Rebirth 99 to become a car giant.

Chapter 951: Shall we build an aircraft carrier together?

"A ro-ro ship that can transport 10000 vehicles at a time?"

"This can really alleviate transportation pressure and reduce transportation costs appropriately."

China's shipbuilding industry has developed very rapidly in recent years.

For ships like ro-ro ships, which do not require particularly high technical content, it is not particularly difficult to continuously break new records.

Therefore, Cao Yang did not doubt whether Wenchong Shipyard could produce such a ship.

"Yes, now all domestic independent brands are vigorously expanding overseas markets, which has made the transportation of car ro-ro ships become tight, and the prices have naturally risen a lot."

"I think if something special happens in the future, our overseas sales may be affected by shipping issues, which is unacceptable."

"So I think the idea of ​​Wenchong Shipyard is not bad. When the time comes, we can jointly produce more than a dozen ro-ro ships and set up a special transportation company to take over the export transportation business of Huaxia Automobile."

"You never know when this will happen, and it will be an important means of deterring other companies."

Zeng Tingting directly expressed her thoughts.

Nanshan Automobile Group is the largest automobile company in China, and Zeng Tingting certainly does not want to be controlled by others.

Although we cannot enter the American market, there are still many countries in the world where we can sell Nanshan Automotive Group's products.

By then, the annual transportation demand will be quite a large number.

"No problem, let's follow the plan you mentioned."

Cao Yang thought about it for a moment and agreed to Zeng Tingting's plan.

Soon, Zeng Tingting made an appointment with Xiang Jianghui from Wenchong Shipyard to introduce to Cao Yang the roll-on/roll-off ship that was to be produced.

"Mr. Cao, our ro-ro ship uses large gas turbines produced by Nanshan Engine, and its overall energy consumption is lower than that of other car transport ro-ro ships in the industry."

"And the maximum loading capacity we designed reached 10000 vehicles, which is a new historical record."

"According to the current plan, construction will begin this year, and it will be launched as early as the year after next, and will be officially put into use after sea trials."

Xiang Jianghui is now very positive about cooperating with Nanshan-affiliated companies.

Wenchong Shipyard has been established for several decades, but its presence in the country was not particularly strong before, let alone its global influence.

However, since the cooperation with Nanshan-based companies, the situation has gradually changed.

Several dredgers were busy working near several islands and reefs in the southern waters, setting a record in China and even in the world.

The LNG carriers being built in various shipyards have completely overturned the industry structure of LNG carriers, greatly improved the technological level of China's shipbuilding industry, and laid a solid foundation for further development in the future.

As for the electronic reconnaissance ship that is already in service, it has become the subject of research by major countries around the world.

Especially with the passage of time, the news that this electronic reconnaissance ship destroyed an American electronic reconnaissance ship in the southern waters gradually spread.

This made more competitors turn their attention to Wenchong Shipyard.

There were even more strangers snooping around their company during this period, forcing Xiang Jianghui to quickly strengthen security efforts.

"There is no problem in vigorously developing the high-end shipbuilding industry. The future of shipping should still be worth looking forward to."

"The first batch of ro-ro ships will use Nanshan Engine's existing gas turbines. For the next batch, I hope to further improve the technology level of the gas turbines so that they can contribute to the construction of other ships."

Cao Yang attaches great importance to the development of large gas turbines, which can also be used on warships.

Up to now, Nanshan Engine has not yet fully exerted its strength in the field of warships, or has not fully demonstrated its competitiveness.

Cao Yang knows that the number of warships will increase in the future, and there will be many opportunities here.

It would be a pity if we don't catch it.

"The relevant departments are continuing to build a batch of destroyers on a large scale. I plan to discuss with the group and let us build a few of them."

"When the time comes, we will make certain upgrades based on the existing ones to make the destroyer's performance more advanced."

With the support of Nanshan-based companies, Xiang Jianghui is very confident about future development.

