Chapter 835: Stealth machines are more attractive

 Considering procurement costs and considering life-cycle costs are two different attitudes.

In the past, the Eastern Air Force did not consider the whole life cost, only the purchase cost. At worst, if it is not used after purchasing, the life span will be saved. The purchase money is real, and it will be painful. However, after entering the 1990s, the Air Force also began to consider the whole life cost. The cost of life is high. Although the J-7 and J-8 are cheap, the engine will be overhauled after 300 hours, so who can bear it?

As for the Cuban Air Force, although they do not have advanced equipment at the moment, they are also knowledgeable. The aircraft in front of them has advanced performance and long life. If the price is 10 million, it is within their acceptable range. So what else can be said?

I don’t know when it started to drizzle in the sky. Everyone left the tarmac and came to the 320-meter-long conference room.

"Currently, the trainer version of our aircraft that has completed final test flights is called Type A. Next, we will improve it on the basis of this trainer version so that it can have powerful ground attack capabilities. Carrying various precision-guided weapons and even anti-ship missiles to carry out sea attacks, we call this type B. Of course, if customers need it, type A can be upgraded to type B at any time."

 “Can it also attack the ground?” Customers were shocked again.

 “Or precision attack?”

“Yes, our aircraft are very maneuverable and surpass many professional ground attack aircraft. Our navigation equipment is also very advanced. As long as appropriate weapon systems are added, it can become an attack aircraft.”

“How much more will it cost to convert it into an attack aircraft?” Pino asked.

 This old man hasn't thought about it yet. After all, they haven't completed the modification yet, and they don't know how much it will cost.

"It's hard to say." Qin Tao took over the conversation: "You are all professionals, and you should know that the price varies with different equipment. For example, installing an ordinary flat-panel gap radar and installing an advanced phased array radar , the price will be much different. In addition to equipment, it is also related to ammunition. You should only have ordinary iron bombs on hand. If you want to buy precision guided bombs, the purchase quantity will also lead to different prices. But please Don’t worry, we are good friends and we will definitely give you the lowest price when the time comes.”

“Do you still have an airborne phased array radar?”

“Of course, our early warning aircraft use phased array radar.” Qin Tao said: “Our advanced fourth-generation aircraft also have phased array radar versions.”

“Can this kind of radar detect stealth aircraft?”

  “Theoretically it’s possible.”

"Okay, then let's..." Pino was indeed tempted, but at this moment, an assistant next to him pushed him: "Mr. Pino, I'm afraid we don't have much money for purchases now."

They heard that Dongfang was going to sell it, so they came over eagerly. But now, if they want to actually make a purchase, they have to see how much money they have in their pockets.

“Currently, we can only purchase two trainers with the funds we have on hand.” Pino said somewhat helplessly: “However, we are indeed very interested in your aircraft.”

"The scale of two aircraft is really too small. You need to purchase at least twelve aircraft to form a fleet. If the number of aircraft is too small, it will be more expensive to operate. After all, maintenance still needs to be reduced through scale. Cost." Qin Tao said.

"Yes, it needs at least the size of a flying group, alas." Pino sighed a little, thinking how powerful their air force was at the beginning and could span the southern hemisphere, but now, they can't even afford more than two fighter planes.

“Have you heard about our package of projects to strengthen a weak country and strengthen its army?” Qin Tao asked.

Pino's face was a little embarrassed: "Of course I have heard of it, Mr. Qin, you mean to use our domestic resources? Yes, our resources are relatively abundant, but I am very sorry that our resources cannot be opened to foreign companies. , everything is state-run.”

In fact, Cuba's financial situation is quite good. They are very rich in mineral resources, including nickel, cobalt, manganese, chromium, iron and copper. In particular, nickel reserves account for 40% of the world's total reserves, which is very important to Mingzhou Group. Said that this thing is the best material for making Yinwa steel. They also have 3.5 billion tons of iron ore resources. They are also very rich in reserves of copper, tungsten, manganese, and chromium. Almost all mountains contain large amounts of mineral resources.

There is also a lot of oil, with proven recoverable oil reaching 20 billion barrels.

 There are also a large number of trees in their country, with the forest coverage area reaching 27% of the total land area, and there are also precious woods such as mahogany, sandalwood, and Cuban pine.

However, despite such good conditions, Cuba has not developed. Their most important economic pillar industries are tourism and nickel exports. The exported products are mainly agricultural products, such as sugar cane, tropical fruits, cocoa, coffee, rice, etc. The export volume of sucrose maximum.

 It is really a waste to lie down and sleep on so many resources.

 No way, it’s a system problem.

