Hafei, canteen.

“Today’s first flight was a complete success. Let us raise a toast together to celebrate this hard-won achievement!” Ma Sheng raised his glass and said to everyone: “From now on, we have an advanced ten-ton helicopter!”

"Here, cheers!" Wu Shengli also raised his glass: "This achievement is hard-won, and the shortcomings of our navy will soon be completely made up for!"

Everyone held the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp. Even Xu Can also held the wine glass and drank all the wine in the glass, his two little faces turned red.

"This is just the beginning. Next, our helicopters can develop further." Ma Sheng continued: "For example, the armed type we modified based on the Z-Twenty will also be available soon. Our Army Aviation We will soon have advanced armed helicopters.”

The Army Aviation urgently needs not only transport helicopters, but also armed helicopters. The Wu-Zhi-9 was created by adding pylons to the Z-9, but it was only temporary. Over the years, it has been researching professional armed helicopters.

Unfortunately, due to engine and other problems, the specialized WZ-10 has a low take-off weight and limited weapon-carrying capabilities. When the development of the Z-20 is completed, external pylons will be added to make a helicopter similar to the WZ-9. At the same time, the fuselage design will be modified. To become a professional armed helicopter, these are what the Army Aviation is most looking forward to.

“Our navy also needs carrier-based helicopters with weapons mounted on it.” Wu Shengli nodded. During the cross-sea landing battle, naval-type armed helicopters also need to take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier or amphibious assault ship to participate in the battle.

When Qin Tao went to Lao Maozi, he got several Ka-29s, which opened the eyes of the navy. The navy also needs such professional armed helicopters!

 While everyone was excited, Deng Hui said: "Mr. Qin, do you think we should bring stealth into our current armed helicopters?"

 Now, stealth has become a trend. Not only fighter jets need to be invisible, but other equipment also needs to be invisible. Even huge warships are striving to achieve stealth, not to mention compact helicopters.

And there’s already a precedent for this: the Comanche helicopter.

In the 1980s, Americans highly valued stealth. While developing various stealth fighters, attack aircraft, and bombers, they also began to develop stealth helicopters. This project was the Comanche helicopter code-named RAH-66.

It is a helicopter that is completely considered based on stealth. From the fuselage, it adopts a polyhedral structure, with rounded corners, reducing right-angle reflective surfaces, and uses a large amount of absorbing materials. Its air inlet is specially designed. , has a complex air inlet to prevent radar waves from directly shining on the fan blades of the turboshaft engine. The exhaust pipe has a complex cooling and shielding design to reduce infrared radiation. It even uses a rare ducted tail rotor. As for the missiles, of course they have to be built in, and retractable landing gear is also used.

 The aircraft uses composite materials extensively, and the rotor system strives to make the helicopter disappear from radar.

Now, does our side also want to take this path?

Qin Tao shook his head: "If you can make improvements at the minimum cost during design, you can try it. For example, the exhaust pipe can reduce infrared radiation, the fuselage can be simply modified, etc. If it is based on stealth For the first goal, forget it.”

 “Why?” Deng Hui was very curious.

Ma Sheng also opened his eyes. Isn’t it right for us to follow the American path?

Why? The Comanche, the world's first stealth helicopter, has completely disappeared since then, which shows that this road will not work.

This project lasted from the 1980s to 2004, when it was finally abandoned by the U.S. Army. As for the reason, it is generally believed to be funding. It took 21 years and cost 8 billion U.S. dollars. It is said that if mass-produced, one aircraft would cost 59 million. Dollar.

 The price of future F-35s for the US military’s own use can be as low as $78 million. Isn’t it better than the Comanche?

 Comanche is one of the largest projects canceled in the history of the US military, which has made countless people sigh. However, the US Army knows in its heart that it has no choice but to cancel this useless project, otherwise it does not know how much money it will fill.

 If it is a funding issue, then the research and development costs in the East have always been very low. Can research and development be completed at a very low cost?

 This brings us to another question: What is it developed for?

An important mission of the Comanche helicopter is reconnaissance, and in future battlefields, reconnaissance can be replaced by a large number of drones. Even if it is shot down, there will not be a big problem, just the loss of the aircraft, comparable It is much simpler for the pilot to be surrounded or even captured by the enemy.

Another mission is to attack, and with the development of technology, drones can also carry out attacks quietly and at low cost. Therefore, most of the combat missions of Comanche helicopters will be divided up by drones. As for For other tasks, ordinary armed helicopters can perform them, so there is no need to develop a special stealth helicopter.

After the Americans retired the Comanche, they used the technology developed on the Comanche to improve existing helicopters, and even the stealth Black Hawk appeared. When a certain bearded man was wanted for not turning on the lights and wasting electricity, he was the so-called The stealth black hawk was captured.

