Chapter 1417 Loyal Wingman
When it comes to providing comprehensive electromagnetic field testing services to other countries, the French only have to figure out how to pay, but the Chinese have a lot more things to consider.
After all, the core purpose of Chang Haonan's proposal of this plan is to put pressure on the European aviation industry to further open up access conditions for Chinese civil aircraft.
As for making money...
That's simply because my European partners were so enthusiastic that if I offered it for free it would seem like I was looking down on them, so I had to reluctantly charge some necessary fees.
They have to thank us!
In fact, according to the initial idea, this should be a very complicated matter.
After all, the original first partner should have been Dassault, but their presence and influence in the European aviation industry are only average. If they want to transfer the pressure to EASA, a lot of additional links will definitely be needed.
On the other hand, Dassault is an established military-industrial enterprise and it shouldn’t be so easily cheated.
It is difficult to make the other side immediately accept the semi-stealth Rafale solution by misleading the other side with the J-10 model alone. I am afraid that we have to use other conditions to delay the other side for a while.
But no one expected that Airbus and Boeing, the old rivals, would unexpectedly offer assistance one after another...
"Boss Chang, this is really a double blessing!"
After returning to Beijing from Yudu, Liu Yongquan immediately went to see Chang Haonan with two reports, his mouth almost curled up to the sky:
"You should have heard about the F15SG that Boeing just released. In addition, Airbus also let us know that they are planning to upgrade the defense and aerospace department that has been basically established and establish a new branch company that will focus on aviation defense technology for the next 30 years..."
Even for the former who had experienced many battles, such news was enough to be considered as enormous wealth.
However, Chang Haonan's focus was on something else, and he even felt a little overwhelmed:
"The next 30 years?"
This statement alone gives people an extremely unreliable feeling.
Although Europe on this timeline is relatively more stable, its power structure has inevitably entered a relatively chaotic situation.
Not to mention thirty years, we can't even be sure what will happen in the next three years.
"Well... that's what they said anyway."
Liu Yongquan touched his bald head and took out a beautifully printed brochure from the gap between the reports:
"I was also given a document that has not been made public. It contains some relevant plans and other information. Please take a look."
Then, while Chang Haonan was reading, he added:
"I think that no matter what happens to them in the next 30 years, at least for now, we can take advantage of their desire to have a good start and get better cooperation conditions. After all, even if the independent department is split into a company, it is still a member of the Airbus Group, and its voice in the entire European aviation industry is much higher than that of Dassault..."
"..."
His words were a little euphemistic, but the point was clear.
Dassault, let’s not contact each other anymore. I’m afraid Airbus will misunderstand.
But Chang Haonan did not rush to make a judgment. He just carefully looked at the promotional materials written in several languages in his hand.
In fact, at a certain moment just now, he even had the idea of leaving Dassault behind and communicating directly with Airbus.
On the one hand, the other party's entire plan was much more rigorous than he expected.
For example, the overall structure of this new branch is not to directly pull a group of people from the so-called "defense and aerospace department" that has not yet been established, but to a large extent absorb the existing Airbus Military Company as its foundation.
Although the latter was originally established temporarily to replace the Euroflag consortium and specifically serve a separate A400M project, its nature is somewhat similar to the original Silo Company.
But at least it has been in operation for almost ten years, so it is not completely a new start-up.
On the other hand, the "stealth unmanned wingman" plan proposed by the other party is indeed quite interesting.
Airbus said that it is preparing to assign it to the Typhoon and Rafale fighters, so that manned aircraft with poor stealth performance can remain in the relatively safe second line, allowing loyal wingmen to perform high-risk air combat and breakthrough missions.
This is of course pure fantasy. A team of non-stealth aircraft and stealth aircraft will only reduce the combat effectiveness of the latter. It would be better to skip the middle link and directly hand it over to the ground station for control.
However, China does have genuine fourth-generation fighter jets.
Moreover, as early as the early stage of Project No. 611, Institute was already planning a two-seater model.
