"...... over there at the engine factory"

He Kai glanced at Liu Wei and subconsciously paused.

Don't look at He Kai's unkindness to Liu Wei just now, but no matter how you say it, the engine factory is also one of the most important core units of Xifei, once this matter is not solved well, and there is a problem on the engine factory's side, it is enough to drink a pot of your own...... A superior leader can choke him to death with a single sentence: Comrade He Kai, you are not comprehensive enough when you consider the problem.

It's almost a question of pointing at his nose and questioning his leadership?

"If the superior leaders agree with us to develop the H6 ...... based on the COMAC 'tay' MK650-8C engine," He Kai said after a deep sigh: "I will discuss specific cooperation matters with Chen Geng." ”

Listening to his boss's words, Liu Wei suddenly breathed a sigh of relief: although He Kai did not promise anything, since he said so, he must give an explanation to the engine factory at that time, otherwise he will not be able to say it.

........................

With Chief Engineer Xu and the report he wrote about the "tay" MK650 engine of the Commercial Aircraft Group for the H6, He Kai came to the competent authority of Huaxia Aviation Industry: the Ministry of Aviation Industry.

The Ministry of Aviation Industry attaches great importance to this report of Xifei!

Not only the leaders of the Ministry of Aviation Industry attach great importance to this!

The leaders of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense also attach great importance to this!

H6 is China's triad of nuclear strike force in the most powerful air-based strike combat platform (the strong five can also carry nuclear weapons), when He Kai said on the phone that there are important matters about H6 that need to be reported to the leadership, it immediately attracted the attention of the ministry leaders, Guo Wenxiang boss even pushed down a meeting for this purpose, just to listen to Xifei this time and "what moth is going to do"...... Well, this is Boss Guo's exact words.

“...... Leaders, this is what we have in mind. ”

He Kai said after introducing the necessity and advantages of the "TAY" MK650-8C turbofan engine produced by the H6 retrofitting COMAC Group to the leaders of the two departments who came to listen to the report.

Several major leaders led by Guo Wenxiang frowned.

Several leaders present here are no strangers to the "four-engine H6" H6I project before Xifei, and they all know that H6 is equipped with four single ground thrust 5430 kg "Spey" MK512-5W turbofan engine, H6 overall performance has brought much improvement, and the current "tay" MK650-8C engine has a maximum ground thrust of 6450 kg, not only the fuel consumption is further reduced, but the thrust is 80% more than the previous four "Spey" , if combined with weight considerations, it can basically be said that the H6 after replacing with four "tay" MK650-8C engines is equivalent to installing 5 "Spey" MK512-5W, and it can be loaded with more weapons and ammunition and fly farther.

However, as the competent department of the relevant industry, the leaders naturally cannot only look at this point......

"Comrade He Kai, what is your attitude towards Xifei?" While the other leading comrades were still weighing and pondering, Guo Wenxiang asked himself.

"Chief, our attitude towards Xifei is very clear," He Kai bowed slightly, and said firmly: "Compared with the turbojet-8 engine, COMAC's 'tay' MK650-8C engine has huge and incomparable advantages in key indicators such as fuel consumption, performance and maintenance. tay'MK650-8C, the overall combat performance of the H6 aircraft can be greatly improved, and the most important thing is that COMAC will soon be able to achieve the complete production of this engine, so that the problem of 'engine stuck in the neck' that everyone was generally worried about in the previous H6I project will no longer exist......"

"But as far as I know, the price of the MK650 engine is very expensive," another leader suddenly said: "The price seems to be almost 2.5 times that of the turbojet-8 produced by your Xifei, and considering that your new H6 needs four 'tay' MK650-8C engines, in this way, the cost of the whole machine has risen sharply, which is equivalent to the purchase cost of 12 turbojet-8 engines for one H6." What do you think about this issue?"

As soon as this question came out, the eyes of many leading comrades immediately fell on He Kai and Chief Engineer Xu: Yes, the cost of the engine has risen sharply, how do you think about this problem?

"Yes, we have considered this problem," He Kai nodded, indicating that we had actually considered it holistically: "First of all, the reason why the price of MK650 engine is so expensive is because the 'tay' MK650-8C engine produced by COMAC now uses all the blanks, accessories and finished parts provided by the British. The overall cost of the tay'MK650-8C engine is expected to be about 1.5 times that of the turbojet-8, and the cost can continue to decrease as the technical level and total production vehicles improve in the future.

Secondly, our R&D also takes time, with our Xifei R&D strength and previous experience in developing H6I, it will take about 4 to 6 years to complete the entire R&D work, and I believe that the cost of COMAC's 'tay' MK650-8C engine has been reduced to an acceptable level.

