The rapid phone ringing woke Li Xiaofeng up. He looked at Angelina who was sleeping beside him, and gently snapped his fingers. The noisy ringing sound disappeared in an instant. He kissed his wife's cheek, sighed and walked to the phone.

The red telephone rings non-stop. Not everyone can own such telephones in the Soviet Union. Of course, ordinary people in the Soviet Union cannot afford them. This kind of bright red telephone is commonly known as confidential telephones, which are generally only equipped by senior officials at the Central Committee and above.

Li Xiaofeng picked up the receiver and replied slowly and forcefully: "I am Andrei Petrovic, what's the matter?"

After a while, Li Xiaofeng put down the phone. He was really unexpected that the joining of the Red Navy in the Battle of Midway was very different from that in history. During the day, the Americans did not handle the Flying Dragon, and the Japanese actually chose to give it a try and sent the Second Mobile Force to die.

Of course, what Li Xiaofeng didn't expect was that Kuznetsov and Sukhoi's luck was too amazing. He actually collided with the Japanese in the middle of the night. According to the latest information, the two sides started a fierce battle and were in a difficult situation.

Li Xiaofeng was not too worried that the Red Navy special fleet would fail. He had used all means to strengthen the combat effectiveness of this fleet, especially the night combat effectiveness. If he could not defeat the Japanese, then he would not be able to survive. Even the Japanese could not defeat him. How could he fight against the more vicious American imperial in the future?

What really made Li Xiaofeng care about was Kuznetsov's first combat report. He wanted to know what lessons the future marshal had summarized. According to Li Xiaofeng's request, the report was delivered to his desk as quickly as possible.

Because it was transmitted by telegrams, Kuznetsov could not make a long statement. His report was very concise and used the simplest words to describe his feelings about the first day of the battle. After reading this report, Li Xiaofeng smiled. Kuznetsov did not disappoint him. The various experiences and lessons were summarized very pertinently.

For example, Kuznetsov emphasized the importance of reconnaissance. He believed that in order to gain the upper hand in the future sea and air war, he must have more powerful and reliable reconnaissance equipment. Kuznetsov believes that the reconnaissance equipment of the Red Navy, whether it is a water reconnaissance aircraft or a RO-2 on an aircraft carrier, has problems, and is affected too much by the weather and the visual range. It is very likely that the target will be missed.

Li Xiaofeng agrees very much with this point. The RO-2's range is long enough, but the search target can only be observed by the pilot with a telescope. The search range and accuracy are limited, and it is basically closed at night. Just imagine, if the RO-2 can also be reconnaissance around this night. As for the Japanese approaching, can't they notice it?

When talking about observation equipment, Kuznetsov also mentioned the problem of radar. He believed that the Red Navy's existing radar technical indicators were good, but reliability was really a problem. From going to sea to combat, the radars of various ships have successively encountered various problems, large or small, and it seemed so unreliable at critical moments.

Li Xiaofeng has no good idea about this. Electronic technology needs to be accumulated. Nokia has improved production quality and technical level as much as possible. The existing radar is already the best product. The problems Kuznetsov mentioned can only be improved slowly, and this urgent thing is useless.

In addition to these issues, Kuznetsov also focused on the issue of the RO-2. He believed that this dual-engine attack aircraft had a long range, was strong, durable and survivable, but at the same time, various performances seemed mediocre. The dual release plan made it appear more bulky and could not get a cheaper price in the face of a clever zero battle.

Although Kuznetsov did not explicitly say that he hoped to get a better carrier-based attack aircraft, the subtext was very clear. In fact, this is not the first time someone has reported the performance problems of the RO-2 to Li Xiaofeng. Sukhoi has mentioned it several times before. Overall, the leader of the naval aviation company was very dissatisfied with the RO-2. Even Sukhoi was not satisfied with the RO-2's major improved RO-3, thinking that it was still too bulky.

This time, after Kuznetsov raised the RO-2 issue again, Li Xiaofeng had to pay attention. After all, he sent the aircraft carrier to the Pacific Ocean to gain experience. Since the troops have reacted to the problem, it must be solved.

In fact, since last year, Li Xiaofeng promoted a replacement plan for the RO-2/3 aircraft. At that time, several design bureaus also proposed some ideas. For example, Roberto Bartini envisioned completely overturning the design of the RO-2, abandoning the dual release schedule, and returning to the single-shot plan.

Bartini hoped to replace two VK-105 engines with an ash-73tk piston engine. Because when designing the RO-2, two engines were used, one was because the M-100 engine was insufficient at that time, and the other was that in order to implement the general design of the three models, the fuselage had to be increased. Now the ash-73tk engine has a power of up to 2,400 horsepower, and this is a star-type air-cooled engine, with good maintenance and loss-bearing performance.

Batini has developed a RO-4 prototype based on the ash-73tk engine. Although the maximum range and maximum ammunition load are smaller than the RO-2, the flight performance has been greatly improved.

