Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

Nie Xiaoqian, tasked with the translation, was somewhat surprised. She knew the purpose of this trip was to swindle a T-72 tank from Romania, but now, Qin Yang's opening remarks were off. If he wanted to swindle one, shouldn't he be saying they didn't need so many?

Qin Yang winked at her, and Nie Xiaoqian understood, translating directly.

Hearing the translated words, Cristian nodded: "Yes, only thirty of the most advanced T-72 tanks are not enough for us. Currently, we are planning to import a production line from the Soviet Union to produce this advanced tank."

Qin Yang shook his head: "I'm sorry, but frankly, I don't think the Soviet Union will give you the production license for this tank."

At this time, Huang Lao and the others had already excitedly gone up to inspect the tanks. Even if Qin Yang didn't have the ability to swindle the tanks back, at least they could see the Soviet Union's most advanced export tank with their own eyes, which was a rare opportunity.

That's right, no matter how others hyped up the T-72, everyone knew that this was the low-end tank in the Soviet Union's tank force's high-low mix. The Soviet Union's high-end tanks would not be exported, fearing leaks. Even the low-end T-72 had a 'monkey' version for export, for example, the turret's armor protection. The self-use version had cast ceramic balls, while the export version had quartz balls, or, to put it bluntly, sand.

However, this was already the most advanced Soviet tank that everyone could come into contact with.

Qin Yang also took advantage of everyone going up to watch to have the opportunity to swindle the Romanians, otherwise, if everyone was together, their jaws would drop in shock.

Cristian's face changed, and the man in the suit next to him also looked a little unsightly: "Sir, how can you be so sure?"

"Because you Romanians have the strongest industrial capacity in Eastern Europe besides the Soviet Union. Your TR-77 is already a leader among medium tanks, confidently winning against tanks like the Leopard 1. The Soviets wouldn't dare to give you more advanced tank technology."

After World War II, Romania had no military industry to speak of. It was not until the 1960s that they began to research tanks, and the object of their imitation was, of course, the T-55.

However, the Romanians cheated. The TR-77 they imitated no longer looked like a T-55.

The whole world knows that whether it is the T-54/55 series or the Chinese-made 59 tank, a basic feature is five pairs of road wheels. From a distance, the turret is frightening, but up close, it's five pairs of road wheels. This has been a classic saying for a long time.

However, the Romanians changed the five pairs of road wheels to six pairs. They lengthened the hull and added an extra pair at the back!

Why this change? The reason is very simple, to accommodate a larger engine! They have been surveying and imitating the German Leopard 1 tank engine.

They planned to use this engine on their TR-77, after all, it could output seven or eight hundred horsepower, which was much better than the original. However, imitating an engine was not so easy, so the early production of the TR-77 still used the Soviet engine, leaving the back empty, which looked very funny.

In imitating the T-72, they continued their efforts, changing the original six pairs of road wheels of the T-72 tank to seven pairs, also to fit a larger engine. However, this tank, code-named TR-125, has not yet been approved.

Nie Xiaoqian felt like she was on a roller coaster. This Qin Yang was actually praising these people in a roundabout way, but couldn't he do it without such sudden ups and downs? Moreover, he didn't even tell her beforehand!

Sure enough, hearing this sentence, the other party's face immediately improved: "That's right, we do have the strongest industrial production strength in Eastern Europe!"

"Think about it, if you were to obtain a production license, how would the Soviet Union sell its tanks? The quality of your production would be higher than the Soviet Union's exports. Wouldn't those guys in Moscow have to take a special plane to come here and curse you? But since you already have it, why would you be at their mercy? Let Karl-Zez, the clown, curse all he wants, you can produce however you want. By then, the whole world will be filled with T-72s produced in Romania, and your output will be more than Nizhny Tagil."

"That's right, you're right. We have already made a request to Moscow, but unfortunately, it was ruthlessly rejected by Moscow," the man in the suit continued, "However, we will not give up. Our FMGS factory will definitely complete the project research and development!"

This man in the suit is none other than Macari, a tank engineer from the FMGS factory (Special Heavy Machinery Factory), a professional factory in Bucharest, the capital of Romania!

The TR-77 was completed in 1977. In December 1978, the government issued Decree No. 514, specifically establishing a tank factory in the FMGS factory. This factory has just been completed and put into production this year.

What Qin Yang said about having the best industrial base in Eastern Europe was all flattery, but no matter what, flattery always works. No matter who it is, they like to be flattered.

"If the Soviet Union doesn't sell, you can develop it yourself. You will definitely succeed, after all, your industrial strength is the strongest. Moreover, the T-72 tank's engine is too outdated. The B2 diesel engine has been used for decades without change. You must have a more advanced diesel engine to equip this tank."

"Yes, we have the most advanced 8VS engine." Speaking of this imitation of the German Leopard 1 engine, Macari was very proud: "Currently, we have completed the development of the 830 horsepower engine, and the power will be increased to 900 horsepower in the future. If we want to develop a tank similar to the T-72, we will use this 900 horsepower engine."

It was because this engine was too big that the TR-125 they imitated became a monster with seven pairs of road wheels.

"It's really enviable that you can independently develop a brand new tank engine," Qin Yang continued to flatter.

What independent research and development? It was completely imitating the German engine, and the imitation skills were not mature enough, leading to frequent oil leaks and other failures. The reliability of the TR-77 tank was very poor, even leading to the army being unwilling to accept it. Romanian engineers had no choice but to buy a large number of parts from Western Europe to improve reliability.

"What is the lifespan of this engine, at least several thousand motorized hours?"

The lifespan of Soviet tank diesel engines was very low, only five hundred motorized hours, after which they had to be overhauled. Western European technology was much more advanced, with lifespans of several thousand, or even tens of thousands of hours. As for the Romanian-imitated engine, there was no guarantee of reliability, let alone lifespan.

Macari had nothing to say.

Qin Yang continued to talk eloquently: "Soviet tanks have always been crudely made and have a short lifespan. We couldn't stand it anymore. Fortunately, we have plasma spraying technology. Just spraying it on the inner wall of the cylinder increases the engine's lifespan from five hundred hours to two thousand hours. Your Romanian technology must be better than ours, right?"

"What? You have plasma spraying technology?" Macari's voice was full of surprise.

The T-72's brother with seven pairs of road wheels