What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 295 McDonnell Douglas 11
"You mean we were plagiarized?"

Robert answered the phone, looking quite surprised.

"President, our people have started up the cockpits of those pirated A4s. The avionics are indeed at the level of the 60s."

Although the engines were not started, the engineers were quite certain that the aircraft were at least capable of flying.

Why emphasize avionics from the 60s? Because that was during the Annam War.

With hundreds of A4s lost, it's not surprising that both the mainland and the Russians further north have plenty of wreckage, and they might even be able to piece together a few that are still airworthy.

A complete framework had already formed in Robert's mind:

The backward mainland started to survey and copy A4 paper, but due to their weak foundation, they failed to succeed for a long time. In the 80s, they were abandoned because they were too backward.

The lack of carrier-based aircraft or carrier-based trainer aircraft was not resolved until the emergence of the Type 011 aircraft carrier. By then, it was no longer difficult for them to reverse engineer the missing aircraft.

In other words... McDonnell Douglas is actually grateful to Guy King for having any awareness of copyright at this time and being willing to spend money to buy a license—although not a large one.

Then Levi's delivered another message:
“I met Lu from the Hongdu Institute. He had worked at McDonnell 50 years ago and participated in the design of carrier-based aircraft. Perhaps he led the reverse engineering of the A4. I also heard that he tried to reverse engineer variable-sweep wing technology, but failed.”

And they didn't just have A4; the F4 monsters might also have been mapped.

Robert: "Okay, okay, so how much are they willing to pay?"

Since his work has been copied, he has nothing to say. Now he can only make a profit from each copy.

Levi's: "Gaijin's Tang was only willing to offer $500 million, I said at least $1500 million, Tang disagreed, but he put forward another idea. He hoped that Gaijin would bring in 100 McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft and then give away licenses for A4 and F4 aircraft."

"..."

Because the leap was too large, Robert couldn't turn around immediately.

"Wait, what did you say? How many?"

……

one day ago.

Levi's didn't stay for the kickbacks.

While a million dollars is indeed an exaggerated amount in this era—after all, a Lamborghini sports car now costs just over $10—it's not enough to make Levi's take such a big risk.

Tang Wenqiang kept him at the villa and first asked a completely unrelated question:

"Li, is McDonnell Douglas now completely acquired by Boeing, or is it still under negotiation and not yet fully merged?"

Levi was savoring his uniquely flavored coconut milk coffee when he paused for a few seconds before saying:

"This has nothing to do with you. McDonnell Douglas is still in charge of handling A4 matters."

Tang Wen ignored the question: "I heard that Boeing spent $140 billion to acquire McDonnell Douglas. So how much money would it take to save McDonnell Douglas? I think it shouldn't cost $140 billion."

Levi Strauss: "The merger of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas was driven by business needs, and there was no question of salvage."

"What if I buy $20 billion worth of passenger planes from McDonnell Douglas?"

"Cough, cough!"

After choking for a while, Levi's breath caught in his throat and he finally caught his breath, raising an eyebrow and saying:
"2000 billion US dollars? Dongda entrepreneur, do you know how much that is? Your shipyard is worth at most 20 million US dollars."

Tang Wen: "Based on the McDonnell Douglas 11, we made minor improvements, and then Gaijin Heavy Industries purchased 100 units through import assembly and obtained a copy license, and built a factory here."

"Li, Gaikin isn't an ordinary private company; it's a consortium like McDonnell Douglas. We can afford to pay that amount."

Under Levi's shocked and puzzled gaze, Tang Wen went into the study, took down several thin sheets of paper, and placed them in front of him:

"This is the only legal offshore oil exploration and extraction license issued to a private company in China. We have discovered a huge oil reserve in China and will begin development within two months. The estimated output in 97 is over 1500 million tons." Since McDonnell Douglas entered China in 85 with the McDonnell Douglas 82, Levi's was already very familiar with the rules here, so he was even more shocked by what Tang Wen said.

"My God, this is truly..."

Tang Wen continued to pull out all the stops: "Of course, it takes time for China to build oil wells and expand production, but Gaijin also has business overseas."

Tomorrow is February 1st, so before March 1st, an oil tanker carrying 100,000 tons of high-quality crude oil will dock in the United States as an advance payment for this transaction.

By May at the latest, Geigin's domestic oil field production will exceed this figure, and then the transaction will continue to be settled in US dollars or physically.

Levi suddenly stood up, held his head, paced back and forth in the living room, and then picked up the few thin pieces of evidence again.

Tang Wen gestured to him: "This is easy to prove. Gaijin Heavy Industry has been included in the national list of legal enterprises. It's just that they haven't publicized it much. And crude oil doesn't lie."

"Where are your oil wells in the country? I haven't heard anything like that."

Tang Wen: "It's still a secret. I can only tell you after we sign the agreement, but I estimate it will be revealed in a month or two. I just don't know if McDonnell Douglas will have been completely swallowed up by then."

Levi's remained silent. Shanghai had only spent $5.8 million assembling 25 McDonnell Douglas MD-82s, a process that took six or seven years to complete, and now, with McDonnell Douglas being merged, that project was nearing its end.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is an evolution of the DC-10, not a medium-sized passenger plane like the MD-82, and of course, it costs more than $2000 million per aircraft.

However, the number of aircraft in this super order of 100 is about the same as the number of aircraft produced so far.

Not only would the profits be substantial, but the maintenance fees from those 100 aircraft could actually allow McDonnell Douglas to catch its breath and survive.

If Geigin is really an oil tycoon, then $20 billion is nothing; he could easily give that up by boosting the stock price.

but……

"Why are you buying so many McDonnell Douglas MD-11s? The market seems to prefer the A340 or Boeing."

Levi asked one last question.

"Because the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is the only large passenger aircraft that has a chance of being successfully introduced, isn't it?"

Ten years have passed since the Y-10 was overtaken by the McDonnell Douglas 82, and even the chief designer regretted it to the death.

Although the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 had a poor reputation, it was not actually a bad design. Its related aircraft, the KC-10 tanker, remained in service for thirty years without any major problems.

If you could lend a hand to McDonnell Douglas at this time, you might reap unimaginable benefits.

If the McDonnell Douglas 11 can be successfully domestically produced, it would be a way to make up for the time lost after the Y-10 project was cancelled.

Let alone $20 billion, as long as the dredgers in the Spratly Islands get moving, $50 billion is not difficult to achieve, and this amount is not settled in one lump sum.

Compared to Mu Qizhong's "canned goods for airplanes," "oil for airplanes" sounds much better.

100 aircraft may seem like a lot, but the Air Force can absorb 10 of them just by modifying them into tankers or electronic aircraft. The rest is far from enough to meet the rapidly growing market demand.

Moreover, by leveraging the domestic production of the McDonnell Douglas 11, a production line and supply chain have been established, making it easier to digest and modify the Concorde-type aircraft, and even to make minor modifications to the F-14.

Levi Strauss had already risen to the position of vice president. Because of the acquisition by Boeing, McDonnell Douglas was bound to have a large number of people purged.

If they can secure this large order of 100 aircraft, even if they still cannot avoid being acquired, Levi's can completely guarantee that his position in the new company will remain unchanged, or even be promoted.

"Okay, I will pass on your request."

"Thank you very much, but please keep it a secret until then."

Before Levi's left, Tang Wen also gave him two boxes of Brain Gold.

(End of this chapter)