Great Country Academician

In the Xinghai Research Institute, while Xu Chuan was staring at the follow-up testing and adjustments of the small fusion reactor,

Several special guests came to the Aerospace Research Institute.

When Wen Yuanhang led these people to find him, he was stunned for a moment.

Because among the group of people, the middle-aged and elderly man walking at the front was wearing a sky blue air force uniform.

After Wen Yuanhang's introduction, Xu Chuan learned that this middle-aged and elderly man with an upright posture and a military atmosphere was Chief Yang Han, the general person in charge of the Air Force's equipment department.

Behind him were Academician Tian Xinyuan, chief designer of the Air Force Equipment Department, and several key-level scientific research experts.

"Hello, Academician Xu. It's our first time meeting you. Nice to meet you."

In the laboratory, Yang Han had a smile on his determined face and extended his right hand to say hello to Xu Chuan.

"Mr. Yang, nice to meet you."

Xu Chuan smiled and shook hands with the middle-aged and elderly man in front of him who was full of military style, and then shook hands with the chief designer, Academician Tian Xinyuan, and several other scientific research experts, and said hello.

Just as he was about to take a few people to his office to chat, Yang Han on the other side spoke up: "If I take the liberty to come here this time, I will disturb Academician Xu's research."

"Academician Xu is also a busy person, so I will get straight to the point without wasting time. This visit is mainly related to the aerospace engine and small controllable nuclear fusion reactor technology developed by your institute."

"According to the information and data provided by the General Administration of Industry and Information Technology, as well as some reports and information compiled by Academician Xu, the aerospace engine developed by your institute can provide a maximum thrust of 500KN. Is this data accurate?"

Xu Chuan nodded and said: "It can be said that the ultimate thrust of five hundred thousand newtons is the previous test data. In the subsequent experiments, the Aerospace Research Institute optimized the performance of the aerospace engine based on the experimental data. .”

"The latest thrust test data is accurate to say that the limit is 578.87KN."

As soon as these words came out, the several scientific research experts who were standing behind Yang Han and came with him had expressions of surprise and shock on their faces.

If I remember correctly, the manned spaceflight and lunar exploration project bidding conference has only been a month now. The report presented by the Xinghai Research Institute at that time was 500 kilonewtons. In one month, it can increase by nearly one-eighth. Thrust, this data is quite terrifying.

Looking at the research on aerospace engines, there is no such jump.

As the chief designer of the Air Force Equipment Department, Tian Xinyuan stood at the front of the team and couldn't help but push the glasses on the bridge of his nose with his hand. He took a deep breath and then interjected and asked: "Is this data stable? How long can it last?”

Xu Chuan glanced at Academician Tian, ​​somewhat confused.

Academician Tian Xinyuan came back to his senses and quickly organized his speech: "What I mean is, have you ever tested the ultimate thrust time of 578KN? How long can the aerospace engine last while maintaining this ultimate thrust? time?"

"Including energy supply, how long can it last under extreme thrust?"

Hearing this, Xu Chuan thought for a moment and said: "The test has been done, but its limit time is unknown."

"Unknown?" Academician Tian Xinyuan's eyes suddenly filled with doubts.

Xu Chuan nodded and said, "Well, unknown."

"Currently we only have one aerospace engine in hand, and there are many tests and experiments to be done. It is impossible to spend all the time on various extreme tests."

"But currently, there is no problem that the aerospace engine can maintain maximum thrust operation for more than twelve hours."

After a slight pause, he continued: "As for energy supply."

"I'm not showing off. A power supply device based on a small fusion reactor only needs to carry one to two tons of deuterium and tritium fusion raw materials, which is enough for a space shuttle to continuously fly around the earth for dozens of times."

As soon as these words came out, the entire team at the Air Force Equipment Department was shocked, with heavy disbelief and suspicion on their faces.

With more than twelve hours of maximum full-thrust operation, it can be said to have almost unlimited battery life.

This data, if placed on a traditional aero engine, can be said to be unparalleled.

As we all know, the main performance indicators of aeroengines include thrust, power, fuel consumption, reliability, etc.

