Warship of Great Power

When people sit at home, disaster comes from heaven.

Over the years, Dassault's life has not been easy at all.

Research and development of fighter aircraft requires funds, and a large amount of funds are required. If the production of aircraft is insufficient, then the research and development funds cannot be shared, which will lead to high prices of fighter aircraft.

In the past, legal fighter jets could get between Lao Maozi and American fighter jets, and their lives were pretty good.

But later, with the collapse of the Red Empire, Dassault's gap disappeared!

A large number of cheap Soviet-made fighter jets have begun to be supplied all over the world. Even the United States can buy them if they want to buy them. Who can't buy them? Not only can you buy MiG-29, but you can also buy heavy-duty Su-27 fighter jets. You can sell them for money, regardless of who the customer is!

In this case, the high-priced and mediocre performance Mirage fighter jets lost their sales channels.

In the 1980s, the French sold Mirage 2000 fighter jets to the East for as high as 50 to 60 million U.S. dollars, while the US-made F-16 fighter jets with the same performance at the same time were priced at only 10 to 20 million U.S. dollars.

If it weren't for political issues, who would purchase the expensive legal fighter jets? In addition to the Mirage 2000 being faster when performing interception missions, whether it is avionics or engines, which one can compare with the F-16? Even the MiG-29 is not inferior to it.

The Mirage 2000 can no longer be sold. Fortunately, Dassault still has Rafale fighter jets.

The origin of this project is very special. It is the product of a blow to the self-esteem of the French. At that time, Europe was planning to build a joint fighter jet. When the French heard about it, they had to join in shamelessly. After joining, they had to be the boss and had to listen to them in everything. ,Do not listen? The French just quit and do it themselves.

Rafale and Mirage 2000 are both medium-sized aircraft, but the former is more advanced. It uses a canard layout in its aerodynamic shape. The effect of the large-area movable canard is far greater than that of the Mirage 2000's delta wing structure.

In terms of power, the former uses two mid-range thrusters. The luxurious power allows it to cruise at supersonic speeds. This is the standard for the legendary fourth-generation aircraft. The avionics and the like are also very advanced.

Moreover, the Rafale can also be mounted on ships, which the Mirage 2000 does not have. The French Navy also has needs for modern carrier-based aircraft and cannot always use the old-fashioned Super Ensign.

The research and development of the Rafale exceeds 20 billion U.S. dollars. Even if there are orders for 200 aircraft, the research and development funds allocated to each fighter aircraft will reach a staggering 100 million U.S. dollars!

Therefore, in their eyes, the price of US$120 million per aircraft for Asan is already a very conscientious price. They also expect Asan to continue to order more aircraft. Asan has two aircraft carriers. , and land-based fighter jets. It used to be a big customer of Mirage 2000, and now it must be a big customer of Rafale. At least two to three hundred aircraft will be purchased, right?

Who would have thought that Asan only purchased 36 aircraft, and something went wrong!

"Our Rafale fighter jet is the most advanced fighter jet in the world. It has no performance defects. You are talking nonsense!" Morris, an executive of Dassault Company, came to the South Asian subcontinent in person and looked at the Asans in front of him with a look in his eyes. Angrily: "We have delivered the plane, please pay the balance immediately!"

"Mr. Morris, don't get excited." Alex, who was sitting across from him, had a calm look on his face: "Whether there are any performance flaws is not yours to say, but us customers. When we operate the Rafale fighter jets, Found a lot of problems.”

"What is the problem?"

"First of all, we claim that this aircraft has strong stealth capabilities. The frontal RCS value has reached the same level as the Dongfang J-20, which is only 0.05 square meters. However, in actual use, we found that this is simply impossible. This aircraft The best estimate of the frontal RCS value of the aircraft will not be less than 0.5 square meters.”

Morris was so troubled that he couldn't get off the stage. It was all because of those damn salesmen. They would say anything in order to sell fighter planes!

The development of fighter aircraft has long entered the era of stealth aircraft. The United States has the F-22 and is developing joint fighter jets, while the East has produced a large number of stealth aircraft and sold them to many countries.

In fact, in the later stages, Lao Maozi's fighters could no longer be sold, and many of Dassault's markets were squeezed out by Dongfang's fighters.

The development of Rafale fighter jets began in the mid-1980s. In that era, no designers cared about stealth. Therefore, Rafale fighter jets had no stealth capabilities at all, but if they didn't, the aircraft would not be sold.

As a result, Dassault engineers began to claim that their Rafale also had stealth properties!

Don't think that stealth can only be achieved by making it into an angular shape. We at Dassault also have our own unique skills such as diamond-shaped noses and rectangular air inlets!

We have modified the fuselage, air inlets, wings and canards to allow radar waves to be reflected in other directions. We also coated the cockpit glass with a gold film!

For those non-stealth aircraft, they can only be modified through these methods. After simple modifications, it is still possible to reduce the radar reflection area to less than 1 square meter.

But... if it can be reduced to the same level as the J-20, that is absolutely nonsense!

