In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 259 Three long-range artillery battalions, one tank battalion more advanced than the T-72, $3 million?
"So what price do you think you can sell it for?"

Seeing the reactions of everyone at Harbin Institute of Technology, Abdullah became even more certain that the strategy of directly cutting the price in half was effective. "In your Chinese parlance, it's about asking for the moon and then negotiating the price. Doesn't this count as negotiating the price?"

They only managed to cut down to the halfway point of the mountain.

"General, weapons and equipment are not like cabbages on the market. To show our sincerity in cooperating, the price quoted is not an exorbitant one... So far, we have only produced this one launch vehicle, and because the cost is too high, the price has reached $280 million..."

Fang Pengju's eyes widened even more upon hearing this.

Xie Wei's ability to speak so fluently is truly astonishing.

Wasn't the reserve price supposed to be $240 million?
Everyone says the cost price is $280 million, so how can the price be lowered further?

Not to mention him, even Zhang Mingqiu and others who previously thought Xie Wei's butchering skills weren't sharp enough were now astonished by the price Xie Wei quoted.

Cost price of $280 million!
How did Xie Wei come up with this idea?

"Thank you. The cost price you mentioned is for sample production. Various tooling and fixtures are also included in the production cost. With large-scale mass production, the production cost of various tooling and fixtures will be spread out. In addition, with the efficiency of mass production, all costs will decrease significantly!"

General Abdullah gave off an air of "I know my stuff, don't try to fool me."

At least he was part of the logistics system and was familiar with military production.

Since Saddam Hussein became president, he has been committed to producing weapons and equipment domestically, and even to developing the Mud Bomb.

Although the results weren't great, at least we were able to understand the costs of sample production and large-scale production.

“General, you’re right. But our R&D costs are also a cost. At $3.2 million, even if you purchase five battalions, that would only amount to 90 launch systems. If we spread the R&D cost over 100 systems, each system would require $600,000 in R&D costs… Our quote is already based on the reduced production costs after mass production… In addition, maintenance, repair, and operator training costs are also included…”

Xie Wei's words made General Abdullah's men feel that the general had gone too far.

By this calculation, it seems that the other party is indeed selling equipment at a loss.

General Abdullah thought so too, but after a moment's thought, he realized the problem.

wrong!

Although the accuracy of the enemy's rocket artillery is not advanced, its range alone is enough to meet the needs of many customers. For countries with small land areas and insufficient strategic depth, rocket artillery with a range of 150 kilometers can keep the enemy 150 kilometers away from the country's borders!

Could the other party really be that kind?

Pull it down.

"Thank you, but your price is far too high. If it's at that price, I'm very sorry, but we cannot cooperate on this matter."

Abdullah shook his head.

Yesterday, they insisted on including long-range rocket artillery in the negotiations, but the other party's offer exceeded the general's bottom line.

At a price of $280 million, 5 battalions with 90 launch systems would require $2.52 million. This doesn't even include spare rockets. Based on the other party's rocket quote of $8 each, and assuming each launch system has 5 times the ammunition, this would require 3600 rockets, bringing the price to $2.88 million.

Five battalions, with a procurement price of up to $540 million.

Even though Abdullah was the president's confidant, he only had a procurement quota of $3 million, which included the purchase of rocket launchers and technology.

The procurement of rocket launchers and technology has already cost $1720 million. Even excluding the $800 million that the Soviets will pay, Iraq will still have to pay $920 million for this.

Of the $3 million allocation, only about $2.9 million remains.

General Abdullah, persuaded by the shaman, was even planning to purchase a batch of tanks from China within his budget.

What happened to the promise of high cost-effectiveness for Chinese weapons?
As he pondered all of this, Abdullah felt that the long-range rocket launcher was far too expensive.

Upon hearing this, Fang Pengju, Zhang Mingqiu, and the others immediately became anxious.

The hope was to sell the long-range rocket artillery to obtain funding for researching rocket artillery with longer range and higher accuracy, while also subsidizing other projects at the university, such as fighter jets...

Xie Wei made his statement definitive.

How can this be done?

"General, given this situation, we can only express our regret."

To everyone's surprise, Xie Wei showed no intention of continuing the discussion and made no attempt to reverse the situation.

"..."

Now, it was Yitzhak's turn to panic, as he had been the one pushing to buy long-range rocket artillery from China.

The other party isn't playing by the rules!
But given the situation, he didn't know how to persuade General Abdullah.

