Chapter 795: Ring Project, Finale

While Lu Jinwen and Sui Dongxing were rushing to report the situation in David to China.

In the IAI factory.

Hindustan Aeronautics senior engineer Abhinav Bhargava and Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Badoria walked into the assembly workshop surrounded by several IAI senior leaders-

Although the performance of the Air Force in the first half of the Kargil conflict was a big loss, thanks to the more abstract performance of the Pakistan Army, from the perspective of the entire war, India still won.

You know, even if the Indians lose, they can celebrate the funeral, not to mention that they will really win.

Therefore, in the final reward link, the Air Force, which has no merit but hard work, still got some soup.

Badoria, who agreed with the Chief of Staff Admiral Klimpa's early warning aircraft plan at the time and finally proposed to purchase the Falcon system from David, naturally became the former's deputy.

Although the chief of staff of the Western Air Force Command is the same as the deputy chief of staff of the Air Force in terms of rank, and even the offices of the two places are less than 50 kilometers apart.

But it is obvious that the latter is more valuable.

As a condition for being transferred to the core circle of New Delhi, the first task that Badauria received after taking office was to be responsible for the entire early warning aircraft procurement plan.

Absolutely hot potato.

If the interests of all parties involved are not balanced well, then his position as deputy chief of staff may not even be warm and he will have to be replaced.

Even if the balance is good, if something goes wrong in the future, he, as the executor, will most likely be thrown out as a scapegoat.

But at this point, he really has no choice.

Dr. Bhargava was the technical deputy director of the previous HS748AEW&C early warning aircraft project.

Since the technical director died in the crash of the HS748 prototype, he had to take the responsibility of examining the compatibility level of the Falcon system and the Il-76 platform.

After adapting to the slightly dim environment in the workshop, the first thing Bhargava and Badoria saw was naturally the Il-76TD transport aircraft that had even installed a radar bracket.

Looking at the huge aircraft in front of him, Dr. Bhargava showed a little envy in his eyes.

Compared with the HS748, which has a take-off weight of only more than 20 tons and can only do things in a snail shell, the Il-76 can obviously provide engineers with more room to display their talents.

At least there is no need to worry about the radar cover completely blocking the vertical tail, causing the aircraft's heading stability to be almost completely lost.

However, Bhargava did not seem to consider that the reason why Stan Airlines chose HS748 was obviously not because they did not want a larger platform.

But they really did not have the ability to carry out structural modifications on 200-ton large aircraft...

"Has the design plan for this aircraft been finalized?"

Badoria next to him did not care about the doctor's emo, but directly concerned about the most important issue.

"Of course."

Moll McCay, the head of IAI who was in charge of the reception, immediately replied:

"The entire plan itself was designed by the Beriev Group with reference to the A50 early warning aircraft. It is a very mature plan. The only difference is that the airborne equipment has been replaced with the EL/W-2090 radar developed by Elta, and the operating terminal and command system have also been upgraded accordingly."

He pointed to a set of phased array antennas placed on the other side of the workshop, and then continued to add:

"Except for the slightly smaller size, the technical solution of the phased array antenna is exactly the same as that of the Falcon early warning aircraft, but according to the design plan, we will arrange three sides in a triangle in the radome, so there will be no detection blind spots."

Lieutenant General Badoria walked over quickly and got close to the packaged antenna to take a look.

Of course, it is impossible to see anything with the naked eye, but in any case, it is definitely much better than the industrial waste produced by Barat Electronics Co., Ltd.

...

A week later, Chang Haonan, who had finished his work in Shengjing, returned to Beijing.

Just like in the past, after getting off the plane and packing up, the first thing he did was to go straight to the National Defense Science and Technology Commission to report on his work.

Speaking of which, he hadn't been there for several months after the Aviation Power Group was officially established.

Thinking about it, he still felt a little nostalgic.

When Chang Haonan arrived at the Science and Technology Commission, Ding Gaoheng was already waiting for him in the office as usual.

"Director Ding."

Chang Haonan knocked on the door and entered the room.

However, Ding Gaoheng did not start talking about business right away, but smiled and joked:

"I heard that last month, Xiao Chang, you won a victory in the public opinion circle?"

He gestured to Chang Haonan to find a place to sit.

The incident of using public opinion to counterattack Nancheng Newspaper was a bit long ago now, and to be honest, it was just a matter of convenience at that time.

Therefore, Chang Haonan was stunned for a while before realizing what Ding Gaoheng was referring to.

"Well... it was just a coincidence."

He waved his hand:

"Originally, I'm a very easygoing person. Normally, I wouldn't have taken action, but the people from Nancheng Newspaper had to rush into the trap."

Speaking of this, Chang Haonan acted as if he was deeply distressed:

"They criticized our Torch Laboratory for wasting scientific research resources, and my paper was published right after. There was only a week in between, so there was nothing I could do. I could only target them reluctantly..."

Ding Gaoheng didn't speak directly after hearing this.

He just looked at Chang Haonan, who looked harmless, with an expression that said "I believe you must have seen a ghost."

However, he had long been unhappy with the people from Nancheng Newspaper, but he was restricted by his status and had to curse them directly.

This time, someone was able to vent his anger and make the other party suffer, and Ding Gaoheng was so happy that he couldn't wait.

He just mentioned this matter just to have some fun.

Now that the fun is over, it's time to get back to the topic.

So, he regained his serious expression:

"Is the situation in Shengjing going well?"

"Everything is going well."

