Chapter 835 The stealth machine is more attractive

  Considering the purchase cost and considering the whole life cost are two different attitudes.

  The Eastern Air Force used to not consider the cost of the whole life, but only the cost of procurement. The big deal is that if you don’t use it after purchasing, the life will be saved. The money for the purchase is real, and it hurts too much. However, after entering the 1990s, the Air Force also began to consider the cost of the life.

  As for the Cuban Air Force, although they do not have advanced equipment at hand, they are also knowledgeable. The aircraft in front of them has advanced performance and a long lifespan. If the price is 10 million, it is also within their acceptable range. So what else is there to say?

   At some point, the sky began to drizzle. Everyone left the apron and came to the 320 long meeting room.

   "At present, our aircraft that has completed the finalized test flight is the trainer type. We call this type A type. Next, we will improve on the basis of this trainer type, so that it has a powerful ground attack capability. It can carry 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, A type can also be upgraded to B type at any time."

   "Can you still attack the ground?" The customers were shocked again.

   "Or precision attack?"

   "Yes, our aircraft is very maneuverable, surpassing many professional ground attack aircraft. Our navigation equipment is also very advanced. As long as we add a suitable weapon system, we can become an attack aircraft."

   "If it is converted into an attack aircraft, how much will it cost?" Pino asked.

  This old Shi hasn't thought about it yet, after all, they haven't finished the modification yet, and they don't know how much it will cost.

   "It's hard to say." Qin Tao took over the words: "Everyone is professional, and you should know that the price varies with different equipment. For example, the price of installing an ordinary flat-panel slot radar and installing an advanced phased array radar will be much different. In addition to equipment, it also has something to do with ammunition. You should only have ordinary iron bombs on hand. If you want to buy precision-guided bombs, the number of purchases will also lead to different prices. But please rest assured that we are good friends and will definitely give you the price. Lowest offer."

   "Do you still have airborne phased array radar?"

   "Of course, our early warning aircraft uses phased array radar." Qin Tao said: "Our advanced fourth-generation aircraft also has a phased array radar version."

   "Can this radar detect stealth aircraft?"

   "Theoretically yes."

   "Okay, then we..." Pino was really tempted, but at this moment, an assistant next to him pushed him: "Mr. Pino, I'm afraid we don't have much money to purchase right now."

  When they heard that Dongfang was going to sell, they came here in a hurry, but now, if they really want to purchase, they have to see how much money they have in their pockets.

   "Currently, we can only purchase two trainer models with the funds on hand." Pino said with some helplessness: "However, we are indeed very interested in your aircraft."

   "The size of the two planes is too small. You need to purchase at least twelve planes to form a fleet. If the number of planes is too small, it will be more expensive to operate. After all, maintenance still needs to be scaled up to reduce costs." Qin Tao said.

   "Yeah, at least the size of a flying brigade is needed, alas." Pino sighed a little, thinking how powerful their air force was back then, able to cross the southern hemisphere, but now, they can't even afford more than two fighter planes.

   "Have you heard of our package project for a weak country and a strong army?" Qin Tao asked.

  Pino's face was a little embarrassed: "Of course I heard, Mr. Qin, you mean to use our domestic resources? That's right, our resources are relatively rich, but I'm very sorry, our resources cannot be opened to foreign companies, everything is state-owned."

  Actually, Cuba’s family background is still good. Their mineral resources are very rich, including nickel, cobalt, manganese, chromium, iron and copper, etc., especially nickel reserves account for 40% of the world’s total reserves. For Mingzhou Group, this thing is the best material for making invar steel. They also have 3.5 billion tons of iron ore resources, and copper, tungsten, manganese, and chromium reserves are also very rich. Almost all mountains contain a lot of mineral resources.

  There is also a lot of oil, and the proven recoverable oil can reach 20 billion barrels.

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

  However, with such good conditions, Cuba has not developed. Their most important economic pillar industries are tourism and nickel export. The main export products are agricultural products, such as sugar cane, tropical fruits, cocoa, coffee, rice, etc., and the export volume of sucrose is the largest.

   It's really a waste to sleep on so many resources.

  No way, system problem.

  Their domestic welfare benefits are very good. Almost from birth to grave, the welfare slogans chanted by western developed countries have been fully realized in their own country. Although they can only get a few hundred yuan worth of currency every month, this is just pocket money, and they don’t need to spend money on everything for living expenses.

  So, they just need to follow the steps. Anyway, ordinary people don’t want to have a private car, and the money they make doesn’t necessarily go into their pockets. The big guys lie flat together, and no one needs to roll.

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

   This set doesn't work.

   "Then you can increase the production of nickel. We can import some nickel ore to offset your purchase funds. You can also mine some other resources. We don't mine on your land. We only need to purchase your minerals. After signing the purchase contract, we can advance funds in advance. You can use this money to purchase L-15 trainers."

   "Boss Qin, it is very difficult to increase production. If a part of the existing mineral production is distributed to you, it will interfere with the normal operation of our country." Pino said helplessly.