Thrust is the maximum thrust generated by the engine, power refers to the maximum power that the engine can output, fuel consumption refers to the mass of fuel consumed by the engine to produce one Newton of thrust, and reliability refers to the completion of the engine's work under specified time and conditions. The ability to specify functions.etc.

In addition to these indicators, there are additional indicators for military equipment, such as engines used on fighter jets.

For example, the length of operation time of afterburner thrust.

For a fighter jet, the thrust of the engine it uses is generally divided into two levels: military thrust and afterburning thrust.

Military thrust is easy to understand. It refers to the maximum thrust that the engine can achieve without starting afterburner (that is, normal flight status).

Afterburning thrust is also called "limit thrust", which means that the thrust of the engine is increased to the limit of the engine by injecting additional fuel.

The time to maintain this extreme thrust is also called the 'afterburner thrust time'. The longer this time is, the more exaggerated the performance improvement of the fighter jet will be.

Especially during short-distance takeoffs and close-range aircraft combat, the stronger the afterburner performance, the stronger the performance of the aircraft, and the winning rate of the battle will be infinitely higher.

But for almost all aeroengines in the world today, the afterburning thrust time basically cannot be maintained for too long.

First, afterburning will release a large amount of extra heat and thrust, which will be difficult for the engine turbine to withstand, possibly leading to turbine failure or even fragmentation.

A few years ago, most fighter aircraft around the world, including the F22, were not allowed to fly with afterburner for more than 5 minutes, otherwise they would face the risk of engine failure.

However, the subsequent risk of engine failure was completely eliminated by the MiG-25 built by Lao Maozi.

The MiG-25's initial afterburner limit was also 5 minutes, but the Hongsu pilot's rough style was well known.

In the 1980s, during several battles between the MiG-25 and its rival F14, pilots quickly discovered that there was nothing wrong with relaxing the afterburner thrust time to 8 minutes.

Later, the pilot specially organized an extreme afterburner time test, and the MiG-25 engine maintained an afterburner thrust state for 45 minutes on the ground.

Subsequent tests proved that this did not have any adverse effects on the engine, and finally Hongsu simply canceled the afterburner flight time limit of the MiG-25.

Then various countries began to conduct experiments, remodeling and designing engines, breaking the five-minute afterburner thrust time standard, and allowing afterburner flight beyond this time.

But even so, Xinghai Research Institute's aerospace engine can operate at its limit for more than twelve hours. To be honest, Tian Xinyuan doesn't even know what this concept is.

After all, even if fuel consumption is not considered, most aviation engines cannot operate at their maximum limit for twelve hours.

Not to mention twelve hours, if the limit operation exceeds three hours, the high temperature generated will have a high probability of causing damage to internal parts and causing the engine to shut down.

Of course, apart from its own performance, the time for a fighter jet to add thrust is still limited.

The main reason for limiting afterburner flight is endurance, commonly known as how much fuel you can carry.

When flying with afterburner, the aircraft's fuel consumption is nearly ten times higher than without afterburner. Five minutes of afterburner is equivalent to 50 minutes of normal flight.

In this state, the aircraft will quickly consume all fuel.

Take the current F22 as an example.

This aircraft can fly for more than four hours with a normal internal fuel load, and its total range is about 3,000 kilometers.

Flying at normal subsonic speed, the fuel consumption per hour is only about 1,200 kilograms, which is just over one ton.

If the F22 engine turns on afterburner, the fuel consumption rate will reach more than 900 kilograms per minute, almost one ton.

This means that the fuel consumption of flying with afterburner is more than 40 times that of flying without afterburner. Judging from the fuel carrying capacity of most current fighter aircraft, almost no aircraft can fly with afterburner for more than 10 minutes.

This does not take into account the remaining fuel required for return. If the fuel consumed during takeoff and return is taken into account, it only takes a few minutes for an aircraft to use afterburner to completely consume its own fuel.

In contrast, the energy supply system that uses miniaturized fusion reactors as its energy source can only be described as "unsolvable" due to its nearly infinite battery life.