However, Li Xiaofeng is not optimistic about this plan. The reason is very simple. The ash-73tk was prepared by Alxnis for the new four-engine bomber. Now Tupolev is making great progress. It will be tested in the second half of the year and may be put into production in 1944. At this time, even the ash-82 engine is in short supply. How could Bartini's RO-4 be the navy's salt water chicken to grab the Air Force?

Since 1943, the Pacific sea and air combat has become more and more cruel. New carrier-based attack aircraft must be put into service in large quantities in 1944, which is priceless. But Bartini's plan seems so lingering!

In addition to Bartini, three design bureaus have also come up with new plans. Migoyan, who had suffered repeated setbacks, created a double-engine liquid-cooled MiG-4, using the Rolls-Royce Merlin 20 engine. Overall, this is the improved version of the RO-2. Neither the Navy nor Li Xiaofeng want a double-engine stupid duck. Moreover, the Merlin 20 engine is still purely British goods. Based on the future relationship with the UK, it is unlikely to use British goods on important carrier-based aircraft.

After Migoyan was passed again, Yakovlev emerged again. He came up with the design plan of Jacques-4, but the plan was also a double release, and it was obvious that there was no chance from the beginning.

What really made Li Xiaofeng's eyes shine was Su-5 from Sukhoi Design Bureau. This plan is really unforgettable. It's not that this plan is so amazing. In fact, the attack aircraft designed by Sukhoi can only be described as ugly in one word!

And it is surprisingly ugly, and it can even be said to be the ugliest aircraft ever. This chubby and round aircraft looks so clumsy. In short, the Su-5 has been sarcastic and ridiculed since its birth. Many people even say that Sukhoi's design will never be able to board the Red Navy aircraft carrier.

However, Li Xiaofeng doesn't think so. Objectively speaking, Sukhoi's design is indeed ugly. However, this ugly duckling-like aircraft is not low-powered. Through test flights, it was found that the Su-5 has a very good speed (510 kilometers per hour), and its dive performance and low-altitude performance are also quite good. The rolling is one order higher than the RO-2, and the division of labor of the three members can also be seamlessly connected with the RO-2.

More importantly, the Su-5 was more versatile than the Ro-2 from the beginning. The aircraft considered the issue of installing sea search radar from the beginning. There is a prominent tumor-type radar bin in front of the belly of the aircraft, which can be installed with Nokia's latest sea search radar. To put it more, the main purpose of Nokia's development of this small sea radar is to anti-submarine, which can effectively detect submarine ventilation pipes within 20 kilometers, periscopes within 10 kilometers or frigate-sized targets within 100 kilometers.

In short, if the Su-5 can be put into service, the Red Navy's aerial sea control capability will be greatly improved. The aircraft will combine four functions: dive bombing, low-altitude torpedo attack, aerial reconnaissance and anti-submarine. It is a veritable all-rounder.

In fact, when Li Xiaofeng saw the ugly Su-5, he couldn't help but think of another carrier-based aircraft, Tangling Anti-submarine aircraft in history. The ugly monster designed by Niu Niu is actually quite good, and the Su-5 is exactly the same.

In fact, the Su-5 is larger than the gannet in terms of appearance, and the others are really similar. It can be said that the Su-5 is the gannet with the largest number one. In particular, it should be noted that the engine used by the Su-5 is actually the Soviet version of the gannet.

Tanggan used the Armstrong Cedray dual-shaft turboprop engine. This turboprop engine, which was developed in 1935, was only 2950 horsepower due to World War II interference until 1948. How much is the VK-105 used by the Ro-2 now? It is only 1200 horsepower, and the VK-107 is only 1650 horsepower (and due to process problems, it is generally not enough to reach it, and it will shrink). It can be said that an Armstrong Cedray dual-shaft mark100 turboprop engine can surpass two VK-105 series. This greatly ensures that the flight performance of the Su-5 will not be much worse than that of the Ro-2.

Of course, the most important thing about using Armstrong Cedray twin-shaft turboprop engine is not that it is full of power, but more importantly, it is a jet engine. Yes. Comrades, you read that right, it is indeed a jet engine. Because some comrades always think that it is a piston engine when they see the propeller. Isn’t this a mess? Jet engines not only have turbojets, turbofans, turboshaft engines, turboprop engines and propeller engines are also jet engines!

What are the benefits of using a turboshaft engine? Naturally, the power-weight ratio is higher. Simply put, it is the ratio of engine weight to power. Generally, it is difficult for piston engines to exceed four, that is, the greater the power, the heavier the engine. In comparison, the power-weight ratio of jet engines is generally more than five. Compared with piston engines, even if the power of both is as high as the two, the weight is much lighter.

The Su-5 uses an Armstrong Cedray twin-shaft turboprop engine handed over by Li Xiaofeng to the Liurika Design Bureau in reverse surveying and mapping, with a maximum power of 3,000 horsepower, and the model name is al-1.

Maybe a comrade with bright eyes soon discovered what does a twin-shaft turboprop engine mean? To put it simply, this kind of turboprop engine can actually be regarded as two upright engines, which can be linked by the reducer "two" or work separately. This engine will drive two pairs of reverse propellers. The advantage of this is that it can eliminate the powerful longitudinal torque brought by the high-power engine and greatly facilitate the aircraft's flight control. In economic cruising, an engine can be stopped. Even if an engine fails, the aircraft will not face the problem of handling difficulties caused by the traditional dual-engine layout, and there will be no danger of a single-engine aircraft being finished immediately.

