Chen Yijian is sixty years old and has gray hair, but he is full of enthusiasm at this time.

At the beginning, in order to ask for a little funding from the superiors for the J-7 project, it was necessary to keep applying, especially after the Air Force gave up, the development of the J-7 was even more difficult.

And now, even without relying on the appropriation from the superiors, Xifei can carry out the development of new projects! That's the power of a market economy!

The whole factory is full of energy.

And all this, to a large extent, thanks to Pakistan's help, thanks to Pakistani President Mahmad, after all, this road, which was pointed out by Mahmad back then, was through the export of Spey engines, and flew west through that most difficult period.

And now, when it was learned that President Mhammad had come to inspect, Xifei put on a grand welcome ceremony, and the company's employees went to the airport to greet him.

When Mhammad got off the plane, he thought that the factory had deliberately mobilized so many people to welcome him, but only later did he know that it was all spontaneous by these workers.

The weather was not very good, it was raining lightly, and General Qin, Minister of National Defense, Wang Hai, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, and others accompanied President Muhammad, and in the drizzle, walked into the west.

"President Muhammad, you are very welcome to visit us." Chen Yijian said with an excited voice.

"Mr. Chen, you have been able to imitate the Tomcat fighter?" Mhammad asked directly.

Hearing Mahmad's question, Chen Yijian was a little embarrassed: "Yes, basically we copied it ourselves, that is, the wing box part, we can't manufacture it yet, and the few planes made here are all exported." ”

Export these aircraft. did not notify the Pakistani side, Chen Yijian also felt that it was a little inappropriate, in fact, they planned to notify, but before they could say it, Mhammad arrived in Chengfei. Got the thing here.

"Why can't you make the wing box?" Mhammad asked.

"The wing box is the most important part of the variable sweep wing, which is made of titanium alloy, and our manufacturing capacity is limited and the machining accuracy is insufficient." Chen Yijian said: "We tried to build it several times, but as a result, the strength and precision of the manufacturing were not enough, and it could not be used. ”

Mhammad nodded, this wing box is indeed the most difficult to make. Even in Pakistan, it is the introduction of advanced titanium alloy technology, and the use of multi-axis linkage CNC machine tools, to process a wing box with sufficient precision.

Hearing that some of them could not be produced, Wang Hai immediately frowned, it turned out that Xifei could not start manufacturing immediately!

"If you still need it, you can order it from us in Pakistan." "We ship to you at the same price as a domestic order," Mhammad said. ”

Chen Yijian's face suddenly became happy: "Thank you, President Hamad, for having this key component." We won't be limited in our output. ”

"Is there a finished product now?" Wang Hai asked.

"There's one that's about to be assembled, and it's in the factory." Chen Yijian said: "It is the last one delivered to Iran." ”

The factory is clean and tidy. Some technicians were busy working on that assembled plane.

"Is there a difference in performance between this Tomcat fighter and an American-made fighter?" Wang Hai asked.

In Chen Yijian's memory, this is the first time in three years that the commander-in-chief of the Air Force has come to fly west, this time. Xifei is about to turn over! Chen Yijian said: "The performance of American-made fighters is never lagging behind, and some places are even better, such as avionics and engines, which are all produced by ourselves." More advanced than the original avionics and engines. ”

The Americans themselves use the TF30, which is difficult to serve, and the performance is much better when using the TF41 modified by Spey, and the combination of a variety of airborne radars, the airborne pulse Doppler radar developed by Huaxia itself is also better than the original AWG-9.

"Xifei is self-reliant and has imitated a first-class fighter, and this practice should be commended by the whole army." General Qin said affirmatively.

"We will continue to carry forward this style of self-reliance and hard work, and of course, there is also the selfless help of our Pakistani friends." Chen Yijian said.

"If the raw materials are sufficient now, how much will the annual output of this Tomcat fighter in Xifei be?" Wang Hai asked Chen Yijian.

Is this an order to be placed by the Air Force? Chen Yijian was even happier in his heart, and said: "There will be about ten to twenty planes in the initial stage, and after being more proficient in the later stage, the annual output will be about forty planes." ”

The production of fighter planes is not the production of automobiles, assembly line operations, and production is quickly completed, and many assemblies are purely manual, such as the skin of airplanes, which are riveted by workers one by one. Even Pakistan now produces about 30 Tomcat fighters a year.

Wang Hai looked at this Tomcat with great interest, when he had made up his mind and planned to equip this kind of fighter, he would feel that this kind of fighter was good everywhere, and in the past, the Air Force also regarded the variable sweep wing as a direction of development!

