Why did the Peace Pearl Project abort? The U.S. is asking wildly, and the J-8 model has been stranded in the U.S.

Author: wind thousands of miles

" from aviation science, aviation technology point of view, the lower the plane's speed, maneuverability, the better, the more easy to change direction, the higher the aircraft speed, maneuverability worse, change The direction is more difficult. The American military aircraft (P-3C) is a low-speed aircraft, and our military aircraft is a high-speed aircraft. So, our military aircraft is a high-speed aircraft. It is said that when the U.S. military aircraft took such a robbery act, our military aircraft was in a relatively difficult position."

—— Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Professor Zhang Xing was talking about the Sino-US collision The aircraft incident was said to be

The successful entry of the J-8 and J-8I has greatly improved the air combat power of the People’s Air Force and the Hainan Airlines. Especially for HNA, in the face of the vast sea, the relatively long range of the J-8 has improved the problem of "short legs" that had previously been a headache for HNA troops, and effectively improved the air combat capability. However, at this time, the military and aircraft development institutions are far from being able to sit back and relax because of the success of the J-8. The development cycle of the J-8 itself is too long. It was already in the early 1980s when it entered service. At this time, the major countries in the world have advanced in aviation technology It can be said that the Soviet Union, which has been eyeing on the northern border, has long been equipped with new MiG-23 fighters and Tu-22M supersonic strategic bombers on a large scale, and the newer Su-27 and MiG-29 are about to complete the test flight.

The progress of Western countries is even more obvious. The F-15 and F-16, which represent the most advanced design concepts in the West at the time, have been in service and part of them have been exported to other countries, especially in 1981. In "Operation Babylon", the tactical squadron composed of F-16A and F-15A as the core made a long-distance attack, destroying the Osrak reactor that Yi’s painstakingly operated in one fell swoop, shocking the world and letting people see the powerful fourth-generation fighter for the first time. Combat capability.

Compared with the world-class air force equipment at that time, the equipment of the People’s Air Force and Hainan Airlines at this time can only be described as shabby. The Jian -8, which has been sharpened for ten years, has fallen behind the era almost as soon as it is listed. Not to mention that it pales in the face of the US-Soviet fourth-generation fighters, which have accelerated the development and production progress. It is the main Soviet-made strategic and tactical bombing forces of the Soviet-made MiG-23 fighters and the Tu-22M and Su-24. With backward airborne equipment and low comprehensive combat capabilities, the J-8 is also lacking in confidence and does not have enough capability to effectively intercept. The huge national defense pressure prompted the military to put forward higher requirements for the design of new models: the Air Force proposed to develop a new all-weather multi-purpose fighter that can compete for air supremacy with the MiG-23 and other third-generation fighters, and has strong ground combat capabilities. . The Navy also proposed the need for a fighter with long-range sea search/combat capabilities and capable of launching medium-range air-to-air missiles.

[The MiG -23MS, which has not been restored before the renovation and expansion of the China Aviation Museum, is the same year. China obtained the MiG -23 from Egypt through exchange. For confidentiality purposes, the Egyptian Air Force logo on the aircraft was erased, and the nose was also painted with the words "18式"]

These were quite strict for the Chinese aviation industry at the time. The harsh requirements eventually fell on Shen Fei, who had just successfully developed the J-8, and on the shoulders of Chief Engineer Gu Songfen and his team. At this time, China used a small batch of JJ-6 trainer aircraft to obtain a complete MiG-23 from the Egyptian Air Force at the time.

Despite many military conflicts in the Middle East in the 1970s In China, the aircraft and the Israeli Air Force’s U.S.-made fighters have repeatedly failed in the duel, but they have not been in contact for a long time.Shen Fei, who has gone abroad for active fighters, is like a treasure. After conducting a series of disassembly studies on this Soviet main frontline fighter, Shen Fei has basically figured out the important technical details of its engine, air intake, differential tail, fire control system and autopilot. According to the MiG- 23. The technical results of reverse analysis and research, combined with the poor maneuverability of the J-8 aircraft due to the use of nose air intake and the weakness of the on-board equipment, Shen Fei proposed a relatively economical design plan: that is, the J-8I Based on the technical characteristics of the MiG-23, it was redesigned. This plan fully took into account the current status of my country's aviation technology and economic affordability at that time, and was quickly recognized by the senior management.

