Return to Hong Kong Island for a Century

Chapter 429 The Refueling Aircraft and Early Warning Aircraft Project (First Update)
"thank you boss!"

"Thank you, boss!" Tian Jiahui was extremely excited.

Although it's just shares in a branch company, it's still a huge sum of money.

There is no precedent for giving shares to senior executives in traditional industries.

Giving equity to the management team is a practice that started in Silicon Valley high-tech companies.

High-tech companies need highly skilled talent, such as programmers and engineers, while most startups do not have much funding.

It's simply impossible to offer these highly skilled professionals a high salary, so how can we attract them to join us?

That's equity; startup founders promise a certain number of shares to highly skilled talent.

This is equivalent to bringing these highly skilled talents together to start a business, which can also save costs.

However, there are no such examples in traditional industries.

Because traditional industries need management talent, and there are no irreplaceable senior executives in traditional industries.

Unlike high-tech companies, where executives possess core technologies and are irreplaceable.

"Do a good job!" Li Song nodded.

Parkson may seem huge, but all of its core assets are under Li Song's control, primarily the patents, which are registered under Li Song's personal name.

Li Song authorized Parkson Company, which in turn authorized various factories in mainland China.

One advantage of this is tax avoidance, as patent income is taxed differently from company profits deposited into personal accounts.

Secondly, there's security. Even if something goes wrong, the patent remains safe.

Anyone in mainland China wanting to take over my factory? No way, because the technology is all licensed from Parkson.

Is Parkson being sanctioned? The patents are in Li Song's hands, and the manufacturing is in mainland China. Li Song can completely sever ties with the company.

Jaguar sports cars are all produced in London because the cost is negligible compared to the price of the sports car.

Land Rover SUVs are also produced in London, and the company is based in London.

We can simply have the London company outsource production to mainland China.

Li Song returned to his villa in Clearwater Bay, looked at the calendar. Today was September 19th, a Saturday, a week after the Fat Bear military exercise.

Li Song has been closely following domestic and international news for the past week. Western media outlets are wary of the fat bear, and many politicians have come forward to call for peace.

In reality, these politicians are afraid that the "fat bear" (referring to a powerful figure) really doesn't uphold martial ethics.

Because politicians at that time clearly remembered that the real turning point in World War II was the bear.

It was also the bear that first stormed into Berlin. If it weren't for the bear, all of Europe would be speaking German and eating sauerkraut.

Of course, decades later, these European politicians no longer think so; they believe that the US dominated the victory in World War II.

The main reason is that the fat bear is now full of martial spirit, so these Europeans dare not forget their roots.

"It's time to give the Backfire to the mainland." Li Song had already made preparations.

However, it was impossible to send the supplies to the mainland immediately after the Flying Bear military exercise, because Li Song wanted to give the mainland the illusion that there were people behind the scenes analyzing and manipulating things.

Because this era is not as convenient as the internet era.

Of course, Li Song first needed to consult with the mainland authorities to see whether they should simply provide the technology or some physical goods.

The Backfire's engine is still very powerful, although Li Song has presented an optimized version that can be upgraded later.

In the evening, Zhao Niangzi came to Li Song's villa. Zhao Niangzi goes back to Hong Kong Island every week. She is currently filming a movie on the mainland. She is filming Water Margin. As for Legend of the White Snake, she will film it after Water Margin.

On Monday, September 21, 1981, a private plane took Li Song to Guangzhou and then sent some artists from Phoenix TV who were filming in mainland China back to Wuxi.

These artists live on Hong Kong Island. They return to Hong Kong Island on Saturday afternoons and go back to the mainland to film on Monday mornings.

This isn't the first time anyone has ridden this route.

"Mr. Li, take care!"

"Mr. Li, please be careful." The artists on the private jet watched Li Song disembark and greeted him warmly.

These artists come not only from Hong Kong Island but also from Taiwan.

"Okay." Li Song nodded as he got off the plane; the car was waiting nearby.

After Li Song got into the car, he found that Ma Shengli and Section Chief Zhou were both there.

“Mr. Li, the top leaders have decided to attend the CA201 aircraft type approval celebration ceremony at Chang’an Aircraft Manufacturing Company on Friday,” Ma Shengli said first.

"The top leader wants to speak with you alone, sir." Ma Shengli said this with a touch of melancholy. It hasn't been that long since Li Song carried a bag of chips alone, and now the top leader has to make an appointment with Li Song in advance.

Ma Shengli also knew that the main leaders did this to avoid embarrassment for both sides, because Li Song did not like to associate with officials in mainland China, and his official appearances were very limited.

Ma Shengli didn't know why Li Song did this.
What were the considerations behind Li Song's backers? Of course, there were some speculations Ma Shengli dared not even think about, after all, a new emperor brings a new court.

If you get too close to a certain group of officials, you may gain a lot of benefits, but what if you run into trouble?

After all, there are many real-life examples.

Of course, others only do this because they have no other choice. Li Song and his ilk are too strong to rely on anyone else.

On the contrary, many officials rely on Li Song and his colleagues to achieve results.

