Chapter 1022 Doesn’t This Highlight the Role of Xiluo Company?

The news that Elino suddenly broke out really exceeded everyone's psychological expectations.

There was a commotion in the room almost immediately.

Rolls-Royce and China's connection in aviation technology actually started a long time ago.

Even during the years when the Spey project was stagnant, it was not interrupted.

This also includes air film cooling.

In fact, Rolls-Royce even provided several projects to the first research group of Gaojing University of Technology that studied active cooling technology for aero engines.

Although they were all marginal research, for China, which was still in its infancy and was facing financial constraints at the time, it was definitely a timely help.

Later, the after-sales business of products exported to China was directly placed locally.

And all this is rewarding-

The relatively low after-sales cost and stable supply channels of parts make China Airlines often prefer British products rather than American or Canadian products under the same circumstances.

Especially in the past five years, the market share has skyrocketed.

It's a pity that they didn't get a share of the 737 and A320 level, which affected their future growth potential.

But no matter what, at least they are eating a lot of oil at the moment.

The mentality of Rolls-Royce has always been:

No one knows the Chinese aviation engine market better than me.

Of course, the progress of China in the field of aviation technology in recent years can be seen by those in the industry as long as they are not blind.

But whether from the intelligence that can be obtained at present or the external performance of the other party, this progress is mainly reflected in the field of project management and engineering design.

In terms of manufacturing, considering that China still imports a lot of aviation substrates, components and processing equipment every year, it is generally believed that the progress should be relatively slow.

This is also in line with the general logic of industrial development.

As a result, now...

They found that they didn't seem to understand it that well.

"Professor, about this point... is it directly stated by Snecma?"

The corners of Tim Bodi's mouth, which had just been raised, drooped down, and his expression became serious.

On the one hand, he felt that it was a bit unreasonable.

On the other hand, as the deputy director of the entire Trent series engine, he must also consider the overall situation.

If Chinese parts are really used on the Trent 900, it would be fine if everything goes smoothly. If something unexpected happens, even if it is not caused by production quality problems, it will definitely face a huge impact from public opinion.

"No."

Eleanor decisively gave a negative answer:

"In fact, I didn't ask just now."

"Then..."

Bodi didn't expect the other party to deny it so straightforwardly.

But Eleanor did not give him a chance to question, but immediately explained:

"Look carefully, there is a line of small words marked below the last page of the booklet about the turbine part."

Coincidentally, the brochure was also passed to Bodi at this time.

He followed Eleanor's instructions and soon found that line of words:

"Due to the complex internal structure of the air film hole, so... it will be handed over to the designated supplier for mid-term maintenance?"

After hearing this statement, the voices of discussion and questioning just now gradually subsided.

Everyone is an expert and can hear the hidden meaning -

SeA650 itself is a jointly developed model, but considering the convenience of promotion, in the early stage of publicity, whether it is the banner or the publicity channel used, Snecma is the main one.

Including the future guarantee service for European users, it will definitely be directly connected with the French.

In order to prevent some lawyers from using the accusation of false publicity to engage in legal blackmail, such a disclaimer was found.

It means that the actual after-sales service for this part is provided by another company, and we Snecma are just transferring it on behalf of it.

There will definitely be relevant clauses in the contract in the future.

Since Snecma can't even handle maintenance and guarantee, let alone production and processing...

It can only be the Chinese who are responsible.

For a while, everyone either bowed their heads in thought, or their eyes were blank, or they paced back and forth...

In short, they all fell silent.

Especially Bodi and Lapworth.

For a major model like Trent 900, the final decision must be made by the management team as a whole, and then submitted to the board of directors for signature and approval.

However, as project executives and core technical personnel, they undoubtedly have a high voice in this matter.

Of course, it also means that they have to bear equal responsibilities.

"Professor."

After a fruitless struggle, Bodi turned to look at Elino who was watching the excitement on the sofa:

"What is the current progress of the SeA650 engine?"

"I mean... when can it be delivered to users?"

The latter raised his head slightly and recalled the conversation at the exhibition just now:

"If you mean to deliver it to the airline together with the Falcon 8Z, it should wait until early 2004... Of course, this is just what they said."

"If you want me to estimate... probably before 2005."

According to the "common sense" in Europe, Professor Elino gave some margin on the basis of the delivery time given by Liu Yongquan.

Then, perhaps to increase the credibility of his statement, he added:

"After all, their aircraft engine has a lot of new technologies. In addition to the three-dimensional special-shaped air film hole, there is also a permanent magnet fault-tolerant power generation system that replaces the traditional rotor bearing..."