"Thank you. We didn't get a detailed understanding of the tanks you're developing yesterday. How about we go back over there and take another look?"

Seeing that even the general was struggling to continue the talks due to Xie Wei's unpredictable approach, and realizing that the negotiations were about to collapse, he quickly changed the subject.

"no problem!"

Without a second thought, Xie Wei said, "Since you wish to visit the tank workshop again, I will not accompany you."

Ignoring Fang Pengju and Zhang Mingqiu who kept giving him meaningful glances, he directly stated that school leaders would accompany them on the visit, and that he was too busy.

Their attitude was very unfriendly.

"Xie Wei, the other party is an international friend. Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

As the Party Secretary, Liu Debao was well aware that if these matters were not handled properly, they could damage the country's image and easily escalate to a diplomatic level.

“What’s inappropriate about it? There are high-ranking school leaders, high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Commerce and the military accompanying them. Whether I, an unranked non-staff member, am accompanied or not is irrelevant.”

Xie Wei left Abdullah and the others with these words.

He didn't go back to the Civil Engineering Building, but headed towards the school administration building, where Li Rui should be in his office.

Abdullah and his entourage did not have any objections to this.

With negotiations on the verge of collapse and neither side willing to compromise, staying together would only worsen the situation.

"Did the deal break down?"

Xie Wei had just arrived at Li Rui's door, his feet on the coffee table, when Principal Li, who was leaning back in his chair, began to speak.

"It almost collapsed, but it didn't. Damn it, the other side isn't as rich as we thought."

Xie Wei complained.

Iraq is ultimately not the top dog.

The largest order came from companies that had spent too many tanks and armored vehicles in the Iran-Iraq War, and wanted to buy the cost-effective Type 69 tanks and Type 63 armored vehicles.

Those things are cheap, costing no more than $50 each.

Buying a thousand cars would only cost $5 million.

"I thought you could handle them today..."

Li Rui didn't take it seriously. He put his feet off the coffee table, stood up, sat up straight, took out a cigarette, and tossed one to Xie Wei.

"Wow, this is incredible! They've started giving away special edition panda-themed lottery tickets!"

Xie Wei looked at the packaging, somewhat surprised.

"Stop being sarcastic. Whether this is a sure thing or not, if you want to get that ten million US dollars, you'll need at least two hundred million in foreign exchange for me to be able to operate. Otherwise, if I get into trouble, you won't be able to achieve your goal either."

Li Rui was too lazy to argue with Xie Wei.

His expression turned serious.

Xie Wei's words last night were very appealing to him: if the school could set up a company outside that could earn foreign exchange and operate independently, it would be able to bypass the issue of applying for foreign exchange quotas from higher authorities.

This is true independent operation, self-financing, and independent accounting. "Don't worry, it won't run away."

Xie Wei looked confident.

Abdullah was tempted; he knew it very well.

As for the selling price, it absolutely cannot be low.

PY is not a villain, he's not a character.

High-precision and cutting-edge weapons are inherently expensive.

We can't just let them buy it for a million dollars.

"Alright, I'll wait for your news. I'll stay at the university for the next few days. If the contract amount doesn't exceed two hundred million US dollars, then don't bring this up again."

Li Ruizhen wasn't putting pressure on Xie Wei.

Xie Wei said that by using the huge funds from the arms deal with Iraq, he could extract ten million US dollars to invest in the Hong Kong investment market. If he didn't get enough foreign exchange, no matter how much Principal Li pleaded and acted like a rogue to his superiors, it would be impossible.

$2 million is almost one-tenth of the country's foreign exchange reserves.

They were able to ask their superiors for a lot of support.

At noon, after lunch, the Iraqis were arranged to rest at the guesthouse as usual. Zhang Mingqiu and the others returned to the office and saw Xie Wei and Li Rui playing chess in the principal's office. Just then, Li Rui took back a move, and Xie Wei immediately overturned the chessboard.

"Xie Wei, this negotiation can't continue. Our project's funding..."

Fang Pengju looked worried.

After testing for so long, various problems have been identified. A model with a longer range needs to be designed directly, and all of this requires money.

"How about we lower the price a bit?"

Xie Wei is so dark-skinned!
Something worth hundreds of thousands of RMB is now being offered for an additional $280 million.

Who's that stupid?

"Don't worry, even if we can't sell them, the funding for the long-range rocket research will not be reduced. I guarantee it!"

Xie Wei knew Fang Pengju's concerns.

