"Our Soviet aerospace technology is the best in the world." After watching the entire production line and returning to the conference room, Andre said with great sigh.

The scene just now gave Andre an impression that he was extremely shocked. Although Andre drove aircraft in later generations, and in Shenfei, he was originally a fighter aircraft. Andre had seen the fighter production line, but he had never seen the engine production line.

Although the Liming Factory affiliated to Chenfei is also producing engines, it is an old turbojet. As for the turbofan 10, it has been developed and developed, and has not been produced in large quantities.

Now, at the Salute Factory, Andre saw the engine production line, and the shock was unimaginable.

Aero engines are the crown of the mechanical industry. Those who can independently develop engines in the world can count them in just one slap. Advanced turbofan engines require various industrial foundations, materials, processing technology, etc.

When visiting the welding workshop of titanium alloy, Andre saw the welding worker entering the pressurized chamber wearing protective clothing that looked like a space suit. He entered the airlock through the first door of the pressurized chamber, connected the vent pipe to the protective clothing, then closed the hatch door and injected argon into the airlock. After the airlock was filled with argon and reached the pressure balance, the welding worker opened the second door and entered the pressurized chamber to start working. Inside, the sparks of the arc splashed, with a unique beauty, just like welding in space.

At the same time, I also saw equipment produced in the island country used to perform vacuum electron beam welding and robotic arm movements, just like a science fiction blockbuster.

In another workshop, I saw CNC breakdown carving abrasives used to cast single crystal blades. Each single crystal blade is almost as expensive as gold of the same weight. After Andre asked, he learned that these CNC machine tools were new machine tools developed by the Soviet Union after absorbing the manufacturing experience of CNC machine tools from the island country. Andre was even more satisfied.

The final one to enter is the test drive table. The assembled engine needs to be tested by the test drive table and can only be transported away after passing the test drive table. The roar of the engine is extremely shocking on the test drive table.

Now, Andre's ears were still buzzing, and at the same time, Andre's face was full of smiles.

"Now, I will report on the development of the new al-41 engine for you." said an experienced chief engineer next to Liurika.

Although Liurika is still in charge, he is already old after all, so the chief engineer handed over the new al-41 engine to his deputy, Dr. Che Jin.

"Since we have just completed the development of the al-31 engine, our new al-41 engine was referenced by the design of the al-31 engine and then obtained through a series of improvements." Dr. Che Jin said: "Our design work started at the beginning of last year, code-named 'Product 20' We used new structural materials - ceramics, metal cermets and improved the design, changed the cycle parameters, used high-load turbines and compressor blades to increase the front temperature of the turbine, and finally reached a 20-ton thrust solution."

20 tons! In the 20 product projects, this engine needs to reach the maximum afterburner thrust of 20 tons, and the thrust-to-weight ratio reaches 11! In the current opinion, this is simply a fantasy number, but if you want the next generation of fighter jets to have tremendous thrust, this is an inevitable choice!

"At the same time, in terms of control, we will change the original hydraulic control system and adopt digital fly-by-wire control to adapt to the integrated control system of the flying fire push of the new generation of fighter jets. Now, we are in the detailed design stage of the engine, but now we still have a technical problem that has not been determined."

Hearing Dr. Che Jin's words, Andre couldn't help but ask: "What technical question?" Although he doesn't understand any technology, he has a lot of experience from later generations!

"It's a vector nozzle. So far, we have not determined the specific form of a vector nozzle."

Vector nozzle! The next generation of fighter jets must have strong maneuverability, and the strong maneuverability is not only related to the engine thrust, but also to various rudder surfaces.

All directional controls of the aircraft are achieved by the rudder surface. At a large angle of attack, many rudder surfaces have lost their aerodynamic moment and are prone to stall and crash. The vector nozzle of the engine allows the engine to not only generate backward thrust, but also separate some of them to other directions, such as up and down, and the engine nozzle deflects up and down. The thrust generated no longer passes through the center of gravity of the aircraft, creating a pitch distance around the center of gravity of the aircraft. At this time, the thrust plays the same role as the control surface of the aircraft. Since the generation of thrust is only related to the engine, even if the angle of attack of the aircraft exceeds the stall angle of attack, the thrust can still provide torque to balance the aircraft. As long as the wings can generate enough lift, the aircraft can continue to fly in the air. Such fighter has the maneuverability of overstall speed. If the vector nozzle can still rotate left and right, it can not only control the pitch, but also control the left and right directions.

