Set sail1992

Chapter 1433: Prohibited from entering the military industry? No, there is actually a loophole

"Don't worry, Lao Zhang," Zhang Qihang nodded with a smile, "I know the situation of our company, but this time, my thoughts are a little different from before."

Huateng Group's drone subsidiary certainly has experience in developing fixed-wing drones. It initially drew on the design of the US RQ-1 reconnaissance drone to develop the country's first medium-range fixed-wing drone. Even during the previous handover process, Huateng Group retained its fixed-wing drone business.

Even the three major guards are purchasing drones from Huateng Group. It can be said that in China today, Huateng Group is the domestic fixed-wing UAV R&D and manufacturing company. After all, Rainbow-4 and Wing Loong-2 have not yet appeared. Even influenced by Huateng Group's strong position in drones, the R&D units of Rainbow-4 and Wing Loong-2 are now somewhat hesitant about whether to bet on long-flight, fixed-wing UAVs.

  After receiving a call from Deputy Director Sun of the Maritime Supervision Commission, Zhang Qihang became thoughtful: Since the higher-ups have changed their minds and intend to let me work in my current position until retirement, there are some things I need to think carefully about. For example, I will give up the high-thrust turbofan aircraft engines and helicopters, but no one can compete with me for the drones!

Zhang Jiwen calmed down after hearing this and said hurriedly, "Mr. Zhang, please speak."

"The maritime supervision requires that we appropriately enlarge our existing fixed-wing drones to a range of about 4000 kilometers, but my idea is a little bit out of the ordinary,"

At this point, Zhang Qihang stared at Zhang Jiwen and said, "How about we make a long-range drone with a range of 8000 to 10000 kilometers? This can also be regarded as an opportunity to establish our Huateng Group's position in the field of drones."

"8000 to 10000 kilometers?"

  Zhang Jiwen's eyes widened. When he heard Zhang Qihang say that he was planning to "go beyond the norm", he was mentally prepared. But he never expected that his boss's ambition would be so big!

Currently, if we count on our fingers, there is only one drone in the world with a range of 4 kilometers, and that is the American RQ- Global Hawk reconnaissance drone.

  That's the Global Hawk, with a maximum range of over 26000 kilometers, a flight altitude of over 20000 meters, and a maximum airborne time of over 42 hours. It is a true strategic-level reconnaissance drone, and a manifestation of the United States' unrivaled military strength. Apart from the RQ-4 Global Hawk, even the United States' most advanced MQ-9A Reaper integrated reconnaissance and strike drone has a maximum range of only seven or eight thousand kilometers. And now, their own boss is planning to develop a drone with the second longest range in the world?

Zhang Jiwen did not feel embarrassed. He became excited and said, "Mr. Zhang, are you telling the truth?"

Although Huateng Group is already the undisputed No. 1 in the field of civil drones in the world today, who wouldn’t want to go big if possible?

"Of course," Zhang Qihang nodded affirmatively, and explained, "I just figured out why the higher-ups took away our aeroengine business, helicopter business, and even the half-developed tiltrotor aircraft project, but only kept our piston heavy oil aircraft engine and UAV business."

Zhang Jiwen also reacted, his voice trembling: "You mean..."

Compared to Zhang Jiwen, who was shaking with excitement, Zhang Qihang was much calmer. He smiled and said, "I was just guessing, but then again, the orders for our drones from the Guard have never decreased, and now the Maritime Supervision Department has also stepped in. What do you think this signal is, Old Zhang?"

"..."

Zhang Jiwen stopped talking and began to breathe heavily, but his eyes were frighteningly bright.

Ever since the higher-ups asked Huateng Group to transfer its aviation engine and helicopter businesses to other companies, Zhang Jiwen had been listless all day long and felt he had no motivation to work hard. But after listening to what Zhang Qihang said, he suddenly felt that the sky was bluer, the air was fresher, and everything looked pleasing to the eye.

Looking at Zhang Jiwen's expression, Zhang Qihang said with a smile: "Are you not sad?"

"I'm not sad anymore," Zhang Jiwen nodded vigorously. "Boss Zhang, I'm full of energy now. Just tell me, what are you going to do this time?"

"Call Lao Shi over, let's have a brainstorming session together." Zhang Jiwen nodded without hesitation: "If we want to do this project well, we really can't do without Lao Shi."

Although Shi Zhen is mainly responsible for the rotorcraft UAV, he is also very accomplished in UAV flight control.

After thinking for a while, Zhang Qihang said, "By the way, is Professor Wu here? If Professor Wu is here, please ask him to come along."

"Let me ask."

........................

A moment later, Shi Zhen and Professor Wu came in hurriedly. When they saw Zhang Qihang, they didn't bother to be polite to him. They asked anxiously and worriedly, "Mr. Zhang, what exactly is Mr. Zhang talking about? Why did the company suddenly decide to develop a long-flight fixed-wing UAV?"

What happened before shocked everyone.

"This is what happened. Deputy Director Sun from the Maritime Safety Supervision Department found Mr. Zhang..."

Zhang Jiwen briefly introduced the situation to Shi Zhen and Professor Wu, and then told them about Zhang Qihang's previous speculation.

Before Zhang Jiwen finished speaking, Shi Zhenbei, Professor Wu, became excited: "Yes, that's right. If the higher-ups didn't have this intention, they wouldn't have asked the maritime supervision department to contact us to develop such a long-flight drone."

The two were very excited.

This is understandable, because the intervention of the maritime supervision department itself represents a positive signal.

Seeing that Shi Zhen and Professor Wu understood, Zhang Qihang said, "This incident is a great opportunity for our Huateng Group. I plan to take this opportunity to see if we can develop a high-performance, long-flight, and sustainable upgradeable UAV platform... A range of more than 4000 kilometers under maximum payload, that's still 4000 kilometers."

Zhang Jiwen, Shi Zhen and Professor Wu laughed when they heard this.

  They are all people with extremely high IQs, how could they not understand what Zhang Qihang meant?

A flying machine has a range of 4000 kilometers, and there are many places where it can be "handled":

  Is it more than 4000 kilometers empty-loaded or more than 4000 kilometers fully loaded?

The empty-load range is more than 4000 kilometers, and the fully-loaded range may be less than 3000 kilometers; but if the fully-loaded range is 4000 kilometers, the empty-load range will be close to 6000 kilometers.

If the fully loaded range is 5000 kilometers, which is slightly more than 4000 kilometers, then the maximum unloaded range of this aircraft will be around to kilometers...

In other words, relying on this requirement of the maritime supervision department, Huateng Group can produce a long-flight UAV with a maximum range of 8000 kilometers.