The demand for warship construction by relevant departments has increased rapidly in recent years.

Several major manufacturers, such as Hudong Shipyard, are unable to keep up with production capacity.

At this time, it is not impossible that Wenchong Shipyard will jump out to get a piece of the pie.

However, other brother companies will definitely have some ideas.

After all, you took the ships we designed and produced them, so in the future can I also produce the ships you designed?
For example, LNG tankers and the like are likely to be placed on the table.

However, these are all things for later.

……

Naturally, it is impossible to completely conceal the activities of Wenchong Shipyard from other manufacturers.

Hudong Shipyard was the first to know that their brothers were going to start building several large car roll-on/roll-off ships at once.

This speed of development makes them a little worried that they will be surpassed.

"Mr. Zhao, I think the company can also seek cooperation with Nanshan-affiliated companies to see if we can find a better entry point."

"Although the other party's main business is not shipbuilding, they have mastered many key technologies for ships."

"Now all these benefits have been taken by Wenchong Shipyard."

As the purchasing director of Hudong Shipyard, Cheng Weidong has had more contact with Nanshan Special Steel and other Nanshan-affiliated companies in recent years due to raw materials and equipment such as Invar steel used on LNG tankers.

Coupled with the frequent actions of Wenchong Shipyard, Cheng Weidong's attention to Nanshan Group's companies has increased several levels.

This is a partner worthy of cooperation for Hudong Shipyard.

Even if it means giving up some benefits, it is worth it.

"Do you have any specific suggestions?"

Zhao Linyuan has a lot of ideas in his mind, but most of the time, the boss will not express his ideas immediately, but will listen to what the people below say first.

Otherwise, it would be embarrassing if what you said had some flaws.

It is obviously more appropriate to let the people below speak first and then make some targeted judgments and responses.

"As the domestic enterprises that have the most core key technologies, I think we can cooperate with them on the most cutting-edge projects."

"The relevant departments have plans to build several aircraft carriers in the future. Although we already have one and are building a second one, our performance is still far behind the world's leading level."

"Whether it's steam catapult, electromagnetic catapult, or some other technologies, I think we can cooperate with Nanshan companies."

"We can even consider whether the other party can produce some parts that we don't have yet."

Cheng Weidong boldly put forward a new suggestion.

Hudong Shipyard is working with Nanshan-affiliated companies to build aircraft carriers.

The aircraft carrier was not initially the responsibility of Hudong Shipyard, but there will definitely be an opportunity in the future.

If Hudong Shipyard can come up with a very good plan, it is entirely possible that the third aircraft carrier will eventually be handed over to them for production.

Even the fourth and fifth ships may continue to be produced by Hudong Shipyard in the future.

That meaning is extraordinary.

In the future, relevant departments will receive more and more funding, and more warships will be built.

The more advanced the warship, the more important it is, and the more worthy it is for Hudong Shipyard to strive for orders.

Zhao Linyuan naturally knew this, so he said, "We can try this general direction with the other party, but they may not be interested."

"After all, researching these things requires a lot of manpower and material resources, but the final profit may not be particularly good."

"After all, we can't make the production cost of aircraft carriers too high."

Zhao Linyuan is not worried that the technology of Nanshan-affiliated companies will not be up to standard, but he is worried that the other party will not look down on these projects.

After all, if we produce aircraft carriers, the number will definitely not be comparable to that of LNG tankers and roll-on/roll-off ships.

There are many new technologies involved.

So this project is equivalent to a project with high input and small output.

For the sake of fame, ordinary companies may grit their teeth and participate.

However, the Nanshan Group’s companies are already well-known and do not need to make a loss to gain publicity.

"Boss Zhao, I'm not particularly worried."

"In the past year, I have had more contact with Nanshan-affiliated companies. Although their annual profits should be very considerable, they are not very short-sighted."

"For example, Venusstar Technology is researching reusable rockets, Starlink satellites and space stations. At the beginning, no one thought that these technological investments could make money."

