Chapter 355 of the main text: the work of the councillors

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Congress, Naval Funding Monitoring Committee. Congressman Peter Russell, who is only 28 years old this year, has just finished a meeting with 14 other lawmakers to consider the Navy's proposal to increase F-18 purchases.

The Navy is facing a shortage of second-generation attack aircraft, and a bill to expand the purchase of F-18s is awaiting passage from Congress. As long as it is reviewed by the Navy Funding Supervision Committee, the bill can enter the voting process.

Peter Russell is a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania's 1st Congressional District, and his district is facing a lot of job loss. He was elected by voters to a Navy shipyard in his constituency to shut down in the hope that he would prevent the U.S. Navy from closing the shipyard.

As the Navy's hearing on the closure of the shipyard approaches, he is ready to denounce the shipyard's economic importance to the constituency and prevent the closure of the shipyard at the hearing.

Before that, though, he had to go through the Guò Navy's F-18 procurement case. The Navy was awarded a new procurement contract so that the shipyard would not be closed. A win-win cooperation with few excuses to refuse.

"Peter?" Michael, the vice chairman of the Democratic Party, knocked on the door, then pushed the door open and walked in.

"Mr. Michael—" Peter quickly stood up, and reached out to greet him with a smile.

"Let me introduce you to Mr. Tasker, a logistics officer in the U.S. Navy. ”

After shaking Peter's hand, Michael stepped out of the way and let a soldier in a U.S. Navy uniform behind him. Tasker wore a pair of epaulettes on his shoulders, one wide and one narrow, and turned out to be an active major officer.

"Congressman Peter, I'm Tasker and I work for U.S. Naval Intelligence. Tasker gave a military salute and shook Peter's hand.

Peter hurriedly let the two of them to the sofa next to the office, and after inviting someone to sit down, he asked cautiously, "Chairman Michael, Mr. Tasker, I don't know what is the matter with me today?"

Tasker glanced at Michael, who nodded slightly. Tasker, who was a little nervous, took off the military hat on his head, put the hat on the low table neatly, and said carefully: "I have something to report to Councilor Peter, which is likely to involve a scandal in the army." ”

"Wait a minute, please. Peter stopped Tasker first, then went to the door, pushed the door open, and said to the secretary outside, "Christina, help me cancel all the appointments within two hours." Also, no one is allowed to come in during this time without my permission. ”

Peter Russell's secretary, Christina, understood: "Okay Councillor Peter, I'll keep watch here." ”

Peter nodded, closed the door and returned to his seat, "Alright Mr. Tasker, please continue." ”

"I have reason to suspect that a batch of used TF41 engines exported to the British company Rolls-Royce ended up in the hands of the Chinese. These engines have now been used in the Pakistan Air Force's Mirage 3 fighter upgrade project. The Chinese Tongguò refurbished our TF41 engines are rapidly improving the combat effectiveness of the Pakistan Air Force. And the profit obtained from this is much higher than the price of our second-hand TF41 engine. The deal is likely to involve a colonel in the Naval Systems Supply Command, whose name is Thomas Davis, and Zach Hubble, assistant to the president of Grumman, may also be involved. ”

Speaking of this, Tasker swallowed obviously a little nervously, hesitated for a moment before continuing: "The most serious problem is that a TF41 engine overhaul line of the US Navy is likely to be mixed with the F-14 overhaul line with the Chinese. However, there is no record of this in the Navy's internal transaction records. ”

"You mean to say that the U.S. Navy smuggled an overhaul line of TF41 engines to China?" Peter Russell closed his mouth in surprise.

"They counted the TF41 engine overhaul line as part of the F-14 overhaul line, most likely a supplementary agreement signed later. Tasker nodded.

"But this supplementary agreement has not been approved by Congress!"

Peter Russell reacted immediately, he was a member of the Naval Funding Supervision Committee, and the signing of such an agreement must be approved by the committee. If this supplementary agreement had been submitted for approval, he could not have been unimpressed.

Immediately, Peter Russell asked vigilantly, "Do you have any evidence?"

