Chapter 1057 It Doesn't Matter, They Will Come Back

In this era, the means of transnational communication were relatively poor.

In particular, China lacks its own satellite communication system, resulting in confidential information still being highly dependent on traditional encrypted radio transmission, and the communication efficiency is very low.

If you want to transfer something other than text, it's even more troublesome.

Fortunately, Liu Yongquan's European trip is already coming to an end, and the early warning aircraft project is not in a hurry.

Therefore, he simply used his last few days in France to have a frank, open and constructive communication with Dassault.

And along with a lot of information obtained during this trip, he submitted it to Chang Haonan——

Although the latter had made plans to stay in Haojing until the second half of the year, an unexpected incident disrupted the plan.

The Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense is about to be reorganized.

In fact, since the establishment of the Equipment Industry Department a few years ago, the functions and positioning of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense have begun to change.

It has gradually evolved from being solely responsible for the national defense science and technology industry to coordinating the development of overall industry and cutting-edge technology.

The superiors have also been deliberately downplaying the military-related nature of the Science and Technology Commission.

For example, the three deputy directors who were transferred in the past two years no longer have military positions.

However, most people, including Chang Haonan, still believe that the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense itself can continue to exist for some time.

However, after the 2003 conference, rumors quickly spread that the Science and Technology Committee would be included in the new round of organizational reorganization.

It is said to be a rumor, but it is basically what the above said.

So the accuracy is close to 10%.

However, no one is sure yet what the specific reorganization plan will be.

There is talk that the Science, Technology and Industry Commission, like the previous Ministry of Machinery Industry, may be split into other different systems.

There is also talk of possibly merging with several other agencies with similar functions.

It is also said that the change will not be big, it may just be a brand change like the Science and Technology Commission became the Ministry of Science and Technology...

In short, it's basically all guessing.

Including Ding Gaoheng, he was very tight-lipped this time and did not reveal any relevant information.

It just means that the superiors are studying it and guarantee that there will be a solution that satisfies the majority of people.

This kind of ambiguous rhetoric makes people even more worried.

It is inevitable that some people in various enterprises and units under the Science and Technology Commission system are panicked.

As the main leader of the Aerospace Power Group, Chang Haonan would not be able to stay in Haojing for a long time at this time.

He had no choice but to return to the capital temporarily to stabilize people's hearts.

…

"Mr. Chang, in the days before returning to China, we have been in talks with Dassault, especially Dr. Ed Steiner's team."

In Chang Haonan's office, Liu Yongquan reported and put an opened meeting minutes in front of Chang Haonan:

"According to my observation, the French may have other ideas about modifying an early warning aircraft based on the Falcon Z."

Chang Haonan did not express his position immediately. He just looked down at the talks between the two parties and motioned for Liu Yongquan to continue.

Many people will make preconceived judgments based on other people's opinions, but Chang Haonan, perhaps because he is used to multi-threaded work, has good resistance to this kind of problem.

Moreover, it is not difficult to see from his operation of directly transferring people from the 606th Institute to Haojing to serve as technical backbones that Liu Yongquan is actually one of the next generation successors that the group is focusing on.

He also needs to exercise his ability to judge independently.

After a brief pause, Liu Yongquan added:

"Although Dassault was very positive on the surface, and even the first two talks were initiated by them, every time I tentatively raised some practical issues, such as the aerodynamic and structural design of Falcon 8Z after installing the antenna, , or if the early warning aircraft project is formed and the rights of both parties in the product are proportioned, they will start to dodge the important and take the light, or in turn test what technical route we are going to take. "

"It seems that Dassault is definitely interested in using the Falcon 8Z as a platform to modify special aircraft, but this interest... does not seem to be joint research and development with us... it may be that it wants to cooperate with Thales. Complete it independently, or find other partners..."

"So I think if they do that, could they consider putting some obstacles in the way of the Falcon Z project... to give them a hammer?"

In fact, before asking Liu Yongquan to test Dassault's willingness, he roughly guessed that this would be the situation——

After all, the beginning of the 21st century happens to be when the French people are at their highest.

You know, the euro in this timeline did not suffer the same head-on blow as in the previous life.

