Rongcheng, aircraft manufacturing plant.
The WS-10 engine made its first flight on the Su-27 in October.
Within more than two months, multiple test flights were conducted, and the flight time of the first WS-10 engine reached 300 hours.
And after the overhaul, it was found that even after 300 hours of flight, the various parts of the engine were still operating well.
The working life is expected to reach more than 1,200 hours. You must know that the working life of Da Mao's AL-31F engine these days is only 900 hours.
Because the WS-10 engine does not borrow too much technology from the AL-31 in this world, it actually avoids some of the problems of the AL-31 itself.
The WS-10 engine was originally intended for use on the newly developed third-generation J-10 fighter jet.
The manufacturing speed of the J-10 prototype is much faster than the development speed of the WS-10 engine.
The R&D and manufacturing of the first test machine was basically completed a few years ago, but the engine R&D work has been encountering various obstacles.
Only then has it been possible to complete the research and development and manufacturing of the aircraft.
However, the research and development progress of WS-10 has progressed by leaps and bounds this year. In just a few months, many major problems that originally plagued engine development have been solved.
The engine suddenly surpassed the AL-31F of the Mao family from its original unbearable state.
While it surprised many people, it also made the J-10 aircraft project team, which had been waiting hard for a domestic engine and was already preparing to switch to the Maoist AL-31F engine, very happy.
After all, the WS-10 is almost customized specifically for the J-10, and a lot of preparations have been made in all aspects.
Unlike the AL-31F engine, if the J-10 really wants to use this engine, a lot of modifications will be made to all aspects of the aircraft.
At this rate, we don’t know when the J-10 will actually make its first flight.
Fortunately, the development and manufacturing of the WS-10 was successfully completed, and the J-10 fighter jet did not have to put in so much effort to adapt to the Mao family's AL-31F engine.
The J-10 fighter's first flight time and subsequent service and installation time can be greatly advanced.
This can greatly alleviate the current pressure on the Air Force. You must know that the vast sky of the motherland is currently guarded by the J-7 and J-8.
The dozens of Su-27 fighter jets imported from Damao's family can only equip one aviation regiment, and are regarded as rare treasures by those troops equipped with Su-27 fighter jets.
It is too difficult to rely on these Su-27 fighter jets to guard the thousands-kilometer long border of the motherland.
If the J-10 fighter jet is successfully developed and mass-produced, it will greatly enhance the Air Force's ability to defend its homeland.
In the aircraft manufacturing factory, Zhang Zhengjiang, the chief engineer of the WS-10 project, was communicating with Song Tianxing, the chief engineer of the J-10 project.
"Lao Zhang, you did a good job this time!"
Song Tianxing, with a naive face, was joking with Zhang Zhengjiang.
"I didn't expect that you could solve so many problems in just a few months."
"Amazing!"
Facing Song Tianxing's praise, Zhang Zhengjiang was not proud, but very humble.
"To solve the problem, we mainly rely on the help of our brother units. It is difficult for us to solve so many problems so quickly by ourselves."
Song Tianxing was not very surprised by this answer. After all, he was familiar with the members of the WS-10 project team and understood their capabilities.
If they were to slowly gnaw these problems bit by bit on their own, it would take at least three or four years.
But they solved it within a few months, and people from other units must have helped.
"Which unit?"
"So awesome, I solved the problem for you in such a short time."
Song Tianxing couldn't help but asked.
"The Materials Laboratory of the Rocket Academy, their latest research on high-temperature materials has very strong performance and has solved the material problems that have troubled us for a long time."
Mentioning the reason here, Zhang Zhengjiang said with emotion:
"And their high-temperature powder metallurgy process seems to be very advanced, producing parts that are almost entirely single-crystal arrangements."
Song Tianxing was a little surprised at this time. After all, in terms of rockets, the Rocket Research Institute may be in a leading position in the country.
However, in terms of materials research and development and manufacturing, the Rocket Research Institute can only be said to be unranked.
Song Tianxing had to be surprised to hear that they had made such significant progress in materials.
"Didn't they have an accident just at the beginning of the year?"
“It’s amazing that I recovered so quickly and achieved so many results!”
Zhang Zhengjiang is already used to other people's thoughts. After all, the things here are indeed quite outrageous.
"Let's not talk about this anymore. Are there any difficulties in loading the WS-10 onto the J-10?"
After chatting for a while, Zhang Zhengjiang and Song Tianxing got down to business.
As a supporting engine for the J-10, the WS-10 itself was developed for it.
Loading the J-10 fighter jet is what Zhang Zhengjiang, as the chief engineer of the WS-10 engine, is most concerned about.
Seeing Zhang Zhengjiang's expression of returning to work, Song Tianxing became a little more serious and took a summary of the various types of problems the J-10 project team had with the WS-10 installation before Zhang Zhengjiang arrived.
"The current installation problem is actually not particularly big. Our engineers have tried to install the machine before and conducted a certain degree of ground testing."
"There are just some minor problems, nothing major."
"Now we have almost solved these small problems."
"But you also know that the actual operating conditions at high altitude are completely different from those on the ground."
"If you want to get real data, you have to conduct a test flight."
Zhang Zhengjiang was not particularly surprised by this. Test flight is a very important link in the entire design improvement process of the aircraft.
If you want to get real and detailed data, you must rely on a large number of flight tests.
"How are the preparations for the test flight? When can the first flight be carried out?" Zhang Zhengjiang asked.
"It is now nearing the end of the year, and all preparations are unlikely to be completed before this year. The first flight may not take place until after the New Year."
Although Song Tianxing also wanted to make the first flight of the J-10 as soon as possible, the preparation progress was not very satisfactory, and there was definitely no hope before the year.
Moreover, there were a lot of messy things at the end of the year, which took a lot of energy from everyone and had to slow down the preparation work.
"How is the pilot training for the first flight? This flight is still very risky."
"The first batch of test pilots have completed all training subjects and can fly J-10 fighter jets at any time."
"As for the personnel for the first flight, the one currently tentatively selected is Lei Gang, who was also the test pilot of your previous WS-10 for the first flight!"
The training of pilots is much faster than the preparation of J-10 fighter jets. Now almost everyone is waiting for the fighter jets, waiting to fly the motherland's latest generation fighter jets straight into the sky!
Even in this process, you will not hesitate to sacrifice your own life!