Now, of course, Qin Tao will not let his own scientific researchers fall into this misunderstanding, so he will briefly introduce it.

"Armed helicopters originally fly as high as a tree. Even if they achieve radar invisibility, it is meaningless. They will still be visually detected and captured by the optical weapons of various ultra-low-altitude weapons. If they are painted black, they will only be visible. It can fight at night and can be seen clearly during the day. The weapons must be built in, which causes the cost to soar, so it is enough to slightly improve the existing helicopters. We can also wait and see what happens to the American stealth helicopters."

Everyone nodded.

“Compared to stealth helicopters, I value tilt-rotor aircraft more. We discussed with Oscar last time that this kind of aircraft will inevitably replace helicopters and become the mainstream in the future.” Qin Tao changed the topic.

Building a stealth helicopter is the wrong technology tree. Even if many people attribute the discontinuation of the Comanche project to the disappearance of the Red Empire, the US military no longer has an urgent need. However, the rise of drones will take away many tasks of armed helicopters. This is also an indisputable fact.

 The right path is to tilt the rotor aircraft, which is a type of aircraft that can replace helicopters. It has the vertical take-off and landing characteristics of helicopters and the fast flight capabilities of ordinary propeller aircraft. It is simply a perfect aircraft.

“Yes, we have also seen the advancement of tilt-rotor aircraft, but we currently do not have any technical reserves. If we want to develop such an aircraft, it will take a lot of hard work.”

"Yes, this project is not simple, and I can't help much. Lao Maozi only has a backward V-12 tilt-rotor aircraft, which is not mature at all." Qin Tao directly blocked Deng Hui's next step. If so, Deng Hui wanted to ask Mr. Qin to help, but Qin Tao couldn't do anything. Lao Maozi didn't have mature tilt-rotor technology.

“Mr. Qin, have you heard of the Mi-30?” Deng Hui said.

Qin Tao shook his head. He had heard of Mi-8, Mi-17, and Mi-26, but he had never heard of Mi-30.

Deng Hui saw Qin Tao shaking his head and planned to continue the introduction, but when he saw Xu Can's big bright eyes, he changed his mind: "Xiao Xu, please introduce to everyone here, this Mi-30, I I heard it from you."

 Xu Can was originally a foil. Because he was a test pilot, he could sit at the same table with so many people. Now he has the opportunity to speak, and he is very excited.

"Let's take a look at the V-12 first. This aircraft has a maximum takeoff weight of more than 100 tons, uses a unique transverse twin-rotor design, and uses two jet engines as auxiliary propulsion devices. This aircraft has many problems, but It was a great attempt by the Mili Design Bureau. They broke through the aeroelastic problems caused by the mutual interference of the horizontal helicopter wings/rotors and the structural dynamics problems in the mechanical transmission design. Based on this failed model, the Mili The design bureau here began to plan and develop a more advanced tilt-rotor aircraft."

Xu Can’s voice was not loud, but it reached everyone’s ears clearly. She was not nervous and continued to introduce everyone.

"The time came in 1972, when Tishchenko, chief designer of the Mili Design Bureau, proposed the Mi-30 transport tilt-rotor aircraft. This new-structure rotor aircraft was far superior to traditional helicopters in terms of performance indicators, especially in terms of flight speed. and range. They were constantly summing up experience and improving the design. In the 1980s, after superiors inspected the relevant materials, they believed that the technical accumulation was sufficient, so in August 1981, they approved the Mili Design Bureau to officially start promoting the Mi-30 tilt. R&D work on gyroplanes. The military recommends using the most powerful D-136 engine."

 Do what you do, love what you do. Since Xu Can has become a helicopter pilot, she is very interested in these things, especially the future of helicopters. She also firmly believes that tilt-rotor aircraft are the inevitable trend.

"After several years of wrangling, we finally came up with three plans, with take-off weights of 11 tons, 20 tons and 30 tons respectively. The engines are also different. The product with the maximum take-off weight is equipped with two D-27 engines. .”

 Engine!

 The successful development of any aircraft requires a qualified engine. If you want to launch this project, you must have an advanced engine.

The V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft uses the AE1107C turboshaft engine produced by Allison Company, with an output power of more than 6,000 horsepower. There is currently no turboshaft engine of the corresponding level in China, except for the D227 engine of Prodigy Aviation!

Although there is excess power, in tilt-rotor aircraft, there are advantages to excess power: once one of them fails, the other one has to output full power and drive the propellers on both sides through the transmission shaft!

Furthermore, since it is going to be built, it cannot be too small, otherwise it will be meaningless. It seems that the maximum take-off weight is 30 tons, and it is the best choice to match it with our own D227.

