The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 343: Expectations of the Third Machine Department
"Deputy Chief Engineer Shen, our factory has never researched this type of starter motor used in aircraft engines."

Wu Wei looked at Shen Yanhuan, deputy chief engineer of the Third Ministry of Machine Building, who came to visit him, and he didn't dare to brag.

They went to great lengths to bring an actual motor here. If BMW Motors talks nonsense, they will definitely fall into a trap.

Wu Wei, who once worked in the system, has some awareness of this.

"Chief Engineer Wu, I fully understand that you have no experience in the research and development and production of starter motors for aircraft engines."

"I came here to talk to you today because I hope BMW Motor can consider cooperating with Changan Engine Factory to produce this starter motor locally."

"We can provide not only the actual motor, but also the corresponding design drawings."

After Shen Yanhuan said this, Wu Wei felt a little strange.

There are real products and drawings, but no other manufacturer has been able to produce it?

It seems that the technical threshold for motors used in aircraft engines is relatively high.

"Deputy Chief Engineer Shen, why don't you guys take a rest in the hotel next door today? Our factory director is out inspecting a supplier. I'll discuss this with him when he comes back and I'll get back to you then. Is that okay with you?"

Wu Wei was a little undecided.

The country is now focusing on economic development, and the funding for the military industry is relatively limited.

Let’s not talk about whether the motor that the Third Ministry of Machine Building hopes BMW Motor can develop can be successfully developed. Even if it is successfully developed, it is still unknown how much it will produce at that time.

Wu Wei had heard that aircraft engines were extremely difficult to work on.

If BMW Motor spends a lot of manpower and resources to produce the starter motor used in aircraft engines, but the aircraft engines themselves are not developed in time, then BMW Motor will not be able to receive any orders.

Judging from Wu Wei's life experience, this possibility is very high.

Shen Yanhuan could understand Wu Wei's answer.

Many other domestic motor manufacturers are unwilling to try to domesticate aircraft engine motors. In fact, part of the reason is not simply technical reasons, but the lack of profitability.

The funding provided by the Third Ministry of Machine Building is insufficient, and it is highly likely that motor manufacturers will have to spend money on research and development.

If there are no orders after developing the product, wouldn’t it be a waste of time?
In this case, it would be better to surrender right from the start and work on some money-making military-to-civilian conversion projects.

"Okay, then I'll leave the motor sample and technical data with you, but you have to arrange for someone to look after it."

Although the samples and information in front of us are quite important, they are not very sensitive in terms of confidentiality. After all, these are engine products introduced into China from England more than ten years ago.

So far, there is no way to imitate it in China, and foreign countries have already developed more advanced products.

Since Shen Yanhuan didn't mind leaving the things at BMW Motor, Wu Wei naturally had no objection.

That evening, as soon as Jiang Hui returned to the office, Wu Wei reported to him about what had happened that day.

"The Third Ministry of Machine Building wants to develop a localization project for the starter motor of an aircraft engine?"

Jiang Hui has frequently dealt with the First, Fifth and Seventh Ministry of Machine Building in recent years, so he is naturally very clear about what each ministry is responsible for.

The Third Ministry of Machine Building is now the department in charge of the aviation industry. No matter whether it is a fighter jet or a transport plane, as long as it is an aircraft, it is under their responsibility.

But in the 1970s and 1980s, the Third Ministry of Machine Building didn’t seem to have many achievements to show for itself?
"Yes, they left the prototypes and technical data in our conference room. I took a preliminary look at the data. Some of the drawings still have English labels on them, and the manufacturer information on the material grades of some parts looks like they are from a foreign manufacturer."

"I guess the Third Ministry of Machine Building imported the aircraft engine from somewhere, but the starter motor has never been successfully domestically produced."

After Wu Wei's explanation, Jiang Hui probably understood what was going on.

In all likelihood, this is the starting motor used on WS-9.

Since the 70s, Western third-generation fighter jets have adopted advanced turbofan engines.

Compared with turbojet engines, turbofan engines have the advantages of greater thrust, lower noise and lower fuel consumption.

