You promised to build cars, so why did you go into the military industry?

Chapter 86 Vacuum Thrust 308

Three days later, Li Ran was driving his little electric scooter around the factory area as usual.

As he passed Dongdaemun, he instinctively turned on the accelerator, and the car slowed down.

The security guards standing at the entrance seemed like completely different people.

Keep your back straight, feet shoulder-width apart, hands clasped behind your back, and eyes looking straight ahead.

When someone passes by the door, their eyes will follow the movement, but they will not move below the neck.

His entire demeanor exuded an air of sternness and seriousness, a stark contrast to his previous easygoing and relaxed state.

Li Ran parked his electric scooter on the side of the road, walked to the gatehouse, and glanced inside.

The guardhouse has also changed.

The registers on the table were neatly arranged, the pen caps were all facing the same direction, and even the handles of the teacups were pointing in the same direction.

Xiao Liu, who was organizing the duty log inside, heard footsteps and looked up sharply toward the source of the sound.

Upon seeing that it was Li Ran, he snapped his notebook shut, stood up, and puffed out his chest.

"Hello, Mr. Li!"

His voice was clear and loud, with a deliberately trained quality.

Li Ran was startled by his shout.

Li Ran waved his hand, signaling him to relax: "Why are you standing so straight? It's not like we're inspecting someone."

Xiao Liu smiled, his shoulders slumped, but he quickly straightened them again.

It seems that muscle memory has been formed.

Li Ran leaned against the guard table and casually picked up the registration book on the table and flipped through it.

The handwriting is much neater than before, and each item is filled in neatly. Even the strokes in the signature column are much more restrained than before.

"What are you doing—"

"We were also soldiers trained by Battalion Commander Xing Yan."

Battalion Commander Xing said that our factory's security forces needed to be further strengthened, and offered to help us with military training.

We were among the first to complete training.

Li Ran nodded. No wonder things had changed so much; so much so that even he, who was used to being idle, felt a little uncomfortable standing at the door for a while.

After putting the register back in its place, Li Ran said, "Take me to see your internal affairs."

As soon as Li Ran opened the door to the duty room, he saw the blankets folded into neat squares on the four single beds.

There wasn't a speck of dust on the bedside.

The mouthwash cups on the windowsill have their handles and toothbrush heads facing the same direction, as if they were measured with a ruler.

The bathroom's tiled floor was dry and clean, the sink was polished to a shine, and there was a faint smell of disinfectant in the air.

After leaving Xiao Liu's place, Li Ran got back on his electric scooter and continued his patrol.

As he passed by the production workshop, he made a point of observing the four security guards who were patrolling.

Their pace was almost identical, and their arm swings were similar. When the four of them walked together, their movements were clean and efficient without any unnecessary small movements.

Back in her office, Guo Shuyan was working on documents in front of her computer screen.

"Did you know that Major Xing organized military training for our security personnel?"

Guo Shuyan nodded, her fingers still pointing, and said, "I know. It started before the Spring Festival, with training in batches. The first batch has just graduated. Have you seen any results?"

"Military training? I suspect they're going to serve in the military."

"They've gone to so much trouble to help us, we should at least express our gratitude." Li Ran leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. "What do you think about doubling the donated supplies? After all, the military and the people are one family."

Guo Shuyan rolled her eyes at Li Ran and said, "It's already doubled."

In addition, the super factory, which was completed in early 2017, faces a huge shortage of personnel in various jobs.

Xue Mingyu had already communicated with Battalion Commander Xing and the Veterans Affairs Department in advance, and that as long as the conditions were met, veterans and those transferred to civilian jobs would be given priority in recruitment.

The proportion of veterans among United Industries' employees is now approaching 15%.

A while ago, I even submitted an application for the "Model Unit for Patriotic Support of the Military" to the Veterans Affairs Department on behalf of the company.

Sitting on the sofa, Li Ran stroked his chin, feeling that with Guo Shuyan around, he was much less worried. That B-shaped...

The gift of Lingyu, a top-tier talent, was well worth it.

"By the way," Li Ran suddenly stood up, his tone somewhat excited, "what do you think about sending all the employees in batches to Xing Yan's place for about a week of military training from August until the end of the year?"

Guo Shuyan's fingers, which were typing, froze.

She took her hands off the keyboard and placed them on the table, turned to look at Li Ran, and said in a tone that was both tactful and helpless: "Let the employees sign up voluntarily. Forcing them to participate in training is not a good idea."

"Those engineers in the R&D department who work overtime every day, I'm afraid they'll... "

Li Ran thought about it and realized that his suggestion was indeed a bit ill-considered, so he nodded.

Once the notice for voluntary registration was issued, Li Ran thought that a registration rate of 30% to 40% would be good.

After all, a week of closed training is not a good time for many employees with families and children.

But the next morning, when Guo Shuyan put the statistics on his desk, he stared at the results and froze.

Almost all of the company's current employees, as long as their physical condition permits, have applied.

Faced with such a high registration rate, Li Ran couldn't understand it at all.

After asking around among several employees who had signed up, I learned that they had heard that participating in military training included live-fire target practice and even driving tanks and armored vehicles.

