Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 413 The Bidding Begins

For the French, the reason they can sell their weapons and equipment at high prices is because they have a knack for it. Regardless of the country, the procurement personnel always have their own interests. As long as you give them some gifts and a certain amount of kickback, they will do their best to help.

Seeing Rudit receive two red envelopes in succession, Leo continued, "If we can win the bid this time, we will transfer one-tenth of the payment to your Swiss bank account."

A $300 million contract, and even a tenth of that kickback is a whopping $30 million!
Rudit was indeed tempted by Leo's words, but... he still couldn't make up his mind!

Although it's a naval procurement project, the person in charge of the Ministry of National Defense is Kandalak, who has the best relationship with the East. So, this contract will most likely end up with someone from the East.

If you mess around with it recklessly, you're likely to suffer a great loss.

"I'm sorry, but this bidding process must adhere to the principles of openness, fairness, and impartiality. However, rest assured, as long as your product offers good value for money, the Siamese Navy will definitely purchase it!"

Leo was stunned. This man wasn't even tempted by thirty million US dollars. That was a huge sum of money!

"Yes, we believe in your impartiality."

Leo knew that today's meeting had to end here, and next he would have to think of a way through the man's family!

As he walked out of the office building, he saw someone getting out of a car.

"Old Henry, what are you doing here?"

In 1871, James Ramsden founded the Barrow Shipbuilding Company. In 1897, the Wechs & Co. acquired the company and formed the Wechs-Armstrong Group.

This shipyard is renowned for having built numerous warships for the British Navy, such as the battleship HMS Avenger, the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable, and the aircraft carrier HMS Elephant. In 1977, during the British reforms, the shipyard was nationalized and incorporated into the British Shipbuilding Corporation.

What is old Henry, the head of Vickers shipyard, doing here?
Old Henry smiled and said, "Whatever you're here for, I'll do the same."

Another competitor has emerged! This is the British! The British Invincible-class aircraft carriers were built at Vickers shipyard! Although the Invincible-class carriers have been lost in the South Atlantic, they remain pioneers of a new era. This 20,000-ton displacement light aircraft carrier is the best choice for Siam!

So here they are! They are confident they will win the bid, and they absolutely must! The situation in Britain is far from optimistic! State-owned enterprises have had large amounts of capital withdrawn from them, and without more shipbuilding projects, their shipyards may go bankrupt!

Leo's heart skipped a beat as he watched old Henry walk up the steps and into the office building.

Boom boom boom!
"Please come in!"

"General, the British are here."

"Really? Let them in!"

Now, Rudit is very happy; he's receiving so many red envelopes he's practically rolling in them! Are the British here to give out red envelopes too?
He was destined to be disappointed.

The British had no money to give red envelopes, so old Henry launched into a long, rambling account of how powerful the Invincible-class aircraft carriers were, making Rudette drowsy.

Meanwhile, Qin Liang and his group finally arrived at the hotel.

"Qin, please stay here for now. I'll invite you to a banquet tonight..."

"Isn't this...not good?"

"There's nothing wrong with that. You're our best friend. Now that you're here, we absolutely can't be negligent. This time, the Indians actually took the initiative to bomb American naval warships. Their fate will definitely not be good. We Siam are even more at ease now!"

Outsiders would never know the inside story. Even the Siamese only thought that the Indians were provoked by the previous attack on their nuclear base by the US Navy and felt resentful, so they went and bombed US warships.

Indians are capable of doing something like that!

Since the Indians are going to do this, they're destined for a bad end! The Siamese are secretly delighted.

"Ok."

Within Siam, peace and prosperity reigned. India's support for the monkeys had ended, and the monkeys were no longer capable of causing trouble for Siam. During this period, the borders of Siam were also peaceful!
The Siamese were delighted and extremely hospitable to their Eastern friends.

at dinner.

“People from Vickers Shipyard in the UK are here too,” Gandarat said. “I never expected that someone who has suffered a defeat would dare to bid. Qin, don’t worry, we’ll use that argument to reject them.”

“Ahem, this isn’t good. After all, this is a scar on the British’s past,” Qin Liang said. “You’ve already set the procurement cost beforehand, and the Invincible-class aircraft carrier can’t meet that requirement.”

The Invincible-class aircraft carrier, which began construction in the 1970s, cost £1.85 million. The British today certainly cannot complete the construction within the $300 million cost requirement; it would cost at least $500 million. How could Siam agree to such a high cost?
Gandhart nodded: "Okay, let's use that as an excuse! Qin, I wish you success in the bid! Cheers!"

Qin Liang raised his glass: "Cheers!"

Inside the hotel.

"Hmph, these Siamese are far too biased towards the East. We come here, sit on the sidelines, and actively seek out connections, while the East Asians come and we arrange hotel accommodations and welcome banquets!"

“Yes, these Siamese have gone too far. However, our Bazan Shipyard is fully confident of winning the bid. As long as we bring out the best products, we don’t believe the Siamese will openly favor the East!” Yamal, the head of Bazan Shipyard, clenched his fist.

