The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 649: Seven or eight Type 052 destroyers are not as good as a light aircraft carrier?
As far as Liu Tao knows, the navy's annual military expenditure, in all aspects, is about 100 billion yuan.

Of this, the military budget accounts for about RMB 30 billion, the installment payments and tax withholdings of Panshan Group account for about RMB to billion, and the other part accounts for about RMB to billion.

That's it, and it has already made other parties very dissatisfied.

The army's army and air force were very dissatisfied, because China has always had a continental army mentality, with the army being the boss. They felt that if half of the money was left for the army, the army would have already achieved mechanized force construction.

The Air Force is thinking that if it has this money, it can buy a lot more planes, and even retire half of the J-6 fighter jets.

Systems outside the military are also very dissatisfied, thinking that these warships are too expensive. If they were invested in economic development, they would definitely drive faster economic development.

If the navy can now come up with 120 billion yuan to build an aircraft carrier, Liu Tao can only say that he is awesome!

"So expensive?" The Navy chief frowned. "How much would it cost to build something like the Soviet aircraft carrier?"

"The Varyag aircraft carrier launched by the Soviet Union in November last year is said to have cost about 11 billion US dollars. According to my estimate, it is about 30 to 90 billion yuan," said Liu Tao.

The Varyag aircraft carrier is a new generation aircraft carrier built by the Soviet Union. Construction began on December 1985, 12 and was launched in November 4. It was built by the Black Sea Shipyard. The ship is 1988 meters long, 11 meters wide, has a draft of 304 meters, a standard displacement of 70.5 tons, and a full load displacement of 10.5 tons.

Since its construction, it has been taken seriously by Europe and the United States and regarded as a major threat.

"If it is a medium-sized aircraft carrier, it will cost about 50 to 70 billion yuan!" said Liu Tao.

The representatives from the Navy and the General Armaments Department were all upset.

The cost of building this aircraft carrier is really extremely expensive.

"Where is the light aircraft carrier?" The navy chief also looked unhappy.

The cost of building an aircraft carrier is so high that it is really beyond imagination.

"Like the British 'Invincible', 'Excellent', and 'Ark Royal' aircraft carriers, which are what everyone calls the 'Invincible' class aircraft carriers. The first ship of this class was ordered from the British Vickers shipyard in April 1973, completed and launched in May 4, and officially entered service in July 1977; the second ship was ordered in May 5, and the third ship was ordered in 1980. The cost rose from the initial 7 million pounds to 1976 million pounds, with a total of 5 'Sea Harrier' and 'Sea King' air early warning and anti-submarine helicopters. If we build three ships, the average cost should be between 1978 and 1.85 billion yuan. If carrier-based aircraft are included, the total cost will be between 2.2 and 21 billion yuan." Liu Tao has been collecting intelligence related to aircraft carriers.

Panshan Group has an aircraft carrier research institute that specializes in collecting relevant information about aircraft carriers and conducting research on aircraft carriers.

Liu Tao is quite familiar with the situation of overseas aircraft carriers.

He developed new frigates and new destroyers, but he did not develop aircraft carriers because those were too expensive.

Especially for the first ship, the supply chain needs to be built, the cost will be particularly high, and it will cost a lot of money.

As the famous saying goes: "If I want to build the Varyag aircraft carrier, I need the Central Committee of the Soviet Union, the State Planning Commission and the Industrial Military Commission, as well as nine defense industry departments, more than 9 related majors and more than 600 supporting manufacturers. In short, it takes a great country to complete it."

China today does not have the capability to build an aircraft carrier!

Unless at any cost!
But the problem is, in Liu Tao's opinion, China's current demand for aircraft carriers is not urgent.

So far, the Chinese Navy's strategy is still near-shore defense.

The Navy Chief looked unhappy. He had not expected that building an aircraft carrier would be so expensive. Even a light aircraft carrier would cost so much. Although the "aircraft carrier is useless" theory has been raised again, the development of the Chinese Navy is closely following the US Navy. After all, the US Navy is the world's number one and leads the way in the development of the world's navy. It is always right for poor students to learn from good students.

Therefore, he has always liked to build aircraft carriers and let China have aircraft carriers.

He frowned. Since Liu Tao did not support building an aircraft carrier, the aircraft carrier could not be built.

Because the navy's annual military budget is only enough to make ends meet. If the navy relied solely on the navy's military budget, the navy's warships would not even need to leave the port.

He originally planned that if Liu Tao was willing to support and Panshan Group could accept interest-free or low-interest installments for 20 or even 30 years, then the aircraft carrier would definitely be built.

"How about we grit our teeth and build a light aircraft carrier like the British? Having an aircraft carrier is always better than having no aircraft carrier." The navy chief frowned and discussed with Liu Tao.

A light aircraft carrier is also an aircraft carrier, right?

It's always good to have an aircraft carrier!

"Captain Liu, if we build the first light aircraft carrier, we can at least build seven or eight Type 052 destroyers." Liu Tao frowned slightly, "Are seven or eight Type 052 destroyers not as good as one light aircraft carrier?"

"And how much can your navy afford to build this first light aircraft carrier?" Liu Tao could understand the navy's desire to own an aircraft carrier, but he still thought it was not suitable to build one now.

After ten years, when China's economic strength becomes strong enough, it will be necessary to build aircraft carriers. At that time, we can directly start building medium-sized aircraft carriers, or even large aircraft carriers.

Liu Tao highly agrees with the strategy of focusing on the economy.

Looking back at the previous life, after China's economy was developed, it became necessary to build aircraft carriers. Aircraft carriers were built one after another, and frigates and destroyers were launched like dumplings. The total tonnage of warships launched in one year exceeded the total tonnage of the French Navy, making the total tonnage of the French Navy a unit of measurement.

Of course, if the navy is willing to spend enough money to build an aircraft carrier, Liu Tao will have nothing to say.

The navy chief's face turned red, because the navy simply couldn't come up with 500 million RMB. The navy only had that much military budget allocated to it each year, so where would he get the funds to order an aircraft carrier?

Liu Tao shook his head slightly. Seeing the Navy Chief's expression, he knew what the Navy was planning.

The loophole should not have been opened in the first place. Once it was opened, the Navy felt that it was natural and reasonable for Panshan Group to pay the money or pay in interest-free or interest-free installments.

But you have to know that Panshan Group’s money did not come from the wind.

Previously, it supported naval construction, but this was not the obligation of Panshan Group, as Panshan Group is just a state-owned enterprise.

Liu Tao sighed softly. This kind of thing of returning a favor for a small amount of money really made him realize that he should avoid doing such things in the future.

The meeting could no longer continue and ended before noon.

Liu Tao didn't care. Panshan Group didn't make its fortune by selling warships to the army. Instead, it has always been Panshan Group that supports the army. In this regard, Panshan Group takes the initiative. On the other hand, Panshan Group currently does not need any help from the navy.

　Zhang Boheng, you really lack a little bit of luck!

　　It’s hard to calm down!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)