So, everyone filed into the conference room. The conference room had been arranged long ago, and even Fang Lang's seat had a name tag on it. It was obvious that the Air Force Department had already prepared for Fang Lang's arrival.
Seeing this, Fang Lang could only look at General Nero Mora. He saw that the other party was still looking at him with a smile on his face and motioned for him to take a seat.
Fang Lang could only smile helplessly. Since he had already entered someone else's territory, it was impossible to leave. As the old saying goes, when you are powerless to resist, you might as well just lie down and enjoy it. Fang Lang now has this mentality.
He strode directly to the seat with his name on it and sat down. Seeing this, the others smiled slightly and found their own seats to sit down.
General Nero Mora sat directly next to Fang Lang. After everyone was seated, Air Force Chief of Staff Reinhard Gifford stood up first and said some polite words to welcome Fang Lang, and soon got to the point.
A young officer who looked to be in his early thirties stood up and walked to a wall covered by curtains. General Nero Mora turned his head and whispered to Fang Lang beside him:
"This is an officer assigned by our Air Force to Fangyuan Aviation to follow up on the manufacturing of trainer aircraft. His name is Leo Kant."
Fang Lang looked at the other party's rank and saw that it was a major. He nodded without saying anything more, but just quietly watched the curtains being slowly opened.
Behind the curtains was a rendering of an airplane. At a glance, Fang Lang recognized the plane. It was a new generation of trainer aircraft designed by his own airline company on behalf of the Air Force Department and his own naval aviation force.
...
...
The teardrop-shaped cockpit located in the front and back layout above the wing is very eye-catching. As the first independently developed aircraft of its own aircraft manufacturer, Fang Lang certainly attaches great importance to it.
For Mr. Tan Ke, the designer of the FW190 Shrike fighter, which had already been designed and tested in actual combat, redesigning a propeller trainer aircraft was a piece of cake.
In fact, the other party had repeatedly expressed to Fang Lang that they were unwilling to continue designing propeller planes and demanded that they directly develop jet fighters, repeatedly emphasizing to Fang Lang that jet planes were the future.
Fang Lang certainly had no doubt about this, but Fangyuan Group's aircraft manufacturing company was obviously just getting started and did not have the technical strength to directly launch jet aircraft.
We could only persuade Mr. Tan Ke with great patience and, after repeated communications, he finally agreed to change the originally designed piston engine into a more advanced single-shaft turboprop engine.
It not only meets the demand for propeller trainer aircraft, but also actually intervenes in the research work of jet aircraft in advance, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
According to what Fang Lang learned, the two prototypes of the aircraft have been assembled in Fangyuan Group's aircraft laboratory and are in the testing phase. In addition, two fuselages for static and fatigue tests are also ready for assembly.
I just don’t know what the purpose of the Air Force Department is today?
While Fang Lang was thinking, Major Leo Kant had already started explaining by pointing a pointer at the plane.
"According to the latest information we have just learned from Fangyuan Group Aircraft Manufacturing Company, the T-1 trainer aircraft that we commissioned them to design and manufacture has completed the assembly of the prototype.
The aircraft has a wingspan of 11.14 meters, a length of 9.86 meters, a height of 3.40 meters, an aspect ratio of 6.4, a wing area of 19.40 square meters, a maximum take-off weight of 3,000 kilograms, a maximum level flight speed of 400 kilometers per hour, and a maximum cruising speed of 386 kilometers per hour.
The maximum climb rate is 11.3 meters per second, the practical ceiling is 9,000 meters, the take-off run distance is 380 meters, and the landing run distance is 370 meters.
It is equipped with a turboprop engine independently developed by Fangyuan Group's Power Research Laboratory, with 1,500 shaft horsepower.
When everyone in the conference room heard the data, they all started to discuss it. They were not dissatisfied, but it was beyond everyone's expectations. General Nero Mora was even more satisfied. After all, this project was carried out at his suggestion.
Fang Lang, the boss of the company, was of course very proud when he heard this. It turned out that the move to poach people from Germany was a good move!
Fang Lang was not surprised at all that this prototype could be successfully manufactured. What really satisfied him was the turboprop engine independently developed by the Power Research Laboratory.
You should know that the successful development of this engine means that Fangyuan Group Aircraft Manufacturing Company has the ability to independently manufacture jet engines.
This is of great significance to the future development of Fangyuan Group Aircraft Manufacturing Company! It is worthwhile to find talents in engine manufacturing from Germany by all means.
Thinking of this, I couldn't help but start applauding myself for my wise decision.
Hearing Fang Lang's applause, the people around him reacted instantly and began to applaud enthusiastically. General Nero Mora next to him clapped excitedly and patted Fang Lang's shoulder hard.
This huge force instantly pulled Fang Lang back from his narcissism. Feeling the force on his shoulder, Fang Lang cursed in his heart, what a bad habit, if you want to take pictures of things when you are happy, you can take pictures of yourself! Why are you taking pictures of me? It hurts, you know?
