Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 2563 Russia Has So Much to Offer (Second Update, Please Subscribe)

There's another big problem. What is it?
"Transport plane!"

Qian Fukang stated directly:

"We need a giant transport aircraft that can transport spaceplanes, but as of now, we don't have such a giant transport aircraft. We don't have one, and neither does the entire Western world."

Upon hearing Qian Fukang mention the transport plane issue, Yuan Jialiu frowned, nodded, and said:
“Transport aircraft…that is indeed a major problem. Without a suitable transport aircraft, this concept remains just that—a concept. But if we were to develop such an aircraft ourselves, the cost would be prohibitive, even unaffordable…”

Everything is tied to money. Without money, there can be no space exploration, and without money, there can be no exploration at all.

However, even someone with unlimited funds can't sustain a business that just keeps throwing money around, even though SpaceX's X-Crystal has the lowest transportation costs, which is akin to having unlimited funds. But that doesn't mean they can just squander money like that.

Developing a giant transport aircraft specifically for spaceplanes is clearly impractical.

"That's also unrealistic. Developing a giant transport aircraft would cost at least a billion dollars just for the development costs. Using that much money to develop a dedicated aircraft would be a complete waste."

This has always been SEA's view, and it is the same in military procurement. Many things, unless they are critical components, are often purchased directly from European and American countries through foreign procurement. This ranges from general-purpose machine guns used by the military to naval guns on warships.

This is done to reduce costs, since the development cost of many weapons is probably enough to cover the cost of purchasing and equipping them.

This "cost-oriented" view has also influenced SpaceX, many of which uses civilian components directly sourced from the company, with the intention of using civilian technology in order to reduce costs.

In terms of manufacturing itself, the high degree of vertical integration, with almost all components produced in-house, is a significant factor in reducing the cost of rockets and spacecraft. A considerable portion of SpaceX's equipment is made from off-the-shelf consumer electronics.

Although they collaborated with electronics companies to develop chip controllers and other technologies, they used a large number of consumer electronic products. Their success proved that ordinary electronic products are excellent enough and no less capable than more expensive professional equipment.

Even with suppliers, the company has ways to persuade them to "lower" costs. For example, if it takes the US several years and tens of millions of dollars to manufacture a turbopump, the company requires suppliers to keep costs within a few million dollars and complete the process within one year. In the end, the supplier produced it in just 15 months.

It was precisely because of its outstanding business cost control that SEA did not spend the price of Porsche to go into space like the United States and the Soviet Union. As Li Yi'an put it, if you can go into space with the money of a Wuling Volkswagen, why spend the price of Porsche?

This extreme cost control naturally affects every aspect of SpaceX.

Just like now, even though they clearly need this aircraft, they first argue from a commercial perspective that it's not cost-effective for them to develop it themselves, instead of concluding from a need perspective that we should develop this aircraft.

"It's wasteful and unrealistic, and it also seems a bit rushed in terms of time."

After Yuan Jialiu gave this answer, Qian Fukang said:
"Since the entire Western world doesn't have such a large aircraft, should we consider other places, such as... the Soviet Union!"

Soviet Union!

Qian Fukang's suggestion startled Yuan Jialiu at first, then a strange glint flashed in his eyes as he said:
"You mean that giant transport plane the Soviet Union used to transport the space shuttle!"

The model number wasn't disclosed because Western countries only discovered the giant transport machine through reconnaissance satellites. Most ordinary people were unaware of its existence, but SpaceX was aware of it.

They were also very envious of that big thing.

"right,"

Qian Fukang nodded and said:
"Based on its size, its payload capacity could reach 200 tons. Moreover, the Soviet Union developed this giant aircraft to transport large aerospace equipment, such as rocket components and space shuttle components. Its top could carry the Buran space shuttle. It can be said to be a natural spaceplane launch platform. I think we can consider it."

"consider……"

After a moment's thought, Yuan Jialiu said:

"No need to consider it. We're willing to buy as long as they're willing to sell. The only question is, are they even willing to sell? Besides, we're currently in the Middle East, fighting them in Ethiopia. Under these circumstances, how could they possibly be willing to sell us a giant transport plane?"

"How will we know if we don't try?"

Qian Fukang said:
"Besides, isn't there a saying that the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries all need foreign exchange?"

The need for foreign exchange was the biggest characteristic of the Soviet bloc, because they needed to obtain Western products through international trade, but their channels for exchanging foreign exchange were very limited. Even the Soviet Union could only obtain foreign exchange through oil. The Soviet Union's global expansion in recent years was essentially linked to the high price of oil.

But this does not mean they do not need foreign exchange. They all need foreign exchange, and if they can exchange industrial products for foreign exchange, they would certainly prefer to do so, just as the Soviet Union liked to dump its arms and aircraft at low prices.

However, they are usually very difficult to sell.

"Let's give it a try then. As for the funding..."

After a moment of deep thought, Yuan Jialiu said:
"The company can provide 200 million yuan to purchase at least three aircraft. However, it seems we haven't cooperated with Russia on space before. I think... how about we send someone to contact the Russians in the name of mourning Korolev?"

Shortly after Yuan Jialiu made this decision, he was met with opposition. The opposition came not from anyone else, but from the head of the security department, which was actually a security bureau detective. Their reason for opposing such contact was very simple—the Russians weren't stupid, and they would absolutely not sell such a large aircraft to our company.

"Even an idiot would know that SpaceX bought this plane to transport large spacecraft equipment, so why would they sell it?" Faced with this reminder, everyone fell silent.

So what to do?
In the end, the matter had to be handed over to the investigation department, which was responsible for overseas intelligence. The investigation department came up with a solution in just a few hours.

