Chapter 282 Air Transport Company Equipment

In the 1950s, Lao Maozi developed the Mi-8 helicopter. In the long history of this helicopter, there have been more than 50 modifications, and more than 9,000 helicopters have been produced, which is the largest number of helicopters in the world. Therefore, also Known as the Kalashnikov of the helicopter world.

  In the 1960s, as the Mi-8 got old, Lao Maozi began to improve, specifically to increase the engine power, increase the load capacity, and improve the plateau performance of the helicopter. The Isotov Engine Design Bureau developed a 1900-horsepower TV3-117MT turboshaft engine, which was installed on it and became Mi-18, which was later renamed Mi-17.

  The two helicopters have almost the same shape, and they are also called Hippo in the West. If you distinguish carefully, the tail rotor of the Mi-8 is on the right, and the tail rotor of the Mi-17 is on the left. I don't know what Lao Maozi's designer thinks. Is it because there are two generations of designers, one normal and one left-handed?

  In 1988, the Miri Design Bureau again modernized and improved the Mi-17 helicopter. After the improvement, it was the Mi-171 helicopter, which has been used until later generations. Of course, during this process, the Mi-8 is still in production. After all, it is cheap, and you can buy one for three or four million.

  Standing in front of the Mi-171 helicopter, Qin Tao looked at this smooth-looking helicopter with a large belly, and was full of expectations. Although the navy didn’t use it, the army used it in large quantities, and it blossomed in full bloom, becoming the backbone and main force.

  However, the technology is backward after all. Therefore, the domestic would rather survey and map imitation Black Hawks than think about the Mi-171.

   "This helicopter, can you have short wings at both ends, and hang a rocket launcher nest?"

   Jishenke wanted to shake his head, but then nodded again: "It's not difficult, we can transplant the Mi-24's technology over at any time. Do you need this modification?"

  Qin Tao shook his head: "We need to have this ability to improve."

  Buy these Mi-171s, all of which are civilian models, so that the army does not need to show up. After returning, they need to be able to modify them by themselves, hang a rocket launcher or something, and temporarily serve as an armed helicopter. After all, the army seriously lacks professional armed helicopters.

  However, it cannot be modified here. In this case, the weapons and equipment produced here will have to be purchased, which is a huge expense, and the army has no money.

  Qin Tao spoke seriously, and Jishenke, Dmitry and others listened carefully.

   "Qin, as long as you need it, we can do it. When are you going to buy it?"

   "I'll contact you when I get back." After Qin Tao finished speaking, he thought for a while: "However, I can buy two civilian models, how about three million ones?"

Two heavy-duty Mi-26 helicopters are enough, and it is useless if there are too many. This is the same as a large car. The -26 helicopter, however, must not move at ordinary times.

  If Qin Tao has an emergency travel plan, or other business of the transportation company, he needs a medium-sized Mi-171 helicopter. If he purchases two of these helicopters, he can form a large scale.

   After going back, Zhao Laosi and the others knew that their subordinates had a plane, how should they feel?

Airplanes are different from cars. It costs money to apply for airline training for pilots, so I can only use a special relationship. I guess, I will definitely be surrounded by people after I go back. When the time comes, I will ask my father-in-law to help , anchored under the navy, shouldn't be a big problem, right?

   Three million dollars each, only half the price of the Black Hawk in the 1980s, but for the current Miri Design Bureau, it is definitely a timely help.

  Qin Tao came here this time and placed a large order of 36 million US dollars, the first business since the collapse of the Red Empire!

  In the future, it would be even better if hundreds of Mi-171s can be sold!

  Therefore, there is nothing more to say about the price of the Mi-26.

   After seeing the production workshop, Vitalia, who was with her, warmly invited them to go out for dinner. In the most luxurious hotel in the city, a table of banquets has been prepared. This is much better than eating in a factory.

Before the food was served, several plates of fruit and candies were placed on the table. Qin Tao picked up the plate containing the candies: "Jishenke, Dmitry, and you, you, you guys, take this plate of candies Divide it up and take it home for the children to eat."

   After finishing speaking, Qin Tao grabbed candies and stuffed them into the pockets of several people.

  This scene looks a bit funny, they are all big people, do they still care about these candies?

  However, the eyes of several people were full of emotion.

  Children at home, how long has it been since you ate candy?

  Qin Tao was generous with Vitalia's generosity and bought people's hearts, while Vitalia was on the sidelines, just smiling and watching him do all this.

  After the food was served, the eating and drinking began, and everyone chatted more casually.

