Out of an abundance of caution, Alexander Nikolayevich Yefimov confirmed to Nikolai Malenkov: "Comrade Malenkov, is the news confirmed?"

Nikolai Malenkov replied in the affirmative: "I checked it through Comrade Andrei Nikolaev, and Comrade Nikolaev said that he asked a friend of the Ministry of Defense to contact the Ministry of Defense of the minibus, and it was true. ”

Is it true?

Alexander Nikolayevich Yefimov was suddenly moved: whether it was an order for 30 million dollars or 75 aircraft, it was too tempting.

He wanted to ask Nikolai Malenkov if there was a possibility of directly priing the minibus out of Fernández Chen's hands and directly bypassing Huaxia to cooperate with the minibus, but after some hesitation, Alexander Nikolayevich Yefimov gave up this tempting idea. It's not that Alexander Nikolayevich Yefimov has a high consciousness and feels sorry for his friends, but that he clearly understands how important and valuable the materials that Chen Geng sends to the Soviet Union every month are for the current Soviet Union, and if he offends Chen Geng because of this incident, it will definitely outweigh the losses.

Since he could not pry the minibus from Chen Geng's hands, Alexander Nikolayevich Yefimov was not very interested: "Comrade Malenkov, what are you trying to say by calling me?"

Nikolai Malenkov didn't notice that Alexander Nikolayevich Yefimov was already a little impatient, and he hurriedly said: "That's right, our original plan was to let the aircraft that made it to the primaries but failed in the final to work with Fernandez, right?"

"Yes, so what?"

"But this also brings a new problem," Nikolai Malenkov said to Alexander Nikolayevich Yefimov: "this unsuccessful model...... Let's call it B...... Because of the sufficient financial and technical support, it is very likely that it will be put into use before the final selected model A, and because the model B selected by us does not have sufficient financial support, perhaps our Soviet Air Force soldiers will have to use the latest training aircraft seven or eight years later than others, which is ...... Isn't that ridiculous?"

This?

Alexander Nikolayevich Yefimov was also stunned: it seems to be the truth.

The unsuccessful B model preempted the selected A model and began to serve in the multinational air force, while the selected model A was delayed due to lack of funds to become the great Red Army soldier Air Force technical and tactical improvement and multiplier, which is indeed a bit nonsense, and it can't even be when Huaxia and minibuses began to use the latest third-generation jet advanced training aircraft, the great Soviet Union is still using the backward L-39, right?

"Then Comrade Malenkov, what do you mean?" asked Alexander Nikolayevich Yefimov.

"It is unacceptable in any case to let the great Red Army fighters be even more backward than the equipment used by our friends, and if such a situation arises, it will be a shame for all of us," Nikolai Malenkov set the tone for the matter, and only then said: "But at the same time, the difficulties that the great Soviet is facing for the time being are also real, so I thought, since our MiG-29, Su-27, the most advanced, The weapons that the Soviets have just begun to equip can be sold to our friends, so why can't we use our most advanced trainers with our friends?"

Alexander Nikolayevich Yefimov understood what Nikolai Malenkov meant: don't divide it into A and B models, in the end, the Soviet Union cooperated with Huaxia COMAC Group only one, that is, the model that was finally selected.

The benefits of this are naturally real and obvious, the Soviet Union has never lacked technology, only funds, and with the funds provided by COMAC and minibuses, this advanced jet trainer will definitely be able to enter service with the Soviet Air Force and the Territorial Defense Force on time, quality and quantity.

As for the issue of Huaxia and the minibus getting the most advanced third-generation advanced jet trainer technology of the Soviet Union, this is actually not a big problem, just like Comrade Nikolai Malenkov said, since we can sell even the most advanced MiG-29 and Su-27 that we have not yet equipped ourselves with a few of them, let alone a training aircraft?

That's not a problem at all!

As for whether or not there is a leak because of this, it is even more ridiculous, it is just a training plane, and the Soviet Union will certainly not come up with its most advanced technology, what secrets can it leak? And even if it is a leak, then is it a training plane that leaks secrets badly, or is it the MiG-29 and Su-27, the most advanced fighters of the Soviet Union?