Many people are destined to be sleepless this night!

The next day, in the conference room of the Ministry of Defense of Siam.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Siam for this aircraft carrier bidding." Kandalat looked at the representatives present and said, "First of all, I would like to reiterate the bidding requirements. Due to our limited national strength, our aircraft carrier procurement cost will not exceed three hundred million US dollars. If the price is higher than this, then you do not need to participate in the bidding."

The British immediately became anxious.

"General Kandalak, aircraft carriers are powerful weapons for naval warfare. You cannot only look at the price, but also at the performance! In order to achieve advanced performance, you can relax the purchase price a little. We in the UK have also noticed your price requirements. Therefore, for the excess, we can find a loan from the Bank of London for you, which you can repay in ten years."

Gandhara glanced over there: "Mr. Henry, loans must be repaid, and interest must be paid. Your proposed solution could not only save a shipyard, but also a bank, right? I'm sorry, we don't intend to spend any more money. After all, why should we spend more money when there's something cheap and effective?"

“That’s right, General Gandarat is right!” Leo immediately expressed his support.

Britain and France are both old empires. They support each other in many international affairs, but they are also competitors in many areas, such as military equipment exports, where they often clash. So, the French are very happy to see the British excluded.

Seeing the other party's gloating expression, the Englishman was quite angry.

"Leo, how could you do this? We're all from Europe. We're no longer eligible to bid, but do you think you are?"

"Of course we have one. Our plan is the most suitable for the Siamese Navy. It can quickly achieve combat capability and launch regular carrier-based aircraft. In particular, our aircraft carrier is a 30,000-ton medium-sized carrier, with more than twice the combat capability of a light carrier. The Falklands War has fully demonstrated that the combat capability of light carriers is too poor and has no practical combat significance..."

"You've gone too far!" Old Henry gritted his teeth, wishing he could rush up and beat them up.

The Falklands War is a scar on Britain's body, and no one can mention it. Anyone who does will be attacked. If we can't beat the crying country, can't we beat you gossiping people?

"Alright, that's enough, stop arguing!" Kandalak looked towards the conference room: "I haven't finished stating my demands yet!" "General Kandalak, please continue."

"Secondly, this tender is for the purchase of a brand new aircraft carrier, so second-hand aircraft carriers are not within our consideration."

puff……

Now it's the British's turn to laugh. You Frenchmen were just laughing at us, but now you have no right to!
The aircraft carrier that Britain provided was over budget. And what about France? They're offering Siam a second-hand aircraft carrier for $300 million. They're not stupid; they won't accept a second-hand carrier!

Leo grew anxious and looked towards the stage: "General Rudite, we..."

We made a promise, and you kept it!

Rudit's face darkened: "Mr. Leo, please watch your words."

If you dare to reveal that you bribed me, you won't have a good ending. You definitely won't leave Siam alive!
Leo swallowed his next words and looked at Kandalak again: "General Kandalak, don't underestimate our aircraft carrier just because it's second-hand. It's absolutely mature and reliable, and it just underwent a major overhaul a few years ago. It can easily be used for another twenty years!"

Kandalak shook his head: "No, we are bidding for a brand new aircraft carrier. We don't want a second-hand one."

"Why? Our second-hand French aircraft carriers are definitely more advanced than the brand-new ones from the East!"

"Advanced? Is a toxic substance advanced enough?"

Leo opened his eyes wide: "General Gandharva, what are you talking about? I don't understand."

"Did your aircraft carrier use a large amount of asbestos during its construction?"

"This……"

"Currently, asbestos is recognized as a carcinogen and can cause a variety of diseases. Are you trying to get all our Siamese sailors to get cancer by selling this aircraft carrier to us?"

Rudite's expression was also unpredictable.

During the meeting before the banquet last night, Kandalak brought up this matter, and he was immediately dumbfounded. "These Frenchmen are too cunning! Using a toxic second-hand aircraft carrier to harm us?"
He already regretted taking the money, but... a refund? No way! It wasn't his fault; it was all the Frenchman's fault for not explaining things clearly!

He wants the money, but he won't get anything done! That's right, he'll take advantage of you and then deny everything, so what?
Upon hearing Kandalak's words, Leo was completely dumbfounded. How did Siam know about this?
The most important task for them during this major overhaul was to replace the asbestos materials. However, many of the pipes were inside the compartments and could not be replaced. Besides, when the aircraft carrier was built, no one discovered that asbestos was carcinogenic. At that time, asbestos was a fairly good building material. It was only now that environmental organizations discovered this, but unfortunately, it was too late!
The other party used this as leverage, and their second-hand aircraft carrier was thus disqualified from bidding!
"No, you can't do this!" Leo shouted. "This is discrimination!"

"We are doing this for the safety of the sailors. Please refrain from making noise, or else... please leave!"

They have lost their eligibility to bid, but in order to show that the entire bidding process is fair and transparent, the British and French can still stay and continue to listen. If they make noise again, they will have to be asked to leave.

