A few years ago, the Daheng Empire's aircraft research and development had actually made key progress. The aircraft research and development project team conducted a secret test flight of an early prototype and achieved success.
Although the first aircraft to take off only took more than a minute and flew no more than a few hundred meters, this still made Emperor Lin Ziran very excited.
Later, Lin Ziran formally established an aviation committee under the Ministry of National Defense Technology, responsible for the secret research and development of military aircraft in multiple subordinate laboratories.
The emphasis is much greater than that of military airships.
With the support of Lin Ziran, the Aviation Committee under the Ministry of National Defense Technology presided over the research and development of many aircraft, tested different wings, and guided several key domestic defense enterprises to develop many key parts, such as aircraft engines, aircraft
A series of aircraft subsystems such as control systems, aviation machine guns, etc.
There are three domestic companies involved in the secret research and development program of aircraft, and they can build multiple prototypes for testing almost every month. Over the past three years, they have accumulated research, development and manufacturing of various prototypes of aircraft.
It has reached three major series and more than ten sub-models.
And the development is becoming more and more mature. At the end of last year, the secret aviation research laboratory under the Eastern Machinery Company, which received a large amount of financial support from the Aeronautical Commission, developed a prototype that can already fly for 150 kilometers in the air.
degree.
As a new round of the Heng'ao War broke out, Lin Ziran, stimulated by the war, increased his investment in the Aviation Committee and frequently personally directed the research and development of aircraft.
With sufficient funds and manpower guaranteed, the Aviation Commission began secretly bidding for military aircraft.
There are mainly three categories.
The first category is air combat aircraft, called fighter jets, which are mainly used to attack enemy airships and aircraft that may appear in the future.
For this anti-aircraft model, Lin Ziran personally instructed the developers to use a shooting synchronization coordinator. This device can control the shooting of the machine gun by relying on the rotation of the propeller. When the muzzle of the gun is pointed at the gap between the blades, the bullet is fired, and the muzzle of the gun is pointed at the blade.
when the shooting stops.
This also means that bullets can be fired directly from the nose propeller and attack the enemy's airship or aircraft head-on.
Then there are reconnaissance aircraft, which are mainly used for reconnaissance and require longer range.
Finally, there are bombers, which carry bombs for bombing.
However, even though the Daheng Empire began to develop aircraft many years in advance, and developed aircraft as a military aircraft from the beginning, several major domestic related companies have also been secretly developing aircraft for many years under the guidance of policy funds. However, they are limited by
Technically, today's aircraft are still very primitive.
Dongfang Machinery Company participated in the bidding and finally won the military order for the fighter model. It uses a biplane with a metal frame and canvas skin. It has a single engine and a single seat. The maximum speed reaches 130 kilometers per hour and the maximum range.
It has a range of 160 kilometers, and an eight-millimeter dedicated aviation machine gun is installed at the nose of the engine.
This aircraft was later officially named the Dongji-1 fighter by the Aeronautical Commission, and an order was placed for the purchase of 200 aircraft.
It is worth noting that the winning bidder was not only this Dongji-1 fighter jet, but also the Dongding Luoyun Machinery Company in Dongding Prefecture. This is a very young company, and it is also the first private company in the Daheng Empire.
A self-developed aircraft company, they won the bid for the Luo Yun III fighter jet, which is also a monoplane.
Reconnaissance aircraft and bombers have also won bids for models one after another. Among them, the one that has won most of the orders for bombers and reconnaissance aircraft is Jingzhou Airlines. This Jingzhou Airlines used to play airships, and it is also the largest military aircraft manufacturer in Dahengli before and now.
As well as civilian airship production and suppliers, it’s time to play with airplanes.
After the Daheng Empire officially put its aircraft into active service, the first batch formed were complete fighter units, reconnaissance aircraft units, and bomber units.
Not all of these aircraft belong to the Army, but most of them belong to the Army and a small number belong to the Navy.
As a result, the army and navy of the Daheng Empire began to equip service aircraft.
However, although the Daheng Empire was the first country to develop specialized military aircraft and was also the first country to put professional military aircraft into large-scale service, it was not the Daheng Empire that was the first to put aircraft on the stage of war.
When the Daheng Empire's aviation force was being formed, a number of professional military aircraft were being intensively produced, and pilots were using a large number of old prototypes for flight training.
On the battlefield in the Western Continent, planes have already appeared in the sky over the battlefield!
As for the Kekel Empire, in August this year, it took the lead in using a privately produced aircraft with a range of only a few dozen kilometers and a ceiling of only a few hundred meters to enter the battlefield and conduct reconnaissance.
Although from a practical point of view, at this time, the Kekel Empire was only using aircraft produced and assembled by civilian aircraft enthusiasts. Their performance was extremely limited, and their reconnaissance effect was not even as good as that of airships.
But this still sets a precedent.
Daheng Empire's aircraft did not participate in the war until they arrived on the southern front in September. At this time, more than a month had passed since the earliest aircraft entered the war.
However, unlike the Kekel Empire and other countries who only had some civilian aircraft for fun, the Daheng Empire's aircraft participated in the war, and there were hundreds of them in one go.
Numerous aircraft directly filled the sky of the second line of defense, killing all the airships and artillery balloons of the Orissa Empire. At the same time, they replaced the airships with reconnaissance aircraft and conducted a comprehensive aerial reconnaissance of the battlefield.
Bombers began to enter the battlefield to drop bombs. Well, the actual combat effect of this bomber was negligible. After all, the range was too short and the bomb load was too small.
The advantage brought by the Daheng Empire's aviation force's participation in the war was not to bomb the enemy, but to completely shield the battlefield in the air, preventing the enemy from obtaining military intelligence through airships and balloons, while at the same time, our own aircraft could conduct aerial reconnaissance unscrupulously.
The intelligence advantage this brings to the army forces of the Daheng Empire is comprehensive.
Soon the Orissa Empire and several major warring countries on the Western Continent saw the huge potential and threats of aircraft in warfare!
They began to urgently collect civilian aircraft for reconnaissance on the battlefield. At the same time, they quickly recruited talents and technical forces to develop and produce better aircraft.
They are moving very fast, and in the context of a global war, it is estimated that they will be able to come up with a better aircraft within a few months.
However, this is still impossible to compare with the aircraft of the Daheng Empire.
The Daheng Empire started research and development many years in advance. In addition to the aircraft itself, many subsystems have been developed for many years, such as the synchronization coordinator and the dedicated aviation machine gun. These cannot be built in a day or two.
The most important thing is the aero engine. Don’t think that you can just move an ordinary gasoline engine up there. The requirements for aero engines are very demanding. They require extremely small weight and volume, extremely high power, and at the same time, the fuel consumption should not be too high.
Otherwise, key data such as speed, endurance, load capacity, etc. will not be available.
As for mobility, let alone that.
These, even their basic industrial strength is very strong. The Kingdom of Krul even surpasses the Daheng Empire, but they still need time, and this time does not take a day or two, or even a few months.
Their gasoline engine technology is already relatively weak. Now it is impossible for them to overcome many technical difficulties and develop an aero engine.
In addition to accelerating the actual combat application of aircraft, they also began to modify and produce more anti-aircraft weapons.
This heralded the official arrival of the aircraft age!
By the time the war lasted into the winter of the 21st year of Qian Sheng, its war pattern had already undergone tremendous changes, especially on the southern continent battlefield, as the Daheng Empire Army began to launch its winter offensive that had been prepared for half a year. .
The war mode on Blue Star has been completely changed!