I built an armada.

Chapter 496 Let's do it ourselves and build aircraft carriers
"Yes!"

Several air force chiefs said in unison.

Looking at the backs of everyone leaving, Ma Zhengbang let out a long sigh.

Previously, the Air Force was ranked second, but now it has dropped to the bottom.

"If this continues, the Air Force will lag behind the other armed forces."

Ma Zhengbang sighed slightly, feeling very sad, but he also made up his mind.

On the way back to the Naval Headquarters, Liu Huaming's face was full of pride.

"Dingping, see, so many people are staring at you."

"If I hadn't left in time, once I was entangled, I would have been too embarrassed to stop you in front of Xue Shuai. I would have added more tasks to you. To be honest, I still feel very distressed. After all, you are a member of my navy."

At this point, he changed the subject and said, "Dingping, after the celebration banquet is over, I'll give you a day off. What do you think?"

Have a holiday?

Su Dingping was obviously stunned for a moment. He had never thought about this question before.

"No need, Chief. I've been busy a lot lately. Forget about the holiday. Let's talk about it later when we're not busy."

Su Dingping shook his head slightly and refused directly.

"Hey!"

Liu Huaming sighed helplessly. He also knew Su Dingping's temper.

Giving him a break is like killing him.

"Dingping, do you know that it has been more than a year since your last vacation?" Liu Huaming still wanted to persuade him.

Su Dingping smiled and said, "Commander, I am still young and at a good age to strive for success. Besides, Mr. Qian didn't even give himself a holiday, so how can I get any special treatment?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Liu Huaming and the others all laughed.

Only they themselves know how much helplessness is contained in this smile.

Back at the naval base, the celebration banquet was already prepared.

In this military commendation meeting, the Navy stole the limelight, while both the Army and the Air Force were overshadowed.

The number of people who were commended accounted for more than two-fifths of the three armed forces, almost half.

This was unimaginable in the past, and had never happened before.

The faces of everyone in the entire naval base were filled with brilliant smiles.

After about an hour, Liu Huaming and other leaders took their seats in the auditorium.

Those who can dine here are all at the colonel level, which is a very high level. Without a certain status, you are not qualified to come here.

As soon as the banquet started, Liu Huaming stood up with his glass in hand, glanced at everyone, and said loudly: "Come on! Everyone raise your glasses. Let's toast to Comrade Dingping with this first glass of wine!"

Everyone stood up and raised their glasses.

Wan Long was the first to shout, "Respect to Colonel Su!"

Zhou Qinglei and the others said almost in unison: "Respect to Colonel Su!"

Seeing everyone so enthusiastic, Su Dingping was very moved. He immediately stood up, raised his glass and said, "Cheers to everyone!"

Then drink it all up with everyone!

Then, Liu Huaming picked up the wine glass again and said, "This second glass of wine is for everyone!"

Everyone raised their glasses again, clinked them with Liu Huaming's, and then drank them all in one gulp.

"My third glass of wine is for our navy!"

"Cheers to the Navy!"

Everyone followed suit and shouted.

After toasting these three glasses of wine, Liu Huaming and other leaders sat down, and everyone followed suit.

This also meant that the banquet officially kicked off and everyone feasted with relish.

Half an hour later, after three rounds of drinks, the atmosphere on the scene gradually became better.

Wan Long walked up to Su Dingping with a glass of wine in his hand, and said with a bright smile on his face, "Boss Su, this glass of wine is for you."

He followed Su Dingping and worked as a security battalion commander in an integrated military factory for a while. It seemed that he did nothing, but his rank was promoted to colonel and he was awarded a military medal.

This was something he had never expected, so he was very grateful to Su Dingping and respected him from the bottom of his heart!
Not only was his own military rank promoted, but he also saw with his own eyes how, under the leadership of Su Dingping, the navy's warships were constantly updated and upgraded, and its strength was growing day by day!
"Thank you for your hard work during this period!"

"We will continue to cooperate in the future. I'll trouble you with the safety of the integrated military factory."

Su Dingping also picked up the wine glass, turned around and looked at Wan Long enthusiastically, and said seriously.

"Boss Su, it's my honor to be in charge of the security of the integrated military factory!"

