Chapter 970 Now One Side Gains While the Other Loses

Mondock took the calculation results in his hand and took a brief look at them. He found that they were performance calculation results of the M53 engine after replacing the high-pressure compressor and turbine blades.

Obviously, Vesta, as a veteran engineer of Snecma, has insufficient experience in the development of dual-rotor engines, but he is still quite good at using the techniques he has learned to go back and optimize his old works.

Of course, as a single-rotor model, the M53 cannot reproduce all the design elements of the M88-2.

Therefore, the performance improvement is not very large.

Fortunately, cost control is very good. Compared with the currently mainly produced M53-P2, there is basically only a normal cost increase caused by inflation.

It is quite attractive for users who want to modify the Mirage 2000-9.

"Doctor, do you need to mobilize some engineers from CFM International?"

Mondoc folded several pieces of paper twice and put them into the inner pocket of his coat, while asking again:

"After China has completed the core machine design work, we have to put fan research and development on the agenda as soon as possible, otherwise the new engine may not be able to catch up with the Falcon Z's first flight."

The vast majority of CFM engineers are not employed by GE or Snecma at the same time, so there is no such thing as a "callback."

However, some of the important management and technical leaders were sent by the two parent companies.

In terms of developing civilian turbofan engines, CFM International does have more experience.

Just on CFM56, French work is mainly focused on the research and development of the cold end including fans.

It almost completely overlaps with SeA650.

If we can get a wave of feedback, the work progress will indeed be accelerated a lot.

However, Vista did not nod immediately.

Although there have been some discords between Snecma and General Electric in the past few years, the CFM series engines, as a cash cow for both, have basically not been directly affected.

After all, it is not a listed company, and it does not involve the issue of investor confidence affecting the stock price.

However, in the long run, there is always a question mark as to whether the two parties can continue to maintain this close cooperation on the next generation of CFM56 products.

Mundock's suggestion to reverse human behavior from CFMI will undoubtedly further aggravate the level of distrust between the two parties.

If problems arise in the otherwise stable CFM International, it would be equivalent to a loss of blood at most for General Electric, which has a large business. But for Snecma, whose capital chain is extremely tight, it would be an amputation at least. .

"You can try, but don't make it too obvious..."

In the end, after weighing the pros and cons, Vista chose a compromise plan.

"Contact Dr. Patty Grant and ask him to arrange for an absolutely reliable technical team to come back. The scale does not need to be large, even 3-4 people will do."

"Is this... not a little too little?"

Mondoc was a little confused.

An aerospace design team, even if it is just a cold end, usually requires three-digit technical personnel, not counting the non-core participants who are indirectly involved.

With 3-4 people, it does seem a bit stretched.

"enough."

Vesta stood up with support on the table and stretched his muscles a little:

"As a small engine for business jets, the overall design of the SeA series engine is not even a medium bypass ratio. In fact, it is a small bypass ratio model. Moreover, the M88-3 is not the M88-2. The core engine level is already similar to the CFM56 There is a certain difference.”

"In short, what we need most now is not any specific technology, let alone making minor repairs based on other people's designs, but referring to CFM's R&D experience and management model, so there are a few people who have participated in project planning. It is enough to participate with the management people, so that you can also take turns to provide some support for reasons such as vacation. If there are more people, it will be troublesome..."

…

As Vesta deployed its tasks one by one, two projects, Rafale F2 and Falcon Z, which had been dormant for several months, also became active.

Especially the former.

Almost at the same time as it confirmed the basic requirements for the hot-end performance of the M88-3 engine, Dassault released a specific timetable for delivering the upgraded Rafale C fighter jet to the French Air Force, and re-released the basic performance indicators of the Rafale in accordance with the F2 technical status. .

Although it is impossible to shake out the specific performance such as the flight envelope, the upgrade is so large that even if you only watch a promotional video, you can feel that it is completely different from the previous F1.

Not to mention anything else, the improvement in the three indicators of thrust-to-weight ratio, climb rate and bomb load is enough to make many users who have not yet made a final decision reconsider their model selection.

In fact, at Chang Haonan's special request, Liu Yongquan also successfully verified the built-in permanent magnet fault-tolerant power generation technology on M88-3.

The principle of this technology is to cancel the contact rolling bearings, lubrication system and mechanical actuation system on the engine support shaft, and replace them with non-contact magnetic bearings and a built-in integrated starter generator installed on the crankshaft.

In this way, additional power generation can be provided without affecting thrust. Secondly, the bearing structure with the highest failure rate in the aerospace engine system can be eliminated, greatly simplifying production and maintenance operations and extending the mean time to failure.

Of course, it is only a technical verification on the M88-3, so the mechanical structure is still retained for backup.

Nevertheless, this system can provide an additional 3.5kW of generating power for each M88-3 and SeA650 engine.

Faced with such a surprise, Dassault even considered replacing Rafale with a radar with better performance.

But in the end, it was abandoned due to the too narrow size of the machine head in the original design.

Therefore, F2 still maintains exactly the same conditions as F1 in terms of avionics system, becoming a complete mechanical upgrade.

But even so, it's definitely not good news for its main competitors...

A few days later.

UK, Cranfield University.

Professor Roger Elinor was meeting in a small conference room with two other senior technicians from Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems.

"Professor, we have indirectly confirmed the authenticity of the news through some special channels."

The speaker was Tony Alder, a project manager in the aviation department of BAE Systems, who is mainly responsible for the development of the EF2000 fighter jet with several other partners.

"In other words, the information they released a few days ago was not just a publicity strategy?"

Professor Elinor confirmed while playing with a pen.

"I'm afraid so."

Alder nodded:

"If the risk of deformation of EJ200 under large overload conditions cannot be completely solved, I am afraid that EF2000 will not have a significant performance advantage compared to the upgraded Rafale..."

As one of the core leaders of the project, he is certainly aware of the hidden flaws in his own products.

Currently, Typhoon mainly limits maneuverability within a specific envelope through settings at the flight control level.

But after mass production is delivered, the problem cannot remain hidden.

Hearing this sentence, Elinor just became silent and thoughtful.

As a player who took over and wiped the butt halfway, he has actually greatly improved the structural problems of EJ200.

But his poor foundation has nothing to do with him.

Seeing that Elinor didn't answer, Alder also knew that this problem might not be solved in a short time, so he continued:

"In addition, we have also confirmed that the Falcon Z project currently being developed by Dassault will use special power developed based on the M88 engine core machine, rather than using off-the-shelf products on the market."

"Of course, this news was shared with us by Honeywell Group, and its reliability needs to be further verified..."

At this time, Luke Norris, who had not spoken just now, suddenly interrupted him:

"This matter... we have actually expected it for a long time, but we don't need any verification. After all, Falcon Z's public partners include Snecma and China Aerospace Power Group. They are obviously preparing to solve the power problem on their own."

"What I'm more concerned about is whether their model will pose a threat to our business in Germany."

At this moment, Rolls-Royce has also seen the trend of larger and longer-range business jets, so it is jointly developing the upgraded BR710C and the BR725 small bypass ratio turbofan with greater thrust with the BMW Group engine.

Expected launch customers include Bombardier and Gulfstream, the two kings of business jets.

At the same time, potential users of this series also include the U.S. Air Force——

They have always hoped to replace the B52 bomber with a brand-new power source to replace the TF33 series engines that have been patched and patched for half a century.

Although the number of B52 fleets is small, after all, each aircraft has 8 engines, so the total number is considerable.

Originally, there were no competitors in this segment.

But now that a Frenchman appears halfway, it will be more uncomfortable if the market is robbed...