After reaching the lowest point of 1:1.02 against the U.S. dollar in May 1999, it went against the trend and rose, and has now been stable around 1:1.4 for a long time.

This has even helped Europe to get out of the shadow of the economic crisis ahead of schedule to a certain extent.

Several economies with close ties with the EU, including China, the CIS, ASEAN, and the GCC, have also successively increased the proportion of the euro in trade.

Most of Africa still uses various francs, and its financial lifeline is tied to the Bank of France.

In this context, it is normal for Dassault, as an independent company with certain strength and reputation and one of the business cards of the French aviation industry, to be unwilling to tie its three key models to the same partner.

Of course, ideas are ideas.

To actually implement it, you still have to be capable.

And Liu Yongquan’s analysis just now is actually very close to the actual situation.

However, the solution I finally came up with was still too simple and crude.

But it's understandable.

People of his generation were basically under the technological blockade of the West in the first half of their careers.

Now that I finally have the opportunity to stand up and make the decision, I inevitably want the other party to try the same thing.

Don't talk about him.

Even Chang Haonan wanted to.

But it's not time yet.

"Old Liu, think about it."

Chang Haonan raised his head, leaned back on the chair, and replied leisurely:

"The reason why we were able to open up a new situation in technical cooperation with Europe in the first place was because the FAA and the JAA were competing against each other. In the end, we, the fishermen, benefited."

"Now, we are working with the Europeans, and we are competing with each other. If we try to imitate the Americans and make small moves at this time, wouldn't we be giving up our biggest advantage and pushing away the cooperation partners we have already obtained?"

"Technical blockade is like a nuclear weapon. It is most useful when it is on the launcher. If it is used, it will lose its deterrent effect..."

Of course, he only said half of what he said.

As someone who has experienced the 2020s, Chang Haonan knows it very well.

It’s not that the ultimate resort cannot be used.

But it can only be used once.

Therefore, it must be reserved for critical moments and a fatal blow.

There is no way to waste it on such trivial matters.

What's more, the two sides are still on the same boat...

"Then Mr. Chang, if we don't respond, will this early warning aircraft project... continue to be followed up?"

On the other side, Liu Yongquan, who calmed down, also realized that Chang Haonan was right.

But considering Ed Steiner's attitude, he felt that if he didn't do something, it might be difficult to save the situation.

"Of course you have to follow up."

Chang Haonan closed the meeting minutes on the table:

"But just remember this, don't spend too much energy on it... I estimate that as long as we wait for a while, the French will most likely come back to us, and by then the project will be completed by the electric power company Science and Technology Group takes over, we are just a middleman..."

Receiving such a reply made Liu Yongquan a little confused for a while.

Although Mr. Chang's judgment was undoubtedly trustworthy based on experience, he really didn't understand the situation this time.

Looking at Liu Yongquan who was full of doubts, Chang Haonan smiled and continued to explain:

"The French themselves have never conducted research and development of early warning aircraft, so if they don't want to find us, the only potential cooperation partners left are the Kingdom of David and Sweden."

"But the former technical route is not suitable for extreme miniaturization. If you want to fly on a business jet, you can only build a conformal array, which means covering the entire side of the aircraft with antennas. This improvement method will destroy the aerodynamics of the aircraft and change the wing root. As for the load-bearing structure, it is not easy for Dassault to understand our wing design and we dare not act rashly in this regard.”

"As for Sweden... the size of Erieye's antenna is indeed appropriate, but it comes at the cost of reduced performance and complete abandonment of the air command function. Although the Falcon 8Z is twice as large as the Saab 340, it requires If you want to accommodate complete early warning and command functions, you still have to slim down the antenna.”

"The French have no experience now, so they don't realize the complexity here, but after they come into contact with the Swedes, they will no longer have other illusions..."

After all, Chang Haonan dared to use the 35-ton Falcon 8Z as an early warning aircraft platform because the optically controlled phased array antenna is light in weight and small in size, and is inherently suitable for application on small platforms.

If AESA, which uses traditional technical routes, wants to fly on business jets, it will have to have some uncanny skills...

Half of the design of the Falcon Z project comes from China, and Dassault does not have the ability to independently develop novel technologies.

Therefore, I can only look back honestly...