Lapworth on the other side is not engaged in the overall design of aircraft engines, and did not give much response to this permanent magnet fault-tolerant power generation system.

But Bodie stopped abruptly, with a look of shock that was almost exactly the same as Elinor's before.

However, the use of magnetic bearings was not considered in the Trent 900 from the beginning, and it is impossible to make major changes to the overall design at this juncture.

So he just opened his mouth, but in the end he did not change the topic, but began to silently calculate the development cycles of the Trent 900 and A380.

In any case, let’s resolve the most important matter at hand first.

But the calculation results are not very optimistic:

"I originally thought that after the SeA650 is delivered to users, I will observe it for a year or two and make sure there are no fatal reliability issues before making a decision."

Having said this, he sighed with regret:

"But the A380 plan is to start test flights in 2005. If we want to catch up with the prototype competition stage, there is not enough time anyway..."

"Can you consider using the current engine for test flights first, and then replace it when the mass-produced model is delivered..."

Someone comes up with a new idea.

"It's hard."

Bodi immediately shook his head:

"Actually, there is no technical problem, but the temporary upgrade will definitely affect the psychology of customers, and considering that testing is required in the middle, it will also delay the delivery time of the whole machine. In the end, it will only make more people choose GP7200."

"If a model suffers an obvious loss in the first batch of orders, then based on past experience, it will be difficult to turn around unless it waits for a new generation of products."

"..."

Seeing that the discussion could not produce a result in a short period of time, Lapworth, who had not expressed his position just now, decided to do the next best thing:

"Now, the Trent 900 at least has the possibility to outperform its competitors, so anyway, I think we should contact China first, purchase a batch of sample parts, and at least bring them back for testing first."

Among all people, as the developer of new film cooling technology, he undoubtedly has the most positive attitude:

"If the component-level test can be passed and the installation test is carried out later, the resistance from the board of directors will be reduced."

"This is not entirely a matter of purchase volume..."

Bodi said helplessly:

"Since you are looking for someone else to produce it, you must at least provide some parameters related to the turbine design and the base material. So even if it is a sample piece, you have to prove that it is necessary before the superiors agree to use the data. Give it out..."

In fact, although he didn't say it explicitly, this is a matter of prejudice——

Even for professional technicians like them, China's development speed in the aviation field is somewhat difficult to understand and accept.

Not to mention the people above who make the decisions.

Therefore, even if you are looking for someone to do the work, "finding someone from France to do it" is more likely to be accepted than "finding someone from China to do it for".

The reason why he wanted to observe the situation of SeA650 for two years just now was based on this consideration.

At that time, we can say that the reliability of Huaxia products has been verified on other models. Now there is no second option before us. If we don’t choose, we have to choose this.

It's a pity that time waits for no one.

"If you want me to say..."

Suddenly, a weak voice came from the corner of the room, which immediately attracted everyone's attention.

It's Luke Norris.

It is said that he actually belongs to the middle level of Luoluo Group, but among this group of people, he does seem to have no status...

Therefore, being stared at by so many eyes almost made him forget how to breathe.

"Uh... I want to say that if there is only a small amount of samples, maybe we can use Ciro Company to reduce the sensitivity of this matter..."

"Ciro Company..."

There was a trace of confusion in Lapworth's eyes:

"Aren't they only responsible for maintenance, training and liaison?"

"That's true in the beginning."

Norris replied:

"But I just remembered that they submitted a report two years ago, which mentioned the relationship between the engine selection issue of Airbus A380 and the Chinese market..."

"Ah?"

Purdy and Lapworth looked at each other.

Logically speaking, if this kind of report is really important, then they both should have read it.

Norris went on to explain:

"I have read that report. It has nothing to do with technology or the Trent 900 engine itself. In fact, it is a roundabout way to expand the business scope of Silo Company, especially to increase the R&D and production functions, so it was reported directly to the administrative management. there……"

Lapworth immediately rolled his eyes:

"What a joke, they can develop..."

He stopped abruptly mid-sentence.

Ciro Company may indeed not be able to develop anything.

But the Chinese can.

Just like Norris said just now, as long as the Ciro company is passed through, and the executives on the board of directors don't understand technology, who can tell what's going on?

"So...what was your response then?"

Bodi had obviously figured this out and quickly asked.

"We didn't think they could come up with anything at the time."

Norris shrugged:

"But the Chinese market is too important, and it's not good to reject it completely, so we symbolically arranged a few R&D positions for them, and provided them with a funding of tens of thousands of pounds per year, so that they could nominally engage in technical cooperation..."