How can simple shaping be compared with a comprehensive stealth design? The ammunition is not built-in, and there is not even a special absorbing coating on the surface. That's all, and you still want to achieve a radar reflection area of ​​0.05 square meters?

Only 0.5 square meters is used to exalt them!

However, if the Rafale is to be sold, it can only be sold in this way. Only when the customers are happy and satisfied will they place orders. Who would have known that the customers would be more serious now!

"The performance has shrunk tenfold. We have already paid a 30% deposit in advance. This is already too much for you. Do you still want the balance? That's fine. As long as the radar reflection area of ​​the fighter meets the standard, we will pay the balance!"

What a joke. Even if all the engineers of Dassault died, they couldn't figure it out!

"The second defect is that your Rafale fighter is too wide, and we can't operate it normally on the aircraft carrier. Our elevators can't accommodate your Rafale fighter. So, although we bought this aircraft as a carrier-based aircraft, we can't get on board at all."

"We knew the width of our aircraft when you purchased it. It's your problem that it can't adapt to the elevator. What does it have to do with us?"

"Because the wings of the Rafale fighter can't be folded, all the fighters in the world, except the Tomcat, don't have folded wings. This is clearly your design flaw!"

"Third..."

Alex went on one by one, and in the end, even he believed it. This aircraft is not suitable for aircraft carriers at all. Who was blind to import this aircraft at that time?

"How can your aircraft satisfy us with so many serious defects? We are lucky not to ask you to compensate for the losses!"

"Humph, you are too much!" Morris looked ugly: "Aren't you afraid that no one will do business with you in the future if you do this?"

The most important thing for doing business internationally is reputation. Asan has destroyed his reputation. How can he do business in the future?

"How could there not be? We must open our eyes when doing business in the future." Alex said: "Some people always think that we Indians know nothing and deliberately fool us. A fighter without stealth capability is still said to reach the world's first-class stealth standard. Of course, this is also related to us. Some of us must have received benefits. Of course, we are investigating. These people will not have a good end!"

The words have been said to this extent. There is definitely no room for maneuver. The Indians are determined to take this money. What should Dassault do?

Dassault headquarters.

Old Marcel Dassault died at the age of 94 in 1986. His son Serge Dassault is still alive, but he is already 80 years old. Therefore, the current helmsman of Dassault is Charles Edestainer, but he is only CEO for a few years. When the grandson of the old Dassault has made achievements in politics, he will return to Dassault and become the new helmsman.

It has not been easy in the past few years. He was struggling to support it. He originally sold the Rafale fighter jets to India, thinking that there was a breakthrough and the price was still very high. Unexpectedly, it was a pit, and a big pit!

The conference room was silent.

"Asan is determined not to pay us the balance. The key is that we have no way to deal with it. Damn it, why don't we learn from the Orientals?" Edsteiner finally couldn't help it.

Look at what the Orientals did? Guinea didn't want to pay the balance, not to mention the fighters, even the warships were locked! What about us? Can't we set up a remote locking system?

"This system is not easy." A responsible engineer said: "The most important thing is how to send the locking command. Generally speaking, satellite communication is the most suitable, but the batch of fighters we gave to India are not equipped with our satellite communication system. We can't send commands. Moreover, when we want to control the entire aircraft, how should we control it? If the aircraft is controlled while it is still flying, the aircraft will crash accidentally..."

"Then how did the Orientals do it?" Edsteiner asked.

The conference room was quiet again.

Who knows how the Orientals did it? Orientals like to use dirty tricks the most. It's normal that they can do it, but we can't. If we want to study it, we have to invest a lot of money, so...

In the final analysis, their R\u0026D costs are too high, and money is needed in all aspects!

"However, Ah San should also know that getting the fighter does not mean that he can get rid of us. In the future, the maintenance and various accessories of the fighter will still require our support." After a long time, Esdesteiner continued.

"This is not necessarily the case. After all, we have given Ah San a full set of accessories. However, if they need to upgrade and improve in the future, we will definitely not provide them unless they pay the balance to us."

East.

"Ah San really went to trouble the French. Speaking of which, the French are really miserable." Xu Zhengyang said.

"The French are not miserable, but they didn't open their eyes. To do business with Ah San, you must pay the full amount, at least 80%. If you don't pay the rest, you will be fed to the dog." Qin Tao said.

"After this, I guess the French won't cooperate with Ah San anymore, right?"

The idea Qin Tao gave was not just to find money for Ah San to pay Zhenhua Heavy Industries to unlock the gantry crane, he had a deeper purpose!

Isolate Ah San!

Ah San has an important geographical location and many friends. The United States frequently offers Ah San olive branches, so Ah San can have the best of both worlds.

However, when Ah San refuses to pay the final payment of $3.5 billion to Dassault, Ah San's relationship with France will definitely become strained, and no French company will do business with Ah San in the future!

