Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

The top player in China's aviation engine industry is Factory 410, also known as Shenyang Liming, the birthplace of the renowned Taihang engine.

Next is Factory 430, which mainly produces engines for large aircraft, such as the WP-8 used on the H-6 bomber. When the Spey engine was introduced, Factory 410 strongly resisted, believing it would threaten their WS-6 project and refused to take it on. Later, the reverse engineering of the Spey was assigned to Factory 430.

Following that is Factory 460, or Guizhou Liyang Factory.

Guizhou was a key area for the development of Third Front bases during that time. The three major national defense industrial bases were laid out in Guizhou: the 061 Aerospace Base, the 011 Aviation Base, and the 083 Electronics Industry Base.

The 011 Base was for building aircraft. The higher-ups had many requirements: dispersion, concealment, even the final assembly of aircraft was done in the mountains. This provided significant advantages during wartime, but in peacetime, these Third Front bases in remote mountain areas faced considerable difficulties.

Did he want to use this method to force the aviation industry system to compromise? But this was a bit too greedy. How could the aviation industry system be threatened by Qin Yang to give up something?

Seeing Qin Yang get up to leave, Old Lin's mind was also racing, and then he thought of something: "President Qin, President Qin! If you want a Third Front factory, our Air Force does have one..."

Qin Yang was overjoyed, knowing that his goal had been achieved.

Relying on foreign trade, Factory 960 was growing larger and larger, but it had always been involved with the army and had not been able to get involved with the air force and navy's equipment.

Factory 960 has money and can build its own factories, buy equipment, and hire workers, but starting from scratch would be too slow. Merging with an existing Third Front factory and directly owning a complete set of equipment and personnel would be much easier.

Qin Yang wasn't doing this for himself. He knew that if he didn't participate, the development of the air force and navy's equipment would be slow, missing this golden decade, and it would be difficult to develop in the future.

He has a red heart! He certainly couldn't get the Liyang Factory. As a second choice, the Air Force's engine overhaul factory would do.

"The Air Force has a factory?" Qin Yang asked knowingly.

Old Lin nodded: "That's right. Our Air Force needs to repair engines, so we've established many maintenance factories. Many factories have a complete set of production technology and can produce all the parts. If you need it, we can provide you with Factory 5713."

Manufacturing aircraft is the job of the aviation industry system, but repairing aircraft is done by the Air Force itself, especially overhauling engines. Domestic engines have short lifespans, requiring overhauls every hundred hours. The Air Force can't always ask the aviation industry system to repair them; it's more convenient to repair them themselves.

Among all the Air Force's engine overhaul factories, Factory 5719 is the most famous. In later generations, this factory overhauls the AL-31F engines used by the Su-27 and the domestically produced J-11 series. They not only mastered the complete overhaul process but also improved it. The "Three Aunt's Husband" (a nickname for the AL-31F) originally had a first overhaul life of only 300 hours, with a total lifespan of 900 hours after two overhauls, but Factory 5719 increased it to 1500 hours.

In fact, if the domestically produced WS-10 hadn't already been widely used, Factory 5719 could have completely reverse-engineered the "Three Aunt's Husband."

However, this factory is located on the Chengdu Plain, not in the mountains, with a superior geographical location, and the Air Force is reluctant to give it to Factory 960.

Factory 5713 is a Third Front overhaul factory located in the mountains, very primitive. In later generations, a famous movie, "Hi, Mom", used the old factory area as a filming location. Qin Yang was originally aiming for this factory, and now, after making exorbitant demands, the Air Force is finally willing to give it to him.

"The Air Force is willing to give us this factory?" Qin Yang had to emphasize: "That's not right, the workers inside are all wearing military uniforms!"

"In order to reverse engineer the M53 and complete our Air Force's key projects, our Air Force can make a sacrifice. Besides, it's not bad to become a subsidiary factory of your Factory 960. The treatment will definitely be several times better." Old Lin said, "The Air Force can make this sacrifice, but you must guarantee that you will reverse engineer the engine for us!"

Qin Yang nodded: "I guarantee it, but I have one more request."

"What request?"

"I want engineer Zhang He to lead this engine project."

There are many talented people in China's aviation engine industry. The most prominent is Old Wu, who is the founder of aviation engines. However, Old Wu is currently working on the reverse engineering of the Spey, so he cannot be transferred. The next is Old Liu, but he is working on the WS-6. The next talented people are Liu Xiang and Zhang He.

Liu Xiang was born in 1937, graduated from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and later worked at the 624 Institute. Although he is not working on the Spey now, he is working on the most important Spey high-altitude test stand, so he cannot be moved either.

Zhang He was born in 1939, graduated from the Engine Design major of Harbin Institute of Technology in 1965, and then went to the Shenyang Engine Design Institute to engage in design work. Now in his forties, he is at the peak of his energy. He has participated in the overall structure scheme conception, design, and modification design of multiple engine models. In the mid-1980s, he personally led the Taihang engine project, which eventually became China's first qualified third-generation engine.

Now, Qin Yang wants this person, and reverse engineering the M53, this outdated single-rotor engine, will be a natural success.

Hearing Qin Yang's words, a middle-aged man stood up: "Since President Qin thinks so highly of me, then I, Zhang He, will take on this task!"