Chapter 873 Visit Charles de Gaulle

  Charles de Gaulle is the pride of the French Navy and the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the world except for the US Navy. However, due to its small displacement, its actual combat capability is not strong.

Of course, this is also embarrassing for the French. After all, the Charles de Gaulle was born in an era of tight budgets. The French thought of many ways to save money. One of them is the reactor that uses nuclear submarines for nuclear power. Facts have proved that they not only did not save money. , still leaves a lot of flaws.

  The Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was completed and officially delivered to the Navy in 2001. The entire construction cost was 2 billion. In comparison, the 100,000-ton Nimitz-class super aircraft carrier in the United States was only 3.2 billion U.S. dollars.

  This is just an aircraft carrier, and there are still a large number of carrier-based aircraft waiting for the French Navy to equip, which is another large sum of money.

In contrast, the aircraft carrier built by the East is much cheaper. The price of an aircraft carrier with the same displacement built for customers is less than half of that of the French aircraft carrier. Combined with carrier-based aircraft, the overall package price is even more unbelievably cheap. I can't believe it, especially, customers don't necessarily have to spend money, there is that kind of package plan, and they can get warships without spending money.

  The French wanted to invite people from the East to visit the Charles de Gaulle. The news quickly spread all over the world. Many people were wondering what the French were trying to do. Do the French want to ask the Orientals for advice?

   The two sides have competed in many markets before, but now France is clearly at a disadvantage.

  They issued an invitation, but the Orientals did not come immediately, but delayed until the Chinese New Year in the East. During this period, the French did not know what mood they were in.

  In 2001, February 4th, Lichun, on this day, Qin Tao and his party came to France, and the special plane landed directly at the airport in downtown Brest.

The name Brest makes people think of the Brest Fortress easily, but the city of Brest in France is far from that Brest Fortress by thousands of miles. It is located in the western part of the Brittany Peninsula in western France. To the south is the famous Brest Bay. Because of these excellent conditions, it became a French naval port in the 17th century, an important base of the French Navy, and a shipyard was built.

Now, Brest is still one of the two most important military ports in France, and even the French Triumph-class nuclear submarine is also docked here. Of course, there is also a commercial port here. After hundreds of years, it also has a strong The architecture of Celtic culture, overlooking the city on the plane, you will feel the charming atmosphere here.

  Zhao Ling hasn't come out for a long time, and now standing on the land of Brest, she feels that everything is very fresh.

Brest Shipyard was very enthusiastic about the arrival of Qin Tao and his party. They greeted Qin Tao and his party directly at the airport, and they were all old acquaintances. Kedina walked up and shook hands with Qin Tao cordially: "Mr. Qin, welcome to Brest .”

   "It's a great honor for me to come back here again. When I think of the last time I came, although it was ten years ago, it seems like it was just yesterday. The city here is still as beautiful as before."

  Europe does not do much construction, so the city will not change for decades. The vehicles in Europe are mainly hatchbacks.

   "Yes, we also miss it very much. We have concluded a deep friendship with Qin back then." Kadina continued to look at the people around Qin Tao: "Is this your wife? You are so beautiful."

   As she said that, Kadina planned to hold Zhao Ling's hand and perform a hand-kissing etiquette.

Qin Tao quickly stopped him: "Mr. Kadina, let me introduce the people I brought this time. They are all elites of our Mingzhou Group. When they heard that they were going to visit the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, they came with them. "

   Did you bring someone else?

  Kadina looked over and found that during the short exchange, more than 20 people had come down from behind, no, there were more than 30 people!

  His brows wrinkled all of a sudden.

   "Don't worry, we will stay in the hotel by ourselves, and we don't need you to entertain us." Qin Tao said.

   Is this a hospitality expense thing? So many of you have come to visit our aircraft carrier that is about to be handed over to the Navy? Is this appropriate?

   "Why, Mr. Cadina, do you seem to mind if they come?"

   Mind, of course I mind, but he never said this sentence, he hesitated for a long time, and finally said: "Welcome them, Mr. Qin, can you introduce me one by one?"

   "Of course, come on, this is Yang Dawei, the designer of our Mingzhou Group Design Department. Many warships are made by him."

  Kadina's eyes lit up: "Your warship designer? Has Mr. Yang ever designed an aircraft carrier?"

  Of course not, the aircraft carrier is the task of the second design department, but Yang Dawei can't say no at this time.