"Although the situation has changed a bit now, especially after the UAE invested $200 billion, the situation has changed dramatically."

“But these are things that had not been thought of before.”

"Although we don't know how much impact the various technological investments related to aircraft carriers will have in the future, we can be sure that this will be very beneficial to improving China's overall strength."

"I think the companies in the Nanshan Group would be interested."

"Even if some of the people in charge refuse to cooperate for the sake of their own company's profits, we can directly find Mr. Cao and he should be recognized."

Cheng Weidong made his own judgment based on his communication with Nanshan-related companies during this period.

It has to be said that he has a very high opinion of Nanshan Group's companies.

In fact, this is also the general view of many people in China who have had in-depth contact with Nanshan-related companies.

Otherwise, the influence of the Nanshan system in the country would not have reached such a high level.

"What you said makes sense, but for such a large project, I think I should communicate directly with Mr. Cao first."

"Going from top to bottom should be more efficient and faster than going from bottom to top."

After Zhao Linyuan said this, Cheng Weidong naturally had no objection.

He wished the boss would communicate with him first so that the project could be started quickly.

"Aircraft carrier steel plates, gas turbines, various equipment, active phased array radars..." "Many things are what Nanshan companies are good at. If we communicate directly with Mr. Cao and he arranges personnel to work with us on the aircraft carrier project, perhaps the project will progress much faster than we thought."

"Even in terms of electromagnetic catapults, there may be very big changes."

After Cheng Weidong said this, Zhao Linyuan became even more eager to find Cao Yang to communicate.

Action speaks louder than words. Soon, Zhao Linyuan flew to Yangcheng in person to have a good chat with Cao Yang.

However, his move made the Wenchong Shipyard, which received the news, a little nervous.

"Mr. Xie, is Hudong Shipyard also looking for you to discuss cooperation?"

Xiang Jianghui couldn't ask Cao Yang directly, so he went to find Xie Lingyun, whom he dealt with more often, to find out the situation.

The reason why Wenchong Shipyard can enjoy its current good life is mainly due to its in-depth cooperation with the Nanshan Group.

If the Nanshan-based companies deepen their cooperation with Hudong Shipyard, it would definitely be very bad news for them.

Although Wenchong Shipyard is currently developing rapidly, its absolute strength is definitely still far behind that of Hudong Shipyard.

Xiang Jianghui was also aware of this.

"Mr. Zhao from Hudong Shipyard has indeed made an appointment with Mr. Cao to discuss something tomorrow, but I'm not particularly clear about what they're discussing."

Since Xiang Jianghui was able to call me, it was obvious that he had already received some information.

So Xie Lingyun didn't want to fool others.

Trust is something that, once lost, is very difficult to regain.

If Hudong Shipyard really wants to cooperate with Nanshan-affiliated companies in the future, then Wenchong Shipyard will definitely be able to obtain relevant information in the end.

Anyway, they are all companies under CSSC, so they are not afraid of the other party knowing.

"Mr. Xie, although the strength of Hudong Shipyard is very good, they are in Shanghai after all, and they don't have an advantage in terms of geographical location."

"In fact, all the projects that they can do can be done by Wenchong Shipyard."

Even though he didn't know what project Hudong Shipyard was planning to cooperate with Nanshan-affiliated companies on, Xiang Jianghui felt that he should express his stance first.

No matter what conditions the other party puts forward, you can consider following up.

"Mr. Zhao, I don't think you need to worry too much. Our cooperation over the past few years has been very pleasant. Mr. Cao will definitely consider this factor as well."

Those involved are often confused, while bystanders can see things more clearly. Xie Lingyun felt that Xiang Jianghui was a little too worried.

After all, it is better to do business with someone you are familiar with than to do business with someone you are new to. The cooperation between Nanshan-based companies and Wenchong Shipyard is very harmonious, and there are still many projects waiting for cooperation in the future.

