Chapter 665: Above conspiracy

In 1974, in order to compete with Grumman for orders from the U.S. Navy, McDonnell Douglas promoted the Congressional Military Committee to approve the R&D requirements for a new generation of fighters. In this R&D requirement, it clearly stipulated the attributes that a new generation of carrier-based fighters must have: Multi-purpose, it can completely replace the complex carrier fighter wing constructed by the current F-4 "Phantom", A-6 "Invader", A-7 "Pirate" and F-14 "Panda" with one kind of aircraft to reduce The logistics maintenance pressure of the aircraft carrier, at the same time, the aircraft must also be cheap to meet the needs of large-scale equipment.
A total of three teams participated in the bidding for this new fighter. Among them, General Dynamics and Ling-Tecom-Water chose the single-engine YF-16 plan, and McDonnell Douglas and Northrop chose dual-engine. Grumman chose to develop a cheap version of the "Panda" F-14X program.
In 1975, the result of the bidding was settled. The YF-16 plan lost the US Navy’s order but was favored by the US Air Force, and developed a generation of classic fighter aircraft F-16 "Falcon"; the YF-17 plan successfully won the US Navy Favored by the Navy, the fighter developed on this basis is the F/A-18 "Hornet", this fighter will officially enter the US Navy this year, and only Grumman empty-handed, nothing.
This is undoubtedly a terrible news for Grumman, who basically relies on orders from the U.S. Navy. The loss of orders for the next generation of carrier-based aircraft means that Grumman will face a terrible situation of cooking without rice!
Of course, Grumman is not reconciled to such a failure. Fortunately, there is still some time. The US Navy’s F-14 "Panda" order signed in the early stage will take a few years to be produced and delivered. During this time, Grumman must find The way the company continues to survive.
In the end, they set their sights on their own fist and trump card-F-14 "Panda".
Since McDonnell Douglas and Northrop claim that the advantages of the F/A-18 "Hornet" are multi-purpose and low-cost, although this latter point has been repeatedly attacked by the continuous addition of R&D and equipment budgets in the development process, this It is the usual trick of all arms dealers, everyone knows it well, there is nothing to say; in order to differentiate competition, Grumman's development direction for the new F-14 fighter plane is to maximize its powerful combat performance!
As a result, with the support of certain
cat fans
in the US Navy, a program called
Super Panda-21
was quietly launched, because Grumman believed that under the aggressive pressure of Soviet Russia, the US would eventually be A powerful fighter is needed to deter the enemy, not a bunch of cheap cannon fodder.
In this plan, the widely criticized TF-30P-412 engine will be replaced by a single General Electric F110-GE-100 turbofan engine with an afterburner thrust of 12.45 tons to further improve the flight performance of the fighter. Also because the new engine is more fuel-efficient, the combat radius of the fighter will be further increased to 1,200 kilometers! And if a more powerful F110-GE-129 with a full authority digital electronic control system and a thrust of 14.4 tons can be completed on schedule, then the "Super Panda-21" fighter can even obtain a low Mach number under certain conditions. Regardless of the afterburner supersonic cruise capability, the thrust vectoring nozzle directly controlled by the new digital flight control system under development will also be an optional configuration, and that will make the "Super Panda-21" superior in mobility and combat. performance!
The expected improvements are of course not limited to this. The already very powerful AN/AWG9 will be replaced by the more powerful APG-71 radar, due to the use of new digital signal and data processors, frequency synthesizers, antenna control, digital display, Multi-channel receiver technology, this new radar further optimizes long-distance coverage, expands the range of speed search and target tracking, and adds programmable electronic countermeasures and clutter control capabilities on the basis of retaining all the capabilities of the original radar. It can adapt to the ever-changing threat environment. It is no exaggeration to say that with this radar, the "Super Panda-21" fighter can even be used as a small early warning aircraft!
In addition, the newly designed targeting and navigation pod, infrared and terrain tracking radar pod will enable the fighter to have true multi-mission capabilities, making it suitable for a variety of defense zones that have been successfully or are being developed by the United States. /Sea attack weapon system, cockpit avionics will also be upgraded, the new wide-angle HUD can project the image of the navigation pod, the new mission computer and radar exposure warning self-defense kit will also greatly improve the fighter’s situation awareness and battlefield survival ability……
All in all, the goal of the "Super Panda-21" project is to turn the F-14 fighter into an omnipotent, powerful aerial battle fortress!
And to do this, Lu Hesheng, the original designer of the aircraft, obviously must be involved, because in this world, who knows the performance and potential of the F-14 best is of course he, and only him.
Tan Zhenhua, who was an expert in the military industry in his previous life and often mingled with military networks, certainly knew all of this. He even knew that this "Super Panda-21" would eventually die because of the split of Soviet Russia and the loss of America’s important and only opponent. Grumman also lost its last job and was wiped out and fell to the end of being acquired by Northrop.
And the ending of all this reminded him that there is actually a way to get Lu Hesheng to retire early.
This method is to let the "Super Panda-21" plan die!
Without this plan, Grumman has no reason not to let Lu Hesheng retire.
To achieve this goal, the simplest solution is to let Grumman go bankrupt earlier and face its destined end!
So, can all these things that will change the course of history be realized?
Perhaps it is possible, because, under Tan Zhenhua's planning series, there is also a conspiracy about dismembering McDonnell Douglas that is proceeding to the midfield. Maybe we can add something to this conspiracy.
Because in the McDonnell Douglas product line, the F/A-18 "Hornet" fighter that exists as a competitor of the F-14 "Panda" is a very important and easy-to-use chess piece!
Tan Zhenhua and Lin Shuangxi returned to Manhattan to find a quiet restaurant while eating while carefully thinking about their plans. They finally made a decision after deliberating all the details and determining the possibility of its execution and the benefits that all parties involved in the conspiracy can obtain. determination.
It was too early to the time agreed with Tyson. After eating, he was not in a hurry to go to the Chapel Street Boxing Gym with Lin Shuangxi. Instead, he found a post office and sent it to Jacob Rothschild in London. Sent a telegram, then asked for a separate VIP room, and picked up the handset.
He dialed a number and said in a deep voice after hearing the answer in the receiver: "Tom, I need to talk with Mr. Skeff face-to-face, yes, the sooner the better."