"The military wants to get a batch of these tanks?" Zheng Yucheng looked at Long Yaohua and Li Mingshan in surprise, "I heard me right?"

"Nope. At present, the development of the domestic third-generation tank project has just started, and the equipment of the troops is in urgent need of upgrading, even if the military expenditure is not high, we can't always use the old-fashioned equipment, and we don't study the combat and defense of advanced weapons and equipment, right?" Long Yaohua nodded and said.

Li Mingshan looked at Zheng Yucheng and the others, "Is there any difficulty? Even if we want it, we will pay." ”

"Chief, this is a joint project between us and Pakistan...... Wang Guilin weighed it and said cautiously.

The military needs, and this will have a great impact on the future prospects of the 359 tank.

Domestic equipment, for the sake of national defense and security, the combat capability of the exported 359 tanks must be very different from those used in the country.

This is true for the export of any kind of advanced heavy weapons in the world.

The tanks and warplanes exported by the United States and the Soviet Union will have some restrictions on their functions, and at the same time, they will also reduce the performance configuration to prevent the enemy from obtaining their advanced weapons and equipment, so as to develop the right equipment according to the performance.

"359 tanks, at the moment it is difficult to reduce the configuration, once it is lowered, what will happen is the loss of a large number of orders. In the absence of a finalized type, Iraq ordered 11 for combat experiments...... "Qi Zhiyuan also opened his mouth to emphasize.

Xie Kai sat in the corner and didn't speak.

On the opposite side, Mr. Zhu's eyes kept staying on Xie Kai's body.

"The military's order does not affect your exports. Long Yaohua's eyes were sharp, looking at Zheng Yucheng and the others, they didn't dare to look at him. "Of course, this is only a possibility, and if your tank does not perform well during the test process, it will definitely not get an order from the military. ”

"Chief, do you know the manufacturing cost of the 359 tank?" Xie Kai asked, "If the military wants to procure, what is the reserve price for each tank?"

Xie Kai's question is a bit sharp.

The subtext is obvious, the military cannot afford such tanks.

"What you have made in more than a year, all the existing domestic technology is used, how expensive can it be?" Li Mingshan looked at Xie Kai and replied easily.

In their opinion, the 404 tanks developed by the 359 base will not be so expensive at all.

For the 59 tank, the chassis determines the space, which cannot make much of a breakthrough, and naturally limits too many things.

"Chief, I think the military should wait and wait until we reduce the cost before considering it. The strategic focus of the country is economic construction, and the demand in this regard is not urgent. Xie Kai said.

Li Mingshan was a little unhappy, "Boy, do you think we are too poor to afford it?"

"Chief, I didn't mean that. It's just that the cost of 359 tanks, for the time being, is really expensive. And the performance is not mature enough, and many tests have not been completed. Xie Kai was noncommittal.

The military is poor, everyone knows it.

So far, the major disarmament is underway, and the number of domestic troops has been reduced from 4 million to 3 million, which is a huge undertaking.

And military spending has not increased, and even decreased a little because of disarmament.

In 85, the military expenditure was only 19.1 billion, which is only about 6.5 billion US dollars!

It accounts for only 2% of U.S. military spending.

A 359 tank, even if it is sold at the lowest price, has to be priced above 3 million.

The military's funds are not only used to buy equipment, but also include investment in scientific research, feeding the naval, army, and air force units, and upgrading equipment......

Xie Kai felt that the military could not afford it, which was also natural.

Special armored units, almost all weapons and equipment have to be upgraded.

The 59 tanks that fought mainly accounted for a huge proportion, and this was the world's tanks of the 50s!

"I don't believe it, no matter how expensive the 359 tank is, where can it be expensive!" Li Mingshan's words were full of unconvincing, "If the developed equipment is not right, we can't afford to use it, what are we doing with it?"

"Chief, I think Mr. Zhu can explain. Xie Kai burned the fire to Mr. Zhu.

Three generations of tanks, there is no cheap.

I wish the boss that the thing he made will be far more expensive than the 404 tank made by the 359 base.

How much does a 99 tank cost?

That's tens of millions of vehicles, and when the domestic economy has increased many times, they all have to upgrade 96 tanks and equip a small number of 99 tanks because of their high prices.

"A set of anti-stabilized fire control system, plus a computer fire control system, will cost millions, right?" Mr. Zhu did not explain directly, but asked Zhang Deming.

The price of the stable image fire control system is so high that Li Mingshan and others have become heavy in breathing.

"The price of a 125 mm tank gun, a dual stability system, etc., is also several times higher than that of the Type 59, right?" Without waiting for an answer, Mr. Zhu continued to ask.

"New ammunition development, etc., power systems, etc., are also several times larger than the 59 tank, right?"

"The production cost of Chobham armor is also much higher than that of homogeneous armor, right?"

A series of questions made Long Yaohua and Li Mingshan stunned.

