The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master.

Chapter 785: The controversy caused by the Torch Laboratory (counting yesterday)
Facing Ed Steiner's request, a battle between heaven and man began in Dassault's mind.

The reason why he agreed quite quickly last time was because at that time he wanted to use the name of cooperation with China to make GM change its mind, and there was no psychological burden.

But now I really want to cooperate with China...

This decision is still relatively difficult to make.

Although the main body of the cooperation is definitely the Snecma Group, for a joint R&D project like Rafale, Dassault is bound to be affected.

For example, the most straightforward one.

Serge Dassault has always hoped to build the Rafale fighter jet into the second export business card after the Mirage 2000. Even after the Rafale A prototype flew for the first time, he had already started to contact potential buyers.

But if the mass-produced aircraft uses an aerospace engine with Chinese technology, customers will inevitably have concerns before purchasing.

On the one hand, China was not famous for its aviation industry in the past. Even though the situation has changed in recent years, aviation engines and complete aircraft are two different fields. It is difficult not to worry about the power of Rafale fighter jets. reliability.

Of course, the technical aspect is actually secondary.

All I can say is, it's outrageous.

They had always hoped to improve performance by tapping into the potential of single-rotor engines. It was not until they found that this road was completely unworkable that they hurriedly turned to a dual-rotor solution by borrowing General Electric's design. As a result, they had almost no experience base. Painting a gourd and painting a scoop has become a dog, and finally reached this point.

too fast.

"But why do Chinese people..."

On the contrary, projects focused on China itself can form a relatively complete aviation industry system.

Dassault, who was in a state of hesitation, sighed.

Dassault put his hands behind his back and continued walking along the path, while Ed Steiner quickly followed behind.

Introducing a fighter jet with Chinese origin into the main equipment of the Air Force is a risky matter for many countries, especially NATO member states——

This feels very divisive.

The reason why things have developed to this point in the final analysis is that Snecma Group's technology route selection in the past few decades has been too conservative, or in other words, there is inertia.

In fact, during this period, Ed Steiner even compiled some of China's representative achievements in the aviation field in recent years.

An outsider might be blinded by the numerous cooperation projects with Russia, thinking that China might have reached some kind of agreement with the Russians and thus obtained a huge amount of Soviet technological heritage.

So, it doesn't seem like there's anything fishy in it.

"I can't figure it out."

The French aviation industry after World War II also developed step by step in this way.

However, Ed Steiner could see that although these Russian-related models and technologies were numerous, they were isolated from each other.

"Ugh……"

Ed Steiner, who was half a length behind, didn't answer.

He spoke very quickly, and his mentality obviously fluctuated a lot:
"Although Snecma Group has relatively little technology accumulation in the field of dual-rotor engines, it is, after all, one of the major shareholders of CFM International. It should have developed its first mass-produced turbojet engine just three years ago. Is China stronger?”

Then don't say it out loud. Even mass production machines won't be able to produce it in a short time.

The only problem is.

Therefore, looking at the indecisive boss around him, Ed Steiner decided to give the opponent a boost of strength:
"Mr. Dassault, in fact, before us, Eurocopter had already cooperated with China to design the main rotor and transmission mechanism of the NH90 helicopter."

He doesn't understand either.

"That's it for the Americans, Russians and British. They already have more accumulation in aviation technology than we do. It's understandable that they can come up with aviation engines with better performance."

It doesn't say that we have no other way to go.

However, as a technician, Ed Steiner knows that there are some things that cannot be understood by his own analysis.

Because it’s not just Dassault who doesn’t understand.

Although judging from the current situation, this risk is only potential.

Anyway, there is not much conflict of interest between these two countries, which are nearly 10,000 kilometers apart.

Especially in the last four to five years, we can almost catch up with the progress of other countries in the past 20 to 30 years.

The rapid development of the Chinese people has become an established fact. It is useless if you don't recognize it.

This is completely consistent with the performance of a late-developing country in the process of catching up in technology.

But there is no doubt that the entire system itself belongs to the Chinese people.

The more critical issue is that the export of weapons and equipment is different from ordinary civilian products and involves quite complex interests.

But if you don’t cooperate...

There are indeed some links, even key links, imported from abroad.

It's better to take advantage of this.

His angle is very tricky.

But it is enough to become a bargaining chip for some countries to abandon Rafale and switch to F16 or EF2000.

"And, as you said last time, China has approached us in the past to seek technical information about the CFM56 core machine. Now it has been a little more than ten years..."

The progress of the Chinese people is really too fast.

This sounds depressing at first, and will at least make the other person feel worse.

Secondly, Dassault must also know about this matter.

It’s just that I can’t get over the hurdle in my heart.

And the best way to help him get there is to tell him.

Eurocopter did it too.

And it's also a military model.

