UGB #464 - cooperate
#464 - cooperate
As the world of Bright Sword was about to enter 1958, Ding Wei's overseas plantation had an unprecedented bumper harvest this year. Nearly 60 million acres of Black African plantations yielded more than 40 million tons of various grains, instantly becoming a pivotal international grain supplier.
Most of it was sold to Louis Dreyfus Company, which cooperated with the Rothschild family. Originally, the international grain supply structure of the 'ABCD' four giants, including Bunge, Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus, saw a new landscape emerge with the entry of EIC from Dongda, forming a 'DE' alliance of Dreyfus and EIC confronting the 'ABC' three against two.
Although it has not yet achieved a balanced effect, Dongda's EIC plans to continue opening new grain plantations in Black Africa, aiming for a scale of at least 100 million acres.
Therefore, this is just the beginning. As the tacit cooperation between Dongda and the Rothschild family gradually deepens, Dongda's partners in Europe are also beginning to increase.
As the new turbofan engine and CAC-120 airliner were about to be completed, Chen Hanyuan, the general manager of Yandu Aviation Industry Corporation, which was responsible for the research and production of this large regional airliner, flew to Misty City (London).
He traveled to the headquarters of Rolls-Royce (RR) in Westminster.
A tall, blond old man in a well-tailored suit, accompanied by a group of people, had been waiting downstairs. Seeing Chen Hanyuan and his entourage get out of the car, he quickly stepped forward to greet them.
"Mr. Chen, welcome to Rolls-Royce. I am Simon Robert, the president of Rolls-Royce. I am very honored to meet you," Robert said with a smile, extending his hands.
"Mr. Robert, thank you for your invitation. I have been looking forward to this meeting," Chen Hanyuan said in fluent English, also extending his hands to shake Robert's firmly and powerfully.
"Mr. Chen, please!" Robert released his hand and invited with a smile.
"Please!" Chen Hanyuan gestured politely. The two smiled at each other and walked shoulder to shoulder towards the conference room.
They had previously communicated their intention to cooperate through diplomatic channels.
John Bull (England) had never given up on entering the field of large airliners, but due to its small market, it was difficult for them to succeed on their own.
For Dongda, although the current technical issues have been largely resolved by importing goods from Ren Zhong's main world, there is still a huge weakness: the time spent entering the aviation field is too short. Whether it is the accumulation of experience in aircraft manufacturing or engineering certification, there are huge shortcomings.
Originally, developing products around its own domestic market was not a big deal, but the main market for the aviation industry is now overseas. Therefore, obtaining international certification is an essential process.
It would definitely be very difficult with Rogue Eagle (America) for the time being. Although the relationship between the two sides in the world of Bright Sword can be considered okay, it does not mean that they will compromise in such a key industry as the aviation field.
Therefore, when the CAC-120 was about to be officially launched, Yandu Aviation asked Ren Zhong for advice. After studying the development history of the aviation industry in the main world, Ren Zhong came to the conclusion that they should form alliances. Referring to the past of European aviation companies working together, they should take the initiative to cooperate with the major aviation powers in Europe.
The first to bear the brunt was John Bull (England). They have Rolls-Royce, the best aircraft engine manufacturer in Europe. Although it is now somewhat unable to keep up with Dongda's leapfrog development, Dongda took the lead in the Spey engine and has already surpassed them in turbofan engines.
However, Rolls-Royce Group has a strong foundation there. Once Dongda's turbofan engine is launched and appears elsewhere in the world, these companies will try their best to find these engines for research and imitation. Patent protection in this area is not as good as in the computer industry.
Therefore, Ren Zhong felt that, referring to the past of Airbus, a new Airbus should be created in advance, pulling a few bankrupt European households to play together, which might be a new path.
Rolls-Royce VIP Conference Room.
After both parties were seated, they did not beat around the bush. After a few pleasantries, they went straight to the topic.
Chen Hanyuan took out a thick stack of materials and began to introduce Yandu Aviation's development and future plans for the CAC-120 airliner. Chen Hanyuan was full of confidence in the CAC-120 technology and the new turbofan engine. Although Robert had previously understood some of the technical details,
Robert was stunned by the latest and more detailed information he now had in front of him.
