Chapter 1413 Clearing the last obstacle in front of the aviation industry

As a convention, after the conference in February and March each year, each department will carry out a series of related learning activities from top to bottom.

The Industrial and Construction Committee is no exception.

However, as a business-oriented system, it is inevitable to engage in some opportunistic tricks in such matters.

For example, in order to minimize the number of times key personnel put down their work and go to Beijing to attend the conference, Li Zhongyi specially arranged the annual symposium for enterprises in various fields after the conference.

Although 2009 has already marked the beginning of the information age, when it comes to information exchange within the industry, face-to-face communication is often more effective.

Similar activities first appeared at the end of the last century, when Chang Haonan proposed that the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense conduct a thorough investigation of the factories under the five major military industrial corporations in order to concentrate the already limited resources as much as possible and reduce the waste caused by duplicate projects.

Later, it gradually evolved from a top-down directive inventory to a bottom-up proactive reporting, and after being reorganized into the Industrial and Construction Commission, the scope involved was not limited to the military industry system, and was no longer limited to state-owned enterprises.

At this moment, it has become a kind of cultural symbol.

If a company receives an invitation to attend the conference in February every year, it can basically be considered to have a stable place in China's high-end manufacturing industry.

Of course, for some sensitive and confidential matters, there is still a mechanism for closed-door discussions within the military industry.

It was during this closed-door discussion that Chang Haonan officially brought up the issues that he had previously discussed with Liu Yongquan.

"I think you are all familiar with Comrade Yongquan. I don't need to introduce him to you. He will be relatively conservative in his reports and will not exaggerate."

After the successful implementation of the WS-10G project, Liu Yongquan should soon join the management of the Aviation Power Group on a part-time basis. This can be regarded as giving the other party some presence in advance:

"In recent days, our comrades from the External Liaison Office have contacted Dassault representatives again and found that although the official response was mediocre, several representatives including Charles Edelsteiner privately expressed great interest in our stealth technology, especially the design algorithm for low radar reflectivity and the microwave facilities that can actually measure the RCS value..."

In fact, when this was said, several participants nearby had already revealed somewhat strange expressions.

However, out of respect for him and his glorious past achievements, no one interrupted him.

Since Chang Haonan chose to bring up the topic at this occasion, he had already thought about the possible situations he might face, so he was not affected by other people's reactions at all, but continued:

"The failure of the Anglo-French FOAS project was not the biggest loss for Europeans, but the fact that they lost a possible aircraft model. Instead, they wasted a lot of time on research into next-generation aviation technology, so much so that they didn't have enough time to build supporting hardware facilities and theoretical foundations until the 21st century. In this regard, they were not as good as the three countries that already had or were about to have fourth-generation fighters, and even lagged behind Japan, which was at the peak of its ambition and was constantly eager to break through the limitations."

"So I think the attitude shown by the other party should be genuine. As for why they didn't directly propose it, they probably felt that this idea was too bold and were worried that if it was rejected, even the existing cooperation would be affected. If we can indirectly show some positive and proactive elements, it should be able to encourage the other party to take another step forward..."

"..."

After the speech, everyone looked at each other in confusion.

In the end, Li Zhongyi, who was more familiar with him, spoke first:

"Academician Chang, your analysis does make sense, but..."

As a layman leader with not very deep roots in the military industry, he was even a little worried that his next questions might seem too clear.

However, after all, the first half of the sentence was said, so I still hesitated and asked the question that everyone was curious about:

"But what is the ultimate purpose of this operation? Besides... we can't really help Europe develop a fourth-generation fighter?"

Although cooperation with Europe has been relatively harmonious in the past decade or so, both the Industrial and Construction Commission system and Li Zhongyi himself have gained a lot of benefits from it.

But his mind was generally clear.

Or at least, not putting personal gains and losses before the overall situation.

The key to China and Europe being able to maintain a relatively positive relationship over the long term is that, while Americans were getting carried away and not taking the rest of the world seriously in the mid-to-late 90s, they brought together a group of political and business figures with interests in China in several core European countries, forming a relatively solid bond.

The problem is that this operation is unsustainable due to the lack of willingness and means to intervene directly.

In contrast, although the United States lost control of Europe in a short period of time, thanks to historical reasons, it is still possible to regain or even reverse the situation in subtle ways as long as it can recover its thinking in time.

Especially now that the Democratic Party is in charge of the White House, they are very familiar with raising agents.

Therefore, in the long run, if Europe can remain neutral in the competition on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, it will be a huge victory for China.

And we must be on guard against the most core military technologies.

Fortunately, Chang Haonan is not an irrational person.

