Chapter 1081 An Almost Ready-Made Solution

Although Ed Steiner wanted to avoid being overly controlled by China, he had never mentioned the real reason to anyone else.

After all, for most ordinary workers, the first thing they pursue is the stability and low risk of the project.

Therefore, in the face of Kasore's suggestions, which were very reasonable on the surface, he certainly could not refuse them directly.

I had no choice but to change the topic without leaving any trace:

"But... Ericsson launched a light early warning aircraft in 1997 based on the Brazilian ERJ145 passenger aircraft."

"Although the flight speed of the ERJ145 is not as fast as our Falcon 8Z, it is at least within the category of jet aircraft, right?"

In fact, Ed Steiner's confidence in cooperating with Sweden largely comes from this new product that was put into service last year.

But the results obtained now are completely different from expectations.

Kasore shook his head helplessly:

"The system version used by the E99A is PS890, which is the model on the Saab 340. It has limited detection capabilities and can only achieve the most basic air detection. It needs to cooperate with the ground command post to achieve complete early warning and command capabilities..."

The French Air Force needs to frequently perform missions in Central Europe, the Mediterranean, and even the Sahel region, but it is not included in the NATO command system and cannot rely too much on ground command.

And after entering the 21st century, such models with incomplete functions have gradually lost their competitiveness in the international market.

Even though the armies of many small countries seem to have little chance of fighting, it is precisely because of this that they pay more attention to keeping up with the latest trends in equipment construction——

Don't worry about whether it's suitable or not, just say don't go first, right?

Even the Swedes themselves are working on upgrading the PS890 system and matching it with the larger Saab 2000 platform.

For a moment, Ed Steiner's train of thought seemed to have reached a dead end.

Looking at the old superior who frowned and fell into silence, Kasore hesitated for a long time and finally raised his doubts:

"Doctor, the Swedes are not the only ones who can provide the same type of early warning system. In fact, Ericsson's products have not been updated for a long time, so they are not very advanced today... Can we find other partners?"

Such a direct question made Ed Steiner a little nervous. He hesitated for a long time before finally answering:

"I originally considered that Ericsson has rich experience in designing and developing small early warning aircraft, and we also have to consider non-technical factors... Sweden and we are both non-NATO members that have close defense cooperation with NATO, so we cooperated The obstacles are also relatively small.”

Kasore remained silent and did not reply immediately.

But judging from his expression, it was obvious that he was not convinced.

Five years ago, these two reasons would have been quite convincing.

But this is 2003.

China participated in half of the design of the NH90, which is equipped with four NATO countries.

The engines used in Dassault's Rafale are not only imported, but at least half of them belong to others.

There are some things that you don’t need to care too much about…

Of course, the leader had spoken, and Kasore could not openly disobey the spirit of his superiors' instructions, so he had to choose a roundabout strategy:

"Doctor, David is currently cooperating with Gulfstream to install the conformal array Falcon system on the G550, and it is a version with the same functions as the Boeing 707 platform. Should you consider contacting Elta Electronic Industries? "

Perhaps because he was worried about Ed Steiner's poor memory, he made a special comment at the end:

"Although Elta had a serious breach of contract a few years ago, its subsequent supply to India has been relatively smooth, and there should be no commercial risks..."

Obviously, the real focus of this sentence is the first half.

This is also the part where Casore really wants to remind Ed Steiner.

Sure enough, upon hearing this suggestion, the latter's brows furrowed even deeper.

However, for Ed Steiner, the business reputation of the Kingdom of David came second.

Mainly because one of the two opponents that the Falcon 8Z is mainly targeting happens to be the Gulfstream G550 that first flew in 2001.

The other is the Bombardier Global 5000, which also made its first flight earlier this year.

No way, the positioning, size, range...even the time to enter the market are all close.

It's bound to be a bloody encounter.

Therefore, it can be said that the publicity plan he finalized is full of aggression.

For example, the reason why the ultra-long-range test was suddenly advanced was largely because it wanted to get ahead of the G550, which also has a range of nearly 12,000 kilometers, and become the first iconic model to fly directly from New York to Tokyo or Beijing.

Now we suddenly have to compete with each other for the same radar system aircraft platform...

Embarrassing or not, put it aside for now.

Others, like Gulfstream, are not soft persimmons. How could they just let it go?

Moreover, the conformal array antenna looks beautiful, but compared with the traditional piggyback antenna, it has a greater impact on the overall structure of the aircraft.

Still have to go back to the problem of finding someone to optimize the overall structure...

In the end, Ed Steiner decided to compromise with himself.

"never mind……"

He sighed and waved his hand:

"Let me think about it again..."

