"We can do the exterior rust removal in a few months with enough manpower, and then repaint, but before that, there is a crucial step." The technical representative of the Jiangnan shipyard, an old engineer in his forties, said to Mhammad.

After a day of surveying, they already have a general idea in their minds, and there may be discrepancies in the details, which is generally so much.

Now, in their offices at the Karachi shipyard, they report directly to President Hammad on the initial idea of refit.

"Say it." Mhammad said.

"There was a fire in one of the boilers, which was considered abandoned, and we had to replace it with a new one, but to replace this new boiler, we needed to cut through the deck of the aircraft carrier." The old engineer said.

Cut through the deck! It's the equivalent of a major surgery! However, apart from cutting the deck, there was simply no second option.

Mhammad frowned: "Will welding after cutting will affect the strength of the aircraft carrier?" ”

"If the welding is right, it won't affect it at all, but we don't have the technology to weld the deck of an aircraft carrier." The old engineer said.

The deck of the aircraft carrier needs to withstand the huge impact force of aircraft take-off and landing, as well as extremely complex service environments such as gas erosion and explosion impact, and the strength level and thickness are much higher than that of general hull structural steel. Although Huaxia can produce ordinary destroyers, it is impossible to produce steel for aircraft carriers, and there is no welding technology required.

In later generations, even when the Liaoning was refitted, because the main engine had to be hoisted, the steel plate needed to be cut, and the outside world judged at that time that the eastern countries could not repair the aircraft carrier! It's because of the technique of cutting the deck and then welding. It's not something that ordinary countries can master.

"Second, this catapult, after nearly ten years of storage, has rust on the surface because it was not properly sealed, even after we have polished it. I'm afraid it won't be as tightly bonded as before, so it will also be necessary to import cylinders and pistons for two new C-11 catapults from the United States. ”

Hearing this, Mhammad frowned even more.

Catapult! As carrier-based aircraft become heavier and heavier, it becomes more and more difficult to take off from aircraft carriers under their own power, so it is necessary to rely on catapults.

It was Britain that first developed the steam catapult, and the United States carried it forward. With the demise of the British aircraft carrier program, the United States became the only country in the world that could produce catapults.

The catapult, in principle, is not complicated, that is, it relies on high-pressure steam to push out the piston in the cylinder, and the piston carries the cart to eject the fighter attached to the cart.

However, it requires machining precision. But it's very high, and there are too many air leaks. The catapult will not work properly.

This aircraft carrier, due to improper sealing, the cylinders and pistons of the catapult, are rusty, and even if they are repaired, I am afraid they will not be able to reach the original level.

Americans don't care. Because this is a light C-11 catapult, if they want to re-enter service with this aircraft carrier, they will definitely modify the heavy C-13 catapult to be able to catapult Tomcat fighters.

However, Mhammad has a big head. What he values most is the catapult, if there is no catapult, relying on the jumping deck, the Tomcat fighter may be able to fly, but the E-2 early warning aircraft is absolutely not good, without the early warning aircraft, the aircraft carrier has no eyes.

New C-11 catapults must be purchased from the United States!

"Thirdly, it's steel." The old engineer continued: "According to your requirements, it is necessary to modify a 15-degree jumping deck at the bow of the aircraft carrier, and the modification of this bow requires several hundred tons of steel, which can only be imported from the United States. ”

Generally speaking, the Americans are well maintained, especially the cables and pipelines on the ship, after so many years of wind and sun, they can still maintain their original state, and they have not aged at all.

The key is that there is no alternative to these three aspects, and they must rely on the United States to provide it.

Therefore, at that time, the United States said that it was necessary to refit from American shipyards, and Pakistan really couldn't do it, not only Pakistan, but even if it was replaced by Britain and France, I am afraid that there would be nothing that could be done, and the United States had to turn to the United States for help.

Listening to the opinions of the old engineers, Mhammad wrote them down one by one, and he had to find a way to get rid of them, and if he didn't want to be squeezed by the Americans, he had to look at the hostages.

It seems that it is necessary for me to push a little more in the hostage incident.

It was already late at night when I returned from Karachi to Islamabad, and as soon as I got off the plane, Mhammad received a report from Old Arslan, and there was unfavorable news from South Africa!

The French, who actually sold the Mirage 4000 to India!

What to do? Sitting in the car back to the presidential palace, Mhammad was thinking of countermeasures, summoned the French ambassador to Pakistan, and lodged a stern protest with him? Or do you want to meet with the American ambassador and ask the United States to come forward and put pressure on France to stop this contract?

