In the tweet a few days ago, Hanhai Wolf Mountain (Xiongnu Wolf Mountain) has already introduced why ejection and take-off is the safest and most effective way for fixed-wing turboprop early warning aircraft. The skid-jump not only has little positive effect on such aircraft, but will increase the risk of take-off. Because propeller aircraft are more suitable for pulling up horizontally than taking off at large elevation angles. Therefore, it is safer to take off from a flat beveled deck without ejection than to force a high jump head. At the same time, it is mentioned that jet ski jump take-off pays more attention to the thrust-to-weight ratio and true wind speed. And all propeller aircraft look at their dynamic performance, generally do not use the concept of push-to-weight ratio, but the work-to-weight ratio. This is also the ratio between the total power of the engine and the weight of the flying object. Whether piston propellers, turboprops or turboshaft engines. It is the power-to-weight ratio rather than the thrust-to-weight ratio to represent the overall performance of its flying objects. Here we must introduce the details of the turboprop engine to understand the comparison of the performance of the turboprop engine later. At first glance, an airplane with a turboprop engine looks almost indistinguishable from a piston propeller.
In fact, turboprop engines appeared very late, and propeller aircraft before World War II and World War II were basically piston propellers. Turboprops are actually a lot like jet turbofan engines with a large propeller in front or behind. Because the turboprop engine not only has thrust from the propeller itself, but also from the exhaust gas vent at the tail. Therefore, the power of turboprop engines can be done very large, such as the NK-12, a large turboprop engine, used in the Figure 95 bear bomber, the power of a single unit is as high as 14,000 horsepower, while the piston propeller engine in the past has hardly exceeded 2,000 horsepower. The NK-12 is a large turboprop engine that is a 6-meter large-diameter propeller and the rear jet port works at the same time. At speeds in excess of 800 km/h, it is even possible to turn off the propeller and simply jet propulse with its tail. The mechanical difference between the propeller of the turboprop and the authentic turbofan engine is that the fan in front of the turbofan engine is coaxially rotated with the low-pressure turbine behind; and the propeller diameter of the turboprop is too large. If it rotates synchronously with the gas turbine behind it,
The end speed of the paddle will significantly exceed the speed of sound. This can cause severe shock waves, causing the blades to deform and damage. Therefore, most turboprop engines cannot be coaxially propelled with the power turbine, and there must be a deceleration gear system in the middle. Because the "front fan" of the turboprop of the same power, that is, the diameter of the propeller is relatively larger than the fan of most turbofan engines, the fuel consumption of the turboprop is lower than that of the turbofan at the same flight distance. The stay-at-home time when the same fuel is filled is longer. This is exactly the indicator that the carrier-based early warning aircraft most pursue. The aircraft carrier early warning aircraft does not need too high a flight speed, only needs to leave as much time as possible to increase the actual effective early warning efficiency. Therefore, when the aircraft carriers of superpowers are basically fully turbofaned, they still retain a special E2 series of early warning aircraft with turboprops. At that time, the Soviet Navy could not develop a similar turboprop long-endurance early warning aircraft, and was ready to temporarily replace it with turbofan jets, but the comprehensive effect was not good. Whoever did not take a detour even after having two cocks still insisted on developing turboprop fixed-wing early warning aircraft. It also shows that there is currently no second set of solutions in the world that can replace turboprop fixed-wing early warning aircraft.
The E2C Hawkeye AWACS is a platform with a maximum takeoff weight of 27.5 tons, using two T56-A-425 turboprop engines, with a maximum power of 4910 hp, an average of 4500 hp, and a power-to-weight ratio of 3.98. The first shipborne early warning aircraft supporting the large plate, the maximum power of the single turboprop engine is likely to be above 5300 horsepower, which is significantly larger than the engine of the E2 series. Why is it still said that there is still a gap in comprehensive performance? This lies in its self-importance, the unit fuel consumption is also large, and the power-to-weight ratio can only be temporarily achieved about 3.3. As a result, the most important short-time indicator is significantly inferior to that of its opponents. It belongs to the temporary top post, and after the batch, it is also necessary to replace the turboprop with light weight, low fuel consumption and large power 10.