Chapter 104

“Welcome, Chairman.”

We arrived at KAI’s Sacheon plant, where the first prototype fuselage assembly ceremony of a fighter under development was held.

Originally, it was planned to end with only a short press interview and filming, but the event was enlarged at the request of the president.

As it is a state-led project, it seems that the intention is to convey the issues in a transparent and clear manner, but in fact, that is also true.

“It looks like the VIPs haven’t arrived yet.”

Fortunately, foreign guests, including the president and his wife, had not yet appeared.

After all, I, who was the organizer of the event, thought it would be difficult if I was late, so I rushed too early.

For a while, I personally led this and that with the intention of making sure that the event would not be disrupted if I arrived early.

“The President and his wife have arrived.”

It was exactly 30 minutes after that the President’s car appeared.

Vehicles of the President and VIPs lined up with the security vehicle in the lead.

Thanks to this, the movements of the guides begin to become busier.

“I thought we were leaving early, but it seems that Chairman Jin was in a hurry than me.”

The president held out his hand with a characteristic smile and looked around the factory.

Perhaps he was surprised by the appearance of the building so large that there was almost no end in sight, he let out a moan that was close to elastic at first glance and shook his head.

“Establishing this building alone would take a year. I can understand why Chairman Jin was so intent on taking over KAI.”

“Thank you for your understanding. To be honest, if these facilities had to be built from the ground up, I would not have even dreamed of building a prototype fuselage at this point.”

I smiled back and guided him.

The place we arrived soon was where the three-piece fuselage was waiting to be merged into one.

When the president appeared, the engineers who were operating the lift just cheered, and the president’s face as he treated them burst into laughter.

[Then we will hold the fuselage assembly ceremony from now on.]

Following the guide of the host, the president and we walked towards the fuselage.

Although it was not originally planned, a tape-cutting ceremony was prepared to enhance the charm of the event.

click!

At the same time as the reporters’ camera shutter sound, the confrontation finally started.

“I have a question, is there any particular reason why aircraft in production always have such a light green paint job?”

After discovering that the four prototypes were all light green, the President gently bent his upper body toward me and asked.

Well, there were times when I wondered about that too.

As if this could be an unwritten rule, it was somehow strange that all aircraft manufacturers around the world insisted on only that color.

I remember being frustrated when I found out why.

“Actually, there is no particular reason. It’s just applying the ‘Green Aircraft’ concept.”



‘Green Aircraft’ is a term that refers to an airplane that has just been born into the world.

It also means that the interior equipment of the aircraft has not been completed yet, implying that the main painting process is in progress.

It’s kind of the custom of aircraft manufacturers.

As the explanation continues, the president smirks.

“Hey, there are all sorts of weird customs. By the way, I felt it through the report, but the exterior seems to have been seen a lot, but is that just me?”

The president tilted his head as he saw the three pieces of fuselage just coming together.

It could be because it has a shape that is quite similar to that of the F22.

If there is anything else, it is the design of the interior space and the shape of the rear part where the engine nozzle is located.

“Are you talking about the F-22?”

At that moment, the Air Force Chief of Staff, who was beside him, impliedly retorted.

“That’s right, come to think of it, it looks a lot like the American F22.”

As if belatedly convinced, the president clapped each other, and I immediately pointed my finger at the main wing and the air intake to support the explanation.

“The reason you feel that way is probably because you followed the Raptor’s blended wing body structure. In fact, the radar shape reduction design of the F-22 is the most perfect at the current scientific level. It is a result of our determination to choose the best for us, even if we hear that the designs are similar.”

The president seemed to understand that statement.

Soon after, he turned his head again, and his gaze seemed to be directed towards the rear part, and then he sent a gaze toward me as if asking for an explanation.

“But no matter how you look at it, that part is different from the F-22. That’s where the engine nozzle is located. What is that diamond-shaped structure that sticks out in the meantime?”

As soon as he ran out of words, I reached out to Secretary Kim.

As if she understood what she was asking for without saying anything, she immediately handed me a picture and I handed it back to the president.

“This is a kind of virtual drawing of the final form of that fighter. The structure between the engine nozzles you mentioned is the space where the rearview sensor is located and also the space for additional fuel.”

In fact, for me, that was the part I paid the most attention to.

The gap between the engines isn’t as tight as the Raptor, but it’s not like the Sukhoi’s is a twin design, so it’s not overly spaced either.

At first glance, it looks similar to the rear part of the Tempest, a 6th-generation fighter that was once declared to be developed in Europe.

It was born entirely for the purpose of using the space due to the increase in the size of the fuselage itself, and as I said before, I used that part for rear monitoring and fuel loading space.

“Are you going to put a sensor on the rear as well?”

The president was more interested in it than anything else.

Well, it must have been unfamiliar to the mainstream 4th-generation aircraft at this time.

As I approached the president again, I continued explaining by pointing my hand at the pictures.

“One of the characteristics of fifth-generation fighters is that they are equipped with various radars and sensors throughout. Of course, the aircraft we are developing is only the 4.5th generation, but we are considering upgrading to the 5th generation in the future, so we reflected it in the design in advance.”

“·················ogue.”

The president looked astonished.

Perhaps it was his intention to help, the Air Force Chief of Staff, who had been listening to the explanation the whole time, sneaked in.

“I know that the F22 has all kinds of sensors all over the fuselage.”

“Ok?”

The president then nodded his head.

Even so, it feels like something is missing.

For a moment, I approached the aircraft where the assembly was stopped for the event, and touched the places with my hands.