Their domestic welfare benefits are very good, almost from birth to grave. The welfare slogans shouted by Western developed countries have been completely realized in their own countries. Although they can only receive a few hundred yuan worth of currency every month, this is just pocket money. , all living expenses are free.

So, they just need to follow the steps. Ordinary people don’t even think about owning private cars anyway, and the money they make may not necessarily go into their own pockets. Everyone lies down together, and no one needs to take part in it.

There are a lot of these resources, but they cannot be opened to the outside world. Everything belongs to the state.

 This approach won’t work.

"Then you can increase the production of nickel. We can import some nickel ore to offset your purchase cost. You can also mine some other resources. We do not mine on your land. We only need to purchase from you. After signing the purchase contract, we can also advance funds in advance, and you can use this money to purchase L-15 training aircraft."

"Mr. Qin, it is difficult to increase production. If part of the existing minerals is given to you, it will interfere with our normal domestic operations." Pino said helplessly.

“Just work overtime, what’s so hard about it?”

 “We don’t work overtime there.”

 Everyone was speechless.

“So, can you mine some timber? Our Mingzhou Group is also in the timber business now. Our Mingzhou Group can provide specialized felling machinery and one-stop service.”

 Lao Maozi has a large amount of wood, but not many precious species. The wood here in Cuba is all precious wood. If you drive something big like a specialized excavator over, you can cut down hundreds of millions of dollars worth of wood in a few months.

 “We need to take care of our trees.”

Qin Tao was speechless. Are these guys so stubborn?

"Okay, then you should take good care of your own country. Every flower, every tree, every grass, every tree, these are the most important to you. As for whether your air force has completed its modernization and whether it can respond to future threats, These have to be put on the back burner.”

Qin Tao can help them, but this does not mean that they can cheat here. They don’t want to give up anything and still want to have modern fighters. Isn’t this a joke?

 The scene suddenly became awkward.

“Originally, I thought I could export more advanced fourth-generation aircraft to you in the future, but now it seems that I have to forget it.”

This batch of training aircraft is just the beginning. In the future, everyone will cooperate more closely, and even fourth-generation aircraft can be provided. Now you are not letting go of anything here, so how can you cooperate in the future?

Pino's throat moved, and then he said: "Mr. Qin, do you have advanced felling machinery?"

“Of course, we have automated felling machinery and the cutting efficiency is quite high.”

“Then let’s discuss it after we go back.” Pino said.

“Okay, we look forward to your reply. Next, let’s continue to introduce the L-15. Mr. Shi, don’t you have a stealth improvement plan here?”

Shi Lao nodded: "Yes, this is Type C, a subsequent development model. If guests are interested, we can introduce it to you."

Type A is an ordinary coaching type. Type B has strong attack power based on the coaching type. What about type C? Of course it's skin-lifting and invisibility improvement.

These guests are obviously interested in stealth aircraft, so let them know that we have perfected the stealth aircraft. Even if you cannot purchase advanced fourth-generation aircraft, you can still obtain this capability through the L-15!

 “Do you still have a stealth model?” Pino asked in surprise.

 “Yes, stealth model.”

The renderings were printed on the projector. Of course, this was just an idea of ​​Demchenko. Facts have proved that opportunities are only reserved for those who are prepared. If this renderings had not been released, it is estimated that the Cuban visitors would have had to think about it and cut down their own houses. Whether it was worth it to trade the forest for these planes, but when he saw the renderings, he no longer had any doubts.

The diamond-shaped nose has a parallelogram-shaped air inlet below the side strips. There is a bulge at the air inlet. Behind it are twin vertical tails, tilted outward. It looks so beautiful. For a moment, everyone is silent. , looking straight at the trainer.

“If this aircraft is improved into a stealth model, the cost will increase a lot, right?”

"Of course it has improved a lot, but we are very generous to our friends, especially those who purchase our A-type trainer aircraft. The price of this stealth model can also be reduced to 20 million US dollars. Of course, in today's currency value, 5 If we make purchases ten years from now, we have to consider inflation." Qin Tao said casually.

 The price will be discussed later. Anyway, just for a skinny, the price will double, which is definitely a good deal.

 “Does it have a built-in bomb bay?”

 The visitor was a professional, and he immediately raised a key question: If there are no built-in weapons, how can we be invisible? But for an aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of 11 tons, it is simply difficult to require it to have a built-in bomb bay.

"Built-in bomb bays are not practical. For a small aircraft, even if the built-in bomb bays are excavated, at most two of them can be placed inside." Qin Tao said calmly on the side: "This stealth modification of ours will An external stealth weapons bay will be used.”

