Great Country Academician

Huaguo, Jinling, in the aerospace base affiliated with Xinghai Research Institute.

After a few months, when Xu Chuan came here again, the base in his memory had changed drastically.

The newly built space shuttle production plant has been completed, and all subsequent space shuttle R\u0026D and construction will be transferred to the new industrial zone.

The old industrial area only retains some testing, inspection, and space shuttle launch functions.

In Academician Chang Huaxiang's office, Xu Chuan knocked on the open door, walked in with a smile on his face, and said hello.

"Chang Lao."

Since the Xiashu Space Base was established, Academician Chang Huaxiang has been stationed here to preside over aerospace work.

For a seventy-year-old man, sticking to this kind of position and handling tedious work is a very hard and energy-consuming thing, which is indeed admirable.

"Coming."

Putting down the documents in his hands, Chang Huaxiang stood up with a smile, said hello, took out a box of tea leaves from the cabinet, and made two cups of tea.

Xu Chuan took the tea cup with both hands, put it gently on the table, and said with a smile: "Is the aerospace work progressing smoothly?"

Chang Huaxiang smiled and said: "It's not about whether it goes smoothly or not. It's enough that we can proceed according to the normal plan."

"Did you encounter some problems?" Xu Chuan asked curiously.

"There is no problem in aerospace engineering without encountering problems, as long as they can be solved normally."

Chang Huaxiang said with a smile, then handed over the documents in the cowhide bag in his hand and said, "Look at this."

Xu Chuan took the cowhide bag, opened the seal, took out a document from it, opened it and took a look.

"Air Force Equipment and Materials Procurement Agreement? Has it been negotiated?"

Yang Han, the leader of the Air Force Equipment Department, had discussed this matter with him last year. The Air Force would purchase small fusion reactors, aerospace engines, and even complete aircraft from the Xinghai Research Institute.

However, it was just a prototype idea at the time and was not implemented concretely.

The newly built large-scale industrial assembly line here is prepared for this matter.

Academician Chang Huaxiang nodded and said with a smile: "Not yet, but it will be soon."

"At the end of the year, we held another discussion with the Equipment Department. The agreement was finalized two days ago, but some relevant regulations will be supplemented in the future."

"That's why I urgently called you over to discuss this matter."

Xu Chuan flipped through the pages, his eyes fell on the final estimated purchase amount, and he said with a smile:

"With an estimated procurement fund of 33 billion, this is a big contract. Does the Air Force Equipment Department want to build an aerospace fighter fleet?"

Regardless of the fact that the annual domestic military expenditure budget is more than one trillion, it has climbed to a higher level after the realization of controllable nuclear fusion technology.

For example, the military budget in 2022 will reach 1.55 trillion, and the military budget in 2023 will reach 1.75 trillion, which is about to exceed 200 million.

Don't look at it, this number seems to be only increasing according to the proportion before the realization of "controllable nuclear fusion technology", but don't forget that after 22 years, the purchasing power of RMB has increased significantly.

In the past, the exchange rate of RMB to rice dollar was 1:7, but now it has dropped to 1:3.5.

If it weren't for the above still controlling the exchange rate, given the current international situation, there would be no problem if the RMB could rise to the same level as the rice dollar, or even exceed the rice dollar.

Xu Chuan didn't know much about finance, but the annual military expenditure was almost fixed.

Although the procurement budget of 33 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to the military expenditure of nearly 2 trillion, don't forget that the 2 trillion in funding is for the entire country.

The Air Force Equipment Department is only one of the equipment procurement departments of the three major forces.

With the current value of RMB, 33 billion is definitely a huge order.

After all, even if we only talk about the Air Force, there are currently more than 1,700 fighter jets that need maintenance and upkeep, as well as hundreds of thousands of active Air Force personnel, etc.

To be able to get more than 30 billion from it to form an air and space fighter formation, to be honest, this is actually a big determination.

Of course, the deterrence that a formation of air and space fighter jets can bring is also huge.

Academician Chang Huaxiang smiled, picked up the tea cup and blew on it. After taking a sip of tea, he said: "I communicated with the leaders over there and the budget is probably this much."

"But how much we can absorb from this budget depends on the situation."

Xu Chuan looked at the contract and asked, "How is the conversation going now?"

Chang Huaxiang thought for a while and said: "Mainly focusing on small fusion reactors, aerospace engines, control systems, etc."

"Civilian things are different from military things. An aerospace fighter does not involve any less than a space shuttle."

"For example, the design of aerodynamic wings, considerations of bomb load, etc., we have little experience in these. At the same time, our research institute currently does not have the production line and qualifications to produce military fighters."

"So they are not prepared to let us get involved in these things. We only need to provide basic parts and components."

Hearing these words, Xu Chuan smiled, closed the purchase agreement in his hand, and said, "We really don't have much experience in this area. If we get involved casually, it will harm our compatriots. We can't do this kind of thing."

"Military equipment is used to protect our homeland and the country. For those of us who have no experience in this area, we cannot and should not participate casually."

