Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 220 The J-9's progress is so rapid

The capital of India, the Air Force Command.

"Currently, our MiG-23s are lagging behind Pakistan's Super-7 fighters. The other side has Skyflash missiles and Sidewinder missiles. In close combat, our fighters are at a disadvantage. In order to gain a better advantage, I think we should immediately purchase more advanced MiG-25 fighters from the Soviet Union!"

Western Air Force Commander Denis said to Air Force Chief of Staff Lafontaine in a serious tone: "After all, our presence is the best threat to Pakistan, which will also relieve their pressure in the graveyard of empires. They must fully support us, deliver their MiG-25s to us as soon as possible, and train our pilots."

Lafontaine took a deep breath: "Yes, we need more advanced fighter jets, but do you think the MiG-25 can meet our needs?"

“Of course,” Denis said. “This aircraft can fly to an altitude of 30,000 meters and travel at Mach 3. Currently, no weapon in Pakistan can threaten this aircraft. In fact, the vast plateau to our north is also undefended.”

"Alright, let's head to Moscow immediately! Considering the unique nature of this aircraft, we need to establish a dedicated aerial reconnaissance squadron to scout any area we want to reconnoiter!"

The thought of their planes flying freely in the other's skies filled the two with anticipation.

Dongfang, Yan Province, Bashang, a small mountain village.

The sound of tractors chugging filled the air, and long plumes of black smoke shot straight into the sky. Despite the cold weather, the villagers, all dressed in thick cotton-padded clothes, stood at the village entrance, watching the long line of tractors approach from afar.

Aunt Wang looked at the car at the front and shouted loudly, "Zhu Zi, Zhu Zi!"

The first tractor driver was her son, Wang Zhuzi! He used to drive tractors back in the days of the collective commune, and now he's the one leading the team to pick up the tractor from the train station more than 100 kilometers away!
A big red flower was hanging in front of the tractor's engine, making it look especially festive!
"Yes, Mom, I brought all the tractors back with my men! We got a total of thirty tractors; we have the most tractors in the whole dam area!"

When spring arrives, the tractors can be used to plow the fields, and when the brick factory is built, they can be used to haul bricks. A happy life is beckoning to them!

Behind them, the other tractors also stopped. The tractor drivers deliberately stepped on the accelerator, and black smoke billowed from the exhaust pipes, while the engine noise was deafening.

"Great! With these tractors, our village will definitely become the richest village in the surrounding area!" Village Chief Wang Jinshan's face was full of excitement.

The biting wind felt like knives cutting into his face, but he felt no pain. Despite the piercing cold, a flame burned within him.

What is Xiaogang Village compared to us? We will be even richer than Xiaogang Village in the future!

"Thanks to Liangzi!"

“That’s right, thanks to Liangzi. When we become rich in the future, we must not forget Liangzi’s contributions. I propose that we pool our money this year to build a new house for Liangzi’s family!”

"That's right!"

At Qin Liang's home.

Large chunks of coal were burning brightly. On the iron stove sat a large pot with a steamer basket on top. At that moment, Qin Baomin took a piece of gray dough, rolled it on a board, and put it into the steamer basket.

"The land in our Bashang area is barren, so we can only grow these things. However, the 'kaolao' (a type of steamed dumpling) made from oat flour is the most fragrant," Qin Liang said to Yang Duo'er as he helped make the dough.

Yang Duo'er followed his example and worked alongside him.

In the United States, there is no festive atmosphere for the Lunar New Year. Even in Chinatown, a lion dance is considered the biggest celebration.

In the countryside of the East, the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year is very strong! These local New Year's goods are an eye-opener for her.

"Dad, when we go back home for our annual leave, we can bring back a few bags of this oat noodles. We can make this kind of delicious food at Northwestern Polytechnical University."

"No way, the local environment shapes the people. When I went to Northwestern Polytechnical University and used the local water, the oat noodles I made just wouldn't cook through no matter how long I steamed them. Sigh, coming home has become a way of reminiscing about the past. At Northwestern Polytechnical University, we ate meat and fish every day, just like during the Chinese New Year."