He did not expect that Dongda's engine technology had already surpassed the turbojet stage and was now leading the world.
Robert would not suspect that the other party was lying about this, because according to the cooperation plan previously discussed between the two parties, they would apply for an airworthiness certificate in Europe within at least two years.
This means that the aircraft will have to complete its test flight within a year!
In such a short period of time, if the other party did not have absolute certainty in this regard, they would not say such a thing at all. Moreover, Rolls-Royce's own turbofan RCo.8 engine is now almost researched. The turbofan engine is not particularly advanced from the concept to the realization, but Rolls-Royce has always claimed to be the strongest aircraft engine manufacturer in Blue Star (Earth), and now seeing its opponent take out a better turbofan engine, it always feels a little uncomfortable.
What made Robert even more sentimental was that the design and performance specifications of the other party's turbofan engine seemed to be exactly what he wanted to do, full of an indescribable sense of familiarity!
It was as if a piece of flesh had been dug out of his heart.
"Mr. Chen, frankly speaking, we believe that the CAC-120 is a very excellent medium and short-range airliner. There is no doubt that it has a strong competitive advantage in the air transport market within 3,000 kilometers. For the European aviation market, the distance between most cities is less than 3,000 kilometers, which perfectly matches the current range of the CAC-120," Robert said slowly after listening to Chen Hanyuan's introduction.
They had already studied it. Rolls-Royce had almost no technical requirements that could be improved for the CAC-120 airliner. However, considering the cooperation between the two parties, if all the technology came from the other party, then Rolls-Royce would be very passive in the cooperation.
Therefore, after Dongda Yandu Aviation sent a letter of intent for cooperation, Rolls-Royce attached great importance to it. Although they were very interested in entering the field of airliners, considering the weak domestic market, the cost of researching an airliner would be difficult to amortize, which would lead to the cost of the developed airliner being higher than that of competitors, which would be very detrimental to the promotion of the entire project.
After losing many colonies, the current Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets has fallen into decline. Whether in terms of strength or market, it has lost its position as a top player in the Bright Sword world.
But now that Dongda has extended an olive branch, coupled with Dongda's assistance in the previous Canal War, which prevented the empire's last fig leaf from being torn off, among the several powerful forces in the Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets, the Capet family and the Rothschild family both stood on the side of cooperating with Dongda, and have already achieved preliminary success in agriculture and mining.
The local forces of the Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets will not simply succumb to the aggressive offensive from the Wall Street consortium.
Therefore, within Rolls-Royce, where the Capet family holds considerable sway, the call for cooperation with Dongda is quite high.
Including Robert himself, he is a staunch advocate for external cooperation!
"I think our cooperation shouldn't be limited to just twin-engine airliners; we need to jointly develop a four-engine intercontinental airliner."
Robert said ambitiously. This was a direction that Rolls-Royce, after research, believed could give them the upper hand in the collaboration.
At this stage, for an aircraft to fly far, it must have a large internal fuel capacity, which increases the aircraft's takeoff weight, consequently requiring increased thrust. Given the constant thrust of a single aero-engine, the only option is to increase the number of engines.
According to the historical development of aviation in the main world, in order to increase power, there were instances of using twin aero-engines, the oddity of using three aero-engines, and the most common four-aero-engine architecture for intercontinental aircraft. Of course, there were also super-large transport aircraft that used six aero-engines, such as the An-225 transport aircraft.
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"A four-engine intercontinental airliner, we believe it's not very realistic in the short term of three to five years," Chen Hanyuan said, pausing and shaking his head after hearing Robert's suggestion.
In Yandu Aviation's plan, there was indeed no plan for a four-engine intercontinental airliner. From the history of aviation development in the main world researched by Ren Zhong, the prospects for four-engine intercontinental airliners, apart from the considerable success of the 747, the fate of the remaining four-engine intercontinental airliners was not very good.
