Chapter 729 Opening the Eyes of Europeans

Compared with the fierce reaction of the South Asian powers on this matter, the attitude of the East Asian powers seems much calmer.

Or rather, they are relieved about the southwest direction.

On the one hand, the result of the entire conflict has hardly changed the status quo. Although the Pakistani Air Force has won a big victory with the help of its intelligence advantage, the army, which is really poor in combat effectiveness, still failed to resist the counterattack and gave back several hills occupied in the past month.

And this is actually the most pleasant result for China to see-

Whether from a historical or realistic perspective, the South Asian direction is not the focus.

If too many resources are invested in this direction, it will form a strategic containment.

Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a balance between India and Pakistan. It is not a good phenomenon for either side to be too strong.

On the other hand, in the process of responding to this emergency air situation, the Air Force Aviation and Radar Corps also handed in a perfect answer.

In the past, even if the radar station discovered the abnormal actions of the Indian Air Force in advance, the J-7 and J-8I fighters, which were nearly a thousand kilometers away, could not arrive in time for disposal. Only a few air defense missile battalions could barely serve as the last barrier.

In this case, if a certain big country in South Asia really gets excited and makes some big news, objectively speaking, it is actually difficult to stop it.

Apart from other things, the cross-border reconnaissance of the MiG-25 was completely stopped only after a MiG-25 was shot down in Operation Hunting Bat.

But now the air force has proved its plateau deployment capabilities and reaction speed, and the concerns in this regard are naturally eliminated.

As for the Indians' idea of ​​intercepting the ring project...

This matter is still at the stage of discussion within the Air Force, and China obviously has no way of knowing it.

And more importantly, after the leaders inspected the KJ-200 project and read the large early warning aircraft development plan submitted by Ding Gaoheng, China has essentially given up the idea of ​​obtaining early warning aircraft through the ring project and turned to the route of self-reliance, but on the surface it is still entangled with David.

If India's actions can make this doomed project end faster and recover funds, it will be a good thing for China.

At this moment, the focus of the leadership of the Aviation Industry and the Science and Technology Commission is still on the supplier contract signed with Airbus.

…

Luzhou, Aviation Industrial Park.

Although the core of the park is still a wasteland to be built, some companies that can't wait have begun to build their own factories, or at least offices, on the edge.

For example, Rongfei Group, which has been responsible for producing cabin doors for Airbus A320, and Shengfei Group, which is responsible for producing tail cone work packages, have gradually begun to move their civil product lines here.

The former, which is closer, has even broken ground on the workshop.

Therefore, when the EU aviation industry delegation, including Airbus Group, arrived in Luzhou for the second time, they were taken directly to a busy construction site as soon as they got off the plane.

"Dr. Huai, this place... seems... different from when we came here last month?"

Anne Colombo, senior representative of the European Joint Aviation Authority (JAA), looked at the scene in front of her in a daze.

If she hadn't come here once before during the negotiations, and barely recognized the road, and the old acquaintance Huai Guomo was leading the team next to her, she would have even worried for a moment whether she had been abducted.

"After all, it's been more than a month, so there must be some changes."

Huai Guomo thought that if we could drag out the approval process like you in Europe for ten or eight years, there would be no need to think about developing the aviation manufacturing industry.

Of course, he still had to introduce (show off) it:

"Since we signed the last agreement, the enthusiasm of relevant enterprises and institutions in our country has been very high. Several enterprises that have obtained your production qualifications have begun to transfer production capacity here. This construction site is planned to be used to produce aircraft doors and part of the fuselage in the future."

"There are also some very capable companies that have not yet been included in your supplier list. They have also set up offices here to help you simplify the approval process."

This set of large-scale industrial park strategies has almost formed path dependence in China in the past 20 years, and Huai Guomo's words are even a bit conservative.

Related enterprises, especially those that have the ability to enter but have not yet entered, have actually started operating at various levels when the industrial park was just determined and even the landing location was not determined.

After the official opening of the park in March this year, the office of the industrial park was almost paralyzed by the influx of business personnel for a week.

But for Europeans...

I have never seen this scene.jpg

A gray-haired old man walking on the other side of Huai Guomo also recovered from his stunned state.

Although he looks unremarkable, he is Dr. Bernard Ziegler, senior vice president of Airbus Group Engineering and chief engineer of Airbus A320 project.

