Reborn as Zhao Ruilong of Handong, I will defy fate.

Chapter 106 Restarting the Large Aircraft! Being rich is no longer a dream!

"Restart the large aircraft project?"

Qiu Lingzhi frowned, looking astonished.

As the director of Tianhai Aircraft Design Institute.

One of the designers of the domestically produced large passenger aircraft Y-10 project.

He certainly dreams of restarting the large aircraft project and enabling hundreds of millions of Chinese people to ride on domestically produced passenger planes.

But more than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye, and the dream is still just a dream.

He has gone from a young designer to a gray-haired old dean.

Get up slowly.

Qiu Lingzhi braced his hands on the edge of the table, looking at the two 'young men' in front of him with suspicion.

Although Fu Wenbing is almost forty years old and Zhao Ruilong is nearly thirty.

But in his eyes, they are still young people.

If it were someone else, tell them to restart the large aircraft project.

Qiu Lingzhi would definitely kick him out immediately, without wasting a single moment.

but……

Fu Wenbing and Zhao Ruilong are different.

Fu Wenbing, who was not yet forty years old, was already the general manager of Tianhai Huahong Microelectronics.

Qiu Lingzhi was well aware of just how illustrious his family background was.

As for Zhao Ruilong...

Although it was the first time we met.

But Qiu Lingzhi had already heard of his great reputation.

He is not only the son of Zhao Lichun, the top official in Handong Province.

He also assisted Zhao Shuji in writing high-quality economic development reports and plans.

Zhao Ruilong has made significant contributions to Handong's vigorous efforts in attracting investment and developing high-end manufacturing.

In addition, Qiu Lingzhi also heard that Zhao Ruilong also contributed to the implementation of the military-civilian integration strategy.

and so……

When these two 'young people' with considerable backgrounds told him that they wanted to restart the large aircraft project.

Qiu Lingzhi certainly wouldn't think they were crazy.

After staring at the two of them for a while, Qiu Lingzhi took off his reading glasses.

"I know that Handong Province is going to vigorously develop high-end manufacturing, and aviation is naturally indispensable. Therefore, it is only right to support the restart of the large aircraft project and strive to implement the project within Handong Province. However..."

Qiu Lingzhi shifted his gaze from Zhao Ruilong to Fu Wenbing.

"But Xiao Fu, why aren't you focusing on your chip project? What are you doing here supporting the large aircraft project?"

"Is it really restarting? Do you want to be transferred to our aviation industry group?"

Fu Wenbing smiled and said, "I didn't intend to be transferred. I just came to support Ruilong and hope that you can take the lead in restarting the large aircraft project."

"I know that building an excellent domestically produced large aircraft was also your lifelong dream. Back then, the Y-10 project failed due to weak foundations and chaotic management..."

Before he could finish speaking, Qiu Lingzhi waved his hand.

"Let's not talk about the Y-10 anymore. Every time we bring it up, it hurts me."

"Back then, we were the fourth country in the world to build a large jet airliner, but what was the result?"

"The failure of the project not only meant that hundreds of millions of yuan in research funding went down the drain, but it also completely destroyed our civilian passenger aircraft research and development capabilities and industrial support."

Fu Wenbing hurriedly said, "So to make up for the regrets and realize the dream, the large aircraft project must be restarted!"

"Of course, restarting doesn't mean continuing the development of the Y-10, which is indeed too outdated. Instead, it means developing a world-class jet aircraft."

Upon hearing this, Qiu Lingzhi looked at Zhao Ruilong with a kind smile.

"I have read the high-quality economic development plan of Handong many times."

"I think the section on the aviation industry, in particular, makes a lot of sense."

"With the rapid economic development of our Dragon Country, we will inevitably need thousands of large aircraft in the future to meet the huge demand for passenger and freight transport."

"Large wide-body jet airliners are too difficult for us to develop. It is more in line with our national conditions to develop relatively simpler medium-range airliners or even regional airliners first."

