Chapter 72 New Toys for the Military Part 6 (Imperial Ruthenian Air Force)

The men looked at each other in confusion. Imperial Dynamic Systems Aerospace Division? My company? Who did the Tsar hire that drew better planes than them?

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I couldn’t follow. I haven’t heard of the Imperial Dynamics System Aerospace Division you’re talking about and you’re telling us three that your new company has designed an aircraft that fit your standards? Isn’t that a little bit of bias…”

“It’s no bias,” Alexander cut him off. “I understand your confusion and bewilderment, but I’ll let you walk through it slowly. So, this meeting has never been about you presenting your designs but me proposing mine. This meeting is just a formality, an intention I planned long ago to see what your companies have to offer in terms of military technologies. None of which satisfies me…”

Bogdanov rubbed his head, “I apologize in advance for the words I’m going to speak but Your Majesty, it’s still biased since you selected the design designed by your company. And if this meeting is just a formality, then what are we doing here exactly?”

“Good thing that you asked that,” Alexander nodded at Bogdanov and turned back around with a flourish. “Let’s get through this one at a time. First, I’m not biased and I can explain it to you later, and second, as I’ve said before this meeting is just a formality. In fact, you represent no one since last week, I’ve bought your companies,” Alexander revealed.

“You bought…our companies?”

Nikifor, Bogdanov, and Luka exchanged glances at one another with a frown on their faces. All had been surprised when the prince told them he just bought their companies last week.

“Tupolev Aeronautics, GiM Design Bureau, and Pazlov Design Bureau became part of Imperial Dynamics System through acquisition and thus merged into Imperial Dynamics System Aerospace Division.”

“If we represent our companies no more, Your Majesty, then what are we doing here?” Luka asked with a confused look.

“Since you were the representatives and know a lot about the aircraft designs, I ought to tell you this time to represent my company by presenting the design we’ve come up with for the Air Force and the Navy. Why do you ask? It’s because your former company is the one going to build it while my factories and assembly lines for aviation and aeronautics are under construction,”

“So you bought our companies because you don’t have the facilities to make your own prototype aircraft, is that what you’re telling us, Your Majesty?” Nikifor asked with a firm tone.

“Yes, now let’s get back on the topic. Sorry, General Lavrinenko if you can’t follow what we were discussing…”

“I’m fine Your Majesty, don’t mind me. What I just want for the Air Force is a better fighter, bomber, and reconnaissance aircraft better than our rivals,” Lavrinenko replied. “And since I represent the entire Department of Air Force, the aircraft proposals that will be agreed upon after this meeting will be adopted,”

“You’re in for the treat then, General,” Alexander winked as he turned back to the three representatives.

“What I’ve been stressing out earlier is that we shall advance the propulsion system of our aircraft and thus adopt a new type of engine superior to the piston engine,” Alexander paused, making everyone listen closer.

“All new aircraft will utilize the new turbine jet engine,” he finished, using old archaic names so everyone in the room understands what he is speaking about.

The former representatives all had the looks of incredulity at the statement.

“But sir,” Bogdanov interrupted. “Jet engines are at experimental stages and haven’t found one application yet. I think it’s a bad idea to adopt an engine we knew nothing about,”

“Bogdanov is right, Your Majesty,” Nikifor added. “Although ambitious it may be, there’s just no way for us to know if it’s going to work as the book described,”

Alexander understood their concerns about launching a new engine that they didn’t fully comprehend or see yet. Looks like this is the part where he’ll tell them “seeing is believing”.

“Then how about we create the prototype of each aircraft design I propose to you by the end of the year then judge it based on its practical application and performance. We’ll work together. The Imperial Dynamics System will provide you with technical data and equipment whereas your former companies will be the ones building it in your facility. This will be a classified project so any kind of word that could potentially leak everything about this project will be an act tantamount to treason and is punishable by death. If everything goes according to plan, by the end of the year, we will be able to see those birds flying,”

Everyone stared at him, shocked and surprised by what he proposed. Their eyes darted towards each other but remained silent until finally, they nodded in agreement to his proposal.

Seeing that, Alexander smiled and continued. “This is a critical moment for the Empire to rise triumphantly through technological advancements. So I’m going to repeat again, that this project is classified. If this got leaked, and one of our rivals were to create the same aircraft we are building, everyone in this room along with the people who worked on the said project will become a suspect and will be under investigation…If proven guilty, you know what will happen…So don’t test me, is that understood?”

All four of them nodded in response.

“Excellent! Let us start by asking you a question. Raise your hand if you don’t have the slightest idea about how the jet engine works.”

Luka, from the Tupolev Aeronautics, raised his hand while Bogdanov and Nifikor remained still.

To push forward with this discussion, everyone must know what’s the inner workings of the jet engine so that everyone can follow when he starts bringing out blueprints.

