In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 302: The fighter jet only costs 600 million, but you want 6000 million for a radar?
"Should we miniaturize the 7010 and 110 and integrate them into a single unit, then mount them on a fighter jet?"

Even Long Yaohua was numb at this moment.

This idea is absolutely insane!
The 7010 long-range early warning radar has a detection range of 3000 kilometers; the 110 long-range tracking radar has a tracking range of 2000 kilometers. Both of these radars are subsystems of Project 640.

Of course, this is not the key point.

The key issue is that the electronically scanned array antenna of the 7010 phased array radar is 40 meters wide and 20 meters high. The entire array surface was directly cut into a mountain wall, and 8976 honeycomb fiberglass feed units were embedded in the mountain wall.

The radar systems and components required the use of 500 train cars.

To ensure the normal operation of all radar systems, a dedicated power plant was even installed!
The installation of the radar control room, power supply system, internal computer control system, radar monitoring system, data analysis system, and so on, almost hollowed out the entire mountain.

The personnel responsible for operation, maintenance, and debugging are each assigned a radar regiment!

The entire regiment had only one radar; there was no other equipment.

The 110 monopulse radar has an antenna parabolic aperture of 25 meters and a radome spherical diameter of 44 meters. The antenna system alone weighs over 400 tons and is made up of more than 1500 hexagonal honeycomb fiberglass modules, making it the world's largest fiberglass sandwich structure radome.

Not to mention the internal computer systems, etc.

Integrating two such massive radar systems together is already incredibly challenging.

The Harbin Institute of Technology radar team actually wanted to integrate these two massive radar systems onto a fighter jet!
How could such a crazy idea not be shocking?
"That's roughly the gist of it. However, I've been away from academia for quite some time now, so I'm not sure whether they're currently researching active phased array radar or synthetic aperture radar. But I think the possibility of synthetic aperture radar is much smaller... This kind of radar, which uses a moving platform to simulate a large-size antenna array and achieves high-resolution imaging through signal processing, has too high a requirement for data processing capabilities and is not suitable for the real-time intelligence needed by fighter jets..."

Li Rui explained with a pained expression.

What the hell!
Despite still holding the title of president of Harbin Institute of Technology, he was completely unaware of what projects the university had.

"Active phased array radar!"

Another leader exclaimed in surprise.

Long Yaohua's face was even more gloomy.

He never expected that even with military representatives stationed to keep an eye on them, these audacious leaders of Harbin Institute of Technology would still be so dishonest.

Was the school deceiving the military representative, or was the military representative derelict in his duties?

Surprisingly, no relevant information was reported.

When the military representatives were initially dispatched, the higher-ups instructed You Lihua and others to thoroughly understand all of Harbin Institute of Technology's military research and projects to prevent Xie Wei, who claimed he would sell nuclear weapons as long as there was enough money, from selling advanced technology on the international market.

it's good now!

They even went to the school and didn't know that it had the most advanced radar project.

"My plans have changed for tomorrow; I'm going back to Harbin Institute of Technology!"

With a dark expression, Long Yaohua informed everyone that the itinerary had been changed, "Don't contact the school, let's go directly there!"

"This……"

Li Rui looked worried.

After seeing Long Yaohua's unpleasant expression, he decisively chose to shut up.

"Your mother went back?"

Liu Debao asked Xie Wei, who looked exhausted.

“She went back. She couldn’t stand the cold here. Even though there was a heated kang bed indoors, the air was too dry, and she wasn’t used to it.”

Xie Wei nodded and said.

"It's good to be back! It's good to be back!"

Zhang Mingqiu, who was standing to the side, breathed a sigh of relief. "If she doesn't go back soon, Xie Rou might transfer schools."

These days, it's definitely not easy for an ordinary student to transfer schools.

Is Xie Rou an ordinary student?

Liu Mei had only been there a few days when Harbin had its first snowfall of the winter. The temperature then fluctuated wildly, making Liu Mei realize firsthand that Harbin was a bitterly cold place, even though she was told that the school's teaching buildings, dormitories, and laboratories all had heating. Xie Rou even took Liu Mei to the school to experience it for herself.

Unfortunately, Liu Mei didn't like staying indoors.

He sighed and complained all the time about how unfortunate his daughter was and how unreliable his son was, and he even considered transferring Xie Rou to a school in the warm south where winters are warm.

Xie Wei couldn't stand Liu Mei's nagging, so most of the time he would just go back for a quick stroll and then leave under the pretext of being busy with studies or work.

Xie Rou couldn't stand being with Liu Mei, and the mother and daughter argued every day.

Finally, Xie Rou threatened Xie Wei that if he didn't send his mother back, she would really listen to his mother's suggestion—to transfer schools!
Yitzhak took a private plane to Huadu yesterday afternoon, accompanied by Feng Ke and other logistics and maintenance training teams. The school arranged for a vice principal to lead the team. After arriving in Huadu, they will take back the logistics and maintenance technicians and the Iraqi personnel who received operational training.

