Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry

#421 - Small tablet and vertical take-off and landing fighter!

Dalian Shipyard.

As dusk approached, the afterglow of the setting sun spilled onto the Type 075 amphibious assault ship (NATO reporting name: Yushen-class), gilding the massive vessel with a golden edge.

This was a giant ship with a hull length of approximately 200 meters. The broad deck seemed to span the entire sea surface, upon which were placed several engineering amphibious vehicles and Z-5 helicopters. Tiny ant-like figures bustled about, as if they were about to carry out a mission under the cover of night.

The hatches on both sides of the ship's hull were slightly open, revealing the dim internal structure within. The figures of workers could be vaguely seen moving back and forth, preparing for the ship's upcoming mission.

At the bow, the amphibious landing turret, with its two 30mm high-speed cannons, pointed directly into the distance, as if ready to fire at the unknown enemy at any moment.

On the helicopter landing platform at the stern, several Z-5 transport helicopters were quietly hovering in training, with heavy material boxes hanging on their fuselages, indicating Z-5 pilots in training.

"Mr. Ren, our 'flat-top' is finally about to achieve combat capability," Professor Liu of the Dawn Shipbuilding Research Institute said with some pride. "The progress of the Z-5 helicopter is faster than we expected. Of course, the progress of our ship is not slow either. We completed the launch three months ahead of schedule. Now, after sea trials, we have installed a complete set of naval electrical systems to form a complete combat capability."

"Now our Type 075 has sailed nearly 3,000 kilometers in full condition, and all subsystems are running well. The only problem now is that the weapon subsystem of the Z-5 helicopter has not been perfected. Our Type 075 only has transportation capabilities and lacks attack capabilities."

Ren Zhong's purpose in coming to Dalian this time was not for the launching of this giant ship.

Ren Zhong was becoming increasingly indifferent to this type of ceremony.

He now only attends key projects that require direct encouragement.

He has no interest in general ceremonial ribbon-cutting events. In Ren Zhong's view, the progress of the Type 075 amphibious assault ship was very gratifying. Whether it was the ship or the shipboard equipment, they were completing the progress ahead of schedule according to the plan. In this way, Ren Zhong did not need to do anything more for this 'small flat-top' project, only needing to ensure that their budget arrived on schedule.

However, Ren Zhong unexpectedly received a special gift in the main world. Through secret channels, he obtained the key design data of the early Soviet Yak-38 vertical take-off and landing fighter, spending tens of millions of US dollars to buy the detailed design data electronic versions of the Tumansky R-27V-300 lift/propulsion turbojet engine and the RD-38 lift engine.

For the main world, this was a rather useless and outdated technology. Ren Zhong didn't know if Dongda (East University) had obtained this technology. In any case, for the West, these were not good things. At least, the Yak-38 was still several streets behind the Harrier fighter.

But for Ren Zhong, this information was invaluable. After obtaining this information, he painstakingly collected some detailed design drawings of the Yak-38 and Harrier fighters. Although he didn't put together a complete set, he collected most of the fuselage design, various size data, and performance parameters.

After all, these models had been outdated for too long.

Although secrecy continued to be maintained, too many people knew about it, and these secrecy measures inevitably had many loopholes. In addition, the main world basically realized digital preservation, which made the circulation of many secrets much more convenient than in the pure blueprint stage. Through the dual system of funding Western powerhouse university research teams + private intelligence peddlers, Ren Zhong's ability to obtain confidential information before the 1970s has obviously risen to a new level.

Today, what he came to Dalian to communicate with Professor Liu was precisely the preliminary project of Dongda's first-generation vertical take-off and landing fighter based on the Yak-38 and Harrier fighters, and what was needed to cooperate with the 'small flat-top'.

Yak-38A prototype.

"Professor Liu, in the future, we will equip the Type 075 with a fighter that can take off and land vertically and be catapulted. The temperature of the vertical take-off and landing nozzle will be as high as 1000 ℃. I want to know how the Type 075 needs to modify the deck to adapt to the take-off and landing of this fighter," Ren Zhong looked at the huge figure of the Type 075 from a distance for a long time before retracting his gaze, turning around and directly saying to Professor Liu.

