The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 43 Super Cost-Effectiveness

Al made a phone call.

Not long after, a middle-aged man in military uniform walked in.

"Mr. Al." The middle-aged man had a puzzled look on his face, "Who is this Chinese man?"

"This is the director of a Chinese military factory, Mr. Liu Tao." Al introduced him, and then introduced the man in front of him to Liu Tao, "Rashid, the Army Attaché!"

"You must be kidding, Mr. Al. How old is this young man and he's already the director of a military factory?" Rashid was surprised.

Liu Tao is really too young, and he doesn't look more than 30 years old.

"Mr. Rashid, although I am young, I have successfully developed several firearms, which have been tested on the battlefield and are loved by soldiers." Liu Tao smiled and said, "Genius, never judge a hero by age!"

Rashid said.

Soon, they set off, with two guards besides Al and Rashid.

About twenty minutes later, they arrived at a military camp.

After Liu Tao showed his letter of introduction and explained his purpose, the soldier went to report.

"Comrade Liu Tao, who are these people?" A young man in military uniform looked at Al and others in confusion.

"They are our friends, and they come here to experience target shooting," Liu Tao said with a smile.

The battalion commander brought Liu Tao and others into the barracks and went directly to the shooting range.

Soon, soldiers came over carrying boxes and opened them one by one.

“这些都是我研制的枪。”刘韬介绍着，十把‘78式’手枪、四把‘78式’自动步枪、两把‘78式’重狙枪、三把‘78式’通用机枪以及两把‘78式’重机枪。

He picked up a '78' pistol, turned it familiarly, and handed it to Al, "Mr. Al, Mr. Rashid, you know best whether a weapon is good or not when you use it yourself."

In addition to guns, each box also contains bullet boxes.

This time, more than ten thousand bullets alone were transported to the capital.

"Let me try." As a military attaché, Rashid took the pistol and began to try shooting.

After firing a magazine, Rashid couldn't help but exclaim, "Nice pistol, very powerful and accurate, with very little recoil."

"Of course, this pistol is definitely suitable for officers. Now our army is using this pistol as the officers' sidearm." Liu Tao introduced the performance data of the 'Type 78' pistol. "Of course, the most important thing is its cost-effectiveness. Such a good gun only costs 180 US dollars."

According to the current exchange rate, 1 US dollar = 1.5 RMB.

180 US dollars, which is 270 RMB.

The military's purchase price for the 'Type 78' pistol is 200 RMB per piece, so the export price cannot be compared with the price for domestic use.

And it seems that the current exchange rate is this, but in fact, on New Year's Day, the country announced that the exchange rate would implement a "dual track system", that is, to establish two exchange rates, the "interbank market" and the "free market".

1 US dollar can be exchanged for more RMB privately.

"So cheap?" Rashid widened his eyes in disbelief.

There are cheaper pistols on the market, but the performance of those pistols is much worse than this one.

"When making friends, you have to be sincere and give them discounts." Liu Tao said with a smile, "This pistol is definitely the most cost-effective pistol in the world, and we can also give you a preferential price for bullets. A bullet only costs 0.5 US dollars!" Now in the international market, a pistol bullet costs about 0.8 US dollars to 1 US dollar. If you buy it on the black market, it will be more expensive.

For military purchases, the prices are terribly low, leaving only a small profit.

But this kind of export is different. The arms business is well known for its huge profits.

By doing this, Liu Tao is taking the initiative to lower prices and win orders by offering good quality and low prices.

Compared with Soviet-made and American weapons, Chinese-made weapons are not well-known, so they can only focus on cost-effectiveness.

But even at this price, the profit is still amazing.

Rashid was so shocked that he couldn't think. The guns were cheap, and the bullets were cheap, much cheaper than he knew.

More importantly, there are no strings attached.

At this time, Liu Tao picked up the 'Type 78' automatic rifle, skillfully loaded the magazine with bullets, and handed it to Rashid, "Major Rashid, try this automatic rifle, its performance will definitely surprise you."

Under Liu Tao's instruction, Rashid began to test the Type 78 automatic rifle.

After two magazines, Rashid already knew that this was a good gun.

Only after Rashid had finished testing the gun did Liu Tao introduce the performance of the 'Type 78' automatic rifle.

Although Al is the person in charge, Rashid is the army attaché with the rank of major. He is an insider and is the easiest to communicate with, and he also has a lot of say.

"Mr. Al, Mr. Major, you are very likely to be the first customers of our Panshan Machinery Factory. I came here with great sincerity." Liu Tao emphasized the word "friendship". "For the sake of our friendship, the price I give you is very favorable. Such a good gun only costs 700 US dollars, which is about the same as the AK47, but it is much better than the AK47!"

现在AK47在国际市场上的价格大概在650~700美元，二手的AK47更便宜，大概只需要300~400美元。

Liu Tao's quotation is similar to that of AK47, but although AK47 is a classic rifle, its performance is far inferior to that of the "Type 78" automatic rifle.

"As for the price of rifle bullets, one is $0.7," said Liu Tao.

Rashid's eyes widened, this price was indeed very cheap.

He naturally knew that with the current market conditions in the arms market, a good automatic rifle often cost thousands of dollars, and rifle bullets were more expensive than pistol bullets.

Liu Tao looked at Rashid's reaction and felt very happy, and his confidence increased a bit.

At this time, everyone was preparing for a world-class war. In addition, the United States had consumed a large amount of weapons and ammunition in South Vietnam for more than ten years, and there was no industrial monster like China, so the prices of guns and ammunition were relatively high.

Unlike later, the Americans imported 200 million bullets from China every year. In addition, there were no major wars in the world, which caused the prices of guns and ammunition to plummet.

He just didn't believe that such a big discount would not be able to impress the rich people in the Middle East.

Of course, pistols and rifles are relatively easy to buy in the international market, but machine guns are not so easy to buy. Heavy sniper rifles and heavy machine guns are even harder to buy. Advanced heavy sniper rifles and heavy machine guns are listed as controlled weapons.

In the international market, the trade of heavy sniper rifles and heavy machine guns sometimes does not even require US dollars, but only gold.

After all, the number of countries that can produce heavy sniper rifles and heavy machine guns can be counted on one hand.

Heavy sniper rifles and heavy machine guns are Liu Tao's trump cards.

Even though Iraq is now known as the world's third largest military power, Liu Tao does not believe that they can resist the attraction of heavy sniper rifles and heavy machine guns.

(End of this chapter)