Before the Chinese New Year, the test flight of the J-10 was already in full swing, mainly because there were still some small problems in the process of adaptation with the WS-10.

After the Spring Festival, all the preparations are almost done.

A few days ago, ground tests were also carried out.

The state of the J-10 fighter when taxiing on the ground was detected.

And after a series of ground tests, the J-10 is finally about to make its maiden flight at the end of February.

Because the WS-10 engine used in the J-10, the core components of the turbine and tail nozzle are all from the Rocket Research Institute.

Therefore, as a collaborative development unit, Zhang Xingyang also has the opportunity to be a representative of the R&D unit.

Come to Tianfu City, where Chengfei is located, and visit the first flight of the J-10.

"Xingyang, it's been hard along the way."

Zhang Zhengjiang, as the chief engineer of the WS-10 project, warmly shook hands with Zhang Xingyang.

"It's not hard, it's still very comfortable to come by plane, and the business class is still very comfortable."

Zhang Xingyang was also very happy and shook hands with Zhang Zhengjiang excitedly.

"Is the J-10 test flight time confirmed?"

Because the test flight had to take into account the meteorological conditions of the day, Zhang Xingyang did not know when the J-10 would be tested before coming.

I only know that the approximate time of the test flight will be within two days after tomorrow.

"The weather in the past two days, the answer given by the meteorological center is that the meteorological conditions have been relatively good in the past two days, and there is no cloudy and rainy weather."

"They just completed the division of the test flight airspace today, applied for an airspace, and the time is tomorrow!"

The airspace for test flights needs to be applied for in advance, but the competent authority for this part of the work in China is the Air Force, and it is easy to apply for it.

"Then it seems that I came at the right time!" Zhang Xingyang said with a smile.

"How has the WS-10 been doing lately?"

Since participating in the first flight of the Su-27 with the first modified WS-10 engine in October, the matter of the Rocket Research Institute was once so heavy that it exploded.

Zhang Xingyang didn't have much time to inquire about the subsequent improvements and flight status of the WS-10, so naturally he didn't know much about its latest status.

"We've made a lot of changes lately in line with the direction of improvement you provided earlier."

"There has indeed been a certain improvement in performance, and it can also maintain the cruising speed of Mach 0.98 of the Su-27 fighter without afterburner, and it can reach a supersonic speed of Mach 2 in the case of afterburner."

"If the engine performance continues to be improved in the future, it is possible to achieve supersonic speed in the cruising state after the thrust goes up."

In recent years, supersonic cruise is a relatively advanced concept, and there are not many fighter models that can do this.

The MiG-31 developed by Mao Xiong can barely touch the side of supersonic cruise, with a fuel load of 16.3 tons, which allows him to fly at supersonic speed for 15 minutes.

However, in general, it can maintain a supersonic flight time of more than 30 minutes, which is considered to have the ability to cruise at supersonic speed.

Eagle Sauce's latest secret development of the F-22 also has supersonic cruise capabilities, but it has not yet been successfully developed, and there is still a long way to go before it is actually put into battle.

The same Typhoon fighter jointly developed by the four Europa countries, although it is also designed to have supersonic cruise, has just made its first prototype flight three years ago, and there are still a lot of troubles that have not been solved.

It can be said that in this era, there is still no fighter with a real supersonic cruise in practical application.

At this time, if you can really catch up with the international level, then the subsequent days will be much better.

After all, the real backing of international competition is the strength of the respective countries.

And a large part of the strength is supported by the combat effectiveness of the army.

"After you improve, will you be able to make the J-10 achieve supersonic cruise?"

Zhang Xingyang asked a little curiously, the J-10 that used the AL-31F engine in the previous life was naturally unable to achieve supersonic cruise, but after applying the WS-10 in this world, there is still a question mark over whether it can be used.

"This ......"

Hearing Zhang Xingyang's question, Zhang Zhengjiang also felt very helpless, even if many improvements were made, the WS-10 could only reach 2.85 tons of thrust without afterburner.

With this thrust, it is difficult to maintain supersonic flight for a long time.

"To be honest, it's hard to achieve a true supersonic cruise, but there should be no problem with intermittent supersonic cruise."

"The aerodynamic layout of the J-10 makes it too much shock wave resistance when he is in a critical state, and he can't surpass it at all without afterburner."

The J-10 with an external pylon, when it mounts a missile, faces too much shock wave resistance, and the engine thrust must be at least 3 tons or more to be able to push the aircraft to a supersonic state.

"If I don't have missiles, I'm sure that the J-10 can maintain supersonic cruise."

Hearing this, Zhang Xingyang rolled his eyes, can a fighter without missiles still be called a fighter?

It can only be counted as someone else's target aircraft!

"Therefore, the new generation of fighters must have all-weather stealth, supersonic cruise, high-profile perception and other capabilities."

"And to achieve stealth and supersonic cruise, it is necessary to use an embedded magazine."

Zhang Xingyang expressed his views on the next generation of fighters, especially in terms of layout.

In fact, these are all design solutions that have been tested by war and recognized by everyone, but they are indeed relatively new to everyone at this time.

"And the J-10, as a single-engine light fighter, has certain shortcomings in itself, with a small bomb load and a short range."

"In the future, it will definitely not be able to meet the growing combat needs of the Air Force!"

"Especially in the vast oceans to the south, the Air Force needs aircraft with a larger combat radius."

"Only a twin-engine heavy fighter will be able to meet these needs of the Air Force!"

Zhang Zhengjiang didn't think much about it yet, after all, at this time, everyone's latest generation of fifth-generation aircraft was still under development.

In China, the project has not even started, and it is a bit far to consider this.

"If the J-10 is successful, it will actually be in the world, and now it can be regarded as advanced, and the situation is not as bad as you say."

Zhang Zhengjiang's understanding of the situation is not as detailed as Zhang Xingyang's, so he is naturally more optimistic.

In this regard, Zhang Xingyang is not good at hitting him again, and as Zhang Zhengjiang said, at this time, the J-10 has been able to barely meet the operational requirements of the Air Force.

From an economic point of view, the Air Force at this time did need light fighters.

As for the new generation of twin-engine heavy fighters, they will definitely participate in it, after all, no one in this era knows better than themselves how to design and manufacture an advanced fifth-generation fighter!

If you are deeply involved, the domestic fifth-generation fighter may even become the world's first fifth-generation fighter!