Dominate South Asia

Chen Yijian is already sixty years old, with a full head of white hair, but he is full of energy at this time.

Back then, for the JH-7 project, it was necessary to apply for a little funding from the superiors, especially after the Air Force gave up, the development of the JH-7 became even more difficult.

Now, even without the funding from the superiors, Xi'an Aircraft Industry Corporation can also carry out the research and development of new projects! This is the power of the market economy!

Everyone in the factory is full of energy.

And all this, to a large extent, has to thank Pakistan for its help, thanks to Pakistani President Muhammad. After all, this road was pointed out by Muhammad in the past. It was through the export of Spey engines that Xi'an Aircraft Industry Corporation survived the most difficult period.

And now, when it was learned that President Muhammad was coming to inspect, Xi'an Aircraft Industry Corporation held a grand welcome ceremony, and the company's employees went to the airport to greet him.

When Muhammad got off the plane, he thought that the factory had deliberately mobilized so many people to welcome him, but later he learned that it was all spontaneous by these employees.

The weather was not very good, and it was drizzling. Defense Minister General Qin, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Wang Hai and others accompanied President Muhammad and walked into Xifei in the drizzle.

"President Muhammad, you are very welcome to visit us." Chen Yiqian said with excitement.

"Mr. Chen, have you been able to imitate the Tomcat fighter?" Muhammad asked directly.

Hearing Muhammad's question, Chen Yiqian was a little embarrassed: "Yes, basically we imitated it ourselves, but we can't make the wing box part yet, and the few that have been made are all exported."

Export these aircraft. Chen Yiqian also felt that it was a bit inappropriate not to notify Pakistan. In fact, they planned to notify, but before they said it, Muhammad arrived at Chengfei and knew what was going on here.

"Why can't you make the wing box part?" Muhammad asked.

"The wing box is the most important part of the variable sweep wing. It is made of titanium alloy. Our manufacturing capacity is limited. The processing precision is not enough." Chen Yiqian said: "We tried to make it several times, but the strength and precision of the manufactured product were not enough and it could not be used."

Mhammad nodded. This wing box is indeed the most difficult to manufacture. Even in Pakistan, it has introduced advanced titanium alloy technology and used multi-axis linkage CNC machine tools to process a wing box with sufficient precision.

Hearing that some parts cannot be produced. Wang Hai frowned immediately. It turned out that Xi'an Aircraft Industry Corporation could not start manufacturing immediately!

"If you need more, you can order it from us in Pakistan." Muhammad said: "We will ship it to you at the same price as domestic orders."

Chen Yiqian's face was immediately happy: "Thank you President Muhammad. With this key component, our production will not be limited."

"Are there finished products now?" Wang Hai asked.

"There is one that is about to be assembled, and it is in the factory." Chen Yijian said, "It is the last one to be delivered to Iran."

The factory is clean and tidy, and some technicians are busy on the assembled aircraft.

"Is there any performance difference between this Tomcat fighter and the American-made fighter?" Wang Hai asked.

In Chen Yijian's memory, this is the first time in three years that the Air Force Commander-in-Chief has come to Xi'an Aircraft. This time, Xi'an Aircraft is going to turn over! Chen Yijian said: "The performance is not inferior to that of American-made fighters, and some places are even better, such as avionics and engines, which are all produced by us, and are more advanced than the original avionics and engines."

The Americans themselves use TF30, which is difficult to serve. The performance of the TF41 modified by Spey is much better, and the airborne pulse Doppler radar developed by China itself, which integrates a variety of airborne radars, is also better than the original AWG-9.

"Xi'an Aircraft is self-reliant. It has copied a first-class fighter. This practice should be reported to the whole army for praise." General Qin said affirmatively.

"We will definitely continue to carry forward this style of self-reliance and hard work. Of course, there is also the selfless help of our Pakistani friends." Chen Yijian said.

"If the raw materials are sufficient now, how many Tomcat fighters will Xi'an Aircraft Corporation produce annually?" Wang Hai asked Chen Yijian.

Is the Air Force going to place an order? Chen Yijian was even more happy and said, "There will be about ten to twenty in the early stage, and after becoming more skilled in the later stage, the annual output will be about 40."

Producing fighter planes is not like producing cars. The production line operation is completed quickly. Many assemblies are purely handmade, such as the aircraft skin, which is riveted one by one by the workers. Even Pakistan now produces about 30 Tomcat fighters a year.

Wang Hai looked at the Tomcat with great interest. When he had made up his mind to equip this fighter, he felt that this fighter was good everywhere. In the past, the Air Force also regarded variable sweep wings as a development direction!

