As one of the few fighters in the world that can reach a maximum altitude of 30,000 meters and a maximum speed of Mach 3, the performance of the MiG-31 is unique in the world.

It is important to know that similar radars will not appear in Western countries until the end of the nineties, and universal equipment will not be realized until the mid-to-late 00s of the 21st century.

The former Soviet Union achieved large-scale installation on the MiG-31 in the early eighties, so the performance of this NIIPN007S-800 electronically scanning phased array radar is still very powerful.

In addition to the detection range capable of reaching up to 200 km, the guidance range of semi-active radar air-to-air missiles is 90 km, tracking 10 targets at the same time, and striking at 4 of the most threatening targets, the MiG-800, equipped with the NIIPN007S-800 electronically scanning phased array radar, can act as part of the functions of early warning aircraft, directing and guiding their own air forces to coordinate operations.

For the Soviet Union, a special experiment was also conducted, that is, the use of four MiG-31 fighters, 200 kilometers apart from each other, and then turn on the NIIPN007S-800 electronic scanning phased array radar, which can effectively monitor the airspace of 1,000 kilometers.

When China was negotiating the introduction of third-generation combat aircraft in Russia, the Russians took out the MiG-31, and the headquarters of the unit immediately became interested in the NIIPN007S-800 electronically scanning phased array radar, and while introducing two batches of Su-27 fighters, it purchased six sets of NIIPN007S-800 electronically scanning phased array radars at extremely favorable prices for basic performance testing.

At that time, Russia, which had just inherited the family business of the Soviet Union, was short of money, and seeing that a certain eastern power was interested in the NIIPN007S-800 electronically scanning phased array radar, and thought that a certain eastern country had taken a fancy to their MiG-31, and the promised one was called a crunch.

Very happily delivered 6 sets of NIIPN007S-800 electronically scanning phased array radars.

The Air Force Headquarters' plan for the six sets of radars is to allocate two sets to relevant research and development units for research, and the remaining six sets will be used on a certain type of aircraft, in an effort to make a low-profile version of the MiG-31.

The first selected model is naturally J-8II., after all, this fighter is a combat aircraft built with high-altitude and high-speed as the core concept, and it is more inclined to interceptors in terms of mission capabilities, similar to the mission of the MiG-31, equipped with NIIPN007S-800 electronically scanning phased array radar can obviously greatly improve the combat capability of J-8II.

It is a pity that although the NIIPN007S-800 electronic scanning phased array radar is good, the size is too large, the diameter of the phased array radar antenna alone is more than one meter, and the diameter of the J-8II. nose fairing is only 900mm, which cannot be installed at all.

Seeing this situation, it is not without experts that it is not without experts to propose appropriate adaptive modifications to the NIIPN007S-800 electronically scanning phased array mine, such as reducing the size of the antenna, replacing the data processor of the core, and so on.

With this idea in mind, the relevant domestic units began to conduct an in-depth study of the Russians' radar, and as a result, this research was terrible, and the relevant domestic experts were completely stunned by the simple and crude methods of the Russians.

Except for the radar antenna, which can make some changes in shape, the rest of the processor, power supply, and heat dissipation are all like an octopus.

That's it, it's a big deal to reorganize, classify it well, see if that part can be replaced or improved, and start to deal with it.

Which Cheng thinks that the Russian designers do not seem to be ready to leave a way back for the upgrade, not only the internal mess, the design of integrated circuits also makes people have the urge to go crazy, the integration should be separated, the separate is integrated together, which leads to domestic experts even if they want to improve the way to start, unless all the internal components are dismantled, and a new radar can be redeveloped to barely meet the requirements of the program.

It was only at this time that the leaders of the domestic troops and relevant experts clearly realized that this radar, like the MiG-31 platform it was applied to, was a unique equipment specially built by the former Soviet Union for a single mission.

From design to research and development, only the purpose of interception is focused, and the rest is not in the scope of thinking at all, which leads to the nobility of the MiG-31 from top to bottom, but also shows the loneliness and frustration of gradually moving away from the times.

It is important to know that both offensive and defensive capabilities have become the mainstream of the development of the air force, and multi-purpose combat aircraft have increasingly become the object sought after by various countries, and the emergence and popularization of early warning aircraft have brought about drastic subversive changes in the combat methods and concepts of the air force.

In contrast, the MiG-31, which emphasizes only the ability to volley, is obviously somewhat outdated.

Because of this, even if the Russians boast about the MiG-31, the troops have no intention of trying it, and now seeing that the NIIPN007S-800 electronically scanning phased array radar equipped with it is also a one-shot deal, and there is no potential for improvement, this idea of the Air Force Headquarters is firm.

But what should we do with the remaining four sets of radars? We can't just waste it, because the money is not spent in vain.

It just so happens that in recent years, the Navy has produced several support planes using the improved An-26 to produce quite good results, but the Air Force is not looking at it, but the problem is that the Navy's operational environment and operational territory are much simpler than those of the Air Force, and it is impossible for the Air Force to completely copy the Navy's supporting equipment.

After all, the situation at sea is too different from that on land or even on the western plateau, so that the same radar may perform well at sea, but it may be subject to strong clutter interference when it is taken on the plateau, which is also the fundamental reason why the Air Force has been looking at the Navy's support aircraft with envy and envy over the years, but has not been able to start for a long time.

Now that there are four sets of phased array radars of the same type as the MiG-31, can the Air Force also get a radar alert plane like the Navy to improve its own strength?

Second, and most importantly, the NIIPN007S-800 electronically scanning phased array radar itself was developed by the former Soviet Union to defend its vast territorial airspace, and it fully meets the needs of the Air Force's territorial air defense.

As for the fact that there is a big gap in the performance of this radar compared with the radar of a professional early warning aircraft, the Air Force Headquarters of course knows it, but the problem is that there is no special radar for early warning aircraft in China, and it will not be possible to import it for a while.

Therefore, this project of the Air Force is not only a problem of "waste utilization", but also a problem of solving the problem of whether there is or not.

In addition, the introduction of six sets of radars was originally unplanned, which led to the Air Force's investment in this project was very limited, and the full budget was only 16 million yuan.

This amount of money was only a huge amount of money in the 80s, but in the mid-90s it was not enough, especially the development of an airborne radar warning aircraft with a certain early warning function, and this amount of money is estimated to be not enough to even plug the gap between the teeth.

Because of this, when the news of the Air Force was spread in the industry, there were almost no applicants, there was no way, the funds were too small, and the life of the aviation factories was not very good, so it was possible to lose money and make money with the Air Force?