Chapter 648: Building an aircraft carrier is not a matter of technology but a matter of money

December 20, 1999, 00:00!

This great moment is destined to be recorded in the history of the Republic.

Countless Chinese people across the country, on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and in Hong Kong and Macau cheered.

Accompanied by the tear-jerking and affectionate call of "Song of the Seven Sons", this land, which has experienced more than 400 years of vicissitudes, finally returned to the embrace of the motherland.

Liu Tao and his family witnessed this great moment on the spot.

Zhu Lin and others arrived in Macau the day before yesterday.

And this moment is witnessing history.

Liu Tao and his family applauded, cheered, and waved the five-star red flag in their hands.

This grand ceremony is enough for people to remember.

In the following days, Liu Tao accompanied his family to visit Macau. Macau is not big, with a land area of ​​32.8 square kilometers, which is much smaller than many towns in the mainland, and is almost one thirty-eighth of Hong Kong.

But this is the city with the highest per capita GDP in China, with a per capita GDP of over 10,000 US dollars.

There is no agriculture in Macau, only secondary and tertiary industries.

The secondary industry is mainly driven by the electronics industry invested by Panshan Group, which is booming. The tertiary industry is mainly based on the gaming industry, and other industries such as catering, hotels, and tourism are basically centered around the gaming industry.

After playing for several days, they left Macau on Sunday.

Zhu Lin and others took a plane back to Beijing, while Liu Tao went to Yangcheng Shipyard.

Up to now, Yangcheng Shipyard is already the largest shipyard in the country and also the shipyard with the strongest shipbuilding capacity.

In addition to building warships, Yangcheng Shipyard is also building merchant ships.

At this time, a 400,000-ton tanker is being built.

Just such a 400,000-ton tanker costs as much as 120 million US dollars.

This is not the first 400,000-ton tanker built by Yangcheng Shipyard. A 400,000-ton tanker was built before and has been delivered. This one is the second one.

As for the 500,000-ton tanker, it has not been built yet.

However, compared with cargo tankers, Liu Tao attaches more importance to the construction of warships.

There is no other reason, the profit of warships is higher!

Far higher than the profit of cargo tankers.

The profit of building a 40-ton tanker is not even as good as the profit of building a Type 022 missile boat.

Of course, the pull of a 40-ton tanker on supporting factories is stronger.

The next day, Liu Tao attended a meeting held at the Yangcheng Shipyard. The participants included experts in the field of ships from all over the country, as well as senior officials of the Navy and the head of the General Armament Department.

This meeting was about aircraft carriers.

A seminar organized by the Navy.

Aircraft carriers, also known as aircraft carrier cruisers, are large surface ships with carrier-based aircraft as their main combat weapons.

In World War II, aircraft carriers played a vital role.

This has made aircraft carriers always favored by navies around the world, and no country does not want to own aircraft carriers.

Modern aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft have become high-tech intensive military system engineering. Currently, only the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France in the world have mastered the development technology of aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft.

Modern aircraft carriers are already very different from those during World War II. The aircraft carriers during World War II could be transformed from large merchant ships, but not now.

The most advanced aircraft carrier belongs to the United States, which leads the development trend of aircraft carriers in the world.

The second is the Soviet Union!

The third is Britain, and finally France.

As for China, it could not even independently develop frigates before, let alone aircraft carriers.

However, in recent years, China's shipbuilding industry has made rapid progress, with advanced missile boats, torpedo boats, minesweepers, frigates, destroyers, new conventional submarines and electronic reconnaissance ships.

This makes the navy eager to have aircraft carriers.

This meeting shows the navy's desire for aircraft carriers.

After the meeting began, each expert spoke from his own profession. Some professional fields are capable, but some professional fields are still far behind.

Liu Tao has been listening, feeling helpless.

He has explained three times that China cannot afford aircraft carriers now, including the high cost of aircraft carriers, the high construction cost of aircraft carrier battle groups, and the high annual cost of aircraft carriers and aircraft carrier formations.

Unfortunately, the navy seems to be obsessed with aircraft carriers.

In Liu Tao's view, China's current navy is mainly composed of frigates and destroyers, and missile boats are used as auxiliary ships to fight, which can meet the future development of China's navy.

As long as there are 60 more frigates and 50 destroyers, it will be enough to ensure China's advantages within the range of 1,000 to 2,000 nautical miles, and it can also ensure the safety and interests of China's main routes.

"Comrade Liu Tao, you are an authority in this area and know our country's warship construction capabilities best. What do you think?" Looking at Liu Tao, who has not spoken, he said.

Liu Tao pondered for a moment: "I have always emphasized that my country's construction of aircraft carriers does not depend on the ability to build warships. From a technical perspective, we have the ability to build them. At most, some technologies need to be tackled."

"What really restricts the construction of aircraft carriers is our country's economy and military expenditure!" Liu Tao said, "The USS Lincoln, which has just been put into service, began construction in 1984 and was completed in 1989, with a cost of 3.6 billion US dollars; if the aircraft carrier battle group built for it is added, the cost will exceed 14 billion US dollars."

"It will take us about 6 to 10 years to build an aircraft carrier of the same standard as the Lincoln aircraft carrier, and the cost will be about 12 to 15 billion yuan. If the aircraft carrier battle group built for it is added, the cost will exceed 50 billion yuan." Liu Tao listed the figures, "Don't forget, this year our military budget is only 27 billion yuan, and the military budget for the new year next year is about 30 billion yuan. 100 million RMB!"

"It takes almost two years of military budget to build an aircraft carrier battle group." Liu Tao said: "This is just the construction cost. As for the operating cost, according to the current price situation, the annual operating cost of an aircraft carrier is about 500 million RMB, and the annual operating cost of an aircraft carrier battle group is about 2-3 billion RMB."

"How much military budget does the Navy have each year?" Liu Tao asked in return: "Can the Navy come up with 12 billion RMB for construction? According to the current situation, with the increase in labor costs and material prices, the final cost is likely to reach 15 billion RMB, or even more than 15 billion RMB."

With so much money, Yangcheng Shipyard naturally cannot advance it!

The country probably won't agree.

After all, the advance payment will be deducted from the profit and tax payment, and the State Administration of Taxation will not agree.

Advance payment of 20 to 30 billion every year is just so-so. If the leader speaks, the State Administration of Taxation will be like that. If the State Administration of Taxation cannot collect too much tax from Panshan Group even if it advances tens of billions every year, it will be a shame.

Now, many aspects are relying on the profits and taxes paid by Panshan Group.

The navy has to go so much, and the army also has to go a lot, so what is the point of focusing on economic construction?