Black technology: a super empire spanning two worlds

Chapter 398 [With the Y-50 transport aircraft, the Y-50 tanker aircraft are a natural progression]

“That’s right, we overlooked the factor of cost gradient reduction for a while.” Chen Zaiqing realized this after hearing Xiao Yu say that.

In fact, the cost of room temperature superconducting materials is not a problem at all. Xiao Yu directly imported these materials from the Blue Star world, but he intentionally controlled the supply scale by using high prices.

Currently, Xiao Yu is doing something similar to Moore's Law in the semiconductor industry, which is quite similar.

Every time a time cycle passes, the cost of room temperature superconducting materials decreases significantly, while production capacity increases substantially.

To put it bluntly, this is just Xiao Yu periodically increasing the supply volume; he's simply bringing more over from the Blue Star world.

Besides, he's not the rigid type. Can a living person die from holding in their pee?
If necessary, the speed can be increased.

They'll then say they've successfully developed a new generation of technology, which has significantly improved production efficiency and reduced costs.

The problem is solved. Ultimately, it depends on the needs of the current situation. Xiao Yu can flexibly adjust his strategy.

After a while, Xiao Yu pretended to ponder and said, "By 2030, the cost of room temperature superconducting materials should be very likely to drop to around 70 million per ton."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zaiqing immediately made an estimate: "If we calculate based on a material cost of 7000 million per ton, the cost of room temperature superconducting materials for a Y-50 transport aircraft can be reduced to around 189 billion. In that case, the total cost of 228 billion is normal."

After Chen Zaiqing finished speaking, he couldn't help but nod to himself.

After deducting the cost of room-temperature superconducting materials, there is still 39 billion yuan left, which is enough for the other major components and modules of the Y-50 transport aircraft.

After all, the total cost of a Y-20 is only 12 billion yuan, and even the cost of a Type 055 10,000-ton destroyer is only around 6 billion yuan.

Moreover, the major Eastern power has clear profit margin limits on major enterprises in the military industry, so there won't be any exorbitant prices like $9 for a bag of screws like at Ameritrade. The profit margin for military products procured by the military is around 5%.

What a great Eastern power can accomplish with 39 billion, if placed in the hands of Amelika, even 390 billion might not be enough to achieve the same level of performance.

Like the J-36 fighter jet, the most expensive material used in the Y-50 transport aircraft is room temperature superconducting material, which is also the most core and indispensable material.

However, the cost of 228 billion per unit and the purchase price of 239 billion are still astronomical figures.

According to media reports, the cost of building the Type 003 aircraft carrier (bare ship) is around 50 billion RMB, and the cost of a single Y-500 transport aircraft is almost half the cost of an aircraft carrier.

Looking at the whole world, only the economic strength of the great Eastern power and Afghanistan can afford it.

Besides, no other country can afford such a high cost. This is definitely a "toy" exclusively for major powers, and other countries couldn't afford to maintain it even if it were given to them for free.

Xiao Yu closed the materials and put them back into the file folder. He patted the folder lightly and smiled, "We'll take this job. Get the project team ready to get started as soon as possible. We'll race against time."

Chen Zaiqing nodded: "Understood."

A moment later, Xiao Yu immediately asked, "The materials don't say how many the military wants to purchase."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zaiqing replied, "Oh, it wasn't mentioned in the materials, but when I talked to people from the military, I heard that they planned to purchase a total of 15 aircraft, 10 of which would be strategic long-range transport aircraft, and the other 5 would have their cargo holds converted into fuel tanks and become 'YU-50' aerial refueling aircraft."

陈在青补充道：“具体上是定型后开始生产，每年采购3架，分别是1架运油50空中加油机和2架运-50运输机。”

Converting it into a tanker aircraft would be similar to converting the already operational Y-20 transport aircraft into the "YU-20" aerial refueling aircraft.

Once the Y-50 transport aircraft can be developed, the Y-50 aerial refueling aircraft will follow naturally, requiring only adjustments to some modules.

Moreover, as an aerial refueling tanker, it can carry a larger tonnage of fuel than a transport aircraft can carry cargo.

