Grumman Corporation.
This period is simply the happiest time for Grumman, because the war is coming.
Yes, most people hate war, but arms dealers are welcoming war. When war comes, they will become the most profitable company.
Their main force, the Tomcat fighter, has now also picked up a big bargain. The BS country has given a large amount of deposits, including the interest-free loan provided to Grumman at the beginning. Of course, Grumman will not vomit again. .
This is so happy. Nathan said that he wouldn't let them deliver the goods earlier. Now, I really have to wait for a good opportunity.
In addition to these orders, another news made them even more excited. The UK will also order a batch of Tomcat fighters. In addition to the BS country, Tomcat fighters finally ushered in a second foreign customer, the British Navy. !
The current British navy is trying to expand their fleet, and has also ordered a second-hand sealed aircraft carrier from the United States. If it is all used to operate Tomcat fighters, there will be at least 50 orders for it. This will also allow Grew MAN's production line is at full capacity and has been running for several years.
At the same time, they did not relax. According to Nathan's vision, they improved the Tomcat fighter. Now they have money, even if the army has not established a project, they can also experiment in advance.
For this experiment, the F-14B was of course used, and now, on the Grumman’s runway, this special white and orange striped-painted fighter is ready to take off.
There is only one F-14B, which exists for experimentation. Now, at its rear, two newly installed engines look so dazzling. The nozzles reflect dazzling back light in the sun.
"I hope this experiment will go well. We have had enough bad engines." On the side, the old general Thomas's face was full of expectation.
As a single-handed promotion of the Tomcat fighter project, and finally saw it finalize its service, Thomas is quite looking forward to it. From the Tomcat fighter pilot flight, everyone knows how bad its engine is. The Tomcat fighter lost because of the engine, Occupies about a quarter of the ratio.
"Yes, even if we use TF41, it only solves the reliability problem." Beside him, Grumman's vice president Kennier said with exclamation.
Kenil is actually named here. He is a retired admiral of the U.S. Navy and a former commander of troops stationed in Europe and the United States. You must know that the rank of admiral is already the highest in peacetime.
After he retired, he became the vice president of Grumman. What's the use
Of course there is a big use. As a major arms dealer, you must have a good relationship with the government. How to lobby the government? Of course, these generals are the most useful, and their contacts are the most precious wealth.
At the same time, Kenil is also owned by the Navy. The fighter jets produced by Grumman are also in service for the Navy. Therefore, these are the most suitable. Now Kenil is also participating in this flight test.
Kenil and Thomas beside him were old acquaintances, and now they mentioned the heart problem of the Tomcat fighter again, with emotion.
Later, under Nathan’s suggestion, a modification of the Spey engine was adopted, that is, the TF41 engine. The thrust of this engine is actually the same as the original TF30, but this engine is more stable and will not have That kind of terrible surge.
To say it is enough, of course it is not enough. Look at the Air Force. Their fighters have a thrust-to-weight ratio of more than 1. They are used everywhere to suppress the Tomcats.
"Our pilots all said that the stability of the TF41 engine is about the same, but there has been a decline in high-altitude performance." Thomas also followed: "I hope the current engine can meet our needs."
The engine now!
Nathan once proposed to use the upgraded and improved version of TF41 and increase the thrust version to improve the Tomcat and further increase the power. However, Grumman has other ideas.
No matter how you change it, it is also the foundation of the second-generation engine. It is only used on the Tomcat as an emergency. It is still necessary to have an advanced third-generation engine.
Like the Air Force, do you use F100? Of course not. This engine has high performance indicators, but its reliability is quite poor. Now the Air Force’s F-15 is stubborn because of the engine. Will the Navy dare to use it
Of course I dare not use it!
Fortunately, in addition to F100, the Navy still has new options.
Michael Jones, the deputy chief engineer of Grumman, and the person in charge of this reissue, looked at the generals and said: "We believe that the technology of General Electric and their engines will definitely satisfy Our needs."
That's right, this time I used a GE engine, code-named F101.
F101 is a medium bypass ratio afterburner turbofan engine developed by General Electric for the strategic bomber B-1. The development process of this engine can be traced back to the mid-1960s. In the competition for advanced manned strategic bombers, their GE9 demonstrator won, which led to the signing of a 406 million yuan agreement between the U.S. Air Force and the company in June 1970. The US dollar comprehensive development contract includes 40 prototypes, and the engine is officially numbered F101-GE-100.
The core engine was tested for the first time in October 1971, and all engines began to operate in July 1972. The pre-flight test was completed in March 1974. In December of the same year, it was directly installed on the B-1A prototype for flight test without going through the aerial test bench test.
Originally, these projects could be steadily advanced, but Carter came to power.
Carter hates war the most. He is also actively cutting military expenditures. The expensive things like the B-1A aircraft are too uneconomical. The newly developed cruise missiles are cheap and effective, and the B-52 bomber can be used up to 80%. So it was decided to stop the B-1A plan.
Fortunately, General Electric did not give up the engine, and the F101-GE-100 test plan has continued.
It used to be designed for bombers, but now they plan to match fighters. Therefore, they aimed at the F100 that has been selected by the Air Force at this time. The thermal parameters are similar to those of the F100 engine. Compared with the original F101-GE-100, the main The improvement is to reduce the bypass ratio and increase the boost ratio.
Up to now, the project of this engine has been carried out for ten years, and now it has finally been repaired. It has waited for its own target, which is the Tomcat fighter whose engine is urgently needed by the Navy!
Even if they pass the experiment on the Tomcat fighter, they can still grab the F100 market and change the air force! The GE engineers on site are also looking forward to it. (End of this chapter)