The crackling sound of firecrackers rang out, and the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder.

After staying up all night on New Year's Eve, Yang Duo'er went out with Qin Liang to visit other people's homes to offer New Year's greetings. Wherever they went, they were warmly welcomed.

They stayed there until the tenth day of the Lunar New Year. The family of three left their hometown and embarked on their journey to Northwestern Polytechnical University again. The villagers gave them a warm send-off, reluctant to part with them.

Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Standing at the gate, Qin Liang really wanted to shout, "I, Hu Hansan, am back!" But considering his father beside him, he didn't.

In the capital, Yang Duo'er and Qin Liang parted ways. She needed to manage the affairs of the Pacific Trading Company, so she flew abroad again.

"Liangzi, you go ahead and do what you need to do. I'll go back and pack up," Qin Baomin said.

"Yes, it's time to go and take a look."

I feel a little bad about going home for the Chinese New Year and leaving the others to work and study at the university.

What Qin Liang was most concerned about was, of course, the development progress of the J-9, as this aircraft was related to the future of the Eastern Air Force!
However, when he arrived at the engine room where the J-9 was being developed, it was completely empty, and he didn't see anyone there!
Did all these people go to celebrate the Chinese New Year?
After I came out, I saw a figure across the hallway.

"Xiaoxia, where are the people over here?"

"Some went to Chengdu, and some went to the flight test institute."

"What did you do?"

"Those going to Chengdu will help turn the blueprints into physical objects and prepare to build the first technology demonstrator. Those going to the flight test institute will build the iron bird test rig and conduct comprehensive closed-loop testing of the flight control system."

So fast!
Qin Liang was filled with excitement: "Okay, I understand. I'll go check out the flight test facility first!"

Watching Qin Liang's departing figure, Zhao Xiaoxia felt somewhat helpless. She had wanted to introduce the development progress of the Lion fighter jet. The students of the Capital University of Aeronautics and Astronautics were indeed very capable. However, with the start of the new semester approaching, she needed to find a way to keep this workforce at Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Unfortunately, Qin Liang didn't give himself a chance.

1980, April 1.

Flight Test Institute, Iron Bird Experiment Hall.

The so-called iron bird test rig is to build a one-to-one aircraft model. Other systems may not be installed, but the complete fly-by-wire flight control system must be installed in place, and then connected to the power and hydraulic systems to conduct experiments!
At this moment, on the Iron Bird test stand, a beautiful fighter jet stood quietly.

The nose is full, with a bubble-shaped cockpit on top. Below the cockpit on both sides are triangular canards, and the belly has rectangular adjustable air intakes. At the rear of the fuselage is a large delta wing, which is staggered in height from the canards in front, making it look very beautiful. The rear fuselage is shaped using supersonic area rule, making it even more beautiful.

Although it was said to be a modified version of the J-9, it actually looked exactly like the famous J-10 of later generations!

Looking at the shape of the aircraft, everyone was filled with emotion.

No other airplane in the world has such a unique shape! This is a first from the East!

The entire aircraft is almost entirely a new design, but... with the support of Northwestern Polytechnical University, anything is possible!
The radar is already mature, and although the engine is a turbojet, it is also mature for use on the Tomcat fighter jet. The avionics are all domestically produced using imported Marconi technology. The only new subsystem is this fly-by-wire flight control system!

"Old Song, the platform is now set up. Shouldn't we officially begin testing?" the leader of the flight test institute said with a smile.

This is the first fly-by-wire flight controller for the 611, and also the first one in the country. Such an important product should naturally be tested at the Flight Test Institute, so as to make use of the technical strength of the Flight Test Institute.

Old Song took a deep breath, still glancing reluctantly towards the door. At such a crucial moment, if only…

Thump thump thump... Just then, hurried footsteps came from outside.

"The Iron Bird Platform is out? Let me see, let me see!"

Qin Liang is here!

Old Song immediately smiled and said, "Liangzi, come here, we've been waiting for you!"