Asan still needs France in many aspects, especially fighter jets. After cheating Dassault, there is no way to buy fighter jets from France. Asan can only go to the Russians. The problem is that the Russians' technology is not very good. They have been relying on archaeology for decades. The latest T-50 is not very good. Even if Asan has this kind of aircraft, it is not a big deal.

For the behavior of not paying the balance, Asan should not have any psychological burden. After all, it is not the first time that Asan has done this. It just makes Dassault hard.

"Dassault's fighter jets cannot be sold. This time they have suffered a big loss. Their company will become more and more difficult. Taking this opportunity, they will stir up a storm in the international financial market and let Dassault's stock price fall all the way." Qin Tao said.

"Okay, I will notify our financial company." Xu Zhengyang nodded.

"Well, do it covertly, don't let them know it's us."

"Asan has LCA fighters, will they improve this fighter to go on board?"

"Of course, but with Asan's ability, what kind of improvement can they make?" Qin Tao said: "Of course, the PPT project is OK."

Qin Tao just said it briefly, but unexpectedly, he got it right!

Soon, Asan showed off his fighters.

"We think that foreign purchases are unreliable, only we can rely on ourselves, our navy decided to choose LCA as a carrier-based aircraft! The purchased Rafale fighters will be used on land!"

We have talked about many defects of the Rafale fighter. If it continues to be used and used well, it is absolutely unreasonable, so Asan made a new major decision.

Use your own LCA fighter!

Delta-wing fighters are not suitable for shipboards. This is news known to aviation experts all over the world. The French Rafale fighter can be put on board because it adopts a canard layout.

In the era of the development of the LCA fighter, the canard layout was already popular, but the Indians did not have the technical reserves and only used a simple delta wing layout, like a smaller version of the Mirage 2000.

Can this aircraft be put on the ship?

In the surprised eyes of countless people, the modification of the LCA fighter was shown off by the Indians.

The biggest change is the addition of a pair of close-coupled canards! The appearance of this canard makes the LCA fighter finally look more modern, as if it has evolved into a modern third-generation aircraft in an instant, no, a fourth-generation aircraft!

Its appearance has also been modified, and it looks like it has stealth capabilities, but with the pitifully small body of the LCA, it is destined to only be able to carry external weapons. Such a stealth design is destined to be meaningless, because those external weapons will greatly increase radar reflection waves.

Regardless of whether it is true or not, in short, the Indians are determined to not pay the French the final payment.

The French are very miserable, and the whole world is shocked. At this time, Qin Tao, who promoted this matter, came to the fourth design department with great interest.

The first design department is more diverse, involving all kinds of warships and civilian ships, and has the largest business. The second design department specializes in aircraft carriers, the third design department specializes in submarines, and the fourth design department specializes in ground effect vehicles.

Among the several design departments, Qin Tao pays the least attention to ground effect vehicles. After all, this department was just something he encountered by chance and then formed by chance. Moreover, although ground effect vehicles sound promising, they actually have many problems. Therefore, Qin Tao will not hold too much hope and only regard them as a technical reserve.

Unexpectedly, ground effect vehicles are really mature, and there are many models!

Tatyana Alexeeva was also very excited when she met Qin Tao.

"Boss Qin, welcome to visit our Fourth Design Office!"

"Well, I heard from the Navy that they are very optimistic about the development of your ground effect vehicle. Do you have a 2,000-ton ground effect vehicle?"

"Yes, the 2,000-ton ground effect vehicle has completed all the designs and is being produced in the factory. We are currently perfecting the design of the 10,000-ton ground effect vehicle to lay the foundation for the 100,000-ton one."

The 2,000-ton one has already been produced and is preparing to advance to the 10,000-ton level!

You know, the Caspian Sea monster was only 500 tons!

"Have you overcome the engine problem?"

Qin Tao still remembers that he had heard about the engine problem of the ground effect vehicle last time. The aircraft engine used on it is easily corroded by seawater, and its life span is greatly reduced. At that time, he gave an electric transmission solution, but he didn't know if it was suitable.

"Overcome." Alekseyeva said: "The biggest problem of ground effect vehicles is the life of the engine used in the jet propulsion system required by the front power lift technology. We used gas turbines instead."

The biggest appearance feature of the Caspian Monster is the row of engines on the nose. This engine is only used during takeoff. It is responsible for jetting backwards to form a power air cushion for the rear wing, increase the ground effect, and lift the aircraft.

This row of engines is easily affected by the moisture on the sea surface, but it is not easy to replace this engine. Even if you use an electric motor, it doesn't have such a large power, right?

"Are gas turbines responsible for power generation?" Qin Tao asked.

"Of course not. We got inspiration from the lift engine of the J-31A. We arranged a row of lift engines on the front short wing and then used the transmission shaft for transmission."

Qin Tao's eyes lit up. This plan is very good!

The aircraft engine has delicate blades inside, a combustion chamber and a turbine. The turbine in particular has an extremely harsh working environment and is made of special materials, which are easily affected by moisture. However, the lift fan is much simpler. It is just two counter-rotating blades and is not afraid of moisture at all!