Zhao Ruilong laughed and said, "Actually, there's no need to prioritize the development of regional jets!"

Qiu Lingzhi frowned and asked, "Why? Regional jets are the least difficult to manufacture, and we have some experience from our collaboration with McDonnell Douglas back then!"

Zhao Ruilong immediately explained:

"The China Railway Administration has announced its 'Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal' high-speed rail plan. For travel within 1,000 kilometers in the future, the 350 km/h high-speed rail will have a huge advantage."

"Because while it may seem that the high-speed rail takes only three hours and the plane only takes a little over an hour to travel 1,000 kilometers, the high-speed rail stations are usually located in the city, while the airports are generally far from the city."

"Moreover, security checks at high-speed rail stations are relatively faster, and passengers do not need to arrive at the airport at least an hour in advance like when taking a plane. In addition, high-speed rail is cheaper and less affected by bad weather, while planes are expensive and often delayed."

"Therefore, for most people, taking the high-speed rail will be the first choice for travel within 1,000 kilometers in the future. For travel distances exceeding 1,000 kilometers, airplanes will have an advantage. So, medium-sized passenger planes that are neither too big nor too small and can be adapted to various models are just right."

Fu Wenbing immediately chimed in:

"I think Ruilong is right!"

"I see that the most popular and profitable routes in China are basically operated by Airbus A320s or Boeing 737s."

"Both of these aircraft are medium-sized passenger planes, which are sufficient to meet our domestic needs. Even if we want to meet the needs of less popular routes or high-altitude routes, we can shorten the length of the aircraft!"

"With a shorter fuselage, the cabin capacity is smaller, the empty weight is lighter, and the fuel consumption will inevitably be lower. It can be used as a regional jet and there is no problem flying high-altitude routes. Therefore, there is no need to develop regional jets first!"

Zhao Ruilong added again:

Airbus believes that in the future, passenger traffic in the global civil aviation sector will concentrate in megacities and mega-hub airports.

"So they developed the A380 large jet airliner, equipped with four engines, a double-deck cabin structure, huge capacity, and extremely long range."

"Regardless of whether their assertion is correct, our Dragon Country currently lacks the capability to develop super-large passenger aircraft, but imitating the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 is truly impressive."

"This twin-engine medium-range passenger aircraft, which can carry more than 100 passengers and has a range of four to five thousand kilometers, can operate the vast majority of routes and is also very suitable for conversion into cargo aircraft, military refueling aircraft, early warning aircraft, etc."

Zhao Ruilong, of course, wouldn't say.

This is a completely different world; it took a long time for China to reach this conclusion.

It took many more years before China finally built its own large passenger aircraft.

Qiu Lingzhi smiled bitterly:

"We all know that feeling your way across the river is the right way to go."

"Boeing and Airbus have achieved great success in the world with high sales and reputation. If we follow their lead and innovate in some areas, we will definitely not encounter any major problems."

"I also know that with our current industrial strength and technological level, as well as the future demand of the civil aviation market and the economic effects of the aviation manufacturing industry, we do have the conditions and the necessity to restart the development of large aircraft."

"But do you two know that developing a large aircraft sounds simple, but it's actually very difficult! From aerodynamic layout to fuselage structure, from avionics and communications to power and navigation, there are so many systems and equipment that need to be developed and designed."

"This requires the concerted efforts of tens of thousands of units across the country, and a huge amount of human and financial resources to solve countless problems, especially our fuselage materials and processing technology. We also need to learn from the disastrous lessons of the Y-10."

"Back then, we lacked large-scale die forging hydraulic presses, so we used small-scale segmented forging and assembly. As a result, the resulting fuselage beams and landing gear could not withstand frequent vibrations and impacts, so we had to research and develop matching processing equipment."

As soon as Qiu Lingzhi finished speaking, Zhao Ruilong hurriedly said:

"Please rest assured, our Handong Province is already providing strong support to relevant units in developing industrial mother machines, large-scale production equipment, and high-precision machine tools."