"We have a partner company; perhaps we can use the partner company's name..."

As a well-known "Russian expert" in Chang'an, Zheng Xingying is not only an expert on Russian affairs, but also has some legendary stories behind him, as he is employed to lecture at many universities.

For example, the introduction of the MAZ-537 heavy-duty off-road truck has been a topic of much discussion for many years. When he was a company employee, he introduced the MAZ-537 under the pretext of "transporting timber".

But who would have thought that the MAZ-537 would become the "Carpenter" medium-range missile transport vehicle? Its carrier, based on the MAZ-543, can transport, store, and launch missiles, greatly improving battlefield mobility and survivability.

Furthermore, by introducing this heavy-duty truck, Foton Heavy Industry has continuously improved its special-purpose vehicle products based on it, and has also developed a series of 5-axle, 6-axle, 7-axle, and 8-axle products. The technology behind all of these can be traced back to the MAZ-537.

The "Carpenter" medium-range missile transporter is ironic in itself—it can be deployed mobilely without a fixed site, and its first overseas deployment was in the Middle East, aimed at the heart of the Soviet Union.

Therefore, this is not only a commercial success, but also an intelligence success.

Now, Zheng Xingying has come to Moscow once again. What is his purpose?
"A large transport plane!"

In the reception room of the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Trade in Moscow, Zheng Xingying stated his purpose directly to the trade officials in front of him.

“I’m here on behalf of Yonghe Airlines to purchase large transport aircraft. Well… I’m not talking about ordinary transport aircraft, but military transport aircraft. Yonghe Airlines needs a large transport aircraft that can transport large sets of equipment and components, an aircraft that is even larger than the American C-5 Galaxy transport aircraft. I don’t know if you have one here, but I have sources to know that you do have such a large transport aircraft, which is exactly why I’m here.”

Sometimes, there's no need to hide things; just be open and honest, state your purpose directly, and you'll avoid everyone being left in suspense for ages, only to end up with nothing to show for it.

This is especially true when dealing with these countries. Many of their practices are inherently mysterious, so instead of racking your brains to guess, it's better to be direct.

Faced with such a request, Yevgeny was stunned. He sized up the other person for a while before saying:
“Mr. Zheng, you should know that military transport aircraft are not ordinary commodities. Their sale is usually handled by the relevant departments of the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Foreign Trade never does such business.”

He was telling the truth. Soviet military equipment exports were handled directly by the military and had nothing to do with enterprises. The Ministry of Foreign Trade was also involved; even with the export of ordinary passenger planes, the Air Force was involved.

"It's just a transport plane, not a bomber. You can paint it with military insignia and say it's military, but once it's handed over to a civil aviation company, it's a civil aircraft. Don't your civil aviation companies also have transport planes?"

You can report upwards, all the way up to the person who can make the decision, um..."

Looking at Yevgeny, Zheng Xingying said directly:
"I brought $1 million. Whether you can secure this order depends on whether you have the courage to break with convention."

Several tens of minutes later, as Zheng Xingying left the Ministry of Foreign Trade, his name appeared on Lubyanka Square, on the desk of its head, Andropov.

"carpenter……"

Looking at the report in his hand, Andropov almost instinctively thought of the "hoax" from years ago. His expression turned somewhat strange, and he asked:

"Could this be a scam?"

Viktor Mikhailovich Chebrikov, the deputy chairman of the KGB and a close confidant of Andropov, who was standing in front of him, thought for a moment and said:
"Theoretically speaking, they do need large transport aircraft to transport large sets of equipment and components, and for many years their airline has been using military transport aircraft to transport this type of equipment, even being the only one in the world to do so."

The use of military transport aircraft for commercial operations is still very novel in this world, because the line between military and civilian use is very clear. In another world, military transport aircraft only began to venture into civilian transportation after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when a large number of transport aircraft were idle, allowing military transport aircraft to enter the civilian market and begin transporting large goods.

Military transport aircraft with large cargo doors and cargo holds have a natural advantage in transporting large goods, and are therefore very popular in the market.

SEA's Borneo Airlines was the first airline in the world to offer this service, and even now, only a few companies in SEA offer it.

"Then why are they the only ones?"

Andropov's question startled Chebrikov at first, then he thought for a moment before replying:
"It may be for commercial reasons that the procurement and operating costs of civilian airliners of the same tonnage are lower than those of military transport aircraft, especially in terms of fuel consumption, which is much lower. In the civilian sector, they have virtually no advantage, except that their large cargo holds can transport large items. And those airlines must have received corresponding subsidies, which is why they maintain such a fleet."

These transport aircraft are currently leased by the military for transporting heavy equipment to the Middle East, which is why the military maintains such a fleet in the civilian sector.

Chebrikov's answer made Andropov nod, and then he said:

"Yes, although this country is a Western country, they are similar to us in many areas. Our civil aviation companies are equipped with a large number of military transport aircraft for wartime mobilization. Although their airlines have only purchased a dozen or so large transport aircraft, it is still a supplement to their long-range delivery capabilities..."

After thinking for a moment, Andropov said:

"If we sell our large transport aircraft to them, we will undoubtedly be helping them expand their long-range air transport capabilities, which will undoubtedly have an impact on our global operations—Soviet-made transport aircraft will be able to transport their tanks, artillery, and aircraft from their homeland to East Africa, to Lebanon, and to places where we are at odds!"

Having said that, Andropov frowned slightly and asked in return:
"Then why should we help them expand their power? Besides, we've already been fooled once, so why would we fall for their tricks again?"

(End of this chapter)