The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 571 Big plane?
Leave Southwest Associated University and return to Panshan Group headquarters.

Dormitory area, a villa adjacent to Dianchi Lake.

This is Liu Tao’s home in Kunming City. Of course, Liu Tao only has the right to use it but not the ownership. The ownership of the villa is in the hands of Panshan Group.

If you leave Panshan Group, Panshan Group will take back the villa.

If he works in Panshan Group until retirement, he can continue to use it until the day he dies, when it will be taken back.

Liu Ziyu is cooking noodles in the kitchen.

Liu Tao was looking at a document, which was the relevant information about the Y-10 project.

Thinking back to the beginning, he did want the Y-10 project, but the problem was that it was too expensive.

It is no secret that a large number of cutting-edge military projects have been cancelled after the reform and opening up.

Many people who don’t understand are cursing and saying that if these projects had not been cancelled, China’s national defense and military industry would have caught up with the Soviet Union and the United States long ago.

They simply don't know how much money these projects cost, and the amount of money consumed increases as time goes by.

Why did the country take the path of reform and opening up? It is because if limited funds are invested in the field of military science and technology, the economy will not be developed and the country's economic strength will not be changed.

The Soviet Union invested all its funds in the field of military technology. Heavy industry was extremely developed, but light industry was lame. Eventually, the huge red empire fell apart overnight.

The United States invested a lot of money in the field of military technology. The military industry was very developed, and even a super monster of the military-industrial complex was created. The dividends from World War I and World War II were enough to make the United States eat for a hundred years, but the result was that the good days of the United States came to an abrupt end in 1973.

Of course, the outbreak of the first oil crisis caused a great impact on the American manufacturing industry, which lacked product competitiveness. The United States also exhausted its national strength in two major wars and ultimately suffered disgrace. However, there is another very important factor, which is the United States’ military spending, which is extremely terrifying.

It is said that the Soviet Union's military spending was huge, beyond imagination, but you should know that the United States' military spending was also terrifying, no less than that of the Soviet Union.

Both sides are very uncomfortable now, but they have to hold it in.

Because whoever can't hold back and admits defeat first will automatically become the winner, and can cut a large piece of flesh from the other person and drink a large mouthful of blood.

Even hegemonic countries like the Soviet Union and the United States are like this, not to mention China. If many military projects had not been stopped, and limited funds had been invested in the field of economic construction, and the country's economic strength had been strengthened before investing in the military field, how could China's military technology have exploded after entering the 21st century!
Projects such as the aircraft carrier, J-10, J-20, Z-20 and H-20 have all made rapid breakthroughs with sufficient funding.

Advanced warships such as 052 are being produced like dumplings.

Do things according to your ability!
In the past, Liu Tao didn’t dare to touch the Y-10 project.

Because even if he spent a lot of time to get the prototype and master all the technologies, it would be useless.

The Y-10 was scrapped because the country's industrial system was unable to support the project and the funds required were too huge and the country could not afford them.

In order for Airbus to grow to compete with Boeing, Britain, France and Germany invested $250 billion in funding and placed a large number of aircraft orders.

He mastered the design, prototype and technical aspects of the Y-10, but was unable to realize it because the country did not have the ability to invest heavily in building a large aircraft supporting factory and form an entire industrial system for large aircraft.

This kind of support is much more complicated than tanks and armored vehicles.

It is even more complicated than the supporting equipment of large warships such as the Type 052 destroyer. "Brother, are you going to study large aircraft?" Liu Ziyu asked curiously, holding a bowl of noodles.

Liu Tao nodded slightly: "Yes, if we want to understand more, we Chinese must have our own big plane."

"Don't we already have the Y-8? Isn't the Y-8 enough?" Liu Ziyu asked curiously.

Born in a military-industrial family, Liu Ziyu was exposed to much more than ordinary people, and learned a lot through osmosis.

For example, Y-8!

Ordinary people have never even heard of the Y-8, but Liu Ziyu knows something about it.

"It's not enough, far from enough!" Liu Tao shook his head slightly.

The Y-8 transport aircraft is independently produced in China and is also the most advanced and largest military transport aircraft in the country.

Of course, Liu Tao knew that this was for propaganda purposes to boost national self-confidence, because many key components of aircraft like the Y-8 were imported.

In the past, the Y-8 was not considered advanced and its domestic production rate was not very high.

It is because of Panshan Group that China has made rapid progress in parts processing, which has greatly increased the localization of Y-8 parts and significantly improved performance.

Of course, this does not affect the historical status of the Y-8.

Before the Y-8 was finalized, the largest domestic military transport aircraft was the An-12 imported from the Soviet Union. Even though the Soviet Union had stopped production in the s, it was still the mainstay of the domestic military transport aircraft fleet.

The An-12 is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft developed by the Antonov Design Bureau of the Soviet Union. It made its first flight in 1956, went into mass production and was delivered for use in 1958. By the time it was discontinued, a total of 850 aircraft had been produced, including about 200 civilian models. It was once the main force of the Soviet transport aviation force, and was gradually replaced by the Il-1974 from 76.

This transport aircraft has a crew of 5, can carry 90 passengers, has a payload of 20 tons, a length of 33.10 meters, a wingspan of 38.0 meters, a height of 10.53 meters, a wing area of ​​121.74 square meters, an empty weight of 28 tons, a maximum take-off weight of 61 tons, a maximum speed of 777 kilometers per hour, a cruising speed of 670 kilometers per hour, a range of 5700 kilometers when fully loaded with aviation fuel, a range of 3600 kilometers when fully loaded, and a practical ceiling of 10200 meters.

The Y-8 transport aircraft is a copy of the An-12. It did not make its first flight until 1974. Currently, there are about thirty or forty of them equipped to the troops. This has completely changed the situation where the main transport aircraft of the troops were Soviet aircraft.

The Y-8 transport aircraft will serve as the main force and will not be long in becoming the main transport aircraft of the Air Force, because Liu Tao knows that China is now negotiating with the Soviet Union about importing the Il-76.

Of course, although the Il-76 has a huge transport capacity, the Air Force still uses the Y-8 more. After all, the Y-8 can be built by itself, does not require foreign exchange, is cheap, and does not consume too much fuel.

The Il-76 is too expensive!
Even though the price asked by the Polar Bear in this regard will not be as outrageous as that of the Americans, it will not be low. Now the Polar Bear is asking for US$3500 million per aircraft. The reason is that the same type of Il-76 they export to India costs more than US$4000 million per aircraft. Now the price is only US$3500 million per aircraft, which is already due to the friendly relationship between the two sides.

Liu Tao does not deny that the Y-8 is now a good transport aircraft, and even based on the Y-8, it is planned to develop maritime patrol aircraft, radar electronic test aircraft, early warning aircraft, etc.

But there is no doubt that the Y-8 transport aircraft is too small, with limited load capacity and limited space, which limits its development potential no matter how much it is explored.

Besides, the original positioning of the Y-8 was a military transport aircraft, which makes it unsuitable for conversion into a civilian passenger aircraft because the noise is too loud and there is no comfort at all.

Liu Tao once took a ride on a Y-8 transport plane. At that time, he felt his ears buzzing and his eardrums seemed to be broken.

(End of this chapter)