In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 227: 5000 is only a few million blades? Armor penetration exceeding 1 meter? Are you kidding me?
"What? With such a reasonable price, does anyone have any questions?"

Seeing everyone remain silent, Xie Wei frowned.

In order to open up sales channels, he did not quote a high price.

Otherwise, anti-tank rocket launchers with such performance would still have a large market on the international market even if their price were increased two or three times; sniper grenade launchers that can accurately kill targets at a range of hundreds of meters away would also have a market for tens of thousands of dollars.

conscience!

That's incredibly generous!
At that moment, both General Pasin Danasong and Murita Zaridak were inwardly roaring upon hearing the translator's words.

"so cheap?"

Tang Kexian's exclamation broke the silence: "A single rocket with a launch costing over a thousand can destroy a tank?"

His words immediately made all the military leaders' faces even uglier.

At the current exchange rate, even converted to RMB, an 82mm armor-piercing rocket costs less than 2000 yuan!
The cost of armor-piercing rounds used in tanks is roughly the same.

The key issue is that it hasn't achieved that effect yet.

And the army has thousands of tanks, all of which are Type 59 tanks!

"Is it cheap? If we start large-scale production, the production cost will be even lower. As long as the purchase quantity is large enough, the price can be negotiated further..."

Xie Wei grinned.

That's the kind of effect we want. If we can't get customers to make large-scale purchases from the start, how long will it take to get our products into the international market?

The Iran-Iraq War is about to begin.

In the early stages of the conflict, neither side might pay much attention to anti-tank rocket launchers. However, after several years of fighting and with heavy equipment losses, rocket launchers, which can equip infantry and even militia with anti-tank capabilities and are inexpensive, become a viable option.

The rocket launchers procured by the Thai army may not be used on a large scale.

Pakistan's procurement is different.

Moreover, Pakistan will definitely act as a middleman.

After the Soviet army occupied the Graveyard of Empires, the CIA trained guerrillas to resist the Soviet forces along the Pakistani border. Even many of the world's most notorious terrorist organizations had early connections with the CIA.

The CIA, in order to train guerrillas to resist the Soviet invasion, naturally wouldn't make extensive use of advanced individual weapons and equipment from Europe and America, since most guerrilla members had never been to school.

Throughout the Graveyard of Empires war, the CIA provided the guerrillas with numerous FIM-43 Redeye portable anti-aircraft missiles, but due to their complex operation, their combat effectiveness was far from ideal.

Later, the CIA directly provided the partisans with FIM-92 Stinger portable anti-aircraft missiles. These more advanced and easier-to-operate anti-aircraft missiles became a nightmare for Soviet pilots in the graveyard.

If you're not going to make money from the CIA, you might as well.

The most profitable weapons are those that are easy to operate and powerful.

The wars that will take place around the world in the coming decades will almost all be concentrated in Africa and the Middle East, where few soldiers are educated.

"Can the price be lowered further?"

Everyone was stunned once again.

No one expected that Xie Wei, whose quoted price was already low enough, would now tell them that he could lower it even further.

At this moment, General Pashin Danasong became embarrassed.

Is it really worthwhile to purchase 2000 units at such a low price?

Even if we purchased the most expensive armor-piercing rocket launchers, 2000 of them, it would only cost $240 million. We, on the other hand, pocketed $50 by using the Type 59 tanks as targets.

Only adding $240 million to the contract, that's...

That just doesn't make sense.

"The 2000 I mentioned are just anti-tank rocket launchers. Give us another 3000 explosive fragmentation types..."

Ultimately, the general still had his pride.

He also hopes to continue the collaboration.

"General, the entire monkey country doesn't even have 1000 tanks in total."

Xie Wei was speechless.

How many tanks does the whole country have?

Most of them are deployed to defend the PLA on the northern border. How many are deployed within Cambodian territory?

Moreover, how many vehicles could possibly be deployed to invade Thailand?

"Uh……"

General Pashin Danasong was also embarrassed at this moment.

The monkeys don't have many tanks, and even fewer are deployed to their borders. If they were to actually purchase 2000 anti-tank rocket launchers, it would likely arouse even more suspicion from the military's top brass.

