Volume 1: The Empire Awakens Chapter 46: The Enemy's Challenge (Part 2)
Even though Yu Gengnian did not give a detailed explanation, after seeing the content of the information, Tan Renhao immediately knew that this was an extremely important piece of information sent by the Imperial Military Intelligence Bureau.
The predecessor of the Imperial Military Intelligence Bureau was the Imperial Army Intelligence Bureau and the Imperial Naval Intelligence Bureau.
Later, due to the huge waste of human resources in the two intelligence agencies and the many problems exposed in the last war.
As a result, after the war, the two intelligence agencies were merged into the Military Intelligence Agency.
This is the empire's most important military intelligence agency, and its main responsibility is to spy on the military intelligence of other countries, especially those hostile to the empire.
The information contained not much, just a few photos and some data tables.
When Tan Renhao saw those photos and the data sheets, he was immediately very surprised.
Those photos were taken of an airplane or an airplane model from different angles, while the data sheet contained the performance and size data of this airplane and several other airplanes.
What surprised Tan Renhao was not the plaster flag on the plane, but the data on the data label .
This is the situation of several naval combat aircraft that Japan is developing. As for how the imperial intelligence personnel obtained this information, it is not important.
What’s important is that the performance of these fighters has completely surpassed the combat aircraft equipped by the Imperial Navy, and are even much more advanced than the three combat aircraft currently under development.
In other words, the Imperial Navy's highly anticipated Sparrowhawk fighters, Kingfisher dive bombers, and Osprey torpedo bombers were already inferior to Japan's new fighters in performance before they were mass-produced.
Tan Renhao was surprised by this. He could hardly believe his eyes. He even felt that the information was not credible at all.
According to previous intelligence, Japan has always been the most backward among the major powers in the development of aircraft engines, especially in turbochargers. Japan started very late and did not receive any assistance from other powers, let alone the opportunity for cooperative research.
Without a turbocharger, it would be difficult to manufacture a high-power aircraft engine, and without a high-power aircraft engine, it would be impossible to manufacture a fighter jet with superior performance.
However, when Tan Renhao saw the detailed data of those fighter planes, he no longer had any doubts.
The fighter, code-named AM6 and known as the "Zero" type, is actually just a light fighter that uses a 12-cylinder radial air-cooled engine with a maximum output power of only 950 horsepower, much smaller than Shenfei's Feng 12 engine.
However, the fighter's speed is close to 300 knots, while the Sparrowhawk's maximum design speed is only 280 knots.
There are two reasons why the A6M can reach such a fast speed. First, during the design process, the designers reduced unnecessary equipment on the aircraft as much as possible to reduce the weight of the aircraft. To this end, an aluminum load-bearing structure was used, and the range was increased by mounting large auxiliary fuel tanks, thereby reducing the internal fuel capacity. At the same time, almost all defensive armor was retained.
The second is to minimize the protruding parts of the aircraft's outer surface to reduce aerodynamic resistance.
For example, it uses a fully enclosed retractable landing gear, a bubble-shaped cockpit, and so on.
As a result, the empty weight of this fighter was less than 1.6 tons, while the empty weight of the Sparrowhawk reached 2.4 tons.
After seeing this, Tan Renhao couldn't help but admire the Japanese aircraft designers for being able to use such a small-power engine to create such a fast fighter.
Of course, he wasn't that surprised.
Being light has its advantages, but its disadvantages are also very obvious.
For example, if all the armor is removed, such a fighter will be vulnerable.
Lightweight aircraft have certain advantages in combat, but the problem of insufficient engine power is impossible to change, and this will directly affect the overall performance of the aircraft.
Although Tan Renhao 's knowledge of airplanes was superficial at best, he was very clear that the fighter jets made by the Japanese might be able to take the lead for a while. However, as long as the Japanese did not make breakthrough progress in aviation engines, they would not be able to build more powerful fighter jets, and would not be able to win future wars.
However, the threat of this new fighter is real, and Japan is already preparing to put it into production. If the Imperial Navy does not have a fighter that can match it, then in future naval battles, the Imperial Navy will face an extremely unfavorable situation.
Three days later, Tan Renhao submitted two reports to General Yu Gengnian, the most important of which was the performance requirement report on the targeted new fighter jet.
This time, Yu Gengnian showed a satisfied expression for the first time. He read the report submitted by Tan Renhao very carefully.
"Captain, you are very serious and rigorous in your work. It seems that Marshal Sagittin did not make a mistake in choosing you. These two reports are very detailed and brilliant, and every aspect is analyzed very thoughtfully. This is the best aviation report I have ever read!"
Tan Renhao smiled a little shyly. Yu Gengnian was a serious soldier, but he was not stingy with his praise.
"Okay, you can go pack your bags now."
"packing luggage?"
Tan Renhao was shocked. He thought he would never give himself a holiday.
Yu Gengnian was also stunned, and then said: "You will return to the Fifth Fleet tomorrow. General Liao Hanxiang called me personally and asked you to report to the Fifth Fleet immediately. Of course, I will keep your job here for you. At least before the two-year secondment period expires, you must be ready to come back to work at any time."
Tan Renhao breathed a sigh of relief, at least he hadn't lost his job.
"There will be a transport plane heading for Naha tomorrow morning. You can take that plane back."
Yu Gengnian escorted Tan Renhao to the door and said, "I heard that the spring military exercise will begin in two months. I hope to see your outstanding performance then."
Tan Renhao nodded quickly and said goodbye to General Yu Gengnian.
Obviously, General Liao Hanxiang called him back now just for the spring military exercises.
This is an annual event of the Imperial Navy, and is directly related to the status of the Imperial fleets in the new year.
For ordinary soldiers, spring military exercises have another meaning.
Every year, after the spring military exercises, a large number of officers are promoted, and this is the best opportunity to gain credit.
Obviously, General Liao Hanxiang would not exclude his most proud subordinates. Even with Tan Renhao's current military rank, he would not be able to be promoted again in the spring military exercise, but accumulating merits would be of great significance to his next promotion.
