Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

On the other side, Thomas and the others were very dissatisfied with Qin Yang's absence.

However, Nie Xiaoqian, with a smile, began negotiations with them, discussing the most critical details. Thomas and the others quickly realized that Nie Xiaoqian was also very professional, and moreover, she was Qin Yang's wife with a strong family background. So, they quickly abandoned their dissatisfaction and began to talk seriously.

However, after negotiating for a whole day, Nie Xiaoqian did not receive any news of Qin Yang's return, but only another message: Qin Yang would stay at the flight test center and participate in the upcoming aerial refueling technology test flight!

This was also a technical problem that the Air Force needed to overcome. After all, aerial refueling could extend the flight time of fighter jets in the air and increase their range. For example, with aerial refueling, domestically produced aircraft could fly a circle around the Nansha Islands and then fly back!

Without it, they could only rely on the fuel carried by the aircraft itself and fuel-efficient engines. Among domestically produced aircraft, the first one to achieve a full-range cruise of the Nansha Islands was the Flying Leopard fighter-bomber.

This bomber was huge, with a maximum take-off weight of 28 tons. With three large auxiliary fuel tanks, it could carry ten tons of fuel, and it used two fuel-efficient Spey engines to achieve a maximum range of 3,500 kilometers.

The Eastern Air Force urgently needed to acquire aerial refueling capabilities!

Historically, the first fighter jet with aerial refueling capability was the J-8. This fighter jet made great efforts and overcame many problems during the aerial refueling experiments.

For example, just the shape of the aerial refueling receiver was a problem. Everyone thought that a round tube was good, but they found that the vibration was too great after it was installed. Later, it was changed to a flat one, which greatly reduced the vibration.

Even so, with this tube, the flight speed dropped a lot. The fighter jet, which could originally fly at Mach 2 or more, couldn't even fly at Mach 1.5.

Not to mention the various efforts made later during the aerial docking process. However, the research and development were finally completed, and the Air Force's development reached a new level.

But now, it's not that complicated.

When the Tomcat fighter was being copied, the supporting parts were also copied, including the aerial refueling receiver.

Some French-made fighter jets clearly show the feelers extending from the right side of the nose. This is a fixed aerial refueling receiver. However, American-made fighter jets never show this strange structure because they use retractable aerial refueling receivers.

The Air Force uses hard-tube refueling, with the refueling port on the back of the aircraft. As long as it flies to the fixed position behind and below the aerial tanker, it doesn't need to do anything else. The refueling operator on the aerial tanker operates a large, thick tube and slowly extends it, directly into the refueling port, and then starts refueling.

The pilot doesn't need to have particularly high skills, and the refueling speed is very fast. This hard-tube refueling is the best method, but only the U.S. Air Force uses it.

Other countries, including the U.S. Navy, use soft-tube refueling.

The aerial tanker extends a hose from the wing, with a conical sleeve at the end, and then flies steadily in the sky. The aircraft receiving fuel must rely on superb flying skills to bring its own aircraft close to the conical sleeve, then insert its aerial refueling receiver into it, lock it, and start refueling. If the technology is not good enough, it may have to be repeated many times, or even have to give up aerial refueling after several failures.

Even if it is docked, it is still very complicated. As the fuel continues to increase, the weight of the aircraft continues to increase, and the pilot has to slightly adjust the throttle to compensate for the lack of power, otherwise the aircraft will fall behind.

This operation is quite a test of the pilot's skills and the operability of the fighter jet.

However, if it is flown by an experienced pilot, it will be much easier.

The Easterners do not have any aerial refueling technology, but the Iranians do! They use a full set of American-made equipment, not only the Tomcat fighter, but also the advanced aerial tanker: the world's only KC747!

The KC747 is an aerial tanker modified from the Boeing 747, which can carry 200 tons of fuel, creating a world record. However, it lost to the KC-10 tanker modified from the DC10 in the bidding, which can only carry a maximum of 161 tons of fuel.

The reason for the defeat is also very simple, because this aircraft is too big, and it is not convenient to take off and land! However, the U.S. Air Force did not choose it, but the Iranians did, becoming the only KC747 customer.

Iranians often use the KC747 to refuel various fighter jets in the air, including the Tomcat fighter. Now, the KC747 has been replaced by the Yun-10 modified aerial tanker, with a maximum fuel load of only 60 tons, which cannot be compared with other aerial tankers, but compared with the H-6 modified aerial tanker in history, the fuel load has almost doubled, which is also very good.

"Okay," Captain Luo Dazhong nodded.

"After taking off and reaching the aerial refueling airspace, you only need to ensure smooth flight, and leave the rest to me," Jalil said, "The performance of the fighter jets you manufacture is very good. We should be able to refuel successfully in one go, but for safety reasons, let's do a dry docking first, and then do a wet docking after there are no problems."

Dry docking means only docking, without aerial refueling. Wet docking means that there is fuel flow after docking. Everything follows the order from simple to complex, step by step.

Just as he was talking, a large group of people walked over, and the young man at the head was the famous General Manager Qin.

"Everyone, thank you for your hard work! Are we late?" Qin Yang shouted.

"Of course not, you came at the right time," Jalil said, "We are about to conduct the aerial docking experiment."

Looking at the two-seater fighter cockpit, Qin Yang swallowed: "Can I apply to sit in the rear cockpit and take a look?"