"Of course, if you want the aircraft to have good maneuverability, you also need high-thrust engines." The engineer continued: "Now, we can already produce our own TF41 and F110, two advanced engines, and purchased the Al-37 engine from the Soviet Union, on the basis of these engines, we want to improve the original F110 engine, increase the thrust and thrust-to-weight ratio, and meet the needs of supersonic cruise and maneuverability. Our fighter needs to reach a supersonic cruising speed of at least Mach 1.4 for a time of no less than half an hour. ”

Supersonic cruising at Mach 1.4! Prince Sultan was suddenly shocked in his heart, this fighter sounded much higher than the plans of the Americans, only the F-22, which was developed by the Americans themselves and did not plan to be exported, had this kind of maneuverability!

"How long is it expected that your fighter will be successfully developed?" Khalid asked. After all, now the other party's introduction is very good, but Pakistan's technological strength is there, if it has been developed for more than 20 years, and it still can't be developed, then it will be meaningless.

"Our various technologies are in the process of pre-research." "Yesterday, we just conducted a supersonic cruise test, and we have already met the expected requirements," the engineer said. ”

Already experimented? Prince Sultan was overjoyed, which shows that Pakistan has begun to develop this kind of fighter in a down-to-earth manner!

"I was here during the test flight yesterday." Muhammad said, "Let's go, I'll take you to see the testing machine." ”

The representative of the Saudi side came out of the conference room and headed for the airport runway outside.

There, a fighter plane is getting ready for action.

When Prince Sultan and the others sat down, they watched the fighter take off quickly and shortly, pointing straight into the blue sky. Then in the data reported by the radar, it showed that the fighter was cruising at supersonic speeds, and Prince Sultan kept nodding.

"Yes, we are very interested in Pakistan to develop fourth-generation aircraft." Prince Sultan said: "How much do you plan to invest in this fourth-generation aircraft project?" ”

"The plan of our department. It is expected to cost at least about $50 billion, and it may take more than five years. "In order to speed up the progress of the project, we have now cooperated with Huaxia to develop it. ”

Working with Huaxia? Huaxia is said to have independently developed a third-generation aircraft, the performance seems to be good, but also a duck layout, if Pakistan and Huaxia work together, it will definitely be able to speed up the speed of development!

"Okay, we're Saudi. Ten billion dollars can be invested, divided over five years, and two billion dollars can be allocated every year. Prince Sultan said: "However, after the successful development of this fighter, we in Saudi Arabia hope to produce it ourselves." ”

Ten billion dollars! This is definitely a lot of money, after all, the fighter jointly developed by Pakistan and Huaxia is planned to invest about 20 billion US dollars. It is definitely not as much as the United States, after all, the labor cost of the Americans is too high. Such. Saudi Arabia can be regarded as sharing half of the development cost, and Pakistan and Huaxia only need to invest 10 billion US dollars, and both sides can afford it.

As for Saudi Arabia's hope that it can produce it on its own, it can also export a final assembly line to Saudi Arabia, so that Saudi Arabia can assemble it itself, as for the most confidential engine. Pakistan has to provide, stealth coating and the like, and Pakistan needs to help spray.

Mhammad thought about all this quickly in his mind, and then said, "Absolutely, but." Saudi Arabia needs a large number of skilled industrial workers. Aircraft manufacturing requires senior technicians, and Saudi Arabia must start now, and can send some personnel to our factory in Pakistan to learn, and after a few years, after the technology is proficient, you can go back to manufacturing. ”

"Okay, that's for the best!" Prince Sultan said happily, of course he didn't know that Pakistan had asked for a large number of laborers for free, and that they were only allowed to participate in the final assembly of the aircraft, and that after they returned, they could only do the task of final assembly, and as for other components, Saudi Arabia needed to continue to send people to study.

As for Saudi Arabia, they need to give an account to the people, and they can't be in the impression of outsiders, they are only rich because of oil, and the domestic industry is backward. Look, Saudi Arabia can produce its own fourth-generation aircraft!

"We have one more condition, though." Mhammad said solemnly.

"President Hammad, please." Prince Sultan was very solemn.

"Fourth-generation aircraft are related to the future national defense of Pakistan and China, so we originally did not plan to export them, and the fourth-generation aircraft produced by Saudi Arabia can only be supplied to Saudi Arabia for its own use, and it is absolutely impossible for foreigners to contact and allow them to obtain any secrets, including Americans."

