Chapter 305: Don’t dismantle the An-225 transport aircraft, sell it to me!

“This is a thrilling landing!” Yarmolenko greeted him: “You are really lucky... Hey, have we met before?”

"Yarmolenko, don't you recognize me anymore? I'm Dmitry Kiva." One of the middle-aged men in a suit said: "A few years ago, when we were meeting in Moscow, we also We sat at the same table and ate.”

Yarmolenko finally remembered: "Yes, we had dinner together. At that time, we also drank together..."

“You can also drink together now.” At this moment, a voice came from behind: “Everyone is frightened. How about I invite everyone to drink together to calm down the fright?”

Dmitri turned his head back and saw Qin Tao, with a smile on his face immediately: "Of course, come, let me introduce to you, this is my good friend, Qin. Qin, this is Anton The head of Nov Design Bureau, Dmitry, is also a good friend of mine."

You only need to drink once to become good friends?

 Qin Tao was secretly happy.

"This plane... can only stay here temporarily. What we need most now is indeed a drink." Dmitri said.

Soon, a group of people sat down at the dining table in the base canteen. Although the place had just been cleaned and there was dust everywhere, to the people present, they didn't care at all.

"Come on, Erguotou, have you tried it? It tastes better than vodka, and I guarantee you will be satisfied." Qin Tao introduced this wine while serving wine to everyone.

I brought a lot of wine this time, but after finishing this meal, there is nothing left. Fortunately, if I go to buy the modern grade next time, there should be no surprises, so don’t worry.

At this time, everyone took a few mouthfuls of wine after receiving the wine from Qin Tao, and then gave a thumbs up.

 “Not bad, it tastes good!”

“We in the East not only have fine wine, but also delicious food. Please try these cooked foods.”

Various cans and ham sausages were also put on the table.

 After a few sips of wine, everyone became familiar with each other, and Dmitri introduced everyone in his team.

"Alexander Galunenko, the chief test pilot of our design bureau, was the one who piloted the plane today. Although the landing was a bit thrilling and the plane crashed, without him, we would all have died here. "Dmitri said.

  Galunenko? Qin Tao looked at the middle-aged man: "I heard that you made the An-225 fly?"

"Yes, it is not difficult for me to fly that plane. After all, we have excellent designers in our design bureau. By the way, this Mr. Victor Kowalski also participated at the time. The An-225 project.”

 Kowalski? That old designer who was beaten in the street in later generations? Qin Tao looked at the person in front of him and felt that his luck today was extremely good. Otherwise, how could he know so many people!

“Whether it is An-124 or An-225, they are both your best aircraft. Antonov Design Bureau is the best in this era. Come on, cheers!” Qin Tao raised his wine glass.

This kind of flattery was particularly helpful to everyone's ears. However, after drinking a few glasses of wine, Yarmolenko was obviously a little hot-headed. He said with emotion: "It's a pity, Antono Commander-in-Chief Husband can’t see all this, but it’s better that he can’t see this.”

This sentence made the people present feel a little emotional and express their nostalgia for the deceased commander-in-chief.

 There are many master-level figures here at Lao Maozi, and there are also a lot of people in the aviation industry. Under the aura of these people, Antonov is considered a late bloomer.

  In 1938, young Antonov entered the Yakovlev Design Bureau. After the Great Patriotic War started, he believed that transport aircraft would make a greater contribution to the motherland. Therefore, on the rear, he not only designed a variety of gliders for airborne landings, but also designed the famous An-2 transport aircraft.

It's a pity that the design plan of this aircraft was rejected because the concept was too unconventional. Later, after the An-2 was put into production, it was immediately popular. More than 20,000 aircraft were produced, even in the distant East. On the basis of this aircraft, the Y-5 transport aircraft was copied.

 After that, Antonov established an independent design bureau and moved it from the cold Novosibirsk to Kiev, Ukraine. His glorious life began with the twin-engine An-8, the four-engine An-10, An-12, as well as the An-14 light transport aircraft and the An-24 medium-range transport aircraft. One model after another of aircraft continued to emerge, becoming Antonov's pride.

Unfortunately, Antonov did not see the emergence of the An-124. Due to overwork and illness, he unfortunately passed away in 1984. In his short life, he obtained 10 international patents and 72 invention certificates, and obtained He has many honors including the Soviet State Prize, the Lenin Prize, the Order of Lenin, the October Revolution Medal, the Patriotic War Medal First Class and the Red Banner of Labor Medal. He published 3 monographs and more than 200 papers in his life, making contributions to the development of human aviation. made an indelible contribution.

