Chapter 283 Arrogant Capitalist

At that time, only durability tests were done to prove that the engine could meet the number of flight hours. However, the designers did not anticipate how violently the pilots on the front line would operate.

Instantly increase or decrease the throttle, various complex maneuvers... No fighter pilot would fly a fighter as if it were a civilian aircraft! Although the current F100 is better than the TF-30 of the Tomcat fighter and does not frequently experience surge, compressor stall has always troubled F-15 pilots. Although it is very simple to correct, if one of the two engines stalls and the other can work normally, level the aircraft, let the turbine cool down, and restart it in the air, the problem can be corrected.

However, in a fierce air battle, stalling means death, and the opponent will not give you a chance to recover! If you fly level for a few minutes, you will be a target!

The stall alone was enough to put a heavy burden on the pilots on the front line, and now there was another one: a broken compressor blade!

Engine stall is just the engine shutting down, but compressor blade breakage is not a simple matter! The blades rotate at high speed, and after breaking, the centrifugal speed is faster than the bullet! It hits the blades behind, hits the combustion chamber, breaks the engine casing, and damages various pipelines... The F-15 engine caught fire just now because the blade broke, interrupting the hydraulic oil pipeline, causing the hydraulic oil to catch fire!

If Major Dick was brave enough, he could have stopped the plane. After all, the fuel was not on fire, so he still had a chance. Unfortunately, the fear of death made Major Dick make a big mistake. What's more, the US rule is to save people first and then the plane!

During the test run, the F100 engine had a compressor blade crack problem. Later, during formal production, strict processes were adopted and higher standards for material selection. Pratt & Whitney once thought that this problem had been overcome!

However, since the F-15 engines were equipped with the Far East troops, they have been undergoing high-intensity flight training. After all, they are facing war head-on, and frequent use has caused this problem to occur again in the F100 engine during its life cycle!

"Since the performance indicators of our F100 have made a qualitative leap compared with the previous generation, the fighter has strong maneuverability and a wide flight envelope. It is precisely because of the high maneuverability of the F-15 that it is required to push and pull the throttle lever back and forth quickly during use, which causes the engine speed and temperature to change dramatically, resulting in major components undergoing variable stress cycles." On the other end of the phone, the Pratt & Whitney engineer was still chattering: "When the Air Force made the request, it did not specify reliability experiments. Our company noticed this problem as early as the 1970s, but unfortunately, it was delayed by the Air Force. We apologize for what happened now and hope that the general can work with the White House to allocate funds for us to conduct durability research."

"Get lost! Get out of here!" Lieutenant General Paul was furious at the other end of the phone. He was completely furious! Until now, Pratt & Whitney was still thinking about their own interests and didn't care about the prestige and safety of the US Air Force at all! This group of blood-eating capitalists!

Lieutenant General Paul was completely speechless. It was a monopoly! Lieutenant General Paul had heard about some things in the country.

When the engine was first finalized, the main focus was on the engine's ability to operate at high temperatures for the longest steady-state time, rather than its ability to operate under multiple cycles. As a result, this has led to various faults in actual operation today.

The U.S. Air Force is like an ant on hot pot. In fact, not just now, but last year, or even the year before, the troops equipped with F-15 fighter jets realized the reliability problem and asked Pratt & Whitney to make corrections. However, Pratt & Whitney's answer was infuriating!

"We have met the model specification requirements that were set at the beginning. Now our company is responsible for helping to maintain the engines, which is already a loss. The maintenance of these engines is quite expensive. Now, our company can help the military solve these problems, but the required expenses need to be fully provided by the government!"

When the fighter jets were finalized and first equipped to the troops, the maintenance work was first done by the company's people, and gradually transferred to the air force ground crew. Pratt & Whitney felt that it was at a disadvantage for helping to maintain the engines, and if it wanted to make improvements and solve new problems, the government would have to pay for it!

This made the already very angry Air Force generals feel that Pratt & Whitney was arrogant and irresponsible, and of course they would not agree to Pratt & Whitney's request.

However, when the Air Force looked back, they found that they had no spare engines to choose from! Their third-generation aircraft, the F-15, and the F-16 that was about to be put into service, could only choose the F100 engine!

Pratt & Whitney knows this very well. The Air Force has no choice! So they are playing rogue. In one word, they are dragging their feet. If the Air Force doesn't pay, there will be no improvement! The Air Force must give in!

Historically, it was delayed until 1979. The Air Force was disappointed. Pratt & Whitney used the excuse that two major engine subcontractors had gone on strike and deliberately reduced production capacity, leaving engines in short supply. As a result, the newly manufactured F-15s did not have engines when they were delivered! This was to force the Air Force to make concessions.

Unfortunately, the Air Force was already disappointed. It was definitely not a good thing that Pratt & Whitney alone was the power source of the third-generation aircraft! The frustrated Air Force began to support General Dynamics in developing engines.

At this time, Pratt & Whitney suddenly changed its attitude and gave up the high R&D funds. Instead, it formulated various preferential policies, with the premise of squeezing out General Motors. At this time, the Air Force remained unmoved and insisted on developing General Motors' F101 engine into the F110 engine, which became another power source for the third-generation aircraft.

Without competition, there is no development! The United States has always insisted on a competitive mechanism for its equipment, especially the Air Force, which is a lesson learned from this.

And now, there is no sign of other engines, and Pratt & Whitney is in a state of arrogantly asking for exorbitant prices. Now, the engine has a serious problem, and they are still making demands for the interests of their own company!

It's good enough that we didn't send you to a military court for trial! Lieutenant General Paul hung up the phone with a terribly gloomy face, his fists clenched tightly, veins bulging. It looked like he could run to Misawa Base at any time to beat up those Pratt & Whitney guys!

"Order, all F-15 fleets grounded and engines checked." Lieutenant General Paul slowly unclenched his fist and gave the order. He knew that making such a choice meant giving up Hokkaido. However, the fighter plane had a malfunction and it absolutely could not take off. Should he fly over and gain experience for the Soviets and increase the results of the battle?