In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 293: Launching the fighter jet shuts down; why does the Air Force not want the PL-4?
"Xie Wei is probably not going to be friendly to us!"

The man in military uniform spoke up, "The equipment that Harbin Institute of Technology developed is actually quite advanced, but the military hasn't placed a single order with them..."

"Who told the country to be poor and the military to be poor? Xie Wei isn't that stingy."

Li Rui shook his head and said.

He knows Xie Wei.

There were some things he couldn't explain to Xie Wei.

"Besides, the military doesn't have any restrictions on exports even if they don't equip the troops with these products! The funds earned from exports can not only reduce costs, but also enable them to develop more advanced technologies to provide to the troops."

"That's different. The school was originally responsible for the Air Force project... In total, the Air Force only provided 800 million yuan in funding... Now the third-generation fighter jet project consumes more than that in a year, right?"

The man in military uniform looked apologetic.

This was indeed handled in a rather unethical manner.

"Who knows, this kid might sell it. Even if he doesn't make a profit, having a buyer will improve his related technical reserves."

Li Rui was not worried.

Whether Minister Zheng agrees or not is not important, as long as Xie Wei agrees.

He then looked at the two of them and said, "You two don't really think about having Harbin Institute of Technology pay for this, do you? If that's what you're thinking, I advise you to give up on that idea as soon as possible, and don't contact Xie Wei, so as not to ruin your relationship and make it difficult to cooperate later."

"no!"

"How can it be!"

The two quickly denied it.

Li Rui remained calm as he observed their reactions.

hope so.

It's no easy feat for Harbin Institute of Technology to develop so rapidly, managing to secure research funding for various projects without requesting it from higher authorities. If, because of this abundant funding, every unit starts eyeing these funds, and the higher authorities don't stop them, who will remain motivated in the future?
"The school is a pilot unit for industry-academia collaboration, which is also exploring new paths with other universities across the country that lack funding. If development is affected, it will affect the construction and development of universities nationwide. You know what the consequences will be."

On the way to the station, Principal Li reminded the two of something.

The two quickly expressed that they understood.

"Oh, the busy Principal Li personally came to pick me up at the station. I'm truly flattered!"

When Xie Wei and Liu Debao came out of the train station, they saw Li Rui with two middle-aged men, one of whom was wearing a military uniform and was obviously a leader in the army.

"Your tone reveals your dissatisfaction."

Li Rui smiled and reminded Xie Wei, "Why aren't you studying hard at school? What are you doing here?"

"I want to, but there are people who don't want me to focus on my studies!"

Xie Wei didn't give Li Rui any face and directly retorted.

Seeing this scene, the two men following Li Rui could only smile bitterly to themselves.

"You told him?"

Li Rui asked Liu Debao, who had remained silent, with a calm expression.

Liu Debao looked bewildered: "What? I don't know anything about this! Xie Wei has something he wants you to help him with..."

"..."

Li Rui looked Liu Debao up and down with amusement. He hadn't expected that the honest and reliable comrade from before would now be pretending to be stupid.
Where did your former straightforwardness go?
"This is Director Liang Qingsong of the Air Force Equipment Department, and this is Director Situ Ming of the Third Ministry of Machinery Industry."

Li Rui pointed to the two people beside him and introduced them to Xie Wei and Liu Debao, then said to the two of them, "They don't need an introduction, right?"

"no, I'm fine!"

The two men smiled and shook their heads, then took the initiative to greet Liu Debao and Xie Wei.

Hearing about the people from the Air Force Equipment Department and the Third Ministry of Machinery Industry, Xie Wei's mood became heavy.

He knew that these days, anyone with money would be targeted, but he never expected that even Li Rui, the last person who should be eyeing the school's funds, would change his mind and bring outsiders with him.

Who knows, he might flip the table with Li Rui today.

"Let's go, get in the car first."

Seeing Xie Wei's expression, Li Rui knew what he was thinking, but it wasn't appropriate to explain the inside story to Xie Wei in front of Situ Ming and Liang Qingsong, so he simply went to Xie Wei's office at his current workplace first.

No driver was arranged.

Liang Qingsong, a cadre of considerable rank, served as the driver.

"It has been made clear from above that military spending will be further reduced next year... The cooperation with Marconi was the result of 16 months of arduous negotiations..."

On the bus, Li Rui gave Xie Wei a detailed account of the current J-7 modification project.

"The Air Force originally hoped to improve its combat capabilities by upgrading the J-7. Although the introduction of fire control computers and flat panel displays from Marconi could improve some of the J-7's performance, it could not meet the Air Force's development needs..."