 Now, when it comes to Antonov, everyone has mixed feelings.

Antonov's departure was a loss to their design bureau. However, precisely because Antonov left early, he did not see the current chaos. At least, Antonov has been living in an ideal world. middle.

"The aircraft we are flying now is an An-124-100M transport aircraft. It is the same as the An-124-100, but it is equipped with Western avionics equipment. After adopting modern civil aviation equipment, the crew has been reduced to four people. . We are currently conducting flight tests, and we did not expect that such an accident would occur." Dmitri's words explained a doubt in Qin Tao's mind, so this is what happened!

Since the collapse of the Red Empire, the Antonov Design Bureau has no longer been able to develop advanced transport aircraft. It can only improve on the existing basis. Moreover, their transport aircraft are very different from civilian aircraft. , without considering economics, making it difficult to sell.

Therefore, they have to make improvements. The fuel consumption rate cannot be changed, but they can change the driving system and reduce the crew members from six to four. In this way, the operation and maintenance of the transportation company can be greatly reduced. Expenses.

However, they are still too naive.

 After leaving the Red Empire, the Varyag can no longer be completed, and the same is true for the An-124 transport aircraft!

 The completion of Varyag required the Soviet Union, the Party Central Committee, the State Planning Commission, the Military Industry Commission, nine ministries of defense industry, 600 related majors, 8,000 supporting manufacturers, and a great country.

The An-124 does not need so many, but it is impossible for Kiev to produce all the parts independently. The wings are produced by the Tashkent Chkalov Aircraft Factory and then carried on the An-22 transport aircraft. Ulyanno The Fusk Aviation Factory also manufactured a large number of parts.

Therefore, without the support of Mao, the An-124 transport aircraft could not be manufactured at all. Since the collapse of the Red Empire, the An-124 transport aircraft has never made more sorties. Later, even foreign countries wanted to place orders. They They didn't dare to continue, because after evaluation, they found that they couldn't produce it at all.

 Now, all their efforts are in vain.

Of course, it is impossible for Qin Tao to say this out loud. If he attacks others, he will be looked down upon.

"Your An-124 is the greatest invention of this era. When I saw this big thing, I was deeply shocked. I simply can't imagine what a huge existence the An-225 must be. , I don’t know if there is such an opportunity.”

"Of course." Dmitri said: "Our plane needs to be repaired next. We need to go back and prepare all the repair parts. If you want to go, we can take you with us."

"It's a great honor." Qin Tao raised the bottle: "Thank you for your kindness, do it!"

In the afternoon of the same day, Qin Tao left the two followers he brought to assist Yarmolenko in handling follow-up matters, taking apart the negotiated items and taking them away, while Qin Tao and Zheng Ming followed Antonov's design. Everyone in the bureau embarked on the road to Kiev together.

Ermao is a natural big granary. Only when you come here can you have a deep feeling. The land here is so vast and it is very fertile farmland. Countless rivers flow through this land, nourishing the land on both sides.

Just in the middle of it, near the confluence of the middle reaches of the Dnieper River and its largest tributary, the Pripyat River and the Desna River, stands the largest city in the Ermao, the capital Kiev.

Antonov Design Bureau, located near Kiev, Gostomeli.

In a huge arc-shaped hangar, there is a super transport aircraft, staying there quietly. If the An-124 is placed here, it will be nothing compared to the big one.

The most eye-catching thing is of course the six engines hoisted under the huge wings. Although eight engines were once hoisted on the B-52 bomber, this was because the engine power was not enough, and the two engines were next to each other. The way they are together does not have the same momentum as the current separate hoisting.

The diameter of each engine reaches 2.8 meters and the thrust is 23.4 tons. It is definitely a strong man. Driven by these six engines, the maximum take-off weight of this giant transport aircraft has reached an incredible 640 tons. , becoming the world's only beast with a take-off weight of more than 600 tons.

 The entire fuselage is expanded based on the An-124. Its fuselage is 84 meters long, its wingspan is 88.8 meters, its height is 18.2 meters, and its wing area is 910 square meters, setting a world record.

As for its transportation capacity, the maximum load capacity of the cabin reaches 250 tons, and the load capacity of the back rack can reach 210 tons. Some people even believe that this transport aircraft can also transport 300 tons of cargo.

 At the beginning, this aircraft was born to carry Lao Maozi’s own space shuttle Buran.