This reason was so compelling that even Li Ran himself was somewhat tempted.

A week passed in the blink of an eye, and Lü Chaoping arrived as scheduled.

In the morning, he carried a slightly worn suitcase and went to the dormitory he had stayed in before.

The room was furnished the same as before, but it was very clean.

After quickly tidying up, Lü Chaoping arrived at the engine manufacturing workshop, changed into an anti-static suit, and pushed open the door to enter.

Inside the workshop, Lin Yu was standing by the workbench, discussing something with several engineers.

Lin Yu greeted Lü Chaoping as he approached.

Without much small talk, he handed over a bound test report.

Test Report on the 300-Second Long-Range Hot-Fire Test of the Second Stage Rocket Body of the Joint-1 Rocket (Modified ZK-33F, Three Engines in Parallel)

After receiving the report, Lü Chaoping began to read it.

The combustion chamber pressure curve remained stable, and no thrust fluctuations occurred during the entire 300-second test run.

The final structural inspection also revealed no problems.

"These changes," Lü Chaoping closed the report, looked up at Lin Yu, "are the changes to YF-100 and YF-

Did they move the "115" structure over there?

Lin Yu nodded.

"The younger generation is truly formidable!" Lü Chaoping exclaimed.

Lin Yu picked up his tablet and brought up a simplified cross-sectional diagram of a gas generator: "So that's how it works. I adjusted the internal curvature of this thing and changed the position of the oil pipes."

Lu Chaoping stared at it for a while, then smiled: "Your idea is inspiring. I feel there's still room for improvement in the YF series. The performance might even be able to be improved further."

"Professor Lü, please take a look at this. This is the latest design proposal for the ZK-308."

Lu Chaoping took the tablet and swiped his finger across the screen.

A 3D assembly structure diagram popped up. He glanced at the general layout, frowned, then scrolled to the next page and began to examine it in detail.

Lu Chaoping read very slowly, occasionally zooming in on a particular part of the structure to examine it repeatedly, or going back to previous pages to compare it.

Gradually, Lü Chaoping's facial expressions became more varied.

"It's too simple! Are you sure this is a complete design and not a half-finished product? Even the ZK-33F is more complex."

Without giving a direct explanation, Lin Yu gestured for Lü Chaoping to follow him, then turned and walked deeper into the workshop.

The two walked through several rows of semi-finished engines being assembled, bypassed a 12-axis CNC machining center that was in operation, and arrived at a 3D metal printer that was separated at the very back of the workshop.

This device is very large, taking up more than half of the entire cubicle.

The silver-gray body has no markings or inscriptions, only a panel embedded in the side.

Its shape is similar to a cube, with a large observation window on the front through which the internal working platform and several sets of nozzles can be clearly seen.

"Without this device, I wouldn't have been able to come up with such a radical design."

Lin Yu reached out and patted the wall of the cubicle.

The most intricate parts of the "modified ZK-33F" were printed out in one go using this behemoth.

Let me show you.

He then went into the compartment, checked the printed parameters of the ZK-308 nozzle on the side panel, and pressed the start button.

A soft buzzing sound came from the cubicle, and the work platform inside the observation window slowly rose to the starting position, with several sets of nozzles starting to work simultaneously.

Lü Chaoping stood in front of the observation window and stared at the work platform inside.

He was very familiar with the traditional rocket engine manufacturing process: casting, welding, machining, heat treatment, surface treatment —

Each process is calculated in days, and for complex parts, it can even be calculated in weeks.

And this machine in front of him is printing out of thin air?!

With each blink of Lü Chaoping, the rocket nozzle on the worktable grew slightly larger.

He watched quietly for an hour and a half, and then a rocket nozzle with a diameter of 1.3 meters and no welds on its surface appeared in front of him.

"Incredible skill."

Lu Chaoping brought his face close to the observation window, his nose almost touching the glass.

Lin Yu, standing behind him, said calmly, "Professor Lü, let's call it a day."

This machine is still in the debugging stage. The part it produced is a little too large and needs to undergo secondary sintering and heat treatment before it can be used.

Lu Chaoping straightened up from the observation window, then turned his head to look at the rocket nozzle again, his expression complicated.

For the next two weeks, Lü Chaoping practically lived in the workshop.

During the day, he worked with Lin Yu's team to push the project forward, and at night he would return to his dormitory so exhausted that he would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

With everyone's cooperation, the ZK-308 was successfully assembled half a month later.

The entire engine was completed in less than three weeks, from the printing of the first part to the final assembly.

For engines of the same thrust level, it typically takes years from design freeze to prototype rollout.

The day of the test drive was a sunny day.

On the test stand near the launch valley, the ZK-308 was firmly fixed to the base by four sets of clamps.

Although it looks rather large, it is very simple in design, so simple that the engineers watching from the observation platform in the distance felt that something was missing.

The test run program has started.

In 300 seconds, it was completed in one go, with stable combustion chamber pressure and a smooth thrust curve.

Soon after, the report came out, and all performance parameters were within the design range.

Lu Chaoping held the report and looked at ZK-308 with some confusion.

When did the Rockets become this mess?