Chang Haonan also restrained his expression:

"The test flight of the J-11B and the final stage test before the design of the WS-10 are all proceeding according to the schedule. We have currently frozen the technical solution of the WS-10A. Unless there are any particularly important problems, we will carry out small batch production according to the current technical status until the production is finalized and then transfer to formal mass production."

"As for some new technologies that have only recently completed research and development or are still in the process of research and development, they will be reflected in the future improved WS-10C."

Mass production generation, research and development generation, planning generation.

This is the standard set by many projects to ensure a fast enough iteration speed.

Although this principle is widely known because it has become a military slogan, in fact, the iteration speed of most military products does not meet this requirement.

At least it was not met in the late 1990s.

However, under the leadership of Chang Haonan, the aeroengine sector has indeed achieved it.

For example, now, we are mass-producing WP-14, developing WS-10A/B, and planning a deep improvement of WS-10.

"Very good."

Ding Gaoheng nodded with satisfaction.

In his impression, Chang Haonan seemed to bring back the same news every time.

Slightly boring and smooth.

Of course, he would rather be boring like this forever.

"Is there anything else that the organization needs help with?"

With such a subordinate, Ding Gaoheng's duty became to be a good nanny.

"Yes."

Chang Haonan was not polite:

"According to the plan, one of the main weapons of the J-11B will be the PL-13, which is a dual-purpose air-to-ground missile that uses the R33 missile body and replaces it with our own active and passive composite guidance head. However, in order to test the extreme performance of this missile, we need the assistance of an early warning aircraft, at least to provide a rough target direction for the carrier aircraft."

And testing the air-to-air anti-radiation function also requires a real early warning aircraft as a target aircraft (unmanned target aircraft cannot provide sufficient signal strength).

Of course, it is impossible to really shoot it down. Instead, the missile will be self-destructed after confirming that the seeker is working properly.

However, this matter still sounds a bit risky, so Chang Haonan did not dare to tell Ding Gaoheng for the time being.

Fear of scaring the old comrade.

"So, it is better to speed up the development of KJ-200."

Chang Haonan said.

It is useless to just say a few words to speed up the development progress.

So, this is actually a euphemism for asking for money.

"The test flight of KJ-200 went smoothly, and a large amount of new funds will be injected into it next year, so the progress should be very fast."

Ding Gaoheng naturally understood Chang Haonan's hidden meaning.

Fortunately, the Science and Technology Commission has now formed a virtuous circle, allowing the superiors to fully feel the terrifying profit return rate of high-tech industries, so the funding has been much looser than in previous years.

However, Ding Gaoheng's face suddenly darkened:

"Speaking of the early warning aircraft, Xiao Chang."

He opened the drawer and took out an envelope from it:

"There are a few photos in it, which were sent back from Jaffa by the person in charge of the Ring Project."

After speaking, he pushed the envelope in front of Chang Haonan.

In fact, as a reborn person, Chang Haonan could roughly guess what happened even without looking at the photos.

After taking out the photos, it was exactly as he expected.

The typical skin color of South Asia, and the iconic headscarf worn by one of them.

I recognize it.

"It seems that David is determined to sell the results of the Ring Project to others?"

In front of Ding Gaoheng, he still had to show a little shock.

"Yeah."

Ding Gaoheng replied:

"Not only that, our technicians stationed at IAI were even rudely searched by the IDF. These few photos were brought out through special means..."

"..."

In the next ten minutes, Ding Gaoheng told Chang Haonan about the experiences of Lu Jinwen and Sui Dongxing that day.

"Fuck..."

Chang Haonan only knew the general direction of the ring project before, and was not clear about these details.

Now that he heard about it for the first time, he felt angry.

After all, since his rebirth, he has rarely encountered such a hot-tempered thing.

"So... what does IAI say?"

While asking back, he was thinking about whether there was any way to retaliate without spending too much money.

"These photos are still lethal."

Ding Gaoheng replied:

"If we publish them, they may not be able to do business with the Indians, so the preliminary plan reached at present is to take a step back."

"IAI will refund the $250 million we have already paid, and pay the balance of the aircraft and design plan to the Beriev Group on our behalf, and then compensate us with 15% of the purchase price paid by India. In exchange, we will no longer pursue the breach of contract liability for the Ring Project and will not publish these photos."

At this time in 1999, India was still under sanctions for its previous nuclear tests.

Although there was no substantial impact, everyone almost tacitly did what they should do at the same time.

But at least in the arms trade, such as the J-7F delivered by China to the Pakistani army and the advance payment for the Su-30MKI paid by India to the Irkutsk manufacturing plant, they were tacitly transferred to the dark.

At this juncture, if the news that IAI had sold strategic weapons such as early warning aircraft in a big way leaked out, the impact would still be quite bad.

David may not be afraid of these public opinions, but Indians may give up the purchase or switch to other companies.

This is unacceptable to IAI, which is eager to recover funds.

Chang Haonan thought for a moment.

Judging from the conditions alone, the $250 million can be recovered, and there is also a 15% payment, which is essentially equivalent to liquidated damages.

It seems to be about $50 million.

Compared with the previous life, it is not a loss.

However, since the feud has been made, it is naturally impossible to let it go.

But then again, David has a big brother to support it. If it really makes trouble in the open, China does not have many chips in hand.

Therefore, it is better to find a way to make the other side suffer a loss in secret.

Just like what was done in the Balkans.

And if you calculate the time...

Maybe you can do something in the southern Lebanon area...