Chapter 305: Don’t Dismantle the An-225 Transport Aircraft, Sell It to Me!

Chapter 305 Don’t dismantle the An-225 transport aircraft, sell it to me!

"This is really a thrilling landing!" Yarmolenko stepped forward to greet him: "You are really lucky... Hey, have we met before?"

"Yarmolenko, don't you recognize me anymore? I'm Dmitry Kiva." One of the middle-aged men in a suit said: "A few years ago, when we were meeting in Moscow, we also We sat at the same table and ate.”

Yarmolenko finally remembered: "Yes, we had dinner together. At that time, we also drank together..."

"We can drink together now." At this moment, a voice came from behind: "Everyone is frightened. How about I invite everyone to drink together to calm down the shock?"

Dmitri turned his head back and saw Qin Tao, with a smile on his face immediately: "Of course, come, let me introduce to you, this is my good friend, Qin. Qin, this is Anton The head of Nov Design Bureau, Dmitry, is also a good friend of mine.”

You only need to drink once to become good friends?

Qin Tao was secretly happy.

"This plane... can only stay here temporarily. What we need most now is indeed a drink." Dmitri said.

Soon, a group of people sat down at the table in the base canteen. Although the place had just been cleaned and there was dust everywhere, to the people present, they didn't care at all.

"Come on, Erguotou, have you tried it? It tastes better than vodka, and I guarantee you will be satisfied." Qin Tao introduced this wine while serving wine to everyone.

I brought a lot of wine this time, but after finishing this meal, it was gone. Fortunately, if I go to buy modern-grade wine next, there shouldn't be any surprises, so don't worry.

At this time, everyone took a few sips of the wine handed over by Qin Tao, and then gave a thumbs up.

"Not bad, it tastes good!"

"We in the East not only have fine wines, but also delicious food. Please try these delicacies."

Various canned food and ham sausages were also placed on the table.

After a few sips of wine, everyone became familiar with each other, and Dmitri introduced everyone in his team.

"Alexander Galunenko, the chief test pilot of our design bureau, was the one who piloted the plane today. Although the landing was a bit thrilling and the plane crashed, without him, we would all have died here. "Dmitri said.

Galunenko? Qin Tao looked at the middle-aged man: "I heard that you made the An-225 fly?"

"Yes, for me, it is not difficult to fly that plane. After all, we have excellent designers in our design bureau. By the way, this, Mr. Victor Kowalski, also participated at the time. The An-225 project.”

Kowalski? That old designer who was beaten in the street in later generations? Qin Tao looked at the person in front of him and felt that his luck today was extremely good. Otherwise, how could he know so many people!

"Whether it is An-124 or An-225, they are both your best aircraft. Antonov Design Bureau is the best in this era. Come on, cheers!" Qin Tao raised his wine glass.

This kind of flattery was particularly helpful to everyone's ears. However, after drinking a few glasses of wine, Yarmolenko was obviously a little hot-headed. He said with emotion: "It's a pity, Antono Commander Hu can’t see all this, but it’s better that he can’t see it.”

This sentence made the people present feel a little emotional and express their nostalgia for the deceased chief master.

There are many master-level figures here at Lao Maozi, and there are also a lot of people in the aviation industry. Under the aura of these people, Antonov is considered a late bloomer.

In 1938, young Antonov entered the Yakovlev Design Bureau. After the Great Patriotic War started, he believed that transport aircraft would make a greater contribution to the motherland. Therefore, on the rear, he not only designed a variety of gliders for airborne landings, but also designed the famous An-2 transport aircraft.

Unfortunately, because the concept was too unconventional, the design of this aircraft was rejected. Later, after the An-2 was put into production, it was immediately popular. More than 20,000 aircraft were produced, even in the distant East. On the basis of this aircraft, the Y-5 transport aircraft was copied.

Afterwards, Antonov set up an independent design bureau and moved it from cold Novosibirsk to Kiev, Ukraine. His glorious life began like this, with twin-engine An-8, four-engine An-10, An-12, as well as An-14 light transport aircraft and An-24 medium-range transport aircraft. One model after another of aircraft continued to emerge, becoming Antonov's pride.

