What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 602 Another Honeymoon Period?
"Sound waves, it's sound waves."

In response to questioning from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Cedric, the director of the Weather Data Center who had been promoted to deputy chief of weather operations, replied.

The Empire had conducted a thorough survey of the affected sea area, and it was not difficult to identify the problem by analyzing the dead marine animals.

Moreover, there are two nuclear submarines as evidence, providing ample proof that they were attacked by infrasound.

The Empire initially considered infrasound weapons, and various countries had invested a great deal of effort in researching this area. However, the experimental results were at most anxiety-inducing and nauseating, and were quite costly and not cost-effective.

However, as the investigation deepened and meteorological experts joined in, it was gradually revealed that infrasound was merely a side effect or an additional byproduct, an unexpected result of sound waves contributing to meteorological storms.

"So, according to you, the Third Fleet only needs to use a large loudspeaker to continuously broadcast sound in the air to gather a storm and destroy two submarines more than ten kilometers away?"

The military leaders of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were quite puzzled. This was too fantastical for them; even describing it as a radiation weapon would have made it easier to understand.

"Hmm... that's the principle, but in reality there might be many loudspeakers... I've prepared a small experiment, which might be more helpful for understanding."

Cedric had a large water tank, 2 meters by 1 meter in size, brought in. There were many vibration probes installed around the tank.

Cedric:

“Each probe is a vibration source, which can be understood as a ‘speaker’. Let’s start one and see.”

As soon as a probe was powered on, a buzzing vibration was heard, and the generals immediately saw steady ripples appear on the water's surface.

When the second one is activated, the ripples become more complex, dividing into many regions.

The third, the fourth... all eight vibrators started up, and the water surface seemed to be boiling in some kind of complex order.

Cedric then demonstrated a switch:
"This knob can adjust the vibration frequency, let's take a look..."

The boiling of the water in the pool fluctuated with the frequency, but when it reached a certain frequency, it suddenly became extremely violent, almost splashing onto people's faces, like a roaring mountain and a tsunami.

At this moment, the stainless steel water tank also made a unique metallic clanging sound, as if it was about to disintegrate, making an unbearable loud noise on the floor, constantly hitting the floor, which made all the staff on the floor run out in fear to check.

But Cedric continued his experiment regardless. The tank vibrated wildly like a never-ending electron. Just when people thought it was about to smash something, a small explosion suddenly rang out, followed by the smell of burning electricity.

The vibrator broke down first.

The noisy water tank stopped, but the 3mm thick metal wall now became pitted and uneven, showing a scale-like pattern.

Cedric lifted the not-so-thick wire:

“Each of these vibrators has a power of only a dozen watts, which is no more than the power of an incandescent light bulb when combined. However, when the vibration wavelengths they generate resonate with the surrounding environment, they will exert a power that exceeds their own strength.”

The members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff fell silent. Johnson crouched down and put his fingers into the water, finding it to be lukewarm.

"It's hard to... imagine why we didn't create a sonic weapon in the past. It doesn't seem complicated, does it?"

Rams raised everyone's question, and Cedric answered it using a vibrator:

"General, a resonant environment is also very harmful to the machine itself. The vibration source will destroy itself before it causes huge damage."

"Why don't we add another layer... and protect it with armor?"

The speaker was immediately ridiculed by the others, clearly indicating that ordinary protection was ineffective; otherwise, those two nuclear submarines wouldn't have died so miserably.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff were deeply shocked by the results of this small experiment, which further strengthened their resolve to develop such weapons.
Imagine a P-3C filled with these sonic generators circling outside a port in northern Russia; their submarines would all be dead like fish... It's simply wonderful, a qualitative crushing of all current anti-submarine weapons.

Of course, finding a solution is even more important.

Cedric's explanation for the Third Fleet's failure to use weather weapons in combat was:
It's not that they didn't use it, but rather that they lacked the means to sustain themselves. They couldn't hold on before they even reached the British mainland, which is consistent with the facts.

But they lasted at least 15 minutes, which is unimaginable in the industry. They were fully capable of real combat, they were just unlucky this time.

Putting aside everything else, as long as the plane is hiding in the storm, even the AIM-120 is helpless, unless we go back to the crazy path of the 50s with mushroom-shaped nose cones.

Back then, due to the low accuracy of missiles, everyone unanimously installed low-yield missiles, never expecting that they would find a market again after forty or fifty years.

"So, how are our Amazon flood control plans going?"

Rams took this plan very seriously. Prism Building was eager to take advantage of the flood and the lost empire to launch a swift and decisive blitzkrieg, forcing the enemy out of their stronghold for a surgical strike.

After being passive so many times, I'm going to lose face if I don't take the initiative this time!