He is also the leader of the team sent by Airbus.

After China and the European Union signed the agreement in April that can be said to have saved the future of the euro, the policy obstacles of Airbus Asia (China) Final Assembly Center have completely disappeared.

And Ziegler came here this time to conduct an inspection at the technical level to finally finalize the timetable for the construction of the final assembly line.

To be honest, this kind of business is not new to him.

In the early 1990s, Ziegler led a team to Eastern European countries that had just opened their markets, as well as South American countries including Brazil, to conduct similar inspections.

The conclusion is that for these developing countries, even if they have a certain aviation industry foundation, there is still a big gap between efficiency and project management and Airbus' requirements.

And there is no doubt that China is also a developing country.

Therefore, before this trip, his most optimistic estimate for the completion of this production line was probably 5-7 years later.

As for the real realization of the dual guarantee of production and quality, there is no way to calculate the time.

However, just a few hours after landing, he opened his eyes directly.

"So, your plan is... to concentrate all the industrial chains related to our Airbus Group around here?"

Ziegler turned around and confirmed with Huai Guomo, who had just finished talking to Annie.

Of course, he could tell that this was what the other party had just said, but he still felt it was a bit exaggerated.

"The aviation manufacturing industry involves too many and too diverse industrial categories. It is certainly impossible to concentrate all the industrial chains."

Huai Guomo shook his head and denied it very straightforwardly.

However, before Dr. Ziegler could breathe a sigh of relief, he changed the subject again:

"However, we do plan to concentrate all the first-tier suppliers as much as possible."

Ziegler's words were stuck in his throat before he could say them, and his eyes looking at Huai Guomo were shocked.

The latter wanted this result, so he paused for a moment before continuing:

"I know that Airbus aircraft in Europe first produce each large component in factories located in different places, and then transport it to Toulouse for final assembly by special A300-600ST transport aircraft."

"But for us in China, on the one hand, we lack special transport aircraft, and it is difficult to transport large components at the fuselage compartment level over long distances. On the other hand, our advantages mainly lie in cost and efficiency. If we also adopt the model of decentralized production and centralized final assembly, then these two advantages will be reduced."

"In comparison, we are more inclined to add some infrastructure at the initial stage. 's investment, the industrial chain is concentrated in advance, so that the large parts produced can be assembled only by land transportation. It happens that we have enough land and administrative capacity, so we made such a plan. "

"But... Dr. Huai."

Ziegler frowned slightly:

"Even so, most of the large parts needed for assembly still need to be produced by European factories and then airlifted to your country. Moreover, the A300-600ST itself is built on a mature platform, and the flight cost is similar to that of a normal passenger plane. For an industry like aviation manufacturing, it is not a big expense."

It should be said that his doubts are reasonable.

It sounds like a luxury to airlift large parts from first-tier suppliers to the assembly plant, but considering that the added value of products such as aircraft is very high, it is not difficult to accept it.

Besides, even if the first-tier suppliers are concentrated together, many parts provided by second-tier suppliers, such as the fuselage bulkheads or landing gear actuators that Jiang Zhong plans to produce, also need to be airlifted.

It just doesn't need to be specially modified aircraft.

But Huai Guomo can't say that we are not only preparing to produce your Airbus aircraft here, but also preparing to produce aircraft from other companies, and possibly even your arch-rival Boeing. If we don't plan for the long term, the transport planes that transport large parts may not be able to arrange routes due to too many flights...

So we have to focus on the first half:

"Dr. Ziegler, according to our plan, the first phase of cooperation includes not only an assembly line, but also the transfer of the A320 fuselage compartment to China for production, and these ancillary facilities are also part of the plan."

"?"

Ziegler took a deep breath and thought to himself that you guys are really ambitious. It doesn't seem like you just want to assemble the whole aircraft, but more like you are planning to move the entire aircraft production process here...

"Dr. Huai, please forgive me for being blunt."

He said firmly:

"Although the fuselage of the passenger plane looks simple, it actually includes many structural parts, and the requirements for processing quality and technology are very high, especially..."

But before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Huai Guomo:

"Dr. Ziegler, of course I know what you said."

"As for whether we have this ability, I believe that the subsequent trip will let you make a judgment."