Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

Fangbei Industrial Company.

Nie Xiaoqian put down the phone, her expression complex.

"How is it? Is Yangzi okay?" Lin Heping asked with concern.

"He's fine. The naval leaders invited President Qin to dinner, and Qin Yang even specified that he wanted to drink Maotai." Nie Xiaoqian's tone was complicated. How did he do it?

"Well, it seems we have to have confidence in Yangzi. As long as he says it's okay, it must be okay."

"Hmph, maybe it's because of my father…" Nie Xiaoqian stopped here. She stood up: "Let's go, let's call Zhang Gong and Xu Gong, and go to the Capital Farm Tool Factory for dinner. There are more and more people here, and we need to open a cafeteria here."

Winter nights come early. It's not even five o'clock, and the sky is completely dark. Sporadic firecrackers sounded outside.

Qin Yang raised his glass: "It's fate that I can sit with you leaders and drink today. I, Qin Yang, would like to propose a toast to you leaders. You are generous and don't hold it against a reckless young man like me."

"Wait a minute." Leader Li said: "Let's make it clear first, just this one bottle of Maotai, we'll divide it among us. That's three cups per person. You have to take it easy when drinking, kid. If you drink seven or eight cups in a row, we won't allow it!"

Seeing through his thoughts, Qin Yang smiled: "Are you all big leaders, do you still care about this bottle of wine? If it's not enough, we'll open another bottle."

"Put it on the account of your Capital Farm Tool Factory, or Fangbei Industrial Company?" Leader Li said: "This bottle now is from my own pocket."

"I'll eat some food first. I haven't eaten at your Huanglou before." Qin Yang quickly changed the subject, picking up a piece of braised pork ribs with his chopsticks: "Not bad, not bad, braised is better than stewed!"

"Okay, stop interrupting. Let's have a drink together first. After drinking, I have something to tell you."

Leader Li raised his glass, and after everyone drank, he said quietly: "President Qin, as you wished, the Sea Dart project was ruined. However, the threat to our navy's air defense is still imminent. Do you have any other ideas to tell us about?"

"When it comes to military technology, the Americans are the most advanced. Their navy's main Standard 1 missile is our best choice."

Qin Yang began to give directions.

The British Sea Dart is actually equivalent to the American first-generation ship-to-air missile, the Terrier. Together with the Beagle and Tartar, it constitutes the early air defense barrier of the American fleet.

Later, the Americans began to develop Standard missiles. The prototype missile YRIM-66A of the Standard-1 missile began flight testing in 1965. The name 166A was finalized and put into service. At that time, it only had a maximum range of 32 kilometers. Of course, this missile is constantly being improved. The latest model is the RIMK 56 dual-thrust solid rocket engine, with a maximum range increased to 46 kilometers, and the electronic equipment has also been improved.

Now, the Aegis system has not yet been put into service, and this Standard-1 missile is the most advanced air defense weapon. If this missile can be introduced, our side can immediately enter the world's first-class level.

"It's not easy to import weapons from the United States." Leader Li said: "Only Europe is opening its arms to us."

"If it's Europe, then it's the French Crotale missile." Qin Yang said: "Have you inspected this missile?"

"We have learned about it." Leader Zhang said: "However, the range of this missile is only a dozen kilometers, which is too short compared to the range of the Sea Dart missile, so we haven't paid much attention to it."

"That's right, the range is shorter, but it has the ability to intercept anti-ship missiles flying at ultra-low altitude, and it is light in weight, so our frigates of one or two thousand tons can be installed. If we want to import, this missile is more suitable for us."

The Crotale missile is an all-weather short-range ship-to-air missile system jointly developed by Thomson-CSF and Matra of France. It was actually first used on land. In 1973, the French Navy decided to convert the land-based version into a ship-based version. This is also a common operation. Most of the Russian ship-based air defense missiles were transplanted from land-based ones.

The French acted quickly. In 1974, Thomson Company was selected as the general contractor and signed a research and development contract. Thomson Company delivered the first launching device at the end of 1977 and conducted shipboard tests. The Crotale missile completed its performance appraisal in 1979 and officially entered service in 1980.

In the 1980s, this missile was still relatively advanced. Its biggest feature is its low interception altitude. Anti-ship missiles flying at an altitude of a dozen meters cannot escape its eyes. At that time, this was quite remarkable.

Of course, this is also because the French took a shortcut. When using radar guidance, they encountered the problem of sea wave reflection clutter, which led to low-altitude loss of control. Therefore, they simply used infrared guidance. This alternative guidance method allowed the Crotale to achieve this interception capability.

In later generations, after comparing various options, China finally chose the Crotale system, imported two sets, installed them on one 051 and one 052, and then, the domestically produced Haihongqi 7 came out and was installed on the second 052. After that, it was widely used on frigates. It can be said that throughout the 1990s, the Crotale missile system and the Haihongqi 7, with a range of a dozen kilometers, were the navy's best air defense weapons.

Hongqi-61? Its presence is very low, so I won't mention it.

"Moreover, relevant departments in our country are developing the Hongqi 7 missile, which can be used for reference and can complete the research and development faster." Qin Yang continued.

Speaking of the Hongqi 7 missile, many say that it is a copy of the Crotale missile. In fact, the research and development time of the Hongqi 7 missile was earlier. In 1980, the Second Academy of Aerospace took over the research and development project. After the Crotale was introduced, some reference was made, and a large amount of technology from the Crotale missile was transplanted, first imitating, and then improving.

Now, this process can be realized in advance.

"French goods are too expensive." Leader Zhang said.

In the world, American and Soviet equipment are the mainstream, but some customers cannot afford these two. French goods take this route. Due to low sales and high costs, French goods have always been expensive.

Take the Mirage 2000, the main French military product in the 1980s, for example. The price sold to China was as high as 60 million US dollars per aircraft! You must know that the first batch of twin-engine heavy-duty Su-27s purchased in the 1990s cost only 35 million US dollars per aircraft, and the US-made F-16 cost only 10 to 20 million US dollars at that time.

The two sets of Crotale missiles ordered that year also cost 80 million US dollars per set, which was definitely an astronomical price.

"Expensive? If the navy really wants it, I have a way to make the French lower their proud heads."

"President Qin, please tell us!" Everyone became excited.

The Crotale, this missile and radar are together, and there is also a separate one.