Chapter 1057 It’s OK, They Will Come Back

In this era, the means of cross-border communication are still relatively poor.

In particular, China lacks its own satellite communication system, which results in confidential information still being highly dependent on traditional encrypted radio transmission, resulting in very low communication efficiency.

If you want to transfer something other than text, it will be even more troublesome.

Fortunately, Liu Yongquan's trip to Europe was coming to an end, and the early warning aircraft project did not need to be completed in a day or two.

Therefore, he simply used his last few days in France to have a frank, open and constructive communication with Dassault.

He took the information he had obtained during this trip and submitted it to Chang Haonan.

Although the latter had made plans to stay in Haojing until the second half of the year, his plans were disrupted by an unexpected incident.

The Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense is going to be reorganized.

In fact, since the establishment of the Equipment Industry Department a few years ago, the functions and positioning of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense have begun to change.

From being solely responsible for the national defense science and technology industry, it has gradually evolved into coordinating the overall industrial and cutting-edge technology development.

And the superiors have been deliberately downplaying the military nature of the Science, Technology and Industry Commission.

For example, the three deputy directors who were transferred in the past two years no longer hold military positions.

However, including Chang Haonan, most people still believe that the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense itself can continue to exist for some time.

However, after the 2003 conference, rumors soon spread that the Science and Technology Commission would be included in the list of a new round of institutional reorganization.

It is said to be a rumor, but it is basically just word of mouth from the higher-ups.

So the accuracy is pretty close to 100%.

However, no one is sure yet what the specific restructuring plan is.

Some say that the State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry may be split into other different systems, just like the previous Ministry of Machinery Industry.

There is also talk that it may be merged with several other institutions with similar functions.

Some people also said that the change will not be big, maybe just a name change like the Science and Technology Commission became the Ministry of Science and Technology...

In short, it's basically just blind guessing.

Even Ding Gaoheng kept his mouth shut this time and did not reveal any relevant information.

He just said that his superiors were studying the issue and guaranteed that there would be a plan that would satisfy most people.

This ambiguous statement makes people even more worried.

It is inevitable that some people in the enterprises and units under the Science and Technology Commission are in a state of panic.

As the main leader of the Aviation Power Group, Chang Haonan could not stay in Gaojing for a long time at this time.

He had to return to the capital temporarily to stabilize people's hearts.

……

"Mr. Chang, in the few days before returning home, we have been in talks with Dassault, especially Dr. Ed Steiner's team."

In Chang Haonan's office, Liu Yongquan reported while placing an open meeting minutes in front of Chang Haonan:

"Based on my observation, the French may have some other ideas about modifying the early warning aircraft based on the Falcon Z."

Chang Haonan did not express his opinion immediately. He just lowered his head and looked through the talks between the two parties, while signaling Liu Yongquan to continue.

Many people will form preconceived judgments based on other people's opinions, but Chang Haonan, perhaps because he is used to multi-threaded work, has a good resistance to this problem.

Moreover, it is not difficult to see from his operation of transferring people from Institute 606 directly to Gaojing to serve as technical backbones that Liu Yongquan is actually one of the next generation of successors who are the focus of the group level.

He also needs to exercise his independent judgment ability.

After a brief pause, Liu Yongquan added:

"Although Dassault was very positive on the surface, and even took the initiative to propose the first two talks, every time I tentatively raised some practical questions, such as the aerodynamic and structural design of the Falcon 8Z after the antenna is installed, or the proportion of authority between the two parties in the product if the early warning aircraft project is completed, they began to beat around the bush, or instead tried to test what specific technical route we were going to take."

"It seems that Dassault is definitely interested in using the Falcon 8Z as a platform to modify special aircraft, but this interest... does not seem to be in joint research and development with us... Maybe they want to complete it independently with Thales, or look for other partners..."

"So I think if they do that, maybe they could consider putting some obstacles in the way of the Falcon Z program... to give them a little push?"

In fact, before asking Liu Yongquan to test Dassault's willingness, he had roughly guessed that this would be the situation -

After all, the beginning of the 21st century is when the French are at their most morale-filled.

You know, the euro in this timeline did not suffer the same head-on blow as in the previous life.

