Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

A 'Striving for Success' machine? Qin Yang's eyelids suddenly twitched.

"You don't know yet?" Old Lin looked at the confusion in Qin Yang's eyes: "Shenyang has decided to continue modifying the J-8II fighter jet, replacing it with imported radar and avionics. They plan to use domestically produced WP-14 engines, trying to make this aircraft the first domestic fighter capable of reaching Mach 2.5. They even plan to use F404 engines in the future to further enhance its performance."

"Imported radar and avionics?" Qin Yang asked, "Can they still call it their own 'Striving for Success' machine?"

"Yes," Old Lin sighed, "Our Air Force isn't optimistic about this project, but the aviation industry system insists on pursuing it."

"What reasons do they have?"

"We used to dislike the Northern Institute for being unenterprising. Now that the Northern Institute wants to take big steps forward, they see our opposition as holding them back!" Old Lin said, "Many leaders are optimistic about this project, believing that we can't achieve breakthroughs in fighter avionics systems on our own. So, they think that introducing technology to promote the further development of domestic aviation electronics is a viable path."

A mocking expression appeared on Qin Yang's face: "It's still 'buying is better than building,' and 'domestic is inferior to imported.' Some people's knees have been bent for too long, and they can't stand up anymore!"

"Yes, although our Air Force is the user, we can't veto this project," Old Lin also sighed. "Currently, senior leaders are discussing spending several hundred million US dollars to import a batch of radars and electronic equipment to equip dozens of J-8IIs."

Qin Yang's eyes widened. Although he had worked hard, many things were still developing according to historical patterns. Was this damned 'Peace Pearl' project really going to be launched?

"The foreign purchases will use foreign exchange. The higher-ups have promised that it won't affect our J-11's development, but we all feel a sense of urgency," Old Lin said. "We need to achieve a major breakthrough before this import project and the West officially sign a contract, so we can kill this project."

With the Tomcat, who would want a backward 'Romeo in the Sky'? Even if it could fly at Mach 2.5, what use would it be? That era of high-altitude, high-speed flight is long gone!

The Air Force doesn't want it, but a large number of senior leaders support it, so they have no other choice.

"A major breakthrough... it should be soon."

Old Lin's eyes lit up instantly: "The PL-11 has been developed?"

"The PL-11 still needs some time. We'll conduct matching experiments after our airborne radar testing is complete. After all, even the Italians haven't completed the development of the Aspide air-to-air missile, so it may take some time. However, the surface-to-air missile model has already produced a prototype and will soon be able to conduct launch experiments."

Surface-to-air missile!

Old Lin's eyes lit up: "Good, our Air Force will provide the site and target drones. You must also complete the experiment as soon as possible, report the good news to the leaders, and let them know that our own development capabilities are not bad! By the way, is there a specific model number yet?"

Qin Yang shook his head: "Internally, we call it HQ-16, but the higher-ups haven't approved it yet."

Calling it HQ-16 is just to correspond to a certain model.

"Okay, then it's HQ-16. Our Air Force will help you apply for this number. If they want to cause trouble, they can come to our Air Force," Old Lin said. "Can I take a look in advance?"

"Of course."

This surface-to-air missile technology came from Italy. Initially, Air Force leaders and Qin Yang went to Italy to inspect related technologies. As a result, Qin Yang encountered two foolish intelligence peddlers, so he designed a trap and rescued their main R\u0026D experts to the East.

After these people came to the East, they were taken care of by Qin Yang. They couldn't just sit idle, so they took out the technology they had mastered and replicated the Aspide missile and the associated Albatros system one-to-one.

In Italy, they first developed ship-to-air missiles and surface-to-air missiles. The air-to-air missile model was still in the PPT stage, and the 960 Factory's airborne radar had just been reverse-engineered, so there was no time to conduct matching experiments. Therefore, the two were temporarily separated.

The aeroengine and UAV were loaded onto trucks and sent to the 960 Factory warehouse. Old Lin followed the convoy to the 960 Factory's Second Factory.

According to different production tasks, the Second Factory was divided into different areas. The team developing the Aspide missile occupied approximately one-quarter of the entire factory area. The production workshop had not yet started construction, and only the R\u0026D workshop was tinkering with prototypes.

The guards were strict along the way. Qin Yang easily passed through the checkpoints by flashing his 'face card' and brought Old Lin to the R\u0026D workshop.

"Today, we're going to be like a knife cutting the butt..." Old Lin's words were interrupted by what he saw inside.

Inside the workshop, four Steyr off-road trucks were neatly arranged. The rear compartments had been removed and replaced with various devices.

The first thing that caught the eye was a four-unit square launch box. Having been used to seeing exposed missiles, Old Lin was extremely envious when he saw the missiles placed in the launch box.

The truck compartment next to the missile launcher was divided in half. One half was the equipment bay, and the other half was a metal frame with a radar dish on top, which should be the target illumination radar.

The third vehicle was an overall cargo compartment with an orange-petal-like radar antenna on top, which should be the long-range search radar.

The last vehicle was a power supply vehicle.

At this time, countless technicians were busy working on them, debugging various equipment.

When he saw Qin Yang coming in, one of the white-skinned, blue-eyed engineers came down from the target illumination radar vehicle and wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Director Qin, I'm very sorry, the equipment is still being debugged and is expected to be tested tomorrow."

"It can be tested tomorrow?" Qin Yang looked at Brasi in front of him, feeling excited: "This is the Air Force leader next to me. He promised to provide us with the site and target missiles. As long as this experiment is successful, our factory will give all technicians a bonus! $3,000 for each subsystem leader, $1,000 for mid-level technicians, and $600 for ordinary technicians!"

Old Lin smacked his lips on the side. Sure enough, having money is good. How much money would this cost? What about the Air Force? Should we do something?

"Our Air Force will issue you each a certificate of honor!" Old Lin waved his hand: "By the way, is it convenient to hang this missile on a fighter jet?"

"As long as it's a carrier aircraft that can carry Sparrow missiles, it's easy to match."

Easy to match? Hearing this, Qin Yang was shocked. According to his memory, it should be difficult, right?

Looking at Qin Yang's surprised expression, Brasi was a little embarrassed: "Our missile was originally improved on the basis of the Sparrow missile, so it is naturally easy to match."