What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 661 Roy Roy and Trent
There are many enduring topics on the internet, such as whether the lion or the tiger is the king of beasts, whether a Tyrannosaurus Rex could defeat a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and whether sweet or savory tofu pudding tastes better—these topics have emerged in the year since DaWang BBS was launched.

This also includes:

Why doesn't Europe unite into a single entity?
Excellent question, making Tiger's staggered load wheels rotate.

As the birthplace of industry, even small European countries often possess unexpected industrial strengths, and they can always suddenly produce well-known monopolistic companies that are particularly proficient in certain areas. The research on subsystems throughout Europe can almost be considered the pinnacle of human capabilities.

However, the situation is completely different in fields that require a large concentration of technology and resources, such as fighter jets and rockets. Europe has the best parts to assemble mediocre second-rate products, while the Russians, with only a bunch of barely passable parts, can assemble world-renowned advanced equipment.

The reason lies in integration. Europe lacks the ability to integrate scattered resources to complete a project—even if it could, the project would be completely altered to meet the demands of multiple parties, ultimately becoming a mess.

Saab is a tragic victim. It could have used various advanced technologies without restrictions, but because Switzerland's fighter jet requirements were completely different from those of other countries, and the UK and the US preferred to take the lead themselves, many of Saab's aircraft could not be sold, and its narrow market could not support continuous iteration and advancement.

From the 50s to the present, every generation of Saab aircraft has been considered excellent in its class. However, as fighter jets have become more and more complex and the development costs have become more and more expensive, the subsidies from the Swiss government have become insufficient.

Saab naturally turned its attention to the civilian market and developed several small and medium-sized passenger aircraft. However, it found that the civilian market was much more competitive than the military aircraft market, where large companies took all the profits and left no room for others. So it quickly withdrew and prepared to cut its losses.

However, at this moment, Geiger appeared and spent a whopping $9.9 million to buy Saab Automobile, making Saab Airlines drool.

Last year, during the Christmas campaign, Prism Building deceived Gustav by saying it would pay $20 billion to buy a new generation of Saabs. However, as soon as the war ended, it changed its tune. The Air Force commander in charge of liaising the support plan resigned, and the authorities did not have the funds to update the fleet of 24 Saabs.

Coupled with the threat of the lost empire, Switzerland also intends to strengthen its military and is in even greater need of funds.

Saab Automobile gave them hope, and Saab Aviation also did its homework and was ready to make a quick buck. The Gripen was just a front; the real target was Tang Wen's new passenger plane project.

The latter had no knowledge of Saab's civilian product line and clearly had considerable doubts.

Upon his visit, Saab Airlines Vice President Eric Lindelof immediately handed him a carefully prepared brochure, which featured a special description of the Saab 2000 turboprop regional jet that had just been delivered to the market.

With a takeoff weight of only 20 tons, its straight, low-wing design with a slight dihedral immediately reminded Tang Wen of military anti-submarine patrol aircraft platforms.

Indeed, this is true. In order to capture as much market share as possible, the small-scale Saab 2000 was designed to be modified into an electronic warfare aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft, and early warning aircraft, and its appearance was optimized to a certain extent.

Eric made no secret of this, and stated that Swiss iodine could help the country develop early warning aircraft.

"Not enough, this is too small. The new passenger plane is a 240-seat behemoth, and Saab has no experience with it."

Tang Wen shook his head vigorously. The Saab 2000 only had a range of over 2000 kilometers, a takeoff weight of only one-third that of the Y-8, and its engine was still from Rolls-Royce. Perhaps Saab's design capabilities were good, but these were not enough to impress him.

The Saab 2000 is already the largest civilian airliner they have designed. Why should they take the risk of joint development instead of inviting the three major manufacturers, or simply do it themselves?

Eric: "Saab can transfer composite material technology to help obtain FAA airworthiness certification, as well as unique short takeoff and landing and fly-by-wire technology, and teach it without reservation."

"That's not enough. Passenger aircraft don't need short takeoff and landing, and FAA airworthiness certificates are by no means necessary for us. The domestic market is already more than enough."

"Your Excellency, we can also develop a heavy-duty version of the Saab 2000 with four engines, which can definitely exceed 6000 kilometers with a full load range, and is economical, durable, and has very low fuel consumption."

It is also very useful for anti-submarine patrols and early warning aircraft, and is absolutely no less capable than the P-3C, and is a generation and a half more advanced than the Y-8.

"The turboprop is too noisy."

