The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

In the afternoon, Liu Tao met Chen Weimin.

Chen Weimin is the general manager and party secretary of China Southwest Aerospace Corporation.

China Southwest Aerospace Group Corporation is very large. The civil areas belonging to the 011 Aviation Base are all under its jurisdiction, such as the Y-13, Y-10 passenger aircraft and business jet business, as well as civil aviation engines, etc.

In addition, there is also the China Southwest Aerospace Group, which is also a subsidiary of the company. The China Southwest Aerospace Group is engaged in satellite development, spacecraft development, and space station development.

Including the current development of space-based laser weapons, it is also carried out by China Southwest Aerospace Group.

There is also Southwest Airlines Group, which also belongs to China Southwest Aerospace Group Corporation!
Chen Weimin and Liu Tao came together to a huge passenger aircraft assembly plant.

This passenger aircraft assembly plant currently has a completed passenger aircraft. This passenger aircraft is not the Y-10 aircraft, because it has the word 'C919' on it!
This is the domestically produced aircraft named 'C919', a medium-range jet airliner independently developed by China in accordance with international airworthiness standards and with independent intellectual property rights. It is designed and positioned in the 150-seat single-aisle narrow-body aircraft market.

This is obviously different from the Y-10, which is a twin-aisle wide-body long-range aircraft with a maximum passenger capacity of 10. It is 219 meters long, 46.61 meters high, 12.92 meters wide, 44.42 meters wide, with a maximum take-off weight of 72.5 tons, a maximum fuel capacity of 150.59 tons, a maximum commercial load of 72.5 tons, a maximum fuel range of 30.72 kilometers, and a maximum load range of 12000 kilometers.

The Y-10 passenger aircraft can fly directly from Beijing to Paris, France, or after transferring in Tokyo, Japan, fly directly to Los Angeles, USA.

The C919 is different. As a medium-range trunk passenger aircraft, it is 38.9 meters long, 35.8 meters wide, 11.95 meters high, has an empty weight of 45.7 tons, a maximum commercial load of 18.9 tons, 158 to 192 seats, and a range of 4075 to 5555 kilometers. It is mainly used as a domestic trunk passenger aircraft or major cities in neighboring countries.

In addition, the C919 passenger aircraft has another obvious difference, that is, the C919 passenger aircraft is only designed for civilian use, not military use, so it is more beautiful in appearance!

Although the C919 aircraft has been built, there has been no news reports, no production line roll-out ceremony or maiden flight, because the C919 aircraft will serve as Guizhou Aircraft Group's National Day gift this year.

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

As the saying goes, there is a small celebration every five years and a big celebration every ten years. Whenever possible, there will always be various National Day tributes.

You may be called a bootlicker, but this is how it is in every walk of life, and it is a manifestation of simple patriotism.

"In view of the limited space at the 011 Aviation Base, my comrades and I discussed the plan to build a factory in Sichuan to produce C919 aircraft!" said Chen Weimin.

Liu Tao nodded slightly.

The 011 Air Base is the largest air base in China. It is extremely large, but it is not enough now.

For example, some of the aircraft engines produced by us are produced in other places.

The entire 011 Air Base has been expanded several times and its scale has reached 25 square kilometers, which has reached its limit.

If further expansion is required, the surrounding area must be demolished.

However, the surrounding area has already developed over the years and become a prosperous place. Demolition will be very difficult and the cost will be much higher.

Under such circumstances, it was normal for Chen Weimin and others to plan to build an aircraft factory in Sichuan.

If some civilian aircraft were not manufactured in the Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, this issue would have been on the agenda long ago.

"You should first choose a site, and then include the project in the 11th Five-Year Plan," said Liu Tao.

The 2006th Five-Year Plan, also known as the 2010th Five-Year Plan, runs from to .

"Okay, let's do the preliminary preparations first." Chen Weimin said. He will serve at least two terms in the Southwest Aerospace Corporation. He took office in 2002, which means he will leave office in 2011 if nothing unexpected happens.

He still has a lot of time to do this.

"By the way, if you choose Sichuan, don't choose Shancheng or Chengdu!" Liu Tao reminded: "It's better to choose other prefecture-level cities!"

Whether it is Shancheng or Chengdu, both are important cities in the central and western regions and are developing very rapidly. Panshan Group has production bases in both cities, both of which are very large in scale.

From the perspective of promoting local development, it is not suitable to build an aircraft manufacturing plant in Shancheng or Chengdu.

In March of this year, when attending the Shancheng and Sichuan provincial delegation meetings, when both sides wanted to concentrate resources on developing provincial capital cities, Liu Tao suggested that it was not appropriate to concentrate all resources in provincial capital cities.

The provincial capital city needs to develop, and other prefecture-level cities also need to develop. Only when they develop in synchronization can a province be truly strong.

And from the perspective of national defense and security, it is not suitable to have too many super-large cities.

If a war breaks out one day and we are attacked by the enemy, the losses will be extremely heavy.

Besides, with a population of one billion, cities need to develop, and so do rural areas. Eastern coastal cities need to develop, and so do central and western cities. Provincial capitals need to develop, and so do prefecture-level cities.

Such an aircraft manufacturing plant is definitely a big project. It will be fought over in all parts of the country. If it is placed in a prefecture-level city, it can make the economic development of the prefecture-level city take off.

"Understood!" Chen Weimin replied.

To be honest, before this, he really planned to place it in Shancheng or Chengdu. After all, the advantages of a provincial capital city are too great, with a large number of talents, complete supporting facilities, and a more efficient cadre team.

In the past, he often dealt with the leadership teams of Shancheng and Rongcheng.

But since Liu Tao said so, he knew what to do.

In Panshan Group, no one can challenge Liu Tao's authority, not even Chen Weimin, Liu Tao's brother-in-law.

Chen Weimin knew that the reason why he could now serve as the general manager of China Southwest Aerospace Group Corporation was not because he was really that capable, but because of his relationship with Liu Tao, who was a trustworthy person.

Liu Tao boarded the C919 aircraft with great interest and visited the cockpit and cabin.

It has to be said that the design team has made a lot of improvements based on the Y-10 as the times progress.

Keeping pace with the times is what Liu Tao often emphasizes. He is very happy to see that the design team can keep pace with the times instead of directly using mature technologies.

Because only by continuous progress can we continue to revitalize, rather than ultimately standing still and stagnating.

Liu Tao sat on the seat and experienced it. He found it very comfortable. It was obvious that there had been improvements in human body dynamics compared to the Y-10.

After a thorough tour, Liu Tao and Chen Weimin got off the C919 plane.

Then Liu Tao visited the second C919 prototype, which was undergoing final assembly. This C919 prototype is expected to complete final assembly after National Day.

According to the plan, three C919 prototypes will be manufactured for flight testing. The workers involved in manufacturing the C919 prototypes will be the backbone of the subsequent production of C919. (End of this chapter)