Chapter 117 - 113 Xuehu_1

The money earned from the new generation Aerospace Fighter project is actually secondary. The total budget allocated by the higher-ups for this plan is only 20 billion yuan, which includes the cost for constructing the first batch of four fighters!

The profit is decent, but the biggest attraction for Xinyuan is the advantage gained from being the national defense contractor.

Xinyuan will obtain tremendous aerospace permissions, even greater than those of some national agencies, allowing it to independently manufacture any level of aircraft or spacecraft and to test-fly them freely in designated airspace without any formalities.

Moreover, for commercial operations, it can issue licenses and permits through internal channels and establish connections with the national talent system, which has already far exceeded the capabilities of an ordinary enterprise.

This is the return for engaging in cutting-edge engineering projects. There may not be a lot of money involved, but it is more useful than money.

Lin Ju himself, along with the senior management of Xinyuan and the main R&D personnel of the Shenlong project, sat together to listen to the ideas brought by Guo Shen.

Lin Ju noticed that most of these R&D personnel were around thirty years old, clearly the country’s finest scientific researchers, who might all have Level A systems.

It’s a pity that there are no Level A Skill Cards in the system store. If he could have engineers above Level A under his command, they would probably be national treasures.

B+ engineer Guo Shen is now standing at the forefront, expressing his views on the Shenlong project:

"No offense, but the Shenlong project was unqualified from the very beginning. Its size and weight are too small, which means it has no actual combat value,"

These were not polite words, yet no one in the audience rose to object, with only a few showing a hint of dissatisfaction.

Because that is the truth, the Shenlong project actually lacked combat capability.

Its 8-ton body could only carry out reconnaissance tasks. If it were to carry weapons, the size and weight of such weapons would be very limited. Carrying conventional missiles would not befit its designation. And if nuclear weapons were considered, why not just use ballistic missiles?

However, the Shenlong project did have an attack system. It was designed to use lasers to attack enemy satellites and spacecraft. Yet, the required power was substantial, and the firing mechanism could not fit into the narrow body; even the power system was problematic...

Strictly speaking, Shenlong was just a pioneer; that was the consensus of everyone.

Fortunately, Guo Shen did not dwell on criticizing the Shenlong project. He turned around and presented his own PPT:

"The ’Xuehu’ is a manned, near-space hypersonic flight vehicle:

It is 42 meters long with a wingspan of 19 meters, the maximum take-off weight is 74 tons, equipped with four WCR-09 turbofan-scramjet combined engines, with a top speed of Mach 10. It can fly to near-space, with an operational altitude of 52,000 meters and a range of 30,000 kilometers.

With a payload of 12 tons, it can carry hypersonic missiles or retrofit its bomb bay with a power supply unit to mount laser weapons capable of attacking low Earth orbit satellites!"

Guo Shen introduced the parameters in one go and released an imaginary diagram, not forgetting to add at the end:

"Do not think this is an exaggeration. The turbofan-supersonic combustion ramjet engine WCR-09 has reached the final stage and will soon be finalized."

Base researchers: "..."

Dou Ping: "..."

Dou Ping glanced at Lin Ju, who was still calm and collected, then coughed lightly and said to Guo Shen:

"Chief Designer Guo, it’s not that we doubt, but are the specifications for Xuehu perhaps a bit... too advanced? The world’s highest flight altitude belongs to the SR71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft at 26,000 meters, while Xuehu’s data is twice that, and the speed is even up to Mach 10, which is incredible."

Another researcher also spoke up:

"You are also researching combined cycle engines? Supersonic combustion ramjets? How much thrust in kilo-newtons?"

Guo Shen: "It can continuously output 90 kN, and it’s not a big problem if we want to increase the thrust a bit more. The prototype is at an advanced stage of progress. The prototype has been made, and practical use isn’t far off. It is a part of Xinyuan’s future Aero-Space Plane project."

Since the store opened, Xinyuan Company has initiated research on many projects, including the Aero-Space Plane.

This plan, however, was not of the highest priority, as costs have already been sufficiently reduced by reusable rockets, and the science fiction aspect of the Aero-Space Plane does not match up to the NAPE spaceship XN90.

It’s just that now, in order to participate in the military project, it has been moved up on the agenda.

Dou Ping and the base researchers gasped. They knew that Xinyuan was formidable in space, but they had not expected such progress in atmospheric vehicles.

The three major challenges of hypersonic vehicles: design, materials, and power.

Design is manageable, and even without a genius in aircraft design, iterative improvements could be made in the wind tunnel; materials often exist but are sometimes prohibitively expensive or have other problems, whereas power has always been the most significant challenge in China’s aircraft research.

But Xinyuan tells you outright that they have already solved the hardest part – the power system...

Dou Ping and the group of researchers finally experienced something that had previously been exclusive to their foreign counterparts: to design aircraft based on the engine rather than waiting for an engine to match the design, often to the point where the project would be shelved before an engine was secured.

After a good while, someone finally said:

"We will take care of the design part; you can leave that to us with confidence. As for aircraft materials, how about we collaborate? With this speed, only special grade steel and titanium alloy could withstand it.

Xuehu... we have also used this codename before. Let’s consider it a rebirth. Its data is so graceful, reminding me of the Goddess of Dawn."

Goddess of Dawn, America once developed it after the SR71, a hypersonic reconnaissance aircraft claiming a design speed of Mach 8 at 30,000 meters altitude. However, following the Union’s collapse, the project was abandoned with only a few conceptual images released.

The specifications of Xuehu were higher than those of the Goddess of Dawn, but having the latter as a precedent made it seem less exaggerated and in line with what one might imagine for future high-speed fighters.

The development of fighters has come full circle: initially, propeller planes competed in maneuverability, but with the advent of energy-air combat theory, they moved towards high-altitude and high-speed performance, peaking during the jet age.

Those second-generation and interceptor fighters would casually fly at twice the speed of sound and beyond 20,000 meters. However, by the third-generation era, the maturity of missiles shifted the focus away from speed and altitude towards maneuverability.

Then with the fourth, fifth, and sixth generations, nations moved again toward high-altitude, high-speed development, even competing for space.

"What about low Earth orbit? Although Xuehu theoretically could use lasers to attack satellites, that’s too variable. We still need orbital vehicles."

Guo Shen: "Then let’s use the unmanned version of H1. There’s plenty of space, capable of staying in space for several years, also able to refuel and undergo maintenance with the help of a space station.

Oh, we do have one condition."

Sitting down, Lin Ju was startled, struggling to suppress his curiosity and not to show an expression of shock; he had not discussed any conditions with Guo Shen.

Dou Ping: "As long as the conditions are not excessive, we will fulfill them. That’s standard business practice."

Guo Shen: "We want laser technology."