When the Black Eagle Fell, Only a Few Pieces of Skin Remained

"It's been dismantled so thoroughly, how are we supposed to return it later?"

Chen Yi raised a critical question.

Although the Black Eagle was shot down and recovered after entering their airspace.

Barring any surprises, protests and demands for its return from the other side would have already been sent.

According to certain unwritten rules between major powers.

Unless they wanted to completely sever ties, the Black Eagle would have to be returned after some negotiations.

This process could take anywhere from three to five months, or even a year or more.

No matter what, the other side would not allow such a strategically significant Black Eagle to remain outside their grasp for an extended period, allowing others to fully decipher its technology.

All they could do was mobilize as many researchers as possible before the return date arrived.

To study and understand the technology contained within the Black Eagle, while also gaining more leverage at the negotiating table.

But now that the Black Eagle had been dissected like this, how could it possibly be returned?

"That's simple. The Black Eagle crashed into the sea from tens of thousands of meters up. Besides us, who knows how many fragments are left?"

Professor Zhang explained with a smile, "It's already good enough that we were able to rush over and help our friendly nation recover some of the scattered parts.

But it's also possible that we were too slow, and the Black Eagle sank to the bottom of the sea, engine and all."

"Exactly, the engine has already 'sunk to the sea.' If they're polite, we can help 'fish' out some engine parts and return them.

If they're not polite, forget the engine; the main fuselage of the Black Eagle probably sank too.

By the time we get there, only a few pieces of skin will be left on the sea surface."

Several other professors chimed in, their faces conveying a look of mutual understanding.

"..."

Chen Yi was amazed by their tactics.

Indeed, when it came to operations like this.

It still paid to look to the professionals.

He, a mere civilian player, was clearly far behind.

After chatting for a while.

Chen Yi moved towards the dismantled fuselage and carefully examined its structural design, as well as its stealth features.

Small aircraft and large aircraft, while both being planes, had significant differences in their structure and design.

The associated structural stress, aerodynamic layout, the load the fuselage endured during accelerated maneuvers, and parameters for the engine's internal compression and injection systems were not simply scaled up proportionally.

Some aspects were scaled proportionally, some were scaled exponentially, and others involved increasing the size while adjusting aerodynamic or combustion parameters downwards.

The complexity of these differences was no less than completely redesigning an aircraft.

"So that's how it is. For the structural design of large aircraft, due to the increased frontal area, not only does the fuselage material strength require higher specifications, but the lift and drag coefficients of the aerodynamic layout also need to be higher.

Furthermore, fuselage resonance, vibration, thermal expansion and contraction, and other factors need strict control."

After studying for several tens of minutes, Chen Yi gained a general understanding of the structural design principles for large, high-speed aircraft.

To put it metaphorically, it was like a small piece of iron. Even if accelerated to supersonic speeds, its simple structure and small size meant the metal sheet wouldn't be significantly affected.

But if that iron sheet were replaced by a metal airplane, its increased size and more complex structure would mean different components experienced different stresses and air resistance.

Once it reached supersonic speeds, it would instantly disintegrate.

This was similar to how the return capsule of a rocket that failed during atmospheric re-entry would break apart into fragments of various sizes.

However, the fragments themselves wouldn't break down into even smaller pieces.

This was due to differences in size and structure, leading to different forces being experienced at high speeds.

The same logic applied to thermal expansion and contraction, resonance, and vibration.

Chen Yi's drone was less than two meters in size. Its changes in fuselage temperature, from ambient conditions to the thousands of degrees Celsius generated by hypersonic friction, were minimal.

But if it were the 18-meter-long Black Eagle, during hypersonic flight, its entire fuselage would expand by over 50 centimeters compared to its ground temperature due to the high heat.

These expansions, creating gaps and fuselage deformation, could lead to the entire airframe disintegrating at high speeds if not properly controlled.

"Little Chen, don't just focus on the fuselage.

Take a look at the true core of this Black Eagle, the triple-combination scramjet engine."

Seeing Chen Yi engrossed in studying the Black Eagle's fuselage structure, Professor Zhang walked over and led him to the dismantled scramjet engine on the other side.

"What's so great about this? Didn't I give you a better rotating detonation engine?"

