Chapter 947: Prepare to pick up the plane!

After several days of preparation and study, the design work for the high-speed straight wing required for the Falcon Z project began in full swing.

The nominal design leader is naturally Chang Haonan.

However, the actual daily work is still handled by Liu Hongbo.

Chang Haonan’s main job at the moment is to develop new image segmentation and target tracking algorithms for Ocean No. 1.

Therefore, unless he finds any problems with the new turbulence model, he will probably only do some data verification and algorithm review.

……

Just like that, a week passed quickly.

There has been no progress on the two projects that Chang Haonan is working on.

After all, we are still in the early stages.

However, the ultra-short laser processing equipment previously developed for the Liming Factory has entered the factory trial production stage of the prototype.

That is to say, a device whose functions are designed for mass production in all aspects is placed in the factory, rather than conducting small-scale experimental production in a laboratory environment.

It is mainly used to test the environmental adaptability of the equipment.

Of course, the "small batch" here is just a way of saying it.

The production capacity of many devices at this stage is even greater than after they are officially delivered and enter mass production.

If nothing unexpected happens, by the second half of next year at the latest, the Liming plant will be able to provide processing of turbine discs and turbine blades for the M10-88 and SeA series engines in addition to the production capacity of the WS-3.

This is also a very important time node for the production finalization of WS-10.

However, compared with another thing, it is a little less interesting——

One day, when Chang Haonan was about to get off work from the Torch Laboratory.

The red landline phone on his desk suddenly rang.

The caller ID showed a number I had never seen before.

However, the only person who can get through this dedicated line must be someone within the organization.

Therefore, although Chang Haonan was puzzled, he still picked up the phone:

"Hello, I'm Chang Haonan."

"Comrade Haonan."

A slightly unfamiliar voice came from the other end of the phone.

At least, in the less than one second that the other party spoke, Chang Haonan was unable to determine the identity of the caller.

Fortunately, the other party did not keep us in suspense and directly introduced himself:

"I'm Qiao Chenqing."

"Boss Qiao?"

Chang Haonan was stunned at first, then turned to look at the perpetual calendar hanging on the wall.

11 month 14 day.

At this time, it's a bit like going to the middle of nowhere.

The head of the Air Force suddenly contacted me, and after thinking about it, it seemed that the only possible thing was that...

"Yes...did the negotiations with Ermao produce any results?"

Chang Haonan guessed immediately.

Although he was the one who initially proposed the strategy, nuclear negotiations are, after all, a highly professional and sensitive topic.

Therefore, after leaving the Jingxi Hotel that time, Chang Haonan never directly participated in anything related again.

Only occasionally would I hear some progress from Ding Gaoheng or Fu Youquan.

The last time was about a week ago.

A high-level delegation has gone to Ermao to carry out the final verification, transfer and destruction of weapons and equipment.

The so-called "transfer" here naturally refers to those Tu-160 bombers that have been coveted for a long time.

Now, if everything goes well, there should be a result soon.

Sure enough, Qiao Chenqing on the other end of the phone gave a positive answer:

"That's right. We have signed relevant agreements with three other countries. Four Tu-4 bombers will be able to depart from there and return to China tomorrow afternoon!"

!!!

Upon hearing the news, Chang Haonan's right hand holding the microphone shook violently.

Then, his body shook slightly twice.

With the sound of “dong——”.

He almost fell down on the office chair.

It was indeed his idea to circumvent the arms sales treaty in the name of paying off debts and bring a few Tu-160s that were still able to fly back to the country from Ermao.

We even started planning for this several years ago.

But from beginning to end.

Even after the attacks in September this year.

Even after the Americans have agreed to the conditions proposed by us.

Chang Haonan still could not guarantee that this matter would be successful.

It can be said that this is the most uncertain thing he has done since his rebirth.

After all, it is a strategic weapon that leaves no room for maneuver.

Taking off from airports in the northeast, combined with the range of air-launched cruise missiles, it can even cover almost all important cities in North America...

Moreover, the closer he got to success, the more anxious Chang Haonan became.

However, during this period of time, he had been using busy work as an excuse to cover up this restless mood.

But covering it up doesn't mean it disappears.

On the contrary, it will become more intense because it cannot be vented.

Therefore, when he first heard this news that symbolized that the dust had settled, Chang Haonan's first reaction was not even excitement.

But a sense of relief.

