Free Web NovelChapter 1047: Chapter 518: If We Drag on Any Longer, We Won’t Be Able to Hold On!_1
The Aviation Group reported the successful test flight of Warhawk-1 upwards.
Normally, when the leadership receives news of research and development progress, they would provide an encouraging response, basically offering support for technological research and development, encouraging continued related research and hoping for even greater progress.
In actuality, that didn’t happen.
After receiving the news, the top leadership remained silent for an entire week without any reply. Just when Liu Jiankun found that strange, he received information to attend an internal meeting, asking him to participate in it.
"Whew~"
Liu Jiankun also breathed a sigh of relief, the direct organization of an internal meeting also represented the top leadership’s emphasis on the Warhawk aircraft.
Five days later.
Liu Jiankun went to the capital to attend the internal meeting and coincidentally met Zhao Yi at the entrance, "You’re here too?" Since it was an internal meeting and subject to strict confidentiality, he was not sure whether Zhao Yi would be back.
Zhao Yi nodded with some resignation, "Actually, I didn’t want to come. What has this decision-making got to do with me?"
"But, there’s no helping it."
"...Right!"
Liu Jiankun understood what Zhao Yi meant. A high-level leadership meeting about the Warhawk aircraft would surely be discussing the future production and service of the Warhawk series aircraft, not research and development.
"Did they ask you to come to serve as a technical reference?"
He said.
"Probably!"
Zhao Yi didn’t understand why he was asked to come either, even though he was the designer of the Warhawk aircraft. His work had been all about research and development. As for the specific production and service of the Warhawk series, those were decisions for the country and the military. At most, it involved the production manufacturer, and it had nothing to do with him as the designer.
After returning from the research base, he had finally managed to live a leisurely life for a while, not having to think about research and development issues.
Now there were matters again.
Zhao Yi felt somewhat sullen, but it was a bit much to make up excuses not to attend an internal meeting of the top leaders.
He still came.
An internal meeting is meant for direct discussion of matters, so there aren’t that many formalities. The attendees could start talking upon arriving, and the moment the top leadership walked in, it signified the official start of the meeting.
Dozens of people came to attend the meeting this time, all high-level leaders, military leaders, and leaders from the technological sector and Aviation Group. The only real representative from research and development was Zhao Yi.
But as soon as the meeting started, the top leadership still asked Zhao Yi for an update.
Zhao Yi stood up to discuss the progress of Warhawk-1, "We have completed the first test flight, and it was very normal, without any problems."
"The next step is to conduct performance tests, which means taking the aircraft to the air, performing supersonic flights, cruising, and executing some high-difficulty maneuvers."
"In addition, there’s also long-duration flying to observe the status of the equipment and so forth."
After Zhao Yi had made the explanations, he was asked if he was ’confident’.
He was not the slightest bit nervous, speaking as if it was a casual conversation, and turned to look at Liu Jiankun, saying, "At the end of the first flight test, I asked General Manager Liu whether to proceed with the performance tests, and he said we had to wait for the leadership’s approval, no way around it."
"If it had been possible, I would have liked to do it then and there. The test flight encountered no problems, and besides, testing a fighter jet falls within the internal research affairs of the Aviation Group, right? What’s there to wait for?"
The mass of leaders present all turned to look at Liu Jiankun.
Liu Jiankun had an awkward smile on his lips. He hadn’t expected to be singled out in such a meeting. He glared hard at Zhao Yi and didn’t articulate anything, his expression turning rather odd.
Many couldn’t help but laugh.
They could understand Liu Jiankun’s feelings. Testing the fighter jet was indeed a matter for the Aviation Group internally, but the Warhawk aircraft had garnered too much attention. Liu Jiankun was surely under a lot of pressure, and after completing the first flight test, he hoped to stabilize things before moving on to performance tests, as work should progress gradually.
Quite a few people thought Liu Jiankun was handling things in a stable manner, not rashly moving on to the next high-risk test at the sight of success, because if something went wrong, it would be too late for regrets.
Zhao Yi had shown confidence in Warhawk-1, which was exactly what the leadership wanted to hear.
If Zhao Yi had confidence, so did they.
In terms of technical research and development, Zhao Yi was very trustworthy, and according to the test reports for Warhawk-1, there really weren’t any issues.
A military leader spoke up, "Since there was no problem with the maiden flight of the Warhawk, and if other inspections are also normal, then we should quickly arrange the performance tests."
"If there are no technical problems, we should continue to advance the development progress. Don’t let worries stall our work and needlessly waste time."
This set the tone.
The subsequent meeting had nothing to do with Zhao Yi. It involved discussions about the costs, manufacturing, and military requirements of the Warhawk aircraft.
The meeting lasted over two hours, and several phases were established. The first was the follow-up testing and refinement of Warhawk-1.
This task was for the Aviation Group, and Zhao Yi would be involved as well.
However, he would only need to participate if there were major technical issues, otherwise, everything else fell to the Aviation Group.
If the Warhawk passed the series of tests, a production and service scale could be planned, and the meeting initially decided to produce twenty Warhawk-1s.
Twelve of those were to form a luxury air force squadron, fully equipped with the corresponding technical equipment to bring the aircraft up to wartime standards. The rest were to be used as research aircraft, trainer jets, or for other ancillary purposes.
A research aircraft, as the name implies, is manufactured for ongoing testing and research purposes.
Trainer aircraft, then, can be manufactured as similar operational ’shells’ or undergo corresponding modifications, without the need for too lavish accessory configurations, as long as they are fit for use by professional pilots for training.
