Chapter Ninety-Seven: Preliminary Plan

Even if Yang Hui had not asked about it, he was just about to bring up that very point.

“As for our project, Director Yang’s opinion differs somewhat from ours. He means that, far from concealing it from the Aviation Industry Ministry, we should immediately notify every ministry involved and, in the end, push this matter all the way to the very top. Only that way can we make sure no one secretly seizes it from under us.”

With that one statement, everything the others had first imagined was thrown into disarray. Yet the more they considered it, the more they found this plan to be the best choice after all. It was probably the best outcome they could hope to secure at present.

Chief Designer Yu roughly understood the twists and turns behind Director Yang’s idea. After weighing it carefully, he finally said, “This method is indeed the most advantageous for us at the moment. As long as we eliminate the possibility of someone secretly cutting in and taking it away, then this will be a great victory for us.”

After that, Yang Hui related several advantages his old man at home had mentioned, further strengthening everyone’s understanding and confidence in the plan.

After a long silence, Director Bai was the first to speak. “I think this plan is more reliable than what we originally had in mind. Let’s put it to a vote and see which scheme we’ll actually carry out.”

The result was entirely unsurprising: naturally, everyone agreed with the second plan, the one calling for a broad and forceful announcement.

Seeing everyone approve the new scheme, they immediately began discussing how to proceed from there. Only by preparing in advance could they be certain of victory.

“All right. Since this new plan requires everyone to go notify the relevant ministries tomorrow, let’s assign who will go where. I’ll state my resolve first: I’ll personally go to the Aviation Industry Ministry. I’d like to see what sort of faces those bureaucrats will make.”

There were not many ministries related to aviation, only a handful. After the assignments were made, there were still some people left without tasks, including Chief Designer Yu and Yang Hui.

Chief Designer Yu thought it over and felt the matter was urgent; they could not afford to leave manpower idle. “In that case, if this project is going to be reported upward, then they’ll surely want us to produce the initial design for the trainer very soon. Those of us who are left should go work on the initial scheme.”

The initial design could not be set aside any longer. They needed to keep pace with the project as quickly as possible. In the end, what would matter was whether the design they produced was truly reliable.

“That makes sense. Then, Old Yu, do you already have a rough design scheme in mind?”

Director Bai knew he was asking a question whose answer he already knew, but Chief Designer Yu said nothing more. He merely glanced at Yang Hui, then said a single sentence:

“This scheme was submitted to me months ago. Back then, we had no conditions, so naturally the only thing we could do was let it gather dust. But things are different now. Now that we have money, if we still let it sit there collecting dust, that would be our mistake.”

Sure enough, just as expected, this was the scheme Yang Hui had proposed last time. Then they would see for themselves what was so remarkable about it, and why Old Yu, who had been chief designer at the time, had been so shocked.

Without further questions, Director Bai expressed his agreement, and the rest would follow Chief Designer Yu’s direction to work on the initial scheme.

“Since even Old Yu says we need to draw up a scheme now, then it seems it is not too late after all. Anyone who has nothing to do tomorrow should come along and help.”

“All right, let’s go downstairs and take a look. It seems there is still something to eat at this hour. Let’s go.”

The food from a few hours earlier had already been mostly digested. Yang Hui followed along to get something to eat as well. Though there was nothing else to do that night, once he lay down he would surely have a great many aerodynamic design ideas to consider; if he did not stay up half the night, there was no way he would fall asleep.

Early the next morning, everyone got up to begin their own work. Those assigned to run around the ministries rose even earlier, and by now even Director Bai had already left. One could only hope those bureaucrats still had a shred of integrity.

Those who needed to go to the ministries had departed. The remaining five gathered once more in Chief Designer Yu’s room. For now, they were only discussing things verbally and laying out the scheme for everyone to hear. If there were no major problems, then Yu would find a larger space and start putting something down on paper.

They closed the door, confirmed it was secure, and prepared to hold another meeting. There were far fewer people than yesterday, and sitting down felt much more relaxed.

Chief Designer Yu began by outlining the trainer’s general positioning.