If you want to be stealthy, you cannot hang weapons outside, otherwise the stealth capability will be destroyed. Various missiles and bombs will strongly reflect radar waves and increase the reflection cross-section area of ​​the fighter. Take the Typhoon fighter as an example. Without plug-ins, the RCS is about 2 square meters. meters, after mounting the missile, it soared to more than 10 square meters. Although the Typhoon is not a stealth aircraft, you can still see how terrifying the external missiles are. If it were a stealth aircraft, the RCS would have been less than 0.1, but it soared to single digits!

Stealth aircraft must have a built-in bomb bay, but the internal space is limited and the number of missiles they can carry is very small. Ordinary third-generation heavy-duty aircraft, such as the F-15 and Su-27, can attach more than a dozen external missiles without a problem. As for the F-22, After cutting off the tips of the missile wings of the AIM-120 missile, six mid-range bombs were barely crammed in. Two more short-range bombs were already the limit. If stealth was given up, it was said that it could carry 28 bombs.

How to resolve the contradiction between stealth and bomb load?

Of course it’s an external stealth pod!

As the name suggests, stealth investigation is to hang a pod on the outside of the aircraft. Compared with ordinary pods, the biggest difference is that it is made into a stealth shape, so that some weapons and equipment can be stuffed inside, so that it can carry weapons and equipment. It will not increase the radar reflection area of ​​the aircraft.

At that time, the Yankees developed this pod in order to reduce the radar reflection area of ​​their aircraft and transformed it into the F-15SE "Silent Eagle" and FA-18 "Silent Hornet."

The F-15 does not have stealth capabilities, but referring to the data of the Typhoon fighter, the radar reflection area will be several times different with and without missiles. Therefore, Silent Eagle made an improvement: two conformal fuel tank-type external pods were installed. On both sides of the inlet, each pod can carry two anti-aircraft missiles and four small-diameter bombs, and then spray a layer of absorbing paint on the aircraft, thereby significantly reducing the RCS value of the "Silent Eagle".

As for the improvement of the Super Hornet, it is even more simple and crude. In addition to hanging two stealth pods on the inner pylons of the wings, it also hangs a pod under the belly. Moreover, the pod under the belly is the largest. It also has the largest capacity.

 Three together, the mount of this Silent Hornet reaches the level of the ordinary Super Hornet.

Of course, stealth aircraft can also carry this kind of pod. After carrying it, the weapon capacity can be expanded. It doesn't matter in air combat, but for ground attacks, the small pod of the F-35 is really not enough.

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Mr. Qin was so awesome. He immediately came up with a solution. Now, the stealth model has obviously attracted these foreigners. As long as they can be fooled, the order did not go away. Thanks to Mr. Qin’s adaptability and answer Perfection!

 The guys were feeling emotional and looked at each other's excited expressions.

“Yes, the stealth pod will do. We are very much looking forward to this stealth variant, and we will place an order now!” Pino said.

 “Mr. Pinault, we only have twenty million dollars.”

"This money can be used as a deposit, and the remaining money can be used to offset the account with wood." Pino said: "We will apply after we return."

 “What if the application fails?”

“If the application fails? Then our deposit will be wasted? They must apply. This is related to the future of our Air Force!”

Pino is really tempted. He has always been very courageous. He dared to disobey military orders on the battlefield and fly a plane to rescue patrols on the ground. Now that he is in a high position, he is of course even more courageous. 100 million US dollars of wood That’s all, he can make the decision without permission!

 This is a decision first and then a deal. As long as the contract is signed here and a deposit is paid, the country must agree.

"Now that you have made up your mind, we will sign the contract first. The fighters currently on the production line are all produced for the Air Force. If you need it, we can transfer one of these fighters to you first." Qin Tao said simply. .

"Really? That's great! But how do you plan to send it to us?"

 It is unrealistic for such a small plane to fly directly there. Do we need to load it on a ship and sail across the ocean?

“Tear off the wings, put them into our transport plane, and send them directly to you.”

 Mingzhou Group has the largest transport aircraft in the world, so it is certainly easy to perform such a task.

In addition to airplanes, a batch of logging machinery and equipment can also be loaded in and work can be started quickly. The wood is very precious.

 The contract was negotiated in this way, 12 training L-15s, each worth 10 million. For the 320 Factory, this was a historic breakthrough! Back then, with eighty K-8s plus the production line, the total contract value was only over 100 million. Now, with only 12 fighter planes, it is already 120 million.

Sure enough, if you want to do the arms business, you can’t be at the low end, you have to go up!

 After signing the contract, paying the deposit, completing all the procedures, and sending the client on the plane, Shi Lao still felt like he was in a dream.

 This is it?