"Yes!" Tasker nodded vigorously and took out a bag of words: "Here is a copy of the Grumman supplementary agreement, in addition to the information that the Chinese have modified the Mirage 3 fighter for Pakistan." In fact, Pakistan's batch of Phantom 3 has been modified with TF41, and there is a lot of room for performance improvement. The Chinese are advertising this and looking around the world for other Mirage modification businesses. The source of their TF41 engines, it is simply impossible to keep secret. ”

"Are you sure that Rolls-Royce imported the second-hand TF41 engine from us and sold it to the Chinese? Since modifying the Mirage 3 fighter can make money, why doesn't Rolls-Royce do this project itself?"

"Rolls-Royce didn't make much profit doing this project, their manpower and material costs were too high. Tasker explained.

"I see. Peter Russell nodded and said no more.

"Alright, Mr. Tasker, please go to the door and wait for a while. Vice President Michael said to Tasker, "I'll talk to Congressman Peter Russell about this." ”

"Okay, Councillor Michael. ”

Tasker put on his military hat, saluted the two of them, and walked briskly out of the room.

Michael watched him out, then turned to Peter Russell and said, "Peter, that's the way it is, you know it." As a member of the Navy's Funding Supervision Committee, I hope you will stand up and teach these people in the Navy a lesson. ”

"But Mr. Michael. Peter Russell hesitated, shook his head, and said, "My constituency needs me to keep a shipyard in the Navy, and if I come forward to expose the scandal of the Navy—"

Peter Russell didn't finish his sentence, but Michael wouldn't fail to understand what he meant.

"Peter!"

Michael snorted dissatisfiedly and said, "There are some things that Tasker doesn't know. In this scandal, there are also shadows of two people. One is Republican whip Jackie Sharp, and the other is Vice President Underwood's former new spokesman, Remy Denton. It's going to be a fatal blow to the Republican Party, you understand?"

"I—I understand. But what about the shipyard workers in my constituency? Angered the Navy, they will definitely retaliate. ”

Michael knocked on the low table next to his leg, made a dull and muffled voice, looked at Peter Russell viciously, and said almost word for word: "If you don't obey the party arrangement, you will pay the price now." If you can obey the arrangement, the party will not forget your efforts. Peter?"

As the vice chairman of the Democratic Party, Michael's power comes not only from his position in the party, but also from his own ability. In front of him, Peter Russell, a hairy boy who was elected to the parliament for the first time, had almost no resistance. Several possible handles of his own quickly crossed his mind, and it was clear that it was not for nothing that Mr. Vice-Chairman had chosen Petror Russell to do the job.

He is not the only member of the Democratic Party in the Navy Funding Supervision Committee, but if you want to say that he has the most handles under the ass, I am afraid he can really be ranked first.

Peter Russell swallowed and nodded cautiously.

"Very well, I want you to bring this evidence to the meeting of the Funding Supervision Committee. ”

Michael patted him on the shoulder and smiled, "Do it well, don't let me down." ”

......

Peter Russell's evidence at the meeting of the Supervisory Committee immediately caused an uproar in Congress.

The Navy and its allies joined forces to circumvent regulations to sell sensitive materials to a still socialist China, and the Navy personally "smuggled" a set of TF41 engine overhaul lines to China without submitting for approval?

Although both of them are just playing a marginal ball, it is a bit ambiguous to say whether they violated the rules. But the crux of the matter is that it does challenge the authority of Capitol Hill.

The sensitive nerves of Capitol Hill have been touched, only Capitol Hill has ever sunk a U.S. Navy warship, when will you be allowed to be cautious by the U.S. Navy and the Senate veterans?

Although it is no longer possible to trouble the navy in the matter of the TF41 engine, the Senate has always been a gentleman who has not been too late for revenge for ten years. It doesn't matter if the engine is sold, let's study the purchase of the F-18 again.

Northrop: I'm really getting shot, why did Grumman's pot end up on my head?

Of course, Northrop is not complaining about it, after all, it will merge with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman in the future. However, it is difficult to say whether Grumman, who is now addicted to selling small blue pills, will merge with Northrop in the future.

On the other hand, however, the Navy's retaliation came quickly and accurately.

The Navy Shipyard in the Peter Russell constituency was unanimously unanimous in its hearings, and the shipyard had to face the fate of closure.

The voters who "carried" Peter Russell into Congress in order to keep the shipyard angrily blocked the door of Congressman Peter Russell's office, angrily asking him why he didn't do what he promised.

Poor Peter Russell could not say anything.

For the foreseeable future, Peter Russell has little hope of remaining in office.

