Although Raymond has focused half of his life on the field of civil aviation, Boeing's military and civilian sectors are originally the same, so Raymond is very clear about the development patterns of defense technology in the United States and even Western countries, and he is indeed not wrong, regardless of
Whether it is the United States, Russia, Japan, or even India, they are worried about the next development of Dongchen Aviation. Pratt & Whitney was once the largest giant in the field of aviation engines. They have been along the way and understand the rules and details very well. In their
It seems that Dongchen definitely has the ability to produce high-end turbojet engines. Even if they do not do any technical design and just use Dongchen's own materials and manufacturing processes, according to the design of China's Taihang engine, it is enough to make the Taihang engine
Achieve rebirth.
Just as Boeing's three passenger planes equipped with Dongchen engines began their global journey, the U.S. Congress held a secret meeting to discuss Dongchen's impact on the future defense capabilities of China and the West, and to discuss whether to pass an emergency proposal proposed by the U.S. Air Force.
A proposal was made to provide at least US$2 billion in R&D funding to Pratt & Whitney and General Electric to accelerate the development of a new generation of aircraft engines. Pratt & Whitney and General Electric also expressed their willingness to jointly invest US$1 billion to develop new materials and updates.
Research on high-end manufacturing processes.
At the same time, the Congressional meeting site was broadcasting the footage of three planes flying in the sky in real time. This picture was captured by a camera truck set up by CNN on the coastline. The three planes roared past one after another and continued to climb to new heights.
At this time, the military representative said: "As you can see, Dongchen's technology in the field of aircraft engine manufacturing is beyond our ability, and we have absolute reasons to believe that they have the ability to manufacture high-end military engines."
strength, and may even have started secret development. If Dongchen creates a military fighter engine with a high thrust-to-weight ratio, or an engine with a longer range, it will have a great impact on the situation in Asia as a whole. Japan will
Panic, India will panic, and even countries in Southeast Asia will panic. In that case, the situation in Asia may be unbalanced."
A member of Congress said: "Even if China gets the military engine developed by Dongchen, I don't think it will have any impact on the United States. We are separated from China by a hemisphere, and as far as I know, China's fighter jets
Whether in terms of stealth performance, combat performance or avionics performance, they are an era behind us. Even if they have a certain improvement in power, they will not pose a direct threat to us."
"No." The military representative said: "We are not looking at whether it poses a threat to the United States or the U.S. military. Instead, we focus on keeping the situation in the Asia-Pacific under control. If China's air force grows significantly, then what will happen to Asia's air force?
Many countries will be worried about this."
Another member of Congress said: "We are currently unable to stop Dongchen's research and development pace. However, looking at this problem from another angle, I think it is not a bad thing for us. After all, once China's air force
With the improvement, Japan, India and many countries in Southeast Asia will become our arms customers. We can even take this opportunity to further increase arms sales to Asia and open up more of our previous restrictions. The White House has been placing the F-35
It is listed as a flagship product for foreign military sales, but since China is likely to get an aircraft with better performance, we might as well weaken the F-22 to a certain extent and derive an export model based on the F-22."
The military representative said helplessly: "Even if we weaken the F-22 and export it, it will not be able to substantially solve the problem. Moreover, the production capacity of the F-22 is very small, and we will not be able to make it reach the level of the F-35 in a short time.
production scale, the most important thing is that we can start export sales, and the Chinese can also open up the situation in the field of export sales. You must know that the cost performance of China's fighters is much higher than that of our fighters. Although our fighters have unparalleled advancement,
, not every country can afford fighter jets that easily cost over 100 million U.S. dollars. Most of China’s fighter jet exports were previously plagued by engine problems. Once Dongchen helps China solve the engine problem, the performance of the engine will be far better.
If it exceeds other fighter jets in the world, then Chinese fighter jets will have an absolute market share in developing countries and third world countries. Will that be a good thing for us? Let’s take a look at whether Rolls-Royce makes more money.
, or Toyota makes more money, you may understand.”