"Then let's change it to 1000 anti-tank models and 4000 explosive fragmentation models. Also, increase the number of sniper grenades to 400."

With Sherwin's reminder, General Pashin considered the matter and immediately changed his mind.

An infantry squad is equipped with a sniper grenade launcher for fire support, and each soldier is equipped with a rocket launcher. In this way, a ten-man infantry squad has one sniper grenade launcher plus nine rocket launchers.

With this configuration, an infantry squad costs $4200 for a sniper grenade launcher, $2400 for two anti-tank rocket launchers, and $5600 for seven high-explosive fragmentation rocket launchers. The total cost is only $12200.

However, such an infantry squad is fully capable of fighting against a tank platoon.

If necessary, replace them all with anti-tank rocket launchers.

With this configuration, the problem of the Thai troops' weak combat effectiveness was solved by their fierce individual firepower.

The cost wasn't much.

"General, we can come down and discuss the procurement contract in detail."

Sure enough, once a certain level of performance is achieved, price becomes the only way to attract customers.

Xie Wei was not surprised by the large number of purchase orders placed by Thailand.

For a country's army, equipping it with several thousand relatively inexpensive rocket launchers to enhance combat effectiveness is not a problem.

Xie Wei looked at the two men wearing suits and headscarves.

Pakistan is his primary client, whether it's helping the CIA procure weapons for the guerrillas or using them to let the real top leader know that a cooperation agreement between the two sides is necessary.

Can you provide production technology and production lines?

Seeing Xie Wei staring at them, the two whispered to each other for a while, and then asked Xie Wei.

Pakistan wants to establish its own military industry and has been working towards this goal. It has been purchasing weapons and equipment from China and is seeking to introduce production technology and production lines.

After losing foreign aid during the Second Indo-Pakistani War, who knows what the final outcome would have been if China hadn't extended a helping hand.

Later, although relations with the United States improved and the United States was willing to provide assistance, what was the result?

The weapons and equipment they provided were all their retired junk.

Those with slightly more advanced systems cannot be mobilized by the military at will; they must go through the United States.

Having dealt with China for a long time, the Pakistani military also wants to learn from China and develop its own weapons and equipment design and manufacturing capabilities.

"I'm sorry, we are not considering exporting the technology and production line at the moment... After all, this is a newly designed weapon, and our own troops have not yet been equipped with it."

Before Xie Wei could even speak, Li Rui stepped forward and rejected his idea.

Damn it, they raise hens just to sell eggs.

But the other party had a different idea; they even wanted to buy the hen just to eat the eggs.

Just so we can avoid buying eggs from chicken farmers long-term? No way!

Definitely not.

Seeing Li Rui's objection, the military leaders, whose faces had been extremely grim, finally showed a slight smile.

Finally, Li Rui did have some sense of reason.

“Li, this is different from what you said before…”

Murita Zaridak's expression darkened.

"Let's talk about it, let's talk about it..."

Li Rui smiled awkwardly.

"Everyone, we've arrived at the restaurant. Let's go eat first..."

The scene before them finally gave the previously insignificant leader of 617 a chance to speak.

What happened to the promised tank firepower test?

Li Rui did not object, nor did the Pakistani side. Their schedule was very full, and they were leaving that afternoon.

"Xie Wei, we can definitely provide the production technology and production line. There's nothing particularly critical about it... Didn't Principal Li say that the school is also going to cooperate with Pakistan in education?"

On the way to the guesthouse canteen, Zhai Xinguo asked Xie Wei, puzzled.

"Pakistan's desire to produce the technology is clearly not for their own use, but rather for export."

Xie Wei offered an explanation.

Li Rui and his team are so focused on this because they know which clients Pakistan can resell the goods to.

Unexpectedly, the other party wanted the production technology and production line from the very beginning.

With Pakistan's current industrial base, it simply cannot produce it.

Does that mean that if you export rocket launcher technology, you also have to export the supporting technologies?

That is indeed a problem.

The problem is that Pakistan doesn't have much money at the moment.

Spend millions to import rocket launcher production technology and production lines, and then spend tens of millions or even hundreds of millions to import supporting technologies?
That's impossible!

