Chapter 191 Persian Air Force Rebirth Plan (2-in-1)

"What about this... Brigadier General Welsh, you should know that manufacturing your own engine and overhauling an engine from another country are completely different things, especially when it comes to parts replacement."

Zhong Shihong did not directly take over the whole package:

"I can only say that from a technical perspective, there should be no insurmountable technical obstacles for us with the TF30. However, I am afraid we still need to wait until we see the actual situation of the engine before we can make a judgment."

Sometimes it is this calm attitude that is more reassuring, so Welsh nodded immediately:

"Of course, no problem. You can send some technical personnel to Isfahan. This is also one of the exchange conditions we have reached with your country's aviation technology group."

This sentence is a bit strange. In principle, as a company that collects money to perform services, there seems to be nothing special about Aviation Technology Group providing services at customers' designated locations, and there is no "quid pro quo" involved.

However, considering that the Aviation Technology Group is essentially the vest of the aviation industry, and the latter is closely connected with the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and even the entire military system, Zhong Shihong estimates that there are some twists and turns behind this that he is unaware of.

But he did not ask any more questions in front of Welsh, but continued to introduce to him several engines mainly produced by the 410 factory, of course the main one was the turbojet 14.

In fact, the job of engine overhaul is not much easier than building a new engine. What's more, it is a new model that has been completely untouched in the past. It requires sending people to go on business trips and even opening additional molds to make some spare parts that need to be replaced. , the workload must be quite huge.

However, no matter how you say this is just a maintenance business after all, the Persians came to Shengjing instead of Rulika-Saturn. Obviously, it was not because the former's technology was better but because of the cost, so it was impossible to charge too high a price. , it can only be regarded as making hard money.

But selling engines is different.

Although the aviation manufacturing industry is not yet as streamlined as some low-end manufacturing industries, the scale effect does exist.

For a mature aviation engine that has been finalized, the cost and man-hours required to build 100 units is only about 1.5 times that of building 50 units, but the profit gained from selling it is twice the actual amount.

What's more, this is still an export. Although the Persians are not as wealthy as dogs, they must still pay in hard currency.

If it doesn't work, you can still exchange it for oil.

With the continuous development of the national economy, China began to transform from a net exporter of oil to a net importer in 1994. In the following two years, the import volume expanded rapidly, and there was a faint trend of oil shortage. Under this situation, what can be done Getting crude oil can be considered a great achievement.

In short, no matter what, as the management backbone of Factory 410 and one of the main persons in charge of the Seiko Project, Zhong Shihong can definitely benefit from it.

However, Welsh showed little interest after talking about overhauling the TF30. His previous interest in the turbojet 14 seemed to be just to come to the 410 factory to confirm their technical level.

Zhong Shihong, a skilled worker, thought he was not very good at selling words, so after discovering this, he did not continue to pester him, and instead began to quietly mention the excellent performance of the J-8C and J-7F.

Welsh said that he had seen the J-8C's flight performance at the Xiangzhou Air Show on TV and was full of praise for its performance.

But he still didn't show any intention to buy it.

This time it was completely out of the question.

…

But Zhong Shihong didn't just give up.

After dinner, he found the leader of the aviation technology group who came with the Persian delegation.

Although one was in a technical position and the other was in an administrative position, they were both from the aviation industry system after all, so the two chatted together within a few words.

Zhong Shihong leaned on a railing outside the guest house, took out two cigarettes from the cigarette case, gave one to the other person, and took out a lighter to light them respectively.

After a set of smooth movements, he successfully brought out the topic he wanted to talk about:

"These Persians have come all the way to China. Is it just to visit our 410 Factory?"

"Of course not. They have arranged a trip of about ten days this time. If you ask me, they are really good at picking the time. Even if it is half a month later, I will not be able to go home to celebrate the New Year's Eve."

The team leader next to him took a long puff of cigarette and blew out a smoke ring into the air.

In front of his own people who had enough confidentiality, the team leader could finally complain with confidence.

"Hey, those of us on the front lines are really working hard."

Zhong Shihong, who was deeply touched by this, nodded.

Due to the nature of work in Factory 410, he often cannot go home for holidays.

These words brought the distance between the two closer.

So Zhong Shihong strikes while the iron is hot:

"Then where are they going to go?"

"They didn't have any plans themselves. They just specified that they would come to Shengjing first, and finally go to Factory 182 in Nanzheng. We will decide the rest of the itinerary."

"Factory 182?"

