Chapter 507 Thunderbolt-1 How to change

Mr. Luo left happily with his harvest, and the comrades from the Research Institute came happily with the plan.

Strictly speaking, it was not a person who came, but a call to invite Gao Zhendong. Gao Zhendong had to go over. This was the overall plan for the new missile body of the Thunder-1. There were too many people involved. It was not appropriate for them to all come to Gao Zhendong. Gao Zhendong could not be so arrogant.

It had been prepared two weeks earlier, but with the order from the Defense Working Committee, the Institute had to suppress its emotions for the time being and wait.

Gao Zhendong arrived at the Institute of Advanced Technology at the agreed time. Everything was already ready and they were just waiting for him.

The chief designer of the modified Lei Dian-1 model saw Gao Zhendong coming in and greeted him with a smile: "Chief Designer Gao, please sit here. You are finally here. We have been looking forward to seeing you for the past two weeks."

This is true. If this meeting is not opened, the Thunder-1 modification will not be able to move forward.

These days, people are extremely crazy about equipment and race against time. It is different from the 21st century when equipment might not be updated for decades. These days, people just replace it if they don't like it.

Take the Citigroup's B-58 as an example. It was in service for 60 and retired in 65. This is not just any random cat or dog, but a supersonic nuclear bomber equipped by the Citigroup Strategic Air Force. It can fly at Mach 2 with auxiliary fuel tanks. It was built at a huge price and can be replaced at any time.

Gao Zhendong laughed and said, "I'm sorry, I can't help myself, haha."

Throwing the blame on the Defense Work Committee, Gao Zhendong sat down with a smile.

The Research Institute also knew that the chief engineer was just joking, and then handed over the proposal book. Almost everyone was there, so they could start work.

Comrades from the Institute of Navigation and Research spent some time introducing the modified body plan of the Thunderbolt-1. The general layout is similar to that of the Thunderbolt-1, but on this basis, four gas rudders were added, which greatly improved the maneuverability of the active section. The active section maneuver overload is as high as over 30G, which is a gap from the 73G of the future R-60 that Gao Zhendong knew. But this is not a bad thing. The R-73 is specialized and has a price.

And it doesn't need to be so large at this time. 30G is much better than the 1G of the general generation of Thunder-10 missiles.

But this is not without cost. The body of the Thunder-1 is slender. In order to withstand the overload, the body has been reinforced, which adds a lot of weight. Moreover, at the same diameter, the reinforced body reduces the volume of the charge, further affecting the range.

As for the aerodynamic control surfaces, the design of Thunderbolt-1 is still used. Overall, the design is relatively conservative, or in other words, the team is more cautious when changing the original design.

There is nothing wrong with this. Under limited conditions, being cautious is a good strategy.

Gao Zhendong listened and thought, and when the comrades from the Institute of Guidance and Research had almost finished their introduction, the chief engineer asked Gao Zhendong: "Chief Engineer Gao, what do you think of this plan?"

The discussion had already been held many times within the Institute of Guidance and Research, and today's meeting was basically held just for Gao Zhendong.

Gao Zhendong said: "I have a few small ideas, which may not be mature, let's discuss them together."

Everyone looked at him. Generally speaking, people who say such things may be mature or not, but they actually have some pretty big ideas.

"The cost of strengthening the projectile body is a bit high. I wonder if we should increase the thickness appropriately, from about 0.12 meters to about 0.15-0.16. This has several advantages. First, the increase in area is exponential. For the same charge, the ratio of length reduction is greater than the ratio of diameter increase. A thin and long projectile cannot withstand much force, while a short and thick projectile has much greater resistance to overload. Then the wire groove outside the projectile body is used as an auxiliary reinforcement structure, so that the balance between projectile weight and large overload can be better."

The comrades from the Institute of Guidance and Research listened, made calculations and discussed at the same time.

"Hey, this seems to be a good idea. I calculated that the weight gain of the structure won't be that great."

"Use the wire trough to assist in strengthening, and kill two birds with one stone!" There is a gas rudder at the tail nozzle of the missile, and the control line must be passed through the guidance cabin.

"But this will increase air resistance and still affect the range."

"Although it will increase air resistance, it will also increase the lift of the missile body. Overall it should be okay."

"If it really doesn't work, just load more fuel. A little extra weight will not affect the fighter. The key is to have enough range for the missile itself." For fighter jets with air superiority mounts, the amount of mounts is limited mainly by the number of racks and aerodynamic changes, and weight is generally not a problem.

"That's right. This seeker can see farther. If we just increase the overload without increasing the range, it's like we're only doing half the job."

"Increasing the diameter of the projectile can also increase the caliber of the optical system, which is also beneficial for improving the performance of the seeker."

"You know what, Mr. Gao's choice of caliber is very interesting. I just calculated that 0.15-0.16 is a number that strikes a good balance between bullet weight, range, strength, and bullet diameter." The bolding is not added casually. The saying that caliber is justice does not quite apply to air-to-air bullets.

