Chapter 273 Lightning

"The round-the-world flight of B4143 has been postponed to December."

As soon as the hot search list on November 27 came out, aviation enthusiasts at home and abroad wailed.

The round-the-world flight challenge originally planned for the end of November was postponed because both An-1250s had work to do.

B4043 needs to transport the rocket body of the Xinyuan-2A modification and the H2 space shuttle, so the launch mission of the Lightning can only be handed over to B4143.

At a large military airport in Quanzhou, B4143 landed with a 55-meter-long, 8-meter-diameter, shiny shuttle-shaped fuel tank. Next to the runway, on the back of the Il-76 was the Lightning with its nose raised.

Androv and Dou Ping supervised the operators to hang the Lightning on the back of the An-1250 and carefully install the fuel pipe.

The fuel tank of the Lightning is disposable, most of which is made of magnesium-aluminum alloy to reduce weight, and the surface is divided into countless hexagonal blocks by shallow dents.

Although the fuel tank has no technical content, Shelev still carefully optimized it to reduce the cost as much as possible.

The shuttle fuel tank is designed to maintain a stable state for only 16 hours after refueling. If it does not take off during this period, the internal structure will be abandoned due to metal embrittlement caused by hydrogen and will not meet safety standards.

Such a planned life brings extremely low cost, but also means that the launch preparation process must be very careful, otherwise a fuel tank and 300 tons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen may be scrapped, the latter of which is precious.

Dou Ping was very curious about the Lightning, which quietly came up with new tricks. He only knew about it a week ago and then rushed over.

As soon as he learned about this air launch method, Dou Ping decided to copy it.

For nothing else, it's cheap.

At present, there are two ways to launch the Shenlong 1A (SL-1A) at the Desert Base: liquid rocket launches such as the New Yuan 5B or the Long March 7, and solid rocket launches in emergency situations of the S2100.

The preparation time for liquid rocket launches is too long, and the solid rocket S2100 is extremely expensive. The space agency does not want to use it, and is reluctant to use it at ordinary times.

Air launch is too cheap. The researchers at the base estimated that it is only 30% to 50% of liquid rockets, and it is more flexible, as long as there is an airport.

For example, the Lightning was arranged to be launched in Quanzhou, take off to the southern waters, and the fuel tank fell directly into the Pacific Ocean. The landing area control and launch location can be selected at will.

For the Shenlong-1A, this means a large range of maneuverability. If the enemy wants to attack, they have to plow all the airports. But even so, if I say that the aircraft carrier takes off from a field airport, how will you respond?

Dou Ping: "Androv, I think the military should order a few more Y-40s (military code for An-1250). I didn't expect you to revive MAKS here. No wonder the alliance supported this thing back then. It's really great."

Androv was a little confused: "Isn't Xi'an Aircraft Industry Corporation developing the Y-35? The back load capacity is also 350 tons. The time it takes to wait for our new batch of An-1250s is actually not much different from that of the Y-35. It's much more economical."

Dou Ping: "But we want it now, and it doesn't seem to need any modification, right? Another Shenlong-1A has been built, and it's not finished yet. It's still in time to modify the nose. I'll rent your plane for the test launch next year?"

"..."

Dou Ping : "Also, you developed the Lightning to transport low-G spacecraft, so why not develop a manned version that can at least accommodate 6 people? Wouldn't it be more cost-effective?"

"Well, the current new Yuan-5B for space tourism is actually quite good, and the An-1250 air launch also takes some preparation time. The money saved is not necessary in our opinion."

Dou Ping said "Oh" and suddenly said:

"Androv, I suddenly want to prove the feasibility of a manned air-space fighter like the MiG-105, which may be more flexible than the Shenlong-1A."

Androv coughed dryly. He didn't expect these people to be so interested in Korolev's casual work. Is this going to revive the Alliance step by step?

With so many unfinished projects of the Alliance, maybe it can be said that the Alliance is orthodox in the East in the future?

When the two were about to finish chatting and the An-1250 was about to take off, Dou Ping said meaningfully:

"The significance of the Lightning may be greater than that of the H2M."

However, at this time, the eight XW-30 engines had been started, and Androv didn't hear it clearly, only seeing the mysterious smile on his face.

Six crew members and four engineers from the Lightning took off in B4143, then immediately turned south. Several Su-35s and J-11BSHs from the nearby airport took off in succession to escort.

This undisguised flight path heading straight south was immediately noticed by a RC135 that took off from Okinawa and was strolling nearby. The radar recognized the unique signal of the An-1250 at a glance, and the crew quickly approached.

Because it had entered the high seas at this time, the B4143 fleet only gave the RC135 a routine greeting and advised it to stay away to avoid accidents, but the latter seemed to have heard nothing and just kept getting closer, then took out a camera to take pictures.

The co-pilot on this mission, Wright, was so happy that he understood the purpose of the Lightning and fuel tank combination on the back of the An-1250 without much effort. He was immediately very excited and took out a Canon 400D camera and started taking pictures.

These photos can be sold to the media for a good price as soon as they land. The air-launched space shuttle is likely to enter orbit, which is absolutely big news.

The follower RC135 followed all the way to the sea area near Mindanao Island. At this time, the latitude was close to the equator, and the launch could save a lot of fuel.

In Captain Ryder's camera, the An-1250 continued to climb to 11,500 meters. The escorting fighter plane slightly pulled away, and the RC135 also moved away.

The crew of B4143 increased the power of the 8 turbofan engines to the maximum, allowing the aircraft to reach a speed of about 870 kilometers, and then pulled up an angle of about 10 degrees.

On the back of the aircraft, liquid hydrogen first entered the H300 engine turbo pump at the tail of the Lightning through the pipeline. With the ignition command issued in the cabin, the H300 began to output thrust at 110% power, and at the same time, the explosive bolts connecting the fuel tank and the Lightning were energized.

The 330-ton thrust with the injection angle pointing to the center of gravity allowed the Lightning to break away from the B4143 with the fuel tank. The latter immediately pressed down the nose to prevent being burned by the tail flame, and the two formed a ">" shape in the air.

The tail flame of the hydrogen-oxygen engine working at an altitude of 10,000 meters can still be seen in orange. The huge tail flame suddenly made a bright fireball appear in the airspace, making the Indonesian natives on the ground think that it was a fire from the sky, and they knelt down devoutly in the native language.

Wright, who witnessed and recorded this spectacular scene, let the RC135 continue to climb to capture as many images of the Lightning as possible, almost ignoring the escort fleet next to it.

In fact, in the back seat of the Su-35 closest to them, there was also a pilot holding a camera and looking at the RC135 speechlessly.

In a sense, the latter became the first foreign "reporter" to witness it.

In the evening, there was also...