Qin Liang rushed in like a whirlwind, looking at the sleek and beautiful fighter jet: "Hmm, not bad, this plane will definitely be a good one!" "Yes, this is the result of the joint efforts of our 611 team and Northwestern Polytechnical University!"

"By the way, what chip does this triple-axis quadruple-redundant fly-by-wire flight controller use?"

Three axes refer to the three axes of rotation of an aircraft in the air, including the longitudinal axis, roll axis, and yaw axis. Quadruple redundancy refers to the ability to choose an independent fly-by-wire operating system.

A computer can be restarted after it crashes, but once life is lost, there's no going back.

Therefore, aircraft control must be multi-channel.

The most common type is the three-channel system, which has three completely independent control systems. The advantage of this is that it allows for one error. If one of the three channels calculates or transmits instructions that are opposite to those of the other two channels, then the majority rule applies, and the other two channels will be followed.

Its advantage is that it allows for one mistake, but what if another mistake occurs?
Early triple-redundant digital telemetry systems would have an additional hydraulic control system, which could be switched back to the hydraulic system in case of further errors.

However, hydraulic systems inevitably increase the weight of the aircraft, and for statically unstable aircraft, hydraulic systems are simply uncontrollable. Therefore, quadruple-redundant fly-by-wire systems emerged.

During normal operations, we use three channels and keep the fourth channel as a backup. If one of the channels fails and shuts down, we open the backup channel and continue the telex operation of the three channels. This allows for a second error to occur.

What if it happens a third time?
Let's skydive!
The probability of one channel error is very small, and the probability of two channels erroring is even smaller. An aircraft may not experience one or two errors from the time it is built until it is retired, so there is no need to consider three errors.

"The flight control system uses the 8086 chip," said Mr. Song. "This is also a chip that we have fully mastered."

The 8086 chip has become a versatile tool, used in airborne radar and flight control systems.

In fact, this is not suitable, since it is a general-purpose processor chip. For aircraft, a dedicated DSP chip is the most important!
"It seems that it's time for Northwestern Polytechnical University to start researching chips. We can't keep Professor Ni waiting too long!" Qin Liang remarked.

The fact that the West held China back in the chip industry led everyone to believe that Eastern chip technology was lagging behind. In reality, the lag began in the 1980s.

The East's first transistor and first integrated circuit were not several years behind the West; by the early 1980s, the gap with the West was at most two or three years.

However, in the 1980s, the country opened its doors and saw the advanced technology of the West. Looking at the dilapidated goods at home, a trend of "it's better to buy than to make" spread throughout the country. Chip factories imported equipment and wanted foreign products, and electronics factories used integrated circuits and wanted foreign products. The high investment in chips also worried the relevant departments. To develop the economy, there had to be trade-offs.

As a result, the very large-scale integrated circuit project was cancelled. From then on, chips became a black box for people in the East. They only knew how to use them, but not their internal structure!

A few chip projects also want to catch up with global trends, but after three years of approval, three years of construction, and three years of debugging, by the time they are officially put into production, they are already outdated and will lose money as soon as they start production! Laymen leading experts, blindly worshipping foreign things, ignoring the laws of chip R&D... these are all too serious.

These things are useless if you rely on the relevant departments; those cumbersome and complicated procedures will be rendered useless by Moore's Law.

We still have to rely on Northwestern Polytechnical University itself! Anyway, Professor Ni is already at Northwestern Polytechnical University, and our computer assembly business has taken off, so we don't have to worry about money or talent!

"Comrade Qin Liang, Comrade Qin Liang?"

Qin Liang then came to his senses.

"Um, everyone, has the iron bird platform begun testing?"

"No, we've been waiting for you. Now let's officially begin!"

Yang Wei strode into the cockpit and turned on the switches one by one.

"Power it on!"

"Turn on the hydraulic pressure!"

As commands were issued, everyone opened their eyes wide, watching the displays of countless devices in the testing hall.

"Loop closed successfully!"

"Start the engine!"

"Go faster!"

"Pull him up!"

Everyone kept a close eye on the control surface, and following the instructions, the control surface deflected normally. The first experiment was a complete success!

