Chapter 266 Il 114? Did you make something wrong?
The convoy circled the streets of Tashkent for more than an hour before finally arriving at the Chkalov Aircraft Factory located in the east of the city.
The lively atmosphere inside the extended Mercedes-Benz started to become a little heavy the moment it drove into the factory gate.
Through the side window glass, Huai Guomo could clearly see the tall workshops in the factory, the vast runway, and several old-model Ilyushin aircraft parked randomly on the tarmac not far away.
Everything tells the glorious past of Asia's largest aircraft manufacturer.
But as long as you pay a little attention, it is not difficult to see through the decorative flowers and plaques a few pieces of broken glass on the side of the factory building, as well as the weeds growing out of the cracks in the stone slabs on the ground.
Although it has only been a little more than five years since the alliance disintegrated, the general surface level can no longer even cover up the slight dilapidation and desolation that has been revealed here.
The convoy slowly passed a row of IL-62 aircraft in varying conditions. Judging from the condition of the aircraft, no one had maintained them for a long time.
On December 25, 1991, these aircraft may have been sent here for overhaul or upgrade, but everything that followed made them lose their users and were forced to stay in this inland Gobi city forever. .
Perhaps noticing Huaiguomo’s gaze, Sergei Lozko broke the air that was about to freeze in time:
"These are old models that your country is very familiar with. They are outdated today. I will show you some of Ilyushin's latest aircraft later."
The Chinese entourage is very Quickly translate this sentence to Huai Guomo.
The latter was stunned for a moment, and then let out a hearty laugh:
“Okay, then we will wait and see.”
A few minutes later, the mighty motorcade stopped. At the door of the No. 2 assembly workshop of the Chkalov Factory——
A large factory with the capacity to produce hundreds of aircraft per year would naturally not be able to put all models in the same place for final assembly, which would make it difficult to improve efficiency.
After getting off the bus, the first thing was a brief welcome ceremony.
As the leader of the Chinese delegation, Huai Guomo naturally had to go through the three-step standard process of shaking hands, speaking, and taking photos.
Finally, I received the bouquet and gifts from the dressed-up Uzbek girl.
The Chkalov Factory obviously put some thought into it.
But his attention was not on that.
I didn’t realize it when I looked at it from a distance, but now I can feel the amazing scale of this factory when I am in front of my eyes.
Although the two assembly workshops are separated by number, the buildings themselves are actually connected together. From Huai Guomo's perspective, the entire production building can be said to be continuous, like a hill.
As the leader of the Science and Technology Commission in charge of the national defense industry, he has naturally seen the aircraft manufacturing factories in China in the past.
But I have to say that arriving here today has somewhat refreshed his understanding.
Although he had concealed his surprise well, his absent-minded state was still noticed by Lozko.
Fortunately, he just thought that these Chinese soldiers didn't like red tape very much and just wanted to get to the point as quickly as possible, so he didn't think much about it and just motioned to Kucherov next to him to quickly end the process.
When a group of people actually entered the assembly workshop, they felt an unconcealable sense of desolation.
At a glance, more than a dozen semi-finished aircraft with varying degrees of completion are parked on the ground in an orderly manner. In the corner on the other side of the factory are several fuselages and wings that have not yet entered the final assembly process. , as for other parts, as well as machinery and equipment, it is even more difficult to count.
However, only two of the aircraft that looked nearly completed were surrounded by assembly frames, and several workers were climbing up and down with tools.
Huai Guomo, who came from a technical position, quickly realized that they were not assembling the aircraft, but only performing necessary maintenance.
As a complex industrial product with a complex structure and an extremely large number of components, the final steps of aircraft assembly are difficult to complete with any automated equipment and are highly dependent on experienced workers.
However, human control of position, especially long-distance position points, is obviously not accurate enough. Therefore, in order to improve the accuracy and efficiency of aircraft assembly, engineers will base on a model’s positioning point position, positioning method, and fixation Design a special aircraft assembly frame based on factors such as method and shape. For frame-assembled aircraft, without this equipment, the final assembly process is simply impossible.
Obviously, except for the two lucky ones, the other semi-finished products should already be in a semi-abandoned state.
Seeing this scene, Huai Guomo felt his heart bleed.
Although these aircraft may not look big, in terms of quantity, they are almost equivalent to China's entire year's production.
But as he moved forward, the full view of the two planes gradually appeared in his field of vision.
A very familiar feeling arises spontaneously.
Huai Guomo frowned, and a model that he had seen in the information when he was negotiating with the European delegation flashed through his mind.
"Is this thing similar to the MA-60?"
Huai Guomo turned his head and asked Liang Zhuoping, chairman of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China next to him, in Chinese.
You can’t blame the former for not having much impression. In fact, before Chang Haonan helped 603 Institute to make major changes to it, which greatly improved its commercial competitiveness, MA60, or the past Yun7 -200A is basically a small transparent one.
What’s more important is that before this year, although this model was nominally a dual-use model, it was actually managed by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and the Commission of Science and Technology and Industry took over it in three months.
Huai Guomo spent more than two months dealing with negotiations.
However, before Liang Zhuoping could answer, Lozko, who was walking at the front, had already come to the side of the aircraft. He turned around and introduced:
“This is an Il-114M that is about to complete final assembly. 60 Seat, with a maximum take-off weight of 21 tons, it can fly 1,000 kilometers at a speed of 500km/h with a full load, and 2,800 kilometers with a commercial load of 3.6 tons. Its performance can fully match the European ATR42. It is a very good regional passenger aircraft... Note Cables on the ground, don’t fall down.”
“In terms of positioning, this model is planned to replace the past An-24, which is the Y-7 transport aircraft produced under your country’s license. In terms of technical details and flight operations, It also has a certain inheritance relationship with the old model, and both the manufacturer and the user can quickly adapt..."
Obviously, Lozko had done some homework before this trip.
But not much.
He knows that China's civil aviation industry is in urgent need of advanced models. There are a large number of old aircraft such as Y-7 in service on the front line, and the aviation manufacturing industry is also undergoing transformation and upgrading.
As long as this trip can be advanced one year, the IL-114M in front of us will be very attractive to China, which is struggling to even transport the 7-200A.
However, when the MA-60 has already secured an Italian partner and is about to obtain airworthiness certificates from 15 EU countries, it seems a bit inappropriate for you to tell us this again... …
“Mr. Lozko.”
Taking advantage of the opportunity for the other party to finish his sentence, Huai Guomo interjected with a complicated mood:
"I thought maybe I should reveal some secrets to you in advance."
"What?"
Obviously, this Russian is fashionable and feels good about himself.
“According to the agreement reached between China and the EU some time ago, the MA60 passenger aircraft improved by our aviation industry on the Y-7 platform should soon enter the European market, so for the model you just mentioned, There may not be any need.”
After the translator translated this sentence into Russian, there was silence.
"..."
Lozko suddenly felt a little dizzy.
(End of this chapter)