"Of course, our Mingzhou Group has built so many aircraft carriers, and he is also credited for it." Qin Tao said, intending to continue to introduce, but who would have thought that Kaidina would be interested in Yang Dawei, and continued to ask: "So, you You must have designed an integrated power system for the entire ship?"

   "This is the responsibility of other designers. As you know, a warship consists of multiple parts and requires many designers to work together." Qin Tao said.

   "Among the people who came this time, is there a designer of a 40-megawatt gas turbine?"

  Qin Tao seems to have realized something: "Of course, does your second aircraft carrier want to purchase our gas turbines?"

Speaking of gas turbine technology, Britain and the United States are very good, but France is not good. Just look at the aero engine. The French Mirage 2000 fighter uses a single rotor. Although the Rafale uses a dual-rotor M88, it is said to be F404. Imitation.

  They also don't have the technical reserves for gas turbines, and now that the construction of the Charles de Gaulle has been completed, it has been confirmed that nuclear power is a pit, so what about their No. 2 ship?

  In history, Charles de Gaulle only built one, but this does not mean that the French do not want to build a second one.

The French Navy originally had two aircraft carriers, namely the Clemenceau and the Foch. According to the original arrangement of the French, the Charles de Gaulle planned to serve in 1996 to replace the Clemenceau. The second ship used the Richet The name of Bishop Liu is intended to start construction in 1992 and enter service in 2004 to replace the aircraft carrier Foch, but the Bishop Richelieu has never been built because the Charles de Gaulle was seriously overrun and overdue.

what's next? what should they do

  Definitely still have to be built. After all, it’s really not enough to have only one aircraft carrier. In case the aircraft carrier is overhauled, or even the crew goes out to sea and comes back for repairs, they will have no aircraft carrier to use.

  However, the French Navy also knew that it could no longer mandate nuclear power, and the conventional power was also good. In 2000, they changed the No. 2 ship to a conventional power solution.

   Conventional is conventional, what to use next? Boiler or gas turbine?

Like the United States, after they built the two Clemenceau-class aircraft carriers, they never built a naval boiler. Over the years, the industrial chain of boilers has long been broken, and the companies that used to build boilers have also closed down. There is no way for them to find a suitable company to produce boilers.

   And the boilers are too backward. Seeing that the power of ships all over the world is transitioning to gas turbines, they certainly hope to use advanced gas turbines!

   So, what type of gas turbine is used?

The common gas turbine in the world is the LM2500. After the upgrade, the power has been increased. The Americans have indeed used this gas turbine on the 40,000-ton amphibious assault ship. But the aircraft carrier can't do it. Their Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier is only 267 knots, and it already feels stretched and inconvenient everywhere.

   So, they need forty megawatts of gas turbines!

At this time, when he heard Qin Tao's words, Duquesne was a little embarrassed, and asked the always proud and arrogant French to say that they needed gas turbines from the East. He hesitated, a little embarrassed to say.

   Seeing his expression, Qin Tao understood: "I'm sorry, I was overthinking. Even if you want to purchase, you must purchase from the UK. Our technology in the east is backward, how can you like it."

When Qin Tao said this, Duquesne became even more embarrassed, and Philip on the side said: "Mr. Qin, the British can only brag. They say they want to build a 40-megawatt gas turbine, but they don't have three or five years. It must be impossible to fiddle with it, and your gas turbine has completed the ignition test, so we are very interested in your gas turbine, of course, your gas turbine must be cheap..."

   When he said this, Philip felt that he seemed to have said too much. They were interested in Dongfang's gas turbines, not just because Dongfang's research and development progress was more advanced, but the key was that it was cheaper!

The Charles de Gaulle cost too much, and they felt that they could not afford it long ago. Their second ship planned to use conventional power, and they had already started looking for a suitable power system all over the world. After turning around, they suddenly found that, Eastern gas turbines are actually the most suitable for them to use!

   This kind of gas turbine has already been put into use. There is no need to wait for a long research and development process. The price of this kind of gas turbine is also cheap. Even if you buy two, the price is cheaper than one gas turbine in the UK!

Qin Tao nodded: "We are very happy that you are interested in our gas turbines. In fact, if you hand over all the construction of the aircraft carrier to us, the price will be cheaper. How much is your Charles de Gaulle? It cost twenty Billion dollars? If we were to build it, with gas turbines and catapults, we would only need a billion dollars.”

   One billion dollars, a medium-sized aircraft carrier!

  Qin Tao threw out a big bait. He knew that the French would definitely not allow Ang to build it by himself. After all, how could the proud Gauls give up their shipyard? Large orders such as aircraft carriers not only provide the navy with advanced equipment, but also provide a large number of domestic jobs. Even if it is more expensive, it has to be built by its own shipyard.

