As a military representative born in a country where "first-class products are used for oneself and second-rate, third-rate, and fourth-rate products are exported", Tom really couldn't understand why the republic's military trade was so contrary to international practice

"So......" Jill asked, frowning, to the Mr. Tom.

"No problem." Tom snorted and hurriedly replied.

Don't look at the fact that I appeared on behalf of the Ministry of Defense today, it seems that I can show off my might in the name of the Ministry of Defense, but this kind of thing can only be used on those small defense service providers, and it is absolutely impossible to use it on Alice Group...... Tom knew very well that the bigwigs in the Department of Defense wanted the Alice Group to provide them with the most advanced strategic transport aircraft, fighter jets, tiltrotors, and other weapons, but the Alice Group did not provide them.

"Still, Miss Jill, you have some competitors today." Tom's face showed a hint of embarrassment, "I can only assure you that I will give you the fairest judgment on both of you, which of you best meets the requirements of the military, and in the end, the Ministry of Defense will procure whose product." ”

"Huh?" Jill blinked, and the Alice Group came to the test? I haven't really heard of this, "Mr. Tom, you've done a good job of secrecy." ”

Jill's words were pleasant, and Major Tom's face changed suddenly.

The tradition of the United States, if several manufacturers come to bid for the same project at the same time, the military will notify them of each other's competitors in advance, one of the reasons is to let them explore the details of each other's bidding products as much as possible, and the other is to urge them to strive for more and more excellence in their own products in this way, and provide the military with better performance and quality products...... Being accused of this by the Alice Group was definitely not a pleasant thing for Major Tom.

Although theoretically there was no reason to be afraid of the Alice Group, Major Tom explained to Jill as quickly as possible, and Major Tom, who looked terrified, stammered to Jill and said, "Miss Jill, I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. ”

Jill smiled and nodded, not speaking. What does the above mean? This explanation seems to be reasonable, but if you explained it to me when we first met, then I naturally wouldn't blame you for the matter, but you only said at this time, is it because I am a bully? Or am I being a fool?

Jill smiled silently, but on Major Tom's forehead, sweat trickled down: it was a mistake, it was really a mistake.

At this moment, several test cars provided by Ford to the military slowly drove over, and Jill couldn't help but squint: This car is really familiar.

It does look familiar, because this car is too much like a Ford F-650, or rather, this is a Ford F-650.

Just a glance, Jill quickly distinguished that the military vehicle provided by Ford to the United States seems to be similar to the military vehicle provided by the Alice Group, but unlike the Alice Group specially designed a military vehicle, the car provided by Ford to the United States is based on the Ford F-650XUV for militarization, replaced with front and rear bumpers that meet the requirements of the military, and is equipped with chassis protective armor that can resist individual mines. The body is surrounded by armor plates that can resist rifle bullets, and even the bulletproof glass around it is equipped with shutter-style bulletproof armor strips, which look like an oversized turtle shell. …,

This time, Ford sent Mr. Thompson of Ford's weapons development and testing department to conduct the test, Thomson is the person in charge of Ford's special development of military vehicles, and almost every car purchased by the United States has passed through Thomson's hands

Thomson's position in the Ford Motor Group is transcendent, and it can even be said that Thomson alone provoked Ford's military sales, but the face of Jill, Miss Alice's assistant and secretary, still did not dare to slack off in the slightest, and after discovering Jill, Thompson immediately rushed over with a two-wheeled electric car.

"Miss Jill, I'm glad to have met you here." Thompson came to Jill first, greeted Jill with excitement and respect, and instead temporarily put Major Tom, the representative of the Pentagon, away.

Alice Group's help to Ford over the years, if in the idiom of a republic, is "Grace Reengineering", and although the two companies have become competitors on this project, and neither side seems to have any intention of withdrawing, this does not prevent Mr. Thompson from showing his respect for Jill.

"Mr. Thompson, your messy hairstyle is about to catch up with Mr. Einstein." Jill smiled and shook Thompson's hand, quipping, "What?" Mr. Thompson, are you going to be an Einstein second? ”

Thomson is in his forties, and naturally he can't look wrinkled like the great scientist and physicist Albert Einstein, but this guy's hairstyle has the posture of looking like Mr. Einstein, with a little curly, hard hair growing messily towards the sky, like a weed trying to absorb sunlight and moisture, compared with Mr. Einstein's hairstyle, except that it is not the kind of gray and white hair, everything else is almost the same, and it is a young version of Einstein's hairstyle.

