Chapter 1448 Blaming Each Other

Like most clients, although the Pentagon is very inefficient when doing things on its own, it is often not inferior when it comes to urging progress.

Therefore, the pressure of progress was quickly transferred to Huntington Ingalls Shipyard, then to contractor Norpros Grumman, and finally to Rolls-Royce, which was responsible for the development of the power system.

After the incident with the destroyer HMS Courageous, the British were already in a state of panic.

Now, Party A is putting extreme pressure on us, and we are stuck in a dilemma.

Originally, they had reached a preliminary consensus with the Chinese side, helping the Chinese side to reach an EASA mutual recognition agreement in exchange for the other party's help in completely solving the technical problems existing in the intercooling cycle of Rolls-Royce gas turbines.

However, even though the two parties have been cooperating for many years, they cannot achieve unconditional mutual trust on such a major matter, so the specific operation method is quite complicated.

First of all, the way to solve the problem depends on the scope of the mutual recognition agreement between the two parties.

The bottom line that both parties can accept is that China only obtains mutual recognition license for models with a maximum take-off weight of less than 100 tons and a seat number of less than 200, while Rolls-Royce only gets two sets of designed condensate control modules. Even the related hardware needs to be purchased from China and installed by China, which is equivalent to treating the symptoms separately.

However, if this mutual recognition is a completely open agreement without any additional restrictions, then China will give the highest standard of treatment to the other party. It will not only authorize the other party to use the dual-channel inter-cooling circulation technology similar to AE1500, but also provide an "integrated package" of solutions like the Trent 900 did in the past.

Although Rolls-Royce's gas turbine product line also uses aircraft engine cores, its design team and development path are relatively independent. Like most conventional products, it uses a single-flow design, which means that the intercooler can only transfer heat out of the gas turbine system and dissipate it into the surrounding environment.

Huaxia's gas turbines, including the QC300, draw on the structure of the turbofan engine, allowing the airflow to enter the inner and outer ducts respectively, and transfer part of the heat of the high-temperature inner airflow to the low-temperature outer airflow through the intercooler, thereby retaining this part of the heat. On the one hand, it can reduce the compression power consumption of the inner airflow in the downstream compression system, and on the other hand, it can enhance the work capacity of the outer airflow.

This is equivalent to solving the technical risks of Rolls-Royce's entire gas turbine product line in one step.

Although a lot of hardware can still only be obtained from China, at least the subsequent maintenance, upgrades and improvements can be completed independently without having to run to Haojing to beg for help every time.

Secondly, such a big and tough job cannot be done by handing over money and receiving goods like buying vegetables, so the technology transfer between the two parties will be carried out in stages according to the progress of the negotiations between EASA and CAAC, and is expected to last 12-18 months.

Originally according to Elginbridge's idea, DDG1000 had just cut the steel plate and it was impossible to launch it before 2012 as scheduled. As for the Queen-class, it was an independent project, and the delivery time of MT-30 could be delayed by one or two years by finding some reasons about funding.

But looking at the current situation, it seems that it is not as optimistic as they thought...

"Northrop Grumman has made it clear that they have paid the relevant R&D costs of MT30 in accordance with the contract, and therefore cannot accept the explanation that the project delivery time is delayed due to inflation and economic crisis. Unless Rolls-Royce can provide a more reasonable reason, it must deliver two full-state equipment for technical testing before the end of 2010..."

Partridge put a letter on the table, his face livid.

"A more reasonable reason..."

Elginbridge's expression was not very good either:

“Are we expected to admit that the MT30 gas turbine encountered technical problems?”

……

"That's right!"

Later that day, Tim Bodie took the opportunity of formally handing over the test engine to inform Chang Haonan of the current dilemma.

Then, he got the latter's affirmative answer:

"For now, the only reasonable reason for the delayed delivery is a technical problem. Otherwise, if we allow the other party to use their imagination and even find out the secret agreement between us, it will be a bigger problem."

Bodi felt numb, and even his voice became sharp:

"But now Portsmouth has completed a preliminary inspection of the Courageous, saying that the ship will need at least two years for a major overhaul. In addition, the five ships on the slipway are also undergoing sea trials and need to be reworked. This is not a small problem that can be easily ignored... If the technical risks of the MT-30 are disclosed at this juncture, it will inevitably be associated with the failure of the Type 45, and our reputation..."

He didn't continue, but his meaning was clear enough.

Since our reputation is going to be ruined anyway, we might as well just lie back and take it slow. Why should we spend so much money to cooperate with you?

Chang Haonan shook his head, looking very disappointed:

"Just find a small excuse to divert attention. You British have been playing offshore balancing for two hundred years. Do you really have to decide today to be honest and say whatever you want to Party A?"

Bodie's expression softened a little, but he still looked a little worried.

So Chang Haonan didn't wait for the other party to speak, and asked first:

"Among the various subsystems of the MT-30, are there any parts that are completed by American companies?"

After a few seconds, Bodie shook his head:

"If I must say, the external intercoolers of WR-21 and MT30 are both provided by Nopros Grumman. However, as you said before, the problem with our technical route lies mainly in the internal intercooler section. Secondly, they did not participate in any design work and only manufactured it according to our requirements..."

Even with the thick skin of the British, they really can't figure out how to put the blame on Party B in this situation.

"This is easy to handle."

Chang Haonan put his hands behind his back and watched the workers gradually put the engine into the cargo hold of the Il-76:

"I can give you a report saying that the quality problems of the products provided by the Americans led to the unsuccessful testing of the MT30. It just so happens that the main contractors for DDG1000 and CG(X) are both Nopros Grumman, so they just shot themselves in the foot."

Chinese idioms have always been difficult to translate accurately and elegantly. Fortunately, Bodi has been in contact with Chang Haonan for many years and is almost half an expert on China. He quickly understood what he meant.

But even though he understands, the KPI pressure on his shoulders is not reduced at all:

"But... we have conducted a third-party quality inspection when we received the goods. It's hard to justify raising quality issues now..."

Chang Haonan thought about it and agreed. After all, the client of the entire project was the US Navy, which was definitely not an easy person to deal with.

Moreover, judging from the current situation, the reason why the other party is so anxious to put MT30 in place is probably because they have felt the pressure from across the Pacific Ocean and want to evade certain demands from Congress.

Then it would be even more impossible to give in easily.

But now that things have come to this, even he couldn't think of any better ideas for a while, so he had to insist:

"Anyway, use your British talent for arguing for three points and try to argue with the other side for a while..."

While talking, he roughly calculated:

"If you can accept the slightly lower thermal efficiency of the first two MT30s delivered, then I can take a loss and first complete the intercooling cycle improvement according to the minimum conditions agreed upon while maintaining the current main structure of the gas turbine. As long as we can strive for an extra 3-4 months... uh... provided that you can keep up with our efficiency, we can almost reach the delivery state..."

"As for the future... the first DDG1000 ship is also for testing purposes. If EASA can really fully open up the mutual recognition of airworthiness, then we can just increase the stakes further. Then you can say that you have developed a new improved model, and the Americans might even have to thank us..."