Chapter 1564: Great strength produces miracles (first update, please subscribe)
Nanyang Aviation Industries Corporation.
As the largest aviation manufacturing company in Asia, there are always a variety of aircraft parked at its airport, including the famous C707 and C717 passenger aircraft, as well as F2 fighter jets and even H1 bombers.
All aircraft, military and civilian, are gathered here. These newly manufactured aircraft will be tested here and then flown to various parts of the world.
After all, many aircraft buyers are foreign businessmen.
Because of this, there are always pilots from all over the world gathered here, including some foreign pilots.
Lieutenant Colonel Thompson from Canada is one of the foreign pilots, but what is different from others is that he has been here for the past two years, as a representative of the Canadian Air Force, participating in a new type of interceptor Machine development.
Today, not only Lieutenant Colonel Thompson came to the airport, but also Colonel Thomas from the UK. They are all participants in this international cooperation project.
This heavy twin-engine fighter is not an Air Force project, but a high-altitude and high-speed interceptor jointly developed by enterprises and multinational air forces. According to his tactical use assumptions, it relies on its excellent high-altitude and high-speed performance to intercept Soviet bombers.
Although this project was originally a research project funded by the Defense Development Agency, it became an official project two years ago after receiving funding from the United Kingdom and Canada.
Relying on previous technology accumulation, the project not only progressed smoothly, but also conducted its first test flight as early as three months ago.
In their sight, a silver twin-engine heavy fighter stopped majestically on the runway.
In the sunlight, the fuselage of this seemingly huge fighter jet had a dazzling metallic luster.
"Can you believe it? This is a fighter jet made of steel."
Colonel Thomas said with some emotion.
"Because the strength of aviation aluminum alloys drops sharply at high temperatures, if you want to achieve the designed speed, you must use high-temperature resistant materials. Either stainless steel or titanium alloy. The dosage of stainless steel is 70%, and the weight of titanium alloy is 15% , Well, the purpose of using stainless steel is to reduce the overall cost, and stainless steel is also easier to process. ”
Lieutenant Colonel Thompson said from the side.
"In order to overcome the thermal barrier, engineers chose stainless steel. The reasons for choosing it are simple, cost and maintainability. Although titanium alloy is not bad in heat resistance, has low density and high strength, it is extremely difficult to process and is costly. In particular, welding is extremely troublesome, but in comparison, stainless steel processing couldn’t be easier.”
In fact, it is not as simple as imagined. After all, this stainless steel is a special aviation stainless steel developed by Donghai Steel for the aviation industry.
While the two officers were chatting, Chief Designer Yu Hongji said.
"Its processing is not simple at all, it can even be said to be very difficult. After all, the weight of stainless steel is there. If you want to apply it to aircraft, you must do your best to overcome this problem."
Lieutenant Colonel Thompson nodded quickly and said.
"I know, you are talking about the stainless steel honeycomb skin."
Although stainless steel has excellent processing performance, strength, heat resistance and low cost, its density of up to 7.9t/cubic meter is really displeasing to aerospace engineers who insist on "struggle for every gram of weight". In particular, these engineers also adhere to a design style that puts efficiency first in everything. As a result, stainless steel honeycomb skin appeared.
The stainless steel honeycomb skin is composed of a stainless steel skin and an aluminum alloy honeycomb sandwich. Both sides of the skin are stainless steel sheets with a thickness of only 0.381 mm, and the middle is a honeycomb structure.
And this is also the biggest feature of this aircraft. It is not simply made of stainless steel, but a stainless steel honeycomb skin invented by the Americans but abandoned because it was too expensive.
"Yes, it took Donghai Steel two full years to reduce the cost of this honeycomb skin."
Then Yu Hongji continued.
“In terms of material properties alone, this seems to be a perfect compromise design: the honeycomb structure has successfully greatly reduced the impact of the terrifying density of stainless steel, reducing the overall density of the material to that of titanium alloy and aluminum alloy. Level.
At the same time, the outer stainless steel skin retains the original excellent strength and high temperature resistance of stainless steel.
But its processing and manufacturing is extremely difficult. The ultra-thin stainless steel skin and complex honeycomb structure make processing this material extremely difficult. This is also the fundamental reason why it has been delayed until now. ”
Not only has it been delayed until now, but the manufacturing cost has also increased greatly. The price of stainless steel honeycomb skin is equivalent to half that of titanium alloy. It was only after two years of repeated experiments that it was reduced. His initial cost Not even much lower than titanium alloy.
"Fortunately, Donghai Steel solved this problem in the end, otherwise..."
Colonel Thomas looked at the plane and said:
"I'm afraid we won't see him appear again."
Yu Hongji shook his head and said:
"Not necessarily, but we will change to another method when the time comes. Well, for example, it will be easier to repair directly using ordinary stainless steel skin. Of course, the cost will also be reduced a lot."
