in2ebook Chapter 1479: Takeoff, Chinese Navy
Chapter 1479: Takeoff, Chinese Navy
three days later.
Zheng Hui stood at the door of the flight briefing room, watching the morning sunlight outside the window penetrate the mist, giving a layer of gold to several J-15 carrier-based fighter jets neatly lined up on the apron in the distance.
After some mental preparation, he took a deep breath and pushed open the heavy door.
There were already about ten people sitting in the briefing room, and the beam of the projector drew a clear track in the slightly dim room.
Zheng Hui's gaze first fell on the person standing in front of the projection screen - Bi Fengchun, director of the combat center of the carrier-based aircraft training base, was looking down at the documents in his hands with his brows slightly furrowed, looking extremely serious.
Sitting next to him in the main seat was a local official of similar age in casual clothes.
It was Chang Haonan.
"Report! Pilot Zheng Hui of flight No. 07 reports in." Zheng Hui stood at attention and saluted. His voice was exceptionally clear in the quiet briefing room.
Bi Fengchun raised his head and nodded slightly to signal him to take a seat: "You've come just in time, let's get started right away."
Zheng Hui lowered his head and said nothing. He quickly found his seat in the third row of the conference table. Next to him was the pilot of aircraft No. 08, Lin Shuyan. This young pilot from the naval aviation force smiled at him, his eyes flashing with excitement. Zheng Hui smiled calmly in return and took out a notebook and pen from the pocket of his flight suit.
The voice of the operations director sounded again: "First, let me introduce you. This is Academician Chang Haonan, the person in charge of our country's hypersonic weapons project..."
The stunning debut of DF-17 a few months ago was a huge encouragement to everyone, so after hearing the other party’s title, there was a burst of warm applause in the meeting of only a dozen people.
But soon at Bi Fengchun's signal, silence returned.
"Today is our first flight test of a hypersonic cruise missile. I don't need to emphasize the importance of the mission."
Bi Fengchun clicked the remote control, and the mission route map appeared on the projection screen:
"The mission arrangement is as follows: aircraft 07 will be piloted by Zheng Hui, carrying a hypersonic cruise missile training model, two PL-8 short-range air-to-air missiles and two PL-12 medium-range air-to-air missiles, simulating the takeoff conditions of aircraft 16, and taking off from the heavy-load takeoff point of the land training facility."
Zheng Hui quickly wrote down the key points, the tip of his pen rustling on the paper.
He noticed that Bi Fengchun particularly emphasized the words "heavy-load takeoff".
In previous training, he had also used the take-off point with a length of 195 meters, but the maximum external load he had mounted was only two Eagle Strike 83Ks, four PL-12s and two PL-8s.
The rest is fuel.
Although the takeoff weight on paper is similar to that of this mission, the operating feel is completely different.
Not only will the oversized external attachments bring additional resistance, but the more square shape of the hypersonic missile compared to ordinary round ammunition will also have a negative impact on the effectiveness of the central lifting body to some extent.
In short, it puts a higher test on the pilots' psychological quality and operational capabilities.
"For safety reasons," Bi Fengchun continued, "After takeoff, No. 07 will first rendezvous with No. 03, and after refueling, No. 08 will enter the test airspace together." His finger drew a dotted line on the screen, "After the flight parameters meet the launch conditions, No. 07 will drop bombs and simulate ignition."
The projection switches to the next slide, showing the detailed process of missile launch.
Zheng Hui had seen this information before, and every step was deeply engraved in his mind. He could even simulate the entire operation process with his eyes closed without any physical objects.
As a main pilot with 10 years of flying experience, he is no stranger to the testing of new weapons, but this is the first time for him to combine carrier-based aircraft with hypersonic missiles.
"Now, please allow Academician Chang to explain the key technical points to everyone." Bi Fengchun stepped aside to make room.
"Comrade pilots, first of all, thank you for your efforts in this project." Chang Haonan's voice was not loud, but every word was clearly audible. "Our hypersonic cruise missile uses a dual-mode ramjet engine and waverider design, which is at the leading level in the world."
Zheng Hui noticed that when Chang Haonan mentioned the "leading level", a glimmer of pride flashed in his eyes.