In September 1980, the Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense officially named the improved J-8I proposed by Shen Fei as the J-8II, and Shen Fei immediately began the design of the entire aircraft. Compared with the old J-8, the biggest improvement of the J-8II has completely changed its nose air intake layout, changed to two sides air intake, and redesigned the aircraft's front fuselage. This layout allows the new aircraft to be equipped with a larger diameter radar antenna, which can effectively improve the aircraft's airborne equipment level. At the same time, the air intake layout on both sides has greatly improved the air intake efficiency. Equipped with the turbojet-13AII with greater thrust, the J-8II will get a qualitative leap in flight performance and air/ground combat capabilities.

The development of the J-8II is not only a bold attempt by China’s aviation industry to integrate the world’s advanced technologies, but also an innovation in the entire industrial development and production process management . As the first batch of research and development projects to realize the system engineering management system, the development process of the J-8II undoubtedly provides a more scientific and effective management model for my country's future military research and production. Compared with the original J-8, as many as 70% of the J-8II needs to be redesigned. Among the 518 supporting products, 158 of them need to be re-developed or improved. This way, the overall rectification from technical details to management mode is very important. For Shen Fei, it is tantamount to re-developing a new type of fighter. At this time, China was bathed in the spring breeze of reform, the political environment tended to be stable, and the national economic development was improving, which provided a valuable external environment for the development of the J-8II. By March 1984, Shen Fei had completed the assembly of the first prototype (Unit 01), and carried out the first taxi test a month later. The novel appearance and bright painting made the Shen Fei employees and the The military representatives are more confident.

On June 12th, test pilot Qu Xueren successfully drove the#01 aircraft into the sky and successfully completed the test flight subjects of the day. It only took less than 4 years from the establishment of the project to the successful first flight of the aircraft. Such a high-efficiency research and development speed was in the previous history of the aviation industry, only when Soviet experts aided China on a large scale. In the following three years, the remaining three prototypes of the J-8II were delivered successively, and according to the requirements of the flight test outline, 800 takeoffs and landings were completed, a total of 590 hours of flight test missions, and the required 88 flight test subjects were successfully completed. During the flight test, a number of technical problems were solved successively, such as the high-altitude oscillation of the autopilot, the poor quality of the fairy tale of the communication station, and the high failure rate of the air data computer. During this period, no prototype was damaged or crashed by a major accident. By March 18, 1988, the J-8II passed the national firing review, and the first batch of trial production models were also delivered to the troops for trial. Compared with the 10-year arduous journey of the "big brother" J-8, the cutting-edge J-8II is really a Lucky guy.

However, the feedback from the army was quickly passed to Shen Fei. The frontline officers and soldiers were generally dissatisfied with the aircraft. The reason was that it was limited to the backward performance of the early domestic radar and was put into trial by the army. Early Jian -8II did not yet have the interception capability of medium-range air-to-air missiles required at the beginning of development, which disappointed the pilots who looked through the waters of the new fighter. But the military still affirms the maneuverability of the J-8II. In particular, its dual-side air intake layout adopts an external pressure two-element three-wave system adjustable supersonic intake (this design refers to the MiG-23), thereby effectively realizing the adjustment of the air intake, which gives the J-8II BetterThe higher the altitude and high speed performance. The huge nose also provides sufficient space for future equipment with new radars and airborne equipment. It can be seen that although officers and soldiers are not satisfied with the F-8II, its potential for improvement is huge.

