According to the "War Zone" column of the U.S. "Drive" website, the latest photos on social media show that China is conducting test flights of a new tiltrotor aircraft. The new aircraft, painted white, has a propulsion system design highly similar to the U.S. military's newly standardized MV-75 (V-280 "Valor") tiltrotor aircraft, but its tail and landing gear designs are significantly different. The website believes that this new tiltrotor aircraft has broken the U.S. monopoly in this field and will significantly enhance the combat capabilities of China's navy and air force.
As an aircraft that combines the advantages of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, the unique value of tiltrotor aircraft has long been recognized by many countries. Compared to conventional helicopters, tiltrotor aircraft are faster, quieter, have a longer range, better load capacity, and fuel efficiency, thus reducing transportation costs. For this reason, since the 1950s, the U.S., the Soviet Union, and other countries have never stopped exploring it. From 2005 to 2007, Bell's V-22 "Osprey" entered full production and was deployed in combat, marking the tiltrotor aircraft's transition from the laboratory to practical application.
However, the reputation of the V-22 "Osprey" has been polarized. Technologically, it is a breakthrough, but high accident rates and low reliability issues have made the "Osprey" a "failure" in procurement and use. Among the U.S. military branches, the Army has always refused to purchase it, the Air Force only has 56 CV-22s, the Navy plans to equip 53 CMV-22Bs, and only the U.S. Marine Corps became the largest user, currently having 348 MV-22s. The overseas market is also cold, with only the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force purchasing 14 units.
After the V-22 "Osprey," Bell Company launched the V-280 "Valor" and won a comeback. It redesigned the propulsion system, using fixed engines that do not rotate with the rotors. The fuselage layout borrowed the advantages of the "Black Hawk" helicopter, eventually winning the U.S. Army's "Future Long-Range Attack Aircraft" program and receiving the MV-75 designation. The success of the V-280 proves that, as technology matures, the potential of tiltrotor aircraft is still to be unleashed.
Domestically, exploration in the tiltrotor aircraft field is also active. In recent years, several drone models have been publicly unveiled, such as the "Lanthanum Shadow R6000" from Shenzhen United Aircraft Group and the "Assault Eagle-2000" from Beijing Hangjing Innovation, which focus on the civilian market; while the Rainbow-10 from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation focuses on military use and is the first medium-to-large unmanned tiltrotor aircraft in China to complete autonomous tilt transition flight.
The new manned tiltrotor aircraft that has attracted attention is the product of Harbin Aircraft Industry Group. In terms of aerodynamic shape and structural layout, it obviously absorbs the advantages of the MV-75 and the Italian AW-609 (civilian version), adopting a cantilevered upper wing, T-tail, tricycle landing gear, a rectangular fuselage center, and two engine nacelles. Its biggest highlight is the propulsion system, which uses a fixed engine and tilt rotor/screw design, similar to the MV-75, rather than the tilting engine nacelle design of the V-22 "Osprey."
The advantage of the horizontal fixed engine design is obvious, as it can avoid engine exhaust from scorching the deck or ground. However, the V-22 "Osprey" has a major defect: during takeoff and landing, the hot airflow from the engine directly hits the ground vertically, requiring extremely strict conditions for the takeoff and landing site. On warships, it can also cause damage to the deck, requiring special modifications to the deck. Moreover, tiltrotor aircraft with horizontally fixed engines do not have these problems, and they can also provide stronger low-speed flexibility, enabling near-ground hovering and lifting weapons equipment.
Tiltrotor aircraft with horizontally fixed engines have larger rotors and lower rotational speeds, which can alleviate the vortex ring effect and improve safety. In vertical position, the nacelles will not block personnel access or obscure the view of side-mounted machine guns. Of course, this design is more difficult, and the tilting mechanism is more complex. In comparison, the tilting engine nacelle design of the V-22 "Osprey" requires less mechanism, but there are problems such as jet exhaust scorching the ship's deck and rotor downwash interference. From this perspective, China's new tiltrotor aircraft has clearly avoided some pitfalls.
Notably, the MV-75 is equipped with two T64-GE-419 turboshaft engines, each with a takeoff power of 3500 kilowatts. This means that if China's new aircraft wants to match or surpass it, it will need to be equipped with domestically produced aviation engines ranging from 3000 to 5000 kilowatts in the future. This is both a technical barrier and a key point that must be overcome.
From the demand side, China's navy's expectations for tiltrotor aircraft are not hard to understand. Not only is it a powerful tool for amphibious landing operations, capable of quickly deploying forces, but it is also an ideal choice for coastal rapid transport, efficiently completing island chain supply missions. It can also play an advantage in tasks such as shipboard transportation, anti-submarine warfare, and search and rescue. Especially in areas like the South China Sea, it can significantly improve the efficiency of island chain logistics support and personnel transportation, strengthening control over related areas.
As a latecomer in the tiltrotor aircraft field, China's efforts to catch up are clearly accelerating. From technological accumulation in drone models to breakthroughs in manned aircraft test flights, each step is narrowing the gap with international frontiers. As the "Drive" website said, with the progress of the new aircraft's test flights, many of China's concepts in the tiltrotor aircraft field are gradually being realized.
In the future, the deployment of China's new tiltrotor aircraft will allow the PLA to respond faster and extend its operational radius, injecting new momentum into the PLA's three-dimensional combat system. This is not only an upgrade in equipment, but also another reflection of the leap in China's national defense science and technology strength.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7540450243930898954/
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