This final destination surprised Zhong Shihong. After all, in the aviation industry system, this could only be regarded as an inconspicuous place, and its presence was probably similar to that of the Yunma Factory that built the city.

"Well, there are two Y-8Fs they ordered over there, but they have been delayed in delivery due to the improvement of the aircraft. This time I just received them together and flew them back."

"So that's it..."

Zhong Shihong nodded and put out the half-smoked cigarette on the iron railing:

"Then what are you going to do?"

The leader smokes slower, so the cigarette butt is still burning:

"Let's go around from north to south, from east to west. The Persians don't seem to be interested in buying aircraft. They just want to do some work on upgrading the old aircraft to extend their life. They promised that we can send them out. Technicians and pilots are familiar with the performance of U.S. military aircraft at close range."

"Old aircraft upgraded..."

The keyword finally appeared.

So Zhong Shihong took advantage of the situation and continued to ask:

"By the way, besides the F14, what other models do the Persians have? Can't this one model take the lead?"

Information in this era was relatively limited, and we basically relied on television and newspapers to obtain information. However, no media seemed to be interested in the air power of a medium-sized country, and there were very few relevant reports.

The last time Persia became the focus was the Iran-Iraq War, but it is difficult to find news from 10 years ago.

On the contrary, those in the Aviation Technology Group who have direct contact with foreign personnel can obtain a lot of first-hand information.

Sure enough, the team leader answered almost without thinking:

"There are not many F14s. There are only about fifty or sixty of them still flying now. The main force is still nearly 200 F4Ds and F4Es, and there are more than 100 F5s. They are all our old friends. There is not much research value. The above I am still more interested in F14, after all..."

He didn't continue, but the following content was obvious——

After all, a year ago, the two aircraft carriers, the USS Nimitz and the USS Independence, which brought huge pressure to the Chinese military, carried the F14 as their main aircraft.

But Zhong Shihong's attention is obviously elsewhere.

"F4 and F5..."

After muttering a few words, his eyes suddenly lit up.

The F5 fighter is a twin-engine light fighter that competes with the MiG-21.

The reason why the dual-engine engine is still lightweight is because the J85 engine it is equipped with is actually a model originally planned to be used on cruise missiles. The afterburner thrust of a single engine is only 1800kg. Without afterburner, it is even worse, 1300kg.

The two engines together are less than half the thrust of the turbojet 14.

Of course, the size is also very small. The F5 aircraft is generally relatively compact.

In short, if you want to forcefully insert the Turbojet 14, it does seem too big.

But F4 is different.

According to the standards of second-generation fighter jets, the F4 is an absolute "heavy fighter".

The maximum take-off weight is nearly 30 tons and is powered by two J79-GE-17 turbojet engines.

The thrust of the J79 is 8100kg, which is similar to the turbojet 14, but its weight is as high as 1800kg and the thrust-to-weight ratio is very low. It is a typical early second-generation turbojet engine.

Isn’t this right!

It is not difficult to insert a small engine into a large body.

The remaining question is how to get the Persians interested in this plan.

Zhong Shihong quickly thought of a way——

If there is no demand, create demand.

"I have an idea about the next itinerary. I wonder if you would be interested in hearing it?"

He turned around slightly and asked the leader casually.

Not surprisingly, the other party readily agreed:

"Okay, after all, you are professionals."

"For those of us who manufacture aircraft and aerospace engines, we have seen too much that they are all the same. There is not much difference. You can just arrange a few representative visits, such as Factory 112 and Factory 172. "

Although this sentence contains some personal information, it is indeed correct.

So the leader thought for a moment and nodded, indicating that he should continue.

"In your free time, I suggest you take them to the 607 Institute, the Aviation and Missile Institute, and the Second Mechanical and Electrical Bureau of the Shanghai Aerospace Corporation to take a look. I think they will be very interested."

After some twists and turns, Zhong Shihong finally said what he finally wanted to say.

Institute 607 is engaged in radar, and its most famous product is the JL10 airborne fire control radar.

The Aircraft Missile Institute and the Second Electromechanical Bureau are engaged in missiles.

The former’s representative work is the YJ-8 anti-ship missile, while the latter designed the PILE 11 air-to-air missile that has just completed final target testing.

In addition, there is a person from the 410 Factory here who is responsible for building engines.

The Persians came here this time, obviously to update their fighter jets.

In addition to life extension and overhaul of the airframe and engine, I am afraid that the AN/AWG9 radar will also need to be equipped with new airborne weapons.

