The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Liu Tao did not leave Panshan Machinery Factory, but stayed here temporarily.

Even after so many years, every time I come here, I can still recall the scenes of the past.

This is the root of Panshan Group.

He always comes here at least once a year, either to inspect work, organize study sessions for senior officials, or just stay here for a few days with his wife.

The residence he lived here back then is still preserved and has not been arranged for anyone else.

Several villas have been listed as important protected units. These are where some comrades lived and have their footprints.

In fact, there are no longer as many employees as before at Panshan Machinery Factory.

But there are even more people living in this area.

The vast majority of retired employees did not choose to leave and return to their hometowns, but stayed here to live out their retirement life.

Because they have worked here for many years, they have colleagues, relatives and friends here, and they have already taken root here.

There is not enough space to accommodate new employees and upgrade production lines, so there is no need for so many employees here.

Currently, there are only about 30,000 employees in the entire Panshan Machinery Factory.

Up to now, this place is still in a semi-isolated state, with a clear dividing line from the outside world, and outsiders cannot come in easily.

Here, prices remain at a relatively low level, and the shopping malls have a wide variety of daily necessities, no different from those in big cities.

The hierarchy is clear, but people are equal.

The statue of devoting oneself to forging swords for the country is a warning to serve the people. Here, the party spirit of party members is very strong.

In a sense, this place is somewhat like a utopia.

If the entire society reaches this state, perhaps it will reach the legendary communist stage.

China has developed to this point, with productivity reaching an extremely high level and abundant materials. It stands to reason that there would be no problem in implementing distribution according to needs, but the country has always emphasized that China is still in the primary stage of socialism.

It is the primary stage, not the intermediate stage, let alone the advanced stage!

Not to mention the highest stage!
The great rejuvenation of China has only taken the first step and has not yet been realized!
Liu Tao agrees with this judgment. The Chinese people still have to work hard. The current achievements are worth rejoicing and being proud of, but they cannot be complacent or satisfied. The future of China lies in the stars and the sea.

Three days later, Liu Tao left Panshan Machinery Factory and headed for Chengdu!

Chengdu is the hinterland of China and the core of the southwest!
After so many years of development, Chengdu has long since grown into a megacity with a population of over 20 million!
In this city, the core industries are aviation and aerospace!

Industry is the foundation of the city of Chengdu, including aviation industry, aerospace industry, automobile industry, etc. These industries make Chengdu one of the top three industrial cities in the country.

Liu Tao's helicopter landed at an aerospace park located in the suburbs of Chengdu.

This aerospace park is affiliated to the Southwest Aerospace Group Corporation and specializes in the aerospace field.

He will stay here for some time.

At this year's Aerospace Science and Technology Conference, some people proposed developing a space shuttle, following the path of the United States and the Soviet Union. This proposal was rejected by Liu Tao.

Ever since the decision was made on the route of the space shuttle and spacecraft, China has been focusing on developing spacecraft.

But in recent years, as China has become richer and richer, some people can't help but want to develop a space shuttle.

In their view, since the United States and the Soviet Union were both developing space shuttles later, it must mean that space shuttles are more advanced than space shuttles, and also represent the direction of scientific and technological progress.

Even though the US space shuttles continued to have accidents, it did not affect them.

Liu Tao rejected them, naturally believing that the US and Soviet space shuttle routes were not suitable for China.

The space shuttle is not suitable now. Even if a large amount of money is invested to develop a space shuttle, it is estimated that it will not be as good as the space shuttles of the United States and Russia.

Besides, it will become outdated in a few years, which is a pure waste of money.

But after thinking about it, Liu Tao felt that it would be too demoralizing to not allow them to do anything at all.

So he planned to launch the aerospace fighter project in advance.

Therefore, Liu Tao started arranging work as early as April.

In this way, the most outstanding talents in the aerospace field in the entire China gathered at the Aerospace Research Institute!

There are more than fifty academicians alone!
There are a lot of people who are worse than academicians!

