It's a beautiful picture!

Chen Geng could hardly think about what kind of picture the H-6 with a total thrust of up to 43 tons looked like -- the youngest model of the B-52 strategic bomber in the US military: The B-52H uses the most advanced TF33 engine, and the maximum thrust of the eight engines together is only 62 tons, but it is this 62-ton thrust that can make the maximum take-off weight of the B-52H exceed 220 tons!

Chen Geng couldn't help but think of the bomber project that was highly feasible in Xifei, but was not allowed to be dismounted due to limited funds: H-8!

The H-8, which was established in the 70s, can actually be regarded as an enlarged version of the H-6, and the technical difficulty and risk are not great, and the cost is not high; even at the level of strength of the Republic's aviation industry at that time, as long as the engine problem is solved, other problems such as fuselage structure, airborne electronic equipment, and craftsmanship are not difficult to solve. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Because the technical difficulty was not high, according to the original plan, the H-8 was scheduled to complete the technical finalization in 1979 and start to equip the troops with new equipment in the early 80s. In the second step, after the success of the H-6I, the development of a real H-8 strategic bomber with four engines hoisted under the wing began.

Of course, whether the H-8 is a strategic bomber or not remains to be discussed, but at least one of the words "long-range" cannot run; if it is replaced with four NK-8-4 engines, I dare not say that there is more, at least the range of 11,000 kilometers is still there, although it is not comparable to the B-52 and TU-95, the two subsonic bombing maneuvers have a range of 145,000, but they are in the subsonic bomber, the range of tens of thousands of kilometers is properly ranked third......

"Andrey, if the bypass ratio is enlarged to 2 to 3 on the premise of using the components on the NK-8 as much as possible to ensure reliability, how much do you think it will cost?" Clenching his fists hard, Chen Geng tried to suppress the excitement in his heart and asked Andrei Shamanov.

Andrei Shamanov did not answer Chen Geng's words, but said: "Chen, before answering this question, what I want to say to you is that the aero engine is a highly accurate system engineering, and you want to increase power, reduce fuel consumption and improve economy by expanding the bypass ratio?" This is no problem, but first of all, you should know that the smaller the bypass ratio, the better the high-altitude and high-speed performance of the turbofan engine, why can the American B-52 bomber fly to an altitude of 17,800 meters? In addition to the good aerodynamic design, the J57 turbofan engine they carried also contributed a lot. ”

"Yes, I know." Chen Geng nodded.

He understood the meaning behind Andrei Shamanov's remarks, if he only planned to use the improved NK-8 series engines for civilian use, it really didn't matter if the bypass ratio was larger or smaller, and the civil aviation engine paid more attention to fuel economy and reliability, but pursued a large bypass ratio more, and if he planned to use the NK-8 for military use, that would be another matter, and the current bypass ratio of 1.02 was actually just right -- a little smaller would be better.

After making sure that Chen Geng understood what he meant, Andrei Shamanov continued: "As for the cost, if it is as you said, to ensure as much as possible the technical continuity between the improved model and the current NK-8 and the versatility of the parts, I estimate that about 1 to 120 million US dollars should be about the same, well, in terms of time, it should be about 4 to 5 years." ”

"So much?" Chen Geng almost bit his tongue.

In terms of automobiles, in order to improve the versatility of parts and components and reduce costs, OEMs usually use a "family" design when designing an engine, such as the EA113 series that Chen Geng is most familiar with and the follow-up EA211 and EA888 series. In the turbocharged type, there are different output power according to different market positioning, that is, the so-called high-power version and low-power version, and even the highest-end positioning in this series, there are turbocharged and supercharged dual supercharging types......

But no matter how many types are divided, in fact, the technology is the same, expanding the displacement, increasing the power is a very simple thing, so simple that for Chen Geng, this is basically equivalent to stacking blocks, but Chen Geng was busy and didn't expect that the duct of a turbofan engine is so expensive and troublesome than "stacking blocks".

Looking at Chen Geng's slightly open mouth, Andrei Shamanov smiled: "Chen, aero engines are not the same as ordinary civilian internal combustion engines, you want the bypass ratio, but not just to expand the bypass ratio, adjusting the fan diameter to adjust the boost ratio is only the simplest, you also need to calibrate the number of new fan blades, the shape of the fan blades, and you need to adjust the boost, high pressure, low pressure, combustion chamber, and high and low pressure turbines......

The entire amount of work and investment is basically half of the design of a new engine, not to mention the materials, processes and technologies involved behind these adjustments, which can be taken down for more than 100 million dollars, which is already the most optimistic situation, thanks to the fact that you do not require higher technical specifications.

Of course, it is more about the long test after the design is completed, and the reason why it takes 4 to 5 years is that a lot of time is spent on testing," After saying this, Andrei Shamanov looked at Chen Geng and said in a deep voice: "Chen, you still decide to do this?" ”

"Yes!"

Although he was very distressed, Chen Geng still said without hesitation: "As long as you are willing, we will do it!" ”

"Why?" Chen Geng agreed so happily, Andrei Shamanov was a little strange: "If you want a more thrust and more fuel-efficient engine, our NK-56 can completely meet the technical limitations of the NK-8...... I won't talk about how technically difficult it is...... The thrust can only reach about 150KN at most, but the cruising fuel consumption rate will not be lower than 0.6, but the NK-56 and NK-64 that we are preparing to jointly develop can easily reach 160KN or even higher, and the cruising fuel consumption rate can even be reduced to 0.5......"