Tang Wen remained unmoved. The biggest advantage of turboprop aircraft is their low fuel consumption, but... he was waiting for his aviation team to mature and then replicate the Concorde supersonic airliner, so he didn't care about fuel consumption at all.

Eric's mood plummeted. If this didn't work, he was truly out of options. Saab's trump cards were limited; either Tang Wen didn't value them, or he didn't need them... Well, otherwise Saab Airlines wouldn't have been on a continuous decline.

Just as he was about to end the meeting in disappointment, Tang Wen suddenly changed the subject:
"Of course, I personally have a very good impression of Saab. You are a rare independent aircraft manufacturer. However, I have to convince the shareholders that they cannot tolerate too much risk unless... you can convince me with something else."

Eric seemed to have grasped at a straw:
"Please tell me!"

Tang Wen: "Bring the Trent 800 here, and we will develop a new passenger aircraft based on the Trent 800. The condition is that we will jointly obtain the license for the Trent 800."

"..."

Eric: "Sir, the Trent 800 is Rolls-Royce's flagship product under development, the world's most advanced civil aircraft engine."

Tang Wen nodded; of course he knew.

In later generations, the General Electric CE9X, with a thrust of 56 tons, was still the most advanced in terms of overall technology, but Rolls-Royce still had to be the most advanced, with British aerospace expertise always being unique.

The Trent series is a great third-generation advanced aero-engine. Its development only began in the 90s. It adopts three-rotor technology, which is a whole generation more advanced than the twin-rotor CF6. It has lower fuel consumption, a lower probability of surge, and lower maintenance costs. In the future, it will dominate 40% of the wide-body passenger aircraft market. Boeing and Airbus have both praised it for its performance.

The Trent 700 and Trent 800, which are currently under development, have thrusts of 34 tons and 41 tons respectively, truly shining examples of the aviation industry!
Tang Wen recalled that the Trent series was mentioned by Chang Buss when he was pushing for the imitation of CF6. After learning the specific parameters, he was immediately amazed.

Unfortunately, the Trent 800 suffered a fan blade breakage during a test flight in 95, leading to extreme pessimism from the industry. Rolls-Royce continued to push forward despite the immense pressure, but so far, apart from becoming the official model for the A330 through connections, the overall trend remains bleak.

To date, the Trent series has only received 23 orders. Rolls-Royce is pinning its hopes on intensive test flights of the new model to cover up previous setbacks, whereas in the original timeline it would have taken 99 years to achieve this goal and quickly rise to dominate most of the aviation market.

Trent is somewhat like McDonnell Douglas before him, except that McDonnell Douglas is about to die, while Trent is about to become a nouveau riche. It's just that even Rollo Rollo himself doesn't have much confidence right now.

But for Eric, the reputation of Trent 800 does not affect its exaggerated technical level. Why would Royce sell off the intellectual property rights of a good product that has not yet been released?
Tang Wen, of course, also had his own conditions:
"If the acquisition is successful, then the joint development of the new passenger aircraft will be ordered by Geekin in advance with 200 aircraft and a 30% prepayment will be paid to the escrow account. If the contract is breached, the money will be paid directly to you."

"Really!"

Eric was almost shocked by the number—that was 200 jetliners!

Only 63 Saab 2000s were ever produced. Where did Tang Wen get the confidence to order 200 larger and heavier jet airliners? What if they couldn't sell them?
How can it be!

Tang Wen felt heartbroken seeing the Civil Aviation Administration of China still trying to buy foreign passenger planes. Chang Busi kept talking about the Y-10 all day long, saying that there was no way the domestic market could not absorb 200 high-quality replicas of the 737. Once they were built, there would be a shortage of supply.

Even if they can't sell them... they can switch to Southeast Asia. At that time, who would dare not buy them?
A huge pie hit Eric so hard he was dizzy, and only then did he realize the terrifying potential of the big country's market.

"What about Naro Luo?"

Tang Wen: "Tell them that as long as they agree to transfer the technology, we will buy 500 engines first, even if the aircraft project has not been approved. Send them over and I will put them in the warehouse!"

The Trent 800 is a great aircraft; if passenger planes can't use it, they can transfer it to transport planes.

Of course, he knew that the positioning was too advanced, and he only hoped to use the name of joint development to make use of Saab's reputation. What if it worked?

As for the money spent on making grand promises... why not just develop Natuna?

Natuna is not just about void oil; there was a large gas field nearby, so why not mine it?

(End of this chapter)