Dominate South Asia

Pakistan, Aeronautical Industries Corporation.

A brand-new Tomcat fighter jet has been assembled. This is the 40th Tomcat fighter jet produced by Pakistan. In recent years, Pakistan has developed very prominently in the defense industry.

However, this Tomcat fighter is somewhat different from previous fighters. For example, there are some more antennas under the nose, and new pods are mounted on the wing boxes, under the air inlets, and on the pylons on the belly. , especially the pod under the wing box, which has a small propeller-like thing on the front end, and the tall vertical fin is also covered with antennas.

President Hamad looked at the fighter plane with interest and his eyes were filled with admiration.

"Mr. President, this is a new generation of electronic warfare aircraft developed by ourselves." Next to Mhamad, Asius, the specific person in charge of the project, said: "This electronic warfare aircraft, nicknamed the Roaring Cat, remains the same as the prototype. The maneuverability is enhanced by powerful electronic warfare capabilities!”

As a time traveler, Mhamad attaches great importance to the army's electronic warfare capabilities. In modern warfare, electronic support has become a "special assault style" that pays equal attention to firepower. The United States is a pioneer in this regard. Since 1971, the EA-6B "Prowler" fighter aircraft has been used by the U.S. Navy to suppress enemy electronic activities and obtain tactical electronic intelligence in the theater to support attack aircraft and ground forces. Historically, during the Gulf War, EC-130H "Calling Compass", EA-6B, EF-111A "Raven" and F-4G "Wild Weasel" electronic warfare aircraft formed a joint formation to suppress ground air defense at close range. The fire guidance, aiming system and communication command and control system completed the mission extremely well and became famous in one battle.

In the battle against the Soviets in previous years, in order to maintain its own electronic warfare capabilities, it severely defeated the Soviet Air Force. Driven by Mahmood, who was the commander of the Air Force at the time, the Pakistani military conducted arduous negotiations with the US imperialism and obtained several precious EC-130Hs in gold payment. Later, the Pakistan Air Force cooperated with multiple aircraft types in drills and conducted multiple It often appeared in battles against the Soviet Army and the Indian Army and played a huge role!

The Pakistan Air Force was very satisfied with this. Unfortunately, the honeymoon ended quickly. The US imperialists became wary and even hostile towards Pakistan after the Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan. Pakistan's aircraft carrier fleet is also forming combat effectiveness. The Navy urgently needs a carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft like the EA-6B "Prowler", and the Air Force also needs it. The only mature airframe made by Pakistan is the Tomcat. In later generations, it has been a trend to use carrier-based fighter jets to modify electronic warfare aircraft. For example, the U.S. Navy used F-18 fighter jets and modified them into EF- 18G electronic warfare aircraft. In this way, Pakistan has been compared several times. Choose your own Tomcat fighter body and try to improve it into an electronic fighter.

The F-14 airframe based on the F111 airframe is large enough and has strong load capacity. Although in the era of the EA-6B, four crew members were required, but with the continuous advancement of electronic systems, two people are now enough to do the job. The F-14, a two-seat fighter, is easy for one person to drive and fight, and the other can carry out the task. Electronic warfare mission. As a heavy fighter, the F-14 has a good foundation. The potential for improvement is huge. In addition, it has all the weapon systems and excellent maneuverability to effectively protect itself from enemy fighter attacks, and its long range makes it easy to stay in the air for long periods of time to perform electronic warfare missions. While performing electronic suppression missions, it can also carry Sidewinder missiles for self-defense and Ham anti-radiation missiles to attack enemy radar systems.

This type of modification has been under development since 1989. As a derivative of the F-14, the EF-14 "Roaring Cat" has the same maneuverability as the former and the same combat capabilities as the F-14, so it is fully capable of performing electronic support missions with the team. The EF-14 can mount and deliver a variety of weapons, including PL, R, and AIM series air-to-air missiles and YJ, KH, and AGM series anti-radiation precision strike weapons. Although the EF-14 does not have a built-in cannon, it has considerable air combat capabilities. ability. Not only is it capable of self-defense, it can even perform escort missions.

This is an all-round fighter. Because it comes from an F-14 airframe, it can be catapulted from an aircraft carrier. Accompany one's own fighter aircraft to conduct electronic suppression during offensive operations.