"In mid-February, our transport capacity was largely depleted due to supporting our allies, but... we have enough rain-reducing agents and incendiary bombs. We've conducted a re-simulation, and it should achieve the desired effect!"

"Does it have a significant impact on the surrounding environment?"

Although he already knew the answer, Rams still asked it.

Cedric did not give a direct answer:

"This plan will generate wildfires that will last for at least 7 to 10 days, and the extent of the fires is highly uncertain."

"Then let's keep doing it."

……

"Wow, they're even giving me a meal card. Wait, isn't the photo on that card going to be really ugly?"

“What meal card? This is called an access card – Representative Yan.”

Yan Jian stood in the corridor of the aviation machinery factory, where Tang Wen was teaching him how to swipe his card to enter and exit the access control system. The latter swiped the card repeatedly as if he had discovered a new continent.

NFC was clearly not an advanced technology; it was just that it was not commonly seen in mainland China at the time. The GZ20 was predictably included in the military procurement list, and Yan Jian was ultimately sent as the military representative to oversee its deployment.

Tang Wen was clearly very aware of the importance of secrecy, and he tried his best to replicate the leak prevention measures used in later generations:
Ordinary personnel need to go through two procedures to enter and exit: an employee card and a metal detector. Backpacks also have to go through an X-ray machine. These devices alone are incredibly expensive.

In addition, the ubiquitous surveillance cameras made Yan Jian feel that his existence was somewhat superfluous.

"It's almost as strict here as a nuclear power plant."

"That's what you call a sense of security... I'm having Shanghai try to implement facial recognition, but 3D sensing is quite complicated with current technology."

The domestic emphasis on the GZ20 is beyond imagination, and its success has an impact on the higher authorities no less significant than that on the IAA.

The ingrained mindset that private enterprises cannot handle precision industries persists. The success of the GZ20 has led many to question whether it is a significant limitation for state-owned enterprises to handle sensitive fields alone. The vitality and research capabilities of private enterprises may not be too bad.

Even before a mass production model has been developed, the Army has already placed an order for the first batch of 16 aircraft and signed a letter of intent for 86 more. As for the price... it will only be confirmed when mass production begins, but Tang Wen guarantees that it will not exceed 1.2 million yuan per aircraft.

The Navy has also placed an order for 20 aircraft with the Marine Corps, so sending Yan Jian is quite reasonable.

As for Imperial and Boeing?
Tang Wen believed that this matter was not enough to cause a falling out. Recently, the MDA Alliance had been inviting him to attend some technology summit, and Prism Building had not been pressing him too much.

In late January, while Dai Ying was fully on guard against BMW secretly selling Rover behind his back, General Motors announced that it would sign a joint venture agreement with Gaijin's Feiyue Motors in Continental, becoming the second car brand after BMW to form a joint venture with a local private enterprise, and would introduce several Cadillac luxury cars to enter the market.

Another piece of news that followed was that GM was trying to get rid of Saab, acquiring everything from the brand to its technical patent personnel through a package deal with Geiger.

Saab's division had not received any prior notice and stubbornly claimed to the media that they had not heard of it, but they were convinced that Detroit was capable of such a thing.

The Swiss iodine authorities were also dissatisfied:

GM's acquisition of Saab was aimed at opening up the European market, which was only beneficial to the authorities. However, the acquisition by Geigin would definitely bring Saab back to the country, and the automotive industry would suddenly lose a large part of it.

However, they were not British. General Motors, relying on its position in the Empire, persuaded a large number of members of parliament, so the Empire was very supportive of the deal and would definitely push it through.

At this time, Tang Wen took the initiative to contact Saab and the Swiss authorities, promising that even if Saab Automobile was acquired, at least one production line and a complete R&D center would be retained in its home country, and that domestic engineers would be sent to study in rotation, since there were indeed no good conditions in China.

After offering the sweet treat, he immediately went to General Electric and said that as long as most of the production lines were moved to China and the patents were successfully transferred, he would give an additional 10% premium as a kickback.

Saab worked very hard to sell off its non-own products, even refusing to pay a premium and guaranteeing a complete handover. Hundreds of Saab engineers in the US were immediately sent to get visas, ready to be sent to Gaykin as pigs.

The rapidly escalating relationship between Gaikin and GM has drawn criticism from BMW, who are deeply resentful that Dai Ying is preventing them from making money.