In case the Americans have hot eyes and come to a confrontation exercise or something, and find out the performance of this fighter thoroughly, it will be absolutely detrimental to Pakistan's national defense, which is a negative impact. However, if we rely only on Pakistan and Huaxia to develop fourth-generation aircraft, we will face the problem of insufficient funding, and the development progress will be very long. After all, joint research and development is now the mainstream, which is too expensive.

Moreover, the export of fighter planes is not only profitable, but also related to a country's national defense policy, and Pakistan's export of fighter planes to Saudi Arabia will further deepen the relationship between the two countries, and in the long run, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

"Okay, we promise." Prince Sultan said: "Just like the DF-3 missiles you provided to us, they will never be accessible to the Americans." ”

The matter of developing a fourth-generation aircraft has been decided, although Prince Sultan needs to return to his home country to report to the king, but there is no big problem, and it will definitely be approved. The Pakistani side needs to negotiate with the Chinese side and tell the Chinese side that an investor has come, and that the Chinese side should also be able to analyze the stakes and agree to the accession of Saudi Arabia, otherwise, it can only be scattered and each has its own business. Without the support of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, if China develops it independently, the fourth-generation aircraft will probably be able to achieve its eyebrows in the 21 st century.

After all, the current development of the fourth-generation aircraft is completely carried out by Pakistan as the main body, and the allocation given to Chengfei by Huaxia is just to support the Jian-10 of the third-generation aircraft. The development of the fourth-generation aircraft, which cost a huge amount of money, is still unable to be supported by Huaxia's current national strength.

In the blink of an eye, Saudi Arabia sent another sum of money to Pakistan, and Mhammad already felt very satisfied, but then, Prince Sultan's words made Mhammad happy again.

"We're here this time, and we want to visit your shipyard." Prince Sultan said: "I heard that now Pakistan is independently building advanced destroyers. ”

Destroyer! Pakistan is now building the first real Shield of Friendship battleship, the Hassat-class, which is under construction at the Karachi shipyard in Pakistan, and has been launched and entered the final outfitting stage, while Pakistan's second self-built aircraft carrier, the Indomitable, is now preparing to build its hull at the shipyard. Pakistan's shipbuilding industry has ushered in a small peak.

Prince Sultan came to Pakistan not only to see those wheeled off-road missile launchers in Pakistan, but also to see the shipbuilding industry in Pakistan!

Saudi Arabia has ordered several Pakistani-made oil tankers, and after they were put into service, they found that the performance was advanced, no worse than those made in Western European countries, and the price was cheaper. And Pakistani-made warships are also included in the scope of Saudi Arabia's inspection!

Of course, Mhammad will not refuse, if Saudi Arabia is happy to watch and orders Pakistan's Aegis warships, that one will be at least two billion dollars!

Prince Sultan and his entourage, full of interest, arrived at the Karachi shipyard on the southern coast of Pakistan on the third day.

Compared with the powerful air force, the Saudi Navy is very weak, and in later generations, the Saudi Navy is also very weak, with only 15,500 people in the entire navy, including 3,000 marines. The main force of the navy is several Lafayette-class frigates imported from France, which Saudi Arabia has renamed the Riyadh class, and the rest are corvettes and missile boats and the like.

In later generations, Saudi Arabia spent a high price to purchase littoral combat ships equipped with the Aegis system from the United States, which were not even equipped with Standard 2 missiles, and the United States offered a sky-high price of more than $10 billion, which was almost enough to build an aircraft carrier formation.

Pakistan also spent a lot of money when developing its own Aegis warships, and it is time to pay for it. The radar parameters of the export-oriented warships must be modified, which is completely different from the type used by the country.

Aegis warships are different from others, now except for the United States, there is no second country that has them, even Western Europe has not developed them, and moreover, Pakistan uses active radar-guided missiles, which are more advanced in performance and even more expensive, and Mhammad has already made plans in his heart, two billion dollars a piece, which is definitely not high!

The Karachi shipyard has always been a busy scene, with countless cranes lifting all kinds of parts, arc sparks splashing on the scaffolding erected on the slipway, and countless workers busy.

On the outfitting slipway on the side, Prince Sultan came to the periphery of the Aegis battleship that was being outfitted, looking at the huge silhouette of the hull with an excited face.

"This is the most advanced destroyer we are building on our own." "It will be equipped with a powerful anti-air combat system, including a four-sided phased array radar and vertical-launch missiles, to counter saturation attacks," Mhammad said. Its performance is completely comparable to that of the American Aegis system. (To be continued......)