With Yitzhak gone, Xie Wei was naturally not worried that Xie Rou would follow him to Iraq to help them develop long-range missiles.

Tan Heping, who had just returned to school a few days earlier, was going to Chengdu, so Xie Wei asked Liu Mei to go back to Chengdu with him.

Just now, I went to the train station with Xie Rou to see my mother off, and then I took Xie Rou back to Fang Pengju's place.

He was planning to talk to Liu Debao about investing in the fighter jet project.

If we're going to do it, we definitely need to inform the ministry first to avoid trouble later.

"No, no!"

Xie Wei sensed Zhang Mingqiu's resentment; he hadn't expected his mother to be so averse to the harsh winters of Harbin.

They don't have the same obsession with snow as southerners, nor do they have the desire to play in the snow.

Although it sometimes snows in Chengdu in winter, it can't compare to the Northeast, right?
"Xie Wei, regarding the fighter jet project, if the military doesn't provide enough funding, are we really going to start it? There's been no movement from Pakistan at all."

Worry appeared on Liu Debao's face.

Since Long Yaohua and the others left, Xie Wei has been going to the fighter jet team every day.

"We definitely have to do it, but how exactly and to what extent depends on how much money the military will provide. If we rely mostly on the school to raise funds on its own, it will be too difficult. All the profits from the school-enterprise office won't be enough."

Xie Wei said with a bitter face.

"Dingling bell~"

Just then, the phone on Zhang Mingqiu's desk rang.

"What? Okay! I understand!"

Zhang Mingqiu stood up abruptly as he answered the phone.

Before the two could ask, he said with a dark face, "Long Yaohua has returned to the school with the leaders of the inspection team and has already entered the school gate."

"What?"

Liu Debao and Xie Wei were both completely dumbfounded. "Didn't you just go to 610 yesterday afternoon? You rushed back overnight?"

"Who the hell knows! Hurry up, they all have dark faces, I wonder which bastard offended them."

Zhang Mingqiu immediately swore.

Liu Debao looked at Xie Wei, "What have you done now?"

"..."

Xie Wei was completely dumbfounded; he hadn't done anything.

Yitzhak had already left, and I hadn't added anything to their list of things to take back, because there really wasn't anything good to offer; PL-4s weren't allowed to be exported anyway.

"I didn't insult you..."

When Liu Debao asked Xie Wei, Zhang Mingqiu hurriedly explained that he was not cursing Xie Wei.

"Let's go, the commander will be in his office soon."

No sooner had Liu Debao finished speaking than the half-closed office door was kicked open. "Bang!"

"Sir, please go ahead."

After kicking open the door, Li Rui humbly gestured for Long Yaohua to enter the office first.

"..."

The three people in the office were even more bewildered.

Long Yaohua entered the office with a dark face, went straight to the guest sofa and sat down without saying a word.

"Xie Wei, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and make tea for the leader! Old Zhang, the other leaders are outside too, go and make arrangements..."

Seeing that there was nothing for him to do, Zhang Mingqiu cast a worried glance at Liu Debao and Xie Wei before heading to make arrangements for the other members of the inspection team.

Before Xie Wei could move, Liu Debao immediately got up to get a teacup from a cabinet, took out the West Lake Longjing tea that Zhang Mingqiu usually couldn't bear to drink, and quickly brewed two cups of tea.

Xie Wei remained completely bewildered.

I honestly don't know what heinous thing I did to make the leaders rush back from Shenyang overnight.

I racked my brains but couldn't come up with an answer.

Long Yaohua kept a dark expression on his face, his sharp eyes fixed on Xie Wei, making Xie Wei feel uneasy.

These commanders who had come from the battlefield truly had a murderous look in their eyes.

"Sir, please have some tea."

Liu Debao gently placed the white porcelain teacup in front of Long Yaohua, then placed another cup on the other side. "Principal Li, have some water first."

"You're getting bolder and bolder! You don't even respect me, the principal!"

Li Rui glared at him. "The school has an advanced radar project, why didn't you report it? Are you afraid the military won't give you funding? Even if the military is poor, it's not like they'd skimp on your project funding!"

radar?

What's wrong with the radar?
Xie Wei was even more puzzled.

"Comrade Li Rui, is this an accountability measure?"

Long Yaohua, who had been frowning, was amused by Li Rui's shameless words.

"Sir, how can this not be considered accountability? The school has projects that are urgently needed for national defense, but not only did they not report them, they also concealed them. This is a crime against the country!"

"Alright, stop acting with me. I know you guys are good at acting together. It's a shame Harbin Institute of Technology doesn't offer a drama performance major!"