Under this pressure, in December 1971, relevant Chinese leaders held an all-night symposium on aviation product quality and agreed on the spot to import a batch of civilian Spey engines from Rolls-Royce in England to develop my country's turbofan engines. This is the origin of the WS-12.

长安航空发动机厂根据1975年12月13日华夏技术进口总公司与英吉利罗尔斯·罗伊斯公司签订的斯贝MK202发动机专利许可权和生产合同开始研发涡扇-9双转子加力式涡轮风扇发动机，代号为WS-9。

In March 1976, Changan Engine Factory began full-scale trial production.

On July 1979, 7, the first WS-25 engine was assembled using components manufactured from English raw materials and purchased parts and accessories from Rolls-Royce.

In the second half of 1979, four engines were assembled in two batches. On November 4 of the same year, both parties jointly completed a 11-hour endurance test.

From February to May 1980, two WS-2 engines and two sets of components manufactured by China completed high-altitude simulation tests in England, start-up tests at minus 5 degrees Celsius, and cyclic fatigue strength tests of five major components. The results all met the technical requirements.

On May 1980, 5, representatives of both sides signed a document confirming the successful evaluation of the WS-30 engine.

According to the plan, the next step is to carry out comprehensive localization.

However, work in this area has not been going smoothly.

If history had developed normally, the domestically produced WS-2007 engine would not have been officially put into mass production until 9.

It took more than 30 years of hard work to finally master this aircraft engine technology and fully localize it.

But in the past thirty years, Rolls-Royce's technology has been updated for several generations.

Fortunately, after mastering these technologies, in the next twenty years, China's aviation engine technology has made rapid progress, breaking through various new technologies one after another, and finally quickly catching up with the international mainstream level.

This situation is probably something that many people did not predict.

"I'll talk to them tomorrow and see what their plans are."

Although automobiles and related industries are the main business of BMW Technology, the future market for aircraft engine starter motors is also very broad. If BMW Motor starts to get involved now, it will definitely be able to reap the benefits in the future.

Of course, this cycle is a bit long and most manufacturers cannot withstand it.

……

"Chief Engineer Shen, I feel that Wu Wei is not very interested in our starter motor project. Otherwise, with the technical level of BMW motors and complete reference drawings, it would take at most two to three years to localize the motors."

While Jiang Hui and Wu Wei were discussing today's events, Li Zhongxi and Shen Yanhuan, who had returned to the hotel, were also discussing today's situation.

They considered seeking help from BMW Motor because they had investigated the situation of BMW Motor. They even knew that BMW Motor was nominally a foreign-funded enterprise, but in fact it was a domestic private enterprise.

"It's normal for Wu Wei to have such a reaction. They produce motors for cars and home appliances. Every month, the production is in short supply, so they should be making a lot of money."

"Their R&D staff are definitely busy developing more of these products."

"Now we put a project in front of him that we don't know when he will have the opportunity to make money. It's normal that he is not very interested."

"If Wu Wei was still in school, he would have actively cooperated with the ministry's funding, even if the funding might not be enough in the end."

"But when you get to the factory, there are more things to consider. They definitely want to make money."

Shen Yanhuan was not angry.

He was very clear about the situation of the factories under the Third Ministry of Machine Building in recent years.

Some manufacturers are now unable to even pay their employees’ salaries.

Most manufacturers are barely surviving on funding.

Various funds are mostly used to ensure the normal payment of employees' wages, and many R&D work has come to a state of stagnation or very slow progress.

A penny stumps a heroic man.

Nowadays, social atmosphere has begun to change, and many projects are difficult to carry out without sufficient funds.

"There are too many parts that need to be domestically produced for the WS-9 engine. Apart from the starter motor, there is no sign of a breakthrough in the casting technology for compressor blades."

"There are still a series of challenges waiting for us, such as the precision forging and casting process without excess, and the digital electronic control system."

As the director of Changan Engine Factory, Li Zhongxi is also under great pressure.

The introduction of this engine from Rolls-Royce in England was a project that was approved by the leader himself.

