NationStates Jolt Archive

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Press Release
Kanagawa Heavy Industries
Defense Technologies Division

TELLERUS, Ancient Terra., September 5, 2007 - Kanagawa New Propulsion, a Kanagawa Heavy Industries (NSSE: KHI) company, today confirmed the existence of the KNP-140 Turbofan "Arashi" Project. Kikuchi Izumi, President of Kanagawa Heavy Industries and the grandfather of Rear Admiral Koushiro Izumi, acknowledged that the project has been underway for nearly four years following instructions derived directly from Terran High Command.

This announcement puts to rest several months of controversy that arose following a Press Release from High Command in February announcing that several leading members of the Terran aerospace industry, including "Big 3" member Kokuryūkai Aerospace Industries along with Seishin Aircraft Engineering, Uchida Flight Composites and the massive Shouri Defense Industries, were collaborating to develop Terra's newest Multirole Aircraft. Tentatively designated the KJ-28 Ryugu-jo "Dragon Palace", considerable confusion arose after the released data stated weights completely incompatible with current turbofan designs. Since the data was circulated, noted defense analyst Adrien Krey has repeatedly made the case for a simultaneous, top-secret power plant development program.

"Well, I knew that we weren't being told everything. The stated performance goals for this aircraft...which are very impressive, were quite literally impossible to achieve with current engine designs such as the F119-PW-100. It's a fantastic engine, but the F-22A is a comparatively small, light airplane; everything we know about this "KJ-28" suggests a true beast of a fighter, perhaps one of the largest combat aircraft in the world short of true tactical bombers. I'm pleased that this Press Release proved my suspicions correct; at least the numbers might line up now."

Although details remain vague on both the aircraft and its newly announced power plant, KNP-140 Project Head Kyu Sakamoto was kind enough to give us a short summary of the project's goals.

"It's extremely impressive, an entirely new design" he said. "We're very pleased to have received this contract and been given the chance to work on such an important project. Stated design goals called for a powerful, efficient and reliable engine, which meant that we have had to look at things from a whole new angle. We're using a variety of recent developments to accomplish our goals, and from what I have seen so far our team is doing a fantastic job."

Sakamoto refused to give any further details on the current state of the project, but anonymous sources suggest that the design may soon be frozen, allowing the program to move towards its testing phase. Experts, including consultants at Terra's other large aircraft power plant corporation (Sugimoto Advanced Propulsion Development), suggest that each engine must be capable of at least 50,000+ lbs-thrust, owing to the large size of the aircraft and its need to lift considerable amounts of ordinance. Furthermore, the requirement to minimize weight and maintenance suggests that novel technologies will be incorporated to reduce the number of parts. Of particular interest is a number of patents recently revealed to have been filed by a subsidiary of Kanagawa New Propulsion, including one for a Fluidic Thrust Vectoring system and another for a large Variable Cycle Engine (VCE). Neither Kanagawa New Propulsion nor Kanagawa Heavy Industries were willing to confirm or deny that the disclosure of these patents influenced their decision to announce the existence of the KNP-140 development program.

Kanagawa New Propulsion, a subsidiary of Kanagawa Heavy Industries, employs nearly 48,000 people around Ancient Terra and is considered the premier aerospace power plant designer in the nation. Its parent corporation, Kanagawa Heavy Industries, is one of the largest companies within Terra's borders and employs nearly three million people domestically; it and its subsidiaries have a vast range of interests in almost every conceivable market and account for nearly 1% of Terra's GDP.
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(OOC: The purpose of this thread is to detail the development and testing of the next-generation power plant intended to power a new multi-role fighter. There will be failures! Explosions! Employee deaths and company liability! I'd also like to use this thread to iron out specifications and get a general consensus from the NS community regarding what is acceptable to be incorporated into this design. Try to keep this thread clean IC, but feel free to pop in with suggestions and criticisms. :D)

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Press Release
Kanagawa Heavy Industries
Defense Technologies Division

TELLERUS, Ancient Terra., October 8, 2007 - Kanagawa New Propulsion, a Kanagawa Heavy Industries (NSSE: KHI) company, announced that it has begun preliminary testing of their new KNP-140 turbofan, a month after they confirmed the existence of the project. Although the design has reportedly been frozen for a period of 2 weeks to allow for data-collection from the early prototypes, a number of changes are expected.

Wind tunnel tests have already uncovered potentially crippling airflow issues, and several flaws capable of leading to compressor damage have been identified. Three prototype engines have been produced, each incorporating different design features.