  But since Qin Tao has opened his mouth, let’s go on. Disgusting French people are also good.

"The displacement of your Charles de Gaulle is limited to 40,000 tons because the size of your shipyard is too small. Although the deck area is half larger than that of the Clemenceau class, the size below is almost the same. , causing your aircraft carrier to be top-heavy, and you have to use the anti-rolling system. If you leave it to us to build it, you can make the bottom bigger. Without the anti-rolling system, you can still make the aircraft carrier stable."

The deck area of ​​the Clemenceau-class aircraft carrier is 8,000 square meters. When it comes to the Charles de Gaulle, the area reaches more than 12,000 square meters. Coupled with the Hawkeye early warning aircraft, the French claim that the combat effectiveness of the Charles de Gaulle is that of Clermont. Three or four times that of the shuttle class.

But in fact, their lower parts are the same size. After all, the dock of Brest Shipyard is so big, because the lower part is smaller and the upper part is larger, so the French specially designed a set of anti-rolling system. A lot of small cars are in the cabin. When the ship shakes, it moves in the opposite direction to increase the stability of the ship. This device was originally used by thousands of tons of destroyers, but it is no longer used by 10,000-ton warships, but the French use it on 40,000-ton aircraft carriers. Yes, of course because their own carrier is defective.

  If these were handed over to the Mingzhou Group, this situation would definitely not happen.

  However, in front of the person in charge of the Brest Shipyard, it was a bit inappropriate to say that he helped build it. For a while, Kadina and others had nothing to say.

   "You still want to arrange a catapult for us?" Philip's eyes widened. He is a member of the navy, so of course he doesn't care about the interests of the shipyard, and he cares more about the performance of the aircraft carrier.

France is not capable of developing catapults, so on the Charles de Gaulle, they purchased C-13 catapults from the United States, and they were slaughtered by the Americans. The construction cost was two billion, a large part of which was purchased from abroad cost of.

   "Of course." Qin Tao nodded: "We have a mature steam catapult, which can be installed for you, and its performance is no worse than C-13."

  Steam catapult?

  Disappointment flashed in everyone's eyes. They thought that the Orientals would install electromagnetic catapults for them, but they didn't expect it to be an old device like a steam catapult.

   "With a gas turbine, how can we use a steam catapult without steam?" Philip couldn't help asking.

"Specially burn boilers, so that when the aircraft is ejected, you don't have to worry about the speed of the aircraft dropping. They perform their duties. Everyone, are we talking too much here? Let's visit your aircraft carrier and compare it with the Charles de Gaulle's." How about each part telling our design philosophy?"

   "Okay, okay, may I ask, who here is engaged in gas turbines?" Duquesne asked.

   "Let's introduce them one by one."

   After introducing more than 30 people, it was already noon, so they first went to a restaurant in the city to have dinner. After eating, in the afternoon, they finally arrived at the pier of the Brest Shipyard.

  All the outfitting work has been completed on the Charles de Gaulle, and it is currently in the sea trial stage, and it will be equipped to the navy soon. Although the navy can't wait, it still has to wait for the end of all procedures.

Standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier, everyone feels cramped. For a 40,000-ton aircraft carrier, no matter how much you can expand the deck area, there is a limit. Fifteen thousand square meters, a quarter larger than the Charles de Gaulle.

  Qin Tao walked to the front of the beveled deck, and looked down at the part where the deck was spliced.

   "The size of this angled deck seems to be larger than when I came last time?" Qin Tao asked.

   Which pot is not open and which pot to lift!

Kadina nodded: "That's right, last year, we rented an E2 early warning aircraft from the United States, and conducted takeoff and landing experiments on this aircraft carrier. We found that the Hawkeye early warning aircraft stopped after hooking the third arresting wire. , there are only three meters left from the front of the angled deck, the safety distance is seriously insufficient, and it is inconvenient to dispatch, so it has been extended by 4.42 meters."

The main carrier-based aircraft on this aircraft carrier is the Rafale. A fighter like the Rafale is fine. Even if it is not hooked to the arresting wire, it can successfully go around, but the E2 early warning aircraft will not work. If it is not hooked, it will be difficult to go around. Stopping, maneuvering is also difficult, the remaining three meters of distance can't make it turn around directly, and it has to fall again.

   On an aircraft carrier, this kind of operation is not easy, and it's not like driving backwards.