"According to the design specifications," Chang Haonan clicked on the remote control, and a complex aerodynamic curve appeared on the screen. "The lower limit speed for the normal start of the ramjet engine is Mach 1.5. But please note that the Mach number here corresponds to the actual environment." He paused to make sure everyone understood this. "Therefore, if possible, it is recommended to climb the aircraft to an altitude of 10000 meters or even higher, so that only an airspeed of about 1600 kilometers per hour is required to meet the launch requirements."
Lin Shuyan whispered beside him:
"Doesn't that mean it's easier to start at high altitude?" Zheng Hui nodded slightly, but his attention was still focused on Chang Haonan.
"Also," Chang Haonan's expression became more serious, "although the training missile has the ability to simulate ignition, it is not a complete dual-mode ramjet engine after all, so its acceleration ability is relatively poor. In addition, the waverider shape has a poor lift coefficient at low speeds. After launch, the missile will not accelerate and climb immediately like the familiar Eagle Strike 91 or PL 12. Instead, it will maintain a similar altitude and speed as at launch for a period of time."
Zheng Hui frowned unconsciously.
For aircraft of the J-15's size, the air flow conditions underneath are often quite complicated.
If the ammunition cannot leave this area immediately after leaving the rack, it is definitely not good news for the carrier aircraft.
"Therefore," Chang Haonan's eyes swept across the pilots present, finally stopping at Zheng Hui, "In order to ensure safety, we should pull up and roll away as soon as possible after launch, and the image shooting task can be completed by aircraft No. 8 on the side..."
"..."
The briefing lasted nearly an hour, and when Zheng Hui closed his notebook, the sunlight outside the window had become stronger.
He checked his watch—9:30, about 40 minutes before the scheduled departure time.
"How does it feel?" Lin Shuyan asked in a low voice, "It's the first time to fly such a big thing into the sky."
As a backup and escort pilot, it would be a lie to say that he was not envious of Zheng Hui who had the opportunity to take off with a missile.
The latter smiled and said, "It's more complicated than I thought, but I can handle it." He stood up and stretched his shoulders, which were a little stiff from sitting for a long time. "Let's go, it's time to change clothes."
The two walked out of the briefing room one after the other, and happened to run into Chang Haonan who had also just left.
"I wish you all the best in your testing process."
Chang Haonan said with a smile.
God knows how overwhelmed Zheng Hui was at that moment.
Almost as a reflex, I saluted:
"Academician Chang, I promise to complete the task!"
Job title during work.jpg
In fact, if possible, he would rather address the other person by his position every time he sees him...
……
On the tarmac, the canopy of J-07 No. 15 sparkled in the sun.
Zheng Hui walked around the plane and carefully checked every key part according to the regulations - landing gear, flaps, engine air intake, atmospheric data sensor...
Of course, the pilots don’t need to complete these preparations before takeoff personally, but low-level mistakes such as forgetting to remove the sensor protective cover or even the air intake cover have occurred both at home and abroad, so it’s always a good idea to have an extra layer of protection.
Finally, his eyes stopped on the silver-gray training bomb under the belly of the plane.
Even for the bomber force, this model, which is about 6 meters long and 620 mm in diameter, can be considered a behemoth.
And fighter pilots like him had never even seen ammunition of similar size before.
It didn't seem like a big deal when it was placed on the ammunition rack alone, but when it was hung on the plane, it almost completely filled the J-15's unusually wide belly.
The slender kiss-cut cone waverider warhead looks like a duck's beak in the picture, and even has a somewhat naive feel.
However, when mounted, it gives people a feeling of being ready to go.
"All systems have been checked and you can board the plane." Maintenance team leader Zhang Jianjun handed over the checklist and Zheng Hui signed it.
As he climbed up the stairs, Zheng Hui heard the roar of an engine in the distance.
Plane 03 was preparing to take off at the end of a regular runway.
That was the companion tanker piloted by Chief of Staff Wang Wei, which set off 15 minutes ahead of them.
"Tower, aircraft 07 is ready, requesting to start the engine."
"Aircraft No. 07, you can start." The clear voice of the tower controller came through the headset.
Zheng Hui started the two turbofan engines according to the procedure, feeling the slight vibration of the cockpit caused by the roar of the engines.
The instruments showed everything was normal, so he released the brakes and began taxiing toward the designated heavy-load takeoff point.