"Even with improvements, the J-7 still lags far behind advanced international fighter jets... and the J-8II project requires a lot of funding..."

Situ Ming and Liang Qingsong continued to add to Li Rui's introduction.

Xie Wei remained silent throughout the entire process.

Listening silently.

Liu Debao leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes to rest, as if everything had nothing to do with him.

"so what?"

After the last three people finished speaking and fell silent, Xie Wei raised an eyebrow, his face full of mockery.

No wonder Liu Debao reminded him about the J-7 fighter jet, and Lai Guichang and his group were also trying to steer the conversation toward that topic.

“Hey Xie Wei, you’re good at selling equipment on the international market, right? We finally got a deal, but the Air Force doesn’t want it anymore, and we don’t have the money… If we could find a customer on the international market, the problem would be solved.”

Situ Ming said with an expectant look on his face.

What?
Asking me to help sell J-7s?

This was somewhat unexpected for Xie Wei.

Even Liu Debao, who was pretending to be asleep, opened his eyes and sat up straight upon hearing this, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

They weren't actually using this opportunity to embezzle school funds?

Logically, the technology import project should have been terminated due to a lack of funding, but Harbin Institute of Technology had over 4 million yuan in funds...

"Is Pakistan not very interested in replacing its aging J-6s with J-7s?"

Xie Wei simply did not believe that the other party had such an intention.

What a fuss!

The Third Ministry of Machinery Industry established a dedicated import and export company, not only for the purpose of introducing technology, but also for the purpose of exporting technology and equipment.

If the problem really needs to be solved by reselling, the other party should contact an import/export company instead of themselves.

"Interest is one thing, but Pakistan is currently taking advantage of the Soviet Union's provision of more advanced fighter jets to India to seek out American F-16s..."

Pakistan is a traditional customer of our country.

But they are not die-hard customers.

Xie Wei didn't say anything more, and for a moment, the car fell silent except for the roar of the engine.

After arriving at Li Rui's office, they talked for quite some time, with several people emphasizing the importance of introducing Marconi's advanced electronic equipment, such as flat panel displays, for the J-7 fighter jet. However, no matter what they said, Xie Wei remained unmoved.

I just listened silently.

Left with no other choice, the two had to say goodbye and leave.

"What do you think?"

After the two left, Li Rui personally got up to change Xie Wei's tea, placed the teacup in front of him, and asked.

Xie Wei didn't touch his teacup, but calmly looked at Li Rui: "Boss, what do you mean, how should I see it? I'm just a student."

I dare not drink the tea brewed by the old man himself.

“Principal, I support anything as long as it doesn’t violate principles, but if it involves taking money from the school, no one will support it, even if it doesn’t violate principles. If we absolutely have to take this money, let’s ask the ministry to take back the policy they gave us before.”

Liu Debao, who was almost invisible, finally spoke.

Back when Li Rui was in school, he, being a nice guy, never had any arguments with Li Rui.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for Principal Li to establish a one-man rule.

Liu Debao's attitude surprised Xie Wei.

“They were after the school’s funds before, but my current job makes it impossible for me to side with the school alone. So, as a last resort, I suggested that Xie Wei find a way to help sell these fighter jets…”

Li Rui sighed.

Now that there are no outsiders around, he can tell the two the truth.

“It’s not easy for the school to be in such a good state now. Before, I was just the principal and didn’t have to consider other aspects of development and prospects. But now my position is different, and I can’t just consider the interests of the school. So, under such circumstances, I can only try my best to protect the interests of the school.”

Li Rui was looking at Xie Wei when he said this.

In his view, Liu Debao should be aware of the nature of his current work, but Xie Wei is not.

Xie Wei neither confirmed nor denied this.

“Principal Li, it’s not impossible to sell this batch of J-7s.”

Xie Wei did not pursue the matter further. Regardless of the power struggles at the higher levels, the leaders of the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry would certainly not agree to use the funds of subordinate units to support the technology import projects of the Third Ministry of Machinery Industry.

The Seventh Ministry of Machine Building had many subordinate units, and many key projects lacked funding.

Putting aside other things, even if those hundreds of millions were used to build a hypersonic wind tunnel or conduct research on related technologies, it would be better than providing the Third Ministry of Machinery Industry with less-than-advanced fighter jet technology, wouldn't it?
"Oh?"

Li Rui became interested. "I knew you'd have a way!"

"However, there's one thing we need to do first, otherwise getting this fighter jet will basically be impossible..."

