Chapter 695 00 General

When Fan Wubing visited the Skunk Works, Robert Stevens, Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, came to meet him in person.

Stevens served in the US Navy 16th Rifle and had combat experience in the swamp battlefield of Vietnam. After retiring, with continuous struggle, Stevens obtained a bachelor's degree in behavioral science from Slippery Rock University, a master's degree in engineering and management from New York Institute of Technology, and an MBA doctorate from Columbia University. His manners are polite and straightforward, and he also has a scholarly atmosphere, which makes him have the dual personality of a scholar and a businessman.

After entering Lockheed Martin, Stevens was promoted all the way in the fields of defense and aviation. In the end, he went from the bottom to the position of Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin.

Stevens once told people that he loved every weapon produced by Lockheed Martin like his son. Why is this so? To put it bluntly, it is because there are business opportunities behind every weapon, and high-tech weapons and equipment such as F-22 and F-35 are even more business opportunities. However, Lockheed Martin's "sons" not only look different, but also have a large number of them.

About one-third of American companies are inextricably linked to military production, so military companies naturally have extensive and subtle relations with American politics. For arms companies, maintaining arms demand is as important as maintaining national security.

In addition to close relations with government officials, Stevens also served on former President George Bush's American Future Aviation and Space Industry Committee. His extensive network of contacts in Washington has become a link between Lockheed Martin and the political world, and is also an important condition for his success.

In the eyes of Lockheed Martin's senior management, Stevens is a big boss. In the eyes of Lockheed Martin's employees, Stevens has the ability to bring them huge wealth.

Fan Wubing is still a little curious about the world's largest arms dealer. He found that Stevens' ears are relatively large, his eyes are sharp, and he has a bit of eagle-like eyes. He is also tall and burly, worthy of being a man who has worked in the 6th Marine Squadron and fought in the Vietnam War.

However, there was not much communication between Fan Wubing and Stevens. After all, Stevens was willing to come because of Fan Wubing's status and position. He did not expect Fan Wubing to buy a lot of arms from him. After all, everyone was a wise man and knew what could be sold to where. It seemed unlikely that he could sell a large amount of arms to the mainland.

Although Lockheed Martin basically controlled the Ministry of Defense, Stevens was not arrogant enough to let Congress pass arms sales to the mainland. This was not in the interests of the United States. You can't sell better things to a more powerful opponent, which would be asking for trouble. But if you sell it to a weaker opponent, it would foster healthy competition.

During the visit, Fan Wubing still saw a lot of strange things.

There were motorboats that could rise to an altitude of 20,000 meters, and laser fire control systems armed on tanks and armored vehicles. Of course, what interested him most was a kind of individual equipment that was still in the experimental stage, called a mechanical exoskeleton.

This is a metal skeleton that can greatly increase the soldier's load-bearing capacity. It is a robotic technology equipment that can meet the soldier's needs for mobility and support by providing external force.

American soldiers often carry excessive combat loads, which increases the pressure on the body and makes the soldiers exhausted. The mechanical exoskeleton can transfer this weight to the ground through a battery-driven metal skeleton. Advanced portable microcomputers can keep this exoskeleton in coordination with the soldiers' movements. This completely unbound, hydraulically driven humanoid exoskeleton makes it effortless for soldiers to move, sit or lie down.

Bennett, who accompanied Fan Wubing on the tour, said that the maximum load of this system can reach 90 kilograms.

Fan Wubing carefully observed this equipment and found that this is an external wearable mechanical skeleton designed to imitate the characteristics of the human body. It is equipped with a hydraulic transmission device and a structural design that can be bent like a joint. It can not only walk upright, but also complete a variety of relatively complex movements such as squatting and crawling.

However, when Fan Wubing put on this thing to experience it personally, he found that its control was not complicated and did not need to be controlled by a joystick or other mechanical devices. Moreover, it is very convenient to wear and only takes half a minute to take it off.

The power source of this human mechanical exoskeleton is two lithium polymer batteries with a total weight of less than four kilograms. After a full charge, it can ensure that the wearer can carry a 90-kilogram load at a speed of five kilometers per hour for one hour, and the sprint speed of this equipment can reach sixteen kilometers per hour.