"Mr. Michael, I did what you said, and now the voters are very excited, can the party help me solve some job places?"

A frustrated Peter Russell sat at Michael's desk, cautiously like an elementary school student who had been called to the teacher's office.

"Peter, as I said, as long as you obey the arrangement, the party will not give up on you. ”

A contented Michael smiled kindly, and after he finished signing a paper, he looked up from behind his desk and looked at Peter Russell.

"I know a few businessmen and will introduce them to your constituency. Well, what about Donald Trump? This is a real estate mogul in New York. ”

"That big-mouthed Trump?" Peter Russell was shocked: "He's only going to drive up local housing prices, nothing good else!"

Peter Russell said bitterly: "Mr. Michael, my constituency needs manufacturing, not real estate or finance. 80% of my electorate are local shipyard workers, and to replace the shipyard I have to provide at least 8,000 jobs, and there is no other industry other than manufacturing that can absorb so many people, who have been shipbuilders all their lives and will not do anything else!"

"Peter, you should be clear. Michael cleared his throat and said slowly, "There is no other organization other than the U.S. Navy that offers so many shipbuilding jobs. ”

"But there's always a way in the party, right?" Peter Russell stared at Michael and nervously grabbed the armrest of his chair.

"Of course, the party will not let itself down. Michael nodded: "So I do have a plan here, you can see if you accept it." ”

Michael said, opening the drawer under the desk and pulling out a paper bag. He opened the paper bag, pulled out the text inside, and pushed it in front of Peter Russell.

"Peter, you can see if this plan is suitable. ”

Peter suppressed his excited curiosity, picked up the text on the table and quickly browsed it. It's just that the more he looks, the more weird and complicated the expression on his face becomes.

"It's—"

"This is a letter of employment from the aviation branch of General Motors, an assistant to the president. With an annual salary of $250,000 in senior positions, as long as you nod your head, you can go to general aviation as an assistant to the president in December this year. ”

Michael glanced at Peter Russell deeply, and said meaningfully: "I said that the party will not forget your efforts." ”

"But, but, what about my elect?"

There was only silence in response to Peter Russell's question.

......

Peter Russell ultimately chose to stay on the retainer deal, facing the remaining months of his term as a member of parliament.

However, the agreement in his hand also made him understand who was hiding behind this incident.

General.

I'm afraid no one would have thought that General Engine would do such a thing that harms others and is not beneficial to itself, right?

No, Allison and Rolls-Royce have almost unthinkingly and angrily confirmed the identity of the people behind GM.

The reason is simple, the F-14 replacement engine project, the 10-ton thrust engine TF41-912-B52 was kicked out without suspense.

In 1986, in view of the US Navy's strict dissatisfaction with the TF30 engine of the F-14 fighter, the Navy's logistics department began to work on upgrading the engine of the F-14 fighter. There are two options for the engine upgrade project, one is the TF41-912-B52 jointly launched by Allison and Rolls-Royce, and the other is the F110-GE-400 engine launched by General Motors.

As a twin-engine heavy fighter, if you take into account the future production plan and spare engines, the number of engines to replace the TF30 engine will be as high as more than 2,000 engines.

The transaction volume of this business will be as high as 6 billion US dollars!

Immediately after Congress exposed the Navy smuggling scandal, GM sent a proposal to the Democratic Party that the TF41 was not suitable for the F-14 upgrade on the grounds that the TF41 engine technology was mastered by China. The engines of the fighters in service with the US Navy can be sold to others, but it is absolutely impossible to let the non-allied countries master the technology of production.

Poor Allison and Rolls-Royce, who had a greater advantage over the F110-GE-400 engine, had to withdraw from the competition.

Unlike in history, China purchased a large number of F-14 fighters due to the appearance of Hu Wenhai. And the original TF30 engine of the F-14, at his strong request, has long been replaced with a TF41-912-B52. So at this time, there are already installed examples of the TF-41 engine, which is naturally more convincing than the F110.

The TF-41 engine, which was originally far ahead in the project competition, could only watch with a bewildered face that it lost the Navy's tender.

Having missed out on a $6 billion order, how can Allison and Rolls-Royce not regret it?

"GM's hand is too ruthless!"