Again, as China's strategic equipment, the purchase volume of H6 will not be very much, that is, 6 to 8 aircraft per year, and the overall demand of the country is about two or three hundred, compared with the purchase volume of J-6 and J-7 that is often two or three thousand, the annual excess engine procurement cost is actually acceptable;

Finally, although the purchase cost of the engine has gone up, the cost of use on the Air Force side has come down, the turbojet 8 is a turbojet engine, and the fuel consumption is between 1.08 and 1.49, but the fuel consumption of the 'tay' MK650-8C is only in. Hovering between 047 and 0.72, a lot of fuel can be saved every year, which is equivalent to the rise in engine procurement costs and is offset by the fuel cost saved, and the money has been moved from the left pocket to the right pocket, maybe there will still be some improvement, but I believe that the overall extra money should not be much. ”

Seem...... That's true.

After listening to He Kai's elaboration, the leaders of the Ministry of Aviation Industry and the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense all nodded: Indeed, on the one hand, it may be impossible to produce large aircraft like J-6 and J-7 in large quantities, and the purchase of a few aircraft per year is not unacceptable.

On the other hand, it is also what He Kai said, although it takes a lot of money to buy an engine, but it can spend a lot less money to buy oil, and the money is loaded from the left pocket into the right pocket, which is the opposite, in fact, it doesn't cost much more overall, but in exchange for the huge improvement in the overall combat performance of the H6 aircraft, from this point of view, it is completely worth it, but it is ......

"Comrade He Kai, what you said is indeed very reasonable, but all of this is based on the fact that COMAC can successfully realize the localization of the 'tay' MK650-8C engine, but we know that COMAC has just successfully ignited and is now undergoing 150 hours of testing. Although the contract says that it will take another three years from now to achieve the complete localization of the whole machine, who dares to guarantee that in three years, or even five years later, COMAC will be able to realize the complete domestic production of the tay' MK650-8C engine? If COMAC is unable to achieve complete domestic production of the 'tay' MK650-8C at that time, what will happen to your new H6?

A leader of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense spoke, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he went straight to the core of the problem.

This is not a deliberate provocation, but this problem is really unavoidable: if everything goes well with COMAC's 'tay' MK650-8C engine, then it can be successfully localized, then fortunately, even if it is delayed for one or two years or even three or four years to achieve localization, it is not a problem, but if COMAC is unable to realize the localization of 'tay' MK650-8C, then what should we do?

In this regard, there is a similar record in China, well, and it is also related to Rolls-Royce, that is, Xifei's "Spey" MK202 afterburner military turbofan engine project, "Spey" MK202 has also carried out the current progress of COMAC 'tay' MK650-8C: using the blanks, cost parts and accessories provided by the British, two batches of four "Spey" MK202 engines have been assembled, and the 150-hour test project has been successfully completed, but what about after that?

To paraphrase, it is: then? well, then there is no then.

"Your concern is indeed a real problem, this possibility does exist," He Kai happily admitted this possibility, but then he explained: "But I don't think we really need to worry too much about this problem, as for the reasons, I think there are the following:

First of all, the 'tay' MK650-8C is not for our H6 service, but for the cooperation between COMAC and the Dutch Falkland-United Aviation Technology Company to provide supporting projects, and then will be licensed to introduce domestically produced Fokker F100 aircraft, which inherently guarantees the production of 'tay' MK650-8C engines, and our H6 is just a stain on the light;

Secondly, the funds for the introduction of the 'tay' MK650-8C and the subsequent improvements of the 'tay' series of engines, including the money for the production of Fokker F100 aircraft in a licensed manner, are all paid by Mr. Chen Geng himself, even for Mr. Chen Geng, this is a lot of money, I don't think Mr. Chen Geng will be willing to spend such a total of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Since he has made such an investment, he must make his investment produce benefits, I have tracked his cooperation with relevant domestic cooperative enterprises, because of the incentive policy given by COMAC, all the enterprises that have cooperated with COMAC in the 'tay' MK650-8C engine project have invested great enthusiasm, which is what we can not compare with in the 'Spey' project, and I will achieve it in three or four years after COMAC The complete localization of the tay'MK650-8C engine is more optimistic, and in my communication with Mr. Chen Geng, Mr. Chen Geng also said that even if it is the least optimistic, five years later, the localization rate of the 'tay'MK650-8C will reach at least 80%, and the localization rate of 80% is enough to ensure the reliable supply of the engine and subsequent repair and maintenance. ”