台拆美舊戰機逆向造飛彈驅動器 外媒驚嘆 中時20190104

【Comment】

Taiwan’s studying old military technology to develop new equipment is pretty much like what the US is doing now to cope with the fast and vast development of PLA.

台拆美舊戰機逆向造飛彈驅動器 外媒驚嘆    中時20190104

在北京不排除動武，積極要求兩岸統一下，台灣想要用長程飛彈來加以嚇阻，如今想出一個新對策。

《大眾機械》（Popular Mechanics）網4日指出，台灣想要取出美國老爺戰機的發動機，以逆向工程的方式，來打造巡弋飛彈的發動器，而這不知道該說是創新，還該說是不可思議。

這些J85渦輪噴射發動機來自諾斯洛普（Northrop）1970年代生產的F-5E/F，而這些「虎二式」（Tiger II）戰機是低成本多功能戰機，有如現今的F-16。

F-5E/F有一具奇異（General Electric，GE）J85-GE-21發動機，這設計如今仍應用在各式飛機上，如它的變體除了應用在美國空軍的T-38教練機上外，也將用在「Boom」只載50名乘客的迷你超音速「新式和諧機」上。

多年來，台灣採購了308架「虎二式」戰機，其中包括242架單座F-5E戰機，以及66架雙座F-5 F戰機。如今消息傳出，中華民國空軍將與中科院聯手，將從除役的「虎二式」戰機上取出發動機，希望能透過逆向工程，將設計緊緻簡化，製造發動器，以打造能用來能威脅對岸的新飛彈。

分析指出，J-85發動機只有約17英寸（約43公分）寬、45英寸（114公分）長，產生的推力為3,000磅（約1,360公斤），而這大小很適合裝在巡弋飛彈上。事實上，早在冷戰時期，J-85發動機就用在模擬B-52，以引開敵火的ADM-20「鵪鶉」（Quail）誘餌無人機上。而專為設計F-5E/F的J-85-21推力重量比為7.3:1，將戰機速度提升達1.6馬赫。

分析說，隨著對岸軍力與日俱增，北京不斷威脅不排除武統，台灣才會不嫌麻煩，透過逆向工程來打造飛彈發動器。而台灣要防範解放軍來襲的方式之一，就是以飛彈瞄準對岸目標。

兩岸之間的台灣海峽只有180公里寬，因此射程300英里（約483公里）的巡弋飛彈能打擊深入對岸超過150英里（約241公里）的目標，威脅機場，港口，指揮中心等，一切能支援攻台的設施。

分析指出，儘管消息並未確切指出訊息來源，但基本概念確實符合台灣試圖鑽研軍事舊技術，以研發新軍備的不尋常舉動。北京運用政經影響力，力阻外國轉移軍事技術給台灣，更遏阻可能的軍售。例如，台灣由於買不到柴電動力潛艦，最後決定潛艦國造，準備將1艘二次大戰時期的潛艦切開，以研究相關設計。

此外，分析認為，台灣連潛艦都能準備剖半研究，那鑽研老爺戰機的發動機，聽來也就沒那麼牽強了。

Taiwan is Reverse-Engineering Fighter Jet Engines to Power a Cruise Missile    Popular Mechanics  20190104

The politically isolated country has problems sourcing military equipment.

Taiwan thinks it needs new long-range weapons to keep China at bay, and now it has an innovative (if weird) solution.  The nation is reportedly pulling engines out of old fighter jets to figure out how to make one for a cruise missile.

The J85 turbojet engines in question come from Northrop F-5E/F jets, called the Tiger II.  Produced in the 1970s, the Tiger II was a low-cost multi-role jet in the same vein as today’s F-16. The F-5E/F had one engine, a General Electric J85-GE-21, a design that is still around: A variant of the J-85 powers the U.S. Air Force’s T-38 trainer, and another version will power Boom’s upcoming 50-passenger supersonic jet.

Over the years, Taiwan bought or produced 308 Tiger IIs, including 242 single seat -E versions and 66 two seat -F versions. Now a report in the Taiwanese press states that Taiwan’s Chinese Academy of Sciences, in conjunction with the Republic of China Air Force, is pulling engines from decommissioned Tiger IIs with the hopes of producing a “simplified, improved” turbojet engine expected to go into a new missile to threaten China.

The J-85 engine is small, just over 17 inches wide and 45 inches long, and produces 3,000 pounds of thrust.  The size makes it a good fit for a cruise missile. Indeed, during the Cold War the J-85 powered the ADM-20 Quail, a drone designed to mimic (and draw fire away from) B-52 bombers.  The J-85-21 variant of the engine had the highest thrust-to-weight ratio of its time, 7.3 to 1, providing the F-5E/F with the power to reach speeds of up to Mach 1.6.

Although a bit unusual, this picture of a J85 engine in the back of a Ford 650 pickup truck illustrates the engine’s relatively small size.

Why is Taiwan going to all this reverse-engineering trouble?  The island split from China in 1949, the result of a bloody civil war, and the old Republic of China government fled to the island after communist forces won victory on the mainland.  Over the decades, Beijing has repeatedly threatened to invade and complete its victory, an idea that becomes more plausible with each passing year as China’s military strength grows.

One way for Taiwan to prevent invasion is to hold targets on the mainland at risk.  The Formosa Strait separating the two countries is only 110 miles long, so a cruise missile with a 300-mile range could strike targets more than 150 miles inside mainland China, threatening airfields, ports, command centers, and anything else that would support an invasion.  A preemptive strike against such targets could disrupt, delay, or even cancel a cross-strait attack before it begins.

It would happen something like this: Taiwanese intelligence would suddenly be overwhelmed by reports of Chinese fighter jets massing at airfields, tactical ballistic missile convoys headed for the coast, and army and marine convoys streaming towards ports of embarkation.  These would be corroborated by social media.  An invasion force would be so large it would be impossible even for China’s censors to keep images posted by curious Chinese citizens off the internet.

With evidence of a massing invasion force overwhelming, Taiwan would launch a barrage of cruise missiles against preset targets.  Any fighter jets Taiwan destroys on the ground in China are jets it doesn’t have to face in the air.  Y-20 transports blown up on the tarmac deprive Chinese paratroopers a means of crossing the strait.  While ships move, port facilities do not, and blowing up fuel storage depots can ensure China’s invasion force won’t have the fuel to complete a strait crossing.  Taiwan’s cruise missile force will ideally introduce just enough uncertainty into the minds of Chinese military planners that they decide an invasion is too risky to pull off.

The report outlining this new engine project is badly sourced, but the basic idea fits in with Taiwan’s other unusual attempts to study old military technology to develop new equipment.  China is using its new economic and political clout to dissuade foreign countries from transferring military tech to what it considers a “rogue” province, choking off the flow of arms to Taiwan.  Unable to source diesel electric submarines, Taiwan finally decided to design its own submarine, and was prepared to cut one of its World War II-era subs in half to study the design.

When a country is prepared to cut an entire submarine in half lengthways, studying old fighter jet engines doesn’t sound so farfetched.