"Yes." Mhammad said: "Electronic warfare is inevitable in future air combat. Without strong electronic warfare capabilities, we will not be able to win in future wars. Aircraft carriers are an important force in defending our motherland. The carrier-based aircraft of aircraft carriers Electronic warfare capabilities are also very important.”

Climbing up the ladder, Mhamad looked at the cockpit behind. It was almost difficult to see the various complicated instruments. The main interface was two large-area LCD screens. In recent years, Pakistan has made progress in electronic technology. is the most obvious.

"Our fighter aircraft is mainly equipped with a new tactical receiver and a new tactical electronic jamming pod, which can efficiently perform the task of suppressing surface-to-air missile radar systems. We work together with China to analyze the interference targets The frequency hopping pattern automatically tracks its emission frequency and uses long-baseline interferometry to more precisely locate the radiation source to achieve track-and-target jamming," Asius said.

In order to improve the anti-interference ability, the main method now is frequency hopping. Every few seconds of work, it jumps to a frequency band with the weakest interference according to the degree of interference. The previous interference method was full-band high-power interference, which is like carpet bombing. Although the effect is significant, the interference energy required is quite large.

Now, this new interference method jointly developed by Pakistan and China has greatly concentrated the interference energy and achieved "precision strike" in the electromagnetic spectrum for the first time. Therefore, although the interference range of EC-130H is only more than 100 kilometers, the jammer with less power than it can effectively interfere with radars and other electronic facilities 250 kilometers away, exceeding the strike range of any active air defense firepower.

"Our electronic warfare aircraft also has a new tactical receiver installed on the nose. The jamming pod in the middle of the fuselage does not hinder the electronic monitoring function when implementing full-band jamming against the enemy." Ashus continued: "In this way, our Roaring Cat has perfect electromagnetic attack capabilities, electronic monitoring capabilities and communication countermeasure capabilities."

Generally speaking, when conducting electronic suppression, leaving a communication channel for one's own side allows one's own side to communicate without being interfered with. However, when the enemy is interfered with, electronic monitoring cannot be carried out. Now, Pakistan's electronic warfare aircraft can monitor while jamming. The technology in this area is already at the world's advanced level, and even at the same starting line as the United States.

Muhammad nodded: "This electronic warfare aircraft must be tested as soon as possible. After it is finalized, it will be equipped with our navy first."

Now it is just manufactured, and many problems will be exposed during the test flight.

"Yes, we will definitely not let you down." Ashus said.

"What type of fighter is being tested now?" said the Air Force Chief of Staff, Old Arslan, next to Muhammad.

On the runway outside, some technicians were busy around an airplane.

"That's the Tomcat fighter we modified with a new engine to verify the supersonic cruise capability." Ashus said.

Modified new fighter! Now, Pakistan is able to completely independently produce the F110 engine. At the same time, it has mastered all the technologies of this engine, improved it on this basis, and developed a new thrust-enhancing engine to meet the needs of future fighters.

However, this is a long process. Pakistan's technical reserves are insufficient and the project is progressing slowly. Therefore, under this circumstance, Pakistan signed a contract with the Soviet Union to import a batch of about 20 AL-37F engines and four AL-37FU engines.

The price the Soviet Union wanted was very high. After repeated bargaining, it took half a year for the deal to be reached.

The deal was certainly because the Soviets were short of money and needed more funds in the reform. At the same time, it was also because the new fighter jets planned by the Soviets used more advanced engines, and the AL-37 engine was just a transition.

After Pakistan got this batch of engines, it tried to install them on its Tomcat fighter jets. The size of the engine was close to that of the F110, and the control system was changed to digital. In this way, after more than a year of hard work, it finally completed the task of modifying the Tomcat.

Pakistan will not rely on this engine as the power of the future. By dismantling one or two of the engines and mastering the Soviets' ideas, it will be of great help to Pakistan to improve the power of the F110. Although the vector nozzle of AL-37FU is more unreliable, it can be supplied to Pakistan for research and use. Now study these technologies first, and they will gradually mature. After all, future fighter jets must have vector nozzles!

"Let's go and take a look." Hearing that this experiment was going to be carried out, Muhammad was also excited and went to the outside venue.

The technicians involved in the debugging were not only from Pakistan, but also from Chengfei. The leader was Yang Wei from Chengfei!

When Muhammad came over, the debugging mission had just ended. Pakistani test pilot Kamal, holding his helmet, walked towards the direction of the fighter. (To be continued ~^~)