The fire control system equipped on the early J-8II is composed of a 208 radar radar, a sighting-8A optical sight and an eight-type camera gun. It is also equipped with a reference MiG-23 KJ-12 autopilot developed by technology. The Type 208 radar was developed on the basis of the Type 204 radar carried by the F-8I and was successfully developed almost at the same time as the F-8II. This type of fire control radar represented the highest level of my country's military industry at that time, but it adopted a monopulse system and its technology has fallen behind the world's advanced level. The HK-13 HUD fire control radar developed specifically for the F-8II was not finalized when the first production F-8II was delivered to the army, which prevented pilots from being able to aim through the HUD like the pilots of advanced countries such as the US and the Soviet Union. , And receive real-time important data such as aircraft attitude, heading, flight altitude, and target orientation. Can only continue to use backward optical sights, the disappointment of frontline officers and soldiers can be imagined.

At this time, the relationship between China and the West has entered a honeymoon period. While accelerating the development of HK-13, China has also begun a series of military technology cooperation with the United States and other Western powers. Obtain advanced western airborne equipment by learning from experience. Among them, ’s biggest project is 1986, which is the “Peace Pearl” project (also translated as “Peace Model”) jointly launched by China and the United States in this , which has an impact on -8II.

The main content of this project is to replace the American-made AN/APG-66 fire control radar for the J-8II, as well as other advanced head-up displays, inertial navigation systems and digital aviation fire control systems. The MIL-STD-1533B data bus provided by the United States connects the new American-made equipment with the original domestic equipment. Once this ambitious plan is successful, the overall combat performance of the J-8II will surpass that of the Chinese Air Force and HNA’s old enemy MiG-23, and will be able to intercept all Soviet strategic and tactical bombers in service at that time. However, in view of the heavy weight of the airborne equipment, the appearance of the J-8II still needs to be improved. After more than a year of bargaining, China and the United States have finally signed a cooperation agreement. The Chinese side will invest 200 million US dollars. by the United States Grumman Company As the main contractor, cooperated to refit 50 frame-fighter -8II.

[After the abortion of the Peace Pearl Plan, the fighter -8II has been stranded in the United States until now. Returned to China after the end of the plan and kept in the China Aviation Museum]

and just after the two fighters -8II arrived in the United States for preliminary modification, the sudden change in the situation caused The project came to the brink of miscarriage. Soon under the momentum of sanctions against me, Grumman began to ask China again, and the face of the US capitalists disappointed the Chinese. In addition, at this time, the Soviet Union began to fully shrink the front and was already on the eve of collapse. -8II's original presupposed rival is no longer a threat, and it is meaningless to continue to spend precious foreign exchange on this project. Therefore, by 1990, China officially announced the suspension of the project. The original idea of ​​using Western technology to allow the J-8II to gain advanced combat effectiveness was finally shattered under the brutal actions of the United States. However, the failure of the project gave China the opportunity to gain access to the most advanced military electronic equipment today, and since then, China has become more determined to rely on it. The determination of own strength to develop military equipment.

[Glide through 2-10A The fighter -8D next to the battle fuselage, in the near future, the old fighter -8II will all be retired from active service]

In the following ten years, Shen Fei has made many major improvements to the J-8II, launching the J-8B, J-8III, J-8D (with aerial fuel function) and J-8F ( The J-8II (final modification) and other models have greatly met the military's operational requirements for homeland air defense. The F-8II itself was used by Shen Fei as an important platform for various scientific research work, and a large number of military research tasks were carried out (such as the F-8II ACT).

J-8II accompanied China’s national defense through those tight days from the 1990s to the beginning of this century. It has survived the test of sanctions and plane collision incidents, and guarded the blue sky of the motherland until the new sharp JJ -10, J-11 and even J-20 took over the baton. Now, there are very few J-8IIs still in service, and they will all be retired from active service in the near future. But like Wang Wei’s heroic deeds will not be forgotten by people, the name of J-8II It will also last forever in the history of the Republic.