The rise of great powers: starting from military industry

Leave Southwest Associated University and return to Panshan Group Headquarters.

Dormitory area, a villa next to Dianchi Lake.

This is Liu Tao's home in Kunming City. Of course, Liu Tao only has the right to use it, not the ownership. The ownership of the villa is in the hands of Panshan Group.

If he leaves Panshan Group, then Panshan Group will take back the villa.

If he works in Panshan Group until retirement, he can use it until the day he dies, and it will be taken back.

Liu Ziyu is cooking noodles in the kitchen.

Liu Tao is looking at a document, which is the relevant information about the Yun-10 project.

Thinking back to the beginning, he did not want the Yun-10 project, but the problem is that this thing is too expensive.

After the reform and opening up, a large number of cutting-edge military projects were cancelled, which is no secret.

Many people who don't understand are cursing, saying that if these projects were not cancelled, China's national defense and military industry would have caught up with the Soviet Union and the United States.

They don't know how much money these projects consume, and the more money they consume, the more money they consume.

Why did the country take the path of reform and opening up? It is because of the limited funds invested in the field of military science and technology that the economy cannot be developed and the country's economic strength cannot be changed.

The Soviet Union invested all its funds in the field of military technology, and its heavy industry was extremely developed, while its light industry was lame. In the end, the huge red empire collapsed overnight.

The United States invested a lot of money in the field of military technology, and its military industry was very developed, and even created a super monster of the military-industrial complex. Originally, the dividends of World War I and World War II were enough for the United States to eat for a hundred years, but the result was that the good days of the United States came to an abrupt end in 1973.

Of course, the outbreak of the first oil crisis caused a great impact on the US manufacturing industry, and the product competitiveness was not enough. The United States also wasted its national strength in two major wars and eventually became disgraced, but there was another very important factor, that is, the US military expenditure, which was very terrifying.

It is said that the Soviet Union's military expenditure was very large and beyond imagination, but you must know that the US military expenditure was also very terrifying, not less than the Soviet Union.

Now both sides are very uncomfortable, but they have to hold it in.

Because whoever can't hold back and admit defeat first, the other will automatically become the winner, and can cut a big piece of meat and drink a mouthful of blood from the other.

Even hegemonic countries like the Soviet Union and the United States are like this, not to mention China. If many military projects were not cancelled in the past, and limited funds were invested in the field of economic construction, and the country's economic strength became stronger, and then invested in the military field, how could China's military technology have a blowout after entering the 21st century!

Aircraft carriers, J-10, J-20, Z-20, H-20 and other projects have made rapid breakthroughs with sufficient funds.

052 and other advanced warships are like dumplings.

How big the ability is, how big the thing is!

In the past, Liu Tao did not dare to touch the Y-10 project.

Because even if he spent a lot of time to get the prototype and all the technology, it was useless.

The reason why the Y-10 was cancelled was that the entire country's industrial system could not support the continuation of this project, and the funds required were too huge, and the country could not take out the money.

Airbus grew to compete with Boeing, and Britain, France and Germany invested 25 billion US dollars in funding, plus a large number of aircraft orders.

He got the design and prototype of the Y-10, and all the technical aspects, but it could not be realized because the country did not have the ability to invest heavily in building a large aircraft supporting factory and forming an entire industrial system for large aircraft.

This kind of supporting is much more complicated than tanks and armored vehicles.

It is even more complicated than the supporting of large warships such as the Type 052 destroyer.

"Brother, do you want to study large aircraft?" Liu Ziyu asked curiously while holding a bowl of noodles.

Liu Tao nodded slightly: "Yes, if you want to learn more, we Chinese must have our own large aircraft."

"Don't we already have the Y-8? Isn't the Y-8 enough?" Liu Ziyu asked curiously.

Born in a military family, Liu Ziyu has been exposed to much more than ordinary people, and knows a lot of things by osmosis.

For example, the Y-8!

Ordinary people have never even heard of the Y-8, but Liu Ziyu knows something about it.

"Not enough, far from enough!" Liu Tao shook his head slightly.

The Y-8 transport aircraft is produced domestically and is also the most advanced and largest military transport aircraft in China.

Of course, Liu Tao knows that this is for propaganda purposes to boost national confidence, because many key parts of aircraft like the Y-8 are imported.

In the past, the Y-8 was not advanced, and the domestic production rate was not very high.

It was only because of the Panshan Group that China made rapid progress in parts processing, which greatly improved the localization of parts of the Y-8 and its performance.

Of course, this does not affect the historical status of the Y-8.

Before the Y-8 was finalized, the largest military transport aircraft in China was the An-12 imported from the Soviet Union. Even though the Soviet Union had stopped production in the 1970s, it was still the main force of the domestic military transport aircraft echelon.

The An-12 is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft developed by the Antonov Design Bureau of the Soviet Union. It made its first flight in 1956, went into mass production and was delivered for use in 1958. By the time it was discontinued, a total of 850 aircraft had been produced, including about 200 civilian models. It was once the main force of the Soviet transport aviation force, and was gradually replaced by the Il-76 from 1974.

This transport aircraft has 5 crew members, 90 passengers, a load capacity of 20 tons, a length of 33.10 meters, a wingspan of 38.0 meters, a height of 10.53 meters, a wing area of ​​121.74 square meters, an empty weight of 28 tons, a maximum take-off weight of 61 tons, a maximum speed of 777 kilometers per hour, a cruising speed of 670 kilometers per hour, a range of 5,700 kilometers when fully loaded with aviation fuel, a range of 3,600 kilometers when fully loaded, and a practical ceiling of 10,200 meters.

The Y-8 transport aircraft is a copy of the An-12. It did not make its first flight until 1974. Currently, there are about 30 or 40 of them equipped to the troops, which has completely changed the situation where the main transport aircraft of the troops are Soviet aircraft.

The Y-8 transport aircraft will serve as the main force and will not be long in becoming the main transport aircraft of the Air Force, because Liu Tao knows that China is now negotiating with the Soviet Union about importing the Il-76.

Of course, although the Il-76 has a huge transport capacity, the Air Force still uses the Y-8 more. After all, the Y-8 can be built by itself, without foreign exchange, cheap, and not too fuel-intensive.

The Il-76 is too expensive!

Even if the price the polar bear asks for in this regard is not as outrageous as that of the Americans, it will not be low. Now the polar bear asks for 35 million US dollars per aircraft, because the same type of Il-76 they exported to India costs more than 40 million US dollars per aircraft, and now they only ask for 35 million US dollars per aircraft, which is already due to the friendly relationship between the two sides.

Liu Tao does not deny that the Y-8 is now a good transport aircraft, and even on the basis of the Y-8, it is necessary to develop maritime patrol aircraft, radar electronic test aircraft, early warning aircraft, etc.

But there is no doubt that the Y-8 transport aircraft is too small, with limited load and space, which makes its development potential very limited, no matter how much it is explored.

Besides, the original positioning of the Y-8 was a military transport aircraft, which made the Y-8 unsuitable for transformation into a civilian passenger aircraft, because the noise was too loud and there was no comfort at all.

Liu Tao once took a ride on a Y-8 transport plane. At that time, he felt his ears buzzing and his eardrums seemed to be broken.