I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 846 - 744: Technology Issues

The new spaceplane test flight was quite successful. Although the aircraft didn’t actually break through the atmosphere into space, it reached an altitude of thirty thousand meters with the powerful push of its engine and maintained a supersonic speed of Mach 7.

This is incredibly astonishing for an aircraft, considering that under normal circumstances, the flight speed of supersonic fighter jets is below Mach 3.

One could construct a plane capable of accelerating to Mach 10, but such planes are not designed for fighter jet-type high maneuverability.

The reason, however, isn’t due to technical barriers; it’s because pilots can’t withstand the ultra-high G-force during high-speed maneuvers at supersonic speeds.

Although astronauts, after rigorous training with anti-load suits, can endure greater G-forces, it’s impossible to make every fighter pilot reach astronaut levels, nor can every fighter pilot be equipped with a spacesuit.

Thus, to protect pilots, the flight speed of fighter jets is limited.

In fact, within the Southern Celestial Gate Project, the original Profound Lady Aerial Combat Drone also adopted protective designs for pilots due to its manned mode, limiting its flight speed within the atmosphere to around Mach 5. It can only reach the high speed of Mach 25 when outside the atmosphere.

When completely unmanned, such considerations can be omitted, since whether the aircraft can endure such a high G-force is a matter of materials, and metals clearly have much higher endurance limits than humans.

Therefore, even at the high speed of Mach 7, this test flight spaceplane’s technology validation model can still perform various maneuvers with impressive performance and capabilities.

Nevertheless, this technology validation model still has many issues, being a product of combined technologies from different sources. Though making the aircraft fly is not a problem, there are some coordination problems between various technologies.

These minor issues led to this spaceplane not completing all the test flight projects.

Following the design, this test flight technology validation model was meant to attempt reaching an altitude of forty thousand meters for supersonic cruise flight at Mach 10, but now has only achieved thirty thousand meters in height and a speed of Mach 7.

This apparently does not meet the expected requirements.

Hence, after the aircraft returned, it was immediately taken back to the hangar by the spaceplane project team, where inspections and adjustments were promptly initiated.

Chen Xin did not involve himself in the process, although if he did, not only could he influence the design of the current spaceplane, but even constructing the Profound Lady Fighter from concept status within the Southern Celestial Gate Project would merely be a matter of thought for him.

Yet, this would clearly clash with the essence of joint research, considering that the aim of the various nations is to unify technologies through collaboration, rather than lacking this one spaceplane.

Moreover, the key is: only by traversing the entire research and development path can experience truly be accumulated.

It’s not simply a matter of constructing the aircraft without understanding its design rationale.

This was part of the painful experience that Flame Country went through in the past. With weak industrial foundations at the beginning of its establishment, many things were constructed with the aid of Suyia at the time. Later, when relations with Suyia worsened, the assistance of various technologies ceased, forcing an independent restart of research and development. Not only was this costly, but it also led to constant lagging.

It wasn’t until a few years before the catastrophe that the nation’s overall foundations were established, and technological accumulation reached critical thresholds, allowing it to catch up.

Thus, technology research and development is crucial; it’s not simply a matter of Chen Xin upgrading a system to create a finished product for reverse research.

Even though Chen Xin can create the Profound Lady Fighter through system upgrades, without researchers independently completing all the phases of research and development, even if they can reverse-engineer all technologies on the Profound Lady Fighter, the nation can only acquire these technologies; to practically apply them, the product development path must be traversed again.

If there were an existing product being upgraded, it wouldn’t matter as long as the upgrades aren’t too disparate, providing researchers with insights and reducing much of their exploratory and trial-and-error processes.

However, for products created from scratch, especially technologies on the Profound Lady Fighter, which are exceptionally advanced, the technological gap with current human technologies is too evident.

Humans’ understanding of these technologies remains at theoretical and conceptual stages. Even if these technologies are truly possessed, mastering them is not straightforward.

After all, possessing a technology doesn’t equate to mastery; thorough research to understand principles and practical application constitutes genuine skill.

Additionally, technological development embodies distinct threads and styles, as evidenced in the early military equipment of Flame Country with prominent Suyia influences. Though today’s technological and military developmental pathways have evolved into distinctive styles, the shadows of Suyia techniques remain visible.

This is the so-called technological system. Considering the contrast between past Suyia technology styles and Federation technology styles, even though they may not be completely opposite, merging them was a prolonged effort by Flame Country researchers.

And this is within contemporaneous and equivalent technological standards. Technologies leading by several decades are truly unassimilable in the short term.

This parallels Flame Country’s current usage of Power Armor, Titan, and similar equipment, although Chen Xin upgraded these items; related technologies remain subject to reverse research.

Many issues encountered by researchers in Flame Country require ongoing exploration, and problems and improvements remain largely uncertain.

Researchers are constrained to replicate Chen Xin’s creations, deploying them for battlefield use, identifying issues during use, and then conducting minor repairs based on feedback.

Thoroughly comprehending a technology and independently designing a similar product remains a challenging endeavor.

Otherwise, Flame Country wouldn’t still be dependent on the Power Armor, Exoskeleton, Heavy Mecha, and Titan developed by Chen Xin.

This topic was discussed by a senior leader responsible for technological affairs in conversation with Chen Xin prior to this.

The country indeed needs these creations by Chen Xin and is grateful for his contributions; however, technological development certainly should not be forced prematurely.