Therefore, thrust vector technology is also a must-have for the next generation of fighter jets. However, what solution should be used to solve this technology is also a difficult problem.

"The easiest solution is to put a baffle directly in the nozzle, but the loss of gas is not cost-effective. In addition to this simplest one, there should be three alternatives, such as the nozzle is rectangular, or four rotating adjustment plates. This method is simple in structure and is easier to implement. However, when it turns round and square, the airflow will be blocked by some parts of the square nozzle, resulting in part of the thrust loss. However, this form of tail spray structure will have a better shape modification effect on the rear of the fuselage, which is in line with our new hidden

The fighter matches and can control pitch and yaw. The second type is the overall deflection of the nozzle. This method requires the least sealed moving parts, light weight, and easy to achieve. However, this requires a structure slightly larger than the maximum diameter of the engine at the rear to accommodate a hydraulic rod that powers the overall deflection of the nozzle. That is to say, our fighter will suddenly become thicker when it reaches the rear. The third type is the deflection of the tail spray blade, but this method has the most moving parts, and it is a tragedy if the seal fails."

Andrei said, gestured with his hands and analyzed all three main methods. He spoke very well. He heard Dr. Che Jin, Liurika and others nodded constantly, and they all said that General Andrei was knowledgeable and knowledgeable. Now he heard that this is true!

"Gen. Andre, do you think that way is the best?" asked Rurika.

In fact, these are all knowledge from later generations. As a pilot, Andre certainly knew how these vector nozzles were composed! The second one was simply impossible to achieve. The first one was the structure of the binary vector nozzle used by the later generations of F-22, and the third one was the structure of the axisymmetric vector nozzle used by Russia. If it comes to performance, Russia should have better performance. One nozzle is biased upward and the other nozzle is biased downward, and it can also control rolling. This is the most amazing skill to the pilot.

However, this thing also has weaknesses, that is, lifespan!

In later China, A San, who was eyeing the south, bought Su-30mki to fight against the Su-27 aircraft group in China. Moreover, in order to satisfy their superior psychology, A San bought all the latest Russian technologies, such as vector nozzles! This is a big killer in A San's eyes! They also fantasized about using this thing to fight with Chinese pilots and then teasing Chinese pilots for fun.

When the Su-30mki equipment was given to A San, A San suddenly realized that this advanced technology would cost a certain amount of money. For example, in terms of life, the nozzles of the engines of this batch of aircraft of A San were only 50 hours!

What does this mean? Even if you only fly for two hours each time and fly 10 times a month, you can only fly for two or three months. The tail nozzle has to be replaced! Ah San suffered this loss, and I wonder if he would have a better memory.

Although there is a significant reduction in Russia's economic strength in later generations, the short life of this vector nozzle is also an inevitable common problem. There are too many moving parts. As long as there is a problem, it will definitely be a fire!

(The American F-22 vector nozzle has a lifespan of 250 hours, which is much greater than that of Ah San.)

Now, it was just the 1980s, and the Soviet Union had just developed the al-31 engine, which was several years ahead of the historical progress. Of course, it has a lot to do with the Soviet Union's acquisition of the American F-15 fighter, researching the above F110 engine and learning from it. However, on the tail nozzle, this must be studied by yourself.

"Among these solutions, I think the first one is the most suitable one. It has low infrared radiation and is easy to match the fuselage of the new generation of fighter jets. At the same time, it has small moving parts and the longest life span."

Andre's profound knowledge made the engine experts present nod. In fact, in their minds, they tend to be the third solution, but they are not sure about this solution. There are too many moving parts and it is easy to malfunction. In terms of service life, it will definitely not be too high, and no matter how it is improved, because it is a high temperature and high pressure environment, which is a fatal test for any material.

"Then we will use the first option as the main option and the third option as the alternative option." Liurika said. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!