   "It's fine to work overtime, what's so difficult about it?"

   "We don't work overtime there."

   Everyone was speechless.

   "Then, 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 services."

  Laomaozi has a large amount of wood, but not many precious species. Cuba here is all precious wood. If you drive a big guy like a special excavator, you can cut down hundreds of millions of dollars of wood in a few months.

   “We have to love our own trees.”

  Qin Tao is speechless, are these guys so stubborn?

   "Okay, then you should take good care of your own country, every flower, every tree, every grass and every tree, for you, these are the most important. As for whether your air force has completed the modernization and whether it can cope with future threats, these have to be placed in a secondary position."

  Qin Tao can help them, but it doesn't mean they can play tricks here. They don't want to give up anything, and they want to have modern fighters. Isn't this a joke?

  The scene suddenly became awkward.

   "I originally thought that I could export more advanced fourth-generation aircraft to you in the future, but now it seems that I should forget it."

   This batch of trainer aircraft is just the beginning. In the future, the cooperation between the big guys will be closer, and even the fourth-generation aircraft can be provided. Now you are not letting go of anything here, so how will you cooperate in the future?

  Pino's throat moved, and then he said, "Mr. Qin, do you have advanced cutting machines?"

   "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 L-15, Mr. Shi, don't you have an improvement plan for stealth here?"

  Old Shi nodded: "That's right, this is a C-type, the follow-up development model, if you are interested, let us introduce you."

  Type A is an ordinary coach type, and type B has gained a strong attack power on the basis of the coach type, so what about type C? Of course it is facelift, stealth improvement.

  These guests are obviously interested in the stealth machine, so let them know that our side has already played the stealth machine to perfection. Even if you can't purchase the advanced fourth-generation machine, you can still obtain this ability through L-15!

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

   "Yeah, stealth model."

  The renderings were shown on the projector. Of course, this is just an idea of ​​Demchenko. Facts have proved that opportunities are only reserved for those who are prepared. If it were not for this rendering, the Cuban visitors would have to ponder whether it is worthwhile to cut down their own forests in exchange for these planes. However, when he saw the rendering, he no longer had any doubts.

  The rhombus-shaped nose, the parallelogram-shaped air intake below the side bar, and a bag bulging out of the air intake, and the double vertical tails at the back, slanted outwards, it looked so beautiful. In an instant, everyone stopped talking and looked straight at the trainer.

   "This aircraft is improved to 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 customers who have purchased our A-type trainer aircraft. The price of this stealth model can also be reduced to 20 million US dollars. Of course, it is the current currency value. If we purchase it in five or ten years, we have to consider the inflation factor." Qin Tao said casually.

  The future price will be discussed later, anyway, it is just a prank, and the price will double, which is definitely a bargain.

   "Does it have an internal bomb bay?"

  The guests who came were still professional, and immediately asked a key question: If the weapon is not built-in, what is the stealth? But for an aircraft with a maximum take-off weight of 11 tons, it is simply too difficult to require it to have a built-in bomb bay.

   "The built-in bomb bay is not practical. For a small aircraft, even if the built-in bomb bay is dug out, there can be at most two middle and two close ones inside." Qin Tao was very calm on the side: "Our stealth modification will use the external stealth weapon bay plan."

  If you want to be invisible, you can’t hang weapons outside, otherwise it will destroy the stealth ability. Various missiles and bombs will strongly reflect radar waves and increase the reflection cross-sectional area of ​​the fighter. Take the Typhoon fighter as an example, the RCS is about 2 square meters without external mounts, and it increases to more than 10 square meters after mounting missiles. Although Typhoon is not a stealth aircraft, you can also see the horror of external missiles.

  Stealth aircraft must have a built-in bomb bay, but the internal space is limited, and the number of missiles carried is very small. Ordinary third-generation heavy aircraft, such as the F-15 and Su-27, can carry more than a dozen missiles externally. In the F-22, after cutting off the tip of the AIM-120 missile wing, it can barely fit six medium-range bombs, and two short-range bombs is the limit. If you give up stealth, it is said that you can carry 28 missiles.

  How to break the contradiction between stealth and ammunition load?

   Of course it is 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 without increasing the radar reflection area of ​​the aircraft.

  Back then, the Yankees developed this kind of pod in order to reduce the radar reflection area of ​​their own aircraft, and transformed the F-15SE "Silent Eagle" and FA-18 "Silent Hornet".

  F-15 has no stealth capability, but referring to the data of the Typhoon fighter, the radar reflection area will be several times different between the missiles and the missiles. Therefore, Silent Eagle has made improvements: two conformal fuel tank-style external pods are installed on both sides of the air intake. Each pod can carry two anti-aircraft missiles and 4 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 simpler and rude. 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 in size and has the largest capacity.

  The addition of the three makes the mount of this Silent Hornet reach the level of an 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 attack, the small pod of F-35 is really not enough.

   The big guy breathed a sigh of relief, Mr. Qin is really good, and he directly gave a solution. Now, the stealth change has obviously attracted these foreigners. As long as they can fool them, this order will not go away. Thanks to Mr. Qin's adaptability, the answer is satisfactory!