A round of enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience.

Yang Wei jumped off the test platform and excitedly said to Qin Liang, "Qin Liang, our iron bird test platform is operating normally and we can proceed with the next phase of large-scale testing!"

Qin Liang nodded: "Yes, well done!"

"Comrade Qin Liang, Yang Wei, whom you recommended, is really good. All of us engineers in 611 admire him. He deserves the most credit for the successful development of this system!"

Qin Liang smiled and said, "Yang Wei is definitely the smartest one to be able to take the college entrance exam after graduating from junior high school, not to mention he is also very hardworking. The other students in our Class 5381 are also very hardworking... However, this is only the first step in a long journey."

“Yes,” a leader from the flight test institute chimed in. “Even if we succeed in the test on the iron bird platform, we can’t just install it directly on the J-9 fighter jet. That would be too reckless. It would be best to have an experimental platform.”

The quadruple-redundant fly-by-wire system completely eliminates hydraulic operation. If installed on a canard fighter like the J-9, what if a mistake occurs...?

Many parts work perfectly fine on the ground, but once they're in the air, a slight vibration can cause them to break.

In later generations, the telemetry system in the East also developed gradually.

Needless to say, the J-82ACT is an example. Take the flight test institute for instance. Based on the JJ-6, they have modified it with a single-redundant digital fly-by-wire system for pitch direction. Then, they modified the K-8 with a three-axis digital fly-by-wire system, inputting various flight control laws to train pilots in operation in advance and verify the reliability of the hardware.

If we rush into this project like this, what if the J-9 crashes due to flight control problems...?

Qin Liang nodded: "We need to verify it in advance. The Super 7 trainer aircraft at Base 011 should be almost ready for modification, right? We should coordinate to bring one over and switch to fly-by-wire control in the pitch direction to verify our hardware in advance. Once the hardware is working properly, we can modify all three axes to fly-by-wire to verify our flight control laws and train pilots at the same time... We also need to select new pilots. Lei Zi from last time was pretty good."

Experienced pilots are prone to making empiricist mistakes. Take the head-up display (HUD) for example. It's such a good thing, but they just don't use it because they find it an eyesore. The first thing they do when they get on the plane is to turn it off, just like an experienced driver turning off the automatic start-stop when getting into a new car.

The new J-9 will use digital fly-by-wire, and the number of instruments in the cockpit will be greatly reduced, with more displays used. New pilots will need to adapt better. As for Lei Qiang, needless to say, he must be the chief test pilot of the J-9.

When Qin Liang visited the Flight Test Institute last time, he solved a long-standing problem. Now that Qin Liang is promoting new talent, the leaders of the Flight Test Institute have no objections whatsoever.

"Okay, let's make the arrangements!"

Old Song looked at Qin Liang with a complicated expression. "Your words carry more weight than the head of the Third Ministry of Machine Building!"
"Everyone, the closed-loop experiment was a success. Next, we..." Qin Liang hadn't finished speaking when he saw everyone busy testing their respective subsystems. These people... really work themselves to the bone!
"We can rest assured that the projects here have been handed over to Yang Wei. Next, I have to go back to Chengdu to work on the production of the first prototype. Comrade Qin Liang, would you... like to come to Chengdu with me?"

Qin Liang shook his head: "Let's talk about it after the prototype is built!"

Old Song nodded, and was just about to talk about the difficulties they were facing when excited voices came from outside.

"Comrade Qin Liang is here? That's wonderful! Comrade Qin Liang! Our J-8 fighter jets urgently need your help from Northwestern Polytechnical University!"

again!

Qin Liang looked at the people who walked in from outside. "I've already given you the computers. If you still don't strive for improvement, then I..."

"Breaking news: India will receive MiG-25 fighter jets within three months. Therefore, we need to complete the upgrade of the J-8 during this period, especially the matching of long-range air-to-air missiles..."

"At most, we can help you strengthen the wings, but the cost will still be twenty million," Qin Liang said impatiently.

"Good, good, good!"

(End of this chapter)