Immediately afterwards, after confirming that Casore had left and gone far away, Ed Steiner returned to his desk at the speed of light, picked up the phone, and dialed the number of his secretary's office:

"Send me an email to China and ask them if they can provide a design plan for the radar antenna of the early warning aircraft..."

"Of course it's not detailed data... Just have an overall plan, and be quick!"

The moment he put down the phone, he was a little lucky that he didn't reply directly to the other party, but delayed it until today.

After all, it leaves some room for maneuver.

…

Ed Steiner's request was quickly presented on Liu Yongquan's desk.

But this time, the former received feedback much slower than before.

First of all, Chang Haonan, who first proposed this project, is currently focusing on sorting out a lot of work after the new model project is approved, so Liu Yongquan can only be responsible for coordinating this matter himself.

Secondly, the cooperative research and development of early warning aircraft cannot be completed by the aviation power group itself.

It also requires the cooperation of electronic technology and aviation industry.

Or to be honest, the other two families are the main force.

For cooperation like this across multiple enterprises, there are many approval procedures at the group level alone.

Although the whole process was almost given the green light due to Chang Haonan's signature, it was still a bit of a headache for Liu Yongquan, who was not very familiar with this aspect of the business.

It was not until half a month later that he finally went to Haojing again and contacted Liang Shaoxiu, who was in charge of testing the Air Police 2000.

In fact, the two had met several times before.

Not to mention, they attended the project launch meeting at the end of May at the same time.

However, Liang Shaoxiu did not have the opportunity to speak in the auditorium at that time, and Liu Yongquan was the party undergoing the review, so he did not have in-depth contact.

Fortunately, they are all soldiers brought up by Chang Haonan on different tracks.

Although he has no title, he still has some sense of being a senior brother.

Therefore, after just a brief exchange of greetings, the two of them became familiar with each other...

Not surprisingly, when Liu Yongquan walked into the Haofei assembly workshop for the first time, he was shocked by the early warning aircraft.

So much so that for a long time, I couldn't take my eyes away from it——

In terms of size, the C909, a 110-ton platform, has limited physical volume.

But carrying a big plate on your back and being "thorny" gives you an inexplicable sense of science fiction.

Liang Shaoxiu was already used to this.

Almost everyone who came here for the first time had the same reaction as Liu Yongquan.

"The second model launched by Mr. Chang and Academician Wang has entered the testing stage and is expected to be delivered to the troops for trial next year..."

"..."

After a brief introduction as usual, he was ready to get into the main topic of the day.

But before he could say anything, he heard Liu Yongquan next to him whispering to himself in an emotional tone:

"No wonder Mr. Chang was so confident before..."

When he first talked to Ed Steiner about the proposal to cooperate in developing an early warning aircraft, the latter did not give a clear answer. Instead, he looked around and looked like he was ready to find another partner for cooperation.

Chang Haonan said at that time that there was no need to worry, as the other party would definitely look back in the end.

Later, there was no news for several months, and Liu Yongquan was still a little worried.

As a result, when I came here today, I found that Mr. Chang had probably started preparing for it a long time ago...

Liang Shaoxiu was stunned for a moment, and he also understood the purpose of Liu Yongquan's visit from these words:

"So...the cooperation project that Mr. Liu is here to talk about this time is related to Air Police 2000?"

He had just received a notice from his superiors the day before yesterday that comrades from Shengjing Institute 606 were here to discuss model cooperation, so he didn't know too many details.

"Strictly speaking, it is related to the early warning aircraft."

Liu Yongquan also calmed down his expression and put on a serious tone:

"We have a business jet platform jointly developed with Dassault with a maximum takeoff weight of about 35 tons. Now the French side has made a request to us, hoping to jointly develop a light early warning aircraft based on it."

He said, patting the briefcase in his hand:

"I have brought the basic information of the platform, but I need you to come up with an overall design of the radar system as soon as possible, otherwise I am worried that the French will not be able to wait..."

"etc……"

Liang Shaoxiu was stunned immediately:

“Is the platform ready-made?”

"yes."

Liu Yongquan nodded, a little confused as to why the other party had such a reaction.

Liang Shaoxiu tried hard to keep his mentality stable:

"In this case... we have an almost ready-made plan on hand..."

Now, it was Liu Yongquan's turn to look confused:

"ah?"

As a "young backbone" who was promoted to a technical leadership position after the separation, Liu Yongquan does not know much about the situation outside the aerospace system.

He originally thought that it would take several months for the brother units to come up with the overall plan that Dassault wanted.

After all, it’s not just a matter of scaling down a large platform.

For this reason, he even thought about how to stabilize the French people's mentality.

As a result, when I arrived in Haojing today, I found that... the other party was already ready?