Unfortunately, Antonov did not see the emergence of the An-124. He died of illness in 1984 due to overwork. In his short life, he obtained 10 international patents and 72 invention certificates, and obtained Including the Soviet State Prize, the Lenin Prize, the Order of Lenin, the October Revolution Medal, the Patriotic War Medal First Class and the Red Banner of Labor Medal, etc. He published 3 monographs and more than 200 papers in his life, making contributions to the development of human aviation. made an indelible contribution.

Now, when it comes to Antonov, everyone has mixed emotions.

Antonov's departure was a loss for their design bureau, but it was precisely because Antonov left early that he did not see the current chaos. At least, Antonov has always lived in an ideal.

"The one we are flying now is the An-124-100M transport aircraft, which is the same as the An-124-100, but equipped with Western avionics equipment. After adopting modern civil aviation equipment, the crew has been reduced to four people. We are now conducting flight tests, and unexpectedly, such an accident occurred." Dmitry's words explained a doubt in Qin Tao's heart. So this is what happened!

Since the collapse of the Red Empire, the Antonov Design Bureau has no longer been able to develop advanced transport aircraft, and can only make improvements on the existing basis. Moreover, their transport aircraft is very different from civil aircraft. Without considering economic efficiency, it is difficult to sell it.

Therefore, they have to make improvements. The fuel consumption rate cannot be changed, but they can change the driving system and reduce the crew members from six to four. In this way, the operating and maintenance costs of the transport company can be greatly reduced.

However, they were still too naive.

Without the Red Empire, the Varyag could no longer be completed, and the same is true for the An-124 transport aircraft!

The completion of the Varyag requires the Soviet Union, the Party Central Committee, the State Planning Commission, the Military Industrial Commission, nine defense industry ministries, 600 related majors, 8,000 supporting manufacturers, and a great country.

The An-124 does not need so many, but Kiev cannot produce all the parts independently. The wings are produced by the Chkalov Aircraft Manufacturing Plant in Tashkent and then carried by the An-22 transport aircraft. The Ulyanovsk Aviation Plant also manufactures a large number of parts.

Therefore, without the support of the Russians, the An-124 transport aircraft could not be manufactured at all, so that since the collapse of the Red Empire, the An-124 transport aircraft has never been built. More sorties, even when foreign countries wanted to place orders, they did not dare to take them, because after evaluation, they found that they could not produce them at all.

Now, all their efforts are in vain.

Of course, Qin Tao couldn't say these things out loud. If he attacked others, he would be looked down upon.

"Your An-124 is the greatest invention of this era. When I saw this big guy, I was deeply shocked. I couldn't imagine how huge the An-225 would be. I don't know if there is such a chance."

"Of course." Dmitry said, "Our plane needs to be repaired next. We need to go back and prepare all the repair parts. If you want to go, we can take you with us."

"It's a great honor." Qin Tao raised the bottle of wine: "Thank you for your kindness, cheers!"

That afternoon, Qin Tao left the two followers he brought with him to assist Yarmolenko in handling subsequent matters and dismantle the things that had been negotiated and take them away. Qin Tao and Zheng Ming, following the people from the Antonov Design Bureau, set out on the road to Kiev.

Ermao is a natural granary. Only when you come here can you have a deep feeling. The land here is too vast, and it is all very fertile arable land. Countless rivers flow through this land, nourishing the land on both sides.

In the middle of it, near the confluence of the middle reaches of the Dnieper River and its largest tributaries, the Pripyat River and the Desna River, stands the largest city in the country, the capital of Kiev.

Antonov Design Bureau, near Kiev, Gostomel.

In a huge arc-shaped hangar, there is a super transport plane, quietly parked there. If the An-124 is placed here, it will be a small witch compared to a big witch.

The most eye-catching thing is, of course, the six engines hoisted under the huge wings. Although the B-52 bomber has also hoisted eight engines, this is because the power of the engine is not enough, and the way of two engines next to each other, there is no momentum of separate hoisting like now.

The diameter of each engine reaches 2.8 meters, with a thrust of 23.4 tons. It is definitely a strong man. Driven by these six engines, the maximum take-off weight of this giant transport aircraft has reached an incredible 640 tons, making it the world's first beast with a take-off weight of more than 600 tons.

The entire fuselage is expanded on the basis of the An-124. It has a fuselage length of 84 meters, a wingspan of 88.8 meters, a height of 18.2 meters, and a wing area of ​​910 square meters, creating a world record.

As for its transportation capacity, the maximum load of the cabin reaches 250 tons, and the load of the back shelf can reach 210 tons. Some people even believe that this transport aircraft can also transport 300 tons of cargo.