Because first, the research and development costs of a four-engine intercontinental airliner are too high, which is not affordable for ordinary airlines. Second, the airworthiness of four-engine intercontinental airliners is not very good. The requirements for airports and the challenges to fuel economy are difficult weaknesses to overcome. Therefore, in the development process of Airbus in the main world, the A320 series and A330 series both adopted twin-engine structures. Only the A340 used a four-engine structure, but the result was obvious: this four-engine intercontinental airliner was very dismal.
This is a historical lesson that Ren Zhong must learn from.
Of course, some might say that they could follow the path of the 747, making the original 747 have nowhere to go. This idea may be good, but for Dongda Aviation Industry, which is still basically in the stage of comprehensive imitation, it is currently basically unrealistic whether they can get this classic four-engine model out before the end of the 1960s. Ren Zhong himself is not very optimistic.
Comparing this heavy transport aircraft, from the aero-engine to the airframe design, to the research and application of materials, all touch upon Ren Zhong's blind spots. The core design materials of the 747 are secrets that Ren Zhong cannot access in the main world at this stage. It's probably too difficult to take this shortcut.
"Mr. Robert, based on our current foundation, we should still focus on twin-engine airliners in the short term. However, we can cooperate in-depth in aero-engines, continuously increasing the thrust of aero-engines, and increasing the internal fuel of the aircraft to increase the range. Rolls-Royce has rich experience in aero-engines, and we are willing to invest funds and manpower to closely cooperate with Rolls-Royce to develop new civil aero-engines," Chen Hanyuan continued.
"As for cooperation in airliners, we are willing to build a CAC-120 final assembly plant in Westminster with Rolls-Royce, as our European production base for cooperation. In the future, all airliners sold in Europe will be produced and supplied by this final assembly plant."
Robert was initially displeased that his suggestion for a four-engine intercontinental airliner was flatly rejected, but now that Chen Hanyuan had drawn him a pie, Robert suppressed his inner displeasure and responded positively to Chen Hanyuan's suggestion, "Of course, we must have a production plant, and we must establish several airliner operation and maintenance centers in Europe to ensure the long-term trouble-free flight of these airliners. These operation and maintenance centers are also a very important aspect of obtaining airworthiness certificates, so a final assembly plant is a basic requirement."
"But as our future major development opportunity, I suggest that the research on four-engine intercontinental airliners should still be put on the agenda. As a large airliner for transcontinental flights, four-engine airliners have great advantages."
Robert didn't want to easily give up his idea.
"Let's put this issue aside for later discussion as a remaining issue," Chen Hanyuan didn't want to endlessly argue with Robert on this issue.
In his opinion, this issue cannot be said now.
Anyway, the current twin-engine airliners have not been settled yet, saying that four-engine airliners is still too early.
However, his words revealed confidence in the company's future development and recognition of Rolls-Royce's technical strength. Robert listened attentively, nodding in agreement from time to time.
"We know that Rolls-Royce has unparalleled achievements in the field of aero-engines, and we very much hope to cooperate with your company to provide more efficient and environmentally friendly engines for our 100-seat airliners," Chen Hanyuan said.
Robert nodded in understanding and began to introduce Rolls-Royce's latest technological achievements and its vision for the future aviation industry. His words revealed his love for technology and his expectations for cooperation.
As the talks deepened, the two began to discuss specific cooperation details, including technical specifications, delivery schedules, and after-sales service channel construction. Although there were differences on some issues, both sides showed a willingness to seek consensus.
Therefore, the entire negotiation process continued to deepen in the pursuit of common ground while reserving differences. Even if the entire negotiation was not easy, it became even more intense when it came to profit sharing. Both sides were meticulous in this regard, considering that this airliner might be the mainstream airliner in Europe, Asia, and Black Africa in the future, and both sides were very optimistic about its prospects.
The final negotiations resulted in a formal cooperation agreement after a month, which left Chen Hanyuan feeling somewhat exhausted, but he still felt that it was worthwhile to reach the final cooperation.
As the first cooperation with official overtones between Dongda and the John Bull family, the agreement between Rolls-Royce and Yandu Aviation stirred up a thousand waves! It triggered unanimous opposition from the rogue eagle aviation industry! (End of this chapter)