   The big guy looked at the excited expression of the other party amidst emotion.

   "That's right, the stealth pod will do, we're really looking forward to this stealth variant, and we're placing an order now!" Pino said.

   "Mr. Pinault, we only have $20 million."

   "This money can be used as a deposit, and the rest of the money will be offset by wood." Pino said: "We will apply after we go back."

   "What if the application fails?"

   "Can't apply? Then our deposit will be in vain? They have to apply. This is related to the future of our Air Force!"

  Pino is really tempted. He has always been very courageous. He dared to defy military orders on the battlefield and fly a plane to rescue the patrols on the ground.

   This is the first act, as long as the contract is signed here and the deposit is paid, then the country must agree.

   "Since 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 them, we can transfer one of these fighters to you first." Qin Tao is straightforward.

   "Really? That would be great! But how are you going to send it to us?"

  It is unrealistic for such a small plane to fly directly there. Should it be shipped across the ocean?

   "Remove the wings, put them in 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 this kind of task.

  In addition to airplanes, logging machinery and equipment can also be installed in batches, and work can be started quickly. Those logs are very precious.

  The contract was negotiated in this way, 12 trainer L-15s, each 10 million, for 320 factory, this is a historic breakthrough! Back then, with 80 K-8s and the production line, the total contract value was only over 100 million. Now there are only 12 fighters, and the contract is already 120 million.

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

   After signing the contract, paying the deposit, and completing all the procedures, and sending the client to the plane, Mr. Shi still felt like he was dreaming.

   This is it?

   "Mr. Qin, thank you for helping us complete the first export contract of L-15. According to the usual practice, we will pay you the relevant promotion fee."

  Mr. Qin is helping to sell, and he must pay the intermediary fee!

  Qin Tao smiled: "This is just a small business. If I draw a sum of money, can you still make a profit? Besides, the planes you sell are also equipped with the engines of our Genghis Khan Aviation, and we can also earn profits from the engines. That's enough."

   "Thank you, Mr. Qin."

   "This is just the beginning. In the future, any customer who buys our fourth-generation stealth aircraft will be able to fool them into buying a batch of trainer aircraft. You should hurry up and develop the 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.

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

   All the way south, when they arrived in Qiongzhou, the starship company was a busy scene.

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

   "Test?" Qin Tao really doesn't know how far the starships here have developed? What else to test?

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

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

   "It is a small spacecraft that only uses one engine." Max said: "We will first use it to carry out technical exploration of landing on Mars, which will save money after all. Of course, after the technology matures, we can also use it on existing rockets for recycling exploration."

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

   It cannot be called a rocket, because the top of it is a hemisphere, and there are many test equipment on it. From the outside, it looks like an extra-large thermos bucket, the kind used in the cafeteria, with three legs underneath.

   "If you want to explore Mars, you must enter space at a low cost, so you must have recovery technology. We have already begun to explore recovery technology." Max said: "In the future, the rocket hull after launch will vertically land on the recovery site, and then transported back for reuse."

  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, this is the launch pad, and the other is the recovery platform. We test here. After ignition, we rise to 150 meters and then land on the recovery platform. This is equivalent to jumping from A to B, so we call this jump test flight, which is the name I gave it."

  The insulated bucket is called a star bug, so of course this test is about bugs jumping.

   "Attention, the test is counting down!"

  The atmosphere at the scene became tense.

   When the count reached zero, a flame burst out from under Starworm's buttocks. Driven by an engine, it began to climb, but the speed of ascent didn't get faster and faster. Obviously, this is an adjustable thrust engine!

  Starworm began to deflect its direction when it rose to a hundred meters, which made it translate a certain distance in the horizontal direction, and at the same time climbed another fifty meters in the vertical direction to reach the highest point.

   "The jump was successful, now it's up to the landing." Max was very excited.

   "This is very similar to the way the American spacecraft landed on the moon." Qin Tao said.

  The moon landing spacecraft also uses rocket engines to slow down, and lands on the surface of the moon 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 ground. Our landing must be precise, and we are still in the atmosphere."

  During the conversation, the starworm had already fallen. Seeing this scene, Max was shocked: "Increase the thrust, the descent is 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 vigorous, and the falling speed became slower and slower.

   Bang!

  The Starworm hit the landing platform, and then leaned to the side, one of the outriggers bent visibly to the naked eye.

   "Okay, it's still a success." Max wiped the sweat from his forehead: "The engine thrust of this old man is difficult to control, we still have to develop our own engine!"

  The original rocket engine works at full speed as long as it is ignited, consumes dozens or even hundreds of tons of fuel within a few minutes, and then turns off at the right time, that’s all.

  Qin Tao frowned, does this thing cost money?

   "Thanks to this accident, it has attracted the attention of many people and received a lot of investment. Otherwise, I really don't have this ability."

   Hearing what Max said, Qin Tao was finally relieved.

  (end of this chapter)