The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 574 Shocked Chief Ma
Panshan Group Headquarters, top floor.

In the reception room, Liu Tao and Li Weimin are together.

As the general manager and party secretary of China Southwest Industrial Group Corporation, Li Weimin is responsible for the overall work of the entire China Southwest Industrial Group Corporation. If Liu Tao wants to restart the Y-10 aircraft project, he naturally has to reach a consensus with Li Weimin.

The Y-10 aircraft project is not just the Y-10 aircraft!
This involves many links such as design, manufacturing, flight testing, etc. Once successfully developed, there will be thousands of supporting companies alone!

Large aircraft, like cars, have very long supply chains. No single company can manufacture all aircraft parts alone, but instead requires thousands of suppliers to provide products. This means that developing large aircraft complete set projects can drive the development of thousands of upstream and downstream factories and companies.

If developed well, the aviation industry alone can provide two to three million jobs, and the upstream and downstream industrial chains can provide at least 20 to 30 million jobs.

Of course, this requires a huge investment.

Even if the Y-10 aircraft is successfully developed, and even if the prototype is manufactured and a series of tests are completed, once it is ready for mass production, a huge amount of money will need to be invested just to support the industrial chain.

Just like China Automobile Group and China Motorcycle Group, they are developing rapidly, but they also have to support the development of the industrial chain in order to achieve their own rapid development.

Otherwise, if the industrial chain is incomplete or cannot keep up, it will hinder the company’s development.

When the secretary came in to report that Ma Fengshan had arrived, Liu Tao asked the secretary to bring Ma Fengshan in.

Soon, Liu Tao saw the secretary and Ma Fengshan coming in.

Looking at Ma Fengshan, Liu Tao couldn't help but feel awe in his heart.

China restarted its large aircraft project in the 21st century, and various analyses of the cancellation of the Y-10 have come out. At the same time, the experience of Ma Fengshan, the founder of China's large aircraft, has naturally been made public.

Without going into the reasons why the large aircraft was cancelled, the members of the Y-10 team were truly dedicated to the large aircraft project.

"Hello, Chief!" Ma Fengshan straightened up and spoke in a loud voice.

He didn't know how to address the two men, but calling them "Chief" was always right.

Liu Tao smiled and said, "Master Ma, you've worked hard. You flew directly back from the United States and flew directly to Kunming City as soon as possible!"

"Thank you for your hard work!" Liu Tao shook hands with Ma Fengshan.

Li Weimin also smiled and walked forward to shake hands with Ma Fengshan.

Because of Liu Tao, Panshan Group has great respect and attention for scientists and technicians.

The salary and benefits of great scientists and level 10 technicians are the same as those of people like them.

They will even arrange a single-family villa, a private car and a private driver.

Ma Fengshan was flattered. It was not like he had never met a leader before, but he still felt flattered at this moment.

After the secretary left, Liu Tao asked Ma Fengshan to sit down, made some tea, drank three cups of tea, exchanged some greetings, and the atmosphere became harmonious.

Liu Tao asked: "Chief Designer Ma Fengshan, if the Y-10 project is restarted, do you want to serve as the chief designer of the Y-10 project? Will your health still allow you to serve as the chief designer of the Y-10 project?"

As far as Liu Tao knew, Ma Fengshan was not in good health.

This can be seen from Ma Fengshan's current condition. Although Ma Fengshan is less than 60 years old, his hair has turned white and his complexion is not good. "My two leaders, I know that my health is not good, but the Y-10 is my biggest regret in my life. As long as the Y-10 project can be restarted, I am willing to risk my life and die on the road to development. If the Y-10 is not successfully developed, I will die. I just hope that when the Y-10 is successfully developed, my family can tell me this news when they pay tribute to me, and I will be satisfied." Ma Fengshan said firmly.

Liu Tao nodded.

"This time when the Y-10 project is restarted, our Panshan Group will provide 20 billion yuan in special funds, of which 5 billion yuan will be used for research and development funds, and 15 billion yuan will be used to form a supporting system." Liu Tao said slowly.

"Really? Is there really a special fund of 20 billion RMB?" Ma Fengshan's eyes lit up and he couldn't help but ask excitedly.

You should know that the total cost of the Y-5.8 project from its inception to its cancellation was only million RMB.

Although money was more valuable at that time, even taking inflation into account, the 20 billion yuan special fund was still beyond Ma Fengshan's imagination.

Even if R&D funds only account for a quarter of it, it is still 5 billion RMB.

One of the most important reasons why the Y-1.68 project failed was insufficient funding. The million RMB in funding applied for was not approved, leaving the Y- aircraft with no funds to continue flying and conducting more tests.

"Yes, 20 billion RMB special funds, not a penny less!" Liu Tao nodded and said, "However, while carrying out the Y-10 project, we must also start the development of regional aircraft. We in China need both trunk aircraft and regional aircraft."

The Y-178 aircraft has 124 seats in economy class and 110 seats in mixed class. It has a maximum take-off weight of 974 tons, a maximum cruising speed of 12000 kilometers per hour, a practical ceiling of 8300 meters and a maximum range of kilometers.

This is a mainline aircraft.

But Liu Tao also knew that it would be extremely difficult to conquer it all at once, especially to form a supporting system.

So he wanted to start the development of regional aircraft at the same time. Regional aircraft usually refer to small passenger aircraft with less than 100 seats, mainly used for passenger transportation between large cities and small and medium-sized cities. Regional aviation only started to rise in the 60s, but it has developed very quickly, especially after the United States adopted the policy of "deregulation" on civil aviation transportation in 1978, and the development has been even faster.

Liu Tao hopes to train a technical team through the development of regional aircraft, while supporting supporting enterprises and building a supply chain.

Compared with large aircraft like the Y-10, regional airliners are much easier to operate.

And in a sense, the passenger aircraft modified from Y-7 and Y-8 are actually regional aircraft.

However, Liu Tao thought the Y-7 was too outdated. It had a maximum take-off weight of 24 tons, a maximum commercial load of 5.5 tons, a cruising speed of 420 km/h, a full-load range of 614 km/h (5 tons), a full-fuel range of only 1976 kilometers (3 tons), a practical ceiling of only 8500 meters, and a passenger capacity of about people.

And like the passenger plane converted from the Y-8, the noise is not as loud.

Although it has been put into use since 1984, the media always refers to it as the first generation of passenger aircraft independently developed by China, but Liu Tao feels that such a name is always inappropriate.

There's just nothing we can do about it.

China's skies need an aircraft that is fundamentally developed based on passenger aircraft.

"I understand, Chief!" said Ma Fengshan.

Then we discussed the details, such as site selection, and the survey, construction and upgrading of the industrial chain.

Panshan Group will not control everything here, but it must control core key factories such as the general assembly plant and aircraft engine plant.

Although they are all state-owned enterprises and everything ultimately belongs to the country, there are still differences. If it is your own interest, you have to fight for it.

(End of this chapter)