General Kenero Mora was obviously unable to hear what Fang Lang was thinking at the moment. His entire attention was attracted by the aircraft drawing on the wall. This was not the first time he had seen this aircraft drawing.
However, every time he sees it, he has new feelings, and the more he looks at it, the more beautiful it seems, and the more he likes it. If he had not been worried about confidentiality, he would have wanted to hang this drawing at the head of his bed and have it accompany him to sleep every day.
The applause lasted for a long time before it slowly stopped. Major Leo Kant, who was standing to introduce the performance of the aircraft, saw that everyone had quieted down, and then he slowly spoke again:
"Of course, the development of the aircraft is not smooth sailing. After the test flights over the past few days, we have also found some problems. We are raising them here today to solicit your opinions and see what specific choices we should make."
Fang Lang couldn't help but frown at this. He had been following up on the destroyer approval issue at the Navy Department these days and had no time to pay attention to the test flight of the aircraft.
Now hearing Major Leo Kant say that some problems were found during the test flight, I couldn't help but feel a little worried.
Most people present looked at Major Leo Kant, wanting to know what problem he had discovered. Fang Lang couldn't help but look at General Nero Mora beside him. Was this old man waiting for him here?
I don’t know what specific problem the plane has, but I hope it’s not a serious problem that is irreversible and requires a complete overhaul.
Feeling Fang Lang's gaze, General Nero Mora did not show any special expression. He just smiled and approached Fang Lang and whispered:
"Why, you haven't paid attention to this project these days!"
Fang Lang nodded when he heard this. Seeing this, General Nero Mora did not say much, but continued in a low voice:
"Don't worry, it's not a big problem."
Now Fang Lang felt relieved, and couldn't help thinking that with Professor Tan Ke's ability, the propeller plane he designed should not have any irreparable defects!
After figuring all this out, Fang Lang calmed down and waited for what was to come.
A bearded officer at the table was already impatient and shouted directly to Major Leo Kant:
"Tell me quickly, what problem did you find?"
Seeing this, Major Leo Kant stopped keeping the secret and said directly:
"After this period of test flights, we found that although this turboprop engine is advanced, its service life is only 150 hours, which means that the aircraft needs to be overhauled or the engine replaced every 150 hours of use.
This will greatly increase our cost of use.”
Hearing this, Fang Lang couldn't help but let out a long sigh. He thought it was some irreversible problem! It turned out to be this matter.
This problem was reported to him long before the Power Research Laboratory successfully developed the core engine of this engine and after the first vehicle endurance test.
At that time, the first core engine only worked for less than fifty hours before its power dropped and it needed major overhaul.
Fang Lang knew very well that this was due to Brazil's lack of accumulation of basic materials, and he was not surprised at all.
When the Germans first invented the jet engine, they encountered the same problem. It is not terrible to find a problem. As long as you can find the problem and solve it little by little, the problem is no longer a problem, but a stepping stone to improve your knowledge.
So, Fang Lang certainly would not give up. Instead of blaming the researchers, he gave them more encouragement, greater support, and more financial investment.
It also authorized the Power Research Laboratory to establish its own Materials Research Center, seek out experts in materials science from all over the world, and focus on studying new materials.
At the same time, the power research laboratory also disassembled the engine, studied it bit by bit, and made continuous improvements. Finally, when the aircraft prototype was assembled, the engine's working time was extended to 150 hours.
In Fang Lang's view, this is a great progress.
But for the Air Force officers, this is indeed a very serious problem. After all, an engine that needs to be overhauled after working for 150 hours does make many people who expect it to be tough and durable dissatisfied.
So, soon everyone started talking about it.
"What? The engine can only work for 150 hours before it needs a major overhaul. What will we do when a war breaks out?"
"Yeah! The cost of repairing this isn't low! This won't do."
"Is it because the technology of the new engine is not mature yet?"
"I think their company's strength is still not enough, why don't we try purchasing engines from the United States!"
Everyone started talking about it, and Fang Lang didn't mind seeing it. For him, being able to solve the problem now was the biggest success.
You have to know that this is a turboprop engine. There are only a handful of countries in the world that can manufacture this type of engine. As long as you can persist in investing and solve the problems bit by bit, the service life of the engine will definitely be extended bit by bit.
Then his family's aircraft manufacturing company will have the opportunity to become one of the world's aviation manufacturing giants.
General Nero Mora, who was sitting next to Fang Lang, seemed to be worried that Fang Lang would have some bad thoughts after hearing these discussions, so he turned around and whispered to Fang Lang:
"Don't mind it, General Fang. These reckless people don't understand the benefits of this new type of engine at all."
Hearing this, Fang Lang turned his head and looked at the other party, saying without comment:
“It doesn’t matter. The technology of this engine is indeed not mature yet, and we must be realistic and accept everyone’s opinions.
I don't know, what is your Excellency General thinking?
Please rest assured that I am a person who clearly distinguishes between public and private affairs. You don't need to take my personal relationship with Fangyuan Group to heart. If you have any ideas, please feel free to tell me. I will definitely respect your opinions. "
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