After all, France is not a NATO country, and the proud Gallic chickens, since the time of Charles de Gaulle, have been very confident that they will not compromise under the pressure of the United States, let alone attach importance to Pakistan's protests.

Pakistan has to come up with an effective solution!

The car drove into the presidential palace, where the elder Arslan, chief of the Air Force's chief of staff, and Nur Khan, the deputy chief of the army's general staff, were waiting for him, while Mushaaf, the defense minister, went to Karachi with Mhammad and then came with him.

"The Mirage 4000 is a heavy twin-engine fighter developed by Dassault in France, with a similar body structure to the Mirage 2000, but with two M53 engines, the thrust-to-weight ratio is more than one, and it can climb vertically effortlessly. "Once the Indian Air Force is equipped with this kind of fighter, it will pose a threat to our Tomcat fleet," Arslan said. At least our advantages will be significantly reduced. ”

At present, Pakistan's air force is equipped with Tomcat fighters, almost all of the Indian Air Force, but after the Indian Air Force is equipped with the Mirage 4000, this advantage will be greatly reduced, in addition to the advantage of the Immortal Bird missile at long range, the advantage of medium and short range is no longer obvious.

The medium-range Matra super 530F, in addition to the maximum range is smaller, the rest of the performance is not worse than the sparrow, when the development to the super 530D, the performance is more stable, now in the sky over the Iran-Iraq war, the Mirage F1 fighter of the Iraqi Air Force mounted with 530F missiles, has the opportunity to use the old MiG-21 as bait to hunt the Tomcat.

The short-range Magic 2 air-to-air missile slightly exceeds the performance of the American AIM-9L combat missile.

"We need to be familiar with the performance of this fighter, if we can conduct confrontation drills with this fighter, we can find the weaknesses of this fighter, I believe that our Tomcat fighter still has an advantage." Nur Khan said.

Nur Khan is also from the Air Force and has great confidence in Pakistan's own Air Force fighters.

"The news that Rick came over, not only India, but also the French sold this kind of fighter to Iraq." Musha'f said to Mhammad.

Yes, and Iraq! And Iraq is a sworn enemy with Iran!

Although they are also Muslims, and Saudi Arabia and other countries support Iraq to prevent Khomeini's export revolution, any country, first of all, is to serve its own national interests, so now Pakistan has a lot of secret contacts with Iran, at least, the maintenance of the Tomcat fleet has a lot of experience from Iran, which is more sophisticated than that of the US Navy.

"Looks like we're going to have to punch hard." "There are three ways in which we are hindering the Indians from getting these warplanes," Mhammad said. ”

Three aspects! In Mhammad's mind, a countermeasure was gradually formed.

Mere protest to France is of no use and will put Pakistan at a disadvantage. Internationally, when it is time to use a crooked brain, it is necessary to use a crooked brain.

"First, we are in contact with Iran again, as long as the Iranians know that France has sold the Mirage 4000 fighter jets to Iraq, they will be very dissatisfied, and simply let the Iranians control those extremist forces, take the French hostages, especially the Dassault people, stop the French deal, and if the French want to save the hostages, they will suspend all the Mirage 4000 export contracts. At the same time, those who shout jihadist slogans, should go to Dassault and create some chaos. It's better to blow up the production hall at Dassault. Mhammad said.

When Mhammad said this, he was almost frightened, this is a naked terrorist attack.

"Second, contact Saudi Arabia to make an intention to buy Mirage 4000 from France, and ask for equipment for the Saudi government first." "Interfering with the contracts of the Indians," Mhammad said. ”

Saudi Arabia is a big family, it doesn't take much effort to buy a few Mirage 4000s, the French, it's good to be able to build ten Mirage 4000s a year, and the output of this kind of heavy fighter is definitely not high. Now, the relationship between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is very good, especially to help Saudi Arabia negotiate the export of Dongfeng-3, Saudi Arabia will definitely help, and when Saudi Arabia obtains this kind of fighter, Pakistan can communicate with the Saudi Air Force and conduct guò exercises to find the weakness of this fighter.

"Third, closely monitor the purchase of planes between India and the French, and when you find out that these fighters are coming, find a suitable opportunity to blow them up!"

If it's a ship by sea, then send out a Tomcat fighter and sink the opposing ship! Regardless of whether it is a civilian ship or not, it will not admit that it did it by itself anyway. If he flies over, then after landing, send his own special forces to blow up his airfield and fighter planes!

In short, Mhammad's attitude is resolute. (To be continued......)