Genius of the Rules-Style System

Chapter 834: Chapter 441 High-Pressure Compressor_1

Aviation Group Headquarters.

Sitting in his office, Liu Jiankun looked at the latest application he had received, a smile of amusement crossing his face as he muttered, "Academician Zhao applies to establish a second team for the Kunlun Engine? But, the design of the Kunlun Engine has already been reviewed, endorsed, and a prototype manufactured."

"If it’s just to continue R&D, refinement, and correction, there’s no need to form a new R&D team..."

"So, is it to sidestep Zhang Gangchuan?"

"Go solo?"

"To lead an independent team and design, build an entirely new engine? That’s a big project!" freeweɓnøvel.com

"But Academician Zhao..."

Liu Jiankun pondered carefully. If it were someone else making the application, he wouldn’t even consider it, because the Kunlun Engine was already finalized in design—the only thing left was to further refine and correct problems in the engine design.

The situation now was different.

First of all, Zhao Yi’s team had developed an advanced nickel alloy material that had surpassed international levels in performance.

The performance of turbine blade materials is directly linked to the efficiency of the turbo machinery, and improvements to turbine blade materials mean that many components of the turbofan engine, in terms of design, technology, and performance, must be updated to collectively enhance the performance of the turbofan engine.

This is a massive project.

"Zhang Gangchuan’s team would probably need an extra year just for design, right? Then to go through validation, manufacture a prototype, and then mount..."

As Liu Jiankun thought about it, he kept shaking his head.

The Kunlun Engine design had been finalized and a prototype had been made, but it had always been plagued with minor issues. Five years had passed, yet it still hadn’t been fitted to a fighter jet.

The Kunlun Engine was aimed for the domestically produced J-20 fighter jet, but the result was that it was only fitted into a single J-9 fighter due to design-induced quality issues, making it temporarily unsuitable for mass assembly.

If there were to be significant changes made to the engine again, there would certainly be more problems. To produce another prototype and actually reach the stage where it could be mass-assembled onto fighter jets, who knew how much time it would take. It was even uncertain whether this would ever be achieved; something might happen along the way, and the Kunlun Engine might end up being abandoned.

"Establishing a second engine team..."

"KK031, KK032, K03B technology, the basis of the Kunlun Engine, plus new designs..."

"With Academician Zhao’s level of skill, perhaps in three years, he could finalize the design and manufacture the corresponding prototypes?"

Comparing timelines and skill levels, Liu Jiankun felt it was feasible to establish a second team for the Kunlun Engine. He immediately decided to hold an internal meeting within the Group to discuss this specifically.

...

The internal meetings of the Aviation Group were quite different from those in external companies, where only a few managers and employees participated. Most of those attending were not internal personnel of the Aviation Group, yet they wielded considerable influence.

These individuals included military bigwigs and government officials, all of whom were related to the air force and the aviation field.

Liu Jiankun was the general manager of the Aviation Group and also the chief designer of several domestically produced fighter jets, but he still couldn’t make decisions on his own. He could only put matters forward for everyone to voice their opinions. Normally, if there was considerable controversy during the meeting, it would still need to be escalated to the top leaders for decision-making.

Zhang Gangchuan, the head of the Kunlun Engine team, was definitely an essential participant in the meeting, but it was only when he arrived in the meeting room that he found out what was specifically being discussed. He immediately realized, "A second team for the Kunlun Engine?"

"Academician Zhao wants to form his own R&D team to design a new engine?"

Although what Zhao Yi applied for was ’a second team for the Kunlun Engine,’ the name was actually the least important part. Having an independent R&D team and funding, it would be completely separate from the Kunlun Engine team. In fact, it couldn’t even be compared to the Wangwu Engine team. The Wangwu Engine was a turbojet engine that took the technology of the Kunlun Engine, excluding the fan section, for improvement, and most of the R&D team also came from the Kunlun Engine team.

Zhang Gangchuan knew what Zhao Yi wanted to do, and for a moment he could hardly believe it. He was well aware of how complex a turbofan engine was—the Kunlun Engine took twenty years to develop and only managed to produce a prototype that was still rife with minor issues. Although there were commendable technological advancements along the way, there was still a gap compared to the international standard.

"Could it be that Zhao Yi has developed a love for aerospace engines? Planning to devote his life to this?"

"Twenty years..."

"Even if it’s shortened to only ten years, that’s still the prime of someone’s life!"

Zhang Gangchuan felt immediately disheartened thinking about it.

Regardless of what Zhao Yi thought, he had become the one ’cast aside.’ Previously, Zhao Yi was a specially invited expert to the Kunlun Engine team. Any research and development achievements were also related to the Kunlun Engine team, such as the segmented design of the combustion chamber, which was reported to the engine team.

Now that Zhao Yi had decided to establish a second team for the Kunlun Engine, it was akin to publicly ’parting ways with the Kunlun Engine team.’ Forming an independent team and going solo was indeed disheartening.

As the head of the Kunlun Engine team, Zhang Gangchuan would certainly not agree. His rationale was also persuasive, "The turbofan engine is a major project; we already have the Kunlun Engine. Establishing another R&D team specifically for turbofan research is less logical than consolidating and working on R&D together."

This was a valid point.

In fact, the most fundamental reason concerned the source of R&D funding. The turbofan engine project was a national-level key project belonging to the Aviation Group. Setting up another turbofan project still fell under the domain of the Aviation Group. For a single corporate group to split into two teams working on the same development was somewhat incomprehensible.