Chen Yi walked over, looking at the scramjet engine whose combustion chamber's side wall had been pierced by a battery, rendering a good portion of it unusable due to the high temperature melting and resolidifying within the combustion chamber.

He lacked experience in designing large aircraft.

Even with his knowledge of aerodynamic layout, engine manufacturing, and aircraft design, it would still require new learning and research.

But Professor Zhang and his team were all veterans who had been designing and researching aircraft for decades.

It has led the domestic aircraft development process from imitation to surpassing, and from import to export.

He has a near-perfect understanding of the characteristics of aircraft and engines of all sizes, with incredibly rich experience.

With the technical details of the rotating detonation engine he provided.

Even if it's just a miniaturized rotating detonation engine, converting it into a super engine for large aircraft shouldn't be difficult.

In this situation, why bother researching scramjets?

Wouldn't it be better to go directly with rotating detonation, a one-step solution?

"The rotating detonation engine is an advanced version of a rocket engine.

Although you, Little Chen, added a turbofan structure during design, creating a combined turbofan + rotating detonation engine.

However, in the critical airspace near the Karman line, there's no ramjet performance or scramjet capability.

The engine's performance, efficiency, and adaptability are still far inferior to the Black Eagle's three-combination scramjet engine.

Current air combat tactics and strategies are gradually developing towards higher altitudes, ultra-high speeds, and critical airspace.

Without scramjet engines, we will be at a significant disadvantage in the future."

Professor Zhang explained with a wry smile.

"Then we can just go straight to space fighters and occupy higher airspace," Chen Yi blurted out.

But as soon as he said it, he realized something was wrong.

Space and planetary space have a distinct barrier.

--The atmosphere.

To return from space, one must precisely control speed and angle, otherwise, they will be burned up by the atmosphere.

Facing the atmospheric resistance of returning to the planet, no matter how cool your space fighter is, unless you use lasers and become a Gundam.

It's difficult to pose any threat to combat aircraft within the atmosphere.

Realizing his mistake, Chen Yi also became serious. "What combination is the Black Eagle's engine?"

"It's a three-combination of turbofan + ramjet + scramjet, possessing the characteristics and advantages of all three engine types."

"Let me take a look."

Chen Yi walked up to the Black Eagle engine, which was much taller than himself, put on a protective mask, took a flashlight, and crawled inside to examine it carefully.

Professor Zhang and a group of other experts and senior engineers waited outside, watching Chen Yi busy himself with expectant expressions.

They knew that Chen Yi had designed the rotating detonation engine, built a lunar lander drone by himself, and also designed an ion propulsion drone within the atmosphere.

They all understood that in the fields of aircraft design and manufacturing, and engine design and manufacturing, Chen Yi's accomplishments were no lower than theirs.

Furthermore, young people have more imaginative and active minds.

Perhaps he could uncover the secrets of the Black Eagle's scramjet engine and offer different inspirations and insights.

After studying for a while, Chen Yi emerged with some regret.

"It's too severely damaged; I can't discern the key points that enable this engine to achieve the three-combination."

Before he could finish speaking, everyone's faces fell in disappointment.

Professor Zhang patted Chen Yi on the shoulder and comforted him, "It's alright, in scientific research, it's okay if you can't figure it out immediately.

During this period, Little Chen, if you have time, please stay with us. You'll receive the treatment of a specially appointed expert.

We'll try to research more key technologies before the Black Eagle is returned."

"That's right, technological breakthroughs don't happen overnight. For technology like scramjets, I'd be happy if it could be practically applied within three years."

"Let's take our time. The food at Rongfei's cafeteria is quite good. We can enjoy the meals slowly and research slowly."

As if afraid Chen Yi might feel burdened, some other experts and senior engineers quickly chimed in, smiling and reassuring him that this couldn't be rushed.

"Wait, I haven't finished speaking."

Looking at this group of people who were clearly the most distressed but were comforting him, Chen Yi thought, "I don't know how the Black Eagle's engine achieves its three-combination scramjet capability.

However, regarding a three-combination engine of turbofan + ramjet + scramjet, I do have some feasible ideas.

If the aircraft is large enough, we can even add a rotating detonation structure to design a quad-combination engine, and even a five-combination including a turbofan."

"What!?"

"Are you kidding?"

Professor Zhang and the group were stunned, looking at Chen Yi with disbelief.