The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 390: The Impact is Immediate
The grand occasion of this National Day military parade aroused strong repercussions at home and abroad.

People highly praised the construction achievements and spiritual outlook of the People's Liberation Army displayed in this National Day military parade.

It can be said that this military parade is of great significance in terms of the timing of its organization, its scale, the content of the parade, and its external impact, and it occupies an important position in the history of military parades in New China.

This is the first military parade since the 10th anniversary of National Day. It is the largest, most advanced and most mechanized one since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

It marks the beginning of a new era in the modernization of my country's armed forces.

Liu Tao paid close attention to the subsequent impact. When he saw that the country did not mention the synthetic forces in its reports on troop construction, it focused on building mechanized and modernized forces in 40 to 50 years.

Mainstream overseas media also paid close attention to this military parade and gave it high praise, believing that it is entirely possible for China to complete the mechanization of its troops in 40 to 50 years.

There is a consensus in the world about the construction of troops, and that is mechanized troops.

In today's world, only two countries have completed the mechanization of their troops.

One is the Soviet Union and the other is the United States.

These two countries are the two poles of the world, dominating changes in the world pattern.

They are also the only country in the world that has fully mechanized its troops and can engage in combat as soon as they arrive at the battlefield.

The Soviet Union and the United States knew best how much investment, time, energy and money would be required to complete the mechanization of the troops.

Both the Soviet Union and the United States took 20 to 30 years to complete.

Therefore, the mainstream media judges that it will take China 40 to 50 years to complete the mechanization of its troops.

And this is already very optimistic.

Liu Tao secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the relevant departments still attached great importance to confidentiality.

There was no report on combined forces, and the performance parameters of various equipment were also vague.

This is very good.

On the second day of the National Day celebrations, Liu Tao felt the huge impact of the military parade.

Some old friends asked about the prices of the weapons and equipment and whether they were allowed to be sold.

"Liu, my friend, we are old friends. We like your equipment very much." Al took the initiative to find Liu Tao.

The Type 80 main battle tank is very good, but it is too expensive. Even if Iraq is rich, it cannot equip all its troops with Type 80 main battle tanks.

Tank armored forces also require high, medium and low combinations.

Especially the amphibious tank, which was specially prepared for Iraq's attack on Abadan.

"Of course, we are arms dealers. There is no reason for us to open the door without doing business." Liu Tao smiled faintly, "Type 81 medium tank, price is 180 million US dollars per vehicle; Type 81 light tank, price is 100 million US dollars per vehicle; Type 81 amphibious tank, price is 120 million US dollars per vehicle."

Every weapon has its ups and downs.

When Al heard the price of each weapon, his eyes lit up.

During this period, Iraq planned to adopt a batch of medium tanks, light tanks and large-caliber artillery to make up for the losses in the war, and use advanced weapons to completely defeat Persia and thus win the Iran-Iraq War.

He originally planned to go to Europe, America or the Soviet Union to purchase, but when Al brought the news back to the country, Saddam immediately asked him to contact Liu Tao.

After all, after years of cooperation, the two sides have established a relationship of trust.

So far, all weapons purchased by Iraq have been delivered on time by Liu Tao, and unlike with Europe, America and the Soviet Union, Liu Tao will not raise the price at will as long as the price is agreed upon. This is what makes Iraq and Saddam most satisfied.

Moreover, there are no attached political and economic conditions when purchasing arms from Liu Tao.

It's nothing more than a mixture of some relatively backward weapons.

But even so, it is still very cost-effective.

For example, the Type 81 infantry fighting vehicle and the M2 infantry fighting vehicle that was just put into service in the United States two years ago, the purchase price of the US military is 300 million US dollars per vehicle, and the export price will only be higher, not lower.

But here at Liu Tao, the Type 81 tracked infantry fighting vehicle only costs 150 million US dollars, which is only half the price of the M2 infantry fighting vehicle. And the wheeled type only costs 120 million US dollars.

Al went to the next room and half an hour later, he took a photo of the list and gave it to Liu Tao.

200 Type 80 main battle tanks, 500 Type 81 medium tanks, 1000 Type 81 light tanks, 100 Type 81 amphibious tanks. As for other self-propelled artillery, there will be 200 of each type of tracked and wheeled artillery.

Add to that artillery shells, special artillery shells, 1000 Type 59 tanks and 20 Type 59 tank shells, including technical services, and the total value is as high as US$210 billion.

When Liu Tao saw the order, he couldn't help but gasp.

Is Iraq crazy?

Placing such a large order?
This is enough to build ten armored divisions!

Moreover, 210 billion US dollars is almost half of Iraq’s current foreign exchange reserves. Is Iraq going to use this to purchase weapons?

Liu Tao just felt that he had underestimated the madness of Iraq and muttered about Saddam's madness.

Not to mention just asking Liu Tao to build a large repair shop in Iraq, even if Liu Tao completely established a construction plant to help Iraq manufacture armored vehicles and artillery shells, Liu Tao would not consider it.

210 million US dollars!

Even if the delivery is spread over three years, it is roughly equivalent to a huge order of US$70 billion per year.

Not to mention, this requires paying half of the deposit, which is a deposit of 105 billion US dollars!

Liu Tao had been thinking that after the army's orders were completed, if the army's purchase orders were greatly reduced, then production would not require three shifts, and even normal production would not require all equipment to be fully utilized.

Unexpectedly, it has been filled by this order now.

Coincidentally, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Kuwait, Persia and other countries also came to purchase. None of the orders was as exaggerated as Iraq's, but if added together, the orders were still more than Iraq's.

This means that Panshan Group’s production capacity will be fully utilized in the next four or five years.

Liu Tao even thought about building another tank and armored car production base in Chengdu, otherwise there might be some problems with the final delivery.

Liu Tao suddenly realized that these major oil-producing countries were actually the beneficiaries of the Iran-Iraq War in recent years.

The sharp rise in oil prices has resulted in the profit from exporting the same amount of oil being almost twice as much as before, which is an astonishing profit.

Then Liu Tao thought that a wonderful balance seemed to have been formed.

These oil-producing countries earn dollars, marks, francs, yen and other foreign currencies by exporting oil, and then use this foreign currency to purchase various materials, weapons and ammunition from China. China will transfer the money earned to a corresponding amount of RMB and invest it in national construction. Then, except for a portion of the foreign currency retained by the export companies, the rest is spent by China on importing equipment, food, raw materials from the United States, Japan, Europe, the Soviet Union, South America, Southeast Asia and other countries, as well as exporting overseas study exchanges.

It seems that a wonderful balance, a wonderful closed loop, has been formed.

(End of this chapter)