And let's not forget that according to the previous agreement with Fernández Chen, the USSR was also going to come up with the B model to cooperate with him, to be honest, since the B model was able to pass the primary election, then the gap between the B model and the A model should not be large, and the Yakovlev Design Bureau, the Mikoyan Design Bureau, The technical level of the Sukhoi Design Bureau and the Myasishev Design Bureau, the reason why the plans they submitted were ultimately rejected was probably not because the overall technical level of their plans did not meet the requirements put forward by the military before, but because of the gap in some details, such as the average hourly cost of use, etc., is it possible that the B model will not be leaked, and the A model will be leaked, and the Soviets will be unstable?

More unlikely.

In this case, wouldn't it be better to directly use the final selected A model to cooperate with Huaxia COMAC Group and minibus?

In addition to the fact that the Soviet Union itself does not have to pay a penny of research and development funds, at the very least, it can ensure that this training aircraft enters the service of the Air Force and the Territorial Defense Force on time.

But the old fox is the old fox, although Alexander Nikolayevich Yefimov had already agreed with Nikolai Malenkov's proposal in his heart, but he still said: "I have no opinion in principle, but I have to look at the finalized cooperation plan, such as the ownership of this aircraft, production mission planning, and the division of interests and other key interest terms, to determine whether I support or oppose it." ”

The old fox who only thinks about reaping benefits and is reluctant to pay any price!

Nikolai Malenkov scolded secretly in his heart, but his mouth said again and again: "Thank you very much for your understanding Comrade Yefimov, I can rest assured with your support, I will immediately communicate with Mr. Fernández and come up with a specific cooperation plan to ask you for instructions as soon as possible." ”

But before Chen Geng could communicate, he still needed to ask the Kremlin for instructions and approval, what if Comrade Gorbachev thought it was inappropriate?

After hearing that the Military Industrial Equipment Committee was ready to fine-tune the original cooperation with the Huaxia Commercial Aircraft Group, he immediately summoned Nikolai Malenkov, and after listening to Nikolai Malenkov's detailed explanation of why he did this, and what benefits and losses he did to the Soviet Union, Gorbachev waved his hand: Is your proposal very constructive, just do it!

So Nikolai Malenkov, who had received the highest authorization and finally breathed a sigh of relief, expressed through the Soviet Union's China negotiation team that he hoped to have a phone call with Chen Geng.

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

Although Chen Geng could even directly contact Boris Pankin, Gorbachev's chief of staff, with the current state of diplomatic relations and economic and trade exchanges between China and the Soviet Union, it was actually quite difficult for him to directly contact the Soviet Union while he was in China. And I hope that when the two sides re-communicate about the cooperation reached before to develop a new generation of jet trainers, Chen Geng is not surprised at all, there are new partners to join!

But when Nikolai Malenkov told Chen Geng on the phone that they wanted to adjust the goal of cooperation and cooperate directly with the design bureau that was finally selected, Chen Geng was a little confused, and he couldn't understand for a while: "Comrade Malenkov, I don't understand what you mean too much, why did you suddenly change your mind?"

Nikolai Malenkov, of course, would not admit that the reason why we did this was because we were poor, and the state was almost unable to allocate sufficient funds for this project, so in order not to make a joke in the international community that "a simultaneous project has been in service for several years, and the internal has not even been handed over to the army", we decided to do so, and he said to Chen Geng: "The main reason for this is that the Soviet Union attaches great importance to relations with China, and secondly, after careful consideration, we found that ...... We determined that the gap in technical level between the two aircraft that could pass the primary selection should be said to be between the two equals, so it would be equivalent to us both spending twice the money to do the same thing, which is very uneconomical from a cost point of view......"

God is not economical!

When Nikolai Malenkov said this, Chen Geng's heart was already bright, and he reacted instantly: the fundamental reason is that Lao Maozi is short of money, and they want to get a third-generation jet advanced training aircraft at the world's advanced level without spending a penny in the next time, and even make this aircraft make money for the Soviet Union.

But even so, Chen Geng didn't think it was just a bad thing, he immediately nodded: "But in this case, Comrade Malenkov, what is the attitude of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, the Mikoyan Design Bureau, the Miyasishev Design Bureau, and the Yakovlev Design Bureau?"