Eagle Sauce: The 055 destroyer was launched into the sea just after the founding of the country?

A few days later.

Light shone through the window onto the desk. Fang Yu moved the pen back and forth on the drawing, outlining the outline of the JF-17 fighter jet.

Various technical materials were scattered on the table, and the tea leaves in the thermos had already turned colorless and had long since cooled down.

“No, this change won’t work…”

Fang Yu rubbed his temples, crumpled the drawing in his hand into a ball and threw it into the trash can.

Originally, Fang Yu had already made his own plan, which was to modify the JF-17 and put it directly on board.

However, the transformation process is full of difficulties.

The JF-17 is indeed an excellent fighter jet, but there are too many problems to be solved before it can be converted into a carrier-based aircraft.

The first is the strength of the landing gear. The landing gear of a land-based aircraft cannot withstand the impact of a heavy landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

Even if it is reinforced, it will seriously affect the performance of the aircraft.

Fang Yu stood up and walked to the cross-section diagram of the aircraft carrier hanging on the wall.

His eyes fell on the catapult mechanism.

"Catapult takeoff requires extremely high airframe strength, and the JF-17's airframe structure needs to be completely redesigned."

"Especially the connection between the wing and the fuselage, which cannot withstand the huge stress during ejection."

He remembered the special requirements for carrier-based aircraft landing.

The landing area of ​​an aircraft carrier is small, and the aircraft needs to precisely control its descent speed.

However, the JF-17's aerodynamic layout is not suitable for low-speed flight, which means that the entire aerodynamic shape needs to be redesigned.

"The most important thing is the engine..." Fang Yu muttered to himself.

Carrier-based aircraft operate in a marine environment, and their engines must be able to resist high humidity and salt spray corrosion.

However, the corrosion resistance of the JF-17's existing engines is far from adequate. Once it is put into service at sea, the maintenance cost will be alarmingly high.

Walking to the window, Fang Yu looked at the lights of the factory in the distance.

Modifying the JF-17 may seem like the fastest way, but in the long run it is actually counterproductive.

Rather than investing significant resources in an unsuitable platform, it would be better to design a true carrier-based fighter from scratch.

“If we are going to build something, we must build the best!”

Fang Yu returned to the table, took out a few new drawings, and hung them on the information wall in front of him.

Those were the design drawings and service data of several medium/heavy carrier-based aircraft that Fang Yu exported from the system during the day and would be in service in the future.

The walls are densely covered with various performance parameter tables and actual combat data, each of which embodies the research efforts he has put in these days.

"F18..." Fang Yu muttered the code name softly, tapping the table lightly with his fingers.

This fighter jet, called "Hornet" by the Americans, appears to have a brilliant record on the surface, but in fact it has many problems.

He picked up a maintenance record, which was densely packed with failure data of the F18 during its service.

"The fuselage structure's excessive pursuit of lightweighting has resulted in insufficient strength," Fang Yu wrote in his notebook. "The wing-folding mechanism, in particular, has an alarmingly high failure rate."

A combat report shows that during the Gulf War, the F18's attendance rate was only maintained at around 60%.

A large number of fighter jets had to be grounded for maintenance due to structural fatigue, which is the main reason why it is called the "plastic bug".

“What’s even more terrible is its range.”

Fang Yu shook his head.

"Without aerial refueling, they can only circle around the aircraft carrier. With such a combat radius, how can they possibly shoulder the responsibility of fleet air defense?"

Putting the F18 information aside, Fang Yu turned his attention to the technical drawings of the Su33.

This heavy carrier-based aircraft originated from the Soviet Union. It has a majestic appearance and powerful performance, but it also has many problems.

"Weight is the biggest drawback." Fang Yu circled several key data on the blueprint. "The empty weight is over 20 tons, which places too high demands on the deck and elevators."

He recalled the information he had read in the future that when the Su33 served on the Kuznetsov, its elevators often malfunctioned due to its excessive weight.

Moreover, its excessive weight seriously affects its maneuverability, and it is often at a disadvantage in air combat.

"The problem now is that even if we want to improve the Su-33, our industrial level cannot keep up."

Fang Yu opened the material manual.

“To achieve lightweight while maintaining strength requires a lot of special alloys. These materials are simply not available today.”

He walked to the window and looked at the hangar in the distance.

There were several test fighter planes parked there, appearing exceptionally silent in the moonlight.

"If we use existing technology to build it, I'm afraid we'll just end up with a piece of iron." Fang Yu smiled bitterly and shook his head, "It's better not to build such a carrier-based aircraft."

Back at his desk, Fang Yu quickly wrote down his thoughts in his notebook: "The F18's structural strength is insufficient, maintenance costs are high, and its combat radius is small. The Su-33 is too heavy and has poor maneuverability. Existing technology cannot achieve lightweighting..."

He closed his notebook and sighed deeply.

Copying these two fighter jets was obviously not the right choice, but their lessons gave him important inspiration.

However, when Fang Yu's eyes fell on the last drawing, his eyes lit up!

“F14!”

"Oh my god, how could I have forgotten that!"

Fang Yu suddenly stood up from his chair, walked quickly to the file cabinet in the corner, and pulled out a stack of yellowed documents from the bottom layer.

That was the "F14 Tomcat Fighter Technical Manual" that he exported from the system for study when he first arrived.

The edges of the pages were worn, but he had carefully preserved them.

Unfolding the technical drawing, Fang Yu's fingers unconsciously stroked the graceful lines of the fuselage.

The F14's unique variable-sweep wing design allows it to maintain excellent aerodynamic performance during high-speed cruising and obtain sufficient lift during low-speed landing.

"Perfect balance." Fang Yu muttered to himself, quickly recording the data in his notebook. "The empty weight is 19 tons, a full 4 tons lighter than the Su-33, but with the same combat payload."

He recalled the F14's glorious record in actual combat.

Over the Persian Gulf, the F14 shot down countless invading enemies with overwhelming superiority.

Its powerful radar system and beyond-visual-range combat capability are still impressive today.

"The most crucial thing is this..." Fang Yu pointed at the parameters of the power system. "The dual-engine layout provides sufficient power margin, allowing safe return even if a single engine fails. This is extremely important for carrier-based aircraft."

Walking to the window, Fang Yu seemed to see the heroic figure of the F14 taking off from the deck of an aircraft carrier.

The huge pair of variable-sweep wings slowly unfolded, like an eagle about to take off.

"I remember when I was a kid, I was mesmerized by the F-14 the first time I watched Top Gun," Fang Yu said softly, his eyes gleaming with nostalgia. "At that time, I thought, how great it would be if I could build a fighter jet like this myself."

He returned to the table and began to list the advantages of the F14: "Superb air combat capability, excellent shipborne adaptability, reasonable weight, reliable twin-engine design..." With each item he wrote, Fang Yu's confidence increased a little.

Especially when I think about the fact that I have mastered the variable sweep wing technology, this most difficult technical hurdle to overcome no longer exists.

Moreover, compared with the original F14, I can improve many details.

"For example, the engine can completely use the new turbofan we developed ourselves," Fang Yu sketched on the blueprint. "The avionics system also needs to be fully updated, and an active phased array radar should be installed..."

Fang Yu became more and more excited the more he thought about it and started to conceive of improvement plans.

In his vision, this will be a brand new fighter jet that inherits the fine bloodline of the F14 while incorporating modern technology.

Fang Yu looked at the F14 poster on the wall and a relieved smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The fighter plane that could only be seen in movies is now about to be reborn in his hands.

This time, it will protect the blue territory of Dragon Country with a brand new look...