The Fisherman Who Never Catches Fish

Not just this secret research institute, there were technical breakthroughs at other institutes as well.

It seemed that a brief era of technical "explosion" had emerged.

At a certain aviation engine research institute,

a group of people excitedly looked at a newly tested engine.

This engine was the latest product of their research, and they had finally achieved a breakthrough.

Inspired by some foreign engines, they had solved a persistent technological issue.

It had just been a matter of the final push after an inspiration came, and then everything fell into place.

We had been developing our own engines for many years and had accumulated a lot of technical expertise.

However, by comparison, our technology was still relatively weak internationally.

But this time, we were lucky, having not only the F35 engine but also the F22 engine.

After disassembling and studying these two engines, we gained some technological insights.

It so happened that during this time, there were also some breakthroughs in materials.

Essentially, everything was falling into place.

It didn't take much time, significantly speeding up the development progress.

Otherwise, at the normal pace of development, we would have needed at least three more years to achieve a breakthrough.

This allowed for even greater breakthroughs in the development of the new small duct engine.

Basically, we were at a point where we could create a balance of power with "Eagle".

There was no difference in the performance of their engines anymore.

At least with the success of this engine's development, we even had a slight lead.

Since the success of the development of the Fifth Generation Fighter, we were gradually catching up in the development of fighter jets.

But, in the realm of engines, we were consistently weaker.

After all, we started later and didn't accumulate as much technological expertise.

When we first successfully developed the Fifth Generation Fighter, we were still using an improved Taixing Engine, which had always been a problem, and it was a pain point for us.

It was said to be useless.

But fortunately, we did not easily admit defeat and developed rapidly.

After persistent catching up, the next generation of our homemade engines, Turbofan 15, was about to be successful.

We were just on the verge of success.

In fact, it could be used now, but technically it wasn't fully mature yet, and there were still some technical bottlenecks to solve, so its performance couldn't be fully realized.

But, if necessary, it could still be used, so we proceeded with experimental deployment and conducted initial prototype upgrades.

But we still hoped for a more mature technological breakthrough to use a more perfect engine that would match the new generation of the Fifth Generation Fighter and become the king of future aerial combat.

Thus, the improved model continued to be developed and finally now, we had a new breakthrough.

This breakthrough was completely revolutionary.

It was a massive breakthrough.

It enabled us to overcome the previous constraints of uselessness.

No longer dependent on others, we could develop and produce the most advanced engines ourselves.

And in terms of material technology, we also achieved a breakthrough.

Both technological and material breakthroughs had led to the developments of this improved model of the engine.

"This improved model's maximum thrust has reached 20.6 tons!"

"I can hardly believe it!"

Passing the twenty-ton mark in thrust was a new milestone.

The previously developed Turbofan 15 could exert a maximum thrust of 18 tons.

This improved model had significantly increased the thrust, breaking through twenty tons, which was an incredible figure.

Moreover, its thrust-to-weight ratio was also the most impressive feature, reaching 13, surpassing Eagle's F135 engine, which only has a ratio of 12.

The earlier Turbofan 15's thrust-to-weight ratio was just 10, but now we had directly jumped to 13, thanks to the breakthroughs in materials and technology.

We had made significant advancement on this base.

Typically, the higher the thrust-to-weight ratio of an aircraft engine, the higher the maneuverability.

With our superior aerodynamic layout of the fighter jet, far surpassing Eagle, if paired with this newly developed improved Turbofan 15 engine, then the maneuverability of the aircraft would be high enough to drastically outperform the F35 and F22.

Maneuverability is the embodiment of a fighter jet's capabilities.

It gave us a significant advantage in aerial combat.

"These F35 and F22 jets, they really came at the right time."

"Next, we need to test the engine's service life."

"As long as the service life can break three thousand hours, it's satisfactory."

That was our minimum requirement, hoping to break three thousand hours—that would be satisfactory. We weren't looking to surpass Eagle immediately.

Just outdoing ourselves was fine.

The original Turbofan 15 had a service life of about two thousand hours.

This was due to limitations in the materials.

But now that there's a breakthrough in materials, three thousand hours was our minimum target, and how much it would actually achieve was not yet known.

We just hoped to achieve a higher service life.

Eagle's F135 engine has a service life of about four thousand hours.

We still hoped to catch up to that.

"Then let's start the testing!"

A new round of testing was underway.

And this time, the testing was focused on the engine's service life.

...

Apart from the breakthroughs in engines, we also achieved some breakthroughs in the technology of the Fifth Generation Fighter.