Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

When Qin Yang said this, everyone else tensed up, waiting to see if it would work out. Would the Americans agree?

"Of course," Stephen nodded. "As long as it's for humanitarian aid, there's no problem. Our S-70C transport helicopters also have a maritime version, specially treated for salt and moisture."

The other side agreed so easily?

The naval representative was the happiest. This meant that the navy would also have carrier-based helicopters, and fifty of them!

With these fifty, there would be no need to worry about the navy not having carrier-based helicopters for the next twenty years! This was definitely a great opportunity.

"However, because the maritime helicopters undergo some special processing, the price will be slightly higher. I heard from the White House that the price you negotiated was one billion US dollars for two hundred helicopters, which is fifty million US dollars each. If it's for the navy's carrier-based helicopters, the price will float up to six hundred thousand US dollars."

These guys really value profit the most! Qin Yang was secretly dissatisfied, but he didn't say much. That's just how capitalist society is. If they wanted to raise the price, so be it. He could just sell more bulletproof vests, or if they asked him to write a script, he could just ask for a high price in return.

"That's not a problem, but we need to clarify that these costs include spare parts and training. The spare parts must be able to meet our usage for at least twenty years."

When negotiating business, the other party makes some demands, and you make some demands. After some mutual concessions, an agreement is reached. The other party suddenly increased the price by 20%, so Qin Yang could also make some demands.

The Americans looked at each other.

Stephen hesitated for a few moments before finally speaking: "President Qin, I'm very sorry, but this price is for the bare aircraft. Training and accessories are calculated separately. Please rest assured that we will definitely give you the most favorable price. Moreover, our Black Hawk helicopters have excellent performance and require very few accessories. Training is also very simple. Your skilled pilots can master it proficiently after modification training."

So, everyone chatted again, but with something on their minds, it wasn't as pleasant as before.

That night, Sikorsky held a welcome dinner and arranged for the Eastern guests to stay at a hotel next to the company.

"Brother Yang, today the Americans..." Nie Xiaoqian stopped before finishing her sentence, looking around. The room should be fine, right? The people traveling with them were still checking Liu Lao and the others' rooms and couldn't take care of them for the time being.

She and Qin Yang had been whispering to each other these past few days. Did she have to go to bed and whisper in his ear now?

"The Americans really pissed me off today," Qin Yang said openly this time, without being so particular, and shouted loudly: "The most important task of this trip is to discuss helicopter cooperation. Before departure, I already boasted to the leaders. Isn't it just some spare parts and training? They're not worth much, and they should have been given to us as a gift. They actually still want to make money!"

Nie Xiaoqian thought of something and followed up: "Yes, now we can't explain it when we go back. What should we do?"

"Hmph, what else can we do?" Qin Yang said: "If one door closes, another opens. Sikorsky isn't the only company that sells helicopters. Since they're not being honest, then we'll go to Bell Helicopter. Bell Helicopter's 214 helicopter also has good performance."

"However, this type of aircraft seems to be single-engine, right? The takeoff weight seems to be only eight tons."

"So what? Eight tons is enough. Single-engine is even cheaper," Qin Yang continued, "I estimate that the Bell 214 can be negotiated down to three million US dollars. With the same amount of money, we can buy twice as many. Why hang ourselves on one tree? France also has the Super Puma, and its performance isn't bad either."

"That's right, we really have to think of other ways, but will doing this offend the people in the White House?"

"How could it? It's not that we're begging the Americans now, it's the Americans begging us," Qin Yang said: "The Americans initially took a fancy to our bulletproof vests. We didn't sell them, and they took the initiative to offer to exchange them for Black Hawk helicopters. Now, they're messing things up themselves. If the cooperation isn't reached, they're the ones who will lose. By the way, did you know that President Reagan was assassinated half a year ago? If he had been wearing our bulletproof vest at the time, not to mention a revolver, even a sniper rifle wouldn't have been able to penetrate it! Exchanging this kind of good thing for a few broken helicopters, and they're still being so fussy. Hmph, we'll leave tomorrow!"

On the other side.

Eavesdropping is unethical, but during the Cold War, it was the most common thing. Qin Yang and Nie Xiaoqian's conversation quickly reached Sikorsky's conference room.

"So that's what's going on. No wonder the White House repeatedly told us that we must reach a cooperation with the Easterners," Frank said. "The White House took the initiative. It seems that if we can't reach an agreement and the transaction fails, it will cause big trouble."

"Yes, we can't let Bell Helicopter steal our thunder. Bell Helicopter is working on tiltrotor aircraft to steal our orders. If we anger the military and they turn to support their projects, it will be detrimental to us."

"But the spare parts and training for two hundred helicopters, that's not a small number. It will cost at least one hundred million US dollars!"

They were giving away one hundred million US dollars from a one billion US dollar contract. How could this work?

"Among the spare parts, the most important and expensive are the engine spare parts. We can just modify the overhaul time in the technical data, or simply remove the overhaul time altogether. This will save the engine spare parts. The remaining spare parts and services will only be worth a few million US dollars, and it doesn't matter if we give them away."

"Tampering with the overhaul time?"

The Black Hawk helicopter is very impressive. Its airframe has a lifespan of up to 5,000 hours. Calculating at 200 flight hours per year, it can fly for 25 years. Of course, there are many examples of flying beyond the limit. There are even some that haven't fallen apart after 10,000 hours.

The Black Hawk's engine is even more impressive. This engine has a lifespan of 5,000 hours, the same as the airframe. As long as there are no special circumstances, there is no need to replace the engine!

Looking at the East, aircraft engines have long been hovering at a lifespan of a few hundred hours, forming a sharp contrast with the West. They are far behind.

However, a lifespan of 5,000 hours does not mean that you can sit back and relax for these 5,000 hours. Car engines still need to change oil, and aircraft engines are even more delicate. This engine needs to be overhauled twice during its 5,000-hour lifespan, replacing many severely worn parts to restore its vitality.

These are also the most expensive of all the spare parts.

Now, as long as they modify the time or simply ignore the overhaul time, the engine spare parts will not have to be given away.

Anyway, the Easterners' aircraft will have to be used for more than ten years before reaching the first overhaul lifespan. When something goes wrong, they can completely say that the Easterners' usual maintenance is not good, and then ask for a sum of money to overhaul the engine.

"This method is feasible!"