Allison President Emerson slammed his fist on the table, Rolls-Royce was fine, after all, the British government was responsible. But this time the order for the TF41 engine was missed, and Allison's situation immediately turned bad.

GM has disrupted Allison's project while acquiring parts of its transmission business. Rolls-Royce was not going to be polite in a trench, but took the opportunity to offer to buy its aero-engine business.

But if these two parts of the business were lost, Allison would no longer exist.

However, as a "small" company, it has little resistance to GM or Rolls-Royce.

Sitting across from Emerson was Norton, the president of Grumman. GM's hand is not only Allison Company was trapped, but Grumman Company was also injured.

On the surface, it seems that Grumman has nothing to lose, at most, the F-14s produced in the future will use common engines. However, because of the merger of the TF41 engine overhaul line into the F-14 overhaul line, Grumman suffered a lot of losses in public opinion.

In this way, it can be said that only GM is the winner, and Grumman, Northrop, Allison and Rolls-Royce all become losers in the end.

Even if they are pouring bitter water, they always have to sit down and discuss it.

Rolls-Royce's President Toombs sat next to Norton, and Northrop's President Connor sat across from Norton. Four people sat around, each holding a wine glass. If it weren't for the villa bar at Mr. Norton's Resort Manor, the four would be no different from a frustrated quartet in a rural bar in the southern agricultural states of the United States.

"We can't just take this loss, can we?" Emerson was the most injured player of the incident, and certainly the most resentful, beating the other three people at the table to teach GM a lesson.

However, it is clear that his efforts have had limited success.

Just kidding, what kind of company is GM? The four companies on the table are tied together, and they are not the opponents of GM as a whole. In fact, what competes with them is just a subsidiary of General Motors. In this way, the four of you were beaten by General Motors and retreated, how could you have the face to say anything to teach General Motors a lesson.

But obviously, there are also people present who are not afraid of GM.

"The F-16 is the most equipped fighter in the United States, and the GE series is the most equipped engine in the United States. If we can't curb the pace of GM, I think all of us will be cornered by it in the end. ”

Toombs had come all the way from London, certainly not just to drink with a few "Luthers". His words were clearly much stronger than Emerson's, and both Norton and Connor looked up.

"Mr. Toombs is right, we need to teach GM a lesson. Norton nodded, his face gloomy.

"How can we teach it a lesson? With the size of General Motors, we have no ability to compete with it. Connor sneered.

"Not really. Tumus put down the wine glass, the decline on his body was swept away, obviously the previous look was just a disguise on his body: "Everyone, I have accurate information that GM has invested a lot of money in China, and even gave the F101 engine to the Chinese." ”

"Huh?"

"Is this true?"

Tumus looked at the three of them, and did not lose the slightest moment: "It's true, this is the information I got from the exact channel, and it is completely credible." I guess GM's intentions should be easy to guess, right?"

"Bastard! we'll get the news out and see what GM does!" Emerson said through gritted teeth.

"That's not going to work!" the other three rejected his offer in almost unison.

"Why? Are you afraid of GM? No problem, I'll do it!" Emerson patted his chest.

Tumus shook his head: "This is not a matter of fighting for a breath, GM also has to be profitable to release the opponent's news, you offend GM just to get angry, what can you get in the end?"

"Yes, business is business, but doing this kind of thing to vent anger will break the rules. Norton nodded approvingly.

"What then?" asked Emerson, wistfully.

"GM is obviously aiming at the Chinese market, so it gave the F101 engine to the Chinese, right? For example, the civil aviation engine market, as well as medical and electric power industries, are also GM's targets." ”

As Connor spoke, Tumus and Norton nodded.

"So we can grab the Chinese market!" Tumus continued to work hard, revealing the ultimate goal: "Truth be told, Rolls-Royce and China ST have planned to set up a joint venture with the Chinese government as a shareholder. If we can cooperate, it is not impossible to drive GM out of the Chinese market at that time. ”

"ST Corporation, that Hu Wenhai company in China?" said Norton, Grumman's president, thoughtfully.

"That's right, it's him. ”

"Oh, that's a good idea, we Allison can participate!" Emerson agreed without thinking.

Norton nodded slowly, but asked worriedly, "Grumman didn't have any research in civil engine classes. ”

"I heard that Chinese is trying to localize the F-14, not to mention that Grumman's products are not only carrier-based fighters, but also carrier-based ......"

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