Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

For ordinary aircraft, there's no need to worry about external hardpoints; you can simply add pylons. However, variable-sweep wing aircraft are an exception because the wings are movable, making it impossible to mount pylons on them.

One reason is that it affects the wing's rotation. Another important reason is that if there are pylons under the wings, the weapons on those pylons will change direction as the wing's sweep angle changes. If it doesn't align with the fuselage, it will not only cause extra power loss when launching missiles but also increase drag during normal flight.

Therefore, if there are to be pylons, they cannot be fixed; they must move in sync, making corresponding adjustments according to the sweep angle, which undoubtedly makes the pylons quite complex.

Therefore, the Tomcat fighter did not have special wing pylons. However, because the Tomcat's fuselage is flat, and the two engines at the rear are more than a meter apart, the Tomcat has ample space under the fuselage to install pylons. The huge Phoenix missiles are mainly mounted here, divided into two rows, with a total of four pylons, perfect for carrying the massive Phoenix missiles.

If Phoenix missiles are not carried, there is ample space to carry other bombs and missiles. In short, converting the Tomcat fighter into a bomb truck is not a problem.

In addition to the pylons under the fuselage, there is also a pylon under each of the Tomcat's wide wing boxes. These pylons are multi-functional. If you want to carry Phoenix missiles, you can only carry one. All six Phoenix missiles on the fuselage are mounted in this way.

However, for the Tomcat fighter, carrying six Phoenix missiles is the strongest intercept mode, and it's only done during combat. It's not usually used because this configuration can take off but cannot land, which is awkward. Every time it flies back, do you have to throw the extra missiles into the sea?

Therefore, the Tomcat fighter generally does not mount Phoenix missiles here but replaces them with dual-rail composite pylons, which can carry two medium- and short-range missiles, such as a Sparrow and a Sidewinder. After all, Phoenix missiles are not omnipotent, and they need other means. Of course, rocket launchers or navigation targeting pods can also be mounted as needed.

In addition to these locations, the Tomcat fighter also has a pylon under each of the two air intakes. These pylons were originally intended to carry Phoenix missiles, but it was found that they were too close to the ground, so they were replaced and became dedicated locations for carrying auxiliary fuel tanks.

It's a pity that the Air Force does not yet have precision-guided weapons and can only carry ordinary bombs. This cannot be rushed; we'll take our time.

"Listening to you guys, I'm full of expectations," Old Lin said. "Hurry up and get this aircraft out. In the future, we will have a powerful ground attack aircraft with a long range, great power, and even capable of carrying nuclear bombs, which is much better than the Q-5."

The Air Force lacks aircraft types, and there are no professional fighter-bombers at all.

The Air Force's main ground attack forces consist of two types. One is the H-6, which is like those from World War II, flying over the enemy's head and dropping bombs. In modern battlefields, unless bullying some weak countries without an air force, it's like courting death.

The other is the Q-5, which is a ground attack aircraft modified from the J-6 and is used for front-line combat. It can dive and attack enemy ground targets in dense artillery fire, which sounds powerful, but this aircraft has too short a range and too small a bomb load.

Looking at other first-class powers, they all have professional fighter-bombers. The Soviets have a large number of aircraft such as the Su-24 and MiG-27, Europe has the Tornado fighter-bomber, and the US Air Force goes without saying, the F-111 is not to be trifled with.

The East lacks this type of aircraft. The first one should be the Flying Leopard fighter-bomber, but this aircraft has tandem two seats, which the Air Force doesn't like. The Air Force wants a side-by-side two-seat fighter like the Su-24, where the pilot and weapons operator sit side by side for easy communication.

However, this method increases flight drag, and the engines of domestic aircraft are already weak, so a side-by-side two-seat configuration is simply impossible to develop.

Therefore, the Air Force didn't want it, leaving the Navy to support it independently. However, after the Flying Leopard fighter-bomber came out, the Air Force suddenly felt it was very good, so they went back to it.

Of course, this was already in the late 1990s or even the new millennium. In the 1980s, the Flying Leopard was still in the design stage and couldn't catch up at all.

The Air Force is looking forward to the improvement of the J-11. This aircraft has the bomb load of the H-6 and the agility of the Q-5, which can be said to be the best fighter-bomber.

"Yes, ours is originally a twin-engine Q-6, so it must have first-class ground attack capabilities," Old Lu said.

If Old Lu hadn't reminded him, Qin Yang would have almost forgotten about it. Listening to Old Lu's words at this time, Qin Yang nodded repeatedly: "That's right, when it is shown to the world at the military parade, the model will be called the twin-engine Q-6."

In the field of military research and development, there is no such thing as patent rights. Being able to copy it is your own ability. Back then, when an American B-29 flew to the territory of the Soviets and landed, it was torn apart by the Soviets, and then the Tu-4 bomber was copied.

Even if the domestic side introduces the technical patent of the British L7 tank gun and produces a 105mm gun, it can still be exported generously, and then say that a lengthened L7 is not an L7, and the British still have no way to do anything about it.

Even if our side reverse-engineers and copies the Tomcat, Grumman would not be able to say anything even if they knew. However, we also have to restrain ourselves a bit and not call it a fighter. Let's call it the twin-engine Q-6. Although it looks a lot like the Tomcat, we can guarantee that it has nothing to do with the Tomcat. This aircraft uses our own technology inside and out.

We will also modify fighter-bombers in the future. Does the Tomcat have this ability?