The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 154 The Iran-Iraq War Finally Begins

mountain city.

The leader of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building, his secretary hurried in and whispered in his ear, and the leader's face changed.

"Leader, what's wrong? What happened?" Liu Tao asked in a low voice, curious.

The leader of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building pondered for a moment, took Liu Tao and a few others to a nearby conference room, and then reported the situation.

"According to the latest news, the Iraqi army has mobilized a large number of aircraft to carry out air strikes on 15 cities and air bases in Persia," the leader said in a deep voice.

The other leaders were all shocked. No one had expected that Iraq would be so martial and brazen as to launch a war against Persia. This was definitely a major international event that would cause a sensation in the world.

Liu Tao was shocked, but also ecstatic.

The Iran-Iraq War finally broke out!
This huge stage has finally begun.

He has been waiting for this day for a long time!

The cruelty of war will be fully demonstrated, and the huge casualties and huge losses of weapons and equipment will be fully displayed.

Iraq is still picky now, but it will have no choice at all later. Even if it is weapons and ammunition from World War II, Iraq is not picky and only needs weapons that can kill people.

Iraq's foreign exchange reserves are now nearly 700 billion US dollars, but when the war ends, its foreign debt will be more than billion US dollars.

This is not just the sum of the two, which is $1100 billion; it will definitely be much more.

And you have to know that Iran, the other party in the war, is also a major oil-producing country. It has made huge profits in recent years by relying on oil exports. It now has foreign exchange reserves of 373 billion US dollars. By the end of the war, Iran will owe 450 billion US dollars in foreign debt.

Adding the two together, that’s two hundred billion dollars!

If China only gets 10%, that would be billion US dollars!
If it were a little more, like 20%, that would mean a profit of $ billion.

If you are more greedy, for example, take 30% of it, that would be a full billion US dollars!

When the cannon goes off, there is ten thousand taels of gold!

Weapons from Europe, the United States, and the Soviet Union are notoriously expensive, and often come with many economic or political conditions attached.

But China is different. Chinese weapons are of high quality and low price!

Moreover, there are many payment methods, the best one is US dollar, but British pound, franc, German mark, Japanese yen, Hong Kong dollar, etc. are also acceptable. Even if you have no money, you can exchange oil fields for weapons and equipment.

"This time, I must make more money and make a fortune!" Liu Tao's eyes flashed with brilliance and his heart was burning with excitement.

Relying on the Iran-Iraq War, the weapons, equipment and ammunition sold were enough to support a large number of military factories, and it could also be used as an opportunity to better transform the military factories.

Now that Liu Tao has opened the golden finger, he will only earn more, not less.

After all, the two sides have accumulated a deep friendship in the early stages, and the only country that has not yet developed is Iran.

As for Iran, Liu Tao is not worried about the inability to develop friendship between the two sides.

Since the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty and the outbreak of the "hostage crisis", Persia has completely fallen out with the United States. The closer the relationship between Persia and the United States was, the worse it is now. Iraq now has strong support from the Soviet Union, and even the United States is inclined to support Iraq, not to mention the Arab world. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are the two major financial backers of Iraq. It is easy to imagine how bad the environment surrounding the Persians is now.

Why did the Soviet Union strongly support Iraq?
It is nothing more than expanding its influence in the Middle East and taking this opportunity to force Persia. Once Persia surrenders, even if the line from Pakistan is blocked, it can connect to Persia through Afghanistan and reach the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf directly, thus realizing the strategy of controlling the world's energy center.

Once the war broke out, life became difficult for Persia.

Liu Tao took the initiative to make friends, and the Persians would definitely not refuse his olive branch.

After all, the Persians are in a bad situation, and they have limited sources from which to purchase weapons. If they don't turn to China, they can only turn to the polar bears. The polar bears are quite greedy and might even take this opportunity to control Persia.

"And in the future, more Chinese equipment will appear on battlefields around the world. The world's weapons will not only include American and Soviet-made equipment, but also Chinese-made equipment!" Liu Tao's eyes showed fanaticism.

For him, nothing is more exciting than seeing the equipment he has developed appear in the world.

It's not for fame, he doesn't need it. In fact, from a security perspective, the lower his profile, the better, to the point where his name is top secret and few people in the world know his name.

But it’s his burning ambition!

The world today is a world of bipolar competition. The United States and the Soviet Union are clearly divided in ideology, economic system, military, etc., and are engaged in all-round competition.

Even weapons are undergoing a comprehensive competition.

This means that currently in the world, only American and Soviet weapons and equipment are truly systematic, while weapons from other countries are not systematic.

Even though some European powers have developed some refreshing weapons, they are still unable to form a system and cannot compete with American and Soviet weapons and equipment.

Even China is taking the path of imitating Soviet weapons and equipment, and belongs to the Soviet weapons and equipment system.

Except for the weapons and equipment developed by Liu Tao, almost all of China's weapons and equipment can be said to be imitations of Soviet weapons and equipment of the same generation.

Around the world, the biggest impression of China is that it is poor and backward. It has a certain industrial strength, but the industry is not strong and it has a strong ability to copy.

Liu Tao hopes to change the world's perception of China through his own efforts.

He hopes that China's weapons and equipment will be recognized, and the performance of weapons and equipment can be demonstrated not on the test field, but on the battlefield. Only after going through the test of blood and fire on the battlefield, showing excellent performance and having a strong record, can a weapon and equipment be truly demonstrated.

"One day, China's weapons and equipment will become the best in the world, and China's national defense will be the best in the world!" Liu Tao's eyes were bright.

"The Iran-Iraq War is this huge stage! This is just the beginning, not the end!" Liu Tao felt his heart burning.

Throughout the 80s, the international situation was changing rapidly and wars never ceased: the Afghanistan War, the Iran-Iraq War, the Falklands War, the Fifth Middle East War, and the Falklands War!
There was even the Gulf War that broke out in 1990!
These wars will be a testing ground for China's weapons and equipment, and will also be a good time to make a lot of money. As long as it is handled well, China's development will be much faster than before.

China is very poor. It does not have abundant oil to export to earn a lot of money, nor does it have a developed industry to export industrial products. If it wants to make money, it has to export low-end industrial products such as shirts, socks, pants, etc. to earn some hard-earned money.

The export of weapons and equipment is extremely profitable and can earn more profits, allowing China to have more money to spend on development.

From Liu Tao's perspective, he knew very well how poor China was and how much it needed money.

The construction of infrastructure such as railways, roads, and highways requires money. Industrial upgrading requires the purchase of production lines and advanced equipment, which requires money. Sending people abroad to study advanced concepts and technologies also requires money!

(End of this chapter)