Don't talk about martial arts, I'm a war contractor

Chapter 297: Snowstorm, no one buys it? (Please subscribe!)

Although he had not experienced that era, Xia Yu was still very interested in the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The success of the Apollo program symbolized the end of the first phase, and the subsequent heavy investment in the space shuttle project meant that the competition had escalated and entered the stage of developing reusable spacecraft.

Yes, a one-time use spaceship is too wasteful. It would be nice to have an aircraft that can be used multiple times like an airplane.

The idea is good, but it is difficult to implement it.

The Magnesians took the initiative, and the Alliance followed up without hesitation until they came up with the OK-GLI Blizzard.

Unfortunately, the terminally ill giant cannot be saved by aerospace technology.

After completing the first and last unmanned orbital flight before the collapse, Buran stayed at the Baikonur Cosmodrome forever and became part of the heritage divided by Kazakhstan.

So do you want to go and have a look?

Just when Xia Yu was a little confused, he slid his finger down the screen and suddenly saw an old news item.

【2002年5月12日，“暴风雪”号轨道器和“能源”火箭在拜科努尔第112号航天飞机专用总装厂房（MIK-112）垮塌事故中被毁……】

It's a bit unexpected but also reasonable. No one cares about it and no one maintains it.

The fighter jets stored in this base need to be maintained regularly so that they can have the confidence to shout out the current price, otherwise they will really be sold for scrap metal.

Go and take a look, the Buran was shattered into pieces, but there was more than one man-made space shuttle of the same level in the world.

In addition to two other mass-produced machines, there are a total of 2 various engineering machines and prototype machines.

There are currently three aircraft left at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, including the most completed No. 3 aircraft, Birdie, and two full-size static mock-ups of mass-produced aircraft, specially used for matching and load testing. .

So there is still something to see. Alexei is busy negotiating and should not be able to shout, so he will go there by himself.

After making the decision, I called my parents again and told them that I would go back early to celebrate the New Year.

The old couple are naturally happy. It has been almost four years since their son has time to return to China.

In the past, there was nothing to say about making money to pay off debts, but later on, they seized the opportunity to make money and built a new house in the countryside, and their family was completely turned around.

This requires going to ancestral graves, burning incense and paper, and praying hard.

Of course, Xia Yu also had better news that he kept from them, but wasn't this a surprise?

After making the call and traveling all day, the accumulated fatigue suddenly came to me.

He quickly washed up and got into bed. There was heating in the barracks. He was not cold at all, but he was a little thirsty.

With a bottle of Jihuo brand mineral water, Xia Yu quickly fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes again, it was already the next day.

After breakfast, he continued to get down to business. He and Alexey split up. He continued to argue with each other, while Xia Yu went to check the batch of Su-25K.

The total number is 8, and the condition is better than the ones used by Uncle Hei.

"To tell you the truth, these four aircraft have not been in the air for five years, and their engines must be overhauled before they can be put into use."

The lieutenant colonel in charge of the attack aircraft introduced him.

苏-25的两台R-195涡喷发动机就是米格-21的R-13去掉加力功能，每500小时就得大修一次。

Just because it still retains 6 upgraded Su-25UBMs, it is impossible to give away all the spare engines of the other party like the MiG-29.

The good news is that R-195 is not expensive, and Xia Yu’s own printing only costs one material. If you don’t have it, you won’t have it!

However, 8 Su-25Ks can form two attack squadrons. Afika cannot be accommodated by one country. He has to find two buyers.

Busa was the first to rule out the situation. After spending hundreds of millions of dollars in budget, they were already depleted. Not to mention that Xiayu spent the price of a second-hand Su-25 to help the other party bring three lying Frogfoots back to life.

Including the one in the best condition, this attack aircraft squadron is enough for Busa for another 10 years, so it must develop new customers.

As for land licking machines, any country with extremist organizations in their territory needs them, and Mary is a good choice.

The Chinese are playing a balance game in the Sahel region. When terrorism and separatism become strong, they spend money to fight against it. But once the opponent's momentum weakens, they slow down their pace and slowly work hard.

This is also the reason why the number of combat contracts dropped sharply after Christmas, and most of them were patrol orders.

They are releasing water to give those targets a chance to lick their wounds and recuperate.

Without the trouble of these people, how could the country exert influence?

So Xia Yu decisively went to Niri and picked up his former part-time job selling arms.

