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

Chapter 448: New Branch Ship, Dock Landing Ship (asking for monthly ticket!)

"You don't have to worry about the quality. We have never received any negative reviews for our upgrade kits!"

Xia Yu said confidently.

The integration solution proposed by the system is the most suitable, which is also one of the reasons why Rheinmetall believes that the "Fire Defense" business is reliable.

Yue Qi, who had previously upgraded 25 Weasel A3s, also has a say. Except for the more expensive ammunition, there is nothing wrong with it.

Well, this is not financial management. They really have a demand for infantry fighting vehicles. Of course, it is not ruled out that if the price is right, the transfer can be negotiated.

"The advance payment will be paid in the second month after the formal signing of the contract, and the first batch of 20 Weasel A3s will be delivered to Afika in 20 years?"

"can!"

Xia Yu signed a letter of intent with the other party first. Like Azhenting, Zhili will also have a team with higher authority to discuss in detail. What can be negotiated at the defense exhibition is the general framework.

However, both contracts are for upgrading old cars. Since he couldn't sell all the Weasel car bodies he had purchased previously, did he keep them for his own use?
Are you kidding? Xia Yu doesn't have so many mines to defend, and the ground force for concentrated fire defense has not broken through the company and platoon level, so there is no need for so many.

Fortunately, the defense exhibition lasted for 5 days. In addition to the upgrade contract, he received some small orders and sold 30 Marder S30s, including both ordinary and anti-tank models.

It is hard to say about the ordinary model without anti-tank missiles, but the Weasel S30 equipped with a Kornet is definitely stronger than the BMP-2M.

The same type of missiles are used to level the anti-tank capability, and the defense and direct firepower are all superior. The Weasel S30 has no other shortcomings except the inability to float, and is quite competitive.

There are many potential customers who did not place orders at the exhibition, but when they can no longer put it off, they will always make the decision because they simply cannot afford a new car!

After the closing ceremony of the exhibition, Xia Yu returned to the hotel and invited Rheinmetall's senior management team to a party.

"Boom~~"

Bottles of Dom Perignon were opened and the waiters filled their glasses for everyone present.

"Prost!"

Xia Yu shouted cheers in German.

"Prost×N!"

Everyone raised their glasses to celebrate the success of this defense exhibition.

The contract value is over 4 million US dollars, so it is indeed time to celebrate.

Rheinmetall, which provided the MK30 2/ABM machine gun, was able to get nearly half of the revenue, so this achievement is also a success for them.

As for the Rh180 machine guns eliminated from the 202 Weasels in the upgrade contract, they can be used to transform 180 BTR-82Ss. This is the infantry fighting vehicle that the black brothers really need, and it is more cost-effective than the BMP-2.

However, Xia Yu doubts how many BTR-80s Russia still has in stock. After all, before the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the larger number was still BTR-60 and BTR-70.

The reason why BTR-80 seems to be in large numbers is that the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant has never stopped production of this series.

I hope everything goes well on this trip to Nauru. If not, he will have to change to BTR-72S, and customers will be forced to downgrade their consumption.

The day after the party, Xia Yu packed his luggage and watched two Weasels being loaded onto a truck and escorted to the port of Le Havre by Kuhn and Sergei.

The A400M of the Tai army returned to the country empty-handed, and it was nothing for the Fire Defense Department to take a ride on it.

But I would be indebted to Afika if I made two special flights, and since we were not in a hurry, sea transportation became the best option.

It would be even better if we added the high-speed cargo ship that Xia Yu had been talking about before, but he now has other goals and can take into account multiple needs.

After taking a car to the airport, Lao Qian and his partner, who had been waiting for a long time, could finally set off.

The distance from Bali to Shanghai is less than 1 kilometers, and the fully fueled Fischer can easily handle the direct flight. However, according to Xia Yu's arrangement, they still stopped in Singapore like a low-cost airline that transferred in many places to attract passengers.

This is the headquarters of Jihuo Defense Asia Branch. Before returning home to pick up his wife and children, he has one last thing to do.

"boss!"

As soon as I got off the plane, Zhao Yanshou, the head of the branch, greeted Xia Yu.

Thanks to the help from its hometown, the construction progress of this company is faster than that of its European branch. However, the Asian branch, whose main business is maritime security, does not have a single ship so far.

For companies like PMSC that provide shipboard security services, having ships or not does not affect the company's operations. However, providing maritime security strike services such as concentrated fire defense is absolutely impossible without ships.

This also prompted Xia Yu to actively contact his hometown to see if there were any destroyers that wanted to be converted into museums, and whether he could snatch the one from the Coast Guard...

