novelAbuy #438 - Small pile to enlarge aviation release
#438 - Small pile to enlarge aviation release
For Ren Zhong, letting the Rapid Reaction Force have a small-scale trial and then start on the right track of development was none of his business. If Old Li couldn't do well with the rest, he would replace him next time, letting Old Li know that he might also be a backup.
Since finding Professor Wu, something related to nuclear reaction has definitely been in the top ten of Ren Zhong's task importance list. It used to be the Peaceful Nuke, but now the Peaceful Nuke has been iterated for several generations, and now they are all above the megaton level. The hydrogen bomb can easily explode with a power of 3 million tons, so the priority in this area is no longer on Ren Zhong's list.
Now it is small nuclear reactor power generation, which is a modular compact nuclear reactor, but the output power is much larger than the shipborne one, a new type of small reactor.
According to Ren Zhong's plan, it is to achieve a small reactor with an output electrical power of 100MW instead of thermal power, because the island construction in the South China Sea is faster than Ren Zhong imagined!
The nuclear-powered Kunpeng is working tirelessly, which is even more terrifying than the Tiankun in the main world. After all, this does not need to burn oil. Although the one-time investment cost is not low, the nuclear reactor alone is worth more than 3 ship hulls, but it is really cool to use after completion, as if it has opened an infinite energy supply mode.
However, the efficiency of island construction is very high now. In a few months, five or six islands in the south have been built to a scale of more than one square kilometer, but the facilities and energy supply on the islands have not been resolved at all.
In such a remote place, obviously, diesel generator sets and coal-fired power generation systems that rely on logistics supply are not suitable. If considering the convenience of use, a compact modular nuclear power reactor is the best.
In addition, two 100MW experimental nuclear power plants were built in the plateau before. Now, on the basis of those two experimental nuclear power plants, further optimization and improvement are carried out to make it adapt to the high-salt, high-humidity, and high-heat environment of the ocean. At the same time, it is also necessary to solve the harmonious coexistence with the residents on the island, providing friendly and continuous energy, rather than radiation.
Therefore, it must be re-optimized and designed into a modular and closed state. This new type of reactor will not only solve the power consumption problem on the island, but also solve the problems of large destroyers and aircraft carriers in Ren Zhong's plan after it matures.
100MW of electrical power output is a powerful power of 136,000 horsepower. A 10,000-ton destroyer can take off with only one set, and even a tens of thousands of tons of aircraft carrier can only use two sets at most.
Although the principle of this type of reactor is the same as that of the reactor on a nuclear submarine, there are actually many differences in power. For example, the design configuration and the treatment of the steam turbine are very different. On the sea surface, scientists can produce higher temperature and higher pressure hot steam, making the thermal conversion efficiency of nuclear reaction higher.
In the era of the OK-150 experimental reactor, the thermal conversion efficiency was only 16%. Now, the indicator given by Ren Zhong for the second-generation reactor is to reach more than 25%! This means that for 100MW of output power, only 400MW of thermal power is needed, and the volume and scale of the entire reactor must be achieved under the condition that it is less than 2 times or nearly 3 times the original.
As for the 100,000-kilowatt steam turbine, Dongda has already completed the technical accumulation and has been widely used in thermal power plants.
So the biggest difficulty of this work is the improvement of the compact nuclear reactor.
There are different choices for small reactor technology routes, such as light water reactors, high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, liquid metal reactors, and molten salt reactors. Although Ren Zhong tried his best to bring back the reference materials of several small reactors obtained from the main world, Ren Zhong found it difficult to obtain the core design of these reactors. No matter where the reactor is, it is now in a confidential state, and it is impossible to solve it by simply spending money.
Of course, this is because Ren Zhong doesn't have enough money in the main world. If he is a billionaire, as rich as that Bill, he can completely establish a new energy company, and then invest money to develop advanced small nuclear reactors. He even gave a large cruise ship money to do such a thing, and launched an open source cruise ship project to start these pioneering works.
Although Ren Zhong can now be regarded as a small fortune, he often has billions of cold deposits left in dozens of accounts.
However, projects like nuclear power research cannot be supported by private individuals, let alone smaller countries, in the main world!
However, this does not mean that Ren Zhong has no way at all. He used the power of overseas universities to launch a purely theoretical research project on miniaturized new nuclear reactors in Austria-Hungary in Europe, and supported some of the experiments, with the condition of sharing the results of theoretical research and experimental data.
