Chapter 281

James is very confident.

When they previously promoted the F-16, the Easterners were very enthusiastic, but unfortunately, in the end it became entangled with some political factors, and the Easterners ultimately did not accept the Americans' proposal.

The Perry Plan failed, but… as long as in the US-Soviet rivalry the US is on the defensive, it must spare no effort to support the Easterners, letting them share the pressure.

Now, the Easterners are fighting a big battle in the south and even using powerful weapons; it's obvious this will make the Russians more dissatisfied, deepening the contradictions between the two sides, which the Americans would like to see happen.

Sending three F-16s to the Easterners can both worm out their Earth-Penetrating Bomb technology and stir up hatred, making the Russians more wary of the Easterners, thereby directing more military force toward them; in short, this best serves their interests.

So James came over; as for choosing him, it's naturally because during the previous military exercise observation, he was the American side's representative, and had already made contact with the Easterners once, giving a decent start, so now they can naturally communicate better.

At this moment, his eyes were full of expectation as he looked toward Old Lin.

Thump thump thump!

A knocking sound rang out.

"Come in!"

A secretary walked in, whispered a few words in Old Lin's ear, and Old Lin instantly brightened: "Really? Great, I'll go right away!"

After saying that, he stood up and headed out, but after a few steps he realized it wasn't appropriate, quickly smiled and said: "Sorry, General James, I have some urgent matters to attend to; I will report your proposal to my superiors, and we'll talk later."

This…

What matter could be more important than obtaining the F-16?

You know, this is the US's most advanced fighter jet, far superior to anything like the Mirage 2000 or the F-5! Currently, only the US's closest allies can purchase it!

Old Lin cheerfully went out, and just as he reached the building entrance, a Red Flag car happened to drive up.

"San Shui, you're back?"

"Old Lin, I just flew back to the Capital by plane, and you guys intercepted me..." Qin Miao looked at Old Lin, somewhat helpless: "At least let me go home, take a shower, and change clothes..."

"That's simple, Xiao Zhao, go get a new set of clothes from logistics! Come on, I'll take you to the big bathhouse at our aircraft building."

Qin Miao was even more speechless.

In this era, any somewhat larger unit would build a bathhouse, and very few had showers; they were just a large pool where many people would go, naked together— that scene…

Qin Miao was not used to it; as a later-generation person, he could accept going to a big bathhouse, but he had to have a shower!

Soaking together in a bathhouse, athlete's foot and such are minor; the disgusting part is someone defecating in there…

However, once inside, Qin Miao no longer had those qualms, because at this time… it was still before quitting time, and the bathhouse was empty.

"Come, first go down and soak, then let our bath-scrubbing comrade give you a good scrub!"

Old Lin said that and began to take off his clothes.

In the north, bathing together in a bathhouse is already a spectacle, and even more so is the scrubbing.

Lying on a large cutting board— yes, a cutting board— being scrubbed from head to toe by a bath-scrubber, the grime falling down in bits— that scene…

Each time Qin Miao lay down, he would think of the line: "Man as the knife and cutting board, I as the fish and meat."

But after the scrub, it really felt great! The bath-scrubber grabbed a hose and sprayed Qin Miao from head to toe, even better than a shower.

"San Shui, do you feel better now?"

"Yeah."

"Come on, let's go to the meeting!"

"Alright."

Before they even reached the meeting room, Qin Miao heard the sounds from inside.

"We disagree with reverse-engineering the Mirage 2000's engine!"

"Exactly, our Factory 410 has been working on the turbofan-six for years; it's almost mature, and we absolutely won't watch domestic efforts start from scratch to develop a brand-new engine— we should focus all our efforts on developing an engine!"

Qin Miao furrowed his brow.

No wonder Old Lin was so anxious to fetch me; it turns out these messy things have come up!

Some people are hopelessly muddled, yet they still insist on boasting and grabbing credit!

In the 1960s, alongside the development of the J-9, domestic relevant departments began developing a matching high-thrust turbofan engine, with design specifications of a thrust-to-weight ratio of 6 and afterburning thrust of 12.5 tonnes. This was intended to match the most advanced high-thrust turbofan engines internationally.

The project was initiated in 1965, prototype production began in 1966, and by 1968 it was installed on a test rig for engine trials; that trial has continued up to now.

Difficult to start, compressor surge, high noise, large vibration… countless problems awaited the developers; they struggled on like this until 1980, when the relevant departments reported to their superiors that it had passed, meeting the design specifications!

After that, they further improved the turbofan-six, increasing afterburning thrust to 138.2 kilonewtons and raising the thrust-to-weight ratio to 7.05.

What does that mean?

Compared to the US's most advanced F100 engine, developed in 1968 and delivered to the Air Force in 1974, by the early 1980s this engine was still immature, causing widespread grounding of F-15 fighters!

Thus, improvements continued through the 1980s, and the F100-PW-220 finally became stable, with a maximum afterburning thrust of just over ten tonnes and a thrust-to-weight ratio of 7.4.

Just looking at these numbers shows the turbofan-six was a vanity project; making aircraft engines is never that simple, and in that era's context, ignoring the laws of scientific research made success impossible!

Not to mention the Air Force— even the developers themselves had no confidence in those test numbers; they knew exactly where the data came from.

Even so, they still passed the improved model through qualification trials, and then… the project was shelved!

In later years, when people talk about the turbofan-six, some sigh that if they had persisted back then, how things might have been; Qin Miao can only chuckle, because persisting would still have been a failed project!

Then came the turbofan-ten: this project began preliminary research in 1978, was formally launched in 1987, and completed type certification review in 2005; thus, it was at most installed on twin-engine Su-27s, and single-engine J-10s definitely dare not use it, still having to grit their teeth and buy the "third uncle" (the TF30). Only after 2010 did it start to be used.

Even counting from 1987, it took over twenty years to hone it to a single blade.

During those years, the turbofan-six development team consumed vast resources and kept meddling in other projects.

For example, the SPEY engine project, originally slated for assignment to Factory 410, but they fiercely resisted, believing the SPEY would interfere with their turbofan-six, so the authorities could only assign it to Factory 430.

Now, with the M53 engine available, they plan to conduct measurement and reverse engineering, and they regard it as a thorn in their side even more!

I don't know how many days this meeting has been going on; they've just been arguing back and forth, which is why the Air Force urgently called me over.

Qin Miao furrowed his brow and walked in.