Surprise! Isn't This an F-22 Fighter Jet? Where Did This Thing Come From?

Surprise! Isn't This an F-22 Fighter Jet? Where Did This Thing Come From?

"Old Xu, this surprise is probably even bigger than you expected!" Song Qinyi said cheerfully.

At those words.

The somewhat distracted gazes of all the J-20 project team leaders present instantly became incomparably serious.

Could Xu Manzi have really guessed right? several of them wondered inwardly.

Could there really have been some brand-new technological breakthrough in the J-20 project recently? One that could boost engine performance by a huge margin?

But that shouldn't be possible. As the heads of their respective project teams, how had they heard nothing of such rumors lately? The secrecy was too airtight!

"Old Song, stop keeping us in suspense and announce the news already!" The weathered old man beside him was growing impatient.

"My R&D team still has work waiting for me. Don't waste time."

As the team responsible for developing the avionics system, he had no shortage of matters demanding his attention.

After all, which piece of avionics equipment on a modern fighter jet could be handled without concern? It was not as simple as installing each module and calling it a day.

Developing the first-generation standalone avionics systems used by the J-7 and J-8, on the other hand, had been quite simple.

After all, the radar module, fire-control system, and so on were all independent. They only needed to install everything, but the cost was that the systems could not coordinate with each other. Every one of them required manual operation by the pilot, while failure rates were extremely high, flight was difficult, and combat capability was severely lacking.

But the J-20 was already a Fifth Generation Fighter. Its design target was the F-35 fighter jet, which Eagle Sauce had yet to officially put into service, and it used a fourth-generation advanced integrated avionics system.

The various subsystems had to be linked together, cooperate perfectly, feature highly integrated sensor coordination, and possess powerful core computing capacity. Even pilot-machine interaction had to reach an entirely new level!

He was already wracking his brains over how to achieve such an absurd avionics system, and only wanted the meeting to end quickly.

Hearing this.

Song Qinyi did not waste any more time. The smile vanished from his face as he stared at the crowd and said, "The news I am about to announce is classified as: top secret!"

"All communication devices are to be shut down and handed over to me."

"Gasp, top secret? Old Song, what kind of huge news are you stirring up this time?" Xu Qing handed over the phone he carried, his face filled with shock.

Since joining the J-20 project, he had attended so many meetings, but this was the first time he had encountered such a situation!

The expressions of everyone present changed at once. These veteran aviation workers knew better than anyone what this meant.

Even when the J-20 had been secretly approved as a project in 2007, security had not been this strict, had it?

That meant the secrecy surrounding this news far exceeded that of the J-20 project.

What major news could possibly be even more important than the J-20 project?

"You'll find out soon enough!" Song Qinyi narrowed his eyes, placed all the devices in the adjacent room, then activated full-band signal jamming to prevent any information from leaking out.

It was not that Song Qinyi distrusted the people present. On the contrary, Eagle Sauce still had no idea that Great Xia's Fifth Generation Fighter project was being developed at full speed.

That alone was enough to prove that no one had leaked even the slightest bit of information.

It was simply that, when facing information of such absolute secrecy, Song Qinyi could only choose the most cautious approach.

He returned to his seat and faced the intensely curious gazes of everyone present.

"First, we recently tested a brand-new aircraft model. The data obtained is as follows!" Song Qinyi opened a PPT, displaying rows of data on the screen above.

[RCS: 0.002m²] (radar cross-section)

[Lift coefficient: 1.65]

[Zero-lift drag coefficient during supercruise: 0.035]

[...]

As they looked at the data on the screen, as well as the all-too-familiar aircraft model, the faces of everyone present changed.

Why did this thing look more and more familiar the longer they stared at it?

Not only was the aircraft model's appearance in the image strangely familiar, even the data gave them an exceptionally familiar feeling.

"Radar cross-section of 0.002 square meters, zero-lift drag coefficient during supercruise... Why does this data look so familiar?"

"Other than the lift coefficient and a few other figures not matching, all the remaining data is exactly the same!"

"This Waverider inlet structure, this aerodynamic configuration— isn't this the damn F-22 fighter jet?"

It could be said that, aside from being painted in Great Xia's camouflage colors, this aircraft model looked remarkably similar to the F-22 in every other respect.

No, they could be certain. This aircraft model was absolutely a damn imitation of the F-22 fighter jet.

Where had this thing come from?

Yet that trace of hesitation only flashed through everyone's minds for an instant.

The heads of the R&D teams present immediately shouted excitedly:

"Old Song, this technology is incredible! Its performance is so outstanding across the board?"

"Stealth performance and supercruise drag have both been solved. This makes things much easier! Our development progress can improve by at least several months."

"Is it only new technology related to aerodynamic configuration and materials? Doesn't our avionics system have anything new?"

This damn comprehensive performance was terrifying!!

They did not care where the technology used to imitate this aircraft model had come from. They only needed to see the results.

As long as fighter jet performance improved, that was enough. Even if it had fallen from the sky, they would not care.

Would they refuse to use it just because it was technology copied from the F-22 fighter jet?

What a joke. They would only use it with even greater enthusiasm! Wasn't crossing the river by feeling Eagle Sauce's stones a fine tradition of Great Xia?

However.

"Old Song, this lift coefficient still isn't good enough. Why is it only 1.65?"

"Forget significantly improving the engine—it would be good enough if it didn't drag us down!" Xu Qing said with considerable dissatisfaction.

The target lift coefficient for the J-20 was 2.0, yet this was still a long way off.

Such a poor lift coefficient would definitely reduce the fighter jet's flight performance.

Xu Qing shook his head. "Even if we add a canard configuration to this aircraft model, the lift coefficient would only rise to 1.85 to 1.88 at most. It would still be short..."

Though it was somewhat better than the current lift coefficient, the improvement was not substantial.

The key reason the J-20 did not use this conventional layout was precisely because its lift coefficient could not meet the requirements.

Only by adding a canard configuration could the lift coefficient be significantly increased.

Although handling characteristics and operational difficulty would rise, placing greater tactical and technical demands on pilots, it was a necessary sacrifice to achieve a lift coefficient of 2.0.

After all, the J-20 already lagged behind the F-22 in engines and other areas. They could not possibly fail to catch up even in the most basic lift coefficient!

If that happened, how could it still be called a Fifth Generation heavy air-superiority fighter?

At those words, the excited expressions of everyone present froze.

They all knew perfectly well just how great an impact the lift coefficient had on a fighter jet.

It was one of the most important figures for a fighter jet, greatly affecting every aspect of flight. Maneuverability, speed, and more—every single one was related to the lift coefficient.

"Exactly, which is why we're using new materials!" Song Qinyi clicked to the next PPT slide!

"Using this high-strength carbon-fiber composite material to improve the J-20's configuration, its lift coefficient will successfully reach 2.2!"

A new set of data appeared in the image!

After employing large quantities of new materials, the canard-layout J-20 could achieve a lift coefficient between 2.1 and 2.2 even while using the old Russian AL-31F turbofan engine.

"And who said the F-22's lift coefficient was 2.0?" Song Qinyi could not help but complain.

"If we can't achieve that figure, they absolutely can't achieve it either."

Those damned Eagle Sauce bastards had truly caused them no end of harm. A false figure had tortured them for years.

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