Chapter 1590 This is a choke point for the Americans

Admiral Roughead certainly understood the hidden meaning.

The money issue is relatively easy to solve with the support of Congress, but Zumwalt is not managed by a single general contractor. Instead, it is the joint effort of General Motors, Raytheon, Boeing and other companies.

The efficiency issue of coordinating multiple giant companies makes him frown.

"It sounds like it will be a long and cumbersome process for Rolls-Royce to connect with GM, Raytheon, and Boeing separately, and the efficiency may not be guaranteed."

Elginbridge also returned to his formulaic smile: "Then there is no problem in maintaining the original design. As I just said, the core of ensuring the stability of the system is the condensation control module."

Apparently, he thought he had passed this stage.

However, after a little thought, Roughead came up with a solution:

"I suggest that Rolls-Royce take the lead and jointly with General Dynamics, Raytheon and Boeing to establish a special 'Joint Design Coordination Committee' in North America. The core task of this committee is to evaluate and implement the optimized design plan of the Zumwalt Flight II power cabin to ensure the seamless connection of various systems and improve work efficiency. The Navy can send representatives to participate in the coordination."

The smile on Elginbridge's face froze.

A tingling sensation, almost like an electric shock, rose up along my spine.

Establishing a joint committee means deeply intervening in the design process, requiring sharing of core design documents, frequent technical briefings and joint reviews.

The core of the problem is that to this day, Rolls-Royce has not yet obtained the complete design data and technical authorization of the condensate control module.

The so-called "design" process was actually outsourced to China Aviation Power Group.

The latter is responsible for the core condensate control algorithm, key sensor design and system integration, and Rolls-Royce provides interface requirements and installation support.

This matter has already spread a little bit, but it is still at the level of "industry legend".

It did not reach Party A's ears.

It can't be put on the table anyway.

In particular, it must not be exposed in projects that involve deep cooperation with the Navy.

"This... setting up a special joint committee is probably not the best option!"

Elginbridge's reaction was unusually quick, with a barely perceptible hint of urgency in his tone, but it was immediately covered up by his professional analysis:

"In fact, the MT30 gas turbine has been used on the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers... Especially the second ship, the Prince of Wales, which has applied a new power compartment design similar to the Duncan's optimization concept during its construction..."

He tried to sound confident:

"Although the hull structure, tonnage and internal layout of the Zumwalt class are different from those of aircraft carriers or Type 45 destroyers and cannot be completely copied, the core gas turbine installation, intake and exhaust optimization, and cooling duct design principles are the same. We have accumulated engineering experience and interface data in the industry, and the actual workload required to coordinate with GE, Raytheon, and Boeing may be much lower than your current expectations."

Elginbridge paused, then stepped up his persuasion:

"Establishing a multi-party joint committee will inevitably introduce additional administrative processes, meeting coordination and document approval links, which may slow down the overall progress and increase unnecessary management costs. Under the circumstances of tight time, it will be more efficient for us to conduct point-to-point technical docking with the three contractors."

Roughead listened carefully to Elginbridge's explanation.

He had a feeling that something was not right, but the other party's arguments about aircraft carrier experience and avoiding bureaucratic burdens sounded reasonable.

Moreover, Rolls-Royce's technical strength is indeed trustworthy, and the most urgent thing at the moment is to push the Flight II model into production as soon as possible, as the political window period does not wait for anyone.

"Hmm... what you said makes sense." Admiral Roughead nodded slowly, as if he was convinced. "Efficiency is the top priority at the moment."

He obviously did not expect Rolls-Royce to play such a big game, so he no longer insisted on the idea of ​​setting up a joint committee.

A huge stone finally fell from Elginbridge's heart, and he was secretly glad that he had finally gotten away with it.

"Thank you for your understanding, Your Excellency. We will immediately start the relevant work and come up with a preliminary plan to optimize the power cabin suitable for the Zumwalt Flight II as soon as possible."

"Very good. Time is our biggest enemy. Whether the Flight II can be successfully launched and become combat-ready depends largely on the performance and progress of your power system." Roughead stood up, ready to end the meeting. "The exercise is still going on. I have to go back..."

"..."

……

One week later.

Beijing, Aviation Power Group.

Chang Haonan was in his chief planner's office, reviewing the technical progress report compiled jointly by the Science and Technology Committee and the Industry and Construction Committee.

Several of them interested him greatly.

Especially in the field of materials science.

After the MTA-01 equipment at the Lianhai Institute of Chemical Physics was put into use, materials science has indeed experienced an expected boom.

Although the spraying locations are basically random, as long as the base is large enough, there will always be some truly useful things.

For example, a metal surface coating with super strong bonding and high temperature resistance has great potential for use in dual-mode ramjet engines.

It just needs some specific improvements.

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Chang Haonan looked up and found a new deputy director of the Second Comprehensive Department, Xiong Huaijiang, standing outside.

So he waved for him to come in.

Zhang Liangping, who was originally responsible for the liaison with the chief planner in the Comprehensive Department 2, has been promoted to the General Office as the office director, and Xiong Huaijiang is his successor.

"Boss Chang, the report from Gaofa Group is related to the MT30 gas turbine project."

The latter came to the desk and reported.

"Hasn't the authority over the intercooling and heat recovery engine been delegated to the Gaofa Group?" Chang Haonan continued to stare at the metal crystal structure on the screen. "Even if there is any new situation, we can just report it directly to the External Liaison Office, right?"

"Well... but the situation this time is a little special." Xiong Huaijiang still put the folder on Chang Haonan's desk. "BAE Systems hopes that we can participate in the second phase of the Zumwalt-class improvement work..."

Chang Haonan stopped what he was doing.

His eyes slowly shifted from the computer monitor to the folders on the desk.

His tone was full of disbelief and a bit of self-doubt:

"What to do?"

This rhetorical question made Xiong Huaijiang a little unconfident:

"Well... at least the British side has openly expressed that they hope we can help them improve the Zumwalt class."

Chang Haonan took a deep breath, and with a sense of absurdity as if “the sun rises from the west”, he pulled the folder on the corner of the table in front of him.

The content was exactly as the other party said.

Chinese technicians were actually quite deeply involved in the design and improvement of the engine rooms of the Duncan and Prince of Wales.

According to the original agreement reached by both parties, similar work on other ships will be gradually handed over to Rolls-Royce to complete independently.

However, because the key airworthiness mutual recognition in the agreement was not smooth, the transfer of technical documents and the patent authorization process have not yet begun.

In other words, the British still did not have the capability to accomplish the improvements alone.

What a coincidence.

Seeing that Chang Haonan did not respond for a long time, Xiong Huaijiang asked tentatively.

"Look at this..."

On the Blue Star card table, Britain has actually long been a sideline. No matter how much cooperation there is, it will not essentially come into direct conflict with China's core interests.

But designing warships directly for Americans is still a bit sensitive.

Therefore, the report was sent directly to the headquarters of Aviation Power Group.

However, Chang Haonan was considering another direction——

Even if China does not help, the Americans will not really stop the shipbuilding plan.

The most that can be done is to replace the Zumwalt with the Burke 3.

On the one hand, this change is not necessarily a good thing, but rather more practical.

On the other hand, if the Americans can continue to choose Zumwalt as the main force in the future, Zumwalt needs the core components provided by China.

This time, it's more than just a stranglehold on the Americans?

Even caught the other person's **!