When Liu Tao arrived at the conference room, hundreds of people had already taken their seats according to their majors, with the academicians taking the lead.

When they saw Liu Tao coming in, everyone couldn't help but stand up to show respect.

Liu Tao asked everyone to sit down, and the projector was already connected to his computer.

He opened a document and then one of the pictures.

Everyone couldn't help but look at each other.

This is a concept map. It is said to be a space shuttle, but it is very different from the current space shuttle.

Liu Tao introduced that this is indeed a space shuttle, but it is very different from the space shuttles of the United States and Russia. To be precise, it is an aerospace fighter!
Because this is an electric-propulsion space shuttle, below the atmosphere, it is like an airplane, with electric propulsion constantly providing acceleration and the wings providing lift. When it reaches a certain altitude, the atmospheric density will rapidly decay to a very low value, and at this time, the wings can no longer provide lift, and the engine thrust is needed to counteract gravity, and the space shuttle will fly upward at a greater tilt angle.

Click on a simulation video, which is a simulation video formed through a full simulation in a wind tunnel and multiple simulations on a computer.

Those who can come here have all undergone strict political review, so there will be absolutely no problem.

"Leader, this is electric propulsion?" An academician opened his mouth with disbelief in his eyes: "Electric propulsion? Use electric propulsion to send a space shuttle into space?"

In the aerospace field, electric propulsion is used to change the orbit of satellites and other objects in space.

Currently, the most advanced application is in China’s space-based weapons, but even so, the power it can provide is actually not that great.

As for using it to send the space shuttle, that is simply impossible!
The most advanced electric propulsion technology used on satellites and the Tiangong space station has a thrust of the order of N. And in order for a spacecraft to move from the surface to outer space orbit, it must at least reach the order of KN!

The heavier the spacecraft, the greater the thrust required.

In the aerospace field, even the most optimistic aerospace experts estimate that it will take at least 50 years to achieve this goal. This is if the development is very smooth. If the development is not smooth, it is normal to take a hundred years.

"I will take care of the electric propulsion engine!" Liu Tao waved his hand and said without question.

This aerospace fighter uses Hall thrusters, and the required electricity comes from a controlled nuclear fusion reactor.

Anyway, for him to launch this model, it will take at least ten years just to digest the technology, master some of the technology and manufacture the prototype.

These ten years are just enough time to hone a scientific research team and raise it to a higher level by two or three levels.

The space plane is the aircraft that will travel between space and the earth in the future. It uses a large number of advanced technologies, many of which are not even available now.

Including avionics systems, weapon systems, materials, etc., these are enough for the current technical team to work on for ten years.

As for electric propulsion and controlled nuclear fusion, they would not be able to develop them even if they were given ten, twenty or even thirty years.

For example, electric propulsion. An electric propulsion engine is required to be able to stably generate a thrust of 200kN. Experts in the field of aerospace engines would never dream that they could successfully develop one in years.

As for controlled nuclear fusion, so far, the experiments are still measured in seconds, and it will be another 50 years away from commercial application.

Two hours later, Liu Tao appointed the person in charge of each discipline, that is, the leader, each of whom was an academician.

Next, they will carry out a series of work around this aerospace plane.

This is undoubtedly exciting for many people.

I feel it is a great honor to be able to participate in such a great project.

Many people here think that now that China has money, it should develop a space shuttle with higher technological content.

As for the current spacecraft, China has already developed mature spacecraft.

Even during the Chang'e lunar exploration project, the Chang'e probe collected lunar soil and returned to Earth, proving that China theoretically has the feasibility of manned lunar landing.

Unexpectedly, what Liu Tao is going to develop now is an aerospace plane that is even more beyond everyone's expectations.

If this is really realized, then not only will it be possible to land humans on the moon, but even on Mars, it won't be that difficult.

After all, if it is really realized as Liu Tao introduced, then in terms of endurance, almost no traditional fuel engine can compare with it. This aerospace plane has super endurance and the ability to stay on standby in space for a long time, which are beyond the reach of any traditional aircraft or traditional space shuttle.