However, the members of Congress said at once: "We also know clearly the impact that Dongchen will have on the international situation if it develops military engines, but how can you ensure that Pratt & Whitney and General Motors get the funds approved by Congress?
After that, can we successfully develop an engine comparable to Dongchen?"
A congressman with a good understanding of industry said: "Judging from what you just said, what you need to do is far more than just research and development of a new engine. You must also overcome materials and manufacturing while designing and researching.
As for the process, you should be very clear about how much time and money was spent on depleted uranium armor. Fortunately, we had certain theoretical and technical support at the beginning, but what about now? Do you have any breakthroughs in new materials and new manufacturing processes?
?If not, then I think a few billion dollars is just a start-up cost. As research and development continues to deepen and research and development projects continue to expand, the funds you need will only increase. By then, you will have
After investing a huge amount of money, you cannot give up halfway, and then continue to blackmail Congress to approve more R&D funds, and then what? Three, five or even ten years later, you may have burned tens of billions of dollars, but, either
In the end, nothing was achieved, or the results were minimal, and they were still unable to compare with Dongchen."
Not every member of Congress is an expert in the military field. What they care more about is the expenditure of billions of dollars. The U.S. government has almost allocated its military expenditures this year, and billions of dollars, even for the U.S. government, are not enough.
It’s not a small amount. If Congress thinks something is not important or of little significance, asking them to pay for it would be extremely difficult.
Representatives of Pratt & Whitney and General Motors have long expected that Congress will use this highly skeptical attitude to refute the military's demands, and they have already left a backup plan. Pratt & Whitney and General Motors also know that, regardless of military or civilian use,
, most of the technologies are shared, vigorous research and development, if there is a breakthrough, it will be full-scale approval, and they have already reached an agreement in private, so the person in charge of Pratt & Whitney said: "Putt & Whitney is willing to cooperate with GM
For research and development, the two of us jointly conduct research and development of new engines and a series of related manufacturing processes and material issues. Moreover, we are willing to bear 50% of the cost of the entire research and development process, and the other 50% will be allocated by Congress. All technical achievements developed will not be used by the military.
Additional technical fees need to be paid to us.”
With that said, the person in charge of Pratt & Whitney continued: "You are now watching Dongchen's engines travel around the world in a way that has never been seen in history. This round-the-world journey will be Dongchen Aviation's dominance in civilian aviation.
The final battle for aero engines, and I believe that this test flight will be a complete success. As you know, all the civil engine production lines of Pratt & Whitney and General Motors have been sold to Dongchen and are already in Dongchen.
Dongchen has formed productivity in his hands. These production lines can be transformed in a short period of time to produce turbojet engines. With Dongchen's current productivity, new engines can be replaced for all Chinese Air Force fighter jets in a very short period of time.
, it can even help China’s fighter jets open up the export market in a short period of time. The Xiaolong and J-10 are relatively low-end but very cost-effective models in China. In developing countries, once the engine is
Once the problem is solved, there will be a very good market, which is definitely something that Congress does not want to see in the future."
The military representative also added fuel to the fire, saying: "If Dongchen produces an engine with a larger thrust-to-weight ratio, it will also be a great boost for China's carrier-based aircraft. This can accelerate the formation of China's aircraft carrier combat effectiveness and deter the entire country.
The situation in East Asia can even allow China to break through the blockade of the first island chain, so we will be very passive."
"passive"
Members of Congress were disturbed by this word. What the United States fears most is passivity. It must take the initiative in everything to give them a sufficient sense of security. Once the balance in Asia is broken, it may make them fall into passivity.
At that time, they had to seriously consider the military's proposal.
With billions of dollars in start-up capital and a bottomless pit of follow-up investment that generally has no idea when it will be completed, even if Congress has had some changes in its mind, it is impossible to make an immediate decision in a short period of time. After deliberation for a while, Congress decided to make changes in private.
In order to conduct detailed demonstration and discussion, the military has no objections to this. It can only leave the proposal and go back to wait for the results. If the situation is not clear, then start one-on-one lobbying work with parliamentarians.