The Y-50 tanker has a maximum aerial refueling capacity of 587 tons. This is an astonishing figure. In comparison, the Y-20 tanker has a maximum aerial refueling capacity of 75 tons under conditions of a flight range of 1500 kilometers. The Y-50 tanker has 7.8 times that capacity.

Furthermore, the Y-20 tanker aircraft itself consumes fuel, meaning that the longer the range, the less refueling it can provide.

However, the all-electric Yunyou-50 refueling aircraft is quite different; it consumes electricity but not fuel.

In other words, the entire 587 tons of fuel can be used to refuel other aircraft, which is an advantage that traditional tanker aircraft do not have.

Furthermore, the Y-50 tanker aircraft's 2-kilometer range brings about a truly remarkable qualitative change to the air force.

In a sense, once the Y-50 tanker aircraft enters service, the air power of this major Eastern power will be elevated to an unprecedented new level.

The day the Y-50 tanker enters service, it will become a super auxiliary aircraft, providing power to all of our military aircraft, whether it be the J-10 series fighters, the J-20 series fighters, or the "ultimate flanker" J-16 fighters, including the KJ-500 early warning aircraft...

In short, all currently operational aircraft capable of aerial refueling can theoretically extend their maximum combat radius to 1 kilometers.

For example, the combat radius of the J-20 fighter jet is about 2000 kilometers, but if it is refueled in the air by the Y-50 tanker, the combat radius can be increased fivefold, expanding the combat radius to a coverage area of ​​1 kilometers.

What is this concept?
This means that the J-20 fighter jet can take off from the northeast of the mainland and fly to the mainland of North America with the support of Y-50 aerial refueling tankers. Moreover, it can directly cross the entire territory of Afghanistan to reach its east coast, which means it can cover 90% of the mainland of Afghanistan, which is basically no different from covering the entire territory of Afghanistan.

Even taking off from the west side of the mainland, it is still possible to cross the Atlantic Ocean and reach the east coast of Argentina. The European continent is within this distance, so it can naturally cover the entire European continent, including the entire African continent, and reach the Cape of Good Hope.

The Cape of Good Hope in Africa is a distance that even a J-36 fighter jet cannot reach, as it is 1000 kilometers away.

The J-36 fighter jet has a conventional combat radius of over 4500 kilometers, which doubles to around 9000 kilometers when equipped with an auxiliary battery pack.

From this perspective, if the J-20 fighter jet had aerial refueling support from the Y-50 tanker, its combat radius would be 1000 kilometers greater than that of the J-36 fighter jet.

Because the J-36 fighter jet, which is powered by electricity, cannot recharge in the air, it can only rely on its own onboard power. Once the power is depleted, it has to return to base and cannot continue flying in the air.

Therefore, the emergence of the Y-50 tanker aircraft will inevitably lead to a situation where even the J-10 series fighter jets can deter the world.

There's no need for a strategic weapon of mass destruction like the J-36 fighter jet, which can carry both nuclear and conventional weapons, or even the J-20 fighter jet. Just sending the J-10 out for a spin is enough!

This would undoubtedly elevate the overall air power of the University of Tokyo to an unprecedented new level.

This also gives us a wider variety of deterrence tools, and allows us to quantify deterrence tools in a tiered manner.

For example, if you make me a little unhappy, I'll send a J-10 to fly over your doorstep, and you'll know I'm unhappy with you; if you make me very unhappy, I'll send a J-20 to fly over your doorstep, and you'll know I'm very unhappy with you.

When you see me send J-36s to your doorstep, you'll know I'm furious, and the consequences will be severe.

This is the gradient quantification of deterrence levels.

However, if the J-10 and J-20 fighter jets have limited range and cannot fly to other countries' doorsteps, and one is only slightly annoyed, then one might send J-36 fighter jets to visit those countries instead.

You were just a little annoyed at first, but when others see the J-36 fighter jet, they might mistakenly think you're furious, which could easily lead to a misjudgment.

Therefore, when the level of deterrence can be quantified in a gradient, it can be better adjusted according to the needs of the situation, and the situation of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut can be avoided.

……

(End of this chapter)