"I know," Chen Geng replied, asking Andrei Shamanov rhetorically, "but when will the NK-56 and NK-64 be finalized and obtain the airworthiness certificate and production license?" ”

“……”

Andrei Shamanov stopped talking, even the most optimistic estimates, if you want to get the NK-56 and NK-64 production and airworthiness qualifications, you can't even think about it without more than 10 years, even if there are a few delays in the middle, 12 years, 15 years, or even 20 years are not impossible.

NK-56 and NK-64 are undoubtedly the main aero engines of Runhua Industry and Kuznetsov Design Bureau 20 years later, but the long period of 20 years means too many uncertainties, and it also means that the project lacks a means to support during this period.

Compared with the NK-56 and NK-64 projects, which have too many uncertainties, the NK-8 and the improved NK-8 have far fewer uncertainties, and the most important point is that the NK-8 medium duct ratio improved version may be put on the market in four or five years, and this period of time is just used to feed the project, and when the NK-56 and NK-64 are put on the market, the NK-8 will have at least 20 years of life cycle.

"Are you really going to do that?" After a moment of contemplation, Andrei Shamanov spoke: "Chen, as a friend, I have to remind you that 120 million US dollars is just my estimate, but I can't guarantee you how much it will cost, maybe more, this is another expense in addition to our NK-56 and NK-64......

"I understand," Chen Geng nodded: "I still decided to go up!" ”

$120 million is indeed very scary, but in fact, for China and the Soviet Union, the two major aviation industry countries, there is basically no place to use foreign exchange for the NK-8 improved project, and if it is just a simple use of RMB or rubles, let alone five or six billion yuan will be invested in the next four or five years, even if there is a little more Chen Geng, it can bear it.

"Very good, then it is still the way we agreed to cooperate, you Runhua Industry will provide funds, and Kuznetsov Design Bureau will provide technical support......"

"No, it's true," Chen Geng interrupted Andrei Shamanov, "we at Runhua Industry provided funds and personnel, and the Kuznetsov Design Bureau worked with our people to complete the project. ”

"OK," Andrei Shamanov did not hesitate: "I will report this project to the Supreme Soviet as soon as possible, and if the Supreme Soviet agrees, the project can be started." ”

"Then I'm bothering you." Andrei Shamanov agreed so happily, and Chen Geng was also relieved.

"We're friends, don't be so polite," Andrei Shamanov smiled and whispered, "I'll put this plan into our NK-8 improvement project." ”

Shaking Andrei Shamanov's hand vigorously, Chen Gengchang took a breath: "Andrey, although I have said thank you many times, I still have to say thank you this time!" ”

It was also recently that he learned why the Soviet side sold the NK-8 technology to himself, not the D-30K of the Soloviev Design Bureau: The technology of the NK-8 is relatively old, and the control system is not an advanced digital electronic control system, nor is it the analog electronic control system used on the D-30K, but the old mechanical-hydraulic control and magnetic watts, and because the duct ratio is relatively small, the cruising fuel consumption rate of the NK-8 is 0.79, which is far lower than that of the D-8. The direct consequence of the 30K of 0.71 is that the fuel consumption at work is relatively large, which is why the TU-154M abandons the NK-8-4U with the same 100KN thrust level and chooses D-30KU.

Chen Geng is not very familiar with aero engine technology, let alone proficient, and the result of his discussion with the company's aviation experts is that the potential of the NK-8 engine is very large, if the NK-8 can be the same as the D-30K, the maximum thrust and fuel consumption level of this engine will be greatly improved, if supplemented by the advanced digital electronic control system for precise control of fuel and speed, the overall performance can be on a higher level -- the only problem, That is, whether the Kuznetsov Design Bureau is willing to help Runhua Industry with this.

…………………………………………

After all, when they were in the Soviet Union, they had listened to their predecessors who had participated in the China aid project countless times about their experience of aiding China, and listening to the poverty and hardship of China that those experts said about China, they had gradually formed a China in their minds: poor and backward, although their people were very enthusiastic. But their technology is extremely underdeveloped......

But when looking at the brand-new production and scientific research equipment of Runhua Industry, especially the fact that the scientific researchers have a microcomputer in one hand, a telephone per person, and a central air conditioner in the room, all the experts were shocked: Is this their impression of China?

Andrei Shamanov was also shocked, even in the Kuznetsov Design Bureau, there were no such good research conditions, he stammered to Chen Geng and asked: "Chen, this is your company's scientific research center?" We're not wrong, are we? ”

"Of course, this is the aviation technology research center of our Runhua Industry," Chen Gengwu said proudly: "Our scientific research center has realized the internal network of computers, equipped with a number of large servers, and everyone can easily communicate and exchange data through computers."

In addition, we have communicated with the R&D unit of China's 'Galaxy' supercomputer, and in the next year, we will install a supercomputer with a maximum floating point operation speed of 650 million times per second. ”

This is the hardware confidence that we dare to cooperate with the Kuznetsov Design Bureau! Chen Geng said silently in his heart.

Runhua Industry still needs to be equipped with supercomputers? Andrei Shamanov was stupid: the Kuznetsov Design Bureau is not even a supercomputer with a maximum floating-point speed of 650 million times per second, not even a supercomputer with a maximum floating-point speed of more than 100 million times per second...... Who is a developed socialist country?