Chapter 1081 Almost ready-made plan
Although Ed Steiner wanted to avoid being overly controlled by China, he had never mentioned the real reason to anyone else.
After all, for most ordinary workers, the first thing they pursue is the stability and low risk of the project.
Therefore, in the face of Kasore's proposal, which was very reasonable on the surface, he certainly could not refuse it directly.
I had no choice but to change the subject without leaving any trace:
"But...Ericsson launched a light early warning aircraft in 1997 based on the Brazilian ERJ145 passenger aircraft."
"Although the flight speed of the ERJ145 is not as fast as our Falcon 8Z, it is at least a jet Is it in the category of aircraft?”
In fact, Ed Steiner’s confidence in cooperation with Sweden comes largely from this new product that was put into service last year.
But the result now is completely different from what was expected.
Casore shook his head helplessly:
"The system version used by the E99A is PS890, which is the model on the Saab 340. It has limited detection capabilities and can only achieve the most basic air detection. It needs to cooperate with the ground command post to achieve complete early warning and command capabilities..."
The French Air Force needs to frequently perform missions in Central Europe, the Mediterranean, and even the Sahel region, but it is not included in the NATO command system and cannot rely too much on ground command.
And after entering the 21st century, such models with incomplete functions have gradually lost their competitiveness in the international market.
Although it seems that the armies of many small countries have little chance to fight, but precisely because of this, they pay more attention to keeping up with the latest trends in equipment construction——
Don’t worry about whether it is suitable or not, just say don’t advance first. Bar?
Even the Swedes themselves are working on upgrading the PS890 system and matching it with the larger Saab 2000 platform.
For a while, Ed Steiner's train of thought seemed to have reached a dead end.
Looking at the old superior who frowned and fell into silence, Casore hesitated for a long time and finally raised his doubts:
"Doctor, can provide the same type of early warning system It's not just the Swedes. In fact, Ericsson's products have not been updated for a long time, so they are no longer very advanced today... We can definitely find other partners for cooperation? "
So straightforward? The question made Ed Steiner a little nervous. After hesitating for a long time, he finally answered:
“I originally considered that Ericsson has rich experience in designing and developing small early warning aircraft, and we also have to consider non-technical factors... Sweden and we are both non-NATO members who have close defense cooperation with NATO, so we cooperated. The obstacles are relatively small.”
Casore remained silent and did not reply immediately.
But judging from his expression, it was obvious that he was not convinced.
If it had been five years ago, these two reasons would have been quite convincing.
But this is 2003.
China participated in half of the design of the NH90, which is equipped with four NATO countries.
The engines used in our Dassault Rafale are not only imported, but at least half of them belong to others.
There are some things that you don’t need to care too much about...
Of course, the leaders have spoken, and Kasore cannot openly disobey the spirit of his superiors’ instructions, so he has to choose a roundabout strategy:
"Doctor, David is currently cooperating with Gulfstream to seek to install the conformal array Falcon system on the G550, and it is a version with the same functions as the Boeing 707 platform. Would you consider contacting Elta Electronics? Industrial company?”
Perhaps because he was worried about Ed Steiner's poor memory, he made a special comment at the end:
"Although Elta had a serious breach of contract a few years ago, its subsequent supply to India has not been stable." If it goes well, there should be no commercial risks..."
Obviously, the real focus of this sentence lies in the first half.
This is also the part where Casore really wants to remind Ed Steiner.
Sure enough, upon hearing this suggestion, the latter’s brows furrowed even deeper.
However, for Ed Steiner, the business reputation of the Kingdom of David came second.
Mainly one of the two opponents that Falcon 8Z is mainly targeting is the Gulfstream G550 that first flew in 2001.
The other is the Bombardier Global 5000, which also made its first flight earlier this year.
No way, positioning, size, range...even the time to enter the market is close.
It must be a bloody encounter.
Therefore, it can be said that the publicity plan he finalized is full of aggression.
For example, the reason why the ultra-long range test was suddenly advanced was largely because it wanted to get ahead of the G550, which also has a range of nearly 12,000 kilometers, and become the first iconic model to fly directly from New York to Tokyo or Beijing.
Now we suddenly have to compete with each other for the same radar system carrier aircraft platform...
Let’s put aside the embarrassment or not.
The Gulfstream is not a soft persimmon, how could it be possible to let it go casually?
Moreover, the conformal array antenna looks beautiful, but compared with the traditional piggyback antenna, it has a greater impact on the overall structure of the aircraft.
Let’s go back to the issue of finding someone to optimize the overall structure...
In the end, Ed Steiner decided to compromise with himself.
"Forget it..."
He sighed and waved his hand:
"I'll think about it again..."