People in the country are not in a hurry. Several countries in the Sahel region, especially Mari, the hardest-hit area, are the most anxious. The more they rebel, the more they become afraid. How did the country end up like this?

In the process of gradually understanding that the people of the country are unreliable, they will also find ways on their own, such as squeezing out the budget for purchasing weapons and equipment.

As far as Xia Yu knows, the Mali Air Force does not have a single fighter jet, and two of its eight second-hand Mi-8Ds have crashed.

He talked with the other party when he was in Oga and said that they wanted to equip attack aircraft and were more optimistic about the Super Tucano produced in Brazil.

This kind of propeller fighter that can throw precision-guided bombs was indeed a good choice before the emergence of shoulder-resistant air defense missiles.

But now that the Mirage-2000D of the people in the country have been beaten down, thick skin and thick flesh are the most important thing.

The Su-25 Frogfoot meets this condition very well. When Xia Yu returns to Afika from China, he must find a way to facilitate this business.

Super Tucanoes are so expensive. They cost tens of millions of dollars each. If you buy one, you can build a squadron of Frogfoots. It is really not within the reach of ordinary people.

…………

"What? You want to take a walk around? Then I suggest you go and see the Aral Sea, because I suspect that this sea will disappear in a few years."

During lunch, Xia Yu and Alexey talked about this topic, and the other party gave suggestions.

It is said that the sea is an adjective, but the fishermen of the Aral Sea have actually witnessed the "ocean" turning into a desert in half a century.

Human greed and climate change have jointly caused this result. Kazakhstan has made some money from selling tantalum mines and is not so dry for fishing, so there is still some Aral Sea left in the territory, so you can go and see it.

There are natural landscapes to see and man-made "wonders" to see. Further west from the Baikonur Cosmodrome is the Aral Sea, all on the same route.

As for how to get there, Xia Yu's choice was to go by fighter jet.

It happened that Alexei also wanted to see the status of the fighter jets, so he selected a MiG-31, and Major Jack Shanov, who wanted to fly Foxhound a few times for the last time, sent this party over.

Wearing the VKK-3 high-altitude compensation suit and sitting on the plane, looking at the instrument panel without a large central control screen, I felt a little excited.

Xia Yu can definitely fly the MiG-31, but he can't explain why he can fly it, so he just sits back and enjoys it!

"Boom~~"

Once again the MiG-31s ​​soared into the sky, tearing the sound barrier, and they quickly climbed to Mach 2.8.

It could be faster, but it's not necessary. After exceeding Mach 2.5, the fighter jet has broken through the heat barrier, making Xia Yu feel a different charm in the cockpit.

After flying at high speed for less than half an hour, the Baikonur Cosmodrome, more than 1000 kilometers away, appeared in view. They had arrived.

"Om~~"

After the landing gear touched the ground, two huge parachute bags opened, and the two quickly stopped on the runway of Yubireni Airport at the launch site.

Just 28 years ago, the unmanned Buran landed on the same runway after returning from space.

The huge launch site covers an area of ​​more than 6700 square kilometers, with 13 launch pads, 5 launch control centers, 9 ground tracking stations, and a large number of supporting facilities.

For example, in the Aerospace Museum in front of Xia Yu, the first thing that caught his eye was a Brown "space shuttle", which was also a physical model of the Buran.

It seems that the mass-produced aircraft has a physical model like this, because the details of each space shuttle are different.

However, model aircraft cannot fly, prototypes can be flown and tested in the atmosphere, and only mass-produced aircraft can enter the universe.

Accompanied by the person in charge of the museum, we visited the interior of the Brown. This place was more of a popular science display, and Xia Yu was just taking a quick look.

He was more interested in the little bird in the factory, that one was the real thing.

Passing by the bronze statue of Yuri Gagarin, Xia Yu entered the museum and passed through a large number of photos and information on the first floor. The real objects of the spacecraft return capsule, Sokol-K spacesuit, and Orlan-DMA extravehicular spacesuit were fascinating. His eyes lit up.

Although they are all old things, they can indeed function in the space environment. He will definitely want to collect a set if he has the opportunity.

Forget about canned food and toothpaste, Xia Yu is a man who aspires to eat hotpot in space and doesn't like eating these high-tech pre-made dishes.

Thinking of this, I felt a little hungry, and then I realized that after walking around all morning, it was already lunch time.