"Don't worry, Director Li. It is definitely impossible to help the French develop a fourth-generation fighter."

He waved his hand:

"Let's take a step back and say that even if we don't mention the issue of sensitive technology, it's not that I look down on them, but judging from their behavior over the past 20 years, I'm afraid France, or even Europe as a whole, won't have enough resources and determination to stably supply such a huge project that could last for several years or even more than a decade."

"Once there is a change in the middle, it will be a huge trouble for both parties. If the project remains in the demonstration stage or early verification stage, it is not a big deal. But if it is neither up nor down, and some assets such as prototypes have been produced, then there will be a quarrel."

When he said this, Chang Haonan clearly heard more than one sigh of relief coming from both sides.

Especially the general manager of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Tan Songrui, who directly picked up the cup and took a few gulps of tea.

If Chang Haonan really came up with some unexpected crazy plan, he would be the one caught in the middle.

As a result, before he could swallow the water, he heard Chang Haonan continue:

"But the other party's focus is obviously not on a true fourth-generation fighter. It is likely that they hope to develop a model with combat effectiveness close to the fourth generation based on the existing Rafale in a shorter period of time and at a lower cost... According to the term we used in the past, it is roughly... 3.75 generations?"

In other words, Old Tan was an experienced man, and he had a lot of contact with Chang Haonan in the past, so he was mentally prepared, otherwise he would have been choked by the saliva.

"This is impossible."

He thought to himself, "Little ancestor, please stop scaring an old man like me." He quickly put down the teacup and shook his head:

"From the end of the last century until the formal launch of Project 10, we had studied the possibility of modifying the J-11 or J-16 into a stealth aircraft several times, and also had relevant exchanges with Sukhoi, but the conclusion was that we were not optimistic about the prospects of this idea. Either the improvement would be so great that it would be the same as developing a new aircraft from scratch, or the improvement in combat effectiveness would not meet the standards of a cross-generational aircraft... The JSF project also had a similar F modification plan in the early stages of the plan, but it did not make it to the formal bidding process."

After saying this, he smiled bitterly and added:

"Mr. Chang, you are also an expert in this area, you should know more about it than I do..."

Chang Haonan, whose proposal was directly refuted, did not show any dissatisfaction, but smiled and said:

"What if we relax the requirement for low detectability and only need to achieve partial stealth, that is, completely ignore the situation on the sides and rear, and only maintain the frontal radar cross-section at the level of 0.5-1 square meters in combat mode?"

Then he added:

"For example, we can modify the nose and canopy, use radar shields to treat the air intake, and design semi-buried pylons or stealth-treated ammunition pods, so that the aircraft can carry some ammunition in a relatively silent condition..."

Tan Songrui showed confusion on his face, but he still nodded:

"The Rafale's RCS in a clean configuration is relatively small. After special treatment, it should not be difficult to maintain the current level with bombs... But what's the point of this?"

"What I mean is... although in theory the radar detection distance is proportional to the fourth power of the RCS, modern radars have been optimized for targets with medium and low reflectivity. Reducing the RCS from 5 square meters to 1 square meter will hardly bring obvious benefits in actual combat. On the contrary, both the semi-buried bomb bay and the stealth ammunition pod will greatly increase the dead weight of the aircraft and degrade its maneuverability..."

"Mr. Tan is right, but don't forget that improving combat effectiveness is neither our goal nor the other party's."

Chang Haonan explained:

“The key to this work is to give a proof to the world.”

"In the past, the Americans were the only ones in the world with fourth-generation fighter jets, which was fine. But now our fourth-generation fighter jets have suddenly made their maiden flight, and the Russian T50 will only be launched in the second half of this year or early next year. So the French urgently need to prove to the world, or at least to Europe, that they are still keeping up with the forefront and at least not falling too far behind us."

"We need to prove to the French, or in other words, send a clear signal that as technology continues to develop, the prestige and influence advantages accumulated by the French in the field of aviation technology cannot be maintained for too long, so that they will re-evaluate the weight of the chips in their hands."

The moment he mentioned "reputation and influence", Tan Songrui suddenly understood:

"You mean, in this way, we can indirectly influence the negotiations between us and the EU in the field of civil aviation technology?"

“It’s more than just an impact.”

Chang Haonan's tone slowed down:

"The first aircraft engine jointly developed by Gaofa Group and Rolls-Royce has begun flight test. If nothing goes wrong, it will become the main power of the new generation Airbus A320... This will be a historic moment, indicating that for the first time we have broken through policy barriers with our technological advantages and successfully entered the international mainstream aviation market."

"And I hope to take this opportunity to completely clear the last obstacle in front of our aviation industry!"