Although such work is a bit far from a real reactor, Austria-Hungary, as a traditional nuclear reaction research country, actually has a rich accumulation of scientists in this area, and is almost one of the strongest ten countries in nuclear research besides the five major powers.
Therefore, Ren Zhong is sparing no effort in providing ideas for the researchers in the Bright Sword world.
Because the scale of Professor Wu's team has long expanded to several different teams, the weapons-grade, power-grade, and medical-grade teams have all expanded to thousands or even thousands of people!
The Nuclear Research Center is the most expensive research department under Ren Zhong's banner, without one exception. They cost much more than aerospace, but Ren Zhong does not save any money on this. As long as Professor Wu has a plan to research, he will approve it!
The Nuclear Research Center's project funding is the easiest to obtain. In the eyes of others, Ren Zhong is somewhat suspected of being a fool with a lot of money.
But Ren Zhong himself understands that this is the real backbone of Dongda!
Whether it is the Peaceful Nuke or nuclear power, these are the real foundations of a great power.
When a big black fish goes to sea, the world will learn to listen to Dongda's advice. As more and more big black fish go to sea, many countries have learned to talk to Dongda in a low voice.
As for the commercialization of nuclear power to make money, the most likely thing is nuclear power, developing nuclear reactors for commercial power generation.
Even though Dongda has been researching in this area for more than ten years and has developed many reactors, the real technical level is actually still hovering around the second-generation nuclear reactor, even with Ren Zhong's theoretical stimulation and catalysis.
Ren Zhong has not relaxed in the nuclear field, and the same is true in aerospace, which is definitely an area that must be included in the top 10 projects every year.
The Aerospace Research Center is now preparing to split up, because the aviation research business has basically achieved a self-sufficient state, so Ren Zhong decided to give them more room for development.
After all, in addition to fighters and transport aircraft, the airliners of the Aviation Center are now very profitable, basically forming a three-legged situation with Europe and North America!
This was solely because, after Ren Zhong initially brought back the complete technical lines for the C-47 and C-54 transport aircraft, the development of air transportation was prioritized in the process of domestic transportation development. Now, over 500 airports capable of handling C-47s and 100 airports capable of handling C-54s have been built across the country.
The aviation industry was forcibly boosted by domestic demand. Currently, based on these two transport aircraft, the Y-6 and Y-8 series of airliners have evolved into two generations, completing two categories of airliners: 50-65 seaters and 100-125 seaters.
Thousands of these aircraft have been produced, fully covering the current domestic air transportation needs.
And in the latest generation of Y-6C and Y-8B airliners, we have begun to receive some orders from our little brothers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. For example, when they want to customize king's private jets, president's private jets, or tycoon's private jets, if their relationship with the Rogue Eagle (United States) isn't strong enough, they don't dare to trust them at all. So, if they want to choose another manufacturer, then Dongda (East Great, referring to China) is one of only two options.
Apart from Europe, the only other option is Dongda's aviation industry products. Although Big Bear (Russia) also has airliner options, to be honest, even their own people are afraid to fly in them!
And after so many years of commercial operation of the Y-6 and Y-8 models, with a fleet size of over a thousand, approaching two thousand, there have been no accidents so far. The quality of the products has been rigorously tested by the market. Therefore, even though these two series of airliners may not be able to obtain the Rogue Eagle's aviation certification, it has not had much impact on their sales.
Of course, there is definitely some impact. For example, those who hold so-called neutral attitudes from third parties like to hedge their bets, attempting to please both sides. In such cases, without the Rogue Eagle's aviation certification, it is difficult for their flights to the Rogue Eagle to obtain route approval.
This method is used to publicly force the airlines of those third-party countries to take sides.
However, for other routes, these countries have more than one airline operating. For them, it's all about business. They will use whoever has the best product and the right price. In this way, the Y-6C, with its excellent cost performance, stands out. It doesn't require high airport standards; a concrete-hardened airport is sufficient. If that's not possible, compacted earth will do.
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The key is that, under the most economical layout conditions, it can still carry as many as 65 people. For most small countries' feeder flights, this basically meets 90% of their air transportation needs. And in terms of price, Dongda's model is only two-thirds of the price of the Rogue Eagle's with the same carrying capacity!
The key is that this model is safe and reliable!
