Chapter 1453: New plan (6)

In the cognition of most people, another time and space, Tan Zhenhua’s past life, China’s early warning aircraft business started with the famous failed introduction of the project "Faircon", and then "Air Police 2000" was born— —Well, the whole world recognizes that Huaxia’s action is the king of bombing. The
Air Police 2000
, which first flew in November 2003 and was officially installed in 2006, occupied the top spot in the global strategic early warning aircraft. Its all-solid-state battery The working mode of scanning the three-dimensional active phased array system is the first of the world's early warning aircraft, leading a whole generation of similar products in the United States, and leaving far behind. I am afraid the only regret is the "Air Police 2000" carrier aircraft. , It was an "Ill 76", and it was still a second-hand...
However, as one of the participants in the "Air Police 2000" project, Tan Zhenhua knew that the origin of this system was not born out of nowhere, and it was slightly different from the various versions of various stall literature on the Internet. The "Faircon" plan actually looks like this:
Mao Zi, who was short of money and could only sell out his family, sold their A50 early warning aircraft to China. However, after actual investigation, the people of China believed that Mao Zi’s radar and air-finger C3I system were just a big coffee table... In that time and space, 4014 had In the mid-1980s, the EL/M-2032 airborne PD fire control radar production line and authorization were introduced from Isaac IAI, so the relationship with Isaac was good, and IAI also successfully developed the Boeing 707 as the carrier in 1993. The world’s first phased array system electronic scanning "Faircon" early warning aircraft, so China intends to combine the two, using IL 76 as the carrier, installing IAI’s EL/M-2075 phased array radar, and a complete set of aircrew C3I command The system establishes its own early warning fleet, which is the origin of the "Faircon Plan".
The project started negotiations in 1994 and reached an agreement in 1997: Rakshasa will provide 4 "A50" carrier aircraft (a suitable model of the Il-76 early warning aircraft), Isaac IAI will provide radar and C3I systems and modify them, and China Xia will provide Each AWACS aircraft paid 250 million U.S. dollars. After the contract was signed, China Xia paid an advance payment of 190 million U.S. dollars. IAI began construction. By 2000, the first aircraft's complete system was installed and was about to be delivered to China. An emergency call was made and the introduction of Huaxia failed.
According to the most widely circulated statement on the Internet, although Huaxia failed to introduce the "Faircon" early warning aircraft, it learned how to manufacture the core components of the active phased array radar, the T/R components, and thus contributed to the later "air police The birth of the world-leading radar in 2000-but Tan Zhenhua, one of the parties involved, knew that it was not the case at all.
Three years of negotiations and three years of supervision, including the 4014 site, it is of course a fact that Huaxia organized a large number of technicians to go to Isaac for "technical exchanges", but the T/R component is the core secret of the AESA radar. Let's make an analogy. , Even if China’s two major device research institutes "North Research Institute" 4013 want to visit the "South Research Institute" 4055 to "visit" the manufacturing process of T/R components, they will be "declined" for various reasons, not to mention the two countries. ?
Therefore, what Huaxia has learned from these 6 years is not the manufacturing method of T/R components, but some other things, such as how to coordinate the performance and electronic sweep of a mature AESA radar among various sub-systems. Some key points in the phase algorithm, the function division and work flow of the entire aircrew C3I system layout... These are the information that must be leaked to the customer during the negotiation of the contract, and the customer must be able to understand it during the construction process. China’s
soft technologies
happened to be what China lacked at the time.
It is precisely because it has sufficient basic radar technology support and learned these "soft technologies". After the failure of the "Faircon" plan and China's forced launch of self-research in 2000, it only took 3 years. In 2003, the "Air Police 2000" achieved its maiden flight, and the first-flying "Ill-76" carrier aircraft was delivered to China by Raksha in 2002. The time that the XAC plant really used to modify this aircraft It only took 1 year.
Well, even if it took a total of 3 years to connect the head and tail, students, do you think that 3 years is enough time to develop a three-area electronic scanning AESA radar for China AWACS?
