Recently, an aircraft industry company in Northeast China issued a press report saying, “In the face of this year’s unusually heavy scientific research and production tasks, since the beginning of the year, the company has been working hard to keep a close eye on the goal of balanced production nodes, and is fully committed to scientific research and production. The company continues to set off production booms, the mission node goal continues to advance, the balanced production stage results are constantly emerging, laying a solid foundation for achieving the full-year goal.”
From the publicly announced news, it can be speculated that after the aircraft company’s output value exceeded 20.1 billion yuan in 2018, it is likely to break through 20 billion yuan mark this year. The company is about to achieve a three-year output value of 19 billion yuan, and the output value has exceeded 17.8 billion yuan for the fourth consecutive year.
Military observers believe that as early as March 5 this year, CCTV unveiled in its “Great Country’s Great Weapons” series that China has achieved mass production of metamaterial for the first time in the world, and this kind of metamaterial can be used in new types of fighter jets for stealth skins, and the primary application of which is J-20 and J-16 fighters. It was reported that China’s J-16 fourth-and-a-half generation fighter and J-15 carrier-based aircraft have entered the mass production stage. And if the J-11D fourth-and-a-half generation air-to-air fighters are put into mass production this year and next year, and to fill the vacancy of JH-7/7A “Flying Leopard” sniper bomber in the next few years, the company will be extremely busy with fighter production in the next three to five years. In addition, along with the production of fourth-and-a-half generation fighters produced by some aircraft company in southeast China and the mass production of five generations of heavy fighters, China will usher in the second climax of air force equipment.
However, there is another situation in the international arena: After the announcement of the delivery of 91 F-35 stealth fighters in 2018, the US company Lockheed Martin announced that the annual production of F-35 stealth fighters target in 2019 is 130, and the United States and its allies are equipping fifth-generation fighters on a large scale, and the era of replacement of fighters around the world is coming. Faced with the overwhelming radar stealth military advantage of the fifth-generation aircraft, military enthusiasts certainly have doubts, since China has successfully finalized J- 20A five-generation heavy fighter jet and successfully tested J-31 five-generation medium-sized fighter. Why not change the production to five generation jets on a large scale, but still continue to mass produce fourth-generation and fourth-and-a-half generation fighters?
Recently, a public article jointly published by a research institute of super materials in Shenzhen and an aircraft research institute in Northeast China may have solved some mysteries for us. As we all know, the existing stealth technology is to steal the cross section of the incident electromagnetic wave by reducing the combat platform. In addition to the stealth design of the aircraft shape, the material stealth is also an important auxiliary means to make up the shape stealth technology. Whether it is a fifth-generation fighter jet with full stealth design or a fourth-and-a-half generation fighter with improved radar shrinkage, material stealth is an indispensable technology. However, the existing material stealth technology has problems such as increased weight, limited stealth frequency, difficulty in protection and maintenance, and high use expenses. For example, America’s F-35 fighter recently witnessed damaged fuselage’s wing stealth coating many times in supersonic fights, and its stealth effect was greatly reduced; and as China’s metric wave three-coordinate radar discovered and tracked F-22 stealth fighter hundreds of kilometers away repeatedly, although it is generally believed that F-22’s stealth performance is better than F-35’s.
Metamaterials are special composite materials that are designed to achieve the extraordinary physical properties not found in conventional materials by orderly structural design of key physical dimensions. The use of metamaterial technology to achieve efficient electromagnetic absorbing waves provides a new way of thinking for radar stealth absorbing materials.
As early as a few years ago, the chief designer of many stealth aircraft in China revealed that the super material has been applied to multi-types of stealth fighters in China, which has reduced the weight of stealth structure by 50%, and fundamentally solved maintenance issues of traditional stealth paints, with the life cycle cost reduced by 40% reduction.
According to public information, China’s metamaterial stealth technology has been developed to the second generation, and stealth performance has increased significantly compared to conventional radar absorbing paint.
Recently, an institute of Shenzhen in China has made breakthrough in research of metamaterial stealth and developed an adjustable active ultra-thin metamaterial radar absorber.