Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

With the development of the times, this method is becoming less and less popular. Foreigners want to earn more money and want to come to the East to set up factories. The East also wants to introduce foreign investment to develop its economy. Thus, joint venture projects were born.

In the automotive field, the first joint venture project was Cherokee, and the Capital Automotive Factory became the first to try it out. However, this was already in 1985.

Now, a joint venture to build an aero-engine factory is really the first!

"Grandpa, please continue!" Qin Yang had a premonition that Old Nie must already have a bold plan, so he wanted to find him to discuss it.

"I heard that Rolls-Royce, the British manufacturer of aero-engines, has not been doing well. What do you think, if we invite them to form a joint venture in the East, would they agree?"

The American aero-engine giants, whether it is General Electric or Pratt \u0026 Whitney, are living very well, but the British Rolls-Royce is different.

Rolls-Royce has a long history. In 1906, two young men, Royce and Rolls, founded Rolls-Royce, referred to as Rolls-Royce. At the beginning, they only produced cars. Later, World War I broke out, and they began to get involved in the production of aero-engines, and then they could not stop.

During the Cold War, Rolls-Royce developed the Spey engine, which can be said to be a crystallization of the aviation industry. After that, they continued their efforts and began to develop more advanced engines.

Rolls-Royce's target is the three-spool engine.

The jet engine is actually very simple. There are several rows of fans in the front, which are compressors, which pressurize the air and then send it to the combustion chamber. After burning, it turns into high-temperature and high-pressure gas, which pushes the turbine behind, and then ejects it. The turbine drives the compressor in front to rotate, and the entire engine can continue to work.

However, as the performance of the engine continues to improve, there is a higher demand for supercharging, which can no longer be completed on one shaft. Therefore, clever designers have come up with a nested structure. There are two shafts inside the engine, nested together, with different internal and external speeds, so there are high-pressure and low-pressure areas, which greatly improve the performance of the engine. This engine is called a dual-spool structure.

Most aero-engines are dual-spool, but there are exceptions. For example, the French can't handle the dual-spool structure, so they made a single-spool M53. The structure is very simple, so Qin Yang decided to imitate it.

And Rolls-Royce? In order to further improve the performance of the engine, they decided to build a three-spool structure, with three shafts nested together. That structure is not generally complex!

In order to develop this engine code-named RB211, Rolls-Royce burned 170 million pounds and then went bankrupt. At a critical moment, the British government nationalized the company, which was considered to have avoided the company's bankruptcy. The development of the engine continued, and Rolls-Royce's automobile business was also split off, which is the famous Rolls-Royce.

Later, Kenneth became the chairman of the company's board of directors and invited the famous engine engineer Stanley Hooker to serve as the technical director, which was considered to have solved the problem. It was not until 1978 that the engine was developed and matched with the Boeing 757 airliner. However, this was an airliner purchased by British Airways. Until 1988, the RB211-535E4 engine relied on its absolute strength to defeat Pratt \u0026 Whitney and provided power for 50 Boeing 757 airliners. Rolls-Royce was considered to have truly emerged from its predicament, and the company was privatized again to compete in the market.

In 1984, Rolls-Royce was still in crisis. Although it was nationalized, it could not stay under the umbrella of the country forever, and the country did not have the funds to keep burning for them.

"RB211 is Rolls-Royce's most advanced three-spool engine. This engine also has great development potential. Of course, there is no problem in using it on our Y-10 airliner," Qin Yang said, "If we form a joint venture and produce it in China, that would be even better. Grandpa, what do you mean..."

"If you think this project is good, you can represent Factory 960 and talk to the British to see if it works. We haven't done this in China before. In the past, we bought technology. Forming a joint venture will definitely encounter various problems. We don't consider it thoroughly, so it's more appropriate for you to go."

Qin Yang nodded.

Buying technology is the best, but Rolls-Royce's most advanced technology will definitely not be sold. They only want to sell finished products, and we don't want to buy finished products, so there is only one way to form a joint venture.

Rolls-Royce doesn't have money, but it has technology, so it can use technology as a share. We have to invest a lot of money to build a brand new engine production plant. The engines produced are used on the Y-10 airliner. The British can also get a lot of benefits. We have more advanced engines, and we can also take this opportunity to improve the production level of domestic aero-engines.

If we wait until 1988, when Rolls-Royce sells the RB211 engine, they will definitely ignore the East. When the door to cooperation between the two parties closes in 1989, it will be even more impossible.

Now, taking advantage of this opportunity, we must quickly learn the advanced Western technology and then improve it! By 1989, the British will leave, and we will just do it ourselves.

Ginger is still old and spicy. This plan has a high degree of feasibility. Although Old Nie cannot predict what will happen after 1989, it is definitely feasible now.

"Okay, Grandpa, then after the New Year, I will go talk to the British."

"Yangzi, this aircraft engine should not be used for military purposes, right?"

"Well, probably not," Qin Yang said, "This engine can only be used on large aircraft, but if we become familiar with it in the future, it is still possible to modify it into a marine gas turbine."

In addition to the old Maozi developing a special marine gas turbine, Western gas turbines are all aero-modified machines. The famous Spey has been transformed into a gas turbine and used on many warships. The British, the islanders, and even the East want to use it. The American LM2500 is also an aero-modified machine.

Later, the UK had the world's largest output power marine gas turbine MT30. This gas turbine was also improved from an aero-engine, which is the Ryder 800, which is a modified version of the RB211 engine.

Therefore, introducing this can also be improved, but the improvement work is not easy. The Spey ship modification has not been thoroughly understood yet, and this ship modification will cost more effort.

"Well, everything will wait for the future," Old Nie said, "Only your Factory 960 can make up for the shortcomings of the national aviation industry."

"Why us?"

"Because all the investment is yours."