It's almost Christmas, but Saudi Arabia in the Islamic world doesn't feel the Christmas atmosphere as it does in the UK. Mainly responsible for liaising and negotiating Al? The representative of the British side of the Yamaha arms agreement, BAE Systems, John? Weston had even forgotten that Christmas was approaching, and he was so agitated that he kept having mouth sores, which were obviously much more blunt in the West.

In the original history, Saudi Arabia had signed an intentional contract with the United Kingdom in September, but now until December, the British are still immersed in the Tai Chi of the Saudis, and they don't know what to do.

Weston is not completely unaware of what is happening in the road, since Prince Sultan asked him to give him the bugging device set up by the idiots of MI5, Weston felt that things were in trouble, and then there was intelligence that a state-owned defense industry group from China was in frequent contact with the Saudi Ministry of Defense and military personnel, and there was even unconfirmed news that representatives of the Saudi Air Force had gone to China to inspect the Flying Leopard fighters that had shined in the war.

Weston angrily slammed the few information about China's Shenghua Group and the relevant information about the flying leopard on the table, because there was so little that not even a voice sounded. The more Weston thought about it, the more uncalm he became, picked up the phone, and arranged to his secretary: "Those aristocratic lords who contacted the Ministry of Defense for me, if they don't act again, our sky-high contract will definitely be in vain." ”

The secretary said with some embarrassment: "Baron Heseltyn is dealing with the issue of the Falkland Islands garrison, and I am afraid it will be difficult to find time to discuss this issue with us. ”

Weston scolded: "Do they have the kung fu to let MI5 eavesdrop, and don't have the kung fu to discuss how to get the Chinese out of this superior human game?" ”

Weston knew in his heart that the person who ordered the eavesdropping was actually Margaret Thatcher, whether it was the Prime Minister's wife or Baron Hesseltine, who was the Minister of Defense, they had worked this matter, but now they were facing a strong opponent, an opponent who made him feel very insecure at the moment, and he had to turn to political figures to get more leverage.

As an insider in the weapons industry, he can naturally use hundreds of reasons to prove that the Tornado is a better aircraft than the Flying Leopard, but at the same time, he can also see what kind of combat power is contained in the conservative design of the Flying Leopard. The most direct gap is that although the Flying Leopard has been in service for a relatively short period of time, that is, a year's time, it has proven itself on different battlefields, and the concepts of precision strikes outside the defense zone and over-the-horizon defense of fighters and bombers that have been touted and studied by more and more military experts have proved from the other side that the Flying Leopard is the product that represents the development trend of future fighters, while the Hurricane is facing huge challenges.

He also understands that the gap between the Flying Leopard and the Tempest is definitely not irreparable, similar to precision-guided weapons and air-to-air missiles that are fired beyond the horizon, in fact, they can be integrated into the Tempest after the update, and he is convinced of this, when the time comes, the Flying Leopard will also be a Tempest, and the more mature design of the Tempest will kill the Flying Leopard, which is still very immature in the eyes of professionals.

The R-77 of the Soviet Union, the big brother of socialism, has not been in service until now, and several American companies are happily preparing to jointly develop precision-guided weapons with China and the PL-12 introduced into China, and within a few years, Britain really cannot equip their Tempests with over-the-horizon air-to-air missiles and JDAM weapons.

He wanted to urge the technical department, but most of these projects were cooperated by BAE and American companies, and it was useless to work his own, just like having a child.

However, Weston still thought of a trick, and he explained to the secretary: "In any case, we must make some trouble for the Chinese, please inform the personnel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and let them privately tell the Chinese that if China forcibly inserts it into our contract with Saudi Arabia, Britain cannot guarantee that Hong Kong can be smoothly handed over to them." ”

The secretary couldn't help but be startled when he heard his boss's words, and said, "Sir, this matter is too big, isn't it?" We should not be able to deal with it, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will probably not agree. ”

"Leave it to the people of the head office to do it, let them engage in government public relations, in short, the pressure on China must be in place, and the Chinese cannot be allowed to catch up with us so easily!"

————

The British are doing everything they can to sabotage China's deal with Saudi Arabia, while the French are rekindling new passions because of the Chinese involvement.