"What, we are still going to study vertical take-off and landing fighters?" Professor Liu was obviously not mentally prepared at all.

"In terms of temperature alone, although the melting point of ordinary carbon steel is at a high temperature of 1515 degrees, it will gradually melt before reaching this temperature. The temperature at which it first softens is 500-650 ℃. Although our HY80 steel is stronger, it will probably soften at a temperature of 800 degrees, so if we want to cope with 1000 degrees high temperature, we must study new materials for the steel plate of the deck. The current HY80 steel cannot reach this goal," Professor Liu knew his warship like the back of his hand.

"If HY150 steel is used, it can withstand nearly 1000 degrees high temperature before it starts to soften, but the time will not be too long. Relying on this alone is not very feasible. Moreover, after replacing HY150 steel, our processing difficulty increases linearly. For the construction difficulty and cycle, it will increase a lot. Currently, we do not have a plan to use HY150 steel to build large surface ships. Only on nuclear submarines do we have to use this high-yield special steel to enable them to resist the pressure of water at a depth of more than 400 meters under the water."

"I know, so in this regard, I have found a compromise solution. On the basis of HY80 steel, we spray a special alloy coating. This is a titanium alloy high-temperature resistant coating. Theoretically, it can withstand 1500 degrees high temperature. Unfortunately, this plan only has a general idea, but there is no complete process design, so the Shipbuilding Research Institute needs to unite with the Iron and Steel Research Institute, and everyone will jointly develop this high-temperature resistant coating on HY80 steel," Ren Zhong nodded after listening to Professor Liu's words and said his real purpose. Now, in addition to aerospace, the department that needs special materials is the shipbuilding sector, which has very high requirements, so aerospace and shipbuilding both have their own materials research departments, carrying out research for the special purposes of their own departments.

Of course, the Iron and Steel Research Institute is the strongest center for materials research, but they are facing many fields in the country as a whole. The specialized research that simply invests in research in one direction is now not much anymore, especially under the conditions of limited use scenarios.

For the 'small flat-top' and even the aircraft carrier in the future, the development of this high-temperature resistant coating is a particularly niche use for the Iron and Steel Research Institute. If people from the Shipbuilding Research Institute do not take the lead to invest the main research force, even if the Iron and Steel Research Institute now has a scale of several thousand people, they will not invest too much.

Of course, Ren Zhong could force them to do this, but that wasn't a sustainable way forward. He always advocated for scientific research to be oriented towards the front lines, the market, and the future. A narrow market space like high-temperature applications for aircraft carriers and small flat decks, he could force it through, but once this precedent was set, more people might interfere with the Steel Research Institute in the future.

Therefore, Ren Zhong preferred to go the extra mile to communicate with Professor Liu in Dalian, allowing them to coordinate and complete the research for this project themselves.

"We have no problem," Professor Liu said. From Ren Zhong's brief words, he sensed an opportunity to significantly enhance the combat capabilities of the small flat deck. Fighter jets were different from helicopters; they could compete for air superiority. Even if the Dongting Lake-class only carried a dozen or so fighter jets in the future, the increase in combat power would be immeasurable.

Simply put, this would elevate the small flat deck from an amphibious assault ship to the ranks of a small aircraft carrier!

This upgrade would be a world of difference.

An amphibious assault ship capable of launching fighter jets was much stronger than three or four amphibious assault ships that could only carry helicopters!

The carrying capacity, combat capabilities, and flight speed of helicopters simply couldn't compare to those of fighter jets.

"How heavy of a fighter jet do we need to support?" Professor Liu asked, raising a crucial question.

This was the most critical indicator for the design of the warship's deck.

According to Ren Zhong's plan, with the use of new materials, especially after reducing weight with composite fibers, the weight of the new Dongda first-generation vertical takeoff and landing fighter jet would be controlled within 6.5 tons, and the internal fuel capacity would reach 2.5 tons. This would give it a maximum takeoff weight of 11 tons, and a weapon load of 2 tons, basically meeting the standards for a light fighter jet.

