Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

A wind tunnel laboratory artificially generates and controls airflow to simulate the flow of gas around an aircraft or physical object. It's a pipe-like experimental device used to measure the effect of airflow on the object and observe physical phenomena. Simply put, a wind tunnel is a large bellows where aircraft models are placed and blown to see if the aircraft's aerodynamic design meets actual needs.

The first step in developing an aircraft is to determine its shape, which requires wind tunnel testing. Major aviation powers rely on large subsonic, transonic, and supersonic wind tunnels to blow wind on models and obtain drag curve data. If problems are found during wind tunnel testing, the model is modified until the wind tunnel data approaches the expected values.

The Lavi fighter jet is said to be developed by Israel, but in reality, the main work was done in the United States. IAI doesn't even have a wind tunnel, so how could they possibly develop the aerodynamic layout? The development funds are also provided by the United States, which is equivalent to the Americans providing money and effort to help Israel develop an aircraft.

As a result, after tinkering for several years, the Americans sadly realized: 'We ruined our own F-20 to help Israel, and the Lavi fighter jet, once developed, can directly compete with the F-16. What a waste of effort!'

Thus, the Lavi fighter jet disappeared.

Now, the wooden prototype of this fighter jet has been produced, and research and development has entered a critical period. At this time, the Israelis should thank the arrival of the Easterners, who are helping them avoid detours.

"Wind tunnel testing? Of course, we've done it," said the short, dark-skinned man behind Horev. "We blew a lot of wind tunnels in the United States back then. I went along to do the complete set of experiments before finalizing the specific shape. Although our aircraft looks like a combination of the F-16 and the Kfir, it is definitely our brand-new development."

Horev glared at him: "Amos, what nonsense are you talking about?"

"I'm not talking nonsense."

"How can our aircraft be a combination of the F-16 and the Kfir?"

Qin Yang found it a bit amusing. This guy's self-esteem is really strong!

"Qin, have you seen the problem?" Natalie asked with curiosity in her eyes, while smoothing her falling hair with her hand, every move so seductive.

Nie Xiaoqian didn't care. Hmph, Yang-ge doesn't like your type of foreign woman.

"I can't be sure right now. Do you have any supersonic wind tunnel data? Can you show it to me?"

At this moment, Qin Yang had transformed into an aircraft expert.

"We've only done subsonic wind tunnel testing," Amos said. "It was originally designed as a close-range support aircraft, so we didn't pursue supersonic performance. Although it has been changed now, we haven't re-done the wind tunnel testing."

"Amos, what nonsense are you talking about again?" Horev looked at Amos angrily. How could he tell outsiders the specific inside story of the research and development process?

Amos stopped talking.

A close-range support aircraft doesn't need supersonic capability, since it's impossible to drop bombs at supersonic speeds. But if you want to become a high-performance fighter jet, supersonic capability is very important.

"Qin, is there a problem here?" Natalie continued to ask. At this time, she didn't know why, but she no longer had the seductive mindset towards Qin Yang and felt that Qin Yang was a very impressive expert.

After Qin Yang proposed that kind of missile aerodynamic yesterday, they did a simple computer simulation overnight and found that it was really amazing, improving maneuverability by 30%!

Everyone present was stunned.

Since the second-generation aircraft, there has been an unwritten rule: flying to Mach 2 is called a real air superiority fighter. Even the F-16, which slowly sways at high altitude with all its might, can fly to Mach 2.

The fighter jet that the Israelis had high hopes for can't even fly past Mach 1.3?

"Why?" Horev asked.

"Well, you want to design it as an air superiority fighter, but you didn't use a variable air intake. You used the simplest pitot air intake, which is inherently inefficient," Qin Yang analyzed. "And now, you're using this canard layout with the air intake under the fuselage. At supersonic speeds..."

Many second-generation aircraft have air intakes with intake cones to regulate airflow. Low speed requires more airflow, and high speed requires less airflow, so the air intake must be variable. The third-generation aircraft changed to baffles, and the effect was the same. Later, the DSI air intake was developed, which was a simple and reliable solution.

Qin Yang started shaking his head before finishing his sentence: "Forget it, I won't say it anymore. My analysis is just armchair theory. When you build a prototype in the future and test fly it, you'll know. Maybe I'm wrong, and your aircraft can fly to Mach 2."

After the test flight? If it is found after the test flight that the maximum speed can only fly to Mach 1.3, doesn't that mean that all the designs are not good and have to be overturned and restarted?

Horev looked at Qin Yang seriously: "President Qin, what problems will occur during supersonic flight?"

"Ahem, I can't be sure about that either. It's best to do a supersonic wind tunnel experiment. I'm very curious. You haven't even done a supersonic wind tunnel experiment for this aircraft, but you're going to build a prototype. It shouldn't be like this. You people are all the best designers."

"The Americans said there's no need for a supersonic wind tunnel experiment," Amos said.

This time, Horev wasn't dissatisfied with him, but started thinking. Could it be that the Americans dug a hole for them? They wanted to develop an advanced fighter jet, but the Americans didn't want to see this, so they left this defect. When they spend a lot of money on test flights and find that they have to overturn and restart, the project will probably be over.

That must be the case!

"President Qin, does your country have a supersonic wind tunnel?"

"Of course, we have a 1.2-meter supersonic wind tunnel in our country. You can take an eighth-scale model of your fighter jet to our wind tunnel and blow it, and you'll know," Qin Yang said. "It won't cost much, just 300,000 to 500,000 yuan for our electricity bill is enough."

The larger the wind tunnel, the more valuable the data obtained is for engineering reference, and the more likely it is to play a role in detailed design.

In the 1960s, the East only had a 0.6-meter wind tunnel, which could not make the model more accurate and realistic, so the development of the J-8 fighter jet was full of difficulties. Now, they have just acquired a 1.2-meter wind tunnel. Although there is still a big gap compared to Western aviation powers, it is already enough.

"Of course, you can also send the model to the United States and ask the United States to blow it for you, but you don't know what the result will be."

Horev gritted his teeth: "A few hundred thousand US dollars is not a lot of money. We need to send the model to your side to blow it. Amos, you take our model and go back with the Easterners!"

Song Lao had just finished looking at the plane and was very excited when he heard the conversation here. Hundreds of thousands of US dollars in funding had come just like that! President Qin is really amazing!

This is not just helping to blow the wind tunnel. During the process of blowing the wind tunnel, you can also learn in detail about the aerodynamic layout design of the Lavi fighter jet, providing a reference for your own research and development of domestic fighter jets!