In this case, there is naturally no need to change partners easily.

Otherwise, it will be of no benefit to Nanshan Group’s companies.

"Mr. Xie, to be honest, since we produced electronic reconnaissance ships and LNG transport ships, there have been many more competitors in the industry who are coveting our technology and development momentum."

"I'm also worried that Hudong Shipyard will cause some trouble."

Xiang Jianghui sighed, knowing that after he made this call, people would definitely think that he was not steady enough.

But I can’t care less.

Whenever there is any risk, he wants to nip it in the bud.

Besides, this phone call also lets the Nanshan Group’s companies know how much they value the cooperative relationship between the two parties.

……

"You guys want to directly research electromagnetic catapult aircraft carriers?"

Zhao Linyuan came over to communicate, so Cao Yang had to give him this face.

However, he did not expect that the other party actually wanted to discuss cooperation in building an aircraft carrier, which was a bit beyond his expectations.

"There are four types of takeoff technologies for aircraft carriers: runway takeoff, hydraulic catapult takeoff, steam catapult takeoff, and the most advanced electromagnetic catapult takeoff technology."

"Today, only the United States has fully mastered the steam catapult technology. Even the French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle uses American steam catapult technology."

"Due to technical limitations, countries such as Polar Bear, England, and Rome were unable to develop truly technologically advanced steam catapults, so they could only use ski-ski decks on their own aircraft carriers. That is, the end of the deck was made into an upward slope, and after the carrier-based aircraft took off, they rushed out of the deck along the upward slope, forming an oblique projection motion, just like our first aircraft carrier now."

"The combat efficiency of this type of aircraft carrier is far inferior to that of a steam catapult. Although the United States is the leader in the field of steam catapults, the inherent shortcomings of steam catapults mean that they will be replaced by newer technologies."

"In terms of working principle, the steam catapult uses high-pressure steam to push the piston and drive the slider on the catapult track to eject the carrier-based aircraft connected to it."

"It is huge in size and consumes a lot of steam when working, which results in serious power waste. Only about 6% of the steam is used."

"In order to produce and transport steam, aircraft carriers must be equipped with seawater desalination equipment, large boilers and countless pipelines, and the amount of work and maintenance is staggering."

"Its biggest flaw is that it cannot launch drones because the ejection power is too high. The current drones are lightweight and will be torn apart by the acceleration during ejection."

"Unfortunately, our drone technology is very advanced now, and I think it is no longer appropriate to study steam catapults."

Zhao Linyuan explained the reason to Cao Yang very seriously.

After all, if there is no way to convince Cao Yang, this matter will probably not be accomplished.

He had no confidence that Hudong Shipyard could accomplish this in the next few years relying solely on its own strength.

"Steam catapults have so many disadvantages, but the United States has been using them all the time. Does this mean that the threshold for electromagnetic catapults is relatively high?"

If you're going to do it, do the best.

Cao Yang knew that China's aircraft carriers in the future had developed electromagnetic catapults, and even the experts in charge of these projects had been awarded academician status.

However, if Hudong Shipyard is now cooperating with Nanshan-affiliated companies on this project, it is natural to understand the situation clearly.

"The advantages of electromagnetic catapults are unquestionable."

"First, it has a wider range of uses. Whether it is a heavier aircraft that may appear in the future or a small and light drone at present, the electromagnetic catapult can launch it."

"Second, its availability has been improved. The average period between two major failures of the steam catapult currently in use is 405 weeks, while the electromagnetic catapult can reach 1300 weeks."

"Another advantage is that the electromagnetic catapult reduces operating and support costs. It only requires 90 people to operate it, which is 30 fewer than a steam catapult."

"The fourth is improved energy utilization. The efficiency of the electromagnetic catapult is about 10 times that of the steam catapult, about 60%."