In fact, Al? The Yamaha Agreement began with two main objects to look at, the United Kingdom and France. In the fall of 1984, the Saudis were interested in the Mirage 4000 developed by Dassault. In order to salvage the decline, first British Defense Minister Hesseltine visited Saudi Arabia, and then Margaret Thatcher did not hesitate to use all kinds of bribery methods to buy Prince Bandar (son of Prince Sultan), and finally overtook the French.

However, when there was only one mile left, Cheng Biting Jin Chinese came out, and the Saudi side also had the idea of using a competitor to fight for better conditions with the UK. How to say that the Phantom 4000 is an undeveloped project, and the Chinese's flying leopard has already had a lot of achievements, so the threat to the wind is greater.

This drama has evolved from a confrontation between the French and the British to a game between the British and the Chinese, but the French will never sit idly by, in fact, they have adopted a more direct method, or a more novel means, to fly directly to China to negotiate cooperation with the Chinese side.

Qi Yiming was still very surprised by Dassault's move, he had a general understanding of Al? Yamaha agreement, also understand the role played by the French in it, but also understand the Al? The Yamaha agreement eventually fell to the UK, which was an important factor in the eventual demise of another type of fighter he liked, the Mirage 4000.

Dassault sent Marcel, a well-known designer in the world whom Qi Yiming respected? Dassault's son, and a year later the head of Dassault, Serge? Dassault. Accompanying Serge at the same time? Dassault was accompanied by another Dassault executive, Charles? Ed Stein. In terms of specifications, it is already quite high-level, and it is hard to imagine that Dassault sent such a senior core personnel to contact the Chinese side at the first meeting.

The meeting with these two was in a courtyard house left by the Manchu clan that Jacqueline bought before, and after some renovation, it was also antique, with carved beams and painted pillars, pavilions and champs, just because there were no flowers and plants in winter.

It seems that they don't have much to adapt to the cold of the winter in Beijing, Serge and Edstein are both thickly wrapped, they look more serious, and they don't have time to appreciate some Chinese customs, which is seriously inconsistent with their French character, but it can be inferred from this Qi Yiming that they seem to have more urgent matters to discuss.

Qi Yiming personally poured tea for these two, there was only one translator from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the scene, Qi Yiming was very fluent in English, and he knew a little bit of French, but there was still a translator who was better on the spot.

"Mr. Qi, it is a great honor to meet you, I heard that you are the main person in charge of China's largest defense contracting company, and you are also the main promoter of the introduction of the Grumman F-14 project. Serge came up as a compliment.

Qi Yiming smiled faintly and said, "Mr. Dassault, my father is one of the designers I admire the most in the aviation field, and your company is a behemoth in the industry, which we need to learn from and emulate." ”

Ed Stein took a sip of tea, I don't know if Lu Dao is not very accustomed to the green tea that Chinese like, just tasted it, he said: "Today, under the trend of economic globalization in the world, everyone needs to learn from each other, Dassault has Dassault's glory and strengths, and our Chinese friends also have their own advantages." A few years ago, China cooperated with your country on the superhornet and other helicopter projects and some missile projects, and achieved great success, and our engineers were very sure of the talent and professionalism of your engineers. I think it is also time to further develop cooperation between China and France in the field of armaments. ”

Unlike Qi Yiming's original timeline, at this time, Dassault did not even have the desire to mention things like Batumi, and he was reluctant to mention any hurtful topics such as human rights, in their eyes, China was a very good market and partner, and if they could make full use of it, it would be of great help to their own growth. In fact, even under the embargo, these economically supreme European countries are willing to continue to sell dual-use products similar to side-kicks to the Celestial Empire, France has provided China with a large amount of information and technology on helicopters and missiles, Germany has directly built engines for China's conventionally powered submarines, and the British have never lagged behind, and they have not given less avionics.

In the end, it is the United States itself that is being constrained.

Qi Yiming also took a sip of fragrant tea lightly and said with a smile: "My country is also very happy to see more cooperation projects with France, whether it is military industry or civilian industry. "This is a hint that no matter what cooperation you want to do with us, you must take care of us in the civil field.

Serge was also very good, and hurriedly said: "Let's see what we can do for China." ”

"Well, I believe that the more cooperation, the more success it will bring. So, tell me, two good friends, what can we achieve this time? ”

Ed Stein took out a large photo from his briefcase and placed it on the round table of mahogany, Qi Yiming just glanced at it casually, and almost fell off his eyeballs, "Phantom 4000?" ”