The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 136 Making money is not shabby!

"Liu, my friend, what do you think of the Persians?"

Mohammed raised his glass and toasted Liu Tao.

"Saddam is a hero of Iraq and will also be a hero of the Islamic world. Like Nasser, he is an outstanding leader." Liu Tao did not directly answer Muhammad's words, but instead exaggerated Saddam.

Nasser is undoubtedly a hero of the Islamic world and has had a huge impact in the Islamic world.

After Nasser's death, the Arab nation was leaderless!

As Sadat's Egypt was expelled from the Arab League for abandoning its policy of confrontation with Israel, an "earthquake" occurred in the political center of the Arab nation formed after the war, and a political vacuum emerged in the Arab world.

This provided Saddam with a rare historical opportunity.

At the Arab League summit held in Baghdad at the end of 1978, Iraq's leading role was highlighted. It was not difficult to see that Saddam, who was eager to try, could not wait to replace Egypt.

Today's Iraq can be said to have the best timing, location and people, and is undoubtedly the most powerful country in the entire Middle East.

In terms of military strength, Iraq has a million soldiers, nearly 6000 tanks, 7500 armored vehicles, more than 3700 artillery pieces and more than 700 fighter jets.

In terms of economic strength, Iraq has huge oil wealth. Iraq's proven oil reserves rank second in the world. With unique wealth, it can earn a lot of money every year by exporting oil. This can be seen from the fact that Iraq has nearly 400 billion US dollars in foreign exchange reserves.

In terms of the environment, Iraq was on good terms with both the Soviet Union and the United States at that time, and had the support of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and others behind it. This environment was simply unique.

Think about the past, China was subjected to all kinds of sieges and blockades. Even now, the situation is only slightly better.

The outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War seemed accidental, but in fact it was a historical inevitability.

Liu Tao was not worried at all that the Iran-Iraq War would not break out.

At most, the timing of the outbreak will be affected because of this little butterfly of his.

Knowing that Muhammad was Saddam's confidant, Liu Tao naturally had to flatter Saddam.

Times create heroes, heroes create times!
Liu Tao praised Saddam highly.

Fortunately, Wang Baoguo and Liu Zhenbang don’t understand English, otherwise they would be very embarrassed.

Liu Tao kept on spewing out all kinds of flattering words, saying that it was not shameful to do so in order to get orders and make money!

Mohammed and others all had happy smiles on their faces. They felt that Liu Tao was really their good friend, Iraq’s good friend!
No wonder they are willing to export such advanced weapons and equipment to Iraq.

"If a war breaks out, I think you will definitely win a resounding victory." Liu Tao said, "You are the fourth most powerful country in the world, or even the third most powerful military country. You have no rivals in the Middle East!"

After Liu Tao said this, Mohammed and others laughed even more happily.

Because they also believe that Iraq is a big and powerful country in the Middle East!
In the Middle East, there is no country like Iraq!

Liu Tao laughed in his heart when he saw the reactions of Mohammed and others.

He remembered that the Iran-Iraq War was later called "a war with the least technical content fought with the most advanced weapons"!
Although this statement may be a generalization, there is a reason why it has been widely circulated.

For example, in the Iran-Iraq War, there were "trench warfare", "gas warfare" and open-air mass charges of infantry!

He did not think that the weapons he exported to Iraq would change the Iran-Iraq War.

The firearms exported before were not powerful weapons after all. They could play a role in local battlefields, but it was impossible to change the entire war. For example, heavy sniper rifles could only kill more Persian commanders at most.

For example, a heavy machine gun can at most kill more soldiers and destroy more armored vehicles.

It will only result in more Persian deaths.

As for the Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and Type 80 tanks, it was impossible to deliver them to Iraq at least before the outbreak of the war.

The first batch of deliveries will not be made until the end of next year at the very least, or even the beginning of the year after next.

Exporting large quantities of Type 59 tanks is not enough to change the Iran-Iraq War.

The next afternoon, everyone came to the military camp again.

The garage opened and a Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun drove out of it.

"Is this an anti-aircraft missile?"

Mohammed's eyes lit up when he looked at the portable anti-aircraft missiles of the Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun.

Compared with Iraq's army, the air force is undoubtedly weaker.

现在伊拉克空军装备，战斗机中坚力量是米格-21，最先进的则是1974年采购的18架米格-23MS战斗机，而装备数量最多的是苏-7‘装配匠A’战斗轰炸机共有50架，整个米格-23系列战斗机共有90架。除此之外，伊拉克空军的轰炸机部队也不大，主要装备有10架伊尔-28‘小猎犬’轻型轰炸机和7架图-16‘獾’中型轰炸机。

Others include hundreds of first-generation jet fighters that are already on the verge of obsolescence.

If the fighter jets are not advanced and the air force is not strong, we need to equip more air defense missiles, and they must be advanced enough!
As a result, Iraq imported a lot of SAM missiles.

For example, the SAM-6 missile and the SAM-7 missile.

Three self-propelled anti-aircraft guns were lined up in a row, looking extremely imposing.

Liu Tao introduced these three self-propelled anti-aircraft guns one by one.

These three self-propelled anti-aircraft guns are all export versions of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. The only difference is the caliber of the anti-aircraft guns.

The 35mm and 70mm anti-aircraft guns are both twin-mounted, while the 25mm anti-aircraft guns are quadruple-mounted.

There were gleams in the eyes of Muhammad and others, and it was obvious that they were very interested in the Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun.

"Tanks fight mainly against ground targets. Without advanced fighter jets, they cannot gain air superiority, and even the most advanced armored vehicles can only be used as targets!" Liu Tao smiled faintly and said, "This self-propelled anti-aircraft gun is an air defense weapon. It can fight with tank units and provide air defense for them!"

"At present, in the whole world, only the West German 'Cheetah' self-propelled anti-aircraft gun from a few years ago can barely compare with it in terms of performance. According to the intelligence we have collected, the West German Army is only equipped with dozens of 'Cheetah' self-propelled anti-aircraft guns!" Liu Tao introduced the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun.

His words were full of confidence.

Even though this is only an export version of the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, it is still at the world's advanced level.

Powerful armor protection, strong mobility, and advanced fire control system will make it a "low-altitude air defense weapon" on the battlefield, making the low altitude of the battlefield a forbidden area for aircraft.

Combined with two portable anti-aircraft missiles, it is no exaggeration to say that neither helicopters nor fighter jets would dare to enter the airspace within 4000 meters before destroying the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun.

From this perspective, there is no doubt that the safety of tank units will be greatly improved.

(End of this chapter)