Riding the wind of rebirth

Li Laosan is also a math genius. He started to calculate immediately after hearing this: "I heard from Elbow that to achieve global coverage, we need at least three satellites in the equatorial orbit."

"If one is 10 million, two would be 16 million, but three would only cost 19 million?"

"To be safe, five is the best." Zhou Zhi also joined in the calculation: "According to this algorithm, producing five is only more than producing three..."

"Twenty, four hundred and eighty thousand, only a little over a million more than producing three. Just a few hundred thousand more than making two alone."

"Don't forget that we have our own needs." Zhang Weichao said, "We have at least three missions."

"Of course, the cost cannot be reduced by 20% indefinitely." Li Weigang raised his hand and said, "The price of a single satellite cannot be 10 million. Do you know how much the Australian Star costs?"

"It seems to be 60 million US dollars?" Zhou Zhi thought about it. It seems that one Australian satellite costs 60 million US dollars, and China charged 60 million US dollars for the launch fee, a total of 120 million US dollars.

"The superiors said that this is a special need for Hong Kong Island. As a gift for Hong Kong's return next year, it can be specially considered." Li Weigang finally gave the final answer: "But the number cannot be less than our mission. Of course, the price of satellite manufacturing and launch can be cheaper."

"Can you really build it for us? How much cheaper can it be?" Li Laosan was very surprised.

"The cost of a single satellite is 60 million. If multiple satellites are manufactured in batches and three are built together, the total price will be 120 million."

"It's like buy two get one free..." Li Laosan stroked his chin and pondered.

"If there are five of them, it would be around 170 million." Zhang Weichao quoted a price.

"What about the launch costs?" Zhou Zhi asked.

"The cost of conventional international launches is based on the orbital altitude and payload weight. Our new satellite is not as heavy as Austar, so we can launch two satellites in one launch, and the cost is still 60 million per launch."

"Four stars means 120 million, and there's one more... everyone shares it equally?" Zhou Zhi asked, "15,000 in total?"

"If you want five stars and agree to pay in US dollars, the specific price can be negotiated."

"In terms of US dollars, it can be quite a lot..." Li Laosan was wondering how much US dollars AXA could mobilize.

"Of course, if we agree to pay in US dollars, our exchange rate must be based on the exchange rate of the People's Bank of China, and we cannot refer to the exchange rate in the international market."

"What do you mean?" Li Laosan was still calculating the US dollar position in his mind and didn't even think about the exchange rate conversion involved.

"The current domestic exchange rate between the RMB and the US dollar is about seven to one, and internationally it is eight to one. We can't suffer too much of a loss." Li Weigang still felt a little embarrassed.

"What...what?" Li Laosan and Zhou Zhi looked at each other, and both saw the ecstasy in each other's eyes.

"Five stars cost 170 million, plus three launches. Forget it. Let's just launch two and a half times. The cost is 150 million, which adds up to 320 million." Zhang Weichao said, "If converted into US dollars according to the domestic exchange rate, it will be around 45 million."

Li Weigang added: "However, the contract price we announce to the public is still based on Hughes's. We both need to sign a confidentiality agreement."

"Ahem..." Li Laosan's heart was already filled with overwhelming joy, but his expression had adjusted: "We need to go back and discuss this..." "Oh, right." Li Laosan said this and raised another question: "If we can attract more launch business for the country, can this price be lowered?"

Now it was Li Weigang and Zhang Weichao's turn to look at each other, and they saw the surprise in each other's eyes: "There are...more business?"

"That's right," said Li Laosan. "Our global business at AXA Fund has very high requirements for the real-time and data capacity of data transmission. We are worried about extreme situations such as information interruption and information congestion, so we came up with the idea of ​​using our own satellite for global communications."

"So this is not the demand of Yangtze Telecom?" Li Weigang was very surprised: "But it is your own business need?"

"Yes." Li Laosan nodded. "However, since we lack experience in this area, we came up with a plan. We will pay for your satellite and launch services, and then entrust my brother's Yangtze River Telecom to operate it, and we will just use it."

"Does your brother and the others agree?" Li Weigang was a little confused about Li Laosan's strength, but after thinking about it, he felt that it was not impossible. After all, the satellite communication business of AXA Fund must be relatively simple, and the operation would not be too complicated. After the fund bears the launch costs, the operation will not cost too much money. Yangtze River Telecom is also a large company. At a time when wireless communications are in full swing in Hong Kong Island, it may not be interested in this little operating income. Why would they agree?

"Of course, it will also be of great benefit to Changjiang Telecom." Zhou Zhi said: "In this way, they will have a very thorough understanding of the performance of the Red 3B. If the Red 3B can meet their needs, is easy to use, and the price is acceptable..."

"Then I think my brother and the others would definitely prefer to choose satellites and systems that they are familiar with to serve them." Li Laosan said seriously.

"This is something we didn't expect." Li Weigang was ecstatic now: "We need to consult with our superiors before we can give you a reply."

If this really comes to fruition, Changjiang Telecom's satellite business will inevitably be branded as "Chinese", and this brand will most likely continue to be carried. This is also the normal development situation of the military industry today.

For example, if a country first imported Soviet equipment, then even if it later stopped importing and achieved completely independent research and development, its own system would still have a strong "Soviet flavor", and even its defects and weaknesses would be inherited in the same way. If it wants to adjust to it, it will be a very painful transformation.

The same is true for countries that use American and German equipment.

In other words, if Yangtze Telecom gets on board, it will not be easy to get off.

Hong Kong Island is a free port with a huge ship throughput. There are no base stations at sea, so communications can only rely on satellites.

The bulk of Changjiang Telecom's satellite communications business is dedicated to communications between ships on oceans around the world.

Although Li Weigang said he would ask for instructions, his hands under the table had already clenched into fists, and he was secretly determined to get the order.

We helped Hughes launch Austar, signing the contract first and then drawing the blueprint for production, and rushed to develop the Long March 2. Just three launches were able to earn the country tens of millions of dollars in foreign exchange.

Building more than a dozen satellites of the same type like we are doing now, and continuing to use the existing commercial rocket Chang Zho-2F to launch them, is almost like picking up money for free!

Moreover, Li Laosan agreed to use the US dollar, the foreign currency most needed by the country, for settlement!

The profits of military industry are quite terrifying. The money made by Li Laosan alone is enough to cover the production and launch costs of the satellites that the country needs. The base has been instructed by the higher-ups to communicate well with them and try to win them over. This is the fundamental reason.

It is equivalent to the state using Li Laosan and Zhou Zhi’s money to build two sets, one for them and one for itself.

Now Li Laosan actually said that someone might want a set! (End of this chapter)