Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

The research and development funding also didn't cost much. Later generations had a statistical figure: the JH-7 only used 100 million in R\u0026D funding before it took to the skies! Although the unit is US dollars, that's still very cheap. You should know that this price is only enough to buy two or three heavy fighter jets.

The research and development funding was very cheap, and the procurement cost was also cheap. Using the prices of the 1980s, one aircraft only cost a few million US dollars, which was even cheaper than the J-8II.

Of course, later generations also had many criticisms of the JH-7. The biggest problem was crashes, and some people criticized it relentlessly. In fact, as long as you know the development history of the JH-7, you will know the key to this.

Back then, the Air Force strongly demanded a side-by-side twin-seat configuration, but the R\u0026D personnel couldn't achieve it and could only develop a tandem twin-seat configuration first. Therefore, the Air Force refused it in anger, and didn't provide R\u0026D funding. The Flying Leopard was developed with the Navy's funding.

After it was developed, the Air Force thought it was great and came back for it, purchasing a batch. However, the Flying Leopard's foundation was still the Navy's foundation. The Navy only needed a carrier that could carry C801 anti-ship missiles. But what about the Air Force? The Air Force wanted to play ultra-low-altitude penetration.

Therefore, after the Air Force purchased the Flying Leopard, they played ultra-low-altitude penetration every day. However, the original design of the Flying Leopard didn't consider long-term ultra-low-altitude flight in complex ground conditions at all. Therefore, this completely exceeded the Flying Leopard's performance, which led to crashes. This isn't because the Flying Leopard's design wasn't good enough, but because the user was using it beyond its performance capabilities.

Moreover, even if it was considered in the design, ultra-low-altitude flight is inherently dangerous. The JH-7's counterpart, the European Tornado fighter-bomber, also had a high loss rate. In 1991, the British army sent 49 Tornadoes, and lost nine within ten days, six of which were shot down in combat, and three were lost in training. The loss rate was still not low.

Therefore, those who criticize the Flying Leopard are purely criticizing for the sake of criticizing, showing off their vast knowledge, but are actually very superficial.

Qin Yang still supports the JH-7. This type of aircraft is very useful to the Navy.

The Navy can purchase twenty JH-7s for the price of ten J-11s. Deploying these aircraft to airports in Hainan can meet the patrol needs of the entire southern sea area, which the J-11 cannot do.

The J-11 is expensive, and maintenance is also complicated. These are no match for the JH-7.

Hearing Qin Yang's words, Old Liu seriously thought for a while, and then said, "President Qin, since you support this type of aircraft so much, then our Navy will definitely persevere. However, even so, it's still too far for us to rely on the JH-7 to guard the southern sea area."

"Yes, the southern sea area is too large. Our JH-7s can at most just circle around and it takes four or five hours. It's really beyond our reach to stay there to deal with emergencies. Old Liu, if we want to solve the problem in the southern sea area, we still have to think of new ways."

Originally, they were here to look at the plane, but since these things were mentioned, it wouldn't hurt to talk about them.

"Speak," Old Liu said excitedly.

"The best way to solve the problem in the southern sea area is to build an airport there. If fighter jets can take off from there, it would be much more convenient."

"Yes, if we can build an airport, that would be great. However, building an airport there is not easy. It's all seawater there. Only aircraft carriers can go there as airports. However, aircraft carriers are too expensive. What do you say, would it work if we got an old oil tanker to use as a floating airport?"

Aircraft carriers are sea behemoths, with a displacement of tens of thousands of tons at every turn. Even the American supercarriers have 100,000 tons. There are also civilian ships larger than them, such as oil tankers. There are 300,000-ton oil tankers, and some even exceed 500,000 tons. What if we towed an oil tanker over there and modified the oil tanker's deck to be used for taking off and landing airplanes? Would that work?

Of course not!

"An oil tanker is an oil tanker, and an aircraft carrier is an aircraft carrier. Oil tankers are built to civilian standards, and the deck cannot withstand the impact of an aircraft. Moreover, even if the largest oil tanker in the world is brought over, it's still too small compared to a land airport," Qin Yang said.

Aircraft carriers of two or three hundred meters can take off and land carrier-based aircraft, relying on special methods. They use catapults when taking off and arresting cables when landing. What does an oil tanker have? Nothing!

Unless it's a propeller fighter from World War II, the jets of this era cannot land. At least there should be a runway of thousands of meters, and it can't sway left and right.

At this time, hearing Qin Yang's words, Old Liu was also a little helpless: "Yes, oil tankers are still too small. Then what do we use? It's all seawater there. It would be great if there was an island."

"If there is no island, we can build one ourselves."

Build an island? Old Liu was shocked by Qin Yang's bold idea.

"President Qin, that's the sea. Even if there are reefs, they only appear at low tide. At high tide, our stilt houses are in the seawater. How can we build an island? If we transport earth and rocks from the land, even if we mobilize all the ships in the country, it won't be built in three to five years."

The difficulty of building an island in the sea is quite high. After all, there are no raw materials! Transporting them from the land is similar to the Foolish Old Man Removing the Mountains. There is also a real myth story, Jingwei Filling the Sea.

There are only stilt houses there, made of bamboo, because this is convenient for transportation. Permanent outposts made of cement will still take several years. As for turning the reefs into islands? In this era, don't even think about it!

"That's right, if it's difficult to transport it from the land, wouldn't it be much simpler if we used local materials?"

"Use local materials?"

"Yes, use local materials," Qin Yang said, "As long as we dig up the mud from the seabed and fill it on the island, wouldn't that be it?"

"You say it easily... President Qin, do you have a way?" Old Liu suddenly reacted. This is really a way, as long as there are suitable tools!

"Yes, this requires a cutter suction dredger," Qin Yang said, "Currently, this technology is in the hands of the West, but as long as we find a way to develop corresponding ships, we can solve the problem in the southern sea area!"

Only a few countries have mastered the technology of dredgers. They need to dredge rivers and fill the sea, so they need this kind of ship. However, Easterners are smart. As long as they have been in contact with it, they can copy it and develop it, and design larger dredgers!

As long as there are dredgers, it will be simple to dig up the silt from the seabed and fill the sea to create islands!

Old Liu was shocked by this idea. If it could be done, it would mean that the problem in the southern sea area would be solved perfectly. Building an airport there would allow fighter jets to easily patrol the sea there!

"President Qin, when will we start?"