Although the AIM-54 has a long range and is powerful, its intended combat targets are, after all, only large aircraft with little maneuverability such as the Tu-22 bomber and the Kh22 long-range anti-ship missile it launches.

After various countries, especially the Persians' mortal enemies Goudahu and the Kingdom of David, have entered the third-generation machine era, the Phoenix seems a bit too bulky.

Moreover, these missiles imported from the United States also have one less shot, and the remaining number may not be enough.

Under this circumstance, it is logical for them to find new air-to-air missiles for the F14.

As it happens, the Thunderbolt 11 and AIM7 Sparrow of the Second Bureau of Electromechanical Engineering are quite related. Compared with the R27 from Russia, the fitability is obviously much better.

However, even if these can be achieved, the benefits will not fall on the 410 factory.

Zhong Shihong's real target is the more than one hundred F4E fighter jets.

The age of the aircraft is generally only about 20 years, and the flight time of the Persian Air Force is not long. Coupled with the dry climate, the life of the aircraft should be quite sufficient, and there is great potential for modification.

This is why he added a 172 factory in Haojing to his recommended itinerary——

The JH-7 is produced here.

When Chang Haonan and Chang Haonan had a meeting with Zhang Zhenhua from Factory 430, he remembered that the latter said that recently many JH-7s were just in need of mid-term overhaul and were being returned to the factory in batches for maintenance and upgrades.

So when you visit Factory 172, you can definitely see the JH-7.

As a Gulf country, Persia obviously has a need for an air-based anti-ship missile launch platform, and the F14 is not qualified for these tasks.

Moreover, the Persian Air Force, which regards these heavy fighter jets as its treasure, will not be willing to let them do such dirty work.

Of course it is impossible to buy an airplane directly.

On the one hand, the export of fighter-bombers with larger ranges is relatively sensitive, and the price is probably not within the range of customers.

On the other hand, before the Turbofan 9 is fully domestically produced, even China itself cannot build a new J-H-7, and it really has nothing to sell...

But that doesn't matter.

By this time, the delegation had already seen Feibao's upgraded JL10A radar, the same model of YJ-8 anti-ship missile, and the same model of PL11 air-to-air missile...

You must know that the data bus of the Chinese Air Force also refers to the 1553B standard.

As long as the above things are stuffed into the F4E body, you can get more than a hundred multi-purpose fighters that can both air combat and anti-ship at a very low cost.

In other words, the JH-7 wearing an F4 shell.

You know, the JH-7 that had just entered service that year had repeatedly suppressed the F4EJ of the Self-Defense Forces over the East China Sea.

If there are really more than a hundred of these things, not to mention being invincible in fighting across the bay, at least it can make any warship within 500 kilometers of the Persian coastline weigh its importance.

Who can not be jealous?

And as long as Persia shows interest in this upgrade plan, then——

Dear, the power generation and performance of the J79 engine are too poor, and it cannot exert its full performance. Why not upgrade the power by the way? The free space in the aircraft can add more than a ton of fuel, and the range can be raised to a higher threshold... …

If a computer DIY player from 20 years later can see this scene, then he will probably be very familiar with this set of words.

Put the budget of 3,000 into the card, and add money to increase it to 28,000...

In short, this set of processes accurately grasps human psychology, and the final solution is really high-quality and low-priced.

The converted cost of upgrading each aircraft is only about two million US dollars, but it can improve the air force's combat effectiveness to a new level.

Combined with Persia's special geographical location, it even has a certain strategic deterrent effect.

"Well...the Missile Institute and the Second Electromechanical Bureau are not part of our system. If you want to go, I'm afraid you have to apply to the Science and Technology Commission..."

The team leader seemed to be talking to himself or to Zhong Shihong.

There was still some hesitation when seeing the other party, but the latter simply told everything about what he had just thought.

Of course, some non-important parts have been hidden.

The atmosphere between the two was silent for a full minute.

The team leader looked at Zhong Shihong in shock:

"Gong Zhong, do you...want to consider working in our aviation technology group?"

"I am just for the development of the country's military industry and energy security."

Zhong Shihong's expression did not change.

"No matter what, your idea is great. I will contact the Science and Technology Commission tomorrow. Just wait for my good news."

The two parted quickly.

Zhong Shihong, who was walking back to his dormitory, happily reviewed what he had just done.

Turbojet 14, Thunderbolt 11, JH-7...

"Fuck, Chang Gong is so fucking awesome."

he concluded.