The general transport/tanker is definitely a design idea worth exploring and developing, and now Brazil has proposed a special improvement plan for the air tanker on the C-320 transport aircraft, and Yang Hui personally recommends it, which is naturally the design scheme of the general-purpose transport/tanker. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

As soon as I figured out the situation, I put out the two plans for modifying the air tanker, or I said all of them to the people at the meeting, and I wanted to brainstorm to see if there were any loopholes in this plan, and at the same time, I could also see what reactions the Brazilian side had.

Taking out the design idea of A330MRTT multi-purpose tanker, in fact, it is not too big a technical span, and if you are really honest, this kind of air tanker uses military transport aircraft as a platform, in order to flexibly convert between transportation and refueling tasks, in fact, it is not unseen.

As the most well-known military transport aircraft, the improved air tanker Il-78 air tanker, this tanker in the follow-up design of the tanker, that is also considered the design of the general transport tanker, the program is named Il-78MK, its design idea and at this time Yang Hui is ready to play on the C-320 is no different.

It is a pity that the relevant design concept of the Il-78MK was not adopted by the Soviet authorities at that time, just because the Soviet Union at that time had purchased and put into service a large number of Il-76 transport aircraft, which was sufficient in terms of strategic transport capacity, and the benefits brought by the universal tanker did not bring much practical effect bonus, so this was no way, who made the family hairy capricious?

After all, Maozi's improvement requirements for the Il-78 tanker that had been in service at that time were to increase more milk, not a universal requirement, which was clearly reflected from the fact that the Soviet authorities chose the Il-78M air tanker, rather than the Il-78MK configuration, and the specific national conditions of the Soviet Union Maozi needed a special, milk-sufficient tanker.

But the above situation was only used in the Soviet period, when Maozi had the confidence to develop special air tankers and transport aircraft, anyway, in terms of Maozi under the planned economy at that time, people also had money, and they were willing to spend more money in exchange for more efficient combat capabilities.

It's a pity that the world makes people, who knows that 88 years after the Il-78M transport aircraft was officially produced and equipped with troops, the Soviet Union suddenly collapsed, and Russia's transport aircraft troops not only mothballed in a large area, scrapped the An-22, Il-76, these main heavy transport aircraft, and even the latest air tanker such as the Il-78 was also idle.

When the Russian Air Force resumed strategic bomber duty in 2010, the Il-78 tanker, which had been idle in the open for 20 years, was not successfully refurbished for use because of poor maintenance, and the huge Russia only maintained the size of Russia's air tanker force with 20 Il-78M, so Russia once again put forward the purchase demand for air tankers after 2010.

But at this time, Russia is not as heroic as the Soviet Union back then, and considering that at this time, the Russian Air Force not only has a prominent demand for air tankers, but also the Russian army is also hungry for strategic transport aircraft.

The Russian Air Force, which is shy of money, can no longer use special planes, so when the Russian Air Force purchased new air tankers after 40 years, as 31 Il-78M-90 air tankers purchased in conjunction with the Il-476, this requires a rapid conversion between transportation and refueling, the aircraft uses additional internal fuselage fuel tanks, and as long as the fuel tanks in the cargo hold are quickly removed, the aircraft can be used as a traditional transport aircraft.

This Il-78M-90 transport aircraft, in fact, is the Nirvana rebirth of the Il-78MK, the new aircraft will be produced at the Ulyanovsk aircraft factory, after a large number of new technologies are adopted, its weight is significantly reduced, and after the use of more advanced PS-90A-76 engines, it can also significantly increase the range with reduced fuel consumption.

Therefore, there is definitely a market for the design of this general transport / tanker, and the vast majority of countries in the world are not the so-called big money, as strong as Russia has faced the reality after the arrival of the new century, and has chosen a more economical general transport / tanker design, not to mention the many small and medium-sized countries now?

Yang Hui has not finished the design idea of the general transport / tanker, almost no one pays attention to the special air tanker design modification plan, and now this look knows that the general transport / tanker is more suitable for the Brazilian army, these advantages even moved the two salesmen from Germany who are engaged in sales.

If there is really such a transport aircraft, the Luftwaffe's air tanker orders will definitely be eaten at that time, and with this new capacity alone, the entire C-320 transport order will definitely be able to increase by at least 100 or so, and perhaps the C-320 number will be worthy of its name at that time.

It must be known that also in 2000, Germany launched the air tanker project, by the German Airbus branch and Lufthansa Technology Co., Ltd., on the basis of the A310 developed the A310MRTT air tanker, which is also a multi-purpose air tanker based on civil airliners, the aircraft can perform air refueling tasks in addition to some personnel transport tasks.

Generally speaking, as long as the C-320 transport aircraft can successfully have in-flight refueling capabilities, and the aircraft evolves into the KC-320MRTT general transport/tanker, the development path of the entire aircraft can be greatly broadened again, ensuring that the project can finally flourish.

The Brazilian government was the first to jump out and applaud: "Good! The design of this universal transport/tanker is very much in line with our needs in Brazil, and immediately our Brazilian government and the Brazilian military sent a joint team to complete the initial research, as long as the technical assessment requirements are passed, we will do what we say about 70 aircraft. ”

For a country like Brazil, equipping 70 YC-320MRTT is already too much, and even other types of transport aircraft of the Brazilian Air Force will be retired at that time, this guy is a generalist, especially this air refueling capability is definitely the last straw that crushes small and medium-sized countries to choose transport aircraft.

Just because this air refueling capability is definitely a high-end equipment that belongs to the air forces of major countries, generally small and medium-sized countries can only look at it, but the United States has an air refueling aircraft developed on the basis of the C-130 transport aircraft, and the entry threshold for this aircraft is quite low.

However, with the C-130's slower flight speed than the Y-8, it is only for helicopter air tankers in the United States' positioning, and it is almost impossible for fixed-wing jets to accept KC-130's in-flight refueling, and at this time, only the KC-320MRTT is a turbofan-powered high-thrust ratio aircraft that can meet the needs.

In the field of low-end entry-level air tankers, it is now completely blank, and such a huge market must not be let go. (To be continued.) )