Looking at Li Rui's reaction, Xie Wei wondered if it was feasible to use the sale of PL-4 air-to-air missiles as a condition to further help sell this batch of fighter jets.

Historically, Iraq purchased 80 J-7M fighter jets through the Jordanian Air Force, which are actually the export version of the J-7B.

We now have a cooperation agreement with Iraq worth over $8 million, which is entirely feasible.

The only question is whether China will allow them to export the improved PL-4.

Now, he's not worried anymore.

Seeing Xie Wei's expression, Li Rui, who knew him well, felt a pang of unease and immediately became wary: "Tell me first, if it doesn't violate principles or harm national interests, I will definitely support you unconditionally!"

Unconditional support for farts.

Isn't not violating principles and not harming national interests the condition?

If the PL-4 air-to-air missile is sold on the grounds that it uses the most advanced guidance technology in China, it will definitely have an impact on national defense security.

"The improved version of the PL-4 air-to-air missile has been in development for so long, but there has been no further testing, and the Air Force has not requested samples for test firing..."

Liu Debao felt it was better for him to bring up the matter himself.

Xie Wei's practice of selling out advanced weapons and equipment will leave a very bad impression on his superiors and will be detrimental to his future.

"An order from the Air Force?"

A troubled look appeared on Li Rui's face. "The Air Force is having a tough time right now..."

"Heh~ They're having a tough time? They're in talks with Israel right now, preparing to acquire Python-3 air-to-air missiles, right?"

Liu Debao sneered, "Clearly, some people think that foreign technology is always more advanced than the latest technology we've painstakingly developed, and they won't even give us a chance to try it out!"

"Old Liu, your statement is biased. Although both missiles hit their targets during the test firing, there were still some problems!"

Li Rui was unhappy.

Xie Wei was taken aback. Had something gone wrong during the test firing?

I had never heard of it before.

Moreover, it was only mentioned that the missile's new guidance head was too sensitive, and the Chang Kong-1 unmanned target drone could not test the missile's true performance. Subsequently, the Air Force gave a project to improve Chang Kong-1, but there was not much funding.

The testing has been suspended since then.

"You do not know?"

Seeing Xie Wei's expression, Li Rui was also surprised. He thought Xie Wei knew that there had been a problem during the PL-4 test firing.

After Li Rui's explanation, Xie Wei learned that after he improved the PL-4 with indium antimonide guidance technology, both prototype missiles fired by the J-7II hit the target during the live-fire test in which he participated.

The Air Force was overjoyed.

However, a strange thing happened during the subsequent tests: after the second test launch of the PL-4, the fighter jet shut down in mid-air.

The fact that the J-7 has not been able to be deployed on a large scale is largely due to quality issues. Both Factory 112 and Factory 132 have dispatched experienced technical teams to conduct a large-scale inspection of the J-7IIs that came here for testing.

There is nothing wrong with the fighter jet itself.

The J-7II engine stalled immediately after the missile was launched during the second test launch.

In the subsequent tests, the fighter jet would shut down after launching the PL-4 missile, almost causing a crash each time. If the pilots hadn't risked their lives to save the aircraft, a crash would have definitely occurred.

"Although the J-7's performance is not advanced enough, the production cost of each one exceeds 700 million yuan. For the Air Force, every aircraft is extremely valuable... It's not that our pilots are afraid of sacrificing themselves, but that they don't want the troops to lose their precious fighter jets!"

After Li Rui finished his introduction, he spoke in a heavy tone.

"So, they believe the problem stems from our missiles, rather than from the J-7 itself, which already had a host of issues?"

Xie Wei was so angry he laughed.

That reason is just too bizarre.

After the fighter jet stalled after launching an air-to-air missile, it was assumed that the problem was with the missile rather than the fighter jet itself, and thus the test of PL-4 was abandoned.

"The J-7 does indeed have many problems, but without figuring out the specific reasons, the test pilots are unwilling to test-fire the PL-4..."

Li Rui reminded Xie Wei, "If you want the Air Force to place an order for the PL-4 and conduct larger-scale testing, you'll have to wait until the problem is resolved, right?"

The Air Force placed the order?
Xie Wei had no hope at all.

However, Li Rui's words also reminded Xie Wei that if the problem wasn't found, even if the PL-4 was provided to the Iraqi Air Force, similar issues might still arise.

The missile is definitely not a problem.

If there were a problem, the test wouldn't have hit both targets twice, especially in a nighttime environment.

Lai Guichang and Shi Hongwei didn't tell me about this, which means they must have already confirmed that the missile is fine.

(End of this chapter)