Chapter 533 There Is No Need to Attract Hatred

Andre shook his head. He knew that these people had misunderstood him. "I mean, if the fighter planes we export to Iraq are equipped in this way, it might damage the reputation of our design bureau."

Rome was not built in a day, and the mindset cannot be changed in a day. The idea of ​​not considering short legs as a problem and the concept of not considering lifespan as an important indicator are based on the outbreak of a war. However, the current situation is that a war will not really break out. Although the Soviet Union is wealthy, the problem of short lifespan actually makes the operating costs of fighter planes higher.

A longer range and taking off and landing together can allow for more time in the air, which is beneficial to fighter jets. However, Andre's status is not high enough now, so he cannot raise too sharp questions about these issues. He can only change the way he puts it.

"Iraq's runways are of very good quality and do not need field airports. However, Iraq needs aircraft that can stay in the air longer. So, can we improve the MiG-29s we export to Iraq so that they have a longer range?" Andre asked.

Now Andre can only hint at it indirectly. It is understandable that those who use it domestically cling to the original design data. However, in Andre's memory, the improvement of the MiG-29 began after it entered service. This is the MiG-29M. One of the focuses is to increase the range, right?

Is it true that there is no such improvement plan for the MiG-29 now?

"General Andrei, what you said is very good. If the MiG-29 is to be exported, it should be slightly improved. So how do you think our fighter jets should be improved to increase their range?" Beliakov asked.

"To increase the range, we can start from two aspects. On the one hand, we can reduce the fuel consumption rate of our engines. Of course, these require the engine design unit to start with. Increasing the engine thrust and reducing fuel consumption are the basic contents in the engine improvement process. On the other hand, it is to increase the fuel capacity of our fighter jets. I feel that we can start from the air inlet and remove the auxiliary air inlet. The freed up space can be used to accommodate more fuel. At the same time, we can also modify the back of the fuselage to make it bulge higher. In this way, we should be able to increase the fuel capacity by about 1,500 liters, so that our MiG-29 fighter has a maximum range of 2,000 kilometers. If we add auxiliary fuel tanks, it will be enough for a range of about 3,000 kilometers." Andre said.

The MiG-29 exported to Iraq has a range of 3,000 kilometers? What is this for? Ustinov frowned immediately. Could it be that Andrei was planning to let Iraq directly attack Saudi Arabia in the first round of the war?

Exporting fighter jets to Iraq was, of course, for the entire Middle East strategy. The Soviet Union had to support Iraq. This was a necessary choice. To enable Iraq to fight the United States, only advanced aircraft such as the MiG-29 would do. By increasing the range, it would be possible to directly cover the entire Saudi Arabia from the Iraqi Air Force base!

Thinking of this, Ustinov said: "Andrei is right. The fighter planes exported to Iraq can be improved. Beliakov, are the improvements that General Andrei mentioned difficult?"

"It's not very difficult. If necessary, we can complete the test within a month, mainly blowing wind to make sure that the lift behind the machine will not have much impact on the performance of our fighter jets," Belyakov said.

While discussing, Belyakov walked along the fighter's final assembly line. The production of the MiG-29 fighter was proceeding in an orderly manner. Belyakov was very proud of this advanced fighter with integrated wing and body, and kept introducing it to the guests.

"Dear marshals and generals, our next topic is to introduce to you our next-generation fighter plan." When they arrived at another factory, everyone's eyes lit up. Several aircraft with unprecedented shapes appeared in front of everyone.

The fuselage is not shiny, it is a full-size wooden prototype model, but its unique shape still aroused the admiration of countless people. The Mikoyan Design Bureau will definitely not lag behind!

When Andrei saw the plane, he immediately murmured in his heart that his time travel had brought about drastic changes in the Soviet Union. Now, even the MiG 1.42 has appeared.

Historically, the development of the new generation of fighter jets in the Soviet Union can be traced back to the 1970s. When fighter jets that could compete with the F-15 and F-16 fighter jets of the United States had not yet appeared, the new generation of fighter jets had already begun to be planned. At that time, the Soviet fighter design bureau and research institute began the preliminary research and demonstration work of three major projects, including the I-90, Sh-90, and B-90 projects, representing fighter jets, attack aircraft, and bombers in the 1990s, respectively. Among them, the 30th Central Scientific Research Institute and the 2nd Scientific Research Institute under the Soviet Ministry of Defense were responsible for formulating the overall performance requirements of future fighter jets, the Central Institute of Fluid Mechanics was responsible for roughly determining the external dimensions and aerodynamic layout of the fighter jets, the Central Institute of Aviation Engines proposed the basic configuration of advanced engines, air inlet layouts, and tail nozzles, and the National Institute of Aviation Systems planned the fighter jets' fire control systems, weapons, survivability and other indicators. The major aircraft design bureaus designed their own plans under this framework.

These were all the work of my brother's research institute. Later, in the early 1980s, the Mikoyan Design Bureau and other design bureaus finally began to carry out preliminary research on a new generation of fighter jets, which was divided into two projects: the twin-engine heavy multi-purpose tactical fighter MFI and the single-engine light tactical fighter LFI.

After several years of hard work, in 1986, the three major fighter design bureaus, Sukhoi, MiG, and Yakovlev, submitted their own proposals. Sukhoi Design Bureau submitted a forward-swept wing fighter design, and Yakovlev Design Bureau submitted a canard layout and a fuselage similar to the F-22. MiG Design Bureau's product 1.42 was finally selected and became the designer of the next generation of fighters, while Sukhoi's plan was selected as a backup plan.

After that, it continued to develop for many years, but until the collapse of the Soviet Union, the first flight was not completed. The development of the new generation of fighter jets was slow and full of difficulties.

And now, only 81 years later, this wooden prototype similar to the MiG 1.42 appeared in front of everyone. How could Andre not be shocked?

"While our design bureau is improving the MiG-29, we are also actively exploring the layout of the next generation of fighter jets. After many options, we decided to adopt the current layout. Our Mikoyan Design Bureau is the most experienced in Soviet fighter aircraft development and can definitely produce the most advanced fighter jets," said Belyakov.

Hearing this, Andrei understood a little. After all, it was still competition. When the Mikoyan Design Bureau learned that the Sukhoi Design Bureau was secretly developing the next generation of fighter jets and reported it to the top leaders, they certainly could not sit still. They wanted to attract more attention from the top leaders, so even though the design drawings were not yet perfect, they had already built a wooden prototype in the hope of attracting attention and getting the top leaders to support the Mikoyan Design Bureau's plan.

Since the new generation of fighter jets require a lot of advanced technology, resulting in high costs, it is impossible for them to coexist like the MiG-29 and Su-27. In the end, only one design bureau's proposal can be selected. The Mikoyan Design Bureau certainly will not be willing to fall behind!

only…

Ustinov and his companions were obviously very interested. They walked over and began to examine the fighter plane carefully. However, although he was an amateur, Ustinov could still see it clearly after approaching. He asked Andrei, "Andrei, is this the canard installed on the enemy's fighter plane you mentioned?"

Andrei felt that he really shouldn't have come to the Mikoyan Design Bureau this time. He had no grudges against the Mikoyan Design Bureau and it was not worth doing this. It was simply a blatant attempt to create hatred.

This fighter, which looks almost identical to the MiG 1.42, uses a canard layout. At the Sukhoi Design Bureau, Andre had just criticized the canard.