"In recent years, my country's aviation engine research and development capabilities have made great progress, and we can produce a large number of relatively advanced turbojet engines to meet the combat requirements of the air force."

"You don't have to worry too much. These problems can be overcome."

Seeing that Li Zhongxi looked a little discouraged, Shen Yanhuan comforted him with a few words.

"These engines are basically improvements and modifications based on the Polar Bear engine, and their overall technical level is backward, which seriously restricts the development of my country's aviation engine manufacturing industry and military fighter aircraft."

“再加上航空研究院606所因70年代上马的歼-9、歼-13、强-6、大型运输机等项目的纷纷下马，与之配套的研发长达二十年的涡扇-6系列发动也因无装配对象被迫下马，此时我们国家在航空动力方面与世界发达国家的差距拉到二十年之上。”

"I am very anxious."

The more he learned about the current situation of domestic aviation engines, the more anxious Li Zhongxi became.

A gap of more than 20 years can sometimes make people feel suffocated.

"The economy is developing rapidly now, and the funding our department will receive will certainly increase in the future. Combined with domestic demand, the pace of progress of some projects can also be accelerated."

"For example, I think we can develop the engine you are in charge of as soon as possible, or directly design a turbofan engine of our own based on it."

Shen Yanhuan is also considered a professional in the aviation field, otherwise he would not be able to serve as the deputy chief engineer of the Third Ministry of Machine Building.

"I hope so. The performance of the motors on aircraft engines is very critical. If BMW motors can fully cooperate with us to promote localization this time, I am quite confident in them."

Li Zhongxi quickly adjusted his mood and brought the topic back to BMW motors.

"Well, BMW Motors can produce starter motors and wiper motors for car engines, and can also develop washing machine motors and other products in a short period of time to replace imported motors."

"This technical strength is absolutely second to none in China. If BMW motors can't handle it, then it will be difficult to find other motor manufacturers."

The two of them will come directly to Shenzhen with technical data and motor samples, which is naturally a choice made after careful consideration.

To put it bluntly, they are now trying their best to save the situation.

There are still many bottleneck parts in the WS-9 project that have not been domestically produced, and now we are solving them one by one.

You can't just not do it because you don't see any hope, right?

Fortunately, when Jiang Hui met them the next day, the situation was better than expected.

"Chief Engineer Shen, Director Li, we at BMW Motor are very willing to cooperate with the Third Ministry of Machine Building to make some contributions to the development of the aviation engine industry."

"But to be honest, BMW Motors has never been involved in technologies related to aircraft engine starter motors before."

"We need to start researching again on what issues need to be paid attention to in the localization of this part."

"Based on the situation of this project, it is estimated that it will take at least three years to successfully produce this product."

Jiang Hui knew that there was no need to rush this project, and there was no point in completing it too early.

BMW Motor currently has many products under development and does not have enough R&D personnel to focus entirely on motor products for aircraft engines.

Now we can only arrange a team to thoroughly understand the technical information first, and then Jiang Hui will give appropriate suggestions so that the project can move forward step by step.

Finally, we will speed up the process when the entire project really requires domestic motors for mass production.

Jiang Hui felt that even if the Changan Engine Factory was moving faster than in the same period in history, it would take until the 9s before the WS- could be officially mass-produced.

That speed is almost ten years faster than the same period in history, which is very difficult to achieve.

With this ten-year lead time, many fighter jets and transport aircraft may be launched earlier in the future, which can be regarded as a great contribution to China's aviation industry.

"Time is not a problem. The localization of other parts of our engine is still in progress, and it may not be completed within three years."

“As long as BMW Motor can come up with a specific localization plan in three years and produce one or two prototypes for testing, I think the progress will be good enough.”

Shen Yanhuan was afraid that Jiang Hui would perform poorly, so he wanted to finalize the matter as soon as possible.

He hadn't done this kind of thing for a long time, so he seemed a little unskilled.

Fortunately, Jiang Hui cooperated very well, and for this special project, the two parties reached a formal cooperation plan in just a few days.

(End of this chapter)