Chapter 501: If China can do it, so can I?

Under the background that the country has regarded the aviation industry as a key development area, aircraft export is naturally a major event.

In particular, the Sudanese Air Force purchased 12 aircraft at one time, as well as corresponding consumables such as various types of ammunition, with a total value of more than 1.5 million US dollars.

Although the transaction is conducted in the form of deductions from the oil exploration rights contract, in any case, spending less means making more.

In the context of the late 1990s, it was a lot of money.

Therefore, this aircraft, which caused little stir during its first flight, received some decent media publicity midway through the test flight.

Of course, the focus of publicity is not only the JJ-9 model itself, but also Guihang Industry, which actively carries out self-rescue and solves operating difficulties.

Originally, after the automobile industry went into decline, it was difficult for them to continue to maintain normal production and operations.

Just a few orders for J-7s every year are simply not enough to support such a huge enterprise.

At the same time, for the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, which is about to face restructuring, retaining a secondary enterprise specifically for a model that is highly similar to the J-7 is also completely uneconomical.

Therefore, the fate of Guizhou Aviation Industry was already somewhat precarious.

As for the success of the JJ-9 model, even if it cannot bring about a rejuvenation, it can at least extend its life.

It is always better to delay and wait for changes than to close the company directly.

It can be regarded as giving some hope to some old state-owned enterprises that are also in difficulties.

Although many of them are indeed lagging behind the times and will eventually inevitably go bankrupt, there are also many companies that simply cannot adapt to the market environment, or are simply being run on.

After all, there is some hope.

Some people who are more proactive are already contacting Guizhou Airlines to see if they can send someone to learn from it.

After all, it’s not hard to think of with just a little more thinking.

Guihang has made little progress in self-rescue in the past decade or so. Now that it is suddenly turning around, there must be some unique way.

Moreover, it is not just domestic companies that are encouraged by this report...

……

Sacheon, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea.

Jung Woo-seok, head of Samsung Aviation Industry, is accompanying Industry Minister Kang Seung-jin to inspect the KF16 fighter final assembly line.

For today's Samsung, a mere minister is certainly not an important figure.

But Jiang Shengzhen’s situation is rather special.

After entering the 90s, with the development of the economy and industrial level, the aviation manufacturing industry naturally entered the field of vision of Koreans.

In fact, as early as the early 80s, South Korea had signed a contract with Northrop to build an F5 fighter production line in the country.

But even at that time, this type of aircraft was already outdated.

Unwilling to be reconciled, the Koreans quickly focused on the more advanced F16 fighter jets.

However, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin still have concerns about the production line for the F16.

Jiang Shengzhen, who was born in the United States, played a very important role in it relying on his extensive personal connections.

Under his mediation, Samsung Airlines completed the introduction of the final assembly line in 1994 and began producing KF16 fighter jets.

Even earlier than China produced the J-11.

Such a number one figure can be said to indirectly control the lifeblood of the entire Korean aviation industry, so Samsung naturally has to respect it.

"Currently, a total of 16 KF42 fighter jets have been rolled off the production line. It is expected that a total of 2000 fighter jets can be produced before the end of 120. By the last batch, 78% of the parts will be produced by South Korea."

While Zheng Yuxi introduced it, he led Jiang Shengzhen through the work station where the final assembly steps of the aircraft were being carried out.

"So, after entering the 21st century, what are your follow-up plans for this production line?"

After all, the scale of the South Korean Air Force is limited and it is impossible to equip too many aircraft, and it is obviously impossible for the Americans to allow them to export F16 alone. Therefore, after producing the quantity stipulated in the contract at the time, the factory will face the risk of losing business.

This is what Jiang Shengzhen doesn't want to see.

"After the production of the KF16 is completed, we plan to transfer the production here to the new training aircraft developed in cooperation with Lockheed Martin."

"That 'Golden Eagle' project?"

Although Jiang Shengzhen has a wide network of contacts, he doesn’t actually understand aviation, and he only has a general understanding of these projects:

"I remember it has been going on for 5 years, how is the progress?"