Academician Chang Huaxiang nodded and said with a smile: "According to the current communication, the aerospace engine, small fusion reactor, complete control system, after-sales service, etc., these parts and technologies are almost enough for us to eat half of the budget of this order."

"As for how accurate it can be in the future, it still needs to be negotiated in detail."

Xu Chuan nodded with a smile, put the purchase agreement in his hand on the coffee table, and said: "The general situation is just like this. You can check it more, and send the final contract to me for review."

"Don't worry too much about the budget. This is equipment provided to the military. Just follow the approximate profit of other military industrial enterprises."

"But there is one thing."

After a pause, he looked at Chang Huaxiang. Academician Xiang, then said: "We must ensure the quality of the parts and technologies we provide."

"If possible, it is best to form a special research team with other companies that produce aerospace fighter parts to ensure the entire production process and quality, and cooperate with other companies' work."

Chang Huaxiang smiled and nodded, saying: "Well, I will personally keep an eye on this."

After chatting about aerospace fighters for a while, Xu Chuan asked: "By the way, Mr. Chang, how is the production of the third second-generation aircraft?"

Chang Huaxiang: "It's going on step by step. Do you want to go and have a look?"

Xu Chuan nodded and said: "Let's go and have a look. It's just right to see the new production line built last year."

Xuanxiao!

This is the third second-generation space shuttle that officially started production in the second half of last year. It means exploring the high and mysterious sky realm, and also refers to exploring the boundlessness of the universe.

At present, this space shuttle has entered the final stage of installing the external thermal insulation layer, and all the components inside, such as electronic and aviation equipment, communication systems, power systems, life support systems, etc. have been installed.

According to the current progress, it will take about half a month before it can be shipped out for inspection and testing.

Of course, Xu Chuan's focus is not on it.

For the current Xiashu Space Base, the production of a second-generation space shuttle is nothing at all.

Especially after the development and manufacturing of Hanhai and Xinghe, the design and manufacturing of Xuanxiao is even more handy.

Optimize what needs to be optimized and adjust what needs to be adjusted.

Xu Chuan's main focus is on the new production line factory built last year.

Compared with the original space shuttle production line, the newly built production plant is larger in scale and adopts the latest "pulsating production line".

Even if you look at the world, there are not many countries that can build this "pulsating digital production line".

Simply put, this is an assembly line that moves according to the beat.

On this production line, no drawings can be seen throughout the production line, because 90% of the processing is done by machines.

By redesigning, optimizing and balancing the assembly process, the station-type assembly operation according to the set beat is realized, and the assembly production form that shortens the assembly cycle and meets customer requirements is achieved.

On the one hand, it can greatly reduce manpower, and naturally reduce the possibility of human error.

On the other hand, it greatly improves production efficiency.

The first companies to adopt this production line were Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin and other companies.

For example, the F35 and F-16 of the United States.

Before this production line was adopted, a conventional production line only produced 12 fighter jets per year.

Lockheed Martin, which uses a pulsating production line, can produce one fighter jet a day under ideal conditions.

Of course, due to various practical conditions, the current production speed of F-35 fighter jets is about one every two days.

But this is enough to see the terrifying production efficiency of this almost fully automated pulsating production line.

As for the domestic pulsating production lines, there are not many at present, mainly concentrated in military applications, such as J20 and Y-20.

Xu Chuan is not very clear about the efficiency of these production lines, but the production line here at the Xiashu Aerospace Base, if the logistics parts can keep up, can theoretically complete the production of a second-generation space shuttle in an average of one month.

The reason why there is such a big gap in production speed with the F-35 fighter is mainly due to the complexity and manufacturing maturity between the space shuttle itself and the F35.

Although both are highly sophisticated products, the F35 has actually been more inclined to the principles of universalization, low cost and rapid production since its design.

In terms of manufacturing maturity, the Xiashu Aerospace Base is indeed not comparable to the Lockheed Martin Company, which has a history of more than 100 years.

In addition, there is another more important point that the production line of the Xiashu Aerospace Base focuses more on the production of "single components".

Simply put, its industrial production line focuses more on the manufacture of single equipment such as small fusion reactors and aerospace engines.

This is determined by the supply and demand relationship.

The F35 is a mature fighter that can be sold directly, and there is a lot of demand from the outside world.

But the space shuttle is not.

They can't sell the space shuttle.

So producing so many space shuttles is not very meaningful for them at present. It is enough to maintain the transportation capacity demand in aerospace and other fields.

And more importantly, it supplies the Air Force with basic core components such as small fusion reactors and aerospace engines.

Therefore, it was intentionally designed to be mainly composed of parts, with assembly of space shuttles as a supplement.

According to theoretical calculations, this large-scale production plant covering an area of ​​more than 5 million square meters can produce a small fusion reactor and three standard-sized aerospace engines every 30 days on average.

Compared with the previous production of a space shuttle, which took half a year to produce a small fusion reactor, its efficiency has been improved by a whole order of magnitude.

PS: It's the beginning of the month, and I'm begging for the guaranteed monthly tickets in the hands of the big guys, QAQ, Yawei is rolling online to ask for monthly tickets, and there will be updates in the afternoon.