"After the end of the Cold War, Da Mao no longer has the ability to continue to develop the Mi-30, but the Mil Design Bureau is still full of expectations. They hope to expand to the civilian market, and have proposed the Mi-30S weighing 3.2 tons and the Mi-30 with a load capacity of 2.5 tons. 30D and Mi-30L with a load capacity of 0.95 tons, carrying 21, 11, and 7 passengers respectively." Xu Can continued: "Later, they also tried to join the European Future Advanced Rotorcraft Program, but they did not succeed. The Mi-30 The project was ultimately abandoned.”

“When I went to Mili Design Bureau before, I never heard them talk about this project.” Qin Tao said with emotion: “It seems that we still need to know more about it in the future.”

Ten years have passed since the collapse of the Red Empire, and Qin Tao has gone there to reap the benefits of the past ten years. Even so, there are still some things that he has not touched upon. When he heard Xu Can talk about this project, Qin Tao was filled with emotion.

He didn't know that when he went to the Mili Design Bureau before, he actually proposed a tilt-rotor aircraft. He only mentioned it a few words to fool him, and he forgot about it afterwards. However, the Mili Design Bureau took it seriously. , keep tinkering.

"Mr. Qin, if we start development from scratch, the progress will be slow. If we can work with Mili Design Bureau on research and development, the progress will be much faster." Deng Hui said.

 Nothing will be accomplished overnight, especially the development of advanced equipment. The Americans have been working on the Osprey for decades. If we start from scratch, progress will definitely be slow.

Oscar and others are only familiar with helicopters, not tilt-rotor aircraft. The latter requires a lot of aerodynamic experiments and accumulation of experience.

Qin Tao nodded: "Okay, I can go and coordinate."

 “Thank you, Mr. Qin.” Deng Hui was overjoyed.

Xu Can was also very happy: "Great, not only can I become a test pilot of Zhi-Twenty, but when our Osprey Sky comes out in the future, I can also test-fly!"

 Ospreyski?

Qin Tao smiled: "Okay, then I wish our Osprey Sky will be released as soon as possible! Come on, cheers!"

Leaving Hafei, Wu Shengli sighed on the plane: "If there is a tilt-rotor aircraft, our navy will have another advanced equipment! Taozi, when do you plan to do it?"

“22350 is about to be delivered, and Lao Maozi will definitely come by then. I will take this opportunity to propose the development plan of this tilt-rotor aircraft with my old friend.” Qin Tao said: “Strive for cooperation as soon as possible.”

“22350 is about to be delivered? So soon?” Wu Shengli felt incredible.

Qin Tao smiled: "Of course it's fast, isn't it just a shell?"

  Lao Maozi does not plan to build a complete warship in the East, but only builds a shell in the East. The outfitting work is still left to Lao Maozi. The progress is certainly not slow. You know, Mingzhou Group is good at making shells.

The fully automatic CNC bending machine directly processes the steel plate into the corresponding shape, and then the fully automatic welding machine welds it on the dock. Only in a few inconvenient places, manual welding is done to manufacture the shell of a four- to five-thousand-ton warship. A few months is enough.

 It's just that Lao Maozi's warship also required the installation of an engine, so it was delayed for a while, otherwise it would have been delivered long ago.

“It’s not convenient to have only this warship. After all, I don’t have any need for this kind of aircraft.” Wu Shengli sighed with emotion.

"That's right, but we have also started construction of a 075 in our shipyard. As long as we let Lao Maozi take a look and fool him, they will have this kind of warship in the future, and of course they will have to develop corresponding aircraft."

The most suitable match for the tilt-rotor aircraft is an amphibious assault ship, which is simply a weapon specially prepared for the Marine Corps. Lao Maozi does not have such a warship yet, but they will be tempted, since they can find the French to build the Mistral in the future. , why can’t we find Dongfang to build 075 now?

 Qin Tao is full of confidence.

 The spring in Mingzhou was bright in April, and the shipyard was busy. On one of the slipways, a long banner was pulled up, with two lines of slogans with the same content written in Chinese and Russian respectively.

 Warmly celebrate the launch of the first 22350 frigate!

This kind of delivery speed has surprised the whole world. Even if it is just a shell, it is absolutely impossible to deliver it so quickly.

 But the fact is that, as the satellites passing by every day can testify, the construction of the 22350 frigate is simply rising on a rocket.

Pieces of steel plates are constantly bent into corresponding shapes and welded. Although it is built with building blocks and not in the popular segmented construction, the speed is surprisingly fast. The hull, superstructure, and engine installation are all done incredibly quickly. People are incredible.

Now, the entire warship has transformed from a design drawing into an actual existence. Looking at its hull with a stealth appearance, looking at the hole reserved for the four-sided phased array radar antenna on its top, looking at the reserved hanging hair The space is full of emotions.

When Nicholas arrived with a large number of people, he was also in disbelief.