Well, the more I learn, the more I realize that the small body of the Fire Defense can't even support a frigate.

The staff establishment of more than one hundred or two hundred people exceeds the headquarters by several times, and this is just the first ship of the branch.

The São Paulo has nearly 1000 employees and is in museum mode. They face tens of thousands of tourists every week and have sufficient funds to support their expenses.

It won't work if they switch to a private military contractor model. After all, the annual turnover is only a few hundred million. The expenses for personnel and equipment alone wipe out all the profits. So why are they busy at it?
Furthermore, the new ship of Fire Defense must be equipped with the Sea Harrier. A large helicopter deck and hangar are rigid needs, which cannot be met by small boats, and the large ship requires too many personnel.

Therefore, the equipment of the navies of big countries is not suitable for PMC companies that develop maritime business. The model of the navies of small countries is considered a professional match.

For example, Singapore, where the poison shrimp strategy is implemented, is smaller than a county-level city in Xia Yu’s hometown, but its population has increased tenfold to more than 10 million. But how many people of military age can this small number of people squeeze out?

Therefore, their navy is quite streamlined, with the crew of all ships not exceeding 100 people, and the number can be further reduced if it is operated by PMC companies.

What Xia Yu had his eyes on was their largest ship, the Endurance-class dock landing ship.

Of course, it has another name. The Chinese call it the Antong class.

In addition to the four ships for their own use, the Singaporeans also exported two ships. However, the standard displacement of these small ships was 4 tons, and the full load was 2 tons, which was a bit too small for the size of the country.

So they imported a large dock landing ship of 2.5 tons from a certain big country, which was larger than the tonnage used by the other country.

Xia Yu looked on with envy. He could afford $1.3 million, but the problem was that he couldn't spend it, and there was no need to.

8500 tons is enough for concentrated fire defense, and a small dock can also hold 20 tanks. The company's single deployment does not even have 82 vehicles, including the BTR-20S of the village protection team.

Also, can you believe that such a large landing ship has only 65 people at full capacity?
This was exactly what Boss Xia wanted, so he cut the number of people in each shift into two groups of 40 and asked his hometown to recommend 60 good guys to be divided into three groups, which could take turns to operate the ship.

Of course, the boat hasn't arrived yet, so Xia Yu has to negotiate it himself.

This is also the reason why he did not return to China directly, but made a special trip to Singapore.

It is impossible to build new ships here in Xiayu. The first ship was launched in 98 and put into service at the end of 99. It is only a few months away from its 20th anniversary, and its condition is very new.

But if you want to convince the other party to retire such a new landing ship, you need a strong enough reason.

"Old Zhao, let's go to the company first!" Xia Yu got into the car and said to Zhao Yanshou who was sitting in the passenger seat.

There is no castle in Singapore, where every inch of land is valuable, that can be used as the office location of the branch, so the Asian branch only rented a building near the Dashi base, which integrates office, accommodation and training.

"Yes, boss!"

The driver started the car, left the airport and drove towards the branch office.

At present, the branch has a total of 32 employees, which seems to be more than the European branch, but 15 of them are just here to help.

When ThyssenKrupp is ready to deliver the submarines, they will have to go to Germany for further training for a few months.

So only when the ship arrives will employees come. This five-story office building with a yard can accommodate more than 5 people to work and live, but now only a fraction of them live there.

Xia Yu also took this opportunity to inspect the construction work of the branch company. As an old Lu, he is not a professional in naval operations, so his level of involvement is not high.

But when the ship arrives, he will still be able to give some advice.

Nothing happened that night, and the next morning, the branch company's car took him to the Dashi base.

There are big fish from the Seventh Fleet in Zhangqiao next door, and Xiayu is also willing to be neighbors with the Magnesian people.

But the new people didn't have the courage to do so and only approved the berth of Dashi for the branch company.

Actually, it’s not bad. It’s better than being squeezed on Brani Island (the old naval port) with their coast guard.

As a military port that welcomes warships from various countries to dock for supplies, visits and exercises, Dashi is quite lively.

At a glance, there were more than a dozen foreign warships on Xia Yu. Such a grand occasion could only be seen in Djibouti, where Afika could station troops for money.

It is nothing to open one or two berths to PMC companies with backgrounds, but the Singaporeans never expected that the boss of this company would set his sights on their four great kings.

Who made your dock landing ship the smallest in tonnage?

Xia Yu also thought about using a large destroyer, but is it really necessary to use a vertical launch to fight pirates?
A naval gun is enough, or another Sea Harrier with a combat radius of 100 kilometers. A full load of Mavericks is cheaper than an anti-ship missile.