Losing this deal would mean a direct loss of $12 billion.
The Hans authorities had no choice but to intervene. On the one hand, they sent people back to China to stabilize Tang Wen, and on the other hand, they engaged in a war of words with Dai Ying. $12 billion was almost equivalent to tens of billions of dollars in the future. How could the authorities sit idly by?
Tang Wen didn't refuse to chat slowly, frankly seeking benefits from both sides in the tug-of-war between GM and BMW. This dragged on until the end of January when Robert suddenly contacted him, saying that Congress had allowed the sale of advanced fighter jets to the country again, and that McDonnell Douglas's F-18 was included.

It's not the F-18C, but a specially made A/F-18CE, which is claimed to be a ground attack-specific model.

This nonsensical news left Tang Wen bewildered. Soon after, Boeing also sent a message that its COO, Harry, had called to say that the person who insulted him had been dismissed. At the same time, he claimed that the CH47D model had been approved by Prism Building for inclusion in the export list, allowing imports and that patent licensing could be discussed.

Following these two news items, that evening the international news channel broadcast a report that President Jefferson had spoken at length about friendly relations during a lecture, highly praising the University of Tokyo's contribution to joining the WTO. In short, it was a string of words about "friendship" and "partnership," which left people with much to ponder.

Combined with the relaxation of arms sales controls—it seems like a honeymoon period is just around the corner?

Tang Wen opened the chat room and privately messaged Lao Zhang to ask about the situation. After sending him the parameters of the A/F18CE, he received a constant stream of replies.

Little did they know that Old Zhang on the other end was currently looking utterly exasperated. He was, of course, aware of the news that Prism Building had taken the initiative to ease tensions, and he knew even better what kind of equipment the A/F18CE was:
Its radar was completely downgraded from the AN/APG-65 to the AN/APQ-120 used by the F4E Phantom, which is so bad that it can't even guide medium-range missiles (such as the AIM-7 'Sparrow').

However, some parameters of the A/F18CE can guide AIM7, which obviously means that minor upgrades and modifications will be made—but it is still a bunch of outdated and inferior parts.

As for the engine, it's even more outrageous; it's not even the early version of the F404, but an unfamiliar model called YJ101-GE-100.

What kind of engine is this? That's the prototype used in the F-17 technology demonstrator, which was a prototype of the F-18. It was modified from the CF6 civilian engine and was a semi-finished product in the 70s.

Its size is similar to that of the F404, making it a near-perfect replacement. However, it has not been mass-produced, resulting in a poor failure rate and long overhaul time. In addition, its military thrust (continuous thrust) is reduced by 20%, its afterburner thrust is reduced by 8%, and its fuel consumption is even higher.

This nerf caused a precipitous drop in both maneuverability and avionics for the A/F-18CE, making its performance fall below that of the original F-18.

However, compared to the F16-79 which uses the J79 turbojet engine, it's not so bad, at least it uses a turbofan engine.

Like the F-16-79, the US has drastically downgraded a highly sought-after advanced weapon to a frustratingly mediocre level.

However, the intention behind selling F-18Cs is obvious: to seize the position of carrier-based aircraft!
Even though Lao Zhang couldn't bear to look at the extent of the drastic cuts, the F-18C's excellent carrier-based aircraft performance was undeniable.

In fact, both the J-7J, which is being delivered in small batches, and the J-10J, which has just been initiated, have a major problem:

Poor takeoff and landing performance.

Needless to say, the J-7 is based on the MiG-21. No matter how it is modified, its descent rate is still breathtaking. Pilots who had flown the T/A4J complained when they switched to the J-7J that they had gone from flying a BMW to flying an oxcart. The J-7J is so stiff and heavy that every landing is a gamble.

There are already more than 20 pilots who can land on the T/A4J aircraft carrier, but only 6 pilots can land on the J-7J, which shows how difficult it is to master.

The trouble with the J-10J comes from its canard layout, which causes an excessive angle of attack and extremely poor visibility during landing. In addition, the front landing gear, located below the air intake, is not very strong and is at risk of breaking when on a carrier. Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group currently has no good solutions.

In comparison, the F-18C is simply the Navy's dream machine, and it must be admitted that it is indeed very tempting.

老张还透露了海军内部已经有声音认为可以采购A/F18CE以满足011号航母需求，至于012和013，他们更中意的舰载机是苏33而非歼10J。

After all, China already has a production line for the Su-27 and has acquired complete technology, so there is a good chance of successfully reverse-engineering the Su-33, and its performance is much better than that of the J-10J.

After listening to this, Tang Wen fell into deep thought. It was clear that the Empire had accurately grasped the pain points in the country. The A/F18CE was not a good product, but it just so happened to meet a buyer who urgently needed it.

[Young Master Tang: However, I don't believe that Prism Building would extend goodwill without a reason at this juncture.]

[Hai Zhilan (Lao Zhang): We will be vigilant, but informal contact has already begun, which may be an opportunity.]

(End of this chapter)