It's not just an aerospace plane. The aerospace plane is just a means of transportation. Since we want to realize the aerospace plane, the corresponding aerospace projects will also be upgraded.

A larger and more advanced space station, which requires more advanced life systems, will allow astronauts to stay in space longer.

For example, if we want to send people to the moon, we can't just go to the moon and then return to Earth, right? That's not in line with the Chinese style of doing things. We must build a scientific research station on the moon, and then gradually plant crops and mine on the moon, and eventually colonize the moon.

All of these require the support of advanced life systems.

After all, the environment on the moon is not suitable for human survival on Earth.

Also, if there were such advanced spacecraft, it would be very easy to travel to and from space, and the advanced astronaut team of 30 people would be insufficient.

The 600th Five-Year Plan was reviewed and approved during the two sessions, and investment in the aerospace sector will increase by billion yuan over the next five years. Previously, everyone thought that such an increase in money would never be spent, and some people even had a headache about how to spend the extra money.

Looking back now, let alone increasing the investment by 600 billion RMB in five years, even if it were doubled, it would not be enough!
All of a sudden, no experts in the field continued to argue about whether to build a space shuttle. There were only some smoke bombs deliberately released to confuse the outside world.

As for the industry, it is extremely busy and everyone is very motivated and has no intention of going online to participate in such boring debates.

Liu Tao stayed in Chengdu to solve some technical problems.

Wakhan Corridor.

This is where China borders Afghanistan.

The entire Wakhan Corridor appears long and narrow. At the end of the Wakhan Corridor is a pass, which is the gateway for China to enter Afghanistan and the only passage.

Outside the passage, the original refugee camp is no longer a refugee camp, but has become a densely populated area like a town.

Many commodities from Afghanistan were transported here for trading and then entered China through the Wakhan Corridor.

After ten years of war in Afghanistan, although the Americans withdrew from Afghanistan, the entire country is in ruins and in need of reconstruction.

This is true even in the areas originally occupied by US troops.

What the Americans did in Afghanistan was truly sinful. They planted large amounts of opium there, making Afghanistan the world's largest opium producer for eight consecutive years.

This seriously affects Afghanistan's peaceful reconstruction process and poses threats and challenges to regional peace and security.

After all, even in China, some special drugs can be used for medical purposes, but they must be used very cautiously. The chief physician must be extremely cautious before allowing them to be prescribed, and the dosage is very limited.

China is very cautious about security in this area.

There are a large number of military dogs patrolling the business transactions here.

Afghanistan's trade commodities here mainly include carpets, dried and fresh fruits, wool, cotton, etc.

Imported goods are more diverse, including various foods, motor vehicles, petroleum products and textiles.

Of course, there is also some humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

In the past few months, the Afghan government has survived by confiscating the assets of puppet government officials.

But for the Afghan government, this alone is not enough. Afghanistan must have income in order to import goods such as food, otherwise large-scale unrest may occur in Afghanistan at any time.

The first option that Afghanistan has is of course mineral deposits. Afghanistan's mineral resources are very rich, but basically undeveloped. According to current price estimates, the value of Afghanistan's energy and mineral resources exceeds 10 trillion yuan.

During this period, the Afghan government used this method to attract mining companies from China, attract investment, and jointly develop Afghanistan's energy and mineral resources, so that the Afghan government can have income and provide jobs for Afghans, thereby quickly stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan.

However, the development of Afghanistan is not an easy task, because Afghanistan’s infrastructure is very backward, especially the transportation conditions!
If you want to get rich, build roads first!
Every six-year-old Chinese child can say this, and the same goes for Afghanistan.

The Afghan government is now building roads for almost all of its citizens, and even if construction equipment is limited, it is solved with manpower.

The Afghan government's external income, in addition to commodity exports, comes from donations from the Islamic world. After all, Afghanistan's victory in the Afghan War has greatly encouraged the Islamic world, and several important figures have extensive influence throughout the Islamic world. (End of this chapter)