Chapter 481 - 472: Polar Hunter_1

Desert Base, late evening.

A Triangular Aircraft was slowly being pulled out of the hangar; it appeared a very dirty gray, with irregular splotches of various sizes dotting its surface, resembling an antique covered in decades of dust.

However, the reality was that it had been manufactured just half a month ago and then transported here in parts for assembly, preparing for its high-speed taxi trial on the ground today.

This was the first prototype of "Xuehu," designated H-10, also known as the Roar 10.

After one year of design, Xuehu officially issued a production order for aircraft parts to the national aviation manufacturers, and to speed things up, the most crucial core parts were assigned to the base. There, they were forged with a 120,000-ton press machine, ensuring they met all strength requirements.

In nearly seven months, the first theoretically flyable prototype was now on the runway, waiting for its maiden flight.

In terms of the body, skin, stealth technology, cooling technology, fuel, avionics, and more, "Xuehu" essentially represented the pinnacle of domestic aviation industry capabilities. Of course, the strongest feature came from the three WCR-12 combined propulsion engines which had been successfully tested last year.

The dull gray aircraft had a simple and elegant exterior, which differed drastically from the design style of mainstream airplanes, yet it possessed an unconventional beauty.

Androff, who had become almost half of the total chief designer of the project, said to Dou Ping,

"This aircraft can fly up to 52,000 meters, exceeding the stratosphere and entering the mesosphere. If we go by Western naming conventions, it should be called ’Mesosphere Lightning.’ Xuehu is also a powerful beast, but a large face doesn’t quite match its appearance."

Dou Ping replied, "Let’s stick with Xuehu. It is a polar hunter that can easily blend into the vast snowy plains thanks to its pure white appearance. Plus, Xuehu is an already used codename, which makes it easier to fool the ears and eyes."

Androff said, "I think ’Polar Hunter’ sounds better than Xuehu, actually."

"..."

Their argument about the codename didn’t go on for long, because the ground taxi trial was about to start.

Nearly everyone in the research base had gathered by the runway, looking forward to the taxi trial.

In order to maintain the utmost secrecy and avoid satellite reconnaissance, the trial was unusually scheduled for the evening when even distant naked-eye observations would be somewhat blurry.

Test pilot Lei Qing wore a specially-made ultra-high altitude pressure suit as he sat in the cockpit. In fact, his flight suit was close to the category of spacesuits and extremely costly.

He had flown the simulator many times before, but the actual cockpit still offered an exciting ambience.

"Xuehu" was equipped with top-notch avionics systems manufactured at the base. The cockpit’s control panel had a style very much akin to that of space shuttles and was fitted with a powerful artificial intelligence and a 360-degree holographic projector.

When the holographic projection is turned off, it feels like piloting a small spacecraft, but when activated, the multimillion-dollar visor uses algorithms and cameras around the craft to make the cockpit "disappear." Apart from the control stick that remained in hand, the pilot seemed as if he had an invisibility cheat code from a game turned on in "Xuehu," suspended in mid-air.

At that moment, control of the equipment can be executed through equally floating holographic projections or through gestures and voice commands.

When he first activated the holographic mode in the hangar, even Lei Qing, who had long overcome his fear of heights, was a bit startled, because it was so powerful, even more potent than the simulator, almost flawless—it was as if he truly hovered in the air.

The very thought of experiencing one’s body "hovering" and speeding through the air was an allure too deadly to resist.

However, it was regrettable that this ground high-speed taxi test didn’t include that feature; it was the final pre-flight procedure before the official maiden flight, identical to a normal takeoff except for slamming on the brakes at the moment when the aircraft’s nose should be lifted.

Therefore, ground crew also had to perform a careful check-up according to the official takeoff procedures, then fill the plane with 1/3 of its fuel. For high-altitude flight, the WCR12 didn’t use aviation kerosene but rather an alkane-based fuel mixed with cesium, hard to vaporize and somewhat viscous. It would be heated by the skin of the fuel tank to enhance flow during supersonic flight, and the APU would have to be started for preheating before ground takeoff.

As ground crew and plane completed each check-up one by one, the control tower issued the takeoff command.

"1001, cleared for takeoff!"

"1001, understood!"

Lei Qing pushed the throttle from 10% to military power, which is to say the maximum without afterburner, and the three WCR-12 engines then delivered a combined 20 tons of thrust. Due to the prototype’s lighter fuel and equipment, the thrust-to-weight ratio was around 0.36.

This was quite a high figure for a bomber, and it even reached 0.5 with afterburner.

The instant he released the wheel brakes, Xuehu gently lifted its nose and shot forwards. According to design standards, the Triangular Aircraft, with its lift body design, required a 2700-meter taxi before pulling up to takeoff, or 3100 meters to be on the safe side, at a pull-up speed of 320 kilometers per hour. However, since the current empty weight was low, stopping at 2700 meters was appropriate.

As Lei Qing felt the aircraft’s acceleration, his rich experience led him to immediately deduce that the thrust was slightly upward, which should be due to the light weight of the radar model and the design of the lift body, all within the normal range.

He just stared at the speedometer, watching the digits climb rapidly. When the speed surpassed 270 kilometers per hour, he was already preparing to push down the nose to decelerate but suddenly noticed that the altimeter jumped from 0 to 2.

Xuehu lacked flaps, and its pull-up relied entirely on the deflection of the rudder, but he was certain he hadn’t maneuvered it.

By the time he realized it was the aircraft’s light empty weight and the outstanding lift-to-drag ratio of the lift body that were the causes, the altitude had already exceeded 8m. Relying on the lift, Xuehu had already left the ground on its own; the taxi had turned into a maiden flight.

Lei Qing immediately changed his initial nose-down action to a nose-up, entering a level flight at 800 meters altitude to circle around, and then reported the situation to the control tower. Androff also quickly understood what had happened.

"The design of Xuehu is more outstanding than we imagined. It lifted off at a speed of only 272 kilometers per hour! The distance was less than 2200 meters, and the engine thrust is also very good."

Dou Ping: "Then... let’s proceed with the maiden test flight. 01, keep the landing gear extended, circle the field!"

"01 received... She handles very lightly, not cumbersome at all, speed has already surpassed 550 kilometers per hour, landing gear automatically retracted!"

Xuehu’s acceleration was simply too rapid, as the landing gear had a speed limit when extended. Because of the unexpected flight, the flight computer had automatically retracted the landing gear when the speed exceeded 500 kilometers per hour to avoid high wind pressure causing malfunctions, all of which happened within the brief span of the conversation.

Lei Qing quickly reduced the throttle. Xuehu possessed supersonic cruising capabilities and could fly at 1.3 times the speed of sound without afterburners. Accelerating further would lead into supersonic flight, and he wasn’t prepared for that yet.

Having autonomously altered its exercise, Xuehu flew a large circle around the base at high subsonic speeds, then smoothly lowered its landing gear to begin landing, and finally came to a steady stop after taxiing for two kilometers.

Next time, it would be supersonic flight.