"After we go back, we will conduct a demonstration. The Air Force can first equip a small number of these fighters to evaluate whether they are suitable for our Air Force," said Wang Hai.

"The powerful interception capability of the Tomcat fighter also comes from the Phoenix missiles it carries." Mhamad said: "The use of long-range air-to-air missiles to carry out long-range strikes on targets is of great practical value in actual air combat. . Now, we can’t just copy an airframe, we should also develop corresponding air-to-air missiles.”

Long-range air-to-air missiles will also be very important in future wars! Its purpose is to attack the enemy's high-value targets, such as early warning aircraft!

However, if it is to attack an early warning aircraft, the Phoenix's range of more than 100 kilometers is considered close. The best is more than 300 kilometers or 400 kilometers. Air-to-air missiles with this range are the only way to attack early warning aircraft. Skills.

Apart from the Phoenix, the long-range air-to-air missile is the Soviet R33 missile. In fact, the Soviet R-33 missile has a strong Phoenix bloodline on it.

However, both missiles use solid rocket motors. With this engine technology, the Phoenix missile is already a big one weighing half a ton. If you want to have a longer range, you must Use new technologies, such as ramjet engines!

Pakistan already has medium-range air-to-air missiles, and there are also several short-range air-to-air missiles. Only long-range air-to-air missiles have always been blank. In the past, they relied on their relationship with the United States to buy and ask for them. A batch came back, and most of them were consumed in the air battle with the Soviets. Now, the inventory of these Phoenix missiles is very small, and Pakistan also needs a new long-range air-to-air missile to use it together!

Now that China has decided to equip Tomcat fighters, it is impossible not to be interested in this long-range air-to-air missile.

"Do we want to comprehensively survey and map Phoenix missiles?" Wang Hai asked: "Or modify our Hongqi 9 surface-to-air missiles onto fighter aircraft?"

There is a precedent for converting surface-to-air missiles into air-to-air missiles. The Iranians have very few Phoenix missiles left. Iranian technicians tried to attach the surface-to-air Hawk missile to a fighter plane, and they actually launched it successfully! Phoenix missiles are only available in the United States in the world, while Hawker missiles have long spread to the entire Western camp. The Iranians can easily get this missile to Iran through smuggling, giving their Tomcat fighter jets a new life. Second spring.

Hammad shook his head. The Red Flag 9, also known as the Friendship Shield missile, was too big. Mounting it on a Tomcat fighter jet would make the fighter aircraft extremely bulky, and the software would have to be reset. As for the Phoenix missile, its technology has actually lagged behind.

"We need to re-develop and come up with a missile that uses a ramjet engine." Mhamad said.

The Phoenix missile is huge in size and heavy in weight, which makes the Tomcat equipped with the Phoenix very bulky and cannot adapt to future air battles. In later generations, the Meteor missile developed in Europe was a very good revelation. In China On the basis of air-to-air missiles, the engines are improved, the range is increased, and more advanced missiles are developed.

The overload of Phoenix missiles is only about 20G, while the overload of medium-range air-to-air missiles generally exceeds 30G. Moreover, the technology of medium-range air-to-air missiles is more advanced. For example, the active sky flash currently produced by Pakistan is an air-to-air missile with excellent performance. missile.

"Based on our medium-range air-to-air missiles, we will improve the engine and greatly increase the range." Mhamad said: "Meet our operational needs in the next twenty years!"

Rocket engines require fuel and oxidizer internally, and even if they are not fast-burning, they only burn for a few dozen seconds, and the rest is inertial flight in the air. The ramjet engine uses oxygen in the air and only carries fuel. During the entire flight, it is almost always in the powered flight stage, with fast speed and good performance.

China has reserves of ramjet engines. Almost immediately after the establishment of China, a large number of scholars sent to the Soviet Union were specialized in studying ramjet engines. At the same time, the Seadart ship-to-air missiles equipped on several Type 42 and Type 82 destroyers equipped by Pakistan use ramjet engines, and the Soviet Sam-6 uses solid rockets and ramjet integrated engines.

Mhammad mainly proposed the idea that future long-range air-to-air missiles must be powered by ramjet engines!

"Okay, let us work together to develop a long-range attack weapon!" Wang Hai's eyes were full of longing. With Pakistan's active sky flash seeker technology and the domestically developed missile body, We must be able to develop a long-range air-to-air missile! Now that both parties have overcome all the technical problems of the fire control system, project development will be easier. (To be continued ~^~)