Most members of Congress still want to wait until Dongchen's test flight is over before making any conclusions. They want to see whether Dongchen's test flight will be successful, and how big a stir it will cause if it succeeds.
Shocked, if Dongchen really makes them lose the initiative and fall into passivity, then they have to measure how influential Dongchen really is.
The Boeing 747 passed over Hawaii and then turned to fly to Guam. Since the engine has been very stable, the entire test flight was actually more like a normal transoceanic flight for everyone involved in the test flight, and was no different from ordinary flights.
any differences.
The aircraft flies at a cruising speed of about 800 kilometers per hour most of the time. Since the route is not completely straight, the entire flight route is composed of multiple S-shaped curves. At many specific times, the speed of the aircraft drops to 400-400 kilometers per hour.
The flight distance ranged from 500 kilometers to New Delhi, India, so the flight to New Delhi, India, lasted nearly forty hours before the plane began to enter New Delhi's airspace.
At this time, the three planes had flown nearly 21,000 kilometers, but all three planes still had a certain amount of fuel remaining. Paul wanted to calculate accurate data on the maximum range, so he asked the tower to approve the three planes flying in New Delhi.
It circled at three different altitudes around the airport until the fuel was exhausted before landing.
These three aircraft are now the object of global civil aviation attention. New Delhi Airport has already received instructions from the Civil Aviation Administration of India to meet all the needs of these three aircraft as much as possible.
The tower approved three aircraft to circle at different altitudes, and the tower also told Paul that if any aircraft contacted the tower before running out of fuel, the tower would clear the runway within three minutes.
Reporters from various media in New Delhi have been waiting at the New Delhi Airport for a long time. When the Boeing 747 took the lead to break out of the clouds and enter the range that can be seen clearly by the naked eye, the scene was filled with excitement. However, the 747 was not aligned with the runway, but was approaching the airport.
When it was in the sky, it started to turn left and start circling, and the two planes that followed did the same. The three planes circled in a large area over the airport at a long distance, circle after circle, and it seemed that there was no sign of it for more than half an hour.
It looks like it's about to land.
When it arrived over India, the plane had flown nearly 22,000 kilometers, and its continuous circling continued to increase the direct flight range. The circling took a total of nearly two hours, and the 747 ran out of fuel first.
In the cockpit, the captain said to Paul behind him: "The fuel can last for up to five minutes. Should we apply for landing?"
Paul nodded and said: "Apply to the tower for landing."
After finishing speaking, Paul said excitedly: "After circling for nearly two hours, the flight range has increased by a thousand kilometers. This thousand kilometers means that even if the weather and airport conditions in New Delhi are not suitable for us to land here, we still have enough
The ability to choose any airport within a radius of 1,000 kilometers for backup is of great significance to civil aviation. The full load endurance of 23,000 kilometers is enough to fly any route in the world!"
Raymond on the side was also overjoyed and said: "For our 787 Dreamliner, if it is fully equipped with new high-thrust engines, it will be the best long-range passenger aircraft in the world. Oh my god, I can't imagine it."
How serious will the major airlines’ preference for the 787 be in the future!”
Zhang Wenhao naturally knows why Raymond is happy. The 787 has always been Boeing's most popular long-range passenger aircraft. Compared with the 747, it is slightly smaller and has a smaller passenger capacity, but it can ensure the airline's high occupancy rate.
, it will not cause overcapacity like the 747 and A380. Using it to fly long-distance routes is the best choice for airlines. However, before this, the Airbus A330 has always been the biggest rival of the 787. However, from now on
, the A330 can no longer be compared with the 787.
The 747 applied to the tower for landing. The tower immediately asked the planes on the runway that were preparing to take off to turn back immediately. All planes lined up to take off were waiting at the same place. New Delhi Airport suspended all inbound and outbound flights during this period. There were more than 20 planes on the ground and in the air.
While waiting for takeoff and landing, the pilots were constantly paying attention to the movements of these three planes. For them, these three planes would create a history today.
