Sun Cong, the chief designer of China’s all-weather, twin-engine, carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft J-15, recently shared his dream of making aircraft like mobile phones.
According to a China Central Television (CCTV) report, Sun was speaking at a forum on aviation and aerospace medicine when he shared his vision to reduce the time taken to build fighter jets.
“Our development cycles are too lengthy now, and this has raised a new challenge to our aircraft research and development: Can we make aircraft like mobile phones? This is a dream of ours for the future,” he was quoted as saying.
It is to be noted that warplanes take years to develop while there is a new mobile phone coming out way too frequently.
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Global Times quoted chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine Wang Ya'nan as saying that Sun's remarks offer China a target to achieve.
Pointing out that design and development of a warplane are a complex process consisting of various systems such as weapons, radars and displays, Wang said such a move calls for strong comprehensive capabilities of a country to support multi-dimensional upgrades.
According to Wang, if the warplanes are to be designed as frequently as mobile phones, they require a highly standardised interface and an open structure that has upward and backward compatibility.
If this vision is to be realized, it will be a paradigm shift for what we know in the past, Wang was quoted as saying.