The Military-industrial Scientific Research System of the Academic Master Chapter 915

Chapter 915 M88-3 engine upgrade plan

Despite having just experienced a round of economic crisis, the 2001 Paris Air Show quickly showed its huge influence.

On the one hand, due to the superposition of various factors, the financial crisis originating from Asia in this timeline did not expand to the level that swept the world in the previous generation. About three years has been enough for some countries with stronger resilience to slow down. Come in one breath.

More importantly, the sudden occurrence of the Allied action and the dramatic results that followed made many medium-sized countries realize that-

Although the Cold War has ended, for small countries, the end of the Cold War is the beginning of danger.

Furthermore, it is really useful for national defense construction.

In the Balkans, an anti-aircraft gun from the 1950s could shoot down a B2. If it had more advanced equipment, I don't even dare to think about what it could shoot down.

Although the starting point and thinking path of this idea are actually biased, after all, the results of the B2 really have little to do with the anti-aircraft artillery.

But the final conclusion is correct.

As for the arms race, once one country starts to engage in it, other countries that have no idea will follow suit.

So, even before the public opening day of the air show ended, the news of the first order had already spread.

Some media broke the news that a North African country purchased a large number of improved Su-27SM and Su-27UBM from Sukhoi and has signed a detailed supply contract.

Compared with the basic models exported to China, India, Indonesia and Annan in the past, these two new models have greatly improved in terms of avionics, bomb load and mobility.

Even the radar has been replaced with a flat-panel slot antenna that is more in line with the requirements of the times.

This news was quickly confirmed by Algeria and Sukhoi.

And the former also stated that this round of procurement not only involves the Air Force, but also includes 6 battalions of Buk anti-aircraft missiles and two F22A frigates from China.

It can be seen that this country, which has just recovered from civil strife a few years ago, has become a lot richer by relying on the nationalized oil and gas fields.

It seems that this has been used as a switch. In less than half a month, more than ten countries have officially announced new equipment procurement decisions, or at least plans with clear timetables and selection ranges.

Austria and Norway stated that they will purchase EF2000 as their country's new generation main fighter aircraft.

Morocco signed a contract with Lockheed Martin to purchase 25 F16C/D fighter jets from the latter to deal with air threats from neighboring countries.

The Greek Air Force did not specifically state its aviation equipment update plan, but decided to upgrade some of the 5V55R missiles mixed in the S300 air defense system to 48N6E.

In this way, the S300 only needs to be deployed on Crete, and its range can cover the entire southern Aegean Sea and the sky above Cyprus.

The Turkish Air Force, subject to the cooling of relations with the United States, is unable to further purchase more F16s and can only temporarily respond with strong protests.

Saudi Arabia has included F15, EF2000 and Rafale into the selection scope at the same time.

The Thai Air Force has publicly stated that it has inspected Sweden's JAS39C/D and China's J-10E, and believes that the latter is more in line with its tactical needs, but it has not yet decided whether to maintain the original 24 aircraft or reduce it to 12 aircraft.

Brazil has announced an arms renewal plan involving 36 aircraft and more than 1,500 munitions of various types. It will also choose between JAS39C/D and J-10E.

South Korea has determined that its F-X plan to replace the F4 and F5 fighter jets will not conduct a public bidding, but will directly finalize the model as the F15K.

Even China, whose international image has gradually transformed from an equipment importing country to an equipment exporting country, also quietly signed the third batch of S300PMU2 procurement contracts for a total of 12 battalions...

In short, everyone who eats meat eats meat, and those who drink soup drink soup. No matter how bad they are, they can still rub the bottom of the bowl.

But there is one exception.

That is France as the host of the air show.

　　After deliberately postponing the air show for two months and performing a fierce operation, let alone eat meat and drink soup to the bottom of the bowl.

　　　Not even smell the fragrance.

Of course, Airbus still made a lot of money as usual.

But this is obviously not the same thing.

Is the money the most important thing in arms procurement?

of course not.

It's about expanding influence!

Why does Thailand actively consider the J-10E?

Performance is only secondary.

The core reason is that in 1998, China became the anchor of Asia's finance, while Japan, which has stronger economic strength, declined at a rapid pace.

Although the core reason for doing so was to protect Hong Kong Island, it objectively prevented Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, which bore the brunt, from slipping into an even more uncontrollable abyss.

This kind of equipment procurement will obviously in turn enhance China's influence in countries of the same size.

For example, the choice of Brazilians is obviously affected by this.

However, many countries that were originally equipped with Mirage series fighters, such as Morocco and Saudi Arabia, have decisively abandoned Dassault's subsequent models in this round of equipment updates.

This is obviously not a good trend.

In short, watching others successfully close deals one by one at the air show held by them, the French really experienced the feeling of being NTRed.

So, after the air show ended, they naturally started a round of review.

First of all, the EU's development momentum in these years is absolutely incredible, and it even (thinks it) shows signs of overtaking the United States.

And France has always regarded itself as the leader of the European Union, so from the perspective of international influence, it must be stronger than in the past.

So the current situation is definitely not because France is failing.

Well, it must be a product problem.

Of course, Dassault itself recognizes this.

After all, at the air show, Rafale's performance was indeed inferior compared to the EF2000 next door.

Therefore, except for the French Navy, which is eagerly waiting for the dumplings to be cooked, and has first purchased a batch of 12 mass-produced Rafale M aircraft with F1 technical status, the rest of the orders will be delivered after being upgraded to F2 technical status.

The most important one is naturally the power upgrade that Ed Steiner had already thought of on the day of the air show.

The thrust of the M88-2 at sea level is only 7.6 tons. In order to reduce its own weight, the ejection nozzle further reduces the working condition adjustment range.