The nose of the Su-5 is a conical hub cover, equipped with two sets of double reverse propellers with 4 blades. The wings are typical gull-shaped middle single wings, with their inner wings facing down and outer wings facing up, and three-stage folding method is adopted to adapt to the width of the aircraft carrier elevator and the height of the hangar. Due to the search radar compartment at the lower part of the fuselage, Sukhoi increased the tail height to a certain extent. Fortunately, the Red Navy aircraft carriers are all for large-scale transformations, and the hangar was deliberately increased during the transformation of the old aircraft carrier. There is still no problem in using it.

In short, through the first phase of test flight, the Su-5 can meet the needs of the Red Navy in the next five years in addition to being ugly and can be put into production. So why didn't Li Xiaofeng agree to the Su-5 immediately to start production?

The reason is that her engine made the Su-5 the twin-shaft turboprop engine. But it was also the engine that hindered her production. The process requirements of the turboprop engine were a little higher than that of the piston engine and were more expensive. For the Red Navy, it was still relatively tense for small money, so we naturally had to think twice.

Moreover, the technical difficulty of the turboprop engine is also one of the concerns. Can the Liulika Design Bureau ensure that this new engine is really free of problems? Even if it can, can the manufacturer complete production in batches? Moreover, with the current wartime state of the Soviet Union, it is difficult to get a brand new production line.

If these problems are not solved, the Su-5 is not a play at all. However, now things have turned around. The Navy is no longer satisfied with the Ro-2 and has the willingness to change the clothes. And for the time being, the only one that can meet the needs is the Su-5. With the promotion of the Red Navy, the Su-5 should be able to win a pretty good priority and can drive that engine production line.

Of course, it is unrealistic to rely solely on the Su-5 to drive a production line. Li Xiaofeng's idea is whether the Army will help, and it is not impossible to change the turboprop engine to a turboshaft engine. It is also feasible to use a core engine for two sets of products for Land Airlines helicopters.

Soon Li Xiaofeng made this suggestion to the Navy and the Army, and soon the Navy and the Army responded. It is normal for the former to be interested, so why is the Army also interesting? This starts with the Army's new generation of general-purpose helicopters. Sikorsky and Miri developed larger, heavier and longer ranges according to the requirements of the Army, but after much trouble, they found that they could not meet the strict requirements of the Army. The reason is that the power-weight ratio of the piston engine is too low. When the power-weight ratio of the engine increases, the volume and weight of the engine also rises linearly, causing the helicopter to fall into a vicious circle of adding more water and water to more surfaces. The power-weight ratio of the jet engine is a little higher. Judging from the current power-weight ratio of the al-1 engine, it can really meet the strict requirements of the Army.

Moreover, the Navy also promised that the Army would not need too much investment in the early stage, as long as the Army could support them in this model. In the eyes of the Army, such a request is really for nothing, so why not do it?

Soon the research and development of Su-5 entered the fast lane, but before the Su-5 was finalized, the Navy put forward new requirements. They asked to carefully divide Su-5 into two models. One was dive bombing/torpedo attack type, and the other was reconnaissance/anti-submarine type. The former was called Su-5a and the latter was called Su-5b.

So what is the difference between Su-5a and Su-5b? Su-5a canceled the radar chamber under the belly, without this external protrusion body and lowered the vertical tail height, its maximum speed increased to 560 kilometers per hour, which can be said to be faster than some models of Zero War. Not only is the speed faster, but the dive performance has also been much optimized. Su-5b retains the radar chamber, and its main functions are reconnaissance and anti-submarine.

The reason why the Red Navy wanted to turn the Su-5 into a signal with two parts was, in addition to optimizing dive and lightning capabilities, the most important reason is that the Su-5b is too expensive, and that deadly search radar is really expensive. In the view of the Red Navy, not every Su-5 needs such a radar. Later, the configuration ratio of fighter, attack aircraft, and anti-submarine/reconnaissance aircraft on the Red Navy's large aircraft carriers became 48 to 36 to 24 (the Leningrad class and Kiev class are in this configuration. The larger 42 aircraft carriers are generally 48 Yak-3k, 40 Su-5a, and 24 Su-5bs. The ability to carry so many is mainly due to the compactness of the Yak-3k, and the Su-5 is much smaller than the RO-2). Generally speaking, the Su-5a only undertakes dive bombing missions, while the Su-5b is mainly used for lightning strikes and anti-submarines in addition to part-time reconnaissance.

Of course, these equipment will not be used until mid-1944. In the early morning of June 5, 1943, the Red Navy could only use those old equipment to fight. In the Pacific, thousands of miles away, just as Li Xiaofeng planned the selection of the Red Navy's future carrier-based attack aircraft, four battlecruisers of the Red Navy finally arrived at the battlefield. The British Wind War Cruise and the German Wind War Cruise fought again after World War I... (To be continued.)

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Chapter completed!