Chapter 1211 Figure 160, the only available vehicle
A few days later.
Haojing, Yanliang Airport.
A long, slender white aircraft with wingtips extending almost to the edges of the grass on both sides floated lightly at the end of the runway.
The moment the main wheels came into contact with the asphalt ground, there was a crisp sound of "squeak--" and two plumes of curling smoke rose up in the air, but they were almost immediately torn apart by the wake emitted by the four engines. broken.
At the same time, three pairs of huge deceleration parachutes bloomed backward from the tapered tail, helping the huge aircraft to steadily decelerate, and then moved along the taxiway into the apron that had been specially cleared to make room.
With the help of the ground crew, the engine was shut down, the ground power was turned on, and the doors of the front and rear bomb bays were opened.
A few minutes later, the four crew members filed out along the boarding ladder behind the landing gear, took off their helmets and formed a line around the nose of the plane.
The air force chiefs headed by Qiao Chenqing had been waiting here for a long time. Upon seeing this, they quickly stepped forward and saluted and shook hands one by one.
Of course, for a leader of his level to be there in person, it was definitely not just to chat with a few pilots.
So after a few routine comments about training and living conditions, I turned my attention to the plane a little further away.
This Tu-160 was one of the four aircraft returned from Ermao that year.
It was also the last "Red 14" to land at the airport when returning to China——
After officially receiving the world's largest supersonic strategic bomber a few years ago, Haofei Group quickly took advantage of the already established cooperative relationship with Tupolev and completed the overhaul of all four aircraft with the latter. and maintenance work.
The first three of them were immediately incorporated into the combat order of the 108th Regiment of the Air Force 36th Division after it was determined that their mission capabilities were restored. In an exercise last year, they used the Donghai-10 cruise missile, which was still in the testing process, to complete its first weapons test. Deliver tasks.
The last Red 14 was the newest and in the best condition. Although it was given the tactical number "41175" and was operated by pilots sent by the 108th Regiment, it actually remained with the Haofei Group and the China Flight Test Institute. , carry out various technical verification and testing work.
In fact, the original intention of the decision to keep this aircraft was to study engineering and technical issues such as structural design, material use, and production technology of an aircraft with a take-off weight of 300 tons. It did not involve tactical tactics or weapons testing.
However, plans cannot keep up with changes.
After the launch of the hypersonic weapons project, Chang Haonan first planned an air-launched ballistic missile using a biconical warhead as a technical verification.
Although this verification bomb can only be regarded as a gadget in the ranks of "ballistic missiles", it has a total length of about 8 meters, a diameter of 1 meter, and a launch weight of nearly 6 tons.
For space-based weapons, it is already an unimaginable behemoth.
And in order to provide sufficient initial energy, launch conditions of at least 15,000 meters altitude and Mach 1.6 speed are required.
Not to mention all of China.
Even if all the air forces around the world were gathered together, only one model, the Tu-160, could meet such stringent requirements.
So starting from the beginning of 2005, the Haofei Group began to study how to modify this aircraft so that it could meet the needs of launching hypersonic weapons.
The simplest and crudest way is to hang the missile directly under the belly of the aircraft.
But on the one hand, the Tu-160 was not designed with large-size external ammunition in mind, so this modification requires penetrating the fuselage skin and additional reinforcement of the belly structure.
It looks simple, but the actual workload is difficult to estimate.
There is a high probability that it will not even be able to keep up with Chang Haonan's progress.
So the final plan was to modify the bomb bay at the front of the belly and stuff the entire verification bomb inside.
However, this matter is not easy either.
Aircraft No. 41175 has been conducting test flights for nearly half a year, with a total of no less than 30 times.
The dimensions of the two bomb bays in Figure 160 are both 11.3m*1.9m*1.9m. The space alone is large enough, but each has a six-unit KMU-6-5U rotating weapon rack fixed inside, which cannot be used directly. to carry unplanned aviation munitions.
The reason why the previously tested Donghai-10 can be seamlessly compatible is that its size and basic design are closely related to the Kh55.
But a ballistic missile obviously exceeded the expectations of Tupolev designers.
