Qi Yiming never expected that Dassault would have such an incredible plan—China and France would cooperate to produce the Mirage 4000 heavy-duty fighter jet.

The history of world aviation is ill-fated. There are many fighter jets that have died midway. Many military fans sigh when they mention them. Dassault's Mirage 4000 is undoubtedly one of them. The Mirage 4000 is actually an additional engine based on the Mirage 2000.

, a heavy-duty fighter aircraft with an enlarged body and fine-tuned design, actually did not receive funding from the French Ministry of Defense from the beginning, but was studied simultaneously with the Mirage 2000. Marcel Dassault, the head of Dassault at the time, stated,

France paid for 2,000, and they raised their own money for 4,000. The reason why he was so confident was that the French had always wanted to have a twin-engine heavy fighter of their own, and even once test-flyed the American F-15 fighter. Another good thing

For some Middle Eastern countries that are unwilling to choose U.S. and Russian fighters, the Mirage 4000 undoubtedly gives them a third way, with Saudi Arabia and Iraq as the main potential customers.

But neither the French themselves nor the oil tycoons in the Middle East chose this fighter in the end. In fact, it uses a lot of mature technology from the Mirage 2000. Most of the parts can even be shared, not to mention that it is more convenient for those who are accustomed to using it in terms of service and maintenance.

Customers of French-made aircraft. The design is excellent, the ideas are also excellent, and the foundation of the Mirage 4000 is also very good, but no one buys it.

The project of this fighter was briefly restarted in 1986, mainly for the purpose of selling it to Saudi Arabia. Because at this time, the Iraqis were short of money due to the anxious war, and it was even less likely to order such an expensive new fighter from France.

Saudi Arabia has just signed the Al-Yamaha Arms Agreement with the British. Billions of dollars have been spent. It also has the Tornado as a supplement and replacement for the F-15, and there is no need to cause this trouble for itself. And then the United States

People found out that they had lost a large arms order, and reopened the F-15 to Saudi Arabia, let alone the Mirage 4000.

So in the end, this good fighter aircraft ended up being a piece of furniture in an aviation museum, and never had the opportunity to actually enter the battlefield and compete with war eagles from other countries.

Although the story of the Mirage 4000 was deplorable, Qi Yiming felt that this matter had nothing to do with him, and he could not imagine why Dassault would want to cooperate with him on this project.

After thinking about his words, Qi Yiming said cautiously: "Mr. Dassault, I believe you know that more than half a year ago, our company signed a contract with Grumman International for the F-14 cooperation project. We have obtained all 70 F-14 fighter jets from Iran. After the modifications we require are completed, Grumman will provide us with the next batch of 30 new F-14 fighter jets, and the second part of the contract also stipulates that if If everything is correct, we will purchase another 50 Tomcats from Grumman. Eventually, the total number of operational aircraft in our naval aviation will reach 150. At the same time, our country will also obtain a production license from Grumman for the production of our own Tomcat version. In addition, I believe you have also heard of my country's J-10 fighter, which is very similar to the Mirage series. They are medium-sized fighters with delta wings and canards. They are the main model of the Chinese Air Force. Not to mention that they are used as combat aircraft. The bomber's Flying Leopard, and the navy's carrier-based aircraft the J-8V Skua. The main aircraft types of our country's aviation force have reached 4 types. Whether it is from a demand or economic perspective, it is impossible for us to purchase another one. It is a fighter jet that is completely out of our system."

When Qi Yiming made a whimsical plan to replace the Tomcat and purchase F-14s from Grumman, he was really optimistic about the Tomcat's superior air combat capabilities and room for further improvement, but it does not mean that he was taken advantage of because he had money and nowhere to spend it.

In this era, China was still a poor country. Although it had gained a lot of base income by repeatedly defeating its enemies, there was no reason to become a money-splitting boy.

Serge was not discouraged and explained to Qi Yiming: "Mr. Qi, we actually proposed such a cooperation after a lot of careful consideration. First of all, it was based on the transaction with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia needs a large number of fighter jets.

, with both air combat and ground attack capabilities, the Flying Leopard produced in China is an eye-catching model. It is undoubtedly cost-effective and quite practical, and its combat mode is also very novel. But the Flying Leopard is not without its shortcomings.

, that is, after truly entering an aerial dogfight, you will have no advantage against any of the third-generation aircraft. I believe you yourself know this, and your opponent, the British, will also make a fuss about it."

Qi Yiming nodded and said: "The Tornado ADV is not a good air superiority fighter. If I need it, I will sell Saudi Arabia our J-8V fighter that performed well in the Korean conflict. This is an air combat fighter."

A fighter jet with superior performance.”