In the terminal, a large number of passengers also stood on the side of the terminal near the runway, vying to witness the landing of the three passenger planes that had flown more than 20,000 kilometers in an S-shaped curve from Seattle. Half of the tarmac was
They were all occupied by the media. They received news from the tower that the 747 was preparing to land. Therefore, everyone stared at the 747 in the sky, seeing that after it completed its last turn, it did not continue to circle as before.
Instead, he adjusted his attitude and aimed at one end of the runway.
At this moment, the two pilots in the cockpit were also concentrating on preparing to perform the landing they had repeated countless times, but this time it was of great significance to them because they knew that the eyes of the world were watching them.
When they landed this time, the two pilots looked at each other. Although they were the captain and the co-pilot, they were already old partners who had worked for Boeing for many years, and their cooperation was very tacit. At this time, the co-pilot
Controlling his slightly excited voice, he said: "The runway is aligned."
The captain nodded and said: "Gear-Down!"
This was an instruction to lower the landing gear, and the co-pilot immediately opened the landing gear. Seeing that the lights of the main landing gear and nose landing gear were all on, he immediately replied: "All landing gear has been lowered!"
A confident smile flashed on the captain's face and he said: "Adjust the flaps."
The two pilots entered the standard landing procedure. The plane slowly descended and got closer to the runway. The co-pilot kept reminding the altitude at this time: 100 feet, 50 feet, 30 feet, 10 feet!
As the main landing gear landed heavily, there was an obvious feeling of frustration in the aircraft. Then, the front wheel landed safely, and the aircraft entered a straight taxi. There was a burst of cheers outside.
Beautiful landing! The flight of 23,000 kilometers completely broke the record for the longest flight distance in civil aviation. Subsequently, the other two planes also landed safely one after another. The three planes entered the terminal building and docked with the corridor bridge. The flight attendants greeted everyone on board.
Everyone bowed to thank them, and then lined up to leave with their simple luggage. Zhang Wenhao and others also shook hands with every flight attendant to thank them. Afterwards, another group of flight attendants arranged by United Airlines who were already in New Delhi began to board the plane.
The crew also entered the crew rest compartment in the aircraft to rest, and were replaced by another group of crew members.
Outside, reporters had surrounded the three planes. However, except for the flight attendants, no one else got off or boarded the plane. A fuel filling truck came over to fill up the three planes with fuel.
The elevating food truck has also been prepared for a long time. As soon as the plane lands, the carefully prepared meals will be sent into the aircraft through the elevating truck.
The maintenance staff also began to carefully inspect the aircraft to ensure that there were no problems with the aircraft.
The originally planned two-hour stoppage was delayed by about four hours due to various preparations.
The reporters outside the cabin never left for a moment. They gathered around the plane and took as many pictures as possible to pass on to audiences around the world. This feeling was just like when Magellan's men finally completed the circumnavigation of the world.
Extraordinary and extremely important.
After undergoing various supplies and inspections, the 747 requested permission from the tower to take off. The tower immediately cleared the runway. In front of countless joyful spectators, the 747 took the lead in taking off from New Delhi Airport, leading two other planes to South Africa.
Although for Zhang Wenhao, Dongchen and Boeing, this global flight has only completed half of the journey so far, for industry insiders and global audiences, when these three planes successfully landed in New Delhi and completed their respective
When it reached a range of 23,000 kilometers, it was equivalent to announcing to the world that this test flight was almost a complete success.
The rest of the route is planned, and the total distance is less than 22,000 kilometers. The three planes with full fuel can cope with the 23,000 kilometers on the way to New Delhi. Naturally, they can also cope with the remaining less than 22,000 kilometers. Even, everyone
They all firmly believe that when the plane finally flies over Seattle, the crew will also circle in victory over Seattle to show the world the unprecedented feat they have accomplished.
The citizens of Seattle learned that the return time of the three planes would be between 37-40 hours. A large number of citizens had already begun to calculate the time and prepared to go to the airport to witness this miracle with their own eyes. The media also continued to conduct ground monitoring based on the flight schedule.