"Boss Qiao..."

After being silent for several seconds, Chang Haonan, whose breathing had finally calmed down, spoke:

"Tomorrow, can I..."

Before he could finish his question, Qiao Chenqing gave the answer first:

"of course."

"The purpose of my call is to invite you to come with me!"

……

After hanging up the phone, Chang Haonan immediately canceled all his plans for the next three days.

Then, the next day, he and the air force delegation, including Qiao Chenqing, boarded a plane to an airport in Gaojing.

"to be honest."

In the cabin, Qiao Chenqing specially chose a seat next to Chang Haonan:

"I still can't believe that the Americans actually agreed to this deal."

Chang Haonan thought to himself, I actually don’t quite believe it.

But this suggestion came from him in the first place, and if he continued to say that he was not sure about it, it would seem a bit too pretentious.

So he had to reorganize his language:

"The issue of Aiwuhan is too important for the United States right now."

"The White House had fewer votes than its competitors in the general election, and won by a narrow margin of one electoral vote. That's why most people thought it was just a transition. But because of this attack, its approval rating has skyrocketed, and at its highest point it was almost approaching Roosevelt's..."

"So, for the sake of this interest, let alone a few Tu-160s, if the Russians are willing to sell, I estimate that even if they buy a few Type 941 nuclear submarines, they will turn a blind eye."

This can't be considered as Chang Haonan's hindsight.

The reason why he initially decided to attack those Tu-160s was actually because of this idea.

Because Chang Haonan had read some people’s interviews or memoirs before his rebirth.

Many of them specifically mentioned that Mr. Bush was in an extremely emotional state after the 2001 attack.

It basically means "If you can help me kill Aiwuhan, I will really treat you as a brother."

This state should not exist in a leader.

But in the special context of that time, it didn't seem unreasonable.

In short, he relied on advance planning, information asymmetry and some luck, and finally won the bet.

Therefore, although Qiao Chenqing intuitively believed that Chang Haonan should have a deeper level of analytical logic, he did not dwell on this issue in the end.

Anyway, what you said is correct, so you are awesome...

"Xiao Chang."

Qiao Chenqing changed to a more intimate name:

"For our country, the return of these four planes is not the end, but the beginning."

"The team that received the plane reported to me before that these Tu-160s were the ones left over after the Russian army picked them out. Their condition is not optimistic. Although they can still fly, many of their subsystems are in an unusable state."

"If we want to maintain them for a long time, we need to build a relevant logistics maintenance and system, especially the airframe structure and power system that are related to the basic safety of flight..."

"..."

He said it very politely, but his meaning was very clear -

An aircraft like the Tu-160 cannot be properly serviced by air force ground crew alone.

Especially the four NK32 afterburning turbofan engines, which are something the Chinese Air Force has never encountered before.

"Boss Qiao, I can't promise you anything right now."

Chang Haonan thought carefully for a while, and finally said:

"But it was a coincidence. A few years ago, by chance, I got a large vacuum electron beam welding production line from the Russians, as well as a lot of related technical information, which was specially used for the production or maintenance of metal structural parts for large aircraft..."

"Let's not talk about the large-scale wing spar and wing box, it's not a problem to make some minor repairs."

"As for the NK32 engine... we are really in the dark right now. It may be difficult to produce a new one in a short period of time. However, we can extend the service life and perform maintenance on the existing models... if we can be given some time to study it, it should not be difficult to do..."

"In addition, the Russians can't actually make new NK32s now, so they are actually on the same level as us. Moreover, they have more Tu-160s on hand, so they are definitely more anxious than us, so it is not impossible for us to cooperate on this matter..."

"..."

As Chang Haonan listed each item one by one as if they were his own treasures, the worry on Qiao Chenqing's face gradually turned into shock.

Whether these problems themselves can be solved in a short period of time is actually secondary to him.

Because the superiors didn't even set a clear timetable.

There is no pressure on KPIs.

But it is quite amazing that Chang Haonan could come up with a list of things to be solved in such a short time.

You know, from September 9th to now, it has only been two months.

He was not idle during this period, but had a lot of other work to do.

Not to mention, the vacuum electron beam welding production line just mentioned was brought back a few years ago...

This doesn't look like something that was only prepared two months ago.

It seems more like it was planned in advance.

Of course, Qiao Chenqing didn't think like Fu Youquan that the attack was related to Chang Haonan.