In an instant, everyone in the Air Force Equipment Department, including Yang Han and Tian Xinyuan, began to breathe heavily.

578KN thrust, more than 12 hours of extreme thrust operation, unlimited battery life

When these three parameters are added together, it is self-evident what they mean.

To put it simply, without considering the pilot's own safety, endurance, and the risk of the aircraft disintegrating, they can build a fighter jet that most missiles in the world cannot catch up with.

After all, the flight speed of most missiles does not exceed Mach 10.

The famous AIM5 in the United States, also known as the 'Phoenix' air-to-air missile, has a flying speed of only Mach 5.

Listening to Xu Chuan's introduction, the expression on Yang Han's face, standing in the crowd, could not help but be a little flushed and excited.

He looked at Xu Chuan and asked earnestly: "Academician Xu, I would like to ask, how long will it take to complete the small fusion reactor and aerospace engine?"

Xu Chuan thought for a while and said: "To be precise, these two technologies have been completed and are currently being tested."

"As for the time it will take for the test to be completed, it will probably take about four to five months."

After a pause, he continued: "We are currently doing all the tests that can be done on the ground for the main aerospace engine tests that are dragging down time, but some aerial tests still need to wait until the space shuttle is assembled."

At this moment, an expert from the equipment department who was following Yang Han in the crowd suddenly said, "What if it's a modification? The modification shouldn't take that long, right?"

"I have seen detailed data and information on aerospace engines and small fusion reactors. Although the shape is a bit strange, there are still aircraft in China that fit this structure."

"If possible, can the Air Force Equipment Department provide an aircraft to modify the aerospace engine and small reactor for a test flight?"

Hearing this, Xu Chuan frowned slightly and said, "Does it need to be so urgent? Four or five months is not a long time, right?"

Hearing this, the expert came back to his senses, smiled sheepishly, and said, "Sorry, I was distracted."

"The main thing is that the aerospace engine and small fusion reactor technologies you have developed are really amazing. I can't wait to see them being used."

As an aerospace engine designer, this almost magical aerospace engine has a fatal attraction for him.

Although this was an inappropriate suggestion, Yang Han, who was standing in front, was a little moved.

He thought for a while and then said: "If it is a modification, how long will it take?"

For the Air Force Equipment Division, if they wait for the Xinghai Research Institute's space shuttle to be completed and confirm that the aerospace engine is OK, then they can develop, design and modify their own aircraft, which may take more than a year.

When modifying, they can get first-hand data at the first time, provide experience for future related equipment such as fighters and bombers, and save a lot of time.

Xu Chuan looked at Tian Xinyuan. He was not very familiar with the situation in the Air Force, but since the expert who came over made this suggestion, they must have calculated it.

On the opposite side, Academician Tian Zhongyuan thought about it and calculated it, and said: "It depends on which method is used."

"The fastest way is to modify a fighter aircraft that is in production. Without pursuing maneuverability, performance and other conditions, it is still very fast to simply make it fly."

"For example, we can take the shell of an 'FC-1' Xiaolong fighter that is being produced and modify it, and directly stuff the small reactor, aerospace engine, magnetic fluid generator and other equipment components into it. In theory, it should be able to fly. It’s totally fine to get up.”

"In terms of time, based on the production line at Sichuan Aircraft Industry Group, about two months should be enough."

He is very experienced in the design and modification of fighter jets, and he led the expansion of the J10 series.

However, he is not very optimistic about the hasty transformation of the aerospace engine.

Looking at Yang Han who was a little excited, Academician Tian Xinyuan shook his head and continued: "But it doesn't make much sense."

"After all, what we need is an aircraft with real combat capabilities, not just letting it fly."

"And as Academician Xu said, four or five months is not long."

"If we really want to shorten the time, Mr. Yang might as well ask Academician Xu if he needs help."

Hearing this, Yang Han looked at Xu Chuan and said seriously: "If you encounter any difficulties in your research, as long as we can help, feel free to mention it to us!"

Xu Chuan smiled and said: "If there is any need, then there is indeed it."

Yang Han: "Academician Xu, just say it."

Xu Chuan smiled and said, "If you can, please support us with some funds."