Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

Thanks to years of media propaganda, Westerners often view the East similarly to Africa, as an extremely backward country. Even India is considered stronger.

However, only by truly coming to this land can one realize that this ancient nation of the East is bursting with vitality. Its people are intelligent and capable, diligently using their hard work and wisdom to catch up with the world's advanced levels, and even achieving world-class standards in certain fields!

The East lacks decades of industrial accumulation, so they cannot produce advanced aero engines. However, their research in the aviation industry is still remarkable. They have their own achievements, and their capabilities in aerodynamic layout are particularly strong!

“Natalie, you're here,” Horlev said. “We need to discuss the fighter jet improvement plan with President Qin and others in detail next. Can you join our meeting?”

“Of course.” Natalie nodded.

A large group of people sat in the conference room of Factory 132. Elder Song and others had also arrived from Institute 611. After everyone was seated, the meeting got down to business.

“President Qin, I am very curious. How did you see the defects in our aerodynamic layout? How exactly did this defect arise?”

Qin Yang smiled and said, “Well, let our professional engineers analyze it. Elder Song, please introduce it to our guests.”

Elder Song?

Although they had met last time, and Elder Song had led the wind tunnel testing, Horlev didn't know how capable he was. He looked at Qin Yang with suspicion.

“Elder Song is the leading figure in our country's aerodynamics and has a deep understanding of aircraft aerodynamic layouts,” Qin Yang introduced. “He has been conducting wind tunnel experiments for many years, testing many aerodynamic layouts. If you want us to help you complete the aerodynamic layout modification, Elder Song will definitely be in charge.”

Horlev frowned. This person in charge? However, he didn't need to object for the time being, and nodded, saying, “Okay, then please Elder Song tell us about it.”

First, he wanted to see if Elder Song was truly capable.

“This is a curse we discovered after studying canards,” Elder Song said, following Qin Yang's instructions, trying to make it sound as mysterious as possible.

“A curse?”

“Yes, this is a curse of canard layouts and ventral air intakes.”

Israel had already used canard layouts on the Kfir fighter jet. Although it was a fixed canard, it was still a canard, and they had not found any surge in drag affecting speed. The Kfir fighter jet's supersonic capability was similar to that of the Mirage 5. They really didn't understand why the current Lion fighter jet had this problem.

Now they finally understood: “Caused by the ventral air intake? Why?”

“When the canard is close to the ventral air intake, the shock wave of the canard and the shock wave of the intake lip will affect each other at supersonic speeds, leading to a surge in aircraft drag. We have some data from wind tunnel testing in recent years here,” Elder Song said, taking out a document. “You can take a look.”

Amos immediately took it. He was the most experienced aerodynamic expert among everyone present, and he could tell the authenticity of the document at a glance, even if he couldn't understand the text, just by looking at the data.

Looking at the data above, Amos's face became increasingly ugly. After reading it, he was very helpless: “I really didn't expect it to be like this. What should we do?”

“You can change the ventral air intake to side air intakes, and this problem will not occur,” Elder Song continued.

“Of course not. Only ventral air intakes can guarantee the climb performance of our fighter jets. Side air intakes will cause a serious drop in intake efficiency during turns,” Horlev immediately shook his head.

Second-generation aircraft mainly used side air intakes, but by the third-generation aircraft, they all switched to ventral air intakes. This was of course for intake efficiency. Modern fighter jets have increasingly strong maneuverability, and the turn rate during turns is also very fast. The rotating fuselage will block the inner air intake, leading to poor airflow and unstable engine operation.

Ventral air intakes are only blocked by the fuselage during dives, but is there any need to worry about insufficient power during dives?

“If we want to ensure that the ventral air intake remains unchanged, then we have to modify the canard. We can change the size of the canard, or we can change the front and rear position of the canard. We need to do a lot of experiments and theoretical deductions. We need all the external shape data of the Lion fighter jet for reference,” Elder Song said. “Did you bring the data?”

Horlev shook his head: “No, we didn't bring our data. We want to invite a group of people from your side to study it at our place.”

It was all confidential. How could this data be easily handed over to the Easterners?

“The biggest problem with your fighter jet is still the splicing. You directly spliced the nose of the F-16 onto the fuselage of the Mirage 5, thinking you could combine the advantages of both. In reality, developing fighter jets isn't that simple!”

If someone else had said this, Horlev would definitely have refuted it, saying that it wasn't splicing, but that they had developed it themselves.

But now, Qin Yang's words meant something else. This aircraft had no secrets, it was all existing technology. Now, don't worry about leaking secrets, quickly take it out and study it together, that's the most important thing.

“Mr. Horlev, if you want to successfully modify this project, you need to do a lot of experiments and a lot of wind tunnel testing. If you go to your place to study it, it will be too inconvenient to go back and forth, and it will definitely delay a lot of time. I think what you lack most now is time, right?”

The prototype was about to be built, and suddenly they discovered aerodynamic defects! Everything might need to be overturned and restarted. They must be short on time now!

Horlev's expression changed, and he didn't speak.

“Elder Song, how much money do you think it will take to get it done?”

Elder Song's heart was pounding violently. He tried to control his emotions so that his voice wouldn't sound abnormal: “I think it will take at least five million.”

“Five million US dollars. For you, this cost shouldn't be too much, right?” Qin Yang asked.

“Okay, then five million US dollars. We will complete the approval of this project as soon as possible and transfer the funds. We also hope that you can start as soon as possible.”

“As long as you bring the specific data, we can start immediately.”

Natalie didn't interfere at all, just acting as an audience. It wasn't until the two sides had negotiated properly that she realized: There seemed to be a trap here!