In fact, this is the case. Although the new skin structure reduces the weight, it greatly increases the cost. Therefore, for a long time, how to reduce the cost of stainless steel honeycomb skin has become the key to all problems.
"In that case, wouldn't he just become a piece of iron in the sky?"
"Yes, in that case, he will definitely not be able to fly three times the speed of sound."
While a few of them were chatting here, the test pilot had already got on the plane. After completing the preliminary inspection, the test pilot reported.
"Tower, please take off."
"Copy that, you can take off." Following the instructions from the earphones, the twin-engine heavy fighter began to accelerate and taxi on the runway. The pilot held the control stick tightly, feeling the fuselage tremble slightly as the speed increased. The roar of the engine echoed through the sky, as if announcing that it was about to break through the shackles of the earth and soar into the sky.
The plane was getting faster and faster, and the scenery on both sides of the runway quickly blurred into one piece. The nose of the aircraft was slightly raised, the front wheels lifted off the ground, and the rear wheels soon followed. At that moment, the entire plane seemed to jump up lightly and rushed into the sky.
After soaring into the sky, the aircraft climbed first under the control of the test pilot. Soon, with its powerful engine, the aircraft climbed to an altitude of 10,000 meters.
When the altitude exceeded 18,000m, following the command from the control tower, the test pilot pilot turned on the engine afterburner.
In an instant, two blue-yellow tail flames were sprayed out from the tail of the aircraft, and they drew two dazzling trajectories in the air. The plane seemed to be injected with powerful power and rushed forward.
The altitude of the plane is constantly rising, from 18,000m to 20,000m.
"22000m."
The radar operator's shouts kept coming from the radio.
The altitude of the aircraft is also constantly increasing.
As the plane flies over an altitude of 25,000 meters, its speed also continues to increase.
Ground radar constantly reports the speed of the aircraft: "Mach 1.5...Mach 2...Mach 2.5..."
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The speed of the aircraft is rising rapidly, and each number represents the increasing heat and kinetic energy generated by the friction between the aircraft and the air.
The pilot seemed to feel that the temperature of the aircraft was increasing, and his heartbeat also accelerated as the plane accelerated. He stared closely at the sky ahead, where was his target and his battlefield.
"Mach 2.8!"
Ground radar again reported the aircraft's speed. This speed is more than twice the speed of sound, which is almost an unreachable height for humans. But in front of this twin-engine heavy fighter, it is just the beginning. The plane continued to accelerate, taking the pilot and its mission higher and farther into the sky.
At this time, the engineers and air force officers on the ground were all sweating. After all, the speed of the aircraft was getting faster and faster, which meant that the temperature of the aircraft body was getting higher and higher.
"With such a fast speed, the temperature will definitely rise. Will it have any impact?"
Thomas asked nervously.
Faced with other people's worries, Yu Hongji said confidently:
"Don't worry, the all-stainless steel skin can withstand aerodynamic heating at 304°C. During the experiment, the stainless steel skin can even withstand aerodynamic heating above Mach 4, and the titanium alloy has begun to soften at this speed."
As the chief designer of this aircraft, Yu Hongji has enough confidence in the aircraft he designed. After all, they had already conducted many tests before this.
“30,000 meters!”
At this moment, the radar operator's somewhat excited shout came from the radio's external amplifier.
30,000 meters!
This is their ultimate goal this time.
Not only did it reach an altitude of 30,000m, but its speed soon climbed to Mach 3!
"Mach 3.0! Mach 3.1! ... Mach 3.2! We have reached Mach 3.2!"
"Haha, it's our double-three fighter. Double-three fighter."
Amid the excited shouts of the people, Lieutenant Colonel Thompson looked up at the sky. Although he could not see the plane, he seemed to have seen the plane flying in Canada's vast northern airspace.
The reason why Canada joined this international cooperation project in the first place was to obtain an interceptor aircraft that was fast enough, but now what this aircraft has demonstrated is completely beyond his imagination.
"Can it be faster?"
This thought came to Lieutenant Colonel Thompson's mind, but he did not say it out loud.
At this time, Colonel Thomas, standing aside, said:
"It can definitely be faster. I dare say he can definitely fly faster, because at the beginning, his design weight was heavier. Now it is several tons lighter. The thrust of the engine remains unchanged, so he can definitely fly faster. Faster and higher.”
When he said this, Colonel Thomas looked up at the sky, and then said to himself.
"I dare say that if he flies so high and so fast, no missile can bring him down."
"Yes, there is absolutely no missile that can knock it down. After all, it flies so fast and so high."
For a moment, when these two air force officers from different countries looked at the sky, there was only one thought in their minds - it's him, it's him, it's him.
This is what they need, no, this is the plane their country needs.
With this aircraft they not only protect their skies but also their people from the threat of nuclear war.
(End of chapter)