"Exports? Who are they exporting to?"

Zhai Xinguo looked surprised. "Aren't they using it themselves? India has Soviet support and can buy all sorts of advanced heavy equipment from them; Pakistan is under considerable pressure..."

Clearly, he and Xie Wei have different perspectives on the issue.

Xie Wei couldn't explain this.

Meanwhile, the military commander was walking with Li Rui.

"What were you thinking? Such an advanced anti-tank weapon, and you exported it without reporting it to your superiors?"

The leader looked displeased.

Even though his rank was only one level higher than Li Rui's, they were not subordinate to each other.

"Sir, the country is currently adjusting its policies, and the military is constantly cutting funding to make way for economic infrastructure development."

Li Rui sighed, "We don't want to export it either, but no matter how advanced the equipment is, if the military doesn't have the money to equip it and can't recoup the research and development costs, how can we continue to improve it?"

Li Rui's words left the leader speechless.

This is the case.

Since 76, the military has been gradually reducing planned orders, and funding for many military research projects has been decreasing, with many projects already cancelled or about to be cancelled.

No money!

"But have you considered the harm this poses to national defense? As long as it's exported to the international market, the West and the Soviet Union will definitely be able to get their hands on it. Once they understand its performance, they can improve the defensive capabilities of their tanks. If another war breaks out..."

Another leader's voice was low and serious.

In their view, such advanced weapons should be kept hidden away.

If we take it out when the enemy invades, it will teach them a painful lesson.

Once it's sold, the enemy can assess its performance...

"Even without our rocket launchers, will the enemy's tank armor not be upgraded? The threat of rocket launchers to tanks is ultimately limited..."

Li Rui retorted directly, "Internationally, the infrastructure is nothing like ours! Every tank they use has seen significant performance improvements..."

Nima!

Zhu Zhenhui, who was standing next to him, almost lost his temper.

If you're just talking business, why did you bring us along?
With a poor foundation, weak base, and no experience, can you blame the tank engineers for not working hard enough?

Li Rui ignored the thoughts of the leaders of Factory 617. Knowing the concerns of the military commanders, he sighed and added, "Actually, what's exported is just to recoup funds and support continued research. The really good stuff is kept here."

"What? You have something even better?"

Tang Kexian exclaimed in surprise.

God!

How to do this?
This rocket launcher in front of us can easily penetrate the most advanced tank that is currently under research, and there is also the armor protection system of the Type 69-III with even stronger armor-piercing capabilities. How do we modify it?
"There are even more advanced ones?"

The leaders clearly didn't believe it.

Li Rui also knew that if he hadn't known the inside story, he wouldn't have believed it even if someone else had told him.

He couldn't explain it, but when he saw Xie Wei and Zhai Xinguo walking and talking quietly not far away, he waved to them.

"Yes. Although today's armor-piercing projectile has a significantly improved armor-piercing capability compared to the Type 70-1 62mm anti-tank rocket launcher, it is essentially still a tungsten-head armor-piercing projectile. It achieves higher velocity through improvements in the internal explosive charge structure..."

Zhai Xinguo glanced at the Pakistani and Thai people not far away and said in a low voice.

"Currently, we are researching armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot projectiles with enhanced armor-piercing capabilities and tandem warheads... This involves improvements to the projectile structure, not just the explosive charge... Theoretically, if the tandem warhead is successfully developed, its armor-piercing capability will be doubled, achieving a static armor-piercing capability of 1100 mm of homogeneous steel armor..."

"Suck~"

Zhai Xinguo's words made everyone gasp.

1100 mm of homogeneous steel armor, can a tank really build that thick?

The members of group 617 were completely dumbfounded.

If rocket launchers have such strong armor-piercing capabilities, how are we supposed to design tanks in the future?

How could a small tank have armor thicker than one meter?

If we really do it that way, the engine won't work.

Even the thickest warship armor in the world doesn't reach that thickness.

crazy!

"Professor Zhai, are you kidding me? What kind of tank has armor protection that thick? Even anti-tank missiles can't achieve this level of armor penetration..."

Yes!

The other person was joking.

(End of this chapter)