Gil uses Einstein as a metaphor for himself, which is the greatest affirmation of his work and ability, and Thompson's forehead with obvious Jewish blood is more and more obvious, "Hehe...... Miss Jill, you are so gracious, if it is convenient, please help our president to say hello to Miss Alice. ”

Alice herself and Bill. Ford has a good relationship, and Thompson, as one of Ford's core executives, is naturally qualified to say this.

Jill immediately smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Mr. Ford, for your greetings, I will definitely convey it truthfully." ”

With Jill's words, Thompson breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and pointed to several test delivery vehicles parked in the distance and said to Jill, with a smug tone in his tone, "Miss Jill, what do you think of our car?" ”

Like the Alice Group, Ford has also developed a variety of models of deformed cars on the basis of the F-650, including more than 10 types of deformed cars, such as general-purpose, bottom-of-the-stack command, reconnaissance, ambulance, and battlefield transportation, and so on.

Obviously, Thompson put a lot of effort into this car, so in the tone of his conversation with Jill, Thompson is not without showing off.

"Not bad," Alice looked at the Ford military vehicles parked not far away, frowned, and suddenly asked Thompson, "Mr. Thompson, if I'm not mistaken, your car is still using the 6.7L Cummins V8 engine?" ”

Ford F650 car weight is 11.8 tons, the original use of the 6.7L Cummins V8 diesel engine can produce a maximum of 325 horsepower and 800 Nm of maximum torque, this power and torque, to push the original weight of 11.8 tons of civilian version of F-650 is enough, as a civilian vehicle, this behemoth can even drag a trailer of more than 20 tons, this is F-650 makes Ford proud of the place, but if it is a military car, That's a bit of a no-brainer. …,

First of all, just the car is equipped with a variety of armor, bulletproof glass is not less than 8 tons, and then it will be loaded with all kinds of personnel and weapons and the like, the total weight of the battle will not be less than 22 tons, 22 tons of full weight, if it is in good road conditions, the problem of the engine is not very big, but if it is driving in bad terrain conditions, the power of the car is completely insufficient to cope.

For example, in the mountains of Afghanistan, the heavy body of this car, if you still use this 6.7L Cummins V8 diesel engine, it is quite a bit of a "small horse-drawn cart", and some can't cope with it.

Thompson's face suddenly changed.

Everyone is engaged in military vehicles, what kind of engine with approximate performance parameters, what kind of situation can be handled, everyone is clear, Jill is right, these cars sent by Ford for testing this time are indeed the 6.7L Cummins V8 supercharged diesel engine used on the civilian Ford F-650.

Of course, the fuel used by the military is not the same as the fuel used by the civilian population; the fuel used by the US military at present is JP8 fuel, which is a kind of fuel commonly used by the navy, army, and air force, which mainly uses kerosene, and if the F-650, which originally used diesel, wants to "enlist in the army," it must revise its own "recipe." Naturally, the US military cannot prepare a separate fuel for a single vehicle, and it is necessary to let this car also use JP8 fuel.

In order to make the military version of the F-650 sent for testing meet the requirements of the US side, this car must be modified with a diesel 6.7L Cummins V8 diesel engine, or simply replaced with an engine. As a partner who has served the United States for many years, Ford naturally has this technology, but in terms of engine technology, Ford is not a strong point.

Sure enough, hearing Jill ask this, Thomson's face was a little unnatural, everyone is an insider, and some things can't be hidden, although he doesn't want to say it, Thomson still has to admit it vaguely, "Miss Jill, this ...... Well, we made the appropriate modifications to that engine to meet the requirements of the military. ”

As soon as these words came out, Jill understood that the Ford Group provided the military with the 6.7L Cummins V8 engine, but unlike the previous use of diesel, this time the 6.7L Cummins V8 engine uses the standard JP8 fuel of the United States, and the calorific value of kerosene is higher than that of diesel, so it is estimated that it can only produce a maximum power of 325 horsepower and 800 Nm. If the maximum power of the engine is redesigned and modified, the maximum power can reach about 400 horsepower, and the maximum torque can also reach 900-950 Nm. Rice.

Relatively speaking, it is a lot better than before, but it still has a bit of a "small horse-drawn cart" flavor.