……
Accompanied by the crew members and a group of engineers, Qiao Chenqing walked slowly under the fuselage and looked up at the magazine door that had been fully opened. Compared with the normal form, the rotating pylon in the front bomb bay of No. 41175 has been completely removed.
Only a huge space with a volume of more than 40 cubic meters is left, accompanied by two hatches, like a steel monster opening its dark bloody mouth, ready to devour everything below.
Even Qiao Chenqing, who was used to seeing various types of equipment, felt a little bit hairy for no reason.
However, he quickly adjusted his mood and used the light of two flashlights next to him to observe the details inside the bomb cabin——
Modern precision-guided weapons are not free-fall bombs and require sufficient launch parameters to be obtained before release.
Because the high-performance verification bomb involves cryogenic liquid propellant and rocket engines, it also has a rather complicated self-test step.
These data transmission processes require cable connections between the pylon and the airborne weapon system.
The original rotating pylon of the aircraft is fixed in the bomb bay through a rotating shaft. Various electrical and communication interfaces are also integrated inside this rotating shaft. There is no "hanging point" in the traditional sense that can be used directly.
Although the rack has disappeared, Qiao Chenqing has not discovered the new mounting location.
He leveled his gaze again and turned to look at Jiang Jianjun, the person in charge of the renovation project who was following him:
"Comrade Jianjun, do the current electronic facilities in the Tu-160 bomb bay support the direct mounting of the verification bomb developed by Academician Chang and others?"
The latter nodded:
"The bomb bay of Figure 160 can originally support the delivery of complex ammunition such as cruise missiles. Our current plan is to set up a bomb bay at the top of the bomb bay after we obtain the detailed mounting plan for the target ammunition from Academician Chang. Hanging rack that meets the size requirements.”
Jiang Jianjun introduced it while pointing the light beam of the flashlight at the location where the hanging point is expected to be set:
"However, this pylon does not have an umbilical cable, it is only responsible for the release action itself, and several additional connecting lines are drawn from the original rotating shaft position for communication between the ammunition and the carrier aircraft, and are disconnected from the carrier aircraft before launch. Open... These connecting lines are directly fixed on the inner surface of the bomb bay and do not need to be buried inside the fuselage, which can minimize modifications to the fuselage structure. ”
Qiao Chenqing quickly understood what the other party meant.
In fact, it is to split the fully functional pylon into mechanical and electrical parts, and the electrical part that is not easy to modify is exposed, just like when launching a launch vehicle at a space launch site.
It is not standard equipment anyway, so advanced requirements such as beauty or compactness can be put aside for the time being.
"These exposed cables... won't cause any adverse interference to missile launches, right?"
He was still a little uneasy.
The hypersonic weapons program is one of the “alert cards” projects that the top decision-makers personally deal with, and it must be as foolproof as possible.
As the chief designer of the latest improved H-6, Jiang Jianjun has naturally considered this issue for a long time:
"Most of the length of the cable will be fixed by buckles. Only about 20 centimeters at the end can swing freely. Before launching, it will be bounced by a pneumatic switch to keep it as far away from the projectile as possible...Furthermore, the projectile is A big thing weighing 6 tons, the impact of a few cables on it is completely negligible..."
Having said this, he paused for a moment, then changed the subject:
“Actually, what is really likely to have a fatal impact on the delivery process is the bomb bay itself... Including the dozens of test flights we have conducted so far, they are basically to verify the flow field characteristics of the bomb bay and the magazine door. …”
Just as he said this, two technicians climbed down from the cockpit of the aircraft.
He also held several metal boxes of different colors in his hands.
"You see, these are the data we collected during this test flight."
It was only then that Qiao Chenqing discovered that there were nearly a hundred sensor probes densely packed in a circle around the edge of the bomb bay that he had not noticed just now.
"The bomb bay itself?"
He frowned slightly.
Qiao Chenqing had seen a lot of bomber bays.
But they all seem to be relatively the same.
"If I remember correctly... Figure 160 seems to be able to launch weapons at supersonic speeds, right?"
(End of chapter)