It's several times the price at every turn!

Does this still make people live?

"How much does one of you cost now?" Long Yaohua understood the problem.

Instead of asking Zheng Yucheng and others how much they sold for one, they asked about the cost of the 359 tank.

The 404 was supplied to Iraq for $2.5 million per prototype, while Pakistan was supplied for only $1.8 million.

"$1.8 million, cost price. Zhang Deming said helplessly. "Converted into RMB, more than 5 million. ”

"What the hell? Are you sure this is just the cost price? If we equip 100 vehicles, it will cost us 500 million in military spending!" Li Mingshan's face was a little unbearable.

If it is really this price, the military cannot afford it.

404 is also unlikely to be supplied to the military at cost price.

"It's true that the cost of all the technology at the moment is quite high. Zhang Deming nodded affirmatively.

"Chief, this is the price that must be paid for the adoption of new technologies. When the technology is mature, the production process of various materials is mature, and the production capacity is improved, the cost will be reduced a lot. Wang Guilin said.

Xie Kai glanced at Mr. Zhu, and then at Long Yaohua and Li Mingshan.

The wonderful expressions on the faces of the two can be imagined.

Mr. Zhu glanced at Xie Kai with a wry smile, engaging in the third generation of domestic tanks is not only technically difficult, but also how to reduce costs, which the R&D team must consider.

The 359 tank is much less technical than the third-generation tank project that Mr. Zhu is responsible for, and it is only a medium tank.

The price of a heavy tank, if calculated according to its technical performance, must be at least twice as much as that of the 359 tank.

The troops can't afford it.

"How much time will it take for the cost to come down?" Long Yaohua was silent for a while before he began to ask.

"Chief, it depends on our order. The higher the production quantity, the lower the cost. Without production, the R&D cost will be higher...... "Xie Kai said. "At the same time, there are reactive armor and the like that are not used, and once other technologies used to improve performance are used, the cost will be higher. ”

“……”

Hearing Xie Kai say that the cost will be higher, the excitement on the faces of Long Yaohua and the others is even worse.

"How many orders does Iraq have in mind? How many vehicles will be produced to reduce the cost to what level?" Long Yaohua did not say anything more about reducing the configuration of the exported tanks.

Before talking about this, they looked at the 404 tank prototype that was still undergoing service life tests at the tank test site of the 404 base garrison regiment, and then put forward the military's needs.

Just on the issue of cost, it is difficult for the military to afford.

How do you go on?

We can only count on more foreign orders to reduce costs.

"It's not clear for the time being, everything has to be based on the combat experiments of the 11 prototypes, and even the other party is likely to use them in actual combat to see the results and place orders. "Expensive tanks are not the same as regular tanks.

The Type 69 main battle tank, which was transformed from the Type 59, is technologically backward, its firepower is too poor, and its defense is even worse.

They need tanks with more advanced performance to increase their combat effectiveness.

The 359 tank became an option, and if it could not surpass the T72, such a high price, coupled with the possible immaturity of the new technology, the Soviet T72 would be their best choice.

"When the 404 was developed in the project, didn't it consider its domestic use?" Li Mingshan still asked.

He wanted to hear a comforting answer.

Hope to hear that there is another solution.

"Chief, this project, the military was not interested in it before. In order to keep the project going, we sought investment from abroad. Zheng Yucheng gave Li Mingshan enough face.

But the more Li Mingshan listened, the more unpleasant it became.

The military has no money!

The military is poor!

The military is not uninterested, but does not dare to be interested.

Once you're interested, you'll have to pay for it.

"For China, our purpose is to make the research and development technology fill the domestic gap, make up for the gap between domestic and foreign, as for whether it can be used, it should not be our consideration. The M1 main battle tank in service with the United States, the Leopard 2 main battle tank in Germany, and even the T80 main battle tank in the Soviet Union have sold for more than five million dollars internationally......"

"The selling price and the cost price are two different things! Otherwise, the Americans and the Soviets can afford to equip so much?" Li Mingshan unceremoniously accused Xie Kai.

"Even at the cost price, our troops are too poor to afford much, chief!" Xie Kai said unceremoniously, "We are different from 617 and other units, raising project funds and developing technology on our own. Chief, if these costs are not counted, and even profits are not counted, how can 404 develop? If this is the case, can we continue to develop it?"

"I don't think the chiefs will use this method of killing chickens and taking eggs and fishing with all their might, right?" Xie Kai's direct words blocked Li Mingshan and others from wanting to make 404 put aside profits in terms of price and technical costs of research and development.

Without profits, and even the original investment costs cannot be recovered, how can we continue to develop new projects?

So far, the 404 base has several key projects.

The Yun-10 project to transform the transport aircraft and the early warning aircraft has always been in the process of being designed, and the Chao-7 project has also been launched, and there are also 122-mm howitzers......