Obviously it’s not enough, it’s far from enough, so it can bear fruit in such a fast time. The only explanation is that Huaxia has accumulated enough and rich enough in this field, so that it can behave when the time comes. It's so amazing.
The facts are also true, we can cite a few key technology accumulation examples to prove: First of all, let's talk about the early warning aircraft.
"Air Police 2000" is really not China's first early warning aircraft, this honor should belong to "Air Police No. 1".
"Air Police No. 1", the engineering code is "926", the carrier adopts a Soviet Russian-made "Figure 4" bomber (the Soviet Russian-made version of the metric B29 bomber), and the airborne radar uses an "843" The long-range high-altitude early warning radar was established in 1969 and flew for the first time in June 1971. The radome on its back destroyed the aerodynamic shape and increased drag. The aircraft was also modified and replaced with 4 "WJ6" turboprop engines. The original 4 piston engines on board to improve power.
After verification, "Air Police No. 1" has achieved good results in the detection of high-altitude targets, but its sensitivity to low-altitude, ground and maritime targets is not good, and it cannot meet the design requirements and cannot be used in actual combat. The project was finally formally completed in 1979 termination.
Although "Air Police No. 1" was a failed project, this experiment left a lot of experience, including the exploration of the structure of the radome installed on the airframe, the impact of the installation of the radome on the aerodynamic shape of the aircraft, etc. The development time of the aircraft is very unfortunate, but these experiences and data have been completely recorded by responsible Huaxia researchers, including the data of more than 2,000 wind tunnels that have been blown, all of which are the development of "Air Police 2000" Provides many lessons.
Let’s talk about the active phased array radar AESA. Well, readers of this book should remember that Tan Zhenhua’s father once competed with a major engineer from the 4014 Institute as the chief engineer of a major project. This project is the "7010" project. Students who are familiar with the naming rules of the Huaxia Project should be aware that this was a project established in October 1970, and the result of this project is: in 1976, the construction of China’s first active phased array system long-range early warning radar was successful. , Making China China the third country in the world to successfully develop AESA strategic early warning radar after the United States and Soviet Russia!
The detection range of the "7010 radar" reached an astonishing 2500 kilometers, and its front was facing northwest. It was mainly used for early warning of possible missile attacks by Soviet Russia. But fortunately, the main mission of this radar has not been fulfilled. Most of its work is to assist the research and development of China's aerospace field. It has successfully observed the launch of my country's missiles and rockets and observation of satellites and other spacecraft. For example, in 1979, the US "Sky Lab" was accurately predicted; in July 1981, two detections and tracking of the Soviet-Russian multi-warhead missile test fired in the direction of the Pacific in a low-ballistic manner were carried out, and the missile launch point and fall point were accurately predicted In 1983, the fall of the Soviet-Russian "Cosmos 1402" nuclear-powered satellite was accurately predicted.
Although according to Tan Zhenhua’s father, Tan Ming, the radar he had participated in the development of this radar has many problems and frequent failures, but anyway, for China, the development of this radar has cultivated a large number of China’s top radars. Talents have also allowed the people of Huaxia Radar to break through the AESA system and accumulate rich experience. This is the starting point for Huaxia to keep pace with Mi Di in the field of AESA radar after entering the 21st century.
It can be seen that for early warning aircraft, especially the early warning aircraft of the AESA system, China Xia has a deep technical accumulation, and has long been able to design and manufacture the core T/R components by itself, but it needs to miniaturize this core device. Just work harder.
Having said so much, the students should already have a general understanding of the development history of China AWACS, but what? Tan Zhenhua's goal at this time is not to create a big guy like the "Air Police 2000". His goal is very clear: solve the problem first.
And the solution he chose: E2C.
PS: The following are historical facts:
1. "Air Police No. 1", now in the Chinese Aviation Museum in Beijing;
2. The "7010 Radar" completed its historical mission due to its lagging performance, high operating and maintenance costs, and the disintegration of the former Soviet Union. It was dismantled after it stopped work in 1993. The site is located in Huangyang Mountain, Xuanhua City, Hebei Province.