“I’ll oversimplify it for you. A jet engine sucks air from its surroundings and the air goes into a compressor, compressing it like squeezing a balloon. Then, that compressed air is mixed with jet fuel in the combustion chamber where it’ll shoot a flame out the back of the engine. Those streaks of hot air spin the turbine that acts like…how should I put this…a windmill! It scoops up energy from the heated air and spins the shaft connected to the fan at the front of the engine. The excess hot air from the combustion chamber blows out the back of the engine thus producing thrust…” Alexander explained.

Luka placed a finger on his chin as he hummed in thought, studying what Alexander just said to him. Moments later, he snapped out of his mind and then spoke.

“Wait…so the air is the one rotating the shaft, not the pistons?” Luka questioned as he glanced over at the others, waiting to hear something from them.

Bogdanov gave a nod and added “If you would think of it this way, the piston and jet engine are primarily the same. They have four stages: intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust. They only differ in the working principle. In the piston engine, the expansion of the gas drives the piston while in the jet engine, the expansion of the gas drives the turbine,”

“Since you know how the principle of the jet engine works, Bogdanov, I must ask, how do you increase the power of the piston engine to make the aircraft faster?”

“Well, Your Majesty, in order to increase the power of the piston is to increase its size and increase the number of cylinders,”

“And tell me, Bogdanov, is it cost-effective?”

“No Your Majesty,” Bogdanov replied. “As we increase the power of the piston engine it leads to the complexity of the design.”

“But if we compare that to a turbine engine, to increase its power, we just need to increase the energy density of the operation without the need to implement more components. This only leads to a small increase of dimension and weight…and weight is important in aviation,” Alexander pointed out.

For instance, before the advent of the turboshaft engines, helicopters were evolving very slowly. This was because by increasing the power of their piston engines, these would get so heavy that their carrying capacity was almost nil. Essentially, the helicopter was only able to lift itself, and even that with difficulties.

Let’s look at another example. The Pratt Whitney PT6 turboprop on the PC12 is small and simple. Weighing around 240 kilograms and providing 1200 horsepower. To put that into perspective, the Wright R1820 Cyclone engines of the B-17 bombers were enormous and complex. Weighing about 537 kilograms and delivering the same 1200 horsepower.

Another example, the turboprop PW150 series used on the bombardier Q400 aircraft weighs 716 kilograms and generates 5,000 horsepower while its piston relative, the PW R4360 Wasp Major from the B-36 is enormous and is as big as a bus, super complex and weighs about 1700 kilograms. It’s more than a ton heavier than PW150 and delivered only 4300 horsepower.

Now you might be wondering, why am I comparing modern turboprops with piston engines of the world war 2 era. Though it’s a good claim, there are a couple of facts. First of all, most modern turboprop engines are not all that new as many families of these engines date back to the 1960s. Secondly, the complexity and weight issues of the piston engine are still there. If world war 2-era planes are built in the 21st century, they won’t differ much from their veteran relatives.

The point is, why bother building an engine that will be replaced in the five or ten years when you can instead build jet engines? It’s a waste of money!

Hence, Alexander decided to use a jet engine for his aircraft.

“This is a few sample designs my company has designed, please take a look,” Alexander beckoned them to get closer, showing off the various models and designs. “This one here is our main fighter aircraft and trainer aircraft, the bomber, the transport aircraft, reconnaissance, AWACS, tanker, and helicopters,”

The schematics that he showed to them are as follows:

Fighter Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

Bomber Aircraft: Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Douglas A-3 Skywarrior

Trainer Aircraft: Northrop T-38 Talon.

Transport Aircraft: Lockheed C-130 Hercules.

AWACS and Reconnaissance aircraft: E-3 Sentry, Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye, Lockheed U-2.

Tanker Aircraft: Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker.

Helicopters: Boeing CH-47 Chinook and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.

This is just an example, he has a lot of aircraft designs in his head that he is eager to see built in the future. Not to mention, this is just for the military. He has plans to introduce civil aviation aircraft like the Boeing 707 or 747.

After presenting the aircraft schematics to the representatives, whose eyes are fixed on the blueprint, they glanced up and looked at him like he was crazy.

“I know…I know…the designs are ambitious and ridiculous and it’s your first time seeing one in technical drawing other than literary and comic fiction. But I can assure you that the Imperial Dynamics System Aerospace Division has the knowledge to build these planes and put them in the sky. For that, cooperation is necessary.”

Alexander then walks around the room with the attention now all on him

“But one step at a time. You may start small with a schematic that my company shall provide.”

Alexander felt excitement inside him, as the schematics are the earliest jet engine with proven performance that powered the infamous fighter jets in history on Earth.

The Messerschmitt Me 262’s Junkers Jumo 004s, the first successful axial compressor turbojet engine. Hopefully, they can build working jet planes with the least pilot deaths which entail testing flights of such new machines within the given timetable. Or else.