In the thick haze, Xia Yu vaguely saw a black fighter hovering at an altitude of about ten meters, which made Xia Yu, who had never heard of the development of vertical take-off and landing fighters in China, very curious, and drove directly to the direction of the airport with the next foot of the accelerator. As the distance approached, Xia Yu's vision became clearer and clearer, and when he drove to the tarmac, Xia Yu braked heavily, and the braking sound that should have been piercing was drowned out in the roar of the aero engine.

Xia Yu's arrival naturally attracted the attention of the ground command vehicle of the test flight group, but when he saw that the person who got off the car was Xia Yu, standing next to the console of the command vehicle, the person in charge of the test team holding the microphone just nodded at Xia Yu and began to say something into the microphone.

Xia Yu was still far away, and the sound of the plane's engine was very noisy, so Xia Yu didn't hear the voice of the person in charge of the test team, but the sound of the plane hovering in mid-air suddenly changed after the call of the person in charge of the test team, Xia Yu could still hear it clearly. Turning his head to look at the runway more than a hundred meters away, Xia Yu could finally see the appearance of this aircraft very clearly at this distance.

At a glance, Xia Yu knew that this was a fighter with a conventional layout, with a diamond-shaped nose, and a circular bulge at the diamond-shaped air intake on both sides under the wing, which was a DSI air inlet design, and it was also a typical stealth design, with a horizontal tail under the wide butterfly wing and a relatively huge inclined double vertical tail, it looked almost the same as F35 at a glance, if it weren't for the fact that the fuselage was not as fat as F35, Xia Yu estimated that he would have to regard this aircraft as F35.

“X1801？” Xia Yu walked in the direction of the ground command vehicle. While looking at the fighter plane that was slowly descending, Xia Yu was stunned immediately when he saw the plane number.

"Yes. This is 1801. Seeing Xia Yu coming over, he was surprised to say the number of this aircraft, and the person in charge of the test team smiled at Xia Yu and said, "Hello." Colonel Xia Yu, welcome to come and visit. ”

Xia Yu was stunned again when he heard this, his information had become top secret, but the person in front of him was obviously the first time he had seen him, how could he know himself?

As if knowing Xia Yu's question, the person in charge of the test team stretched out his right hand to Xia Yu, and then introduced himself: "I am Cao Huajun from the 601 Institute. ”

Xia Yu was immediately relieved when he heard this, the 601 Institute is the Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute, that is, Shen Fei, which self-funded the research and development of the J-31. When Xia Yu became a test pilot of the J-31, he had a lot of dealings with Shen Fei's people. Although Cao Huajun Xia Yu in front of him has not seen it, he can become the head of a vertical fighter test team, and he has some energy compared to Shen Fei, so it is not strange to know himself.

Putting this question aside, Xia Yu stretched out his hand and shook Cao Huajun's hand, and asked: "Isn't the J-18 vertical take-off and landing fighter circulating on the Internet a rumor?" How can there really be! ”

Cao Huajun smiled when he heard the words and said: "In fact, when the rumor of the J-18 was circulated, because of the shortcomings of engine technology and nozzle technology, it was impossible for us to develop a reliable vertical take-off and landing engine, so it was indeed a rumor that circulated at that time." ”

"And what is this?" Xia Yu pointed to the 1801 that had just finished landing and asked, "This number has come out." Is it time to set up a project? ”

Cao Huajun shook his head and said: "The 180 project has not been approved, this is just a technical verification machine. Truth be told, if it weren't for the breakthrough in our engine technology in the past two years. The research plan on the vertical take-off and landing fighter will not be put forward so soon to be trial-produced, because it is only a technical verification machine, so the J-18 project, which still needs to be kept secret at this stage and has basically been refuted, is undoubtedly a good cover. And you see it too. This aircraft is basically a copy of the basic structural layout of the F35, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a copycat. ”

Xia Yu nodded. The shape of this aircraft is really similar to the American F35, but the body is relatively slim. The streamlined appearance is much more pleasing to the eye than the F35, Xia Yu knows that if it is only a technical verification machine, the current shape is only the initial version, and it can be seen from the number that 1801 is just the second model, and the static testing machine must be 1800.

However, Xia Yu doesn't care whether it is a copycat or not, Xia Yu has always had only one opinion on the aircraft, that is, whether it is good or not. No matter how similar the appearance is, if the performance of the aircraft is not even half of the original, it is also a waste of time and money, but if the aircraft from the cottage has the same flight performance as the original, or even exceeds, it is a good aircraft.