"After we go back, we will conduct a demonstration that the Air Force can first equip a small number of such fighters to evaluate whether it is suitable for our Air Force." Wang Hai said.

"The Tomcat's powerful interception capability also comes from the immortal bird missiles it carries." "The use of long-range air-to-air missiles to carry out long-range strikes against targets is of great practical value in actual air combat," Mahmad said. Now, we should not just copy a body, but also develop a corresponding air-to-air missile. ”

Long-range air-to-air missiles are also quite important in future wars! Its usefulness is to attack the enemy's high-value targets, such as AWACS!

However, if it is to attack the early warning aircraft, the range of the immortal bird of more than 100 kilometers can be regarded as close, the best is more than 300 kilometers, or 400 kilometers, and the air-to-air missile with this range is the nirvana of attacking the early warning aircraft.

The long-range air-to-air missile, in addition to the immortal bird, is the R33 missile of the Soviets, in fact, the R-33 missile of the Soviets has a strong blood of the undead bird on it.

However, both of these missiles use solid rocket engines, and the technology of this engine, to create an immortal bird missile, is already a big guy weighing half a ton, and if you want to have a longer range, you must use new technology, for example, a ramjet engine!

Pakistan already has medium-range air-to-air missiles, and there are several short-range air-to-air missiles, only this long-range air-to-air missile, has always been blank, in the past, relying on the relationship with the United States, even bought and wanted, got a batch back, most of them were consumed in the air war with the Soviets, now, the stock of these immortal bird missiles is very small, Pakistan also needs a new long-range air-to-air missile to use!

Now that Huaxia has decided to equip Tomcat fighters, it is impossible not to be interested in this long-range air-to-air missile.

"Are we going to fully map the Immortal Bird missile?" Wang Hai asked: "Or do you want to modify our Hongqi-9 surface-to-air missiles to fighters?" ”

There is also a precedent for the conversion of surface-to-air missiles into air-to-air missiles, and the Iranians have few immortal bird missiles left, and Iranian technicians tried to hang the ground-to-air Hawk missiles on the fighters, and they were successfully launched! The Immortal Bird missile is only available in the United States in the world, and the Hawk missile has long spread to the entire Western camp, and the Iranians can easily get this kind of missile to Iran through smuggling, so that their Tomcat fighter has a second spring of life.

Mhammad shook his head, Hongqi 9, that is, the Shield of Friendship missile, is too large, and mounting it on the Tomcat fighter will cause the fighter to be extremely bulky, and the software will have to be reset. The Immortal Bird missile, in fact, has also lagged behind in technology.

"We're going to redevelop and come up with a missile that uses a ramjet engine." Mhammad said.

The Immortal Bird missile is huge in size, and the weight is also quite large, resulting in the Tomcat mounted on the Immortal Bird is very bulky, and it is not suitable for future air combat, in later generations, the Meteor missile developed by Europe is a very good enlightenment, on the basis of the medium-range air-to-air missile, improve the engine, increase the range, and develop a more advanced missile.

The overload of the Immortal Bird missile is only about 20G, while the overload of the medium-range air-to-air missile generally exceeds 30G, and the technology of the medium-range air-to-air missile is more advanced, such as the active sky flash produced by Pakistan now, which is an air-to-air missile with excellent performance.

"On the basis of our medium-range air-to-air missiles, the engines will be improved and the range will be greatly increased." "Meet our operational needs for the next two decades!" ”

Rocket engines, which require fuel and oxidizer inside, and, even if they are not rapid-combustion, they only burn for a few tens of seconds, and the rest is inertial flight in the air. The ramjet engine, on the other hand, uses oxygen in the air and only carries fuel, and during the entire flight, it is almost always in the power flight stage, with high speed and good performance.

China had a reserve of ramjet engines, and almost after the establishment of China, among the large number of scholars sent to the Soviet Union, there were those who specialized in training ramjet engines. At the same time, several Type 42 and Type 82 destroyers equipped with Sea Javelin ship-to-air missiles equipped by Pakistan use ramjet engines, and the Soviets' Sam-6 uses solid rockets and integrated ramjet engines.

Mhammad mainly proposed that the long-range air-to-air missiles of the future must be powered by ramjet engines!

"Okay, let's work together to develop a long-range attack weapon!" Wang Hai's eyes were full of longing, with Pakistan's active sky flash seeker technology, coupled with the domestically developed missile body, a long-range air-to-air missile will definitely be created! And now that the parties have overcome all the technical problems of the fire control system, the development of the project will be easier. (To be continued......)