Thompson looked at Jill and did not speak, if Ford could get the ceramic engine technology of the Alice Group, then the heart problem of the F-650 military version could naturally be solved. Ford itself even secretly calculated that if the ceramic engine of the Alice Group can be used, even if it is the one with a displacement of only 4.5L, it will be enough to meet the requirements of the American side...... What is particularly attractive is that the ceramic engine was originally known for being "not picky", and conventional civilian fuels have an appetite for it, not to mention high-grade military fuels.

Unfortunately, Thompson also understands that this is just his own idea, except for his own use, Alice Group has never had the idea of selling its ceramic engine to a third party for use, and even those companies that are interested in Alice Group's ceramic engine technology want to buy back a car equipped with a ceramic engine for disassembly and reverse learning, and the final result is tragic...... Alice Group has obviously anticipated this, so they have installed a self-destruct device on each ceramic engine, if you don't use a specific device to disassemble the engine, the result is only one, the built-in self-destruct device inside the engine will blow up the inside of the engine into a mess, of course, for safety reasons, the engine shell is still intact, but what is the use? …,

"That's ......," Jill smiled and nodded.

As far as the Pentagon is concerned, as long as the batch of military vehicles provided by Ford to replace the Hummer can still get by, even if it is for the sake of Ford's face, they will purchase a batch in small batches for trial...... Who made the US ** rich and rich?

However, since Jill has already asked here, not asking about the attitude of the Alice Group in terms of ceramic engines, Thompson is really unwilling...... It's just a matter of asking, and a piece of meat is indispensable anyway.

"Miss Jill, with all due respect," Thompson asked Gil cautiously, "based on our deep friendship, I wonder if your group could consider selling us your ceramic engine?" ”

"Huh?" Jill's brows suddenly furrowed!

But Thompson's heart was suddenly happy: in the past, when Ford Motor brought up this issue, the Alice Group did not hesitate to directly refuse, and today it depends on what Miss Jill means......

Thompson's heart began to pound uncontrollably: Could it really be a play?

The weight of the 6.7L Cummins V8 engine used on the Ford F-650 is not light, together with the engine gearbox assembly, the weight is considerable, because it is a diesel engine, the characteristics of the diesel engine determine that it is impossible to adopt a lightweight all-aluminum design, except for the use of some aluminum alloy parts in a small amount of inconsequential parts, the whole engine is basically cast iron, it can be said that this engine is an iron lump. How much is the weight of ceramics compared to cast iron? If it can be replaced with the 4.5L displacement ceramic engine of the Alice Group, the engine and gearbox alone can save two-thirds of the weight compared to the previous one.

Two-thirds of the weight! The weight of the entire engine and gearbox assembly, including the air intake system, exhaust system, and cooling system, is more than 2 tons, but what if you can get the ceramic engine of the Alice Group? The weight of the entire powertrain was suddenly reduced to about 700 kilograms, which means that there is suddenly an extra load capacity of almost 1.5 tons, and what this extra load capacity means for the military is self-evident!

This means that this vehicle can carry more fuel, more weapons and ammunition, more logistics supplies and even more powerful weapon systems, which brings more powerful combat capabilities, longer combat radius and distance, which is enough to cause qualitative changes!

Of course, although he thought it was possible, Thompson really didn't have much hope: even the military vehicles sold by the Alice Group to the Republic were not equipped with ceramic engines.

"So?" Jill smiled slightly, thought about it for a long time, and then said, "The engine assembly is not possible, but it is not impossible to provide some ceramic accessories for this engine used in your car." ”

What the? I didn't expect Jill to really give an affirmative answer, Thompson was instantly squeezed by happiness, although Jill still did not agree to provide a ceramic engine, but even to provide lighter weight and better performance ceramic accessories for this Cummins engine, it also made Thompson want to cry happily...... Even so, it could save a lot of weight on this cast iron engine.

Looking at Thompson, who was almost in tears with excitement, Jill smiled silently.

Agreeing to Thompson's condition does not conflict with the competition between the Alice Group and Ford Motor on the Pentagon's military vehicle project, just like the saying of the Americans: business is business.

We have a close collaboration, but that doesn't make it a fight for us on a competing project; We compete in many areas, but that doesn't stop us from working together on a project of common interest...... Business is business, and it is not only the relationship between the two parties that determines whether we cooperate or compete, but the interests.

"I ...... I need to tell this good news immediately, Mr. President! For a long time, the excited Thompson calmed down a little, and took out his mobile phone with trembling fingers.

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