In terms of aerospace, although Lao Maozi has not achieved manned landing on the moon, his strength is quite incredible. After the Americans developed the space shuttle, Lao Maozi was not to be outdone, and his technical route became more advanced.

There is a main engine on the American space shuttle, and the large rocket-like thing hanging on the belly is actually a fuel tank. Although this makes the reuse of the engine more convenient, it also leads to the reliability of the engine after multiple uses. Sexuality declines rapidly.

Lao Maozi's space shuttle is more like a side-mounted spacecraft. The thing on its belly is a real rocket. It is carried to the sky by the rocket. In this way, the reliability is greatly improved.

If the Red Empire had not collapsed, then the Buran would have become an important spacecraft for Lao Maozi, undertaking a large number of flight missions, and the Soyuz spacecraft would have been retired long ago.

 The space shuttle needs to take off at the launch site and land at various airports. Therefore, the landed space shuttle needs to be transported back to the launch site.

Transport aircraft are the most suitable to perform this task. The American space shuttle is also placed on the back of a Boeing 747. Lao Maozi's is even more outrageous, using the specially developed An-225.

In order to carry the space shuttle on its back, its tail was modified. The original single vertical tail design of the An-124 was changed to an "H" shaped tail. All airfoils were swept back. The rudder was divided into upper and lower sections, and the elevator was divided into Three sections.

 In this way, the space on the back of the aircraft is freed up, making it easier to carry the Buran on its back, and it will not cause too much turbulence after piggybacking, which will affect the operation of the tail surface.

However, in addition to carrying the Buran on its back, this aircraft can also be used as a normal transport aircraft. However, due to the change in the tail, there is no special transport aircraft tail hatch, but the front part of the aircraft can still be turned up. , which can allow large goods to enter and exit. Its internal cargo warehouse has a total length of 43.51 meters, a maximum width of 6.68 meters, a cargo floor width of 6.40 meters, and a maximum height of 4.39 meters.

 Such a space can accommodate 16 containers or four tanks at a time. If it is transporting paratroopers, it can accommodate 1,500 people.

Such a giant beast stands here quietly. Since the collapse of the Red Empire, it has never been able to fly into the sky. Now, it just stays here quietly, waiting for its unknown fate.

This scene seems familiar. The photo of half of the plane's nose blown off seems to overlap with the scene in front of me.

"This is the masterpiece of our Antonov Design Bureau. It is the greatest aviation product in the world!" Galunenko was introducing it to Qin Tao and others when he heard a quarrel behind him.

 “No, no, absolutely not! We can’t tear it down!”

"If we don't dismantle it, we can't repair the An-124. We have to remove an engine from the aircraft."

The sound of the quarrel caught Qin Tao's attention. He turned around and saw Dmitry and Kowalski not far away, arguing with red faces.

“It is the hope of our Antonov Design Bureau, and it is our glory!”

“However, there is no need for it to fly anymore. Instead of staying here and wasting time, it is better to contribute the useful parts on it!”

Soon, Qin Tao outlined the whole thing, and he felt excited. What a good opportunity!

After the collapse of the Red Empire, various military-industrial enterprises were in chaos. The D-18T turbofan engine used on the An-124 needed to be provided by the Progress Design Bureau. However, since the collapse of the Red Empire, the factories there have not produced one. Brand new D-18T engine.

Therefore, if you use this kind of engine, you will need one less. If there is stock... it must be out of stock. In more than a year, they have consumed all the stock, so if you want to repair it now As for the An-124, we have to find a way to remove one from other aircraft.

The An-225 transport aircraft here is the most suitable target for dismantling. Anyway, no one is using this aircraft now. Moreover, the engines used in the two aircraft are exactly the same. They can be removed and reinstalled.

In fact, the An-225 has been in hibernation since the end of 1991. A few years later, the Antonov Design Bureau began to remove parts from this aircraft. Until the new century, I don’t know why Ermao suddenly After thinking about it, I reassembled the aircraft with parts and put it into commercial operation. As a result, I really made money.

 Now, in Er Mao’s eyes, this An-225 is a waste!

 Qin Tao's heart was inexplicably excited.

“No, I will never allow you to dismantle this aircraft. This is our glory, our hope, and our dream!”

Suddenly, Kowalski became excited. He ran towards the plane, and then climbed up from the ground maintenance ladder on one side. Even though this guy had gray hair, he had very good physical strength. Boom I climbed up with a bang, and then stood on the top of the high wing!