Everyone was very impressed by Gao Zhendong's ability to casually tell a very good balance point for bullet diameter. Before he came, he didn't know that there was room for improvement in bullet diameter. He was able to come up with such a balanced data in such a short time, which showed that his basic skills were solid to an outrageous degree.

Gao Zhendong: Well, it was copied. The R-73 bullet diameter is 0.17.

As for the length, the comrades in the Institute of Research and Development will naturally be able to match it.

The chief engineer listened to everyone's discussion, weighed and calculated for a long time, and applauded: "Well, this idea is good. Let's go back and deepen it. We will take it as the first choice and tackle the problem. The original one will be the backup plan."

For Gao Zhendong, if he wants to make changes, he should make major ones, at least to the basics or average level of the third-generation infrared combat air-to-air missiles. What's the point of changing the entire second and a half generation over and over again?

We already have the second-generation Thunderbolt-1 as a base, so even if we take a bigger step, we are not afraid of that. The Russians and the United States are still using the first-generation missiles. But it is not certain. After the Russians exchanged infrared air-to-air missile technology with us, it is estimated that the second-generation missile will come out soon.

After the chief engineer finished speaking, he turned to look at Gao Zhendong cheerfully: "Mr. Gao, go on, go on, do you have any other good ideas?"

It’s a rare opportunity for Deputy Chief Engineer Gao to come here, so this meeting must be fully profitable.

Gao Zhendong looked at the key points he had just written in his notebook and continued, "For the aerodynamic control surfaces, my suggestion is to reduce the wingspan of the tail wing."

Reduced wingspan? Why?
Seeing that everyone didn't quite understand his idea, Gao Zhendong explained, "It's like this. The fuselage is thicker, the lift is increased, the tail wing can be reduced, and the drag can be reduced as well. This is one reason."

This is relatively easy to understand. When everyone hears it, they will say, yes, yes, yes, if a certain parameter is increased over there, it can be reduced over here. Mr. Gao has a lot of combos.

But since there is one, there must be two and even three, and everyone is very curious.

"Secondly, the tail is currently used under low overload. When the overload rises to a certain level, the tail becomes too stable, which is not conducive to maneuverability. The gyroscopic rudder on the tail has too much torque at this time, which makes the movement of the missile body a bit stuck. Reducing the wingspan and reducing this torque will be good for maneuverability."

The tail gyro rudder is a passive means of stabilization. Once the parameters are determined, its behavior cannot be controlled. When you want it, it is there. When you don’t want it, it is still there.

This method has completely disappeared in the era of high-mobility infrared air-to-air missiles, but as long as it has no impact on mobility, this low-cost and simple method will not be abandoned.

But Gao Zhendong cannot give up this thing completely for the time being. If he does, the missile's stability will have to be actively controlled, which is a bit beyond the scope of this era.
The 73G maneuverability of the R-60 is achieved by means of five control channels: two gas rudder channels, two air rudder channels, and one aileron channel. It is very complex and, given current environmental conditions, it is necessary to consider using a computer.

If the bullet diameter is 0.15 meters, we can still find a way to squeeze the DJS-60D in, but the price of the DJS-60D is so high that it would hurt anyone's heart. It is no different from using gold to make a shaped charge shroud.

Therefore, Gao Zhendong’s choice was to reduce the wingspan. At least it would be less difficult for the control system to counteract the stabilizing torque, and the maneuverability would be better.

Comrades, the problem has just come to mind. In this case, considering the degree of missile body reinforcement, can we consider further enhancing the maneuverability overload?

"Chief Engineer Gao, can we consider completely abandoning the gyroscopic rudder and rely on the rotation of active aerodynamic control surfaces to control the stability of the missile?"

They all knew that Gao Zhendong was very good at automatic control. He was able to take classes at Beijing University of Technology, and the course he took was "Principles of Automatic Control". It would be right to ask him about such questions.

Gao Zhendong frowned. "It's theoretically feasible, but there's a problem. The active aerodynamic control surfaces are responsible for both rolling control and missile steering. At this stage, with the control systems we have, it's a bit difficult without a digital control system. The DJS-60D is a bit too expensive."

At that time, warships were still much more expensive than aircraft, so although people were willing to install computers on anti-ship missiles, it would be too much to install such things on air-to-air missiles.

The chief engineer nodded and said, "What Mr. Gao said is indeed a problem. We need to think deeply about it, make detailed calculations, and strike a good balance between stability and mobility."

Seeing that everyone seemed a little unwilling, Gao Zhendong still brought out one of his own immature ideas.

"If we must cancel the gyroscopic rudder and use active rudders to control the missile's stability, there is a way, but this idea is not very mature and will require more effort and cost to finally be implemented."

When everyone heard this, they became excited again. It would be great if there was a way. Even if it couldn't be realized for the time being and couldn't be realized on this missile, maybe it would be possible in the future.

(End of this chapter)