This is an advantage that neither the F22 nor the F35 has.
It’s just that the J-20’s bomb bay is not deep enough, making it inconvenient to carry large-sized ground-to-ground weapons, and using a stealth aircraft as a trainer is too extravagant, so the aviation department has never made up its mind to implement this two-seat version.
But the extra person can be responsible for commanding the unmanned wingman.
Even unmanned wingman swarms.
If we can take advantage of this Airbus project to complete some related technical demonstrations, it would be a good opportunity.
However, Chang Haonan quickly calmed down and decided to grab what was at hand first.
After thinking for a few minutes, he raised his head again and asked:
"You haven't agreed to anything during this meeting, have you?"
Liu Yongquan was stunned, then immediately shook his head:
"Of course not. I just think Airbus has higher cooperation value..."
Chang Haonan breathed a sigh of relief.
He had actually given Liu Yongquan a lot of authority before, but he didn't expect Airbus to interfere.
"That's good."
Chang Haonan closed the booklet and pushed it aside:
"There is no rush for this matter. We can send some people to maintain contact with Airbus, but we should not send overly positive signals. We can also discuss the domestic production and assembly of A320neo and A330neo... I believe that under the current circumstances, this matter should not be difficult to discuss. We can just treat it as a warm-up step."
"As for the priority of the microwave darkroom... Since Boeing has just launched a semi-stealth improved version of the F15, I think we should seize this time window and stabilize Dassault first. Since we want to send a deterrent signal to the Europeans, we must strike while the iron is hot and come up with something tangible as soon as possible. Airbus's plan goes too far, and I'm afraid that by then the Europeans will have forgotten the shock brought by the first flight of 2001..."
In fact, he had another reason that he didn't mention.
When the controversy over the semi-stealth improved version cools down, the other side may not be as easy to deceive as it is now...
Moreover, even after improvements, the C909 is already a bit old and does not have strong commercial competitiveness. The next-generation domestic passenger aircraft that is comparable to the A320neo was only launched at the beginning of the year, so there is no need to rush to obtain EASA's airworthiness mutual recognition in the next few months.
Leaving Airbus alone for a while might actually have a miraculous effect.
Liu Yongquan naturally accepted Chang Haonan's decision without any compromise, and immediately took out a notebook and started recording.
After writing it, I began to express my concerns:
"But I am still a little worried... Will the Americans, seeing this situation, jump out and relax the conditions for cooperation with Europe, such as allowing Airbus to use their microwave darkroom?"
Chang Haonan waved his hand without hesitation:
"No, that won't happen. First of all, the American policy shift is not that fast. Secondly, the JSF project, which is currently the most important, is still a mess. The American facilities use old technology, and the available test frequency is less than one-fifth of ours. They don't even have time to solve their own problems, let alone spare the time to help others."
On this timeline, because China was indirectly involved in the development of the F135 engine lift fan, it was able to understand to a certain extent some unknown details of the JSF project.
In general, including the F35A, which seems to be relatively smooth on the surface, the entire fleet faces problems such as failure of the flight control system, short life of some components, and stealth capabilities that are lower than expected.
At this time in 2009, Lockheed Martin had not yet completely given up and was still hoping to save this model that was on the verge of getting out of control.
Of course, to some extent, it is also because the sunk costs in the past are too high, and it is impossible to announce a complete overhaul at this time.
Seeing that Chang Haonan had considered it carefully, Liu Yongquan no longer insisted on his own opinion.
Instead, he quickly changed to a somewhat flattering expression, and even rubbed his hands subconsciously:
"Um... Mr. Chang."
"You see, the ground launch of the WS-10G went smoothly, and it will soon be installed on No. 2003 and launched... If there are no major changes later, I think I should be able to take on more pressure..."
Hearing this, Chang Haonan finally interrupted him:
"Just get to the point!"
"Regarding the new plan you mentioned last time...can you include me in it?"
