Chapter 279 - 272: Lightning_1

"The global flight time of Flight B4143 has been postponed to December,"

When the hot search list was released on November 27, aviation enthusiasts at home and abroad howled in dismay.

The global flight challenge, originally scheduled for the end of November, was postponed because both An-1250 planes had tasks to perform.

Flight B4043 needed to transport the modified rocket body of New Yuan-2A and the H2 spacecraft, so the launch mission of the Lightning Number had to be entrusted to B4143.

At a large military airport in Quanzhou, B4143 landed, carrying a shiny shuttle-shaped fuel tank that was 55 meters long and 8 meters in diameter at its widest, next to which, on the back of an Il-76, was the Lightning Number with its nose pointed skywards.

Androff and Dou Ping supervised the workers as they hoisted the Lightning Number on the back of the An-1250 and carefully installed the fuel pipes.

The fuel tank of the Lightning Number was disposable, mostly made of magnesium-aluminum alloy to reduce weight, and its surface was divided into countless hexagonal blocks by shallow indentations.

Although the fuel tank wasn’t much of a technological feat, Xie Liaofu still took the task seriously and optimized it to reduce costs as much as possible.

The shuttle-shaped fuel tank was designed to maintain stability for only 16 hours after fueling; if not launched within this time, the internal structure would become brittle due to hydrogen and would no longer meet safety standards, necessitating its disposal.

Such a planned lifespan brought extremely low costs, but it also meant that the launch preparations had to be very careful, otherwise a fuel tank and 300 tons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen could be wasted—the latter being quite expensive.

Dou Ping was very curious about the Lightning Number, which had silently come up with new tricks; he had only found out about it a week ago and had rushed over.

As soon as he learned about this air-launch method, Dou Ping decided to copy it.

Not for any other reason, but because it was cheap.

Currently, the launch methods for Shenlong 1A at Desert Base include the liquid rocket launch with New Yuan 5B or CZ-7 and the solid rocket launch with S2100 in an emergency.

The liquid rocket launch preparation time is too long, and the S2100 solid rocket is insanely expensive—so much so that the space agency doesn’t want to use it and hardly ever does.

But air launch was much cheaper; the base’s researchers estimated it to cost only 30% to 50% of that of a liquid rocket, and it was more flexible, requiring only an airport.

For example, the Lightning Number was arranged to fly from Quanzhou to the southern sea to launch, with the fuel tank falling directly into the Pacific Ocean, allowing for control of the landing area and flexibility in choosing the launch location.

For Shenlong 1A, this meant a wide range of strategic mobility; an enemy would have to plow through all airports to strike, and even then, what if I told you that the carrier plane could take off from a field airstrip? How would you handle that?

Dou Ping: "Androff, I think the military should order more Yun-40s (the military designation for the An-1250). I didn’t expect you guys would revive the MAKS here. No wonder the Union supported this project back then; it is indeed very good."

Androff was a bit puzzled: "Isn’t Xifei developing the Yun-35? It also has a payload capacity of 350 tons, and by the time our next batch of An-1250s is available, the difference with the Yun-35 won’t be much, and that one is more economical."

Dou Ping: "But we want it now, and it seems that it doesn’t need much modification, does it? Another Shenlong 1A has been built and is not yet finished. Can we modify the nose in time and rent your planes for a test launch next year?"

"..."

Dou Ping: "Also, if you developed the Lightning Number for transporting low-G spacecraft, why not develop a manned version that can carry at least 6 people? Wouldn’t that save more on costs?"

"Uh, the New Yuan-5B’s current mode of space travel is actually quite good, and the An-1250 air launch requires some preparation time, anyway. The money saved doesn’t seem that essential to us,"

Dou Ping uttered an "oh" and suddenly said:

"Androff, I’ve suddenly started considering the feasibility of a manned Aerospace Fighter like the MiG-105, which might be more flexible than the Shenlong 1A."

Androff coughed, not expecting these people to be so interested in Korolyov’s casual work. Were they step by step reviving the Union?

With so many unfinished Union projects, could it be said that the Union’s legacy is in the East?

As the two’s idle chat was nearing an end and the An-1250 was preparing to take off, Dou Ping said something profound:

"The significance of Lightning Number might be even greater than the H2M."

However, by this time, the eight XW-30 engines had already started, and Androff didn’t hear clearly, only catching the mysterious smile on his face.

Six crew members and four engineers of Lightning Number boarded the B4143 and rose into the sky, then immediately turned southward. Several Su-35s and J-11BSHs from a nearby airport took off one after another for escort.

The direct southern flight path of the craft was immediately noticed by a patrolling RC135 that had taken off from Okinawa, and its radar quickly identified the unique signal of the An-1250. The crew swiftly moved closer.

Since they were already over international waters, the B4143’s crew merely issued a routine greeting to the RC135 and advised it to keep its distance to avoid accidents, but the RC135 seemed to ignore the warnings, instead coming in closer and beginning to take photographs.

The deputy captain on this mission, Liet, was over the moon. He immediately grasped the purpose of the Lightning Number and fuel tank assembly on the An-1250, and began excitedly snapping photos with his Canon 400D camera.

Once these photos were on the ground, he could sell them to the media for a good price. An air-launched spacecraft that could potentially reach orbit was certainly major news.

The persistent RC135 followed them all the way to the waters near the Mentawai Islands, at which point their latitude was close enough to the equator to save a significant amount of fuel for the launch.

In Captain Liedt’s lens, the An-1250 continued to climb to an altitude of 11,500 meters. The escorting fighters slightly increased their distance, and the RC135 also politely moved away a bit.

The B4143’s crew increased the power of the eight turbofan engines to maximum, speeding the aircraft up to about 870 kilometers per hour, and then pitched the nose up by about 10 degrees.

On the craft’s back, liquid hydrogen entered the H300 engine’s turbopump in Lightning Number’s tail first through the pipeline. Following the ignition command from the cabin, the H300 engine began to output thrust at 110% power, and the explosive bolts that linked the fuel tank to Lightning Number were electrified.

The 330 tons of thrust, angled towards the center of gravity, allowed Lightning Number, now free from its restraints and with the fuel tank, to break away from the B4143. The latter immediately pushed down its nose to avoid being scorched by the tail flame, and the two aircraft formed a ">" shape in the sky.

Even at an altitude of 10,000 meters, the tail flame of the hydrogen-oxygen engine was visibly orange-red. The immense tail flame made a bright fireball appear in the sky, leading the indigenous people of Indonesia to believe it was a fire from the heavens and to kneel down and worship in their native language.

Liet, who witnessed and recorded this spectacular event throughout, had the RC135 continue climbing in order to capture as much footage of Lightning Number as possible, nearly forgetting the escorting aircraft nearby.

In fact, in the rear seat of the nearest Su-35, there was also a pilot holding a camera, silently looking at the commotion-seeking RC135.

In some sense, they became the first foreign "reporter" to witness the event.