   "Our helicopter is already very heavy in terms of weight, but in terms of speed, it is still very poor." Qin Tao brought up a new topic.

In terms of weight, the Mi-26 of 50 to 60 tons is superior to other heroes, but in terms of speed, it is not enough. The speed of Mi-26 is less than 300 kilometers per hour, and other helicopters have not broken through 400 kilometers. hourly.

  Compared with the speed of ordinary planes, which can be seven to eight hundred or even thousands, this is indeed slow enough.

"There is no way, the big plate on the top of the helicopter gives it the power to take off, but at the same time, this big plate will also act as a hindrance when flying forward, so the speed of the helicopter will not be high." Ji Shen Coe said.

   This is a congenital defect of the helicopter.

  Vertical take-off and landing, relying on the large plate above the head, and flying forward? Just tilt the blade of the propeller forward, so that the rotor not only provides lift to overcome gravity, but also provides forward thrust.

  Although the large plate can fly forward with the helicopter, the large plate has also obtained huge resistance. In this case, the speed of the helicopter cannot be too fast.

   "So, how about turning the platter forward while the helicopter is flying forward?"

  Qin Tao spoke casually, and several helicopter experts present were startled.

   "Qin, do you mean a tilt-rotor aircraft? The technology of this aircraft is too difficult, and there is no possibility of success at all. Just a few days ago, the American XV-15 prototype just crashed."

   "That's right, the Kamov Design Bureau also tried it, but finally gave up."

  A new and complex technology may take a long time and cost a lot of money, and it will be carried out with firm will.

  At that time, when the technology of helicopters had just stabilized, the plan of a large plate on the head and a small plate on the back became the consensus of all helicopter designers, and the development of the tiltrotor began.

  By 1951, Bell Helicopter, with support from the military, began developing the XV-3 tiltrotor.

   It looks simple, isn't it just turning the big plate from horizontal to vertical? In fact, the aerodynamic problem alone has troubled Bell for many years. Because of the technical problem of aeroelastic instability, in the wind tunnel test, the rotor was separated from the fuselage, which completely failed the attempt of this aircraft.

   However, Bell did not give up. In the 1970s, NASA and the Army launched a new, turboshaft engine-driven tilt-rotor aircraft program. The Bell company acted immediately, won the development contract, and started a new attempt. This prototype was named XV-15, and it was also the prototype of the famous V-22 "Osprey" aircraft in later generations.

Although in 1981, the first XV-15 prototype performed wonderfully at the Paris Air Show, which made people's eyeballs fall out of surprise, but it is only a prototype after all, and it is still too early to enter service. , just this year, the prototype also fell.

  Mili Design Bureau did not proceed, on the one hand because they had a hunch that this method was too complicated and the chance of success was very small, on the other hand, because their counterparts had already failed decades ago.

  The Kamov Design Bureau also waded through muddy water, this is Ka-22.

   In 1951, they came up with the idea of ​​a compound helicopter. It is planned to install two sets of rotors on the basis of the Li-2 transport aircraft, and then equipped with a TB-2 turbine engine. After blowing through the wind tunnel, some shapes have been modified, and finally the test flight began in the 1960s.

   Compared with the American Osprey, its biggest feature is that it does not rotate. Lao Maozi solved the problem with the most crude means: one engine is installed at each end of the wing, the large plate of the helicopter is on the top, and the normal propeller is in the front!

  They didn’t need to solve the problem of the engine and the propeller rotating together, they simply made two. The big plate on the top was only for take-off and landing, and the front propeller was responsible for providing forward thrust. Now, it’s all solved.

  The people at the Kamov Design Bureau are smart, and they have already foreseen that it will be very complicated if they rotate.

   Their premonition was correct. During the Osprey's decades of development, this tilting process was the most dangerous. Even if it is in service, accidents also occurred during this process.

   If there is no tilt, then things will become very simple.

  However, even if there is no need to tilt, it still needs to be converted from vertical take-off and landing to normal flight. This is the biggest technical problem of this aircraft.

   After several years of testing, the problem continued and could not be solved, so the project was finally abandoned.

"Technology is constantly improving." Qin Tao said: "In order to study helicopters, didn't many aeronautical engineers rack their brains to find a way to mature this technology? Now it seems that the tilt rotor aircraft has There are many problems, but they will always mature in the future, and if they mature in the future, then this kind of aircraft will completely replace helicopters."

  The biggest advantage of the helicopter is that it can take off and land vertically. The biggest disadvantage is the slow flight speed. The tiltrotor perfectly solves these problems, so it is considered the best alternative.