For example, the J-11 and J-15 that have been complained about by various kinds, these two are obviously copycats of the Su-27 and Su-33, to be honest, if you are not a military fan who knows the Soviet fighters very well, you can't tell the difference between the J-11 and the Su-27, and the difference between the Su-33 and the J-15, the appearance of these aircraft is almost completely the same.

However, the J-11, especially the J-11B and J-15, the two so-called copycat aircraft, are not only not worse than the original Su-27 and Su-33 in terms of aircraft performance, but also because of the domestic electronic technology level and overall industrial level, so that the J-11B and J-15 have more combat effectiveness than the Su-27 and Su-33. So in Xia Yu's view, these are two good planes. As long as the combat effectiveness of the aircraft is sufficient, the pilot will have enough confidence to face the challenges when flying such an aircraft. Therefore, the 1801 in front of him, which looks similar to the F35, is not how similar it is to the F35, but the degree of flight performance it can achieve, which is the most important thing.

During the conversation between the two people, 1801 has completed the test flight task, after running to the engine and turning off the engine, it was dragged to the hangar by the tractor, Cao Huajun assigned the task to the other members of the test team, and then said to Xia Yu: "Although it is only a technical verification machine, the country definitely needs a fighter that can take off and land vertically as a technical reserve, so although there is no project, 1801 still has a certain amount of financial support." ”

Xia Yu nodded in understanding, and then asked, "What are the design indicators of this aircraft?" ”

"Super patrol, super information network, super maneuverable, and finally stealth." Cao Huajun said: "Although it is developed according to the requirements of the fourth-generation aircraft, the requirements for stealth of this aircraft are not high, and the design goals are similar to those of the F35, which are multi-functional general-purpose fighters." ”

After listening to Cao Huajun's words, Xia Yu looked at the 1801 that was towed to the hangar by the trailer, shook his head and said, "I'm afraid I can't meet the requirements of the complete fourth-generation aircraft, right?" The fuselage is not excessively fat, that is to say, after counting the inner mailbox, the belly magazine cannot hold a few missiles, and the overall forged wing body fusion must be designed with conformal fuel tanks at the wing root, plus there must be auxiliary lift nozzles in the wings on both sides, so it is certain that the 1801 does not have a side magazine. In this way, the slender fuselage does not have enough magazine capacity, which is a fighter with air superiority. However, since you said that it is a multi-functional general-purpose fighter, it means that this aircraft must have a certain ground attack capability, in other words, the main bomb-carrying function of the aircraft still depends on the pylons of the wings, right? This is a typical design of a third-generation aircraft, and there is basically no stealth effect after the external missile. ”

Cao Huajun nodded when he heard this, and said: "Air supremacy already has J-20 and J-31, especially the J-31 is basically a pure air superiority fighter, and there is no need to design a stealth fighter with air superiority." ”

Xia Yu nodded in agreement, and then Cao Huajun continued: "But our country must have a fighter that can take off and land vertically, even if this fighter has the problem of high fuel consumption and small combat radius, but an important advantage of vertical take-off and landing fighters is that they can take off and take off into the air without a runway. ”

After a pause, Cao Huajun continued: "So the design index requirements of the 180 project are vertical take-off and landing, supersonic cruise and super-maneuverability, and the stealth design is only to fly without external weapons when air supremacy is required, and more often, this aircraft is used as a third-generation aircraft that can take off and land vertically, just like the Harrier." ”

Hearing Cao Huajun say this, Xia Yu nodded clearly, although Cao Hua made an analogy with the Harrier fighter, but in fact, Xia Yu didn't think that the positioning of the 1801 would be the same as the Harrier fighter. Because once it has the ability to over-patrol and super-maneuver, the 180 project is not comparable to the backward Harrier, advanced engine technology and more advanced design concepts, the crystallization of the 180 project will not lag behind the F35.

As long as you imagine a little bit of what kind of flight performance the slimmed F35 can do, the current engine and avionics technology of the 1801 is not much worse than that of the F35, and sacrificing the number of bullets will inevitably improve the maneuverability and hovering performance of the aircraft. In the case that there is no need to consider the actual project research and development, but only as a technical verification machine to improve the technical reserves, the design indicators and requirements of 1801 are undoubtedly very close to the actual situation, Xia Yu has no doubt about this, but looking at the aircraft that has just been dragged into the hangar, Xia Yu's heart has become itchy.

I haven't flown a fighter plane for a long time, I wonder if Cao Huajun will allow himself to touch this plane himself? Xia Yu looked at Cao Huajun expectantly, and little stars kept flashing in his eyes......

Sell cute fouls, hey...... (To be continued......)