At the beginning, this aircraft was born to carry the Russians' own Blizzard space shuttle.

In terms of aerospace, although the Russians did not achieve manned lunar landing, their strength is also quite amazing. After the Americans developed the space shuttle, the Russians were not to be outdone, and their technical route was more advanced.

The U.S. space shuttle has a main engine and a large rocket-like thing hanging on its belly, which is actually a fuel tank. Although this makes it easier to reuse the engine, it also causes its reliability to drop rapidly after repeated use.

Lao Maozi's space shuttle is more like a side-mounted spacecraft. The thing on its belly is a real rocket. It is carried to the sky by the rocket. In this way, the reliability is greatly improved.

If the Red Empire had not collapsed, then the Buran would have become an important spacecraft for Lao Maozi, undertaking a large number of flight missions, and the Soyuz spacecraft would have been retired long ago.

The space shuttle needs to take off at the launch site and land at various airports. Therefore, the landed space shuttle needs to be transported back to the launch site.

Transport aircraft are the most suitable to perform this task. The American space shuttle is also placed on the back of a Boeing 747. Lao Maozi's is even more outrageous, using the specially developed An-225.

In order to carry the space shuttle on its back, its tail was modified. The original single vertical tail design of the An-124 was changed to an "H" shaped tail. All airfoils were swept back. The rudder was divided into upper and lower sections, and the elevator was divided into Three sections.

In this way, the space on the back of the aircraft is freed up, making it easier to carry the Buran on its back, and it will not cause too much turbulence after piggybacking, which will affect the operation of the tail wing.

However, in addition to carrying the Buran on its back, this aircraft can also be used as a normal transport aircraft. However, due to the change in the tail, there is no special transport aircraft tail hatch, but the front part of the aircraft can still be turned up. , which can allow large goods to enter and exit. Its internal cargo warehouse has a total length of 43.51 meters, a maximum width of 6.68 meters, a cargo floor width of 6.40 meters, and a maximum height of 4.39 meters.

This kind of space can fit 16 containers or four tanks at one time. If it is transporting paratroopers, it can accommodate 1,500 people.

Such a giant beast stands here quietly. Since the collapse of the Red Empire, it has never been able to fly into the sky. Now, it just stays here quietly, waiting for its unknown fate.

This scene seemed familiar. The photo of half of the plane's nose blown off seemed to overlap with the scene in front of me.

"This is the masterpiece of our Antonov Design Bureau. It is the greatest aviation product in the world!" Galunenko was introducing it to Qin Tao and the others when he heard a quarrel behind him.

"No, no, absolutely not! We can't tear it down!"

"If we don't dismantle it, we can't repair the An-124. We have to remove an engine from the aircraft."

The sound of the argument caught Qin Tao's attention. He turned around and saw Dmitry and Kowalski not far away, arguing with red faces.

"It is the hope of our Antonov Design Bureau, and it is our glory!"

"However, there is no need for it to fly anymore. Instead of staying here and wasting time, it is better to contribute the useful parts on it!"

Soon, Qin Tao outlined the whole thing, and he felt a burst of excitement in his heart. What a good opportunity!

After the collapse of the Red Empire, various military-industrial enterprises were in chaos. The D-18T turbofan engine used on the An-124 needed to be provided by the Progress Design Bureau. However, since the collapse of the Red Empire, the factories there have not produced one. Brand new D-18T engine.

Therefore, if you use this kind of engine, you will need one less. If there is stock... it must be out of stock. In more than a year, they have consumed all the stock, so if you want to repair it now As for the An-124, we have to find a way to remove one from other aircraft.

The An-225 transport aircraft here is the most suitable target for dismantling. Anyway, no one is using this aircraft now. Moreover, the engines used on the two aircraft are exactly the same. They can be removed and reinstalled.

In fact, the An-225 has been in hibernation since the end of 1991. A few years later, the Antonov Design Bureau began to remove parts from this aircraft. Until the new century, I don’t know why Ermao suddenly I thought about it, reassembled the aircraft with spare parts, and put it into commercial operation. As a result, I really made money.

Now, in Er Mao's eyes, this An-225 is a waste!

Qin Tao's heart was inexplicably excited.

"No, I will never allow you to dismantle this aircraft. This is our glory, our hope, and our dream!"