Serge still had a smile on his face, but shook his head and said: "The achievements of our Chinese colleagues are very surprising. They have made so many dazzling fighter jets quietly, which makes people wonder.

Did God cast some magic on the Chinese? Yes, the J-8V can become an air superiority fighter, but in essence it is still a STOVL fighter, and its daily operation is still worse than the ordinary land-based version of the air superiority fighter.

."

Qi Yiming sighed: "Any option must have its own advantages and disadvantages. We all know it, but I don't think that because of some shortcomings, we should give up our mature options and instead join Dassault Company to help you."

make money."

Edstein interjected at this time: "Mr. Qi, you have misunderstood. We do not want you to give up the Feibao bidding project, but we want you to consider and participate in the Mirage 4000 project."

Qi Yiming was still quite puzzled and turned to look at Serge.

"Well, let's put it this way, we hope to not only be limited to this Saudi bid, but also cooperate with China in a wider range of areas. China has very excellent technology, and we are quite amazed by China's ability to control costs.

For example, the price you quoted for FC-1 is only US$8 million, and the price of Feibao is only US$24 million. This is something that almost no other company in the world can do. Just being cheap is not enough, it is made in China.

The excellent performance of the fighter jets has also been verified on the battlefield, so we have high expectations for the Chinese side."

Qi Yiming didn't believe this guy's statement even to death. Not long ago, the French were working on a helicopter project with China. They knew exactly what the situation was like in China. But now with Qi Yiming's transformation, the domestic situation has completely changed.

The same, many companies have made great progress. France cannot see the whole picture, but they believe that something very different must have happened in this country.

It cannot be said that Dassault has no ability and level, but it has suffered repeated setbacks in the international market. This is not only due to politics, but also due to its lack of ambition and lack of initiative in doing business. At the same time, the French have insufficient negotiation skills and are always inhibited.

Unable to control my greed, I tried to raise the price, but in the end I failed to do so.

In fact, Dassault has seen this problem a long time ago, but it just can't help but do it again. Just imagine that even if the price of selling fighter jets is not very high, but the business is done, there will always be profits in the end, and through production and contract fulfillment,

The company itself is also making progress, accumulating experience in all aspects, which will eventually lead to the company launching better products. However, Dassault is always missing the mark and rarely gets big orders as lucrative as those from Britain and the United States. Until 21

After a century, I felt proud to be able to get a contract for 126 Rafale aircraft from India. However, even when the contract was obtained, there were many twists and turns, and there were many mistakes. It can be seen that if you always fail to get a big contract, you are prone to problems.

This time, Serge saw clearly that if the Mirage 4000 project failed, French Dassault would never have the chance to make any achievements in the heavy-duty aircraft project, and from now on, Dassault would only be ranked second in the world.

A provider of aviation equipment. The ambitious Serge never wanted the aviation empire built by his father to eventually decline in his hands, so he planned to take a risk.

"We have learned that the engines used by our Chinese counterparts are extremely advanced in performance, and it is said that Grumman is importing some of the turbofan engines that will be equipped on China's own F-14s. The price is only US$2 million. In addition, according to China's

According to publicity in the export market, fighter aircraft such as the FC-1 use a large amount of composite materials, and I have recently noticed that some Italian and Swedish companies have ordered a batch of carbon fiber materials from a Chinese state-owned enterprise, and the price is extremely favorable. It can be seen from this that

, Chinese counterparts are very experienced in controlling costs and using excellent components. We hope to use this ability of the Chinese side to reduce the factory cost of our Mirage 4000, and ultimately make this fighter aircraft as competitive as the F-15.

"

Qi Yiming understood what Serge Dassault was planning. He said, "You mean, subcontract some parts to us for production, and then you will be responsible for the final assembly of the fighter plane?"

Edelstein nodded and said, "That's pretty much it."

In fact, in the field of civil aviation, the strategy of global outsourcing is already relatively popular and is a trend in the development of aviation equipment. However, in the military field, because it involves many confidential issues, everyone has always been more conservative, unless it is an ally or quasi-state with a relatively good relationship.

Allied countries, similar to the relationship between Britain and the United States, or the relationship between China and Pakistan, will allocate outsourcing on military aircraft projects. Qi Yiming thought that this strategy is really good for a company like Dassault that has to fight against the odds and die.

Method.

Even if Qi Yiming is allowed to produce some materials here, or even process some materials that are not particularly important, China can achieve at least one-third of the cost of the French in terms of labor, processing, materials and other expenses.

To put it bluntly, the more Dassault outsources to China, the lower the price of the aircraft will be. Of course, this situation cannot be allowed to happen. If China masters too many details about the manufacturing of fighter aircraft, then the fighter aircraft will be
Chapter completed!