Tests will continue to focus on testing the basic capabilities of the engine along with comparisons between the three models; it will be at least several months before a decision can be made on which features to incorporate into the true prototype.

Despite the early flaws, Project Leader Kyu Sakamoto reported that he was "overjoyed" with the progress that has made in just a month. Terran High Command sent letters of congratulation and appreciation to each member of the design team, and several ranking officers including Generals Kariudo and Kido and Vice Admiral Inoue were on-hand for the first light of the prototypes.

Kanagawa New Propulsion is a subsidiary of Kanagawa Heavy Industries, one of the largest companies in Ancient Terra. The Arashi Turbofan Project is organized under KNP's Defense Technologies Division, which is famous for devising a number of impressive power plants for indigenous Terran aircraft.
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Cynapsian State Motorworks
Official Communique

The CSM is intrigued by the development of this new Turbofan Engine, and politely requests that observers from the CSM be sent to learn from the advances of Kanagawa Heavy Industries. As we are gradually developing our own domestic production of motors for a variety of purposes, we would be greatful for anything our technicians could learn from the more advanced KHI staff.

Public Relations Office.

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Official Reply
Kanagawa Heavy Industries
Defense Technology Division
From the Desk of Kikuchi Izumi, President & CEO of KHI

To: The Honorable Cynapsian State Motorworks Corporation

After consulting with the project leaders, along with the Board of Directors of Kanagawa Heavy Industries, we have consented to allow CSM observers access to the primary design/testing facilities for the KNP-140 (located at KNP's Shinnen Coastal R&D Center). Although we request that you do not remove any technical data related to the engine itself, we would be delighted to allow CSM representatives to observe the design and testing process, and will afford you access to the relevant facilities during normal business hours provided that you are accompanied by a KNP liaison.

Terran High Command has signed off on the proposal, with the caveat that CSM observers may be asked to absent themselves from the premises during project reviews by ranking military officials where highly sensitive material may be discussed. We apologize for these restrictions, but do not expect them to be a problem.

Kanagawa New Propulsion is conducting primary design and testing at the Shinnen Coastal R&D Center, a large complex located 50 miles south of Terra's capital Tellerus. The R&D Center is located along the coast, and was chosen both for its proximity to the capital and the high concentration of military facilities in the area. Nearby accommodations are abundant, owing to the area's popularity as a tropical vacation spot; Administration at Shinnen Coastal R&D Center will furnish you with a list of low-cost company-owned housing in the area and can make available company cars for the use of CSM employees.

Kanagawa New Propulsion Vice President Kyu Sakamoto, Project Lead, is excited by the prospect of your participation and looks forward to personally meeting the CSM representatives when they arrive. The Terran Foreign Ministry is prepared to fast-track any Resident Alien Visa Applications.

Thank you for your interest in the Arashi Turbofan Project, we hope these conditions are acceptable.

Sincerely,

Kikuchi Izumi
President & CEO
Kanagawa Heavy Industries

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Press Release
Kanagawa Heavy Industries
Defense Technologies Division

TELLERUS, Ancient Terra., October 24, 2007 - Kanagawa New Propulsion, a subsidiary of Kanagawa Heavy Industries (KHI), announced that it had completed preliminary testing of the three early variant prototypes of the KNP-140 and had begun incorporating the obtained data into the next design phase.

Although specific details have still not been released, it appears that the KNP-140 Arashi will be a conventional turbofan rather than a more sophisticated Variable Cycle system.

"The data suggests that a Variable Cycle Engine, while providing slightly better performance and fuel economy at certain given speeds, is too unproven a concept to consider incorporating into this design." said Project Lead Sakamoto. "The increased complexity of the system would require extensive mechanic training and increases the weight and number of parts incorporated into each design, all things that run counter to our primary design goals."

He went on to state that "Given advances in compressor design and the large internal volume alloted to engines in the upcoming KJ-28 airframe, the difference in performance between a conventional turbofan and a Variable Cycle power plant would be very slight."

It is expected that the design team will incorporate this data into a further three turbofan designs, more similar to one-another than the previous three but still incorporating differing features to reveal the advantages of certain techniques.

