Chapter 1075 Going Abroad and Going to the World

Zhang Zhenhua did not directly respond to Chang Haonan's statement.

However, judging from his expression, he was still a little skeptical.

"What, you don't believe it?"

Chang Haonan asked half-jokingly.

In fact, he also knows.

It is normal not to believe.

Although the United States in this era is experiencing gains and losses, it seems that it is no longer as powerful and invincible as it was before.

But no matter what, he is still worthy of being called a strong enemy.

At this point in 2003, the general view was that America's world leadership would last until at least the middle of the 21st century before it began to be clearly challenged.

Who could have imagined that it would be crumbling 20 years later.

After hearing Chang Haonan's question, Zhang Zhenhua simply expressed his thoughts:

"In theory, the previous ATF programs (i.e. YF22 and YF23) were more difficult to develop and were earlier in history. Although the F22 has not yet completed all tests, it seems that the timetable for service in 2005 should still be achievable."

"The JSF project itself is positioned as a multi-purpose ground strike aircraft. In all aspects, especially in terms of stealth and mobility, the requirements are not as stringent as those of the ATF. Many specific subsystems can even benefit from later development. For example, Pratt & Whitney's F135 engine is actually directly based on the core engine of the F119. From any perspective, the research and development difficulty should be smaller, right?"

"Even if the British lift fan is too radical, they still need to find the most optimized shape in advance to do structural pre-deformation design. The worst case scenario is to regress the technology to a certain process in the middle, which may affect the progress of the vertical take-off and landing model. However, the schedule of the F35B is originally later than that of the other two models..."

"..."

In fact, logically speaking, this analysis should be correct.

Even taking into account the extra troubles brought by the commonality of the three types, the overall development difficulty of the F35 is significantly lower than that of the F22.

But there are some things that don't make sense to you.

For example, the F35's program code volume is too large, and the most critical period of development just happened to coincide with the bursting of the Internet bubble, so that the United States could not find an independent contractor to complete the huge code base of this model. In desperation, most of the code had to be converted from the originally planned Ada language to C language, and then split and outsourced to several different companies for development.

Anyone who has worked on a project can guess what kind of shit this kind of operation will cause later on.

It was also during this period that Indian engineers and executives began to enter Silicon Valley in large numbers, and Indian-owned companies followed closely behind, occupying the vast majority of the code subcontracting market at extremely low prices.

So, naturally.

A considerable portion of the core code of the F35 was actually handed over to Indians for writing.

By the time Lockheed Martin discovered problems with the codes and wanted to make up for them, the companies that had taken the orders had long since disappeared, so they could only find another contractor to patch things up.

To sum it up, this is——

Great, Hayek.

Of course, these details have either not happened yet or have not been made public, so Chang Haonan certainly cannot say them directly.

I had to choose a more roundabout way:

"The JSF project is not just a technical or military issue."

"In addition to meeting the U.S. military's needs for fourth-generation multi-purpose fighter jets, it is also very important to bring in Europeans for joint research and development, completely eliminating the possibility of European countries developing a new generation of fighter jets on their own... This is a good plan, but once there are too many stakeholders involved in a project, technology is often no longer the main factor... You should have experienced this, Zhang. In the end, there will inevitably be trouble."

"Let's not talk about anything else. If the British dare to secretly ask us to help complete the core subsystem such as the lift fan today, will they dare to ask the Russians to buy titanium alloy substrates tomorrow, or even ask the Indians to help write the flight control program?"

This speculation is bound to be a slippery slope.

After all, "asking Indians to help develop flight control" is obviously not suitable to be listed alongside the previous two.

However, the two of them were just chatting at the moment. Zhang Zhenhua thought for a moment and did not continue to refute. Instead, after pondering for a moment, he suddenly got back to the point:

"Mr. Chang, since you are sure that the British technology route is not feasible, then should we agree to the contract they offer?"

"Agree, of course I agree!"

Chang Haonan even tapped the table:

"However, a clause must be clearly added to the terms, that is, if the design of the fan changes in the future due to reasons not attributable to us, then this contract must be extended by default, and the new plan will require payment of the fee again."

This is absolutely a reasonable request.

Moreover, the British are also the second party in the JSF project. Even if there are losses, they will not bear the brunt of the consequences in the end.

"Then I will contact Comrade Bingda right away..."

Zhang Zhenhua immediately prepared to get up.

But Chang Haonan called out from behind:

"and many more……"

The former had half lifted his butt and sat back down.

"I remember telling Comrade Bingda that we could consider acquiring a company within the EU specifically to complete this transaction."