He went directly to the cafeteria to taste the standard food at the launch site. He also met the astronauts who were training here. Judging from their accents and looks, they should be from different countries.

"Do you sell ferry tickets here?"

Xia Yu had an impression that in addition to accepting orders between countries, Da Mao's Soyuz also seemed to sell private tickets. At least when he was a child, he had seen in popular science magazines that there were wealthy Chinese who went to space at their own expense.

"Selling, just as you know, the Chinese retired their last space shuttle a few years ago, and the price has doubled, so some interested private customers are also waiting and watching."

The person in charge who accompanied Xia Yu told the truth. Monopoly will bring about price increases. If the Chinese people lose the ability to send astronauts into space, who will you kill if you don't kill them?

It's just a pain for those wealthy people with spending power. Eighty to ninety million US dollars for a ticket is indeed a bit high, equivalent to 10% of Xia Yu's entire net worth.

There is nothing wrong with spending so much money. Second-hand space shuttles are not that expensive.

However, Space

"Mr. Sherlock, do you have this wish?"

"No, I was just asking."

Xia Yu waved her hands quickly.

He is the boss of PMC. When he goes to the International Space Station, is he going to fight aliens?

However, when the other party mentioned this, Xia Yu had some other ideas. After his life became more comfortable, he had the necessity and ability to make special preparations.

After lunch and a cup of coffee, they drove directly to the highlight of the day, the abandoned hangar where the two Birds were stored.

Limited by the pitiful space funding and the long-abandoned project, Baikonur abandoned many buildings and facilities, including the "resting grounds" of the space shuttle.

"There is no surveillance and no preventive measures. Many people break in illegally and take photos and videos and send them to the oil pipeline. This is fine. Some people even steal easy-to-detachable parts from the aircraft and graffiti with paint."

When we got off the bus at a certain place, the person in charge told Xia Yu about the situation of the Little Bird.

He saw what the other party said when he was watching the video yesterday.

Quality is not something everyone has. The lost crystallization of human wisdom needs to be remembered, not wacky and performance art.

From this perspective, although the Buran was destroyed in an accident, it at least retained its final dignity as a scientific research and exploration vehicle.

The surviving Birdie was not so lucky, but all the misfortunes were probably for the encounter at this moment.

After unlocking the lock and entering through the main entrance of the hangar, Xia Yu saw the Little Bird covered with a thick layer of dust and the funny graffiti on the fuselage.

It is 36.37 meters long, 16.35 meters high, and has a wingspan of 23.92 meters. Its size is not exaggerated, making it difficult to imagine that it can send 30 tons of cargo to low-Earth orbit and transport 20 tons of cargo back to the ground.

The problem is that it all came to an abrupt end on Christmas Day in 91, and then time flashed to today.

"Isn't there anyone who wants to buy it and give it a better home?"

Xia Yu asked the person in charge behind him.

He couldn't believe that no one had taken action for such a long time.

The space shuttle has been produced by only two countries, and the quantity is also limited. The Chinese people are all about money. A few years ago, they launched a tender at a price of 2880 million US dollars (initially 4200 million, then reduced the price), attracting more than 20 buyers.

So what about the Little Bird and the Blizzard from before 02?

"Some people have asked, and Kazakh tantalum is also willing to sell it, because it is not their pride. Just because Baikonur is here, they inherit everything here."

"Maybe I can make a decision..."

The person in charge raised his hand and pointed his finger in the north direction. Less than 2000 kilometers away was a city called Xisi.

Yes, you have to nod there, otherwise Birdie will have to stay in this "cage" forever.

Maozi also likes money, but sometimes they think more about politics.

So with Si Mao having property rights and Da Mao having designated transfer rights, these space shuttles are just left.

It would be much easier if the property rights were also owned by Da Mao. Not to mention a certain one that was sold to an amusement park to open a restaurant, but the No. 002 demonstrator that took off and tested in the atmosphere many times was sold to Tuan for the Olympic Games, and it is still around today. fell into German hands.

"So that's it, let me make a call."

Xia Yu came outside the hangar and dialed Alexei's number.

"What? You said you want to buy a birdie number? Why did you buy that thing!"

Alexey was very puzzled when he heard that his partner wanted to buy the space shuttle at the launch site.

It can't fly either. Wouldn't it look better with a fighter jet?

　These two chapters were so difficult to write, and I couldn’t make them up, and it was too late.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)