“Mr. Qin, thank you for helping us complete the first export contract of L-15. As usual, we will pay you the relevant sales fees.”

 Mr. Qin helps with sales and must pay agency fees!

Qin Tao smiled: "This is just a small business. If I take a small sum of money, can you still make a profit? Besides, the planes you sell are also equipped with engines from our Tianjiao Airlines, and we can also make profits from the engines. ,This is enough."

 “Thank you, Mr. Qin.”

"This is just the beginning. From now on, for all customers who buy our fourth-generation stealth aircraft, we can trick them into buying a batch of training aircraft. You should hurry up on research and development and develop a ground-attack type. The market will be wider in the future. "

“Yes, Mr. Qin, we will definitely not disappoint your expectations.”

 Qin Tao nodded. This time the layout is considered complete. Through arms sales, he has established a relationship with Cuba. This is a chess piece laid out for the future. Make a decision before moving!

 Next, it’s time to continue south and find Max.

 All the way south, when we arrived in Qiongzhou, Starship Company was a busy scene.

“Mr. Qin, did you come here because you knew our starship was going to be tested?” Max said to Qin Tao excitedly.

“Testing?” Qin Tao really doesn’t know how developed the starships here are? What else should be tested?

"Yes, we are going to conduct a 150-meter jump test flight of the Starworm this time." Max said: "This test is of great significance to us. This is a technology that must be broken to land on Mars!"

"Starworm?" Qin Tao really hasn't paid attention to Max recently, so he doesn't know what he is doing after he comes back.

"It is a small spacecraft that only uses one engine." Max said: "We will use it to explore the technology of landing on Mars first. This will save money after all. Of course, when the technology matures, we can also use it on existing On the rocket, we will explore recycling.”

As Max spoke, he took Qin Tao to the test site, where he could see a cylinder with a stainless steel shell already standing there.

  It can’t be called a rocket because its top is a hemisphere with a lot of testing equipment on it. It looks like an extra-large thermos bucket, the kind used in canteens, with three legs underneath.

"If you want to explore Mars, you must enter space at a low cost, and you must have recycling technology. We have now begun to explore recycling technology." Max said: "In the future, the rocket hull after launch will vertically descend to the recovery field and then transport it back to be used again.”

Qin Tao nodded: "Come on, I don't understand these technologies, but I support you. I believe that the technical route you chose is correct. Hey, why is there a launch pad over there?"

"Mr. Qin, here is the launch pad and over there is the recovery pad. We are testing here. After ignition, we rise to 150 meters and then land on the recovery pad. This is equivalent to jumping from A to B, so we call it a jump this time. Test flight, that’s the name I gave it.”

That thermos bucket is called a star bug, so of course this test is a bug jumping.

 “Attention, the test has entered the countdown!”

The atmosphere at the scene became tense.

When the count reached zero, a flame burst out from under the Starworm's butt. Driven by an engine, it began to climb, but the speed of its ascent did not get faster and faster. Obviously, this was an adjustable-thrust engine. engine!

When the star bug rose to one hundred meters, it began to deflect, which caused it to translate a certain distance in the horizontal direction, and at the same time, it climbed another fifty meters in the vertical direction to reach its highest point.

“The jump was successful, now it’s up to us to land.” Max was very excited.

“This is very similar to the way the American moon landing spacecraft landed.” Qin Tao said.

The lunar landing spacecraft also used rocket engines to slow down and landed on the lunar surface on four supporting legs.

"The technical difficulty is completely different." Max shook his head: "The lunar landing spacecraft has no target and can land at will. Just pick a flat piece of land. Our landing must be precise, and we are still in the atmosphere."

As he spoke, the starworm had already fallen. Seeing this scene, Max was shocked: "Increase the thrust and it will fall too fast. I don't want to see the starworm fall in front of me!"

 The flames at the bottom of the starworm became more intense, and the falling speed became slower and slower.

　　咣!

 The starworm hit the landing platform, then tilted to the side, and one of the legs was visibly bent.

"Okay, it's quite successful." Max wiped the sweat from his forehead: "It's difficult to control the thrust of this old-fashioned engine. We still have to develop our own engine!"

The original rocket engine would work at full speed as soon as it was ignited, consume dozens or even hundreds of tons of fuel within a few minutes, and then shut down at the right time. That was all. Now if you want to achieve the landing of a starship, you have to do it at any time. Adjusting the thrust is not particularly difficult, and the modified one is still not easy to use.

Qin Tao frowned, does this thing still cost money?

“Thanks to this disaster, it has attracted a lot of attention and received a lot of investment. Otherwise, we really wouldn’t have the ability.”

Hearing what Max said, Qin Tao finally felt relieved.

 (End of this chapter)