Chapter 661 Aircraft Purchase (asking for monthly pass)

During this period, Saudi Arabia intends to strengthen its air force and prepares to introduce a batch of fighter jets.

Prince Sultan went to the United States and Europe before, but neither was ideal.

The Americans demand a price of US$38 million per aircraft for F16 fighter jets and US$50 million per aircraft for F15 fighter jets, and there are a lot of political and economic conditions attached. One of the things that is unacceptable to Saudi Arabia is that the United States requires Saudi Arabia to cooperate with the United States and increase the price significantly. Oil production, thereby suppressing oil prices, has reduced international crude oil prices to below US$25/barrel, preferably as low as US$20/barrel.

As the world's largest importer of oil, the United States needs staggering amounts of oil every day. Significantly lowering international crude oil prices will naturally benefit the United States, as it can significantly reduce U.S. inflation. Furthermore, the lower the international crude oil price, the greater the impact on the Soviet Union's oil exports.

Once the price of oil fell below $20, the profits from Soviet oil exports were very thin. If the price of oil were as low as $15, considering the cost of Soviet oil production and transportation, I am afraid that the Soviet Union would lose money on its oil exports.

In addition, there are weapons and ammunition, maintenance, spare parts and training costs, all of which add up to a lot of money.

As for some conditions, it also makes Saudi Arabia uncomfortable, such as cooperating with the United States on some issues, and American oil companies winning bids for some oil fields, etc.

Prince Sultan went to Europe and wanted to talk about France's Mirage 2000 and Rafale fighter jets.

Mirage 2000 fighter, following the famous Mirage III and Mirage F1 fighters, France's Dassault Aviation developed the Mirage 2000 multi-purpose fighter in the 1980s and began serving the French Air Force in 1984.

The Mirage 2000 is not as advanced as the fighter jets of the United States and the Soviet Union, but it is also a third-generation fighter jet. However, French fighter jets have always been expensive. The price of the Mirage 2000 fighter jet exceeds 40 million US dollars per aircraft.

The Rafale fighter is a twin-engine, delta-wing, high-mobility, multi-purpose fighter developed by France's Dassault Aviation. It is also a third-generation fighter. The French promote this fighter as the 'most comprehensive' in the world. Not only does it take into account both sea and air, but it also has very powerful capabilities in air combat and ground and sea attacks.

As for the price, the Rafale fighter jet is much higher than the Mirage 2000 fighter jet. In 1988, the French Defense Force decided to purchase the Rafale fighter jet. The unit price exceeded US$80 million per aircraft, making it the most expensive fighter jet in the world.

The high price, coupled with a lot of conditions, frightened Prince Sultan.

This time he came to China mainly to witness in person the delivery of the Type 054 frigate and Type 052 destroyer by Panshan Group.

As for the plane matter, Liu Tao brought it up when they met.

Prince Sultan was still hesitant. After all, the equipment of the Chinese Air Force was too ordinary. China's most advanced fighter jets, hundreds of fighter jets, were all purchased from the United States.

But he didn't expect that Liu Tao would give him such a big surprise.

After weighing the situation, Prince Sultan decided to take a gamble and purchase Chinese aircraft.

Afterwards, the two began to negotiate. Both of them were people who could make decisions. It didn't take long to reach an agreement on the purchase of the aircraft.

20 K8 primary training aircraft, 20 JJ7A high-education aircraft, 30 ‘Eagle’ high-education aircraft, 50 J-10 fighter jets, and 50 J-11 fighter jets.

The price of K8 primary training aircraft is US$2 million per aircraft, the price of JJ-7A high-education aircraft is US$8.7 million per aircraft, the price of 'Eagle' high-education aircraft is US$15 million per aircraft, the price of J-10 fighter aircraft is US$25 million per aircraft, and the price of J-11 fighter aircraft is US$25 million per aircraft. US$40 million/frame.

It can be said that the price is extremely advantageous.