 “Qin, you have actually finished the work?”

"Yes, last time you came here, wasn't half of it already built? Of course it's completed now." Qin Tao said: "This is our Eastern Speed."

"Yes, this is the miraculous Eastern Speed. If it were our Damao side, we would not be able to complete the construction of the hull without more than two years!" A naval officer next to Nikolai said: "We originally I thought it would take a long time to receive this warship, but now it seems that the time has been greatly advanced!"

This officer seemed to be the captain of the first 22350 frigate. Seeing the other man's excitement, Qin Tao was too embarrassed to throw cold water on him.

It is impossible to advance the plan in advance. All the time saved by our Mingzhou Group will be delayed by the subsequent outfitting work. If there is no seven or eight years, don’t expect to be able to enter service.

“Nicholas, do you plan to drive it back or tow it back?” Qin Tao asked.

After repeated negotiations, the power system used by this warship is still a conventional alternating diesel fuel system. The gas turbine is provided by Dongfang. The conventional UGT15000 model, the diesel engine has not yet been installed. Lao Maozi still hopes to provide opportunities for their domestic related companies, but The gearbox, drive shaft and propeller at the rear are all installed.

 So, if you want to drive ducks to the shelves, you can really drive it. However, if you want to drive it back, it will be too shabby. I don’t know how many people will be onlookers along the way and how many people will come to watch the fun.

 Mingzhou Group has a floating dock here, and they can definitely help carry it back, or even hire a tugboat to tow it back.

"Our tugboat is on its way here. It will come over after it is launched into the water and tow it to the Far East for outfitting." Nicholas said: "Forget about the gas turbine, it consumes too much fuel."

 They were unwilling to drive back because they were afraid of wasting gas! Qin Tao was also speechless. This calculation was wrong.

After all, Nikolai came from the Far East, so if there are advantages, he should think about the Far East and let the Red Star Shipyard take over this business.

“Okay, then after we launch the water, we will tow it to the pier aside and wait for your tugboat to come over. Now, let’s hold the launch ceremony. Nicholas, can you say a few words to everyone?”

While speaking, everyone had already walked to the slipway and stood in front of the table with the microphone.

This table is used quite frequently. After all, the Mingzhou Group launches warships very quickly.

The workers are used to it, and when necessary, the water launching ceremony can be completed in half an hour.

Nicolas nodded and walked onto the stage.

"I still remember that last year, I stood here and announced the start of construction of 22350. Unexpectedly, this year, its launching ceremony would be ushered in. Mingzhou Group allowed me to see what Eastern Speed ​​is and let me see Eastern shipbuilding. The industry is so prosperous." Nikolai said: "We are very satisfied with the quality of this warship and hope to have more cooperation opportunities in the future!"

"Since the collapse of the Red Empire, we have not started construction of another warship, and our strength has been declining. Today, the launch of the 22350 frigate means that we have got out of the past difficulties and begun to move towards a bright future! Everyone knows that we have This warship is named Gorshkov. It was originally the name of a heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser. It is also the name of our naval marshal. Today, when we watch this warship being launched, we seem to see Gorshkov. The heroic spirit of Marshal Shikov!”

“Now, I announce that the 22350 frigate Gorshkov is officially launched!”

 After saying that, he picked up the champagne beside him and strode towards the slipway.

It is an old tradition to celebrate by smashing champagne when launching into the water. However, with the advancement of technology, it has long been electric. As long as you press the button, a rope will swing the bottle hanging and smash it to the bow of the ship. Success. The rate is one hundred percent.

 However, Lao Maozi has always liked primitive operations.

The guys watched Nikolai walk to the slipway, walked to the side of the warship, waved his arms, and after a few turns, the champagne finally let go and flew to the bow of the Gorshkov.

Snapped!

 Sure enough, you are getting stronger with age! Qin Tao sighed with emotion. He couldn't guarantee that he could smash the wine bottle, but Nicholas did it easily. It seemed that this unicorn arm had been exercising a lot recently.

 Everyone applauded.

Amidst the applause, the fixed device of the warship on the slipway was loosened, and the huge warship began to retreat slowly, faster and faster, and then the stern of the ship entered the water first, causing huge waves, and then the ship Body, bow...

 When the entire warship entered the water, everyone applauded enthusiastically again.

 Successfully launched into the water!

“Nicola, congratulations.” Qin Tao stretched out his right hand, intending to shake hands with Nicholas again, but Nicholas opened his arms and hugged Qin Tao: “Thank you, my old friend.”

As a result, Qin Tao could only hug the other party helplessly. It was embarrassing in front of so many people.

"Nicholas, if you have nothing to do now, how about I take you around the shipyard?" After the two separated, Qin Tao said: "We have also started construction of a 075, do you want to take a look?"