It would be even better if this ship could also serve as a transport ship, helping the head office transport tanks and infantry fighting vehicles during non-combat deployments.

The catamaran transport ship is fast and has a lot of cargo, but the aluminum alloy hull is not very resistant to impact and will burst into flames immediately after being hit by a rocket. Also, there is really no need to add an extra unit, so this two-in-one is such a good deal!

Not to mention the spacious helicopter deck and hangar, which is second only to the full-length deck of an amphibious assault ship.

Passing by this group of foreign warships, Xia Yu also saw the target of this trip, a Tough-class dock landing ship in the harbor.

The ship still retains the bow door that can be opened outwards like a tank landing ship, but no tanks will rush ashore through this door, and it is basically only used for material supply.

The Antong class directly eliminated this loophole and relied entirely on dock landing craft to transport vehicles for landing.

Xia Yu actually likes the design of the Tenacity-class ship, which has a flooded dock directly connected to the bow door and the transport deck. After all, it retains more possibilities.

For example, releasing the JARI-USV multi-purpose unmanned combat boat from the bow door?

If there are few people, we should develop unmanned operations as much as possible.

In Xia Yu's eyes, this unmanned boat with a remote-controlled weapon station, phased array radar, small vertical launch unit and torpedo tube is a powerful tool for PMC to expand its business.

However, it is still under testing at this stage. Once the new ship of the Asian branch is in place and the necessary modifications are completed, it will be almost combat-ready.

A Endurance-class ship equipped with two unmanned combat boats on the bow and a Sea Harrier in the hangar is an extension of sea and air combat capabilities.

As for landing operations, the original LCM amphibious landing craft is barely sufficient, but its speed of just over 20 knots cannot exceed that of the dock mother ship, and its versatility is relatively poor.

So Xia Yu's choice was an air-cushion landing craft that could run at 40 knots. When he was a child, he was deeply impressed by the battle between Lamborghini and the hovercraft in "Rumble in the Bronx".

Later, I learned about a series of military air-cushion landing craft such as the European Bison and LCAC, and I have always wanted to own such a boat that can be driven on land.

Now the opportunity has come, and the red Mustang, which has overcome the engine problem, has officially started mass production.

Xia Yu ordered two specially customized versions with upgraded firepower, which can just fit into the Tenacity-class flooded dock.

The extra section compared to the LCM amphibious landing ship is enough to eliminate the two 13-meter-long LCVP personnel landing craft.

Naval amphibious operations require such a configuration, but PMC companies like Firestar Defense do not have similar requirements.

Relying on two Mustang hovercrafts to transport armored units by beaching, to be honest, the main purpose is to take the enemy by surprise.

They can be lifted ashore by crane at the port, but just like the Chinese bases in the Sahel region are monitored 24 hours a day by various local armed forces, there are no secrets about ports and airports.

So why not take an unconventional path?
Soon, the car stopped in front of an office building at the base.

Xia Yu could see through the car window that several naval officers were already waiting at the door. After confirming their license plates, they immediately stepped forward and led him, the client, into the building.

In a conference room on the third floor, Lieutenant General Wang, the only active lieutenant general in Xia County who was promoted to Chief of the Armed Forces at the age of 43, was chatting with Major General Dai, Chief of the Navy.

The focus of the topic is of course today's visitor - Xia Yu.

"At the Satterlee Defense Exhibition last week, Mr. Xia gave me the impression that he is very smart and capable. He has done a great job in military contracting, military museums, and arms business."

"This time he opened an Asian branch here, targeting the pirates operating in the Strait of Malacca..."

Old Dai told his younger boss how the incident happened.

Although he was a naval general, he also attended the Military, Police and Defense Exhibition in Paris, so he met Xia Yu in advance.

The attitude of Xi County is supportive of the deployment of Jihuo Defense.

As the world's second largest container port, they have been troubled by pirates in the Southeast Coast in recent years.

The military said it was implementing a poison shrimp strategy, but this was for a country that wanted to swallow them up. The little pirates were like a blunt knife cutting meat. They only attacked their clients and then quickly evacuated before the navy arrived.

Advanced frigates, patrol ships, and anti-submarine ships have become cannons to slay mosquitoes, and the huge profits from a single success have also made the pirate group quite tenacious.

After finally destroying one batch of pirates, new ones join in. The endless pirate attacks consume a large amount of the navy's funds, and the coast guard is ineffective.

Then outsourcing the project and allowing the Navy to focus on training and visits becomes a feasible option.

It’s just that there was no such PMC company in the past, but with the arrival of Jihuo Defense, it exists. This is also the reason why Xia Yu wants to meet with them today to discuss in detail.

(End of this chapter)