The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 618 The Price of the Aircraft

study.

Liu Tao was deep in thought.

He was thinking about the export prices of the J-7, the Eagle advanced trainer and the J-10.

In recent years, due to the sharp depreciation of the US dollar, the prices of various weapons and equipment in the international arms market have also skyrocketed.

A few years ago, the German army purchased the German "Cheetah" self-propelled anti-aircraft gun at a price of about 440 million US dollars. Now it has skyrocketed to 1000 million US dollars, and the export price is even higher.

The German army purchased the German Leopard 2 tank at a price of about 1979 million U.S. dollars in 247. Now the price has skyrocketed to about 350 million U.S. dollars.

As for the export price of the Leopard 2 tank, it goes without saying that the price has also been rising.

Of course, Germany's "Leopard 2" tank is not the fastest. Internationally, the American M1A1 tank is the fastest. The M1A1 began production in 1986, but the purchase price of the US military has almost reached 500 million US dollars, and the export price is even higher, at least 600 million US dollars.

Not only are European and American tanks increasing in price, but Soviet tanks are also increasing in price.

This is true for main battle tanks, and even more so for aircraft!
F20在1983年的价格是1000万美元，1985年就已经涨到1500万美元；F14的价格在1979年是1960万美元，1983年就已经涨到3327万美元，到了1987年更是涨到4400万美元；F15在1983年价格是2730万美元，到了1987年已经涨到3910万美元；F16在1980年价格是800万美元，到了1985年价格已经涨到1350~1800万美元，到了现在价格已经涨到2500~3000万美元；F-18目前的价格是2970万美元；F117在1983年的价格是4260万美元，到了现在已经涨到了7200万美元。

美国飞机如此，法国飞机也差不多，幻影2000在1983年价格是2500万美元，1987年已经涨到了3000万美元；超军旗1983年价格是1080~1200万美元，现在已经涨到1300~1500万美元；幻影4000在1983年的价格是3000万美元，现在价格是5000万美元。

The Soviet fighter jets, MiG-29 now costs 1800 million US dollars, and Su-27 costs 3400 million US dollars.

Although advanced trainer aircraft are not real fighter jets, as a training aircraft for pilots, their price will not be too cheap.

Liu Tao thought for a while and finally wrote down in his notebook: 7 million US dollars for the J-870 advanced trainer aircraft, 1500 million US dollars for the Eagle advanced trainer aircraft, and 10 million US dollars for the J-2500 fighter aircraft.

If you want to lower the price, you can actually reduce it further. Even if the price is reduced by half, there is still a good profit.

But Liu Tao did not do that, because having been in the international arms market for so long, he knew very well that the lower the price of weapons and equipment, the better. If your price is too low, your customers will doubt the performance of your aircraft.

The price depends on the level of the weapons and equipment!
It can be lower, but it can’t be sold at a rock-bottom price.

Otherwise, customers will feel uneasy when seeing the very low prices.

The cost-effectiveness is not only reflected in the slightly lower price, but more importantly in the fact that there are no political or economic conditions attached.

If other arms dealers want to engage in a price war, just lower the price.

Liu Tao put the notebook into his briefcase and left the study.

When we returned to the room, the children were all asleep.

Zhu Lin was sitting in front of the dressing table, combing her hair. She had long, smooth black hair and was wearing pink pajamas, which really made Liu Tao stunned.

Liu Tao couldn't help but walk over and gently hugged her from behind.

Then Zhu Lin's pretty face turned slightly red, and she looked so beautiful under the dim light.

The next day, sunlight shone into the room.

Liu Tao woke up and felt the warmth and softness of the girl in his arms, and his heart softened.

After checking the monitor, he saw that the children were still asleep. Liu Tao moved his body, changed his position, and continued to sleep.

It was not until the child woke up and made a noise that startled the two of them, and then they got up yawning.

When I walked out of the room, I saw a vast expanse of white outside. It snowed late last night, covering the sky and the earth in silver.

This is the winter in Beijing, snowing is normal.

At about 10 o'clock, Liu Tao waited for his friend, Malaek!
This time, Malaek also came to purchase warships.

Unlike Iraq, Persia has a much longer coastline of 2700 kilometers, and its navy is also the most powerful in the Persian Gulf.

During the Pahlavi dynasty, Persia was the overlord of the Persian Gulf, possessing the most powerful army, air force and navy in the region. At that time, Persia was an ally of the United States and its arm in the Middle East.

The United States' influence in the Middle East is now experiencing great turbulence and decline, and it can be said that the root cause is the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty.

This puts the United States in a passive position in the Middle East.

In addition, his father would get angry and cause trouble all the time, which made him very annoyed, but there was nothing he could do.

The Reagan administration has always wanted to suppress oil prices to below $20 per barrel, preferably $12 to $15 per barrel. This would greatly reduce the US inflation rate and also hit the Soviet economy.

After all, although the Soviet Union has abundant oil, the cost of oil extraction in the Soviet Union is much higher than that in the Middle East.

Unfortunately, all OPEC members are unwilling to cooperate with the United States. After all, the world's overall demand for oil is increasing, and now wars are constantly breaking out. Who would be willing to lower oil prices?

The "Iran-Iraq Ship Raid War" broke out. Although both sides attacked each other's merchant ships or other third-party merchant ships, the Iraqis also attacked Persian warships, which caused considerable losses to Persian warships.

Now that the Saudi naval military strength has greatly increased, Persia also feels a huge threat, as if it will lose its maritime hegemony in the Persian Gulf.

If Persia wants to import warships, its only option is Panshan Group.

As the Soviet Union ended the Afghan war, the first batch of troops had withdrawn from Afghanistan, and the second batch of troops would soon withdraw. Most of the 300,000 troops deployed by Persia in the east could be transferred to the western front to fight the Iraqis.

Prior to this, Persia had always been on guard against the Soviet Union.

Because Iraq's national strength is there, it can't take Persia away in one wave, even if it's a sneak attack. But the Soviet Union is different. That ferocious polar bear may be able to take Persia away in one wave.

Now that Persia is no longer under pressure in the east, it will naturally turn its forces to the west to defeat the Iraqis and drive them out of Persia.

But before that, it was necessary to replenish naval ships to ensure Persia's maritime influence in the Persian Gulf.

Liu Tao accepted Malaek's order without any hesitation.

After all, this is a huge order of up to 80 billion US dollars, which is not easy for Persia.

Now Persia is only barely able to survive on its oil revenues, because its oil revenues are not as high as Iraq's.

A large part of Iraq's oil is transported to Turkey via oil pipelines and then exported to various countries. The income is relatively stable and substantial.

Persia is different. Its oil is mainly in Khuzestan Province. Oil extraction has been affected to some extent, and the oil has to be transported through middlemen, which inevitably results in high intermediary fees.

(End of this chapter)