J-15 was unveiled rarely, showing production-related processes and equipment. Unlike the busy production lines we remember, the production workshop of the fighter jet is even a bit deserted because a lot of work has been completed by rows of huge CNC machine tools .
China J-15 carrier-based aircraft production line was unveiled. What is more surprising is that there is no scene of being in full swing and crowded, but instead a row of clean and tidy automated CNC machine tools appear. From these production facilities, we can also get a glimpse of the level of my country's aviation production.
J-15 has good performance, so how long does it take to build one?
J-15 fighter is China's first carrier-based fighter , and is also one of the few heavy carrier-based aircraft in the world for long-range combat and air-to-ground attacks. Among all the active carrier-based fighter jets, the J-15's air weight and maximum take-off weight are ranked first in the world. (F-14 "Tomcat" : It's all my fault that I left early, otherwise I would have gestured again)
aircraft has a large size, many hanging points, and strong ability. There are 12 hanging points in the entire aircraft, which can carry a large number of air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles, air-to-surface missiles, air-to-ship missiles, , precision guided bombs, , etc. The two series hanging points on the belly of the aircraft can be combined to carry an 8-meter-long, 4-ton super-large missile . It is currently the carrier-based aircraft with the strongest attack capabilities of all countries in the world. It surpasses the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and F-35C stealth fighter of the US Navy, and is also greatly superior to the French Rafale M carrier-based aircraft.
J-15 radar diameter reaches 1 meter in diameter, and can install huge radar antennas to obtain unparalleled detection advantages, which is also a highlight of the aircraft's capabilities.
For an fighter , its birth is divided into three parts, namely design, manufacturing and test flight in chronological order. The design of the J-15 fighter is completed by the Shenyang Aircraft Research Institute of the Aviation Industry Industry, manufacturing is completed by the Shenyang Aircraft Industry Group Corporation, and the test flight is carried out by the test flight station of the Shenyang Aircraft , the most time-consuming is the manufacturing process.
According to international practice, it takes about 2 years for a fighter to complete material preparation to complete manufacturing. The manufacturing process is roughly divided into parts manufacturing, partial installation and final assembly of . In the video, the J-15 production line is exhibited. The first part is the CNC CNC machining workshop, the second part is the composite material processing center, and the last part is the aircraft department installation and final assembly production line.
creates the J-15, no longer hammering and human sea tactics. The longest processing time of
is the CNC machining center and composite machining center, which is also related to the development of world aviation technology.
As we all know, the J-15 is a third-generation fighter jet modification. The aircraft mainly uses aluminum alloy and titanium alloy materials. In order to reduce the air weight of the aircraft and improve flight performance, it also uses a large number of expensive composite materials, especially high-strength carbon fiber reinforced composite materials. If designed, compared with aluminum alloy parts, it can reduce weight by 20% or even 30%, and the performance improvement is very considerable.
(After processing is handed over to CNC machine tools, the entire workshop is even a bit deserted)
Traditional aircraft manufacturing plants, thin-walled sheet metal parts account for a very high proportion, and most of the manufacturing uses modal bending and extruding thin plates. Afterwards, manual trimming is generally very labor-intensive. Some parts are too simple in the appearance and only provide one-sided modality. Workers have to work hard to smash the thin plates into various curved parts. This is not uncommon in the history of Chinese fighter aircraft manufacturing.
In the past 20 years, the proportion of sheet metal parts has become less and less. The main reason is that the rapid increase in CNC parts and composite parts has eaten up most of the proportion of sheet metal parts. Moreover, over time, the sheet metal parts of the stealth fighter production line will be further reduced.
(large-size CNC machine tools, which can process ultra-large-size integrated parts)
CNC machining center A large number of machine tools are densely arranged, the ground is spotless, and good management can be seen. In fact, the bigger highlight is CNC machining itself. In the era of Chinese second-generation fighter J7 and J8, the total number of CNC machining parts accounted for less than 20% of the total structural parts, but in the era of the third-generation machine, the proportion of CNC parts soared to 50% . The main reason for using CNC machining is that the parts are stiff, complex in shape, high accuracy requirements, and difficult to process. The number of CNC machine tools is also a measure to measure the advancedness of a fighter.
uses a lot of composite materials, and fighter weight loss is 30%
Another particularly rare part is the composite processing center, which is responsible for processing composite parts of the aircraft. According to the classification of composite parts, it is mostly divided into high-strength carbon fiber reinforced parts, fiberglass parts, and honeycomb sandwich parts. The former is used for aircraft wings, flat tails and vertical tails. FRP parts are often used for aircraft radomes, and honeycomb sandwich parts are more used on the control rudder surface.
Among them, carbon fiber reinforced parts are the most and most famous. The reason is that the [specific strength] of more than 10 times the steel is also the most eye-catching one among high-strength and low-density materials. At present, advanced aircraft in all countries around the world generally use T-700 and T-800 high-strength carbon fiber to make parts. China has made major breakthroughs in independent research and development of high-performance carbon fibers in recent years, and has also achieved complete synchronization of world powers. This is the basic material guarantee for China to continuously manufacture advanced fighter jets. Although
composite material is very light and strong, its production conditions are also extraordinary. Carbon fiber is many times more expensive than aluminum alloys, and the processing and manufacturing are complex, and the price of parts is much more expensive than aluminum alloys.
Moreover, during the processing process, the control of process parameters is very strict. If you are not careful, it will be completely scrapped and the cost is huge. For composite material manufacturing, workshop must be air conditioned 24 hours a day to ensure constant temperature and humidity , which requires huge investment and complete management.
(The composite material ratio of F-35 is already very high, and my country has not lagged behind in this field)
At present, regarding the production of carbon fiber parts of the J-15, my country has achieved systematic and large-scale development, and can create a "golden and iron bone" for domestic carrier-based aircraft.
Behind a huge carrier-based aircraft delivery room, we have seen the iteration and progress of the country's industry, and the huge difference between modern production and traditional impressions. There are no rough equipment stained with oil, no sweaty master, a group of aviation people in the new era, who only need to walk between neat and giant machine tools and enter a few parameters to quickly produce fighter jets at high quality. This is the industrial strength of a modern country.