“The requirements for this trainer are a substantial step up from the J-7 trainer we are currently developing. First, it must be able to train pilots in some of the flight regimes of third-generation aircraft. Second, the Saudi side requires the cockpit and environmental control systems to be brought into line with the West. Let’s begin by discussing the part about training on third-generation flight regimes.”

Yang Hui had personally dealt with the Pakistani side, so naturally he had a strong right to speak on the matter.

“In terms of training pilots for third-generation aircraft, the Pakistanis hope the new trainer can accomplish fifty percent of the basic training syllabus.”

Fifty percent of third-generation training regimes—was that simple? Not at all. The J-7, as a typical second-generation aircraft, would need major aerodynamic changes just to simulate part of the flight characteristics of a third-generation fighter.

Chief Designer Yu was an aircraft designer through and through, and he knew the J-7 trainer inside and out. The current state of the J-7 trainer was entirely clear to him.

“Our J-7 trainer’s aerodynamic layout is clearly unable to meet these requirements. A nose intake cannot imitate the flight characteristics of a ventral or side intake. A simple thin delta wing is even less capable of delivering the excellent low-altitude performance of a third-generation aircraft. These issues mean we must completely redesign the current trainer.”

Hearing the words “completely redesign,” no one’s expression showed rejection of this bold plan. Instead, they looked eager to try it. The current J-7 trainer could never truly break free of the J-7 framework. If they redesigned it as now proposed, then many areas could be given fresh treatment.

Those who had grown excited at the idea could not remain calm any longer, and said enthusiastically, “A complete redesign is exactly what we need. Otherwise, how are we supposed to spend nearly six hundred million dollars? We should seize this chance to sharpen our skills, and at the same time upgrade the technical capability of the entire base. What is there not to like?”

“Yes, what is there not to like? We should redesign it. Only then can we create a good trainer that truly meets the requirements.”

Since everyone agreed on redesigning the trainer, that was for the best. Chief Designer Yu did not want to say much more. He continued by explaining how the redesign ought to be carried out.

“First, the current nose intake must be changed. Not only that, I am afraid the entire nose section will need major surgery. The intake should be moved to the sides; the freed-up nose space can then be used to install radar equipment. The cockpit should be raised to expand the pilot’s field of view, especially the rear-seat instructor position, which must be higher than the front seat. The current J-7 trainer is quite unsuitable in this respect.”

After discussing the intake modification, he moved on to the wing selection. There were many wing types that could deliver good low-altitude performance, but only one was truly the most suitable.

“To achieve good low-altitude performance, we must work hard on the wings. First, the wing thickness can be increased somewhat, but that alone is far from enough. To meet the specification, we must change the wing planform. There are many schemes that can satisfy this requirement, but I believe that, on the basis of a delta wing, a double-delta wing is the one requiring the least modification.”

The double-delta wing was a fairly popular design in the seventies and eighties, and many classic aircraft had used it.

The early design proposal for the Rafale included a double-delta wing, and the new Yugoslav fighter project also adopted a double-delta layout, though in the end both projects shifted to canard configurations, or were simply canceled outright.

The only fighters actually built with a double-delta wing were Saab’s Saab 35 Draken and, in later years, the successor to the J-7 developed by the Republic’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, the J-7E.

Now, as Chief Designer Yu proposed the double-delta layout, it happened to be 1983, when the world was most enamored of the design. Naturally, no one objected to its use. Moreover, in terms of technological inheritance, it was the most appropriate choice, and the simplest.

With that said, the discussion of the aerodynamic changes was more or less complete. In essence, it was the aerodynamic form of the Mountain Eagle trainer that Yang Hui had sketched out last time, and this was Chief Designer Yu’s affirmation of the layout Yang Hui had proposed.

“All right, my personal thoughts on the aerodynamic changes end here. As for the other parts, I think that, in order to reduce development risk, we should avoid major alterations if possible. If anyone has a different idea, please bring it up so we can consider it together.”

Having finished speaking, Chief Designer Yu naturally still left room for others to voice their own ideas. This time, among those who had come to the capital, there were not only people from the design institute but also from the manufacturing plant.

The director of the Shuangyang Factory proposed a different opinion. “Chief Designer Yu, if we adopt side intakes, won’t the changes be too great? Couldn’t we use a chin intake instead? That would make the aircraft much easier to modify.”