Currently, the global rocket artillery landscape is not divided into Chinese rocket artillery and foreign rocket artillery, but Xie Wei is unwilling to give up.

Internationally, there are very few companies developing long-range rocket artillery with a range exceeding 100 kilometers.

They have the money, and with a range exceeding 100 kilometers, they went straight for missiles.

If Xie Wei hadn't interfered, according to historical development, the Type 80 273mm rocket launcher would still have taken another 3 years to be successfully developed. In order to train seed instructors and support the development of long-range rocket artillery, the troops were equipped with two battalions for combat training.

The main purpose of long-distance firefighting is to explore international markets.

Even China's share of the international arms market was gained through long-range artillery.

"But the negotiations are about to fall apart... You quoted too high a price."

Zhang Mingqiu reminded Xie Wei with a bitter face.

Is it high? No, it's not.

Xie Wei shook his head.

guest House.

Abdullah and the others did not rest.

"General, the other side's attitude is very firm. If we don't make concessions, China's rocket artillery, which has a longer range than the Scud-A and is not much different in power and accuracy, may just slip through our fingers..."

Yitzhak was unsure of the general's true intentions.

The two sides had a huge disagreement on the price.

There is absolutely no possibility of negotiation.

If the general doesn't make concessions, the deal is off.

"Yes, General, we also learned from their tank project that this long-range rocket launcher is actually designed to be used with their next generation of tanks..."

The shaman also spoke up.

Today I visited Harbin Institute of Technology again to learn about their new tank project. I learned from the technical research and development team that the new tank they are developing will definitely be able to withstand rocket launchers, but the armor-piercing capability of the tank gun is not good, and the static armor penetration thickness of the armor-piercing projectiles will be difficult to achieve in a short period of time.

The method of long-range fire was devised by the Chinese.

Reach the summit!

Everyone knows that the weakest point of a tank's armor is the top.

Long-range rocket artillery can be deployed dozens of kilometers behind armored formations, destroying them with long-range saturation attacks when they are assembled.

This is similar to the story of Tian Ji's horse racing strategy in Chinese history.

First, use tank formations to lure enemy tank formations into an armored battle. Once the enemy armored formations charge in, use rocket artillery to destroy them. Then, use the armored formations to attack the enemy infantry.

This seems to be a tactic specifically tailored for Iraq.

After all, their armored forces' combat effectiveness is simply no match for that of the US and Soviet armies, which rely on massive armored forces, a large number of fighter jets to ensure air superiority, and heavy artillery support for their armored formations.

"It's very difficult to negotiate their prices down any further..."

Abdullah sighed.

How could he not know the power of the rocket launcher in front of him?
A single battalion's salvo could probably wipe out several enemy armored divisions that were concentrated in one place!

That's too expensive.

"General, I think we don't need to equip ourselves with weapons and equipment according to the Chinese system at all..."

"Itzak spoke."

"Oh?"

Abdullah became interested.

“We can equip each battalion with only 12 long-range rocket launchers. Even so, a salvo from one battalion would deliver 96 420-kilogram bombs to the enemy, enough to completely destroy an armored division's assembly point…”

Yitzhak put forward his own ideas.

The general didn't not want to make the purchase; he just thought the price was too high.

"Based on this quantity, five battalions would only require 60 launch systems... Without determining the power of this rocket artillery, we might even only need to procure three battalions, a total of 36 long-range rocket artillery pieces... If we concentrate three battalions, we can launch 288 rockets at the enemy's assembly point at once, which is equivalent to launching 120 tons of explosives at the top of the enemy's armored formation..."

Yitzhak explained his plan in detail.

In this way, 36 rocket launchers can equip three battalions. Even at Xie Wei's price of $100.8 million for a rocket launcher, the difference can be waived by the other side. Each launch system can store five times the amount of ammunition, which is 1440 rockets, and the price would only be $1.152 million.

The total amount adds up to exactly 2.26 million.

"Leaving aside the $920 million needed for rocket launchers and technology, we still have about $6500 million in funds. According to them, each tank costs about $220 million, so we can purchase another tank battalion, which is 30 new tanks..."

Yitzhak's plan was very well thought out.

The 300 million yuan budget was used to purchase a large number of rocket launchers and technologies, as well as three long-range rocket artillery battalions and a tank battalion with technical performance exceeding that of the T-72!

"We could even take this opportunity to force the price of their rocket artillery to $6, allowing us to stockpile over 300 more long-range rockets..."

(End of this chapter)