   Therefore, the French Navy had to add a deck for safety and efficiency.

  Now, the other party is also honest. After all, the matter of adding a piece is known all over the world. In the field of shipbuilding, who doesn't know the pitfalls that Brest Shipyard stepped on?

"The engine power of the Hawkeye early warning aircraft is too low, and it is difficult to go around. It still needs a high-powered aircraft to operate on such a small deck. You can consider our Air Police 600, which has an engine of more than 10,000 horsepower. It is the Hawkeye. Twice the engine power of the early warning aircraft, it is easy to go around." Qin Tao said casually.

   "Are you willing to sell this early warning aircraft to us?" Philip opened his eyes wide: "Can you give us a prototype for testing?"

"Of course, several customers have already chosen our early warning aircraft." Qin Tao said: "The E2C in the United States still uses Yagi antennas, and our early warning aircraft already uses phased array radar, and its performance is ahead of American early warning aircraft. The first generation, and it can also be carried on a ship, and can even take off with a ski jump, but we don’t have a prototype for you to test, if you need it, you can place an order directly.”

   Prototypes cannot be given, let the other party understand the performance of the Air Police 600 thoroughly, and then don’t want it?

  If the other party wants to buy, then place an order directly, and we guarantee to meet your needs.

  If you want to modify it, you have to do it under our supervision. For example, if you want to install your western data link and the like, we will completely operate it. In this way, we can also get more information. As for leaks? It is definitely different for personal use and export, and it will not leak.

  When he heard that the order was placed directly, Philip couldn't answer the call. After all, he didn't really want to buy it, but he just wanted to get information from Dongfang.

   "Our carrier-based aircraft is the most advanced." Philip changed the subject: "Our Rafale fighter is the only carrier-based aircraft in the world with a canard layout!"

Because it has reached the final stage of sea trials, there are also carrier-based aircraft on the Charles de Gaulle. They have to take off and land frequently to determine whether the aircraft carrier and carrier-based aircraft match. Hearing what Philip said, Qin Tao pointed to one of them and said: "Then Is it your Rafale fighter?"

  Looking at Qin Tao's finger, Philip was a little embarrassed: "That's the super military flag."

  Mr. Qin, did you do it on purpose? Even if you are not familiar with airplanes, you can know the duck layout and conventional layout, right?

There are three planes parked on the deck, two of them are super flags, they have a single wing with a 45-degree sweep angle, and a more noticeable tail: the vertical tail is not on both sides of the engine at the tail, but on the vertical tail.

  As long as you see this layout, you can know that it has a tail, and it is definitely not a duck layout.

   Moreover, in the East, this kind of tail layout has only been seen on the J-5. This is an old-fashioned aircraft!

  The Super Flag is improved on the basis of the Flag Fighter, which is an aircraft developed in the 1950s and 1960s, which shows how old it is.

  Since the Super Emblem is a super, it naturally has changes in many aspects. The biggest feature is that it can carry Exocet missiles. In 1982, the Super Emblem carried Exocet missiles and successfully sank the Shelfield, and it has become famous ever since.

However, no matter how famous it is, it can’t conceal its old age. In the era when the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was in service, the super flag has long been outdated. The French Navy originally planned to use all Rafale fighter jets, but they had no choice: the Rafale fighter jets were too expensive, and they had no money. Therefore, we can only continue to keep a part of the super flag and change it slowly.

  Therefore, the Charles de Gaulle also has super flags, and there are still two of them. Their Rafale fighter jets are currently only tested by this solitary one, which does seem a bit uncoordinated.

   At this time, the Frenchman was very embarrassed when he heard Qin Tao's words. Philip introduced: "Mr. Qin, these two are super military flags, and the one next to them is the gust."

   "Super flag? The one that sank the HMS Shelfield? It's amazing! I didn't expect this aircraft to be still in service. You must have modernized it, right?"

  Retrofit? Just the small nose of this kind of aircraft, even if you want to modify it, you can’t modify it! Philip was very embarrassed, and continued: "Mr. Qin, let's take a look at the Rafale fighter jet. This is a masterpiece of Dassault."

Speaking of the Rafale fighter jet, it is indeed admirable. The French still have backbone. When they joined the Eurofighter program, as a latecomer, they demanded to be the leader. All engines and avionics must be used by themselves. When the British When people disagree, they quit the group and do it themselves, and it really worked out.

   There are not many countries in the world that can develop third-generation aircraft, and only the French are left in Europe with independent research and development capabilities.

  (end of this chapter)