Therefore, there is no need to feel any psychological burden.

Sure enough, Dassault, who had been walking forward with his head buried in his chest, suddenly stopped and looked at Ed Steiner with astonished eyes.

That look contained at least two meanings. The first is, "Is there such a thing?";
The second is "How do you know this kind of thing?"——

Although they are both aviation companies, fixed-wing and helicopters are fundamentally different apart from both being able to fly. Therefore, the relationship between Dassault and Eurocopter is limited to "friends" in the literal sense.

"I have a classmate from college who is responsible for the NH90 project at Eurocopter Group."

Without Dassault needing to speak, Ed Steiner answered directly:
"At the beginning, their project was in a deadlock due to technical problems, and China just happened to be able to solve it... Well... it sounds like our situation is similar."

In fact, the situation of NH90 is much more complicated. In addition to technical flaws, there are also wranglings that occurred during the multi-national cooperation process.

But now we have to convince Dassault, so we naturally have to focus on the key points.

"So don't other countries participating in the NH90 and preparing to purchase this model have any objections?"

"Why do you have any objections?"

Ed Steiner shrugged:

"On paper, 90% of the NH100's technology and components come from NATO member states."

Looking at Dassault, who still looked puzzled, he continued:

"Actually, there are many ways to whitewash technology from China into our own. Of course, this requires cooperation from China, but I think as long as we can sit down and talk, there is nothing that cannot be agreed upon."

Unlike Dassault, Ed Steiner was not only a technician, but also a ruthless professional manager.

This means that he is rarely subject to unnecessary emotional disturbance.

Of course, it is also easier to be persuaded by benefits.

Dassault rolled his eyes. Although he didn't give an answer immediately, his heart was obviously relaxed.

The two stood face to face like this for a long time.

Finally, Dassault nodded slightly:
"Just follow what you said and talk to them."

"However, don't be too anxious and try to get better cooperation conditions..."

After hearing this, Ed Steiner finally smiled:
"Of course, I promise."

……

The restless October has finally passed.

Although Dassault has agreed to contact the Chinese side, this kind of big job is not something that can be done in a few minutes of bargaining at the wet market.

The conditions initially proposed by the two sides were too far apart, and it was clear that it would take several back and forths before meaningful negotiations could begin.

Therefore, Chang Haonan's main focus during this period is still on the Torch Laboratory and the mid-term inspection of the turbofan 10 installation test.

Relatively speaking, it is a time that is not so energy-consuming and even a bit boring.

It's a pity that the tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop.

One day in early November, Chang Haonan was testing a manifold learning algorithm improved by Yao Mengna in his office as usual, when he saw Liu Chenchen appear at the door of his office with an angry look on his face.

"Teacher Liu?"

Chang Haonan watched the other party wandering outside for several times, and finally couldn't help but take the initiative to speak:
"If anything happens, can you come in and talk?"

Liu Chenchen is the administrative secretary of the laboratory, but in the school, anyone with an official position can be called a teacher.

So in front of others, it's better to call it that.

"Professor Chang, this is too much!"

Liu Chenchen's eyebrows were raised, and her steps as she walked in were so heavy that Chang Haonan even worried whether the tiles on the floor would be crushed by her high heels...

After arriving in front of the desk, the former placed a newspaper in front of Chang Haonan, and then turned it 180°.

“Let’s discuss why China cannot produce world-class scientific results—starting with an unusually established laboratory…”

Chang Haonan directly read out the title of the report.

Although I haven’t read carefully what is written below, judging from Liu Chenchen’s angry expression just now, this is obviously talking about Torch Laboratory...

"So...this is talking about us?"

Chang Haonan just felt like laughing.

"Of course!"

Liu Chenchen couldn't laugh it off.

She joined such a promising research group right after graduation, which was when the sense of belonging and collective honor was at its highest, plus...

Although it is a bit strange to say this, the boss of the research group is her former student when she was a counselor.

In short, she was even more angry than she was when she was scolded.

Chang Haonan looked down slightly and read the content at a glance.

Pretty much what he expected.

A public document that is very in line with the characteristics of this era.

He used his school-enterprise joint laboratory with special policies as a pretext to attack the entire social operating system.

In particular, they criticized the Torch Laboratory's loopholes in fund management, believing that it was a complete waste of public funds and wasting national funds. They also questioned why it occupied a large amount of funds but could not produce equivalent research and development results.

Finally, Beijing Hang University and Torch Group were labeled as causing the loss of state-owned assets.

The speech was so impassioned that it could even be regarded as an essay.

No wonder Liu Chenchen felt red and warm after watching it.

However, for Chang Haonan, who has experienced the era of public knowledge on the Internet, the lethality is too low.

He can only be regarded as a public intellectual of the Tomb Sect.

Even Chang Haonan himself can write a better one...

(End of this chapter)