Based on the information fed back from the station, we can estimate the specific location of the plane at this moment and the time it will arrive in Seattle.
Nearly forty hours later, at nine o'clock in the morning local time in Seattle, the 747 led the 777 and 787 to successfully fly into the Seattle airspace. Raymond was obviously too excited to add anything, although the protagonist of this test flight was Dongchen.
However, for Raymond, it was the three models produced by Boeing that truly accomplished the feat this time, so it was inevitable that he would be excited.
The plane entered the Seattle airspace, which meant that the flight was about to end. At this time, Zhang Wenhao was not thinking about how to celebrate this complete success, but was thinking about three things.
First: Dongchen, the high-thrust engine is on the market, and the production capacity has reached sufficient scale. The next step is to open the replacement window for airlines. This time, there is no doubt that it will still be from domestic airlines, to be precise, Continental Airlines
The company started, and soon, the United States and France, but at the same time, DC1-1 will also start to open the replacement window in other European countries. How to achieve a balanced distribution of production capacity is an issue that Zhang Wenhao needs to consider carefully.
Second: In the next step, several major military powers will surely begin to accelerate research and development in the field of military aircraft engines at all costs. And this time, senior leaders also sent three domestic experts to participate in Dongchen’s test flight. This also means that
Now, they are already interested in obtaining current military aircraft engines from Dongchen, and it is time for them to produce prototypes. After the prototypes are produced, if the Air Force is interested, they can directly take over the domestic Taihang production line for military use.
The production of engines will not occupy its existing production capacity.
Third: Although this test flight went smoothly, the designed cruising speed of most civil aviation aircraft is below 1,000 kilometers per hour, which means that the maximum speed their aircraft structures can carry is this high, and ultra-long-distance flights can easily carry dozens or twenty passengers.
Hours, the speed is really too slow. The original Concorde had to be said to be a great pioneering work in the field of civil aviation. However, the failure of the Concorde came from many aspects, including high cost, loud noise, and high fares.
As a result, the Concorde could only operate at a loss, and the final accident of the Concorde accelerated the demise of the Concorde. Since then, there has been no supersonic civil aviation technology in the world. If you can survive in this situation
Next, the launch of supersonic civil aviation services will be of extraordinary significance.
Supersonic civil aviation is a dream of Zhang Wenhao. If Xiao Er uses the knowledge in the super learning system to manufacture it, he can create a supersonic passenger aircraft with lower cost, higher safety and higher practicality, with a speed of up to
Mach 2.5, which is 3,000 kilometers per hour, is nearly 0.5 Mach higher than the Concorde. By then, a long-distance route of more than 10,000 kilometers can be completed in five hours.
Operating a supersonic passenger plane requires great courage and financial resources, but Zhang Wenhao has hatched a preliminary plan in his mind. If Dongchen acquires Airbus in the near future, then Dongchen will build a batch of supersonic passenger planes that will never be sold outside.
, then Dongchen will register its own airline and use its unparalleled important position in the global civil aviation field to develop supersonic passenger aircraft on the hottest long-distance routes, becoming the only one in the world capable of operating supersonic air transport.
enterprise.
Just as Zhang Wenhao was making plans for the future, the 747, amid the cheers of more than 100,000 Seattle citizens, was circling and consuming the last fuel while continuously increasing the range of the second leg to 23,000 kilometers until 11 a.m.
At one o'clock, the 747 finally circled over Seattle and consumed almost all the fuel.
The 747 landed first and when it turned to the apron, the ladder truck was docked and the flight attendants opened the cabin door. A large number of reporters wanted to gather around them, but they were stopped outside the apron by more than a thousand Seattle police officers.
At that time, the 777 and 787 also landed on camera. These three aircraft landed smoothly at the Boeing Seattle test field. Dongchen and Boeing jointly completed the most incredible and epoch-making test flight in the history of civil aviation.
Before getting off the plane, Zhang Wenhao said to Raymond: "Immediately arrange for BBJ2 to take off and return to China. I will rush back today. I will give you the engine I brought as a souvenir." (To be continued. If you
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