"Regarding the large-scale die forging hydraulic press you just mentioned, our Handong Heavy Machinery Group has already initiated a project to develop a domestically produced 80,000-ton hydraulic press!"

"what?"

Qiu Lingzhi exclaimed in surprise.

"Eight...eighty thousand tons? Did I hear that right?"

Zhao Ruilong laughed and said, "You heard me right, and it was I who suggested that they do something big."

"This can not only serve the aerospace industry, but also meet the needs of industries such as petrochemicals and nuclear power generation."

Qiu Lingzhi was both amused and exasperated.

"That's true, but there aren't many 40,000-ton hydraulic forging presses in the world, are there? Is it really necessary to build an 80,000-ton one?"

Zhao Ruilong laughed and said, "Of course it's necessary. The larger the tonnage, the better the performance of the forged material. We can't just start a research and development project when there's a demand in the future, can we?"

Of course, Zhao Ruilong wouldn't reveal the real reason.

Before he traveled through time, the domestically produced large aircraft had been successfully put into operation.

The arduous and challenging research, development, and test flight process was also revealed through a documentary.

Because of a lack of prior experience and insufficient foresight, we took many detours and made many mistakes.

Among them, the large-scale die forging hydraulic press has been the subject of research and development for large aircraft.

It was only then that they discovered there were no suitable hydraulic presses in China for forging high-performance parts.

Relevant departments quickly conducted investigations, research, and design feasibility studies.

It took three or four years just to finalize the decision to build an 80,000-ton vessel.

Then came design, construction, modification, and testing...

It took a total of ten years to build the domestically produced 80,000-ton large-scale die forging hydraulic press.

Thanks to this national treasure, a large number of high-performance forgings have finally been freed from the predicament of relying on imports.

"Old Qiu!"

Fu Wenbing was getting a little anxious.

He got up and walked to the window, pointing to the first prototype of the Y-10 aircraft, which was parked in the open air and exposed to the wind and sun, and was covered in rust.

"Hasn't developing a domestically produced large aircraft always been your dream?"

"Since Handong Province is willing to provide strong support, and my good brother Zhao Ruilong is also willing to invest, what are you still hesitating for?"

Qiu Lingzhi looked surprised.

"Is he willing to invest? You didn't mention that earlier!"

"..."

Fu Wenbing slapped his forehead and laughed awkwardly:

"I'm so sorry, there's one more important thing I completely forgot to tell you!"

“On the way here, my brother told me that as long as you are willing to support him, his father will go to Beijing immediately to persuade the senior management of China Aviation Industry Corporation.”

"We will try to take advantage of the military-civilian integration development strategy and policy to establish a company that develops civilian aircraft. They have already thought of a name for it: Dragon Kingdom Commercial Aircraft."

"Your group contributed the most, so of course you are the major shareholder. Handong and Tianhai State-owned Assets are minor shareholders. Huilong Group is willing to invest in and subscribe for the remaining shares."

"To put it bluntly, you don't need to worry about money at all. You just need to submit a report to persuade the higher-ups. Once it's approved, you'll be the chief designer of the new domestically produced large aircraft project!"

Qiu Lingzhi suddenly stood up.

Why didn't you say so sooner?

"If you had told me earlier that I didn't need to worry about money, why would I have hesitated?"

"But Ruilong, are you sure you can invest tens of billions of yuan every year to develop large aircraft?"

"I'm really worried. You're involved in both electronics and high-speed rail; I'm afraid you won't have enough funding!"

Before Zhao Ruilong could speak, Fu Wenbing laughed and said:

"Don't worry, Mr. Qiu!"

"Don't forget, my brother is the Crown Prince of Handong!"

“If we sell a few more plots of land each year, Tianhai and Handong can raise tens of billions of yuan.”

"Moreover, Huilong Group's chain of internet cafes is making money like a money-printing machine every day!"

Zhao Ruilong looked at Qiu Lingzhi calmly.

"Let's report it, Elder Qiu!"

"I'll pay for it, and you can fulfill your dream. Why not?"