Long Yaohua stopped Li Rui from continuing, his face stern. Then he looked at Liu Debao and Xie Wei seriously and said, "The school has an active phased array radar project. Why wasn't it reported before? If it weren't for Gu Songfen from Institute 601, we would have been kept in the dark."

The voice is very soft.

His tone was also very calm.

Liu Debao felt a cold sweat break out on his back upon hearing this.

"This matter?"

Xie Wei was speechless for a moment, and really didn't understand why the big boss would disregard his schedule and rush back overnight just because a phased array radar project hadn't been reported.

Not explaining isn't an option; can we rely on Liu Debao?

"Sir, the active phased array radar is currently only a preliminary research project. Like other radar projects, it is only a research topic and has not yet entered the substantive design research stage."

"Are you planning to sell this project to Pakistan?"

Long Yaohua raised an eyebrow.

"Gudong~"

Xie Wei felt his heart pound.

"No! That's absolutely not true!"

Xie Wei hurriedly shook his head in denial.

Just kidding, this could be a big deal or a small deal.

"Really? I heard you said before that you'd sell nuclear weapons for money. If Pakistan offers enough, but the Air Force isn't providing funding..."

"Sir, I'm innocent!"

Xie Wei was truly speechless. These bigwigs couldn't even keep their mouths shut. How did every leader know about just one sentence?
The country's four modernizations have only just begun, and its national defense capabilities are several generations behind international advanced levels. Instead of focusing on improving national defense, they insist on fixating on a single statement they made back then.

He wanted to sell it, after all, nuclear bombs were definitely more valuable than the Dongfeng missiles that big players bought.

The key is that the nuclear engineering programs at these schools don't have complete atomic bomb manufacturing processes and technologies, right?
Liu Debao, who was standing to the side, broke out in a cold sweat as he listened.

Li Rui, who had just picked up his teacup, was so startled that his hand trembled and the tea spilled out of the cup.

Neither of them responded.

The matter has escalated to a political level, and misinterpreting it could backfire.

"I can explain!"

"Come on, I'll listen to your excuses..."

Got it!
The bigwigs are really bored out of their minds all day long, and the intelligence agents are also bored out of their minds. They even know about the joke they made to Kang Yi in the chemistry lab back then.

Is there no privacy left?!
"Sir, active phased array radar is a direction we've considered after struggling with pulse-Doppler radar and synthetic aperture radar, which are too technically challenging and have insufficient data processing capabilities... Currently, we only have a theoretical foundation, especially regarding the gallium arsenide material used in the T/R modules of phased array radar. There isn't much research in this area in China... The 7010 radar is so large; it's not just a matter of manufacturing technology..."

Xie Wei knew he had to explain.

If someone in higher authorities suspects that the school isn't reporting the issue because the military isn't providing funding, and that the school is preparing to develop the technology for the international market, not only will all of the school's military technology projects be severely affected, but even the equipment currently being exported will be impacted.

The export of the 150mm long-range rocket artillery has displeased some military leaders—they haven't even been able to use it themselves!
"that is it?"

Long Yaohua raised an eyebrow, his sharp eyes seeming to see into the depths of Xie Wei's heart.

"Sir, active phased array radar is not just about the materials and manufacturing process of the T/R components, but also the data processing system... Phased arrays use hundreds or thousands of independent radiating elements to form an antenna array. The beam pointing is changed by adjusting the phase difference of the electromagnetic waves of each element, which requires very high data processing capabilities..."

Long Yaohua just stared at Xie Wei without saying a word.

"More importantly, even if we developed it now, the Air Force wouldn't be able to afford it! Based on our current technological level and manufacturing costs, even a radar that can be installed on a fighter jet, even with poor functionality, a detection range of only 90 kilometers, and the ability to track no more than 8 targets at the same time and lock onto a maximum of 3 targets simultaneously, would cost more than 6000 million just to manufacture!"

"How many?"

Li Rui's voice trembled.

"Over 6000 million!"

Xie Wei answered affirmatively.

"Xie Wei, are you crazy or am I hallucinating? A J-7 costs just over 600 million, and a J-8 costs no more than 1100 million. You're saying a single radar costs over 6000 million?"

Li Rui was really scared.

What a fuss!

6000 million yuan could build one and a half Type 051 guided-missile destroyers.

Xie Wei, that kid, really dares to speak up.

"The manufacturing cost exceeds 6000 million... You mean you already have a plan and can manufacture it as long as you have sufficient funding, instead of just being in the preliminary research stage?"

Long Yaohua seized on the loophole in Xie Wei's words and stared intently at Xie Wei.

Xie Wei initially wanted to deny it outright, but seeing Long Yaohua's gaze fixed on him, he sighed silently, "It's just a preliminary estimate..."

(End of this chapter)