"Is this..."

When talking about this topic, Zheng Yuxi's face became a little stiff:

"We found that the previous plan was too conservative, so we are re-evaluating the plan."

Obviously, the progress is not very encouraging.

At this time, he needs to test his painting skills.

Sure enough, Jiang Shengzhen frowned:

"Reassess?"

"In other words, all previous design plans will be invalidated?"

Zheng Yuxi nodded:

"The original design plan was based on the British Eagle 100 trainer aircraft, but the performance could not meet the requirements of the originally planned combat training aircraft."

"So we simply plan to overthrow the entire plan and start over, learn from F16 technology, and develop an advanced trainer aircraft with a performance level close to that of third-generation fighter jets for the international market in the 21st century."

"Of course, this requires more in-depth cooperation between Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics..."

This is why Samsung Airlines specially invited Jiang Shengzhen to visit.

He will need to lobby further to gain U.S. support.

"Learning from F16 technology..."

Although Jiang Shengzhen doesn’t quite understand the specific differences between the two solutions, he can tell that Samsung Airlines hopes to develop a more advanced model, and plans to not only equip the South Korean Air Force, but also export it To other countries:

"In this case, will there be any conflict with the F16 in terms of positioning?"

Exports are exports, but competing with American companies for the market is a matter of course, something Jiang Shengzhen would never dare to do.

The reason why the model was originally determined to be a subsonic intermediate trainer model was to avoid this.

"will not."

Of course Zheng Yuxi is not stupid and understands what the other party is worried about:

"The new aircraft will be smaller and cheaper than the F16. It is mainly aimed at third-world countries that cannot afford standard third-generation fighter jets. It can serve as a trainer aircraft and also undertake certain combat missions."

Having said that, Jiang Shengzhen still hesitated.

For him, the focus is on those around the aviation industry who provide the bulk of the votes.

As long as the production line can be maintained, it can maintain a sufficient position in the power hierarchy.

As for what to build specifically, it doesn’t really matter.

More advanced models do bring higher potential benefits, but with corresponding risks.

If R&D is blocked and KF16 cannot be converted to production for a long time after it is discontinued, the scale of the entire industry may shrink, and its status will be difficult to guarantee.

Seeing Jiang Shengzhen not replying, Zheng Wooxi continued to throw out heavy chips:

"This route has actually been verified by China. Recently, their aviation industry promotional newspapers and periodicals have focused on a similar model."

said the latter, taking out a newspaper from his pocket.

Older Koreans can understand more or less Chinese.

Therefore, it is much easier for them to collect information on China.

Jiang Shengzhen grew up in the United States and did not have this condition, but he could always see the plane printed on it.

At first glance, it looks a bit like a combination of F16 and F18.

"According to the report above, an African customer has purchased 12 aircraft, and the Chinese Air Force plans to purchase more."

Zheng Yuxi knew that the other party did not understand Chinese, so he briefly translated the core content above, and then continued:

"The aircraft that China was able to produce before were the improved MiG-21 and the enlarged version of the MiG-8 they called the J-21. But we have been able to produce the third-generation KF16 fighter by ourselves since three years ago. The manufacturing level is much stronger.”

"Now, since they can build such a multi-purpose supersonic advanced trainer aircraft, and we also have the assistance of General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin in the design, there is absolutely no reason why they can't build it!"

It should be said that Zheng Yuxi knows how to provoke generals.

Since the 80s, South Korea has generally entered an era of extremely high self-confidence.

Of course, no matter how popular it is, it will definitely not have the courage to compete with the United States.

Therefore, their key comparison objects are Japan and China.

Specific to the aviation manufacturing industry, considering that the former was authorized to assemble heavy-duty F15J fighter jets more than ten years ago, so in general...

No courage either.

But facing the latter, Koreans are still relatively confident.

I can’t compare to Japan. Am I still unable to compare to you, the Wuchang?