Then, after confirming that Casore had left and gone far away, Ed Steiner returned to the desk at the speed of light, picked up the phone, and dialed his secretary's office Number:
"Send me an email to the Chinese side and ask them if they can provide a design plan for the radar antenna of the early warning aircraft..."
"Of course not detailed data...there is an overall plan. Just do it, hurry up!”
The moment he put down the phone, he was a little lucky that he didn’t reply to the other party outright, but delayed it until today.
After all, it leaves some room for maneuver. ...
Ed Steiner’s request was quickly presented on Liu Yongquan’s desk.
But this time, the former received feedback much slower than before.
First of all, Chang Haonan, who first proposed this project, is currently focusing on sorting out the large amount of work after the new model project was approved, so Liu Yongquan can only be responsible for coordinating this matter himself.
Secondly, the cooperative research and development of early warning aircraft cannot be completed by the aviation power group itself.
It also requires the cooperation of electronic technology and aviation industry.
Or to be honest, the other two families are the main force.
For cooperation like this across multiple enterprises, there are many approval procedures at the group level alone.
Although Chang Haonan's signature gave almost the entire process the green light, it was still a bit of a headache for Liu Yongquan, who was not very familiar with this aspect of the business.
It was not until half a month later that he finally went to Haojing again and contacted Liang Shaoxiu, who was in charge of testing the Air Police 2000.
In fact, the two had met several times before.
Not to mention, they attended the project launch meeting at the end of May at the same time.
It’s just that Liang Shaoxiu didn’t have a chance to speak in the auditorium at that time, and Liu Yongquan was the party undergoing the review, so he didn’t have in-depth contact.
Fortunately, they are all soldiers brought up by Chang Haonan on different tracks.
Although he has no title, he still has some sense of being a senior brother.
Therefore, after just a brief exchange of greetings, the two of them became familiar with each other...
Unsurprisingly, when Liu Yongquan walked into the Haofei assembly workshop for the first time, he was struck by the The early warning aircraft was shocked.
So much so that for a long time, I could not take my eyes away from it -
In terms of size, the C909, a 110-ton platform, has a limited physical volume.
But carrying a big plate on your back and being "thorny" gives you an inexplicable sense of science fiction.
Liang Shaoxiu is already used to this.
Almost everyone who came here for the first time had the same reaction as Liu Yongquan.
"The second model launched by Mr. Chang and Academician Wang has entered the testing stage and is expected to be delivered to the troops for trial next year..."
"..."
After a brief introduction as usual, he was ready to get to the main topic of the day.
But before he could speak, he heard Liu Yongquan next to him whispering to himself in an emotional tone:
"No wonder Mr. Chang was so confident before... …”
When he first talked to Ed Steiner about the proposal to cooperate in developing an early warning aircraft, the latter did not give a clear answer, but just talked about it, and he was completely prepared. Look for another partner.
Chang Haonan said at that time that there was no need to worry, the other party would definitely look back in the end.
Later, there was no news for several months, and Liu Yongquan was still a little worried.
As a result, when I saw this today, I found that Mr. Chang had probably started preparing for it a long time ago...
Liang Shaoxiu was slightly stunned, and he also heard Liu Yongquan's intention from these words. Reason for coming:
“So...the cooperation project that Mr. Liu came to discuss this time is related to Air Police 2000?”
He received a notice from his superiors just the day before yesterday that Sheng Jing Comrades from Institute 606 came to discuss model cooperation, so they didn’t know too many details.
"Strictly speaking, it is related to the early warning aircraft."
Liu Yongquan also calmed down his expression and put on a serious tone:
"We have a maximum takeoff aircraft jointly developed with Dassault. A business jet platform weighing about 35 tons, France has now made a request to us, hoping to jointly develop a light early warning aircraft based on it."
He patted the briefcase in his hand:
"I have brought the basic information of the platform, but I need you to come up with an overall design of the radar system as soon as possible, otherwise I am worried that the French will not be able to wait..."
"Wait..."
Liang Shaoxiu was immediately stunned:
"Is the platform ready-made?"
"Yes."
Liu Yongquan nodded. , a little confused as to why the other party reacted in such a way.
Liang Shaoxiu tried hard to keep his mentality stable:
"In this case... we have an almost ready-made plan on hand..."
Now, it was Liu Yongquan's turn to look confused:< br>
“Huh?”
As a “young backbone” who was promoted to a technical leadership position after the separation, Liu Yongquan does not know much about the situation outside the aerospace system.
He originally thought that it would take several months for the brother units to come up with the overall plan that Dassault wanted.
After all, it’s not just a matter of scaling down a large platform.
For this reason, he even thought about how to stabilize the French people's mentality.
As a result, when I arrived in Haojing today, I found that... the other party was already ready?
(End of this chapter)