Compared to the EJ200, which has a thrust of 9 tons in the basic model, it does pale in comparison.

So much so that even in the low-altitude and low-speed maneuvers that it is best at, it was beaten. Therefore, Dassault learned from the painful experience and quickly put pressure on Snecma.

For the latter, Party A's request is like a reminder.

In this case, the Chinese happen to have an almost ready M88-3 plan.

You don't even have to worry about which choice to make...

So, early September.

Just when Chang Haonan had arranged his work for the next month in advance and was waiting to see whether the big news would come as scheduled, he suddenly received a request from Liu Yongyong to come to the capital to report to him.

“Mr. Chang, Snecma suddenly expressed yesterday that it hopes to speed up the work with us and put the next improved version of M88 into mass production as soon as possible.”

Liu Yongquan said as he put a memorandum of the meeting on Chang Haonan's desk.

According to regulations, this kind of international cooperation needs to be submitted to the group headquarters for approval at startup and major milestones, but the intermediate process can be independently decided by each secondary unit.

However, Chang Haonan is the chief designer of Turbofan 10 after all, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the founder of China's aerospace industry in the new era.

So Liu Yongquan was used to asking him for instructions and reports.

“So urgent?”

Chang Haonan took the folder with some confusion and then opened it:

“Isn't the M88-2 just put into mass production? Isn't Snecma ready to familiarize itself with the production process?”

If we follow what China calls it, the current progress of M88-2 is similar to that of Turbofan 10. Both have completed the design and finalization but have not yet reached production finalization.

Logically speaking, further upgrades should not be considered so soon.

And one more thing.

Chang Haonan has basically arranged the technical solution for the M88-3. In addition to performance upgrades, the most important thing is to use this improved model to help China test some technologies, and to use the design of special-shaped air film holes to make turbine blade outlets. Business.

But the problem is that the annual production capacity of nearly 200 engines at Liming Plant is "planned production capacity."

It hasn't landed yet.

At present, only the prototype machine in the Torch Laboratory is undergoing trial production.

When the ultrshort laser processing equipment is finalized, Liming Factory will set up the production line. Optimistic estimates will not be until the second half of next year to the beginning of the next year.

So the original timetable was for the M88-3 to be put into production after mid-2003.

Snecma will then discover that it is building new turbine blades too slowly.

At this time, China came again as the savior.

Perfect.

However, looking at the eagerness shown by the French now, it feels like the entire progress will be at least a year ahead of schedule...

Liu Yongquan didn't think so much about Chang Haonan, he just answered whatever he wanted:

“I guess it was after the Paris Air Show that I found out that there were no orders coming in, so I became anxious.”

“No order received?”

Chang Haonan briefly recalled the news he heard during this period, and found that he seemed to have never heard of the part related to Dassault:

“It seems that there really isn't…”

But then, Chang Haonan changed the subject:

"But to be honest, this actually has little to do with the performance of the aircraft... The main reason is that there is a problem with Dassault Rafale's promotional strategy, and the other is that it does not target the right market. You are like South Korea, where it is obvious that only American aircraft are available. No matter how hard you try, you can't win..."

“Hmm… But I heard from comrades who came back from the air show that Rafale and Typhoon are flight performances performed by the front and rear legs, and the performance gap is quite obvious.”

Liu Yongquan opened his mouth and said.

Although the Aviation Power Group did not send a delegation to participate in the exhibition, as an old man from the head office, Liu Yongquan has many acquaintances in the aviation industry group next door, and it is inevitable that he will interact with them at work.

“What kind of maneuverability can be seen in the flight performance...”

Chang Haonan couldn't help but complain:

“They are all fancy moves at low altitude and low overload. At most, it only depends on the power level and agility. As for Typhoon…”

At this point, he suddenly paused.

Chang Haonan originally wanted to say that Typhoon's EJ200 actually has a design flaw. Although the paper data is superb, because there is a missing support point in front of the engine fan, it may cause excessive casing deformation during high overload operations and damage the compressor. Blades, so the actual maneuverability simply cannot reach the design level.

However, even the British army themselves may not be aware of this flaw at the moment. It was only later exposed after the Typhoon repeatedly gave incredible and disastrous performances in many simulated air battles.

He knew the flaws of M88 without having been exposed to M88 before. This performance was already outrageous.

However, I can barely explain it, saying that it is a reasonable deduction from the problems of the CFM56 core machine.

However, the EJ200 is a newly designed thing from the inside out, and it is a bit scary to be able to point out detailed problems thousands of kilometers away.

So, Chang Haonan had to change his statement:

“For a multinational joint research and development project like Typhoon, there is a lot of room for wrangling in later upgrades and maintenance. You will regret it when you buy it back...”

Liu Yongquan did not doubt his presence and just replied:

“But after all, Typhoon has already received several orders, and it is inevitable that the French will be anxious..."

"Fine…"

Chang Haonan didn't say anything more:

“You should have received the technical plan I wrote to you before?”

Liu Yongquan nodded:

"Received. We will use a three-dimensional scoop-shaped air film hole similar to the turbofan 10 to improve the atomization ability of the fuel nozzle in the combustion chamber and further increase the temperature in front of the turbine. Then we will redesign the outer edge of the high-pressure compressor blade to control Boundary layer separation…”

“Just follow that, the air film holes and fuel nozzles are ready-made, you just need to re-adapt to the compressor conditions.”

Chang Haonan said as he closed the file again and put it back in the drawer next to him:

“However, we can't help the French work overtime in vain. Remember to increase the strength of Dassault and ask them to come up with the gyro-stabilized platform of the optoelectronic pod and the technology of the uncooled thermal imaging camera as soon as possible...”

(End of this chapter)

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