Just now Nathan has used various facts and inferences to unify the opinions of the Grumman engineers. The improvement of the Tomcat is promising. Only supersonic cruise can kill other fighters in seconds!
Then, Nathan can continue to throw his thoughts out.
"We should also pay attention to the use of new technologies. For example, the current F-14 must add a fly-by-wire control system." Nathan continued to develop his own thinking.
The telex system has just been mentioned, but later moved to the necessity of the variable swept wing, so it passed. Now, Nathan continues to elaborate.
Now, the telex system has just appeared. Even the F-15 is hydraulically operated, and only the F-16 has a telex.
What are its advantages
The pilot’s operations are converted into electrical signals, input to the computer, and then operated by the onboard computer. In this way, the operation can be optimized. For example, it can control multiple rudder surfaces at the same time. Can be automatically changed to level flight, and so on.
"Right now, our landing speed is still too fast, so when we mount six Phoenixes, we have to throw away two." Nathan continued: "We need to slightly increase the wing size, equipped with increased lift. The new flap-aileron structure, and the fly-by-wire control system can help more accurately control the wing surface; when the aileron is lowered, the existing F-14 needs to adjust the aerodynamic center of gravity to eliminate the nose sinking moment generated by the aileron If a four-degree fully digital authorized fly-by-wire control system is used, the improved winglet will generate lift and offset the sinking moment. This can carry more than two tons of ammunition and return, and the landing speed will be further reduced by 12 knots. ."
In Nathan's mouth, specific data constantly popped up, which made people feel that he was the chief designer of Tomcat.
"There is another point, which is the generalization improvement. In short, we reduced one person and transformed into a single-seater model." Nathan continued: "This is also of great help to the subsequent development of the Tomcat fighter. of."
Why are tomcats replaced by bugs? There are many reasons for this, and of course one of them is the problem of flight cost. To say that the most expensive part of operating a carrier-based aircraft is definitely not the aircraft, but a famous pilot.
The training of pilots is astronomical. With the high cost of fighters, the cost of training pilots is also increasing.
In the history of the navy, it has always been two-seater. For example, the previous F-4 fighter jets, but the current Tomcat fighters are also two-seaters. This is because of the limitations of electronic technology.
The early F-4 fighters were used to launch Sparrow missiles, which required a dedicated person to operate them. Later, the Sparrow missiles could be operated by one person. However, Phoenix came out again.
The two-seater layout of the Tomcat fighter aircraft, the front seat is responsible for driving and close-range attacks, and the rear seat is responsible for radar search, early warning and long-range missile guidance tasks. This can reduce the pilot’s work pressure. Of course, this is also the Navy’s traditional two-seater habit. It can enable the aircraft to gain more horizons, and can switch between flights while performing remote combat missions, reducing pilot fatigue.
However, it also brought about a reduction in cost-effectiveness. The Navy developed the F-18 originally for low cost. As a result, in 1983, the price of the F-18 was almost the same as that of the Tomcat, but the Navy was still equipped with F. -18, and most of this aircraft are single-seater.
In the era of rapid development of electronic technology, it can provide Tomcat with a better cockpit environment and a more friendly man-machine interface. In the case of a single person, it can also achieve automatic driving, long and short distances under the assistance of faster tasks. Attack, radar search, early warning and certain ground-to-sea attack missions.
Of course, this is not to say that the two-seater model is useless. There will still be a certain two-seater model, which is more suitable for long-range attack missions, especially for ground-to-sea attack support missions. To put it simply, the single-seater is mainly engaged in air-to-air combat and both ground-to-sea missions, while the two-seater is dedicated to ground-to-sea and air-to-air operations.
For example, looking at the situation of later generations, the US Navy had 34 F18 first-line squadrons in 2017, including 19 18E squadrons, 10 F squadrons, and 1 mixed squadron. Four 18C squadrons. And Ma Run has 11 18C squadrons.
(C and E are single-seater, F is two-seater.)
It can be seen that the single and double seats are almost arranged in 2:1. In addition to F's advantages in ground attacks, there is also the need to ensure the job of weapon operators. If they are all single-seaters, the Navy will have a large number of weapon controllers unemployed.
Of course, not to mention that special people are needed to operate AWG-9 and Phoenix. With the advancement of electronic technology, one person can handle it, but complex ground attacks cannot be handled.
The weapon operator in the back seat is eliminated, the extra space is used to increase fuel, and the maneuverability of the fighter is further improved, so this suggestion is useful.
In short, Nathan's suggestion still has a purpose, which is to make the F-18 completely useless!
"Finally, I mentioned in Congress that the Tomcat fighters can mount all ground attack weapons." Nathan continued: "All weapons in our current arsenal must be mounted as much as possible. , Especially ground-to-sea precision attack weapons, similar to the Harpoon missiles we are researching, as well as Paveway detail laser-guided bombs, etc., must be able to operate."
The current Tomcat fighters only have air combat capabilities, and can only be equipped with AIM9 Sidewinder infrared close-range combat missiles, AIM7 Sparrow semi-active radar-guided missiles, and AIM54 Phoenix active radar-guided missiles.
Although the Phoenix is very powerful, this kind of specialized air superior aircraft will gradually lose the market. On the basis of retaining the air combat capability, it is more important to strengthen the ground to sea attack capability.
In later generations, this was not realized until the F-14D, and the Tomcat also began to improve multi-purpose. Unfortunately, at that time, the F-18 was perfectly on board, and finally the Tomcat was squeezed out. The navy needed a multi-purpose fighter. , Tomcat can only fight in the air, cost-effectiveness is not cost-effective.
Nathan’s proposal is quite informative. Everyone present is carefully pondering Nathan’s ideas one by one. It can be said that Nathan’s ideas are very bold.
Stealth, supersonic cruising, single and double seats, they all didn't even dare to think about it. Now, these words are constantly returning to their minds. If the Tomcat fighter plane, these improvements can be realized. If it is, it should be able to be used in the 21st century, right
Except for the final use of multiple weapons, they were psychologically prepared, the others were shocked.
While Nathan was speaking, Jenny on the side was watching Nathan silently, staring at Nathan with her big eyes. At this time, Nathan was more handsome and more attractive than in the sky.
I can never lose him, I want to be with him forever! (End of this chapter)