Bennett also said that the company is still constantly improving this mechanical exoskeleton system so that American soldiers can at least carry about one hundred kilograms of weight and improve their ability to complete tasks effectively.

Fan Wubing did not speak after trying it, but when the two sisters Ding Bing and Ding Xue saw this thing, they felt a little incredible. It was hard to understand how this thing worked. It didn't look very complicated, but it could make ordinary soldiers become as powerful as half-robots. It was really indescribable.

"It's amazing Ming. This thing is very energy-saving when used for mountain climbing and so on. Especially when going camping or something like that. With a full set of equipment, one person can do it." Fan Wubing followed with a haha Bennett said, "Is this thing for sale now? If it is, I might be able to get a few hundred sets to play with. I may need these things in some local businesses, or put them into commercial use." The results are pretty good in the market.”

Bennett couldn't figure out whether what Fan Wubing said was true or not, so he smiled and said, "If Mr. Fan is interested, we can discuss it, but this thing hasn't been finalized yet, and it may occasionally malfunction or something. When the finished product comes out, I will remember to inform Mr. Fan. As long as there are customer needs, we will try our best to meet them, but I am afraid that the mainland market will not be able to handle it, and the Ministry of National Defense will not be able to get through. "

"That doesn't matter. Anyway, I can use this kind of thing in companies in Australia and Indonesia. The labor intensity there is relatively high. It's very convenient to use this set of tools when moving things." Fan Wubing also said nonsense.

Bennett smiled and said, "Haha, Mr. Fan is joking. Such a set of equipment costs more than 100,000 US dollars anyway. It seems to be a bit of a loss to use it as a porter."

However, in the end, the two parties still initialed an agreement. Fan Wubing spent about 200 million US dollars here, ordering twenty ordinary small armed helicopters, as well as some speedboats, and a complete safety protection system. He wants to dominate those small islands in Australia, but he can't do it without some equipment.

When he finally left, the old Jewish man Maximus pulled his sleeve and whispered, "I won't be able to stay here for long. If you have anything that interests you, I will get you some information." , it may not be possible if it is too cutting-edge, but if I, the senior vice president, have access to it, you can just ask.”

"Damn it, when did you become so bold? Aren't you afraid that the CIA would arrest you?" Fan Wubing said in surprise.

"I plan to live in mainland China for a long time. Where will they catch me?" the old man said.

In the final analysis, Maximus is keen on working everywhere just to satisfy his own vanity. This means that you don’t have to look at me because I am old, but I can do well in any big company. I used to be able to do it at Hughes Company. Later, it was possible at General Motors, and now it is also possible at Lockheed Martin.

"Okay, if you have nothing to do, just collect some good things. I will come and ask for them from you when the time comes." Fan Wubing nodded and said.

However, Fan Wubing did not expect the old man to come up with any valuable technical equipment information. What he cared about was actually some of the latest advances in scientific research. With Maximus as an insider, he would represent a world-class A lot of information about Lockheed Martin, a military technology company, was transparent to Fan Wubing.

Although it is unlikely that I will get involved in military production now, looking at the current domestic situation, it is an inevitable trend to allow private operations in military production. I have a heavy industrial production base in the country, my own research institute, and a large number of people from the former Soviet Union. Military industry experts, if they can obtain some technical information from Lockheed Martin and coupled with the liberalization of domestic policies, it is not impossible to enter the field of military production.

Of course, all this still needs to be seen. Right now, my main goal is still to make money, and the most important thing is to know that Song Yuanping and others will safely convert the large amount of funds invested in US stocks into other industries. among them, or withdraw directly and invest in other countries.

But soon, when Fan Wubing flew to New York and met Song Yuanping and others who controlled the financial affairs here, the current Nasdaq was basically in a state of madness. Although No one can see how much the stock price has risen, but the Nasdaq index keeps going strong. The mad cow will never look back!

In the past six months, my assets may have doubled again! At this time, Fan Wubing no longer knew how much money he had earned!

In a word, the only way to be safe is to make money, and the most important thing now is to cash out quickly.