Suddenly, Kowalski became excited. He ran towards the plane, and then climbed up from the ground maintenance ladder on one side. Even though this guy had gray hair, he had very good physical strength. Boom I climbed up with a bang, and then stood on the top of the high wing!

"I don't think anyone dares to dismantle this plane! Not even one engine! If anyone dares to do it, I will jump out of here!"

This guy is going to defend this plane with his life!

Qin Tao was also moved. In this era, there are not many people with such spirit.

"Kowalsky, what are you doing?" Dmitri shouted angrily: "Get down! If we had our way, we wouldn't remove the engine from this plane!"

"I'm not coming down! I want to be with this plane!"

"You should also know that if we want to restart the production line of this engine, the Progress Design Bureau and the Motor Sich factory need a lot of funds, especially the fan blades, three-rotor bearings and other parts of this engine, which are ordered from Russia. All the costs add up to $100 million! Now, we can only dismantle the engine here to ensure our normal operation. When the economy improves in the future, we can re-order the engine and let this plane return to the blue sky."

"Don't say such damn words, if we dismantle it, we can never put it back together again!"

Upstairs, Kavalsky was extremely excited, and below, Dmitry was also very uncomfortable. If there was another way, would he be willing to dismantle the engine of this plane?

There is no way!

"Cough, cough." At this time, Qin Tao coughed twice to attract everyone's attention, and then spoke faintly.

"Everyone, I have an idea now. Everyone calm down, can you listen to me first?"

"Qin, what do you think?" Galunenko asked Qin Tao.

"Well, this plane is now in a state of abandonment, right?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Dmitri, you need money to purchase a new engine?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Kowalski, you don't want to see this plane's engine dismantled, right?"

"Yes!"

"Then, I will invest 100 million to buy this plane, and all the problems will be solved."

What?

Everyone was surprised.

Zheng Ming's jaw dropped.

One hundred million, US dollars! The superiors would not give so much money. This is Mr. Qin's personal behavior. In other words, Mr. Qin can take out 100 million US dollars casually? Isn't this too amazing?

Their Mingzhou Group is really rich!

Dmitri's idea is similar. They met in the Crimean Peninsula. At that time, Qin Tao invited them to drink and said he wanted to come and see the An-225, so they treated Qin Tao as an ordinary friend and just came to see.

What's the result? The friend who is not good-looking is actually a rich man?

Kowalski was also surprised.

He just lost control of his emotions for a moment, because he didn't want to watch the plane being dismantled. Today it's the engine, tomorrow it's the landing gear, and the day after tomorrow it's the avionics equipment. It's easy to dismantle it, but it's hard to put it back together! If it goes wrong, as long as one head is dismantled, it will never end. In the future, this plane will become a pile of rubbish in organ donation.

He didn't want to do this, but when reason returned to his body, he knew that he didn't have the qualifications. Even if he jumped off the wing of a plane dozens of meters high today, he couldn't stop the fate of this plane.

Now, Qin actually wants to buy this plane?

Isn't this too incredible?

Kowalski looked at Qin Tao seriously: "Qin, you want to buy it? Then what?"

"Then, let it fly back to the sky." Qin Tao said: "You may not know that I run a group with a transportation company. Some time ago, I just bought a few Mi-26s and Mi-171s. Now, buying this An-225 is just the right time to expand the strength of our transportation company."

"You want to let it fly back to the sky?"

"Yes, as long as you are willing to sell it to me, I will let it fly back to the sky." Qin Tao said: "Our company's operational capabilities are very Strong, this plane will definitely show its presence again in the world. "

"For you, with this money, you can get more engines and produce more An-124 transport aircraft. As long as this transport aircraft can be sold, you will greatly improve your business conditions and achieve healthy development. Later, you may be able to assemble the second An-225. Moreover, if you use Western avionics and engines, you may be able to create new air records. "

Back then, before the collapse of the Red Empire, it was originally planned to manufacture five An-225 transport aircraft. The first one has been completed, and the second one has been built 70%. In Mrs. Antonov's heart, why didn't she want to assemble the second one?

In the 21st century, the plane in front of him began to make money, and Antonov began to repair and improve the second one, planning to use more advanced Rolls-Royce Trent 892 (41.4 tons of thrust) or Pratt & Whitney PW4098 (44.4 tons of thrust) turbofan engines to break more than 20 world records created by the An-225 itself.