Of course, this was under full fuel conditions. If it was performing short-range combat missions after takeoff, the weapon load could be increased to the extreme state of 3.5 tons by reducing the fuel load. This was generally for air support scenarios on the beachhead front lines. In this case, the combat range would only be a few hundred kilometers, and it was recommended to use catapult takeoff.

"11 tons?!" Professor Liu was a bit overwhelmed. The Dongting Lake-class, designed for helicopters, had a load-bearing design of 8 tons, after all, the Z-5's maximum load was only 7600 kg.

Despite the difference of only 3 tons, considering that fighter jet takeoffs and landings were more explosive than helicopters, it would require stronger steel plates to handle the stress, not to mention withstanding the scorching heat of thousands of degrees. This test was no less challenging than redesigning a large ship.

"In the construction of our second small flat deck, we will try our best to design and implement it around this goal," Professor Liu said, not backing down because of the difficulty. Moreover, Ren Zhong had pointed out the direction for them to work towards, and according to past experience, this direction would definitely not be wrong, even if there were twists and turns along the way.

"Professor Liu, this matter is very important. Before our aircraft carrier is launched, I believe that the vertical takeoff and landing fighter jet will definitely complete its research mission first. Before the aircraft carrier is launched, our small flat deck will serve as an aircraft carrier to protect our sea borders and our increasingly numerous overseas interests."

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No need to say more, Professor Liu understood. A fighter jet that could take off from a small flat deck was still a fighter jet. With most countries in the world still using propeller-driven fighter jets, the vertical takeoff and landing fighter jet Ren Zhong proposed was jet-powered, which would be an overwhelming advantage over most countries' propeller-driven fighter jets.

Based on the current equipment of other countries' air forces in this world, a squadron of jet fighters would basically be a crushing force.

This was something armed helicopters couldn't do.

To put it bluntly, a task force composed of two small flat decks and four Jianghai-class destroyers would have the ability to destroy over 95% of the countries in the world, excluding the Western powers!

After all, the two small flat decks, in different combinations, could each be equipped with 6 vertical takeoff and landing fighter jets + 6 armed helicopters + 40 tanks + 600 special assault troops. The two ships would each have a full-strength fighter jet squadron and an armed helicopter squadron as air power, and 80 tanks and 1200 elite special assault troops on the ground. Not many countries could withstand such an armed strike force!

Especially near the coast, there would also be naval gun fire support.

"Our shipbuilding research institute guarantees the completion of the task!" Professor Liu said loudly, "The other subsystems of the Dongting Lake-class have preliminary capabilities. Now we are just improving the deck and trying to see if we can solve the catapult research that Mr. Ren mentioned. We are very confident in strengthening the front deck. As for the catapult, since we have obtained the detailed explanation of the principles, I personally have great confidence in researching and implementing it."

Professor Liu and his team had already created destroyers, nuclear submarines, and small flat decks that he would never have dared to imagine in his lifetime. He had established confidence in shipbuilding. To be honest, shipbuilding required learning from practice to be faster.

Ren Zhong gradually improved their shipbuilding capabilities through ro-ro cargo ships, and then through replicating samples based on near-actual design drawings, allowing Professor Liu's team to gain a lot of practical experience in engineering design, and began to find their own technical confidence.

In this way, in the design of the small flat deck, they quickly realized the design of the Dongting Lake-class step by step based on Ren Zhong's prototype-inspired design. In this Bright Sword world, the Dongting Lake-class was currently unique.

If the armed helicopter was realized, then the Dongting Lake-class could immediately leap to become a great maritime weapon.

When the vertical takeoff and landing fighter jet was launched, the Dongting Lake-class would be transformed into a real light aircraft carrier. The Western powers probably hadn't thought that these Dongting Lake-class amphibious assault ships in Dalian and Jiangnan Shipyard would have such a gorgeous transformation.

But these were still early.

The vertical takeoff and landing fighter jet was still in the planning stage.

Although Ren Zhong had already drawn the blueprint for everyone, there were too many problems to be solved with the vertical takeoff and landing fighter jet. Compared to the redesign of the F-4 Phantom fighter jet, this difficulty was much greater.

Ren Zhong didn't expect it to be completed in the short term.

Being able to produce a prototype within 5 years would be a pleasant surprise for Ren Zhong.