Dongda has produced thousands of such models, and after more than ten years of operation, with millions of flights, nothing has gone wrong.
This is a fully tested and reliable old model, and the reliability of its quality is beyond doubt.
With the development of materials, the production optimization of the entire model has been ongoing. In the latest two models, after widening and lengthening the fuselage, the power section has also been replaced with a new turboprop engine. The weight has not increased, but the payload has increased by more than 2 tons, and the number of passengers has doubled compared to the original model. However, fuel consumption has decreased by about 15% compared to the original C-47, and the maximum range has reached 3,000 kilometers. For most countries, this is enough to fly around their country and back.
Therefore, the Y-6C is very competitive in the international third-world countries. After all, their money doesn't come from thin air; they need to carefully calculate every penny.
They prefer customized airliners with a large passenger capacity and an economical layout. Although the comfort level is worse than that of business-class airliners, and the passenger experience is much weaker, for their internal countries, having a seat is already very humane. They can't wait to carry as many passengers as possible in a standing position to make money.
Although the number sold to each country is not large, the number of purchasing countries is huge. It has now exceeded 50 countries with a total quantity of over 200 aircraft!
Don't look down on the fact that the purchase price per seat of the Y-6C is less than two-thirds of the Rogue Eagle's equivalent, but the profit of aviation products is inherently high. The Y-6 model has undergone mass production. Considering both transport aircraft and airliners, the overall production scale has exceeded at least 3,000 aircraft. The production supply chain is very mature, and the price of corresponding accessories has also dropped a lot. The production cost of a Y-6C is less than 1.5 million, but the selling price starts at 2.5 million, which translates to about 38,500 per seat. Internationally, the same type of airliner costs about 60,000 per seat.
The gross profit of each Y-6C is a blood-soaked profit of over 1 million. Therefore, the Aviation Research Center alone has earned no less than 200 million back from this model from the international market, which basically meets their own development needs.
What's more, there are domestic sales. Even though the market price is much lower than international sales, and the profit requirements are much thinner, basically around 20% gross profit, the volume is huge. Even if the international sales earn 1 million per aircraft, and the domestic sales earn 300,000 per aircraft, the gross profit of domestic market sales outweighs international sales. With a scale of 3,000 aircraft, the gross profit is as high as 900 million! Over the years, the Aviation Research Center has had a good life, and the C-47 and C-54 transport aircraft and improved airliners have made a great contribution, directly fattening the Aviation Research Center.
Because the profits of transport aircraft and airliners are very considerable, the profits of fighter jets are also considerable. Even if it's domestic sales, a large quantity is still a lot of money. After all, selling airplanes is truly selling high-tech products.
Because of this, the domestic Qiang-5 attack aircraft, based on the A-4 attack aircraft, was designed with the intention of being a foreign trade product from the start, considering that this model poses little threat to the country. The researchers wanted to add fighter jet functions to this attack aircraft, hoping to give this fighter the advantage of fighting propeller fighters.
For Ren Zhong, regarding the overseas sales of domestic fighter jets, he always believed that second-tier fighter jets could be sold casually, while first-tier active-duty fighter jets should be sold with careful consideration. The first thing to pay attention to is whether there are means of restraint for this fighter jet domestically. If there are, then basically there is no big problem, and it can be sold completely.
But if there are no means of restraint, or the means of restraint are insufficient, then it is completely out of the question. For example, the latest J-9 fighter jet is an absolute non-seller!
However, after the J-9 fighter jet was introduced, the J-5A, which is currently in active service, immediately became somewhat undesirable. After replacing it with a slightly inferior radar, the personnel of the Aviation Research Center turned it into the FC-5 and launched it as a foreign trade model, starting to sell it overseas.
As for the early P51D Mustang fighter jets, they are now labeled for sale at a discount. The original price of 55,000 US dollars for a P51D Mustang fighter jet is now sold for 40,000 US dollars in stock!
Not to mention that helicopters have taken the path of integrated domestic and overseas sales from the very beginning. Like the automobile industry, Ren Zhong fully holds an open development mindset for the aviation industry and is not afraid of opponents reverse-engineering themselves through foreign trade products!
After all, these models will soon become obsolete to the point where Ren Zhong can't even look at them.
The breakthroughs in carbon fiber materials, the electronics industry, and aircraft engines that Ren Zhong is planning will have a fatal impact on the aviation industry.