在1999年5月达到对美元汇率1:1.02的最低点之后，就一路逆市上扬，如今已经在1:1.4附近稳定了很长一段时间。

This even helped Europe to get out of the shadow of the economic crisis ahead of schedule to a certain extent.

Several economies that have close ties with the EU, such as China, the CIS, ASEAN, and the GCC, have also successively increased the proportion of the euro in their trade.

Even most of Africa is still using various francs, and its financial lifeline is tied to the French central bank.

In this context, it is normal for Dassault, as an independent company with certain strength and reputation, and one of the business cards of the French aviation industry, to be unwilling to tie all three of its key models to the same partner.

Of course, ideas are ideas.

To truly implement it, you still need to have the ability.

Liu Yongquan’s analysis just now is actually very close to the actual situation.

However, the solution I finally came up with was too simple and crude.

But it is understandable.

People of his generation basically spent the first half of their careers under Western technological blockade.

Now that I finally have the chance to turn the tables, it's inevitable that I want to let the other party have the same experience.

Don't talk about him.

Even Chang Haonan wanted to.

But it's not time yet.

"Old Liu, think about it."

Chang Haonan raised his head, leaned back in his chair, and replied leisurely:

"The reason why we were able to open up a new situation of technical cooperation with Europe in the beginning was because the FAA and the JAA were competing with each other, and in the end we, the fishermen, benefited."

"We are now closely connected with the Europeans. If we were to imitate the Americans and do something petty at this time, wouldn't that mean we would be giving up our greatest advantage and pushing away the partners we have already secured?"

"Technological blockade is like a nuclear weapon. It is always most useful when it is on the launch pad. If it is actually used, it will lose its deterrent effect..."

Of course, he only said half of this.

As someone who has experienced the 2020s, Chang Haonan knows it very well.

The ultimate means is not unusable.

But it can only be used once.

So you have to wait until the critical moment to strike a fatal blow.

There's no way I'd waste my time on such trivial matters.

What's more, the two sides are still in the same boat...

"Then, Mr. Chang, if we don't respond, should we continue to follow up on this AWACS project?"

On the other hand, Liu Yongquan, who had calmed down, also realized that what Chang Haonan said made sense.

But considering Edsteiner's attitude, he felt that if he didn't do something, it would be difficult to save the situation.

“Of course I’ll follow up.”

Chang Haonan closed the meeting minutes on the table:

"But you just need to remember that this happened, and don't spend too much energy on it... I guess, as long as we wait for a while, the French will most likely come back to us. By then, the project should be taken over by China Electronics Technology Group, and we will just be a middleman..."

Receiving such an answer made Liu Yongquan a little confused for a moment.

Although based on experience, Mr. Chang's judgment is undoubtedly trustworthy, he really doesn't understand the situation this time.

Looking at Liu Yongquan who was full of doubts, Chang Haonan smiled and continued to explain:

"The French have never conducted research and development of early warning aircraft themselves, so if they don't want to find us, then the only potential partners left are David and Sweden."

"However, the former's technical route is not suitable for extreme miniaturization. If you want to use it on a business jet, you have to use a conformal array, which means that the antenna covers the entire side of the aircraft. This improvement method will destroy the aircraft's aerodynamics and change the load-bearing structure of the wing root. Dassault is not so easy to fully understand our wing design plan, so they dare not act rashly in this regard."

"As for Sweden... the size of the Erieye antenna is indeed suitable, but that is at the cost of reduced performance and the complete abandonment of the air command function. Although the Falcon 8Z is twice as large as the Saab 340, in order to accommodate the complete early warning command function, the antenna must be slimmed down."

"The French have no experience now, so they don't realize the complexity of this, but once they come into contact with the Swedes, they will no longer have any other illusions..."

After all, Chang Haonan dared to use the 35-ton Falcon 8Z as an early warning aircraft platform because the optically controlled phased array antenna is light in weight and small in size, and is inherently suitable for use on small platforms.

If AESA with traditional technology is to be used on business jets, it will need some tricks to do so...

Half of the designs for the Falcon Z project came from China, and Dassault does not have the ability to come up with any fancy tricks on its own.

So, I can only look back honestly...