"Okay, no problem." Li Song didn't know what the main leader wanted to talk to him about, so he just decided to keep quiet.

"In addition, the higher authorities are planning military exercises next month. I wonder what Mr. Li's thoughts are?" Ma Shengli asked.

"Hmm...!" Li Song vaguely remembered this incident. It was actually a response to Fat Bear, and it seemed that 100,000 people had been mobilized.

"A necessary response is still needed. This time, Fat Bear is not only putting on a show for Westerners, but also for the whole world."

"However, there's no need to bring out overly advanced equipment, since the bear's attention is currently focused on Europe."

"However, some of Fat Bear's staunch henchmen might have some misconceptions and then react rather violently." Li Song knew that a certain of Fat Bear's henchmen in the south had started seizing territory in the South China Sea in the following years.
In fact, a bunch of guys on the South China Sea coast have always been eyeing those things there, and some countries in the south have taken the opportunity to occupy some islands.

“But that’s fine too, then we’ll have an excuse to take back more things,” Li Song said.

Ma Shengli felt somewhat confused upon hearing this, while Li Song felt that taking advantage of the situation to seize Natuna was entirely feasible.

However, considering the distance to Natuna, both refueling aircraft and early warning aircraft will need to be deployed.

The refueling machine can be modified from a DC10, a CA201, or an A-type transport aircraft.

The most convenient and fastest way is to modify the DC10.

Because I can get Ame's mature technology from the second-hand platform, and of course, I can also customize and modify the CA201 through the second-hand platform.

However, on the one hand, CA201 production capacity is insufficient, and on the other hand, the technology has not been verified.

Besides, since I'm going to buy a DC10 anyway, I might as well just modify it.

Moreover, at this time, Aramco's aircraft were not like those of the later electronic era, where low-level code could be implanted into many hardware components for layered control or backdoors could be reserved.

Currently, Aramco's passenger planes have almost no electronic systems, so they can completely customize the electronic systems of the DC10 on a second-hand platform.

Another advantage of the DC10 is that its payload capacity is much greater than that of the CA201.

American modified 60 DC-10s, with a takeoff weight of 267.6 tons and a maximum fuel capacity of 161.5 tons.

It carries more fuel than the CA201 modified fuel dispenser.

Of course, the CA201 can be modified into an early warning aircraft, and Aramco later used the Boeing 737-700 as its early warning aircraft platform.

Moreover, the CA201 has sufficient range. Of course, as a military aircraft, it needs to be modified. Fortunately, the CA201 was designed with space for modification into cargo aircraft, tanker aircraft, and early warning aircraft.

However, early warning aircraft will have to wait until their own chips are developed, and they will need to use their own computers and electronic devices.

Of course, the CA201 also has a drawback as an early warning aircraft: as a jet aircraft, its loiter time is not as long as that of a turboprop transport aircraft.

Of course, aside from that, these are all advantages. Jet-powered early warning aircraft are fast and can quickly provide support to our vast territory. In addition, jet aircraft have a higher service ceiling. Turboprop aircraft have a maximum service ceiling of 9,000 meters, while jet aircraft can easily reach more than 10,000 meters.

Aircraft such as early warning aircraft and tanker aircraft have a very long service life.

Of course, building these aircraft also has another advantage for Li Song, which is that it allows him to reserve space for modification and upgrades in advance.

The reason why America's military equipment is difficult to upgrade after decades is because it has too much equipment.

Furthermore, the equipment must be compatible with each other. For example, if an aircraft carrier fleet wants to upgrade its aircraft carrier, then it needs to be compatible with various fighter jets, early warning aircraft, as well as supporting frigates, destroyers, submarines, and even satellite systems and ground command systems.

Should we consider compatibility with all aspects?
Therefore, when upgrading equipment, it's not possible to replace it freely.

The consequence of open replacement is incompatibility. So, what if you want to replace the whole thing?

What about money?

Moreover, if we switch to a different carrier fleet, what about the other carrier fleets?
Should we cooperate in combat?
We can't just replace the entire aircraft carrier fleet, including the satellites and the ground command system...

In 2025, many Aramco government agencies will still be using outdated systems from the 90s.

Why isn't it being updated?

It's precisely because it's impossible to achieve full compatibility; government agencies' systems need to handle various tasks and be compatible with systems from other departments.

However, at Amer International, these departmental systems are products of various companies, and compatibility depends on money.

Furthermore, the military-industrial complex has discovered easier ways to siphon tax revenue, so it no longer values ​​this kind of technical work. This is because such technical work also requires investment, and if the updated technology is not good, it will be unusable, which will instead give the opposition a handle to launch a media offensive.

"What does Mr. Li mean?" Section Chief Zhou asked, his heart stirred when he heard Li Song say that he should take back what was rightfully his.

"We'll see how things develop." Li Song felt that when the fat bear split up, he could also get a piece of the pie. What was there to be afraid of? At worst, they could just fight it out, because that would be the best opportunity. Once things stabilized, there would be no way to take it.

(End of this chapter)