The rise of nanometers

After Chang Fuguo watched the low-cost transport aircraft project at COMAC, he took a plane to XAC in Chang'an.

Snail Industry has a lot of business dealings with major domestic aircraft manufacturing companies, especially Chengdu Aircraft and XAC, and the cooperation is very in-depth.

Snail Industry's Baofeng engine factory is located in Baoji, very close to XAC.

Arrive at XAC’s aircraft manufacturing base.

He came to the final assembly workshop of Kunpeng transport aircraft.

Academician Tang Changhong, chief engineer, introduced to him: "This is the Kunpeng transport aircraft, which will be tested in January next year."

Fang Guoli, the general manager of XAC on the side, shook his head with a wry smile: "Mr. Chang, our Kunpeng has fallen behind even before it officially takes the field."

Chang Fuguo said with a smile: "You can cooperate with COMAC. The Feilian transport aircraft already has a design plan, and Kunpeng can also be upgraded."

"That's what I meant." Academician Tang took out a tablet and pulled up the design drawings of the Kunpeng transport aircraft and the Snail Industry's Storm engine.

If Baofeng engines and new materials are used, Kunpeng's payload can be increased from a maximum of 75 tons to about 90 tons.

In addition, only two of the powerful Baofeng engines can push Kunpeng to an altitude of 13,000 meters and a speed of 1,200 to 1,300 kilometers per hour.

However, in order not to damage Kunpeng's aerodynamic layout, the Kunpeng transport aircraft can only be equipped with four Storm engines. In this way, the maximum speed will be increased to 2,400 to 2,600 kilometers per hour, which is equivalent to 2 times the speed of sound.

Chang Fuguo asked another question: "If Kunpeng breaks through the speed of sound, will the previous aerodynamic layout be unable to match?"

As the chief designer and chief engineer of Kunpeng, Academician Tang naturally understands the risks involved. He explained:

"Yes, the aerodynamic layout of the Kunpeng transport aircraft is not suitable for supersonic flight. If the Storm engine is modified, the fastest speed will be subsonic speed of 1,200 kilometers per hour."

Another engineer added: "Our plan is to use the excess power as the power for vertical landing."

"Vertical landing?" Chang Fuguo did not expect that XAC engineers would be so imaginative.

Academician Tang explained with a smile: "This is our plan. After using new materials, Kunpeng's internal space has a lot of room for modification, which can provide space for vertical landing."

Vertical landing and take-off are both possible on the Feipeng-class aircraft. When applied to the Kunpeng transport aircraft, which only weighs 220 tons, there are naturally not many problems.

Perhaps the only problem is to consider the compatibility between aerodynamic layout and vertical takeoff and landing.

In this regard, Academician Tang and others are all professionals. Chang Fuguo did not want to break the casserole and ask for the truth. Instead, he talked about the engine and the flying cheap transport aircraft.

"Baofeng engines are already in mass production. Dalian Shipyard currently has orders for 20 Feipeng-class ships, and a total of 80 Baofeng engines have been customized. The model you want to use on Kunpeng will definitely need fine-tuning."

Academician Tang nodded: "It is indeed necessary. After all, there are still many differences between ground-effect aircraft and aircraft."

The Baofeng engine engineer who came with Chang Fuguo discussed with Academician Tang. The two parties discussed how to fine-tune the transport aircraft type Baofeng engine for more than half an hour.

Although the Baofeng engine is powerful, it still needs to be adjusted and optimized when applied to the Kunpeng transport aircraft.

This discussion is just to set a direction for the first draft to facilitate cooperation between the two parties.

Due to the emergence of Feilian transport aircraft, Kunpeng can only work hard on vertical takeoff and landing to make up for Kunpeng's own shortcomings of small transportation volume.

In fact, the Air Force is now considering whether to equip the Feipeng class.

Although the Feipeng-class transport ship can only use the extremely energy-consuming mid-level flight mode on land, the transport capacity of 2,200 tons is simply a fatal temptation.

They have contacted Snail Industry and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation many times and asked whether they could develop a new mid-level transport aircraft by enlarging the wingspan and adding engines.

Snail Industry and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation are also discussing this requirement.

If the wingspan is enlarged and an engine is installed, the Feipeng class can indeed increase its flying height and speed.

However, after a series of supercomputer simulation calculations, the result is that the maximum flight altitude can be increased to about 6,500 meters, and the fastest speed can reach 620 kilometers per hour.

The payload dropped to 1,800 tons, and the maximum cruising range also dropped from 7,500 kilometers to only 3,500 kilometers.

If another 300 tons of payload are sacrificed and a fuel tank is installed, the cruising range can be increased to 5,000 kilometers.

The problem is that such magical modifications have caused the Feipeng class to lose its ultra-low-altitude concealment, and its maximum speed is only 620 kilometers per hour, and its cruising speed is about 500 kilometers per hour.

Such a slow speed is fine for dealing with weak chickens without air defense. If it is used against areas with air defense, it will basically kill people.

Even if you are equipped with a canopy defense system, it may not be reliable. The canopy defense system protects relatively low-speed targets and is very effective.

The Feipeng-class transport ship, which is neither fast nor slow, can easily break out of the defense circle in the middle region of the troposphere.

As for ultra-low-altitude flight close to the ground, the risk is too great. Due to the undulating terrain on the ground, as well as buildings and trees, flying close to the ground is obviously not suitable.

After the Air Force received the transformation plan, although it considered that the land-based Feipeng II had many shortcomings, its huge transportation capacity was still very tempting.

It's not that the Feipeng Type II cannot be used, but it needs to gain air superiority and be used to quickly transport troops and deliver materials.

As for fighting with the opponent in hand-to-hand combat, the Feipeng-class can't even defeat a helicopter. After all, helicopters are cheap to build. Compared with the Feipeng-class worth more than one billion, even if they trade one for ten, the opponent will still make a profit.

Unless there is a more advanced defense system, this behemoth will be a big target.

Even so, Feipeng Type 2 still received an order for two ships, which are probably used for logistics support for rapid transportation of troops and delivery of supplies.

After Chang Fuguo and the person in charge of Xifei had dinner, they rushed to Chengfei overnight.

Chengdu Aircraft also plans to use the Baofeng engine, but it needs a small model. Currently, the large Baofeng engine can only be used in large transport aircraft and ground effect transport ships, and fighter jets need to be smaller in size.

Chang Fuguo also came over after hearing what Huang Xiuyuan said about Cheng Fei.

Although the overall combat power of the country has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years, there are still many shortcomings left over from history.

Problems with aero engines have been plaguing many aircraft manufacturing companies.

Under the wave of equipment upgrading, major aircraft manufacturing companies are under great pressure, because they looked around and found that they were the weakest.

Other companies have either launched Huo Qubing-class nuclear submarines or come up with canopy defense systems, multi-legged mechas, exoskeleton armor, ground-effect transport ships and the like.

Only their aircraft manufacturing company has been tepid.

The birth of the ground effect transport ship this time brought them great excitement.

When the Taihang engine is immature, if they want to obtain a qualified aviation engine, they can only choose the Baofeng engine and install the rocket engine on the aircraft.

COMAC, XAC and Chengdu Aircraft Corporation all made the choice to switch to Baofeng engines and achieved miraculous progress.

Thank you for your support (ω｀)