Set sail1992

Chapter 1434 Be Forward-Looking

After laughing, everyone tacitly turned to the main topic.

Zhang Qihang asked everyone: "How much payload do you think should be arranged?"

Zhang Jiwen thought for a moment and said, "The drone that is closest to our requirements is the American MQ-9 Reaper. The payload of the Reaper... well, if I remember correctly, it should be around 1200 kilograms?"

As he spoke, he looked at Professor Wu and asked for confirmation.

"Almost," Professor Wu nodded. "If I remember correctly, the maximum full load is 1361 kilograms. However, this load is of little practical significance. It is based on a premise of significantly reducing the amount of fuel carried. With such a large load, the remaining fuel is only enough to support a combat radius of 9 to 400 kilometers. According to the classic weapon configuration plan of the United States for MQ-, only about kilograms of load is arranged for the weapon system."

Shi Zhen took over the conversation and continued, "The maximum take-off weight of the MQ-9 is 4700 kilograms. In other words, the maximum take-off weight of the drone we are going to make is about 4.5 tons?"

Zhang Jiwen shook his head: "A 4.5-ton drone can indeed fly to kilometers, but Mr. Zhang just said that he wants to make a drone that can be continuously upgraded and platform-based..."

At this point, Zhang Jiwen looked at Zhang Qihang and said, "Mr. Zhang, have you come up with an idea for this drone?"

Following Zhang Jiwen's words, Professor Wu and Shi Zhen also looked at Zhang Qihang.

Zhang Qihang did not beat around the bush and asked directly: "I do have some ideas that I would like to discuss with you all... Everyone knows about the American OV-10 'Mustang' reconnaissance aircraft, right?"

Compared with classic fighter jets such as the F-14, F-15, F-16 and F-16, the OV-10 "Mustang" reconnaissance aircraft is not a particularly famous aircraft among American military aircraft. Unless you are a military fan, most people probably don't know about it, but this obviously does not include Zhang Jiwen, Professor Wu and Shi Zhen.

Zhang Jiwen nodded first: "Of course I know. In addition to reconnaissance, this aircraft also has good combat and close-range fire support capabilities. It was very popular among American soldiers during the battle."

As Zhang Jiwen spoke, he thought about the design of the OV-10 "Mustang" armed reconnaissance aircraft, and suddenly said, "Mr. Zhang, are you interested in the basic structure of the OV-10?"

"Yes," Zhang Qihang said, pulling out a piece of paper and quickly drawing on it: "In my opinion, the basic structure of OV-10 has strong scalability and is simply born for drones.

For example, the engine compartments on both sides can be replaced with engines of different powers according to different usage requirements;

Another example is the main fuselage in the middle. After the size and structure of the central wing box are determined, a larger main fuselage can be replaced in the future as needed. In addition, this structure has an additional advantage, which is that it can provide an additional engine installation position at the tail of the main fuselage. In this way, a three-engine layout is formed without much impact on the overall aerodynamic structure of the aircraft, and the power is increased by 50% compared to before.

  In addition, the huge horizontal tail connected to the engine nacelles on both sides can also provide a considerable amount of lift for the aircraft itself..." Looking at the lines that Zhang Qihang quickly sketched on the paper, friends who are familiar with drones will definitely exclaim: Isn't this a three-engine double-tailed Scorpion A drone?!

However, in this era when the twin-tailed scorpion had not yet appeared, Zhang Jiwen, Shi Zhen and Professor Wu looked at the simple line drawing drawn by Zhang Qihang and felt that their own President Zhang had indeed got inspiration from the OV-10 "Mustang".

Professor Wu's face was full of joy: "That's true. As long as the wings, engine compartment, main fuselage and other parts are determined, it will be much easier to upgrade in the future, even if we just replace it with a bigger fuselage."

Shi Zhen nodded again and again: "That's true... Hey, Mr. Zhang, in the picture you drew, why is the distance between the engine compartment and the fuselage so large? Do you have any special ideas when you designed it this way?"

At first, Shi Zhen subconsciously thought it was a problem of proportion, or maybe it was just a simple schematic diagram, but then he immediately realized: No! With Mr. Zhang's level of design, this should not be a problem of proportion, but a deliberate design. But what is the purpose of doing this?

Professor Wu and Zhang Jiwen really hadn't noticed this problem. Now after hearing what Shi Zhen said, they also reacted and hurriedly looked at Zhang Qihang, waiting for Zhang Qihang's answer.

"I have some ideas," Zhang Qihang nodded and said, "From a structural point of view, this position has the greatest structural strength and is suitable for arranging heavy-load hanging points. I also learned from the B52 bomber's practice of arranging the engine as far outward as possible and freeing up the inner wing section with the strongest hanging capacity as much as possible, and pushed the two engine compartments on both sides outward as much as possible.

In this way, at least four heavy-duty hanging points can be arranged in these two positions, plus the positions of the wings outside the two engines near the engine compartment can also be arranged with heavy-duty hanging points, so our drone will have at least 4 heavy-duty hanging points. "

  8 heavy duty hanging points?

There are 8 heavy-duty attachment points alone, and there are 2 to 4 more attachment points under the main fuselage. In addition, there are also several light attachment points on the outer section of the wing. So what are you planning to do, Mr. Zhang? An unmanned version of the bombing truck?

Professor Wu hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help but said, "Mr. Zhang, this... the maximum take-off weight of our drone is only 4.5 to 5 tons. Isn't it a bit of a waste to design so many heavy hanging points?"

He didn't have the nerve to say, "Isn't it necessary to design so many heavy hanging points?"

Shi Zhen and Zhang Jiwen also nodded repeatedly, thinking that what Zhang Qihang did was a complete waste.

Zhang Qihang understood why the three people had such expressions. Who would have thought that in just over 10 years, drone technology had developed to such an astonishing level?

"Who says our drones only weigh four or five tons? The RQ-4 Global Hawk has a maximum take-off weight of more than 10 tons. Who says the subsequent models of our drones can't reach a maximum take-off weight of 10 tons?

It doesn’t matter if you can’t use the heavy hanging points for now, just reserve the space first.

If one day in the future, the user unit has higher requirements for us, we can completely meet the user unit's requirements by replacing the turboprop engine with better high-altitude performance on the existing basis, so as to avoid being in a hurry..."

After receiving this, Zhang Qihang said with a smile: "Professor Wu, have you forgotten what I said at the beginning? What we are developing is not a drone, but a multifunctional and continuously upgradeable drone platform. We must be forward-looking."