The incident happened suddenly, and Wang Dong didn't dare to delay at all. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

According to Wang Dong's speculation, Prince Mohammed will definitely do a lot of things after he ascends the throne, such as cleaning up the remnants of Nayef.

However, Muhammad first had to strengthen his control over the army.

Although the Saudi army, especially the army, did not perform well on the battlefield, for the royal power, the army was everything.

Muhammad started out in the army, and naturally did not neglect military construction.

Whether it is internally or externally, there is much to be done in military construction.

Prior to this, Saudi Arabia had stabilized the United States with a large arms purchase order of $100 billion and strengthened its relations with China with an arms purchase contract of more than $30 billion.

For the benefactor who helped him ascend to the throne, Prince Mohammed would certainly not be stingy.

As expected, he will launch the Army's refitting program in the near future, using billions of dollars to purchase new firearms for the Army and maintain his relationship with Wang Dong.

For local tyrants who sell tens of billions or hundreds of billions of dollars, billions of dollars are nothing.

What's more, the DF762 series of firearms produced by D&F has been tested in real combat and has been highly praised by Saudi special forces.

It's just that Wang Dong still underestimated Prince Mohammed's boldness.

Two days later, when Wang Dong returned to Edinburgh, Serena had already received the tender letter, and the standard firearm replacement work codenamed "Advanced Individual Combat System Project" was officially launched.

Wang Dong did not delay and immediately contacted Musharraf, who had already arrived in Riyadh.

Serena got the official tender letter, and the specific content, that is, the specific needs of the Saudi Ministry of Defense, had to rely on Musharraf.

Musharraf did not disappoint Wang Dong, and the news he found out did not surprise Wang Dong.

The Saudi Ministry of Defense requires bidders to provide two calibres of firearms, namely small-caliber rifle cartridges and medium-caliber general-purpose cartridges, without explicit restrictions on calibers, but only requires that the winning bidders must establish factories in Saudi Arabia and transfer relevant patents to joint ventures Saudi state-owned enterprises.

In terms of the number of purchases, there are at least 200,000 rifles and 20,000 general-purpose machine guns.

In principle, the total amount of the contract shall not exceed US$3 billion, but according to the specific content of the contract, corresponding subsidies may be given conditionally.

The most important thing is performance.

The main performance of small-caliber rifles is at least 100% higher than that of the AR15 series rifles with SS109 cartridges, while the main performance of general-purpose machine guns is not inferior to that of DF762NM machine guns with standard barrels and WX762 cartridges, that is, "all-hard core rounds".

Not to mention the joint venture factory construction in Saudi Arabia and the transfer of patents, the performance requirements alone block other companies outside D&F.

In Musharraf's words, this is a request for proposals tailored for D&F companies.

Just, is it that simple?

After keeping Musharraf in Riyadh in contact with the Saudi authorities, Wang Dong ended the correspondence, but discussions were ongoing.

"What do you think?"

In addition to Lei Dong, who returned with Wang Dong, and Serena, Zhao Yu and Nicholas who stayed at the headquarters, Luo Qing, Zhao Huang and Gao Jun also returned to Edinburgh.

Among the core members, only Wang Haotian and Churkin were in London and participated in the discussion through video calls.

As for Xie Chuyue, Zhang Zilan and Tiehu, they assisted the Gulf coalition forces in Yemen.

Because Musharraf returned to Riyadh, it was Aziz who was in charge of liaising with the Gulf coalition forces in Yemen.

"I'll start with that." Serena broke the silence and said, "Just the performance requirements have excluded guns that use NATO standard caliber cartridges, which means that Saudi Arabia will abandon the NATO standards that have been used for decades, which will inevitably have extremely far-reaching consequences." ”

"Relations with NATO, or with the United States?"

Serena nodded, indicating that this was what she meant.

Although the bullets are very small, even if they are large-caliber machine gun bullets, they are not on the same level as tall fighters, main battle tanks, and submarine warships, but guns and bullets are the most consumed military materials, and the caliber standard of guns and bullets is directly related to a country's military position.

To adopt NATO standards, you will either be a member of NATO or rely on the NATO bloc.

Saudi Arabia's abandonment of NATO standards is not only a military issue, but also has a huge impact on the political and diplomatic levels.

To put it more seriously, it would be considered the beginning of the abandonment of the pro-American policy that had been maintained for decades.

"Actually, don't think about it so seriously." Luo Qing said at this time, "Even if the new caliber is adopted, as long as the standards of other major powers, such as Russia and Huaxia, are not adopted, at most it can only be seen as Saudi Arabia seeking military autonomy, rather than turning its back on the United States." In addition, the United States is also opting for new caliber ammunition, and the next generation of standard rifles has long since made it clear that they will no longer use the existing standard caliber ammunition. ”

"Indeed, if even the United States is ready to abandon the current standard caliber, then Saudi Arabia's adoption of the new standard is nothing more than a step ahead." Zhao Huang followed and said.

"From a purely technical point of view, the continued use of NATO standards has extremely limited room for performance improvement, especially for small-caliber bullets. Whether in Yemen or in Syria, it has been proven that the performance flaws of the SS109 bomb are too great, and no matter how much it is improved, it cannot meet the requirements of real combat. Zhao Yu let out a long breath and said, "Saudi Arabia has a lot of money, and it makes sense to dare to be the first to eat crabs." ”

"If you count the ammunition, Saudi Arabia will invest at least $15 billion to replace standard firearms for the army." Gao Jun said at this time, "The total strength of the Saudi Army is only more than 200,000 troops, and if in other countries, such as Pakistan, the cost of refitting is as high as tens of billions of dollars." The key point is that Saudi Arabia has abundant financial resources, and if it can indeed greatly increase the combat effectiveness of its individual soldiers, it will not be a loss to spend more than $10 billion. ”

"In fact, even if you count the other Gulf countries, if you all change their clothes, it will be 25 billion US dollars." Nicholas continued, "For these tyrant countries that have made their fortune on oil, it is indeed a good deal to spend more than $20 billion to improve the combat effectiveness of the officers and men of the army. ”

"Obviously, capital and cost are not the first issues to be considered by local tyrants." Gao Jun made a summary.

"That's right, money isn't the key." Wang Dong knocked on the table and said, "It's just that you ignore a question, Saudi Arabia's national defense and security rely on the army?" In fact, even on the battlefield in Yemen, the Saudi Army has played little value, and the main force is the Air Force. Saudi Arabia is indeed wealthy, but when the existing standard firearms can still be used, what reason is there to risk offending the United States to re-equip the army? ”

At this point, everyone else kept their mouths shut.

Obviously, Wang Dong said that the key point is that Saudi Arabia is changing standard firearms for the army at this time, obviously not only out of military considerations.

There must be a deeper reason for this.