It's a pity that in later generations, there is only the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, and the sky is too monotonous. Therefore, Qin Tao is also idle here, so he simply fooled these people. If they are tempted, Maybe it can be done.

  Technology is constantly improving! If the Miri Design Bureau wants to sell aircraft in large quantities and sell them to Europe in the future, it must have innovation!

   Ji Shenke was a little tempted.

"Especially now, with the rapid development of electronic technology, the most difficult flight control system of this kind of aircraft can be completely handed over to electronic technology. In the future, maybe there is no need for a pilot at all, and it can be completely unmanned." Qin Tao continued Draw a big cake: "For this kind of aircraft, the mechanical problems that need to be solved are definitely not a problem for the Miri Design Bureau."

  One of the biggest mechanical problems of this kind of aircraft is how to ensure flight safety in the event of an engine failure.

  The two or even three engines of the helicopter are arranged side by side. If one of them goes out, the other will explode quickly, even if the output is super power, so that the rotors continue to rotate to ensure emergency flight to a safe area for landing.

Tilting rotorcraft is not easy to toss, after all, the engine is on both sides, the end of the wing, the distance is too far, Bell has designed a complex transmission system, there is a transmission shaft inside the wing, usually two engines, each dry Each, but once one of them is turned off, the engine on the other side will output power through the drive shaft.

   Only in this way can safety be ensured. If only one propeller continues to rotate, then the plane will rotate around the longitudinal axis and fall.

  For Lao Maozi, they are the best at playing with these machines, and they may still have a way to solve problems in the simplest way.

   "Tilting rotorcraft, vertical take-off and landing fighter jets, these can be deployed on the navy's cruisers and landing ships." Qin Tao said: "Although it seems that there are still many problems, they will definitely mature in the future."

   Jishenke nodded: "Yes, our heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers and amphibious landing ships do all need aircraft that can take off and land vertically."

   "I heard that Alexander, the chief engineer of the Yakovlev Design Bureau, almost died in Moscow?" Dmitry said.

  Good things don't go out, but bad things spread thousands of miles. The car bomb incident in Moscow is already well known.

   "Yes, I was with Alexander at the time. If we hadn't changed the vehicle temporarily, then we might have to continue to attend Alexander's funeral." Speaking of this incident, Jishenko was also a little scared.

   "Funeral? Lockheed people, it's too much." Dmitry clenched his fists.

   "Yes, it is said that Moscow is still investigating, hmph, in our government..."

   At this point, Ji Shenke stopped, and it would be inappropriate to continue.

"The Yakovlev Design Bureau is miserable enough. The vertical take-off and landing fighter project has been discontinued, and they have nothing at hand. I suggest to them that they can try to get a trainer. By the way, I heard that they have also made an early warning aircraft. Project, don’t know what’s going on?”

   "Earcasing aircraft? I guess it's about to be dismounted."

What? What do you mean you have to dismount? That is to say, you haven't dismounted yet?

  It seems that Lao Maozi also has a strategic trick! It's also very straightforward to fool people.

   "According to the plan announced during the Red Empire, didn't the An-71 early warning aircraft win?" Qin Tao asked.

These projects are supposed to be kept secret, but as long as it is an aircraft, it must have a test flight. As long as it is a test flight, it will be discovered by Western spy satellites, unless it is like the F-117, from the test flight to the final equipment of the troops. completely hidden in the dark.

  The F-117, which specializes in attacking at night, can operate like that, and other aircraft certainly cannot. Therefore, many of Lao Maozi's aircraft were discovered by Western reconnaissance satellites that suddenly changed their orbits during the test flight.

The same is true for An-71. It was discovered in 1984. In 1987, Lao Maozi simply showed it openly. NATO even gave it the nickname "Madcap". Underneath, Jacques-44 has been quiet and unknown, and even Lao Maozi publicly stated that An-71 won the bidding.

  If the An-71 bid, why did the Yak-44 still need to be developed? Even in 1991, there was a wooden model that was on the Kuznetsov? This is somewhat inexplicable.

"That's right, that was just announced to the outside world. In fact, the navy has never given up its support for the Yak-44 early warning aircraft. The Yak-44 is still under development." Jishenke opened his mouth. Although he is engaged in helicopters, But I still know a little about things in the aviation industry.

   "Two projects in parallel?"

"It seems so." Jishenke said: "It's just that the progress of the An-71 is faster. After all, the airframe is ready-made, and the Antonov Design Bureau is also very powerful. They have already produced three prototypes. .But those planes are all left at Ermao's place."

