Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

That evening, at a large compound in Princess Tomb.

"Come, Director Qin, drink up! This is specially treasured Moutai!" Old Lin held up his glass. "There's no one else here today, just the two of us. Let's drink until we're both drunk!"

"Old Lin, did you call me over just to drink with you?"

"That's right. An old subordinate sent me a pheasant. It's not easy to get in the capital," Old Lin said. "You've also put in a lot of effort recently, so I thought I'd call you over to eat meat and drink. Come on, drink!"

Looking at the bowl of chicken pieces on the table, Qin Yang smiled. "Good luck tonight, let's eat chicken! We'll just eat and drink, no business talk."

Old Lin probably didn't know that Director Dong had already told Qin Yang the news, wanting to trick Qin Yang. How could Qin Yang fall for that?

Hearing him say that, Old Lin's expression became awkward for a moment, then he said, "Come, let's eat and drink first."

After a few rounds of drinks, Old Lin finally spoke. "Director Qin, I, Old Lin, have been doing revolution my whole life, and I've long since taken everything lightly. Ordinary youngsters are nothing in my eyes, like that Wang Hai. Humph, just because he's a returned student? I think he's just a good-for-nothing. But, Old Lin admires you. Come, drink!"

After another glass of wine, Old Lin continued, "What you said last time, Old Lin has been pondering it, and it's indeed the case. We want to directly exchange bulletproof vests for their advanced fighter jets, they definitely won't give it to us. But, if we take our planes and have them modified, and use bulletproof vests as payment, they should agree, right?"

Qin Yang understood. The reason still lay with him. He was the butterfly flapping its wings and stirring up a storm in the Pacific.

What to do now?

"Old Lin, our bulletproof vests didn't come out of thin air. We worked hard to produce them," Qin Yang said. "If we use our bulletproof vests to exchange for things for you, what benefits do we get?"

"We're not not giving you money," Old Lin said. "How many sets do the Americans want? Our air force will give you that much money, right? It's not a big deal!"

"Alright," Qin Yang calculated. "Ten thousand US dollars a set. The current exchange rate is 1.7, which is 17,000 yuan a set. How big of a deal your air force can negotiate is your business. We'll sell you the bulletproof vests at this price, with unlimited supply. However many you want, we have."

"What?" Old Lin was no longer calm. "Wasn't it a few hundred yuan?"

"That's the price for equipping the domestic army, for internal use. Can the prices for internal use and export be the same?" Qin Yang rolled his eyes at Old Lin. "Old Lin, you want to take advantage of our Factory 960, right?"

Is it so easy to take advantage of Factory 960? Buy bulletproof vests from Factory 960 for a few hundred yuan and sell them to the Americans for over ten thousand? Our Factory 960 isn't the air force's subordinate supporting factory!

"Is the exchange for that batch of Black Hawks also at this price?" Old Lin swallowed.

"Of course," Qin Yang said. "The Black Hawks were exchanged by our Factory 960 with bulletproof vests, saving the country a lot of valuable foreign exchange. How could the country mistreat meritorious people? We have to give however much money is due."

Even close brothers settle accounts clearly. Qin Yang brought back so many Black Hawks for the army. Did the army still want to get something for free? The army doesn't belong to Qin Yang, it belongs to the country! If the country can't afford it, they can just start the printing press. Not consuming valuable foreign exchange is already the greatest contribution Qin Yang has made.

At this time, hearing Qin Yang say this, Old Lin looked at his wine bottle. It seemed that these drinks were for nothing!

"Come, Old Lin, drink! Good luck tonight, let's eat chicken!"

Old Lin drank in silence, while rapidly thinking. Now that Qin Yang had made this condition, it was clear that he didn't intend to let their side succeed. Why?

Their Factory 960 was imitating the AWG-9 radar. Was it because of this reason?

No, it shouldn't be! In his eyes, Qin Yang didn't seem like the kind of person who was so calculating. Many things Qin Yang did were for the benefit of the country!

So, break out of the existing pattern and look at the problem from a higher perspective! Old Lin began to ponder in his heart.

"Yangzi, you're not optimistic about this project?"

Qin Yang's words had only one purpose: he didn't want this project to continue. So, he must be against this project.

Then, why exactly would Qin Yang oppose this project?

"I didn't say that. Now the air force, from top to bottom, is excited and even crazy about this project. If I pour cold water on it, wouldn't I offend everyone?"

"Yangzi, it's just the two of us here now, just treat it as a casual chat. Tell me, what do you think of this project?"

"I have no opinion."

"Come, eat chicken, drink!"

After the two drank a few more glasses, Old Lin spoke again. "Director Qin, what are you really thinking?"

"Old Lin, have you considered why Grumman is so eager to cooperate with us?"

"Why?" Old Lin really didn't know.

"The Tomcat fighter is Grumman's main product, but unlike the products of other companies, this product has no second buyer except for selling it to Iran," Qin Yang said. "Now, they are still producing this fighter, but they lose a lot of money for every one they produce."

Grumman calculated and it seemed okay, so they agreed! So they set a relatively reasonable price, and both parties were happy. However, Grumman absolutely did not expect that the US dollar would depreciate rapidly in the 1970s!

It's all the Federal Reserve's fault for starting the printing press. By the late 1970s, Grumman was surprised to find that they had to lose money even when delivering the planes they produced to the Navy. What to do?

The Navy had taken enough advantage and wouldn't let go, insisting on delivery at a fixed price! At least finish producing this batch of orders first!

Grumman could only aim for overseas sales, running everywhere in Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Israel, but ran into walls everywhere. After comparison, customers chose the F-15!

Grumman also operated in many aspects, such as bidding for the space shuttle, but everything they did failed, and there were no successful projects.

As a result, in the early 1980s, Grumman fell into a financial crisis.

Why did the Peace Pearl project cooperate with Grumman? Why did the Super-7 project also look for Grumman? Other companies simply didn't look down on this little business. It wasn't even enough for them to fill the gaps between their teeth, but for Grumman, it was a lifesaver!

"In other words, they're treating us like fat sheep?"

"Without saying anything else, just changing the J-8's nose intake to side intakes, if we can modify it for tens of millions, their quote would be hundreds of millions, at least ten times ours," Qin Yang glanced at Old Lin. "So, our bulletproof vests must be given to the Air Force at the export price. We worked hard to produce them, and in the end, others picked up the bargain. Why should we?"