"Alright, I'd like to see what solutions the remaining two companies, especially the Easterners, can come up with!"

Of the four bidding manufacturers, two have already been eliminated. If the Spanish company is also eliminated, the order will definitely go to the Asian company!

The French were unconvinced, the British were unconvinced, and the Spanish... stood up with great interest.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to first introduce our Bazan Shipbuilding Company's plan. As you all know, we are currently building the aircraft carrier Prince of Asturias. This aircraft carrier is already sufficient for the use of the Siamese Navy!"

"To maximize the flight deck area, the island is very compact, housing only the bridge and flight control room. The funnel and mast are integrated into the island. For the propulsion system, we use two LM2500 gas turbines, which are much more advanced than boilers. They can carry 22 carrier-based aircraft..."

At this point, Yamal had already walked up to the slide projector and put up a slide showing the aircraft carrier they were building, without any modifications.

"If you are interested in this aircraft carrier, the price will only be around two hundred million US dollars. The one hundred million US dollars saved will be enough for carrier-based aircraft. If you feel that this warship is a bit small, we have a brand new design, codenamed SAC-200. The hull length will be increased to 221 meters, and the full-load displacement will be 2.3 tons. It can be completed within the budget of three hundred million US dollars..."

"Impossible, impossible! This has a displacement similar to our Invincible-class tanks, how could the cost be so low!" Old Henry exclaimed.

They all use ski-jump takeoff and have the same displacement, so the cost couldn't possibly be reduced to this extent!
"To reduce costs, we use military standards for critical parts and civilian ship standards for non-critical parts," Yamal said.

Military standards are several orders of magnitude higher than civilian standards, so the price naturally goes up!

There are warships designed using civilian standards, but these are mainly concentrated in the areas of amphibious ships and supply ships.

Amphibious ships are large in size, with a well deck, vehicle compartments, etc. They are very long and wide, and their height can span one or two or even two or three decks. Their structure is similar to that of roll-on/roll-off ships, so amphibious ships can be designed with reference to roll-on/roll-off ships.

As for the supply ship, it has a large hull and large internal oil tanks. Its structure is very similar to that of a finished oil tanker, so it can be designed and built with reference to oil tankers.

These are all common design schemes, but this is the first time that an aircraft carrier has been designed according to civilian standards!
Everyone's eyes were filled with doubt.

"Our aircraft carrier is actually designed according to this scheme. We can guarantee that there will be absolutely no problems! Next, I will continue to introduce the SAC-200..."

Qin Liang looked at the design plan and felt a sense of déjà vu.

In the 1990s, Dongfang wanted to build an aircraft carrier. At that time, Bazan Shipyard came to promote their plans, including this one. However, after careful comparison, Dongfang did not adopt it because... this design was too impractical!
It could only carry Sea Harriers, so it had no strong attack power or strong air defense capabilities! Even the later F-35 with vertical takeoff and landing was much weaker than the conventional model!

So, vertical takeoff and landing is a trap!

There's no need for me to expose this now, after all, I'm an athlete, not a referee.

The Spanish representative gave a full hour of presentation before finally leaving, completely satisfied.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please have confidence in the capabilities of our Bazan Shipyard. The aircraft carrier we are currently building is a prime example. We hope you will choose our proposal."

Yamal bowed deeply, which was met with applause, especially from the British and French, who applauded enthusiastically. They had no hope, so they had to support Spain; they couldn't let the Easterners get the order.

Next, let's see what the Eastern aircraft carrier plan actually is. A country that has never built an aircraft carrier before is actually trying to sell one to others! Will they dare to use it?

"Now, let's welcome the representatives from the East to present their proposal!" Kandalak said, then clapped enthusiastically, and this time, even more enthusiastic applause erupted! Every single Siamese person present applauded; this... seemed to say it all!
"We are honored to introduce our light aircraft carrier design to you. This aircraft carrier has a standard displacement of 16,000 tons, a full load displacement of 20,000 tons, and a total length of 211 meters..." Qin Liang walked up.

Professor Wang and the others are all technical people, but when it comes to bluffing, Qin Liang is more skilled.

Wait a minute, this data looks familiar... Could it be... the data from the May 25th aircraft carrier of the Crying Nation?
It is extremely complex for a country to develop an aircraft carrier from scratch. A clear example is the Soviet Union, which first pursued the path of helicopter carriers and then produced the incongruous Kiev-class. It was only with the development of the third generation that it finally resembled a conventional aircraft carrier.

The Easterners, too, started from scratch, but... they had a good relationship with the Crying Nation, so they must have been on that aircraft carrier.

The British present were somewhat annoyed. This was taking the throne by stepping on Britain. Even if the last wave of anti-ship missiles was launched by the Russians, the innocent lives of the Invincible-class carrier strike group were all caused by Eastern equipment!
Thinking of this, they clenched their fists.

However, this wasn't their home turf, and there was nothing they could do but watch Qin Liang put up the slides! A beautiful aircraft carrier design appeared on everyone's retinas.

This look...

(End of this chapter)