  This is emotional and speechless. Although the Kuznetsov was pulled back, the supporting carrier-based aircraft on it stayed with Ermao, including three An-71s.

  Although this kind of aircraft cannot fit into the hangar, it can take off with a short-distance ski jump. Therefore, it is no problem to arrange it on the Kuznetsov.

"If the nuclear-powered ship can be built, with a steam catapult, the Yak-44 after weight reduction may really be able to board the ship, but now, there is only the Kuznetsov. Take off from above, and we have lost the ability to build aircraft carriers here, so the Yak-44 project must be terminated."

   There is no money in the first place, and there is no place for it to be used. If it is developed, what is the use?

   It is inevitable that the project will be discontinued. In this case, it is definitely a rare opportunity for Qin Tao!

  Qin Tao's heart suddenly became hot.

  Stayed in Rostov for two days, signed the purchase agreement and paid the advance payment, Qin Tao couldn't wait to return to Moscow.

   When going back, Vitalia directly arranged to take a passenger plane, which was faster. It departed in the morning and arrived at noon.

  When Qin Tao came to the Yakovlev Design Bureau, the atmosphere here was a little tense.

   Obviously, what happened last time is not over yet.

   "Plesakov, I think you are no longer suitable to stay in our Jacques Design Bureau." Just as Qin Tao walked outside Alexander's office, he suddenly heard the sound of arguing inside.

   "Okay, then I'll leave here, anyway, the design bureau will close down soon."

   After finishing speaking, a middle-aged man pushed open the door angrily, walked out, and then closed the door heavily.

  People around shook their heads a little.

   This is already the third one.

  Since he was almost killed by the bombing, Alexander seemed to have become nervous. He secretly investigated in the design bureau, and if he found anyone suspicious, he would call him to have a private conversation.

  Some people are willing to compromise, and some people cannot be wronged. After a quarrel, they are often fired. Anyway, there is chaos everywhere now, and no one interferes with them. The head of the design bureau has a lot of power.

   The others are fine, Plesakov, that is the deputy chief designer of their design bureau! Jacques-141, almost half of his efforts.

  Qin Tao looked at this person and wrote him down.

   "Hey, my friend, you don't look well." Qin Tao looked at Alexander.

   "Well, Qin, how are you doing on the Don River? Alas, my place has been a mess recently." Alexander said to Qin Tao.

   "The Don River has frozen over, so it would be nice to skate on it," Qin Tao said.

   "Yes, it's frozen." Alexander's heart seemed to be in an ice hole, only Qin Tao, the sun shining down from the top, made him feel a little bit of warmth.

   "By the way, you didn't come here to comfort me, did you?"

   "Yeah, I came here to see the legendary AWACS project. I'm curious. It's completely different from the official propaganda of the Red Empire!"

   "This project is coming to an end." Alexander said to Qin Tao: "There is nothing to keep secret. If you want to see it, I will take you to see it. What do you want to know about this aircraft?"

  Thus, Qin Tao finally knew the cause and effect.

  Back then, when the project was first launched, it was to allow the new type of shipborne early warning aircraft to be used on the Kuznetsov, and there were even derivative anti-submarine models.

In the late 1970s, the Yakovlev Design Bureau came up with a design plan: through 2 turboprop thrust engines hung under the wings and 4 turbojet lift engines installed in the fuselage, it can be realized from the aircraft carrier deck Take off on a short ski jump.

This is very Jacques. After all, they are the most experienced in lifting engines. However, the problem is that the early warning aircraft has such a large space, and what kind of lift engines are installed, and their original electronic technology is backward. This project is not at all. likely to succeed.

  So, the early model was aborted, and the Navy chose the An-71 early warning aircraft.

However, this product is too tall for the navy to use, and the hangar can't fit in it. Therefore, the navy turned around and asked the Yakovlev Design Bureau to continue to develop it. However, they canceled the requirement for short-distance ski jump takeoff .

   Now, Alexander and the others can finally let go.

  The brand-new Yak-44 early warning aircraft has just embarked on the fast lane.

   "In September 1988, we completed the preliminary design, and then began to refine the design and build a prototype. At present, in addition to the wooden model, we also have a prototype that is being assembled."

Qin Tao felt his heart pounding, he tried hard to control his emotions, and said to Alexander: "Then, since the project has been stopped, the prototype is useless, should we sell it? As long as it can fly, it will be fine. Just in time to equip our air transport company with four helicopters."

  (end of this chapter)