50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 458 It’s better to seek help from others than from yourself
Even during the most amicable period of relations, the technical equipment provided by the other side was often shrouded in secrecy, neither systematic nor complete.

For example, although Paris transferred its helicopter production line, it refused to provide mission payload systems.

Rome exported the A244 torpedo but did not provide the matching sonar; it provided semi-active air-to-air missiles but not the matching fire control radar.

The equipment sold by Washington was extremely limited in quantity, diverse in type, and contained many technological gaps.

But at this point, we still don't know the final outcome.

Several years later, when we reviewed the situation, we found that these purchases had very limited impact on improving our overall combat capabilities.

The biggest benefit is probably that it gives researchers a direction for their research.

On the morning of June 30th, Sun Zhiwei finally submitted his technical data report. The purchasing team finally had a reliable basis for analysis.

However, Sun Zhiwei was not optimistic about this procurement.

As the saying goes, it's better to rely on yourself than on others; it's unrealistic to expect to get something good from someone else.

It wasn't until later, when the students returned to China one after another, that they brought back various cutting-edge scientific materials, which improved our science and engineering education level.

It wasn't until our own domestically trained researchers began to grow exponentially that we finally found our way in the field of research and development.

Let's count the advanced equipment he brought back to China in the past:

One transport aircraft: (intact) C-130 Super Heavy
Two bombers: (disassembled) B-52 Stratofortress

One electronic warfare aircraft: (damaged) EA-6B
战斗机9架：5架（受伤）F-14A雄猫和4架（完好）F-14A雄猫
Four attack aircraft: (damaged) A-7 Corsair
Three H submarines:
One (intact) Los Angeles-class attack submarine, USS Memphis.
One (damaged) Los Angeles-class attack submarine, USS Philadelphia (now returned).

One (damaged) Type 945 Sierra-class titanium attack submarine (already returned)

Four missiles:
Three (intact) RGM-84 ship-launched Harpoon anti-ship missiles

One (disassembled) UGM-96A Trident ballistic missile (H warhead)

Each of these pieces of equipment is more advanced than what is used domestically, but it is completely impossible to reverse engineer them and recreate the exact same ones at home.

Because we cannot replicate the precision of the parts, the strength of the materials, or the control program, we can only learn from its layout, structure, and dynamic principles to develop our own products.

If we really have to import it, he thinks Grumman's F-14 is a better choice, because Grumman is willing to sell us the complete product and technology.

This is a complete system. Even if our parts and materials are not up to par, at least we can get our hands on the complete software and fire control technologies.

Unfortunately, the F-14 is just too expensive.

The entire aircraft costs $2500 million, a major overhaul costs $3000 million, and one hour of flight costs $7. Not to mention the complete set of technologies, which are ridiculously expensive.

It's truly unaffordable to buy, fly, or repair.

Moreover, if we were to actually import the complete F-14 technology, we wouldn't have the money to buy anything else; it's definitely not enough to just cater to the Air Force.

So, in the end, this matter did not succeed, otherwise our air force would have been in a completely different situation.

However, this may be a good thing, since the US often changes its policies frequently and habitually harms its allies, restricts their access to resources, and imposes conditions.

If we actually use the US's F-14, we will not only be controlled by the US in terms of parts, but we will also lose the opportunity to bring back the complete technology of the S-27.

However, it wouldn't be accurate to say that this phase of procurement yielded no results; there were indeed a few. Four procurement items were successful: the MK46 anti-submarine torpedo and the AN/TPQ-37 gun locating radar.

It also has two other equipment: the LM2500 gas turbine and the Black Hawk helicopter.

However, the numbers were very small, with only 4 gas turbines and 24 helicopters. To be honest, they had some effect, but not a decisive one.

It was under these circumstances that the top leader said something like, "The army must be patient," and now is the beginning of that patience.

Time passed day by day, and soon it was July. On the 19th, the Moscow Olympics were held as scheduled.

On the opening day, only 5179 athletes from 80 countries participated, with 67 countries absent, most of which were due to a boycott led by the United States.

Since we're currently on the side of the US, we naturally didn't go.

This resulted in a situation where there were more journalists than athletes at this Olympics.

This caused Moscow, which had been preparing for several years and allocating more than five billion US dollars for large-scale construction, to lose face.

After losing face, Moscow was not going to let it go. After the Olympics, they increased their troop deployment to the Central Asian battlefield.

Old M and his men naturally knew they couldn't defeat Moscow, so they secretly sabotaged Moscow in Central Asia.

Kabul immediately became the front line of the battle between the East and the West. During this period, our family also gained some benefits.

One was that we provided manpower, equipment, and funding from Country M to establish a modern radar detection station in the Northwest. We learned the core technology of this modern detection and monitoring system.

Another thing is that the United States bought a large number of light weapons from us and sent them to the battlefield, which allowed us to use up a batch of old stockpiled weapons and earn foreign exchange.

This isn't the first time our family has sold weapons; the first time was last year.

The first deal was signed with Cairo, selling 298 aircraft of various models for a total value of $1.67 million.

It seems that this trade set a good precedent, allowing domestic arms factories to reap the benefits, and subsequently our weapons began to be sold all over the world.

However, most of what we can sell now are light weapons and their ammunition, and we only earn hard-earned money.

Currently, the bulk of the international arms trade still depends on two international giants.

They have high technical skills, great influence, and sell high-tech products. Their products are often priced in the millions of dollars, and a single order can be worth hundreds of millions. Making money couldn't be easier.

Actually, none of these things are big deals. The real big deal just happened recently in the South Pacific.

By the time Sun Zhiwei received the news, everything had already been settled, and he no longer had the chance to see it.

Rewind to May, when he was waiting for a member evaluation from the M Country Appraisers Association.

At the same time, our 18 ships, in a mighty procession, broke through the heavily fortified island defenses of Japan and cleaved through the waves straight into the South Pacific.

The ship carried more than 5000 researchers and military personnel on board. Their purpose was to carry out the secret "580" mission.

The four countries of the United States, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand are on high alert and have dispatched a large number of aircraft and ships to follow us, conduct aerial harassment and provocation, and try to find out the purpose of our trip.

(End of this chapter)