Kanagawa New Propulsion is a subsidiary of Kanagawa Heavy Industries, one of the largest companies in Ancient Terra. The Arashi Turbofan Project is organized under KNP's Defense Technologies Division.
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Press Release
Kanagawa Heavy Industries
Defense Technologies Division

TELLERUS, Ancient Terra., February 11, 2008 - Kanagawa New Propulsion today announced that they had reached the final design selection for the KNP-140 Turbofan "Arashi" Project, and henceforth only minor changes would be made to the engine to correct issues revealed during further testing. This design freeze calls for the production of six identical engines for use in a battery of trials, including full military power runs, crosswind validation tests and long-term powered tests to determine maintenance needs and whether or not the engine meets or exceeds the program's stated goals.

Project Lead Vice President Kyu Sakamoto has been in charge of this project for nearly four years, and as such he is highly excited by the prospect of its nearing completion. "The KNP-140 will be one of the finest aircraft power plants available, and obviously we're extremely proud to have our name attached to this superior piece of technology. It's almost a work of art, I'd say; during testing there's something absolutely surreal when we push this engine to new heights."

Other members of the nearly 1800-strong design team are looking forward to the upcoming stress tests for various reasons, but perhaps none more so than the engineering team, who are positively giddy with anticipation for one reason:

"We're going to blow one of them up." said Chief Engineer Rokuro Okajima, the lead technical advisor on the KNP-140's supervisory Board on Design & Deployment. "In order to understand how this design, especially the new alloys, will hold up, not only will we be pushing these engines far past their designed limits, but we will also be simulating bird strikes, near-miss explosions, even the effect of having a human-shaped object get sucked through the turbines." He licked his lips in anticipation of this last test. "We fully expect that at some point this poor thing is going to fail and explode like a dead beached whale, and we're already placing bets on which test will be the one that does this poor machine in."

Explosion or no, one thing that Kanagawa New Propulsion does not have to worry about is support from Terran High Command. Earlier this week, General Takenaka announced that the KNP-140 Project was expected to far surpass the set project goals, and confirmed that an order of at least 40,000 engines was likely to be made in the weeks ahead. This indicates that the Terran Air Force may be preparing to acquire a minimum of 15,000 KJ-28 aircraft, or that a second airframe is being developed to take advantage of the new engine design.

Although precise information on the KNP-140 has not yet been released, it has now been confirmed that the engine sports a new compressor chamber design and generates massive thrust output through the use of relatively few turbine stages, presumably giving it a very high thrust-to-weight ratio and increased durability. Engineers have made extensive use of Computational Fluid Dynamics at the Shinnen Coastal R&D Center, with the assistance of the facility's "Deep C" 4 petaflops supercomputer. New software allowed engineers an unprecedented look into performance in the transonic realm and in unusual conditions such as turbulence and severe weather.

Kanagawa New Propulsion, a subsidiary of Kanagawa Heavy Industries, employs nearly 48,000 people around Ancient Terra and is considered the premier aerospace power plant designer in the nation. Its parent corporation, Kanagawa Heavy Industries, is one of the largest companies within Terra's borders and employs nearly three million people domestically; it and its subsidiaries have a vast range of interests in almost every conceivable market and account for nearly 1% of Terra's GDP.
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Press Release
Kanagawa Heavy Industries
Defense Technologies Division

TELLERUS, Ancient Terra., April 28, 2008 - Kanagawa New Propulsion, a subsidiary of Kanagawa Heavy Industries (NSSE: KHI) today announced a milestone in testing of the new KNP-140 Turbofan, dubbed the "Arashi" project by mainstream media. Vice President Kyu Sakamoto, Project Lead, officially stated that the engine had been taken up to full afterburner thrust in the first protracted test of this capability, and that the results had been "astonishing".

"We were amazed at the numbers we were seeing." He paused for a second to straighten his tie. "Our calculations had indicated that we were heading for very impressive numbers, but to have witnessed everything work so well was very rewarding for the team. It's one thing to crunch numbers on a computer; it's something else entirely to bring these years of work together into a functional machine."

Although Sakamoto-san would not make any further comments on the KNP-140's performance during these trials, industry insiders suggest that the engine output "at least" 55,000 lbf of thrust, with some hinting that the numbers crept even higher. Details remain scarce, although these same experts and many others have confirmed that the KNP-140 has undergone significant changes in the last two months as flaws are found and the Air Force requests modifications to the final design.

Kanagawa New Propulsion is a subsidiary of Kanagawa Heavy Industries, one of the largest companies in Ancient Terra. The Arashi Turbofan Project is organized under KNP's Defense Technologies Division.
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