“This aircraft is equipped with a technology called ‘Smart Skin’. It is a technology that makes some antennas and sensors as thin as possible and attaches them to the surface of the fuselage. Thanks to this, situational awareness is possible in 360 degrees.”

“·················ogue.”

“In addition, there is not one radar installed. Except for the multi-band AESA to be located on the radome, it is also possible to detect stealth aircraft by installing two L-band AESAs inside the wing separately. As a reference, mounting the radar on the main wing is probably layout 3. That is, it will only be possible when we reach the full fifth generation.”

That part followed the SU-57 method.

I don’t know now, but in the future, the detection possibility of stealth aircraft will become more important than anything else, and the SU-57 showed a clear response in that area.

If we didn’t know the future direction of development, we wouldn’t know, if we do, we should also prepare a countermeasure.

“Heh heh, this feels like making a fighter against some kind of alien.”

The president spit out a joke and caressed his body.

As for what he was thinking, he tilted his head again and spat out the question again.

“I know that stealth ability is not just given by shape design, is there something to be done about that?”

“That is correct. Initially, the stealth capability is a radar absorbing material along with a radar wave shape reduction design called RAS. That means we also need RAM technology.”

“·················ogue.”

“But there is nothing to worry about. Jaewoo has already conducted numerous tests using more than 300 inorganic and metallic materials for a long time, and has now developed a new material with both magnetic and polarization loss functions. Furthermore, our RAM technology does not ‘apply’, but attaches to the composite material itself in the form of wrapping. This means that management costs are significantly reduced.”

“·················ogue.”

“Anyway, the result is that it can absorb more than 90 percent of radar waves in all bands currently used by the military, from S-band to C-band and X-band.”

After a long explanation, the people who turned around just stared at me with their mouths shut.

“haha······.”

It was the president who broke the silence.

He shakes his head again and looks around the fuselage, and this time asks a key question.

“What is the combat radius of the aircraft?”

“With an external fuel tank mounted, the combat radius is 1600 km. And the ferry’s cruising distance (maximum distance that can be flown one way with an auxiliary tank) is about 3500 km.”

“It’s lower than the F-15.”

At that, the Air Force Chief of Staff mumbled.

right. It’s lower than the F-15.

But there is something he is overlooking.

Well, it is the same condition in that it is equipped with an auxiliary tank, but the point is that this fighter has secured a range of range and combat action radius to that extent even though the space for the internal weapons window is allocated for the future.

In fact, it was a result of taking a hint from Russia’s internal design plan, and I admired their design, which was obsessed with securing internal fuel space to an ignorant degree.

By the way, why do your faces look so suspicious?

Do you know how hard we worked to create that level?

A whopping 40 design changes and overall revisions were made.

Those days when it was not an exaggeration to say that engineers were replaced.

“For reference, there are a total of 8 air-to-air hard points. For the time being that the internal armament window is not yet fully designed, I plan to add points to the central fuselage as well, but a total of 12 air-to-ground armament points will be installed.”

“Then, if there is no auxiliary fuel tank, we can put more bombs and missiles in its place.”(Read more @ wuxiax.com)

The president gave a brief remark and then looked back at the fuselage.

His gaze wants to become hazy at first glance.


It seems that he admired the elegantly stretched aircraft, but in fact, from my point of view, it is simply a forward-looking aircraft for a 4.5 generation aircraft.

The shape of the engine nozzle as well as the fuel loading space protruding in the center of the rhombus.

No matter how much I think about it, just looking at that part reminds me of Tempest’s tail.

Right now, although it is vague because it is a situation where only the skeleton is dressed, the image will probably come more clearly by the end of next year when the complete prototype appears.

“Just by the way, does our aircraft have engine nozzles moving up and down like the Sukhoi?”

“If you are talking about thrust vector control, yes. We also maximized the mobility by moving the nozzle about 15 degrees up, down, left and right.”

“What about software? As far as I know, software is becoming more and more important, is there any way to deal with that?”

“That is correct. In the past, the proportion of software in aircraft development was only 30%, but in the case of the 5th generation, it is close to 70%. However, there are quite a few good developers at Jaewoo, and we have been conducting steady research in the meantime. Thanks to this, by 2007 this prototype will have a perfect arming system, and if there are no special errors, after that…”

“Oh oh!”

While they were talking for a while, a commotion was heard from the other side.

I looked up to see what was going on and saw that Unit 2 was finally merged into one.

There was a competition going on as if trying to capture one more picture.

“The event seems to be over with this, let’s go eat.”

Suddenly, I looked at the time, it was almost 12 o’clock.

As if everyone’s navel clock was ringing, as soon as the words ran out, people rushed to the restaurant.

“Oh, you must have heard the news about the military reform plan, right?”

On the way, the president, who had been silent the whole time, made a sudden remark.

Actually, I have to be careful with my mouth in that part.



He replied with a small smile and then remained silent, and he nodded his head as if he understood.

“Actually, there are times when I wonder if I am doing anything wrong.”

“·················ogue.”

“I knew this was a tiring place, but I didn’t expect it to be this much.”

Judging by the way he spoke, the backlash was more severe than I expected.

After all, the generals in the military are in a situation where their positions are threatened right now, so it is only natural that there will be a lot of backlash.

Especially considering that the most powerful army in the military is the main reform target.

For a while, I stared at his back as he moved away because it felt like the weight was somehow transmitted to me.

Can you make nuclear weapons too?-105

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