Hundreds of billions of inventions from the spirit of ‘If you fail, try again’

At the beginning of 2016, Viettel Aerospace Institute (VTX), a member of the Military Industry and Telecommunications Group, was assigned the task of developing a system of high-tech military equipment which is considered as “an absolute real estate”. Feasibility”.

“This is a very new, difficult and extremely complex field. In the world, there are only a few advanced countries that own technology, but they absolutely do not share it. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s experience is almost nothing …”, Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Van Duc – Head of VTX’s Political Department said.

“Small” creation saves hundreds of billions of dong

During the implementation process, a big concern for VTX engineers is that field testing is very complicated and expensive due to the coordination of many units both inside and outside Viettel. For the device to work correctly, it must be tried many times to adjust.

The logistics force needs to mobilize up to hundreds of people, dozens of vehicles and equipment. Preparation must be in months. It takes time, effort, and money, but the test results can be very “lucky”.

From this fact, VTX engineers determined to develop a simulation simulation system to test the device “like the real thing”. A finished product is assembled from many different parts. The simulation system will help get the parameters of each item of equipment. This is a decisive factor to the perfection of the final product.

After months of struggling, “failure, redo” the simulation system was finally released by VTX’s engineering team. This system allows product components to go through trial and error, making adjustments accordingly. Thanks to this system, the device is continuously adjusted, producing accurate parameters that meet international standards.

Aviation experts use thinking like… Modder

However, in front of VTX engineers, there are still conundrums related to the device’s motor. Specifically, the equipment that VTX develops uses engines imported from abroad. Each engine costs billions of dong but can only be tested once. If you want to reuse it, you must return it to the processing partner. The cost of each “restore” is equivalent to 50% of buying new, which is extremely expensive.

At that time, Tuan Anh and his colleagues had only thought about how to make the device motor can be reused many times, making testing of component modules possible at any time.

It took the VTX experts about 6 months from the first design sketches to the completion of the multi-engine reuse invention. During the machining process, there are also times of suspense and anxiety because the system uses high-pressure compression which is prone to the risk of fire and explosion.

Simulation system with “immortal engine” allows to reduce time in the field; reducing the number of engines to buy… and still producing the exact final parameters of the VTX specialists, saving hundreds of billions of dollars per year for the budget, saving a lot of effort and time.

After the simulation system is put into operation, testing activities always reach over 90% of the requirements. The product works well in all component systems.

Successfully inventing a system to simulate and reuse the “billion-dollar” engine of the team of experts is really a great success that inspires and motivates other members of the project.

Creation from failures

After more than 5 years of project implementation, starting research almost from zero, but up to now, VTX has mastered many important related technologies such as general knowledge about materials, mechanics, structures, control. In the field of structure and material design, the project marked a big step forward in the field of precision mechanics in Vietnam.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Van Duc, the unit’s achievements are the result of many previous failures. “We often tell each other that in order for a project to succeed, each VTX expert must first forge the capacity to endure failure. This is in one of Viettel’s core values ​​of “Growing through challenges and failures”. If you want to innovate, knowing how to accept failure is very important. Because the effort to create “unprecedented” products with new technologies is fraught with risks,” said German lieutenant colonel.

It is important to constantly learn from failures to move forward. “Viettel believes that there are many types of failure. Having failure offers valuable lessons. There are failures due to poor preparation, or poor management. Viettel encourages risk-taking and failure because Viettel leaders believe that their team are all very capable experts,” said Lieutenant Colonel Duc.

Minh Ngoc