Wan Long took the initiative to clink glasses with Su Dingping, and deliberately lowered the rim of his glass, "I'll drink it, you can do whatever you want."

After saying that, he tilted his head back and drank the entire cup.

Su Dingping naturally would not hesitate and also drank it all in one gulp.

After drinking several glasses of white wine, Su Dingping felt a burning sensation in his throat and his whole body began to feel hot.

During the time he was in the navy, he basically didn't drink alcohol on weekdays. He only drank at celebration banquets like this, so it was natural that he would have this kind of sequelae.

But fortunately, he was able to hold on.

Following closely, Zhou Qinglei, Cao Youren and others came over with wine glasses in hand.

Cao Youren has now also received notice that he will be the candidate for captain of the next 10,000-ton destroyer and has entered a comprehensive learning stage.

"Boss Su, I'm a rough guy and I can't speak."

"In short, in one word, thank you!"

“It’s all in this wine!”

"I did it, you can do whatever you want."

Cao Youren said excitedly.

After he finished speaking, he raised his head and drank it all.

One after another, cup after cup, Su Dingping also felt that he was gradually getting drunk.

Finally everything was done. Su Dingping sat down and breathed a sigh of relief.

The banquet lasted for more than an hour and then came to an end.

Su Dingping followed several leaders to the lounge and drank tea to sober up.

Xu Dongguo on the side said with a cheerful smile: "Dingping, you are the protagonist of every celebration banquet, you are much more popular than the rest of us."

Qian Wenbing also said: "Lao Xu, do you remember that I said before that we should reserve one more seat on the rostrum? Look, someone is sitting there soon."

Xiao Chongjun followed up by saying, "I remember you told Dingping not to keep us waiting too long. Sure enough, he didn't keep us waiting too long." "I guess, in the next step, he will be promoted to the rank of major general soon."

The leaders burst into laughter. They all felt that Su Dingping deserved it. Even his current rank of colonel overshadowed his achievements.

Although it is the rank of colonel, the leaders do not think that its value is low and they cannot be on equal footing with them.

After laughing, Xu Dongguo brought the topic back to business.

"Dingping, our 052B production line has been upgraded and officially put into production. The new 052B can be launched."

"The repair and renovation project of the Gabet aircraft carrier is now in the final stages. According to the requirements of the Shayi tribe, we are preparing to equip it with four 4Bs to form an aircraft carrier formation with the Gabet aircraft carrier. They will be delivered in October."

"Dingping, what do you think?"

After saying that, Xu Dongguo looked at Su Dingping eagerly.

"Commander, you guys can decide on this matter."

Su Dingping said seriously without even thinking about it. He had already put forward enough opinions on such foreign trade matters before. Basically, he had nothing to do with it afterwards, and it was not appropriate for him to interfere.

Some things have to be done by the leaders, and he understands the social etiquette.

Xu Dongguo then continued: "Since there are no problems, then the 052D can be put into production again, and our navy can gradually retire the 051C."

"From now on, 052D will become the main standard of our navy's missile destroyers!"

This also means that the Navy's main missile destroyers have officially entered the era of the third-generation ships, and it also means that the Navy has begun to accelerate the elimination of those backward second-generation ships, and even sporadic first-generation ships.

After everyone discussed some more things, Su Dingping looked at Liu Huaming again.

"Commander, I need an F16, an F15, a Su-27, and a J-10."

Su Dingping's words stunned all the leaders.

All the tipsy people suddenly sobered up and stared at Su Dingping with wide eyes.

All of these he mentioned are fighter jets.

If ships were needed, they might be able to think of something better, as they believed that was Su Dingping's main research direction.

And now suddenly you need fighter jets?

There doesn't seem to be any necessary connection between the two, right?
The parts on fighter jets are of no use on naval ships.

Why does he want a fighter jet?
Seeing everyone's surprised faces, Su Dingping immediately explained: "Commander, our first aircraft carrier Varyag should be launched soon, right?"

"It will be soon. It will only take a few months."

Xu Dongguo took over the conversation and responded seriously.

This aircraft carrier, with a displacement of over 65,000 tons, was towed back from the Black Bear Tribe by the Navy after mobilizing multiple forces, going through many twists and turns, and spending more than a year.