"Finally, it is to reduce the requirements for the auxiliary systems on board. The steam catapult relies on a large number of auxiliary systems provided by the aircraft carrier, while the electromagnetic catapult is much simpler. It takes less than 15 minutes from the closed state to the standby state, which makes the steam catapult far behind."

"Of course, precisely because the advantages are obvious and the technical difficulty is very high, no country has been able to do it yet."

Zhao Linyuan directly admitted that electromagnetic catapult is difficult to implement, otherwise they would not have sought cooperation with Nanshan-based companies.

"Mr. Cao, the electromagnetic catapult technology was proposed by the Americans a long time ago. Their 'Ford' was originally scheduled to be launched in 2013, but due to the difficulty in developing and building the electromagnetic catapult system, it has been delayed until now and has not yet been officially put into service."

"During this period, the Ford has been like a large action figure worth $129 billion, staying in the dock. Because its system is too unstable, the Ford has had to undergo several updates and maintenance, which has also caused its value to continue to rise."

"And the Ford has four electromagnetic catapults. If one fails and stops working, the other three will also go out of service immediately, which means that they need to prepare a backup steam catapult on the already narrow deck."

"In addition, these electromagnetic catapults have an extremely high failure rate, with an accident occurring approximately once every 400 times. The design standard for electromagnetic catapults at the time was to operate safely approximately 4100 times, allowing for one accident."

"If we want to surpass the United States directly and develop an electromagnetic catapult system with better performance, we probably can't use the same ideas as the other side."

Pan Jinxing has also been participating in this exchange.

After listening to the conversation between Cao Yang and Zhao Linyuan, he interrupted.

Ultimately, this project will definitely be implemented by Nanshan Equipment.

After all, no other sister company has the ability to solve such a complex equipment system.

In this case, it is very important to determine some general directions.

Otherwise, if the direction is wrong, they will not be able to succeed no matter how hard they try.

Then we will really be laughed at by America.

I feel that you Chinese haven’t even developed a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, yet you want to develop an electromagnetic catapult.

The so-called electromagnetic catapult is to launch a ship in an instant.

To achieve this, the problem of storing electrical energy must be solved.

Before the electromagnetic catapult can be launched, the ship's electrical system must be running to generate sufficient kinetic energy.

In short, it is to rotate the engine at an extremely fast speed, generate more than 121 megajoules of energy through power generation, and launch the carrier-based aircraft within two or three seconds.

Such huge energy consumption is difficult for ordinary aircraft carriers to bear.

Of course, the actual success of electromagnetic catapult technology does not depend on whether the aircraft carrier uses nuclear power.

In fact, even ordinary aircraft carriers can use electromagnetic catapult technology.

The only problem is how to store the energy.

The first method is the flywheel energy storage technology currently used by the United States, which uses a huge flywheel to rotate continuously at high speed to generate electricity before the catapult system is activated.

When the electromagnetic catapult system is activated, this huge flywheel can convert all the electrical energy into the energy required by the electromagnetic catapult system within two or three seconds.

The second approach is supercapacitor technology.

Simply put, it is a power bank that can store electrical energy and can accommodate the launch of up to two heavy carrier-based aircraft at a time.

Moreover, this power bank is small in size, only about five cubic meters, making it very suitable for storage on an aircraft carrier.

America has also been wanting to use supercapacitors, but has been unable to do so because they use alternating current rather than direct current.

In addition to the performance of the electromagnetic catapult system, other issues need to be addressed.

This is not so easy to do.

"Mr. Pan is right. I also think we can't follow the same path as America, otherwise it might be very bumpy."

"Nanshan batteries have great advantages in energy storage technology, and Nanshan equipment has obvious advantages in various precision equipment."

"By leveraging these advantages and taking a different route in electromagnetic catapult technology, there should still be hope for overtaking others."

Zhao Linyuan has already sensed that Cao Yang seems interested in cooperating with him on the electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier project.

This is definitely a good thing.

(End of this chapter)