And you must know that this is only the bare metal price. The total bare metal price contract alone is as high as 3.914 billion US dollars.

Normally, the procurement of military aircraft will include five parts, namely the bare metal price (flying cost), weapon system, R\u0026D apportionment, training and infrastructure and maintenance costs, and performance incentives.

Liu Tao did not require equal sharing of research and development and performance rewards, but even the cost of weapon systems and training, infrastructure and maintenance was not low.

In terms of weapons systems, Saudi Arabia purchased rockets, "Thunderbolt" series missiles, and cruise missiles. The purchase cost was as high as US$800 million.

In terms of training, infrastructure and maintenance costs, it is as high as US$2.06 billion. This cost includes two years of training costs for more than 300 pilots and technicians at the air force base with a temperature-controlled hangar, including spare parts including an additional engine. and all maintenance costs for five years.

And this order will be delivered before 1996.

The entire contract is worth US$6.774 billion.

Although the K8 primary training aircraft belongs to Hongdu Airlines, even if this part is divested, there will still be extremely huge profits for Panshan Group.

In addition to concluding the order for military aircraft, Liu Tao and Prince Sultan went to Xiangjiang. This time they did not take a plane, but a luxury yacht.

The two are discussing cooperation in other areas, including the export of China Automobile Group and China Motorcycle Group to Saudi Arabia, as well as the promotion of the Beidou navigation satellite system in the Middle East, helping Saudi Arabia launch communication satellites, meteorological satellites and reconnaissance satellites, etc.

Over the years, Huaxia Automobile Group and Huaxia Motorcycle Group have used Saudi Arabia as a springboard to export to the Middle East. They have also established the first large-scale maintenance plant in the Middle East in Saudi Arabia. There is a Huaxia Automobile 4S store in every city in Saudi Arabia. Customers provide services.

The Beidou navigation satellite system has now been networked globally, and its accuracy is already very high.

The entire Beidou navigation satellite system has invested a lot of money, and subsequent updates to the system have also required a lot of investment. The operating costs are also very high, so it naturally needs to be promoted.

The Beidou navigation satellite system is divided into two parts: civilian and military. The accuracy of the military part is much higher than that of the civilian part. The civilian part is divided into free and paid parts. The function and accuracy of the paid part are also much higher than the free part.

The global market is just that big. Beidou navigation satellite system occupies more market share, while GPS navigation system occupies less market share.

Liu Tao has two weapons against the GPS navigation system. One is that the free accuracy is higher than that of GPS, and the other is service and reputation.

If Americans turn off the GPS navigation system at every turn, they will only cede the market to the Beidou navigation satellite system.

Liu Tao will definitely try his best to capture the market that he can capture.

Including mobile phones, ships, aircraft, tanks and armored vehicles, and missiles equipped with corresponding chips, for example, the Soviet Union has to rely on the country to negotiate with the Soviet Union.

Liu Tao attaches great importance to the Beidou navigation satellite system. Firstly, it is a powerful tool, and secondly, it is because of the huge market.

The current market is naturally small, but as it is promoted, the market will grow rapidly.

It seems like you are not making money now, but in the future you will be making money on the side.

The most important thing is that this kind of weapon is in your own hands and will not get stuck in your neck. Absolutely no one is willing to try and experience that feeling of being stuck in your neck.

Liu Tao chose Saudi Arabia with the intention of promoting the two sides to become a comprehensive strategic partnership, to cooperate with each other for win-win results, to develop together, and to have more benefits.

The reason for choosing Saudi Arabia is that Saudi Arabia has the largest oil reserves in the world and is also the largest exporter of oil. Oil is the "blood of industry". No country in the world can do without oil, and China has changed from a net oil exporter to a As an oil importing country, it has to pay attention to oil; secondly, Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East, with a land area of ​​2.25 million square kilometers and a population of 16 million.

Of course, with Saudi Arabia's situation, it doesn't look like it can become a powerful country and can cooperate with people with confidence.