At the same time, to select pilots, it is necessary to train ones capable of operating Warhawk aircraft. The methods and numbers for selection are to be determined by the military and the Aviation Group based on needs.
The Warhawk aircraft had completed its test flights, and theoretically, there was still some way to go before it came into service, but they had confidence in Zhao Yi. Moreover, the performance of Warhawk-1 during testing was very good, leading them to believe it was prudent to agree on production and service as a way of preparing in advance. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
In this period, the discussions and meetings about fighter jets were not only about Warhawk-1, there was also another much-anticipated fighter jet —
J-20.
Previously, the J-20 represented the pinnacle of domestic technological capability and was already at the stage where production and service were discussable. Many were optimistic about the J-20’s prospects, assuming there was no Warhawk-1.
When comparing Warhawk-1 with J-20, it became apparent that the performance of the J-20 was somewhat lacking. As a heavy fighter jet, its performance in the area related to payload was superior to that of Warhawk-1, but in all other respects, there were certain gaps.
The professional internal evaluation from the Aviation Group was, "Even if the WZ-1 engine were installed in the J-20, the gap would still be significant. The J-20 and WZ-1 do not match, and the performance cannot be fully utilized."
"If we base improvements on the design of Warhawk-1, it would be easy to comprehensively surpass the J-20."
Then, the J-20 found itself in an awkward situation, made even more embarrassing by the fact that its manufacturing costs were not low, even higher than those of Warhawk-1.
During internal high-level meetings about Warhawk aircraft, the ’awkward J-20’ was also mentioned. The J-20 was not directly abandoned but instead it was decided to produce eight units slowly, to continue using them for research and improvement. After being perfected, they might even form a squadron, considering they were based on existing design and technology developed over many years; they couldn’t simply be abandoned.
Moreover, it was not wise to put all their eggs in one basket with a brand new design.
The J-20 represented the highest technological capability of the ’original design direction’ for domestic fighter jets, and this direction was not obsolete.
Unless, one day, Warhawk series were mass-produced in service and had comprehensive support systems, the J-20 would not become obsolete.
Meanwhile. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Liu Jiankun also ’made a splash’ at the meeting, proposing to mass-produce a downgraded version of the WZ-A2 engine for export to supplement the funding for the high-end WZ-A1 engine, as well as for the Warhawk-1 and J-20.
This proposal sparked lively discussions.
The WZ-A2 engine was still very advanced, but because it removed the advantageous designs of the WZ-A1 and used traditional designs and technology, even if its designs and technology were decoded, it seemed that there was not much to worry about, since it still fell short of the performance of the world’s top engines.
Liu Jiankun’s proposal was to further ’downgrade WZ-A2’, which would roughly place it at a similar level to Country E’s high-end imported engines.
Engines of this standard would be sufficient to support ordinary fourth-generation fighter jets.
Previously, domestic industry did not have mature turbofan engine technology, and the engines produced by Kunlun had many problems, making the prospect of engine export unthinkable.
Now it seemed feasible?
Domestically, having developed the top-end WZ-A1 engine, could they export a slightly lower-end WZ-A1 downgraded version, which would still be high-end on the international market, and compete with Country E, M Country, and Europe?
In the international field of high-end aviation engines, domestically it was a blank slate, and a blank slate holds great potential for growth. As long as they could make sales, even just one unit would be progress.
The leadership debated for quite some time but did not come to a conclusion.
Mainly, it was too early.
Because, according to Liu Jiankun, the WZ-A2 engine was preparing for its first test run and still required further refinement.
Consequently, many leaders began paying attention to the perfection of the WZ-A2, unconcerned with its level of technological advancement. The key thing was... it could make money!
In contemporary society, money is of utmost importance!
The military and senior leaders cared greatly about money, and across the country, including areas such as public welfare, military, and infrastructure, everything was directly linked to money.
If there was unlimited money, all problems would be easily solved.
...
A few days later, at the Kunlun Group.
Zhang Gangchuan suddenly felt pressured, not by the Aviation Group or the Warhawk team, but by several senior leaders who, for some reason, had taken a sudden interest in the development issues of WZ-A2.
They called him one after another, personally inquiring about the detailed situation and the problems encountered in research and improvement, and said that they would provide full support.
Support was, of course, good.
If one leader said this, Zhang Gangchuan would only feel happy, but when several leaders said the same, it was no longer a question of support, but of...
Rushing the progress!
Following his conversation with Liu Jiankun, Zhang Gangchuan felt very helpless and now even more troubled. It seemed that the leaders wanted him to start mass production of WZ-A2 the next day.
But was it possible?
"What on earth is going on? Why is everyone suddenly interested in the Kunlun team? Shouldn’t they be concerned about the Warhawk team, the Warhawk aircraft?"
"It’s really the first time receiving so much attention, it’s just a bit too much..."
"I can’t handle the pressure!"
Zhang Gangchuan realized that too much scrutiny wasn’t necessarily a good thing. He suddenly thought of the Warhawk team and Zhao Yi, noting the striking difference. The Warhawk team’s work had always been the focus of attention, but their development progress could be described as incredibly fast.
This must be what capability looks like!
Zhang Gangchuan felt like he was about to be crushed. He couldn’t help but think of Zhao Yi, "Maybe I should go to Academician Zhao for help? But this won’t do!"
"If this delay continues, I truly won’t be able to handle it..."