After staying at the port for a while, it has now officially entered the stage of continued construction.

Two years ago, Su Dingping also provided a large amount of confidential materials needed for the repair of the aircraft carrier, which was of great help to Cheng Yiqiang and other researchers from the 702 Institute who were responsible for related research tasks.

The time for the continued construction project was naturally greatly shortened.

"We can't just dock armed helicopters on such a large aircraft carrier, right? Wouldn't that make it a helicopter carrier?"

Su Dingping's words stunned everyone. They had never really thought about this issue before.

The Varyag is a ski-jump aircraft carrier, although Liu Huaming doesn't think highly of it.

After all, even if the Varyag aircraft carrier is continued to be built, it is still not compatible with the current navy. It needs to be upgraded at least once, but that will take more time, at least four to five years.

But it is the first true aircraft carrier of the Longxia Navy, and it has extremely unusual significance to the Longxia tribe!

For the current navy, its existence is far more meaningful than the actual combat needs. It symbolizes the navy's toughness and the spirit of never giving up and striving for progress!
"Now, I have some ideas. Although carrier-based aircraft is a brand new challenge for me, in order to make some preparations in advance for the launch of the next generation of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, I plan to put carrier-based aircraft on the agenda as soon as possible!"

"Otherwise, when our aircraft carrier is launched, it will look like all the helicopters are parked there. That would be too ugly, wouldn't it?"

Su Dingping's words made everyone suddenly realize what was going on, and expressions of shock appeared on their faces.

It seems like this guy is really going to attack the carrier-based aircraft.

We had been counting on the Air Force, and had held special seminars on this subject for a long time. Unfortunately, we simply do not have the technical reserves in this area, and we don't know when we will be able to build our own carrier-based aircraft.

Moreover, this is what they really thought before. The aircraft carrier would be launched first, and the carrier-based aircraft would be replaced by armed helicopters.

Unexpectedly, Su Dingping wanted to do it himself.

Liu Huaming nodded in agreement and said, "I understand. I'll take care of this matter."

But then he changed the subject, "Dingping, what I got here are just fighter jets. To convert them into carrier-based aircraft, neither our navy nor our air force has relevant experience."

"I had a meeting with the aviation department some time ago, and they simply don't have the technical reserves in this area."

Su Dingping had already made up his mind, and said with a faint smile: "Commander, if we don't have experience, we can slowly explore it! Someone has to take the lead, right?"

“So, I want to be the first one to try it.”

Liu Huaming immediately said: "Okay, I'll take care of this matter."

Seeing that Su Dingping had drunk a lot of wine today, Liu Huaming asked the guard to help him to rest first.

Soon, only Liu Huaming and several other heavyweight naval leaders were left in the lounge. The shock on their faces had not yet subsided. They all knew how great the significance of fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft was to the navy.

Having just seen Su Dingping so confident, they would be lying if they said they were not tempted.

"Dingping said he wanted to develop carrier-based aircraft. What do you think?"

Liu Huaming did not turn around and walked alone, but looked at Xu Dongguo and others.

Everyone looked at each other, then started speaking.

"Commander, I think we should trust Dingping unconditionally like before. Since he said he has an idea, he must have already conducted research in this area before."

"That's right. Although Dingping is sometimes very bold, he has never fought a battle without preparation. I believe he has a specific theory. Now all he needs is a real object like an airplane."

"I never thought that our navy's own fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft would eventually have to be developed by our own people."

"Commander, even if he fails, we will only lose a few fighter planes. But if he succeeds, our aviation technology will develop by leaps and bounds. The cost-effectiveness is really too high."

"Once we develop our own carrier-based aircraft, we will be the fourth country to master fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft technology after the Eagle Tribe, the Gaul Tribe, and the White Bear Tribe."

The words of his subordinates made Liu Huaming make the decision.

The significance of this is so great that he thinks it is worth a try even if it requires a huge investment.

So he asked the guard to bring his secure satellite phone.

"Get me Ma Zhengbang from the Air Force!"

"Yes!"

The call was answered quickly.

"Lao Liu, why are you calling me so late at night instead of going to rest? What's the matter?"

Ma Zhengbang, who was worrying in the office, suddenly answered the phone and asked unhappily.

(End of this chapter)