Chapter 1535: Small push

The discussion on Zhongtui is finally over. The next thing to talk about is naturally a slightly marginalized type of engine-Xiaotui.
Compared with the much-anticipated big push and middle push, small thrust turbofan engines, there are not so many people who care about it. Even if most people in the industry seldom pay attention to engines of this level, it is strange Yes, Tan Zhenhua not only cares very much about engines of this level, he also spent a lot of money to buy a full set of technical documents and authorizations for a type of engine from the Ivchenko Design Bureau, and even bought three finished engines.
The engine model he bought is AI-22.
AI-22 turbofan engine, length 3138 mm, fan diameter 624 mm; no afterburner, maximum thrust 2.5 tons, total supercharge ratio 15.4, bypass ratio 1.18, air flow rate 50 kg per second, engine dry weight 510 kg , The thrust-to-weight ratio is 4.9.
At first glance, the parameters of this engine are not outstanding, and a bypass ratio greater than 1 causes the frontal resistance of this engine to be larger, which is obviously not suitable for powering supersonic aircraft-and its thrust is too small. Now, what kind of aircraft is enough for a single 2.5-ton thrust?
In this regard, Tan Zhenhua gave an explanation on the spot-this type of engine can be used as a new generation of advanced trainers and high-altitude large drones!
As soon as this statement came out, everyone suddenly realized that at the same time, they also sighed in their hearts-this kid is finally about to start with these two areas!
Why would everyone have such a sigh?
Because these two projects have huge room for future imagination!
For the time being, Tan Zhenhua has invested in Guo Rongwei for nearly a decade of drone pre-research projects, let’s say trainers.
As mentioned in the previous article, training a qualified pilot, especially a fighter pilot, costs almost the same weight of gold as the pilot’s body. This is a huge expense. Among them, the most expensive is undoubtedly training. The depreciation and depreciation expenses of the aircraft are gone
Take Huaxia as an example. Currently, a three-level coaching system is implemented. After a period of theoretical training, new trainees first fly the famous "Beginner 6" aircraft, which is a type of aircraft powered by piston propellers. The performance and safety performance are extremely good. It is the "cradle machine" of all the Chinese pilots. It is also a star-level product in many western aviation clubs. It has been produced continuously for more than 30 years since it passed the national inspection and equipped its troops in 1961. More than a thousand frames. Because this type of aircraft has excellent performance, is especially suitable for beginners, and has low manufacturing and maintenance costs, no matter whether it is a country or a company that develops and produces it, it feels that there is no need to develop a new aircraft to replace its position. According to the development of the times, it is good to make moderate improvements to it-therefore, it is likely to become China's first aircraft that has been produced and sold for more than a century.
After flying "Beginner Education 6", most of the students who are selected as fighter pilots will fly the intermediate trainer "Jiao 5". "Jiao 5" is developed from the "J 5 A" fighter. The prototype is naturally the famous "MiG-15" fighter. Using a "turbojet 5" engine as the power, students can experience the completely different flight experience and control experience of jet aircraft and propeller aircraft on this aircraft, and start In this type of aircraft, some skills of aerial combat are really exposed.
However, the "Jijiao 5" was developed in the 1960s. It is still a subsonic trainer. The control system on the plane is still the traditional wire-hydraulic system. The flight instruments are also mechanical-hydraulic instruments and are very simple and can no longer adapt to training. The mission of the new generation of pilots, coupled with the "turbojet 5" engine used is only a few hundred hours of service life, which makes the cost of each flight hour high, and it is a trainer type that China urgently needs to replace.
However, everyone knows that it takes a lot of money to develop a new type of aircraft, and the amount of equipment for intermediate trainers is very large. Take the
Jiao 5
as an example. China itself has equipped more than a thousand aircraft. There are many, so to alternate between new and old on this level of aircraft, whether it is development or equipment, the investment required is huge. Therefore, it is difficult for China to make this determination when the current military expenditure is not sufficient.
However, after Tan Zhenhua set the precedent of "China-Bus Joint Development", this successful experience was quickly copied and promoted by the Ministry of Aviation. In addition to the "Super 7" project led by the Rongcheng plant, the Hongdu plant was also very Act quickly, and reached a joint development plan with Pakistan Railway to develop a type of intermediate trainer, which was formally established in 1987, the first flight of the "K8 trainer" in 1990, this "K" is Ziya. President Huck personally named it to commemorate the friendship between China and Pakistan, based on the initials of "KLAWQUELEN, the mountain of friendship between China and Pakistan". Pakistan invested 6 million US dollars in the project, accounting for the total project When it needs to be explained, this project was not mixed by Tan Er, mainly because the Ministry of Aviation and the Pakistan Railway think that this is not a big matter, and it is not necessary for him to mix-well, there is actually another one. The reason is that both sides have a sense of luck. Pakistan believes that Tan Er is a good and enthusiastic person, who is never ambiguous when asking prices. For this project, many resources are not too difficult to get, so if you can save some points, you will save some points. Right; and the China Aviation Department also thinks that if one less person is involved, one less person will not be able to share the benefits in the future...
However, because of the fluke mentality at the beginning, this project is now encountering great difficulties.
The K8 trainer was established in 1987. It was still in the "China and the West Honeymoon" period. In order to train its own F16 fighter and "Phantom" fighter pilots, the Pakistani side proposed in the development process that the aircraft must adopt a large number of Western aviation. Electricity, instrumentation, and engines were not a problem at the time. Let alone trainers. In the international environment at that time, the Western world's attitude towards China was that as long as they were willing to pay, advanced fighters could be sold, so Hongdu Factory Many sub-systems in the United States have been purchased very smoothly, including the TFE731-2A turbofan engine with a thrust of 1.65 tons produced by Garrett in the United States. This is also the K8 trainer from the official project to the first flight. An important reason for just 3 years.
However, the current situation is that the United States has closed the door to arms sales to China, and now let alone engines, it can't even buy flight instruments!
There is actually a solution to flight instrumentation. Since Tan Zhenhua became involved in the Ministry of Aviation, he has successively promoted many large projects, especially the "Flying Leopard" and "Super 7" projects based on the use of advanced Western avionics. And the flight control system and its technology is absorbed and then localized to replace, so China has been able to provide solutions with complete functions, similar performance but lower cost in these fields, but the engine is really scratching its head.
That's it. Whether Mahmoud or the Ministry of Aviation, I'm a little embarrassed to talk to Tan Zhenhua-it's really shameful, isn't it?
If they don't mention it, it doesn't mean that Tan Zhenhua doesn't know, and this kind of thing can't be hidden, right? However, Tan Er is very good at being a human being. On the face of it, he still pretends to be ignorant, but in the process of going to the "Taobao" of the Ivchenko Design Bureau this time, he deliberately added the AI-22 engine to him. Shopping cart.