“I don’t think anyone dares to dismantle this plane! Not even one engine! If anyone dares to do it, I will jump out of here!”

 This guy is going to defend this plane with his life!

  Qin Tao was also moved. In this era, there are not many people with such spirit.

"Kowalsky, what are you doing?" Dmitri shouted angrily: "Get down! If we had our way, we wouldn't remove the engine from this plane!"

 “I’m not coming down! I want to be with this plane!”

"You should also know that if you want to restart the production line of this kind of engine, the Progress Design Bureau and the Motor Siqi Factory will need a lot of funds. Especially the fan blades, three-rotor bearings and other parts of this kind of engine are from Damao. Ordering on the side, all the expenses add up to 100 million U.S. dollars! Now, we can only dismantle the engine here to ensure our normal operation. When the economy improves in the future, we can re-order the engine and then make this The plane returned to the sky."

“Stop saying such **** things, as long as we dismantle it, we won’t be able to put it back together again!”

Above, Kavalsky was extremely excited, and below, Dmitri was also very uncomfortable. If there was another way, would he be willing to remove the engine of this plane?

There is absolutely no way!

"Cough, cough." At this moment, Qin Tao coughed twice to attract everyone's attention, and then spoke quietly.

“Everyone, I have an idea now. Everyone, please calm down. Can you listen to what I have to say first?”

“Qin, what do you think?” Galunenko asked Qin Tao.

“Well, this plane is now abandoned, right?”

 “That’s right.”

 “Mr. Dmitry, do you need money to purchase a brand new engine?”

"yes."

“Mr. Kowalski, you don’t want to see the engines removed from this plane, do you?”

 “That’s right!”

“Then, if I invest 100 million to buy this plane, all the problems will be solved.”

What?

 Everyone was surprised for a while.

Zheng Ming’s jaw dropped.

 One hundred million dollars! Superiors will not give out such a large amount of money. This is Mr. Qin’s personal behavior. In other words, Mr. Qin can give out 100 million US dollars casually? Isn’t this awesome?

 They, the Mingzhou Group, are really extremely rich!

Dmitry had the same idea. They met in the Crimea Peninsula. At that time, Qin Tao invited them to drink and said he wanted to come and see the An-225, so he regarded Qin Tao as an ordinary friend. , just come and take a look.

The results of it? My friend with an unattractive appearance is actually a rich man?

Kowalski was also surprised.

He just lost control of his emotions temporarily because he didn't want to watch the aircraft being dismantled. Today it's the engine, tomorrow it's the landing gear, and the day after tomorrow it's the avionics. It's easy to take it apart, but it's hard to put it back together again! If not, as long as one head is taken apart, it will never end. From now on, this aircraft will become a pile of junk in organ donation.

He didn't want to do this, but when his mind returned to his body, he knew that he was not qualified. Even if he jumped from the wing of a plane dozens of meters high today, he would not be able to prevent the fate of this plane.

Now, Qin actually wants to buy this plane?

This is incredible, right?

Kowalski looked at Qin Tao seriously: "Qin, you want to buy it? What next?"

"Then let it fly into the sky again." Qin Tao said: "You may not know that I run a group with a transportation company under it. Some time ago, I just purchased a few Mi-26s and Mi-171s. Now , purchasing this An-225 will just expand the strength of our transportation company."

“You want it to fly again?”

"Yes, as long as you are willing to sell it to me, I will let it fly into the sky again." Qin Tao said: "Our company has strong operational capabilities, and this aircraft will definitely show its presence around the world again. .”

"For you, with this capital, you can get more engines and produce more An-124 transport aircraft. As long as this transport aircraft can be sold, you will greatly improve your operating conditions and realize With healthy development, you may be able to assemble a second An-225 in the future. Moreover, if you use Western avionics and engines, you may be able to set a new aerial record."

At that time, before the collapse of the Red Empire, it was originally planned to build five An-225 transport aircraft. The first one is complete and the second one is seventy percent built. In Mrs. Antono's heart, why doesn't she want to assemble Unit 2?

Entering the 21st century, the aircraft in front of him began to make money, and Antonov began to repair and improve the No. 2 aircraft, planning to use the more advanced Rolls-Royce Trent 892 (41.4 tons of thrust) or Pratt & Whitney PW4098 (44.4 tons thrust) turbofan engine, breaking more than 20 world records set by the An-225 itself.

 (End of this chapter)