cooperate. The parts ordered from the West, It will also speed up delivery.”

Among other things, the engine is in stock, and the ejection seat is ordered from the United Kingdom. For pilots, the ejection seat is a second life. Since fighter planes fly at high speed, like propeller aircraft during World War II, they rely on It is absolutely impossible for the pilot to climb out of the cockpit and parachute by himself. He must use a rocket-assisted ejection seat to quickly escape from the malfunctioning aircraft.

When it comes to ejection seats, the leaders are the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. When a Soviet fighter plane had an accident flying abroad at an air show, before the plane crashed, the ejection seat took the pilot out of the plane and escaped safely, giving the Soviets an ejection seat. The chair is well advertised.

The British Martin-Baker ejection seat is even more famous around the world. Among other things, most of the American fighter planes use the ejection seat of this British private company, including the famous F- 22 and F-35 fighter jets. Therefore, the ejection seats of fighter jets equipped by Pakistan are also selected from this brand.

As for the ejection seat developed by China, although it has good performance and has a high life-saving rate, on this key issue, Hamad still chooses the best-performing product for his fighter planes. After all, pilots Almost made of gold.

"I believe that as long as our training aircraft can be developed, the market will be huge. In addition to Pakistan, countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt will all have this demand." Mhammad said: "The tasks we are facing now "We must follow scientific rules and trial-produce this training aircraft as soon as possible."

Everyone present looked happy when he said it. Now, China has a market economy. When an aircraft is built, it must be able to be sold. Only then can it be successful. In addition to equipping the Chinese Air Force, it must also have enough Only overseas markets can be established. If countries in the Middle East can expand their markets, the future of this trainer aircraft will be bright.

"Thank you President Mhamad for trusting us. If we introduce it to the international market, shouldn't our training aircraft have a resounding name?" Shiping said: "In the past, this was our own model, called the training aircraft - 8. It is now a model jointly developed by us and sold to other countries.”

Hamad immediately said: "Let's call it Karakoram, or Kunlun for short, and change the code name to K-8. It sounds more smooth. What do you think?"

The Karakoram is a famous mountain range in Asia, originating in Afghanistan and extending about 480 kilometers southeast from the easternmost part of Afghanistan. The width is about 240 kilometers, the length is 800 kilometers, and the average altitude is more than 5500 meters. The borders of Tajikistan, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India all converge within this mountain system, so this uninhabited area has huge geopolitical significance. Mhammad's name Kunlun naturally has a deep meaning. It represents the friendship between China and Pakistan, which is as solid as the glacier.

"After this trainer aircraft successfully flies, we hope to improve it on the basis of this trainer aircraft and become a multi-axis stabilizer aircraft. Using fly-by-wire control, we can simulate complex flight conditions and simulate a variety of fighter aircraft in the air. flight characteristics, as long as we compare the characteristics of different aircraft types By inputting parameters into it, the flight characteristics of this type of fighter can be simulated, allowing pilots to become familiar with the fighter to be changed in advance. Even before the new fighter is developed, the design parameters on the drawings can be input into its simulation equipment. Do a simulated flight,” Shiping continued.

Hamad's eyes lit up when he heard this, this would have better performance as a higher education machine! It is exactly the type of trainer aircraft that the Pakistan Air Force urgently needs! (To be continued ~^~)