This somewhat sudden addition made Zhang Zhenhua a little confused for a moment:

"Acquiring a company?"

"We can continue to follow the Trent 900 plan and go through the Silo Group..."

Chang Haonan waved his hand and explained in a slightly lowered voice:

"On the one hand, although half of the Xiluo Group is owned by Rolls-Royce, it is still registered in China. This type of enterprise is basically enough to deceive the media and party A users with civilian models, but if it wants to get involved in the core NATO project led by the United States, such as JSF, it may still be a little short of the mark. It would be better for us to hold a controlling stake in a small European company..."

"On the other hand, after these years of development, our relationship with the European market has become increasingly close. It is time to consider taking the initiative to go global. Sometimes, it is indeed easier to operate with the EU's coat..."

Hearing this, Zhang Zhenhua's eyes suddenly lit up:

"I heard that the Italian company AvioAero seems to be seeking new investment recently. Can you consider..."

Since 1997, Huaxia has established a very deep cooperative relationship with many Italian companies, especially Finmeccanica.

Today, after cooperating on multiple models such as the Xian MA60, AC139, and NH90, both parties have more or less formed some path dependence.

In a way, this is not a derogatory term.

When the external environment is stable, having a path to rely on is not necessarily a bad thing.

After all, Italy is a founding member of the European Union and the euro, as well as one of the Schengen countries. Even if its economy is not doing well, its status is higher than those Central and Eastern European countries that joined the EU later.

Or it would be better to say that it is precisely because he is not very successful economically that he is more likely to become a springboard for China to enter the EU market.

However, when it comes to AvioAero, the company does not really meet the requirements.

Therefore, after hesitating for a moment, Chang Haonan gave a negative answer:

“Although AvioAero does not have a large share in the aviation industry, it is well-known as a gas turbine giant. It is not suitable for our first overseas battle. In addition, there are rumors that General Electric is seeking to acquire AvioAero’s aviation department. It seems inappropriate to compete with them at this juncture…”

The F136 engine is a model developed jointly by Rolls-Royce and General Electric.

When the time comes, GE will find that a company that it had failed to acquire has become a supplier of a core subsystem.

That's not a problem that can be solved by turning a blind eye...

……

Soon, Ren Bingda, who had been waiting in the UK for more than half a month and was exhausted, finally received feedback from China.

Of course, because the content was quite large, it was brought over personally by his two subordinates.

To sum up, it can be agreed, but a few more conditions need to be added.

He took a quick look and found that the conditions were not excessive.

It's more of a disclaimer than a requirement.

So he quickly added new content to the previous version of the agreement, and then found Panos Watson again.

This time, there were only Watson and Professor Eleanor in Watson's office.

Tim Bodie, who had been in contact with the Chinese side, was nowhere to be seen.

Watson seemed to have noticed Ren Bingda's puzzled look and took the initiative to explain:

"Thanks to our...close cooperation, Director Bodi has returned to France to start negotiations with Airbus on the aerial testing of the Trent 900 project. The final results should be announced soon..."

The test accident of Trent 900 was an internal problem of Rolls-Royce. Therefore, although the investigation report has not yet been finalized, it is unlikely to affect the normal development of subsequent work at least before the actual installation and test flight.

"I see……"

Ren Bingda nodded:

"Then I hope everything goes well in the future..."

He did not care about the other party's trick of describing the accident investigation as "cooperation".

China has already gained a lot of benefits from this wave, so giving in a little for the sake of face is an acceptable part.

Immediately afterwards, Ren Bingda turned around and signaled Jin Xu, and handed the revised agreement to Watson:

"My superiors have agreed to the new cooperation project in principle. Of course, they have also recognized the accident investigation results we submitted. If there are no problems, we can choose a time to sign this cooperation agreement and the final investigation report at the same time..."

Of course, Luo Luo’s team is not a makeshift one.

It's impossible for two people to decide the matter on the spot after discussing it.

Therefore, Ren Bingda did not stay for too long.

After making sure that he had left, Eleanor quickly made a phone call.

Less than a minute later, another middle-aged man, who was slightly older, walked in hurriedly.

"Director Hartman, these are the conditions given by the Chinese side. Please take a look."

Watson gestured toward the agreement on his desk.

"Of course I'm relieved if the two of you can agree on the result..."

Hartmann said this, but he still flipped through the agreement smoothly.

Soon, his expression visibly relaxed, and it was obvious that he had no objection to the content.

There was even a hint of joking in his tone:

"Even the white gloves are ready... It seems that they... or you, are very skilled in this operation..."