The main goal of the Saudi Air Force is to purchase 72 fighters with ground attack capabilities, in fact, they themselves are not very clear about the positioning of their own air force, and they do not have much idea about strategic issues, so the Saudis are confused about buying equipment similar to fighting in the east and raking in the west.

The opening of a pilot school in Saudi Arabia is still very interested, the original Al? The Yamaha agreement included a part of the beginner and higher education aircraft, in order to train a group of talents for the Saudi Air Force, which had a serious shortage of pilots at this time. But it is questionable how much Saudi Arabia can learn. If a complete and efficient pilot school is opened directly in Saudi Arabia, the benefits to the Saudi Air Force will be self-evident.

In addition, Qi Yiming had other plans, and he encouraged Prince Bandar to say: "The flight school can be funded by the Saudi side, and we will provide a complete aircraft, instructor system and training personnel, or the Saudi side can also take shares, and the two of us can operate it cooperatively, of course, we can also operate such a flight school on our own, all depending on the Saudi side." ”

These three models have their own benefits, and the Saudi sole proprietorship does not need Qi Yiming to invest anything, and Saudi Arabia pays for the purchase of training aircraft and employees, but in this way, the follow-up operating profits are gone. Of course, if the Chinese side is wholly owned, it needs to bear relatively large risks and financial pressure, and the advantage is that it is also a good industry in the long run. The cooperative shareholding model is centrist, and the risks and profits are balanced.

Bandar nodded: "This is a very good idea, we will seriously consider it, but in the short term, we really will not have a strong demand for a large number of Thunder models." ”

Qi Yiming smiled and said: "I know that you have always hoped to have a part of the fighters that exceed your actual needs as a reserve after the outbreak of a real war, in fact, there is such a consideration in the purchase plan for this military purchase. I know that in addition to the main F-15C/D fighters, your air force also has a number of very early British-made Blitzkriegs, and then more than 60 F-5 fighters. There is no doubt that these fighters will not be of much use in the future, especially compared to the Israeli F-15 and the Lion Cub, which are difficult to compete, well, Iran itself also has a Thunder made in our country, so it really does not have an advantage. From the point of view of operating expenses, the Thunder itself is not much more expensive than these aircraft, but the combat power is indeed much stronger than that of the Lightning and F-5, and more importantly, the price of the Thunder is very cheap, less than 10 million US dollars, which should not be too much investment for your country, and even cheaper than the training aircraft that the UK wants to sell to your country. ”

Bandar can't deny this fact, it is true that the price of the Thunder Dragon is very competitive, and the combat power is also very guaranteed. At this time, a military aide beside him said to the prince in Arabic: "The main purpose of our inspection of the Thunder Dragon is to get some assessment from the Iranian Air Force, although we have briefly learned about it these days, but the depth is still very insufficient. If we can obtain a batch of Thunder Dragons, it will not only become our fighter reserve as Mr. Qi said, but also let the Iraqis know about this fighter, which will be conducive to the direction of the war. ”

The few months that the Thunder entered the Iranian Air Force were almost the most painful for the Iraqi Air Force. With the cooperation of the AWACS aircraft and the excellent technical and tactical skills of the Red Alert pilots lent to the Iranian Air Force, the Iraqi Air Force suffered heavy losses. Saddam Hussein has sent personnel to China on many occasions in the hope of obtaining China's Thunder fighters. But because China and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding not to sell Thunder to Iraq during wartime, nothing came of it.

Bandar listened to what the Air Force staff said, and his eyes lit up, and another royal member of the Ministry of Commerce next to him also instigated: "According to our previous understanding, if we can order more than 50 aircraft, the price of flying away is 8 million US dollars, adding up to 400 million, adding weapons, improving systems, training, maintenance and other costs plus one plus, the contract is about 500 million or less, and compared with other aircraft, FC-1 maintenance is complex and reliable, at least the Chinese's data shows so." ”

Bandar nodded again and again, and began to calculate the account in his heart, in fact, he had a variety of military products to contact China this time, and the most important thing was, of course, the Leopard B project, and the number had already been set at 72. The trainer itself does not intend to teach China, and still wants to use Western products, but if it opens a pilot school, it will definitely be another plan, and it can be put aside for the time being. In addition, the most important one is the Thorn-2 "Red Patriot" anti-aircraft missile that Zhao Jinsong revealed to his father, Prince Sultan. At this time, Saudi Arabia was not a user of the Patriot, and was also using medium-range anti-aircraft missiles such as the French-made Sidewinder, and the pressure on short- and medium-range ballistic missiles from Israel and Iran was considerable.

After Zhao Jinsong threw out the Dongfeng-3 and Thorn-2 projects, he received the full support of King Fahd, and even in the king's view, the arms purchase of ballistic missiles and anti-aircraft missiles was more effective than the purchase of fighter jets. Because the procurement of the DF-3 is very involved, it is still in the communication stage, and the anti-aircraft missiles are not so sensitive, so when Bandar visited China, he incidentally brought to inspect the Thorn-2 air defense missile system, which is actually an Allied Patriot.

The Saudi military plans to purchase a total of eight Thorn-2 air defense systems from China, which can be equipped with eight battalions and a total of 384 missiles, and the total value of the contract will be about $900 million. By any measure, this contract is the most sure deal between China and Saudi Arabia, because there is no other country open to Saudi Arabia to sell than China to provide long-range air defense systems.

The largest authorized contract amount on Bandar's checkbook is $7.8 billion, so let's not talk about the training plane. The affordability of buying Chinese weapons made Bandar feel that he had been bullied to death by the scum of the capitalist countries before. 72 Leopard B heavy multi-role fighters, flying away at a price of $28 million, 72 with a total contract of 24. $400 million. 8 sets of Thorn-2 air defense systems with a total contract value of $900 million. Even with the addition of the optional Leopard B electronic warfare upgrade package that the Saudis have not yet decided, it is only an additional $400 million. Do the math, Bandar can only check out 37. $400 million single.

This naturally makes the Saudi prince, who has deep wealth and nowhere to spend money, feel very different, and has always spent money to spend money, and now the weapons of the Chinese are too affordable, making His Royal Highness very confused.

At this time, another official beside him spoke: "Your Royal Highness, according to the Chinese military's private disclosure, the main pilots who flew the FC-1 to defeat the Iraqis in Iran were actually sent by the Chinese to Iran until they trained, and as a result, the Iranians forcibly ordered them to fight, and they could only fly fighters to fight Iraq as a last resort." Chinese engineers say they are responsible for their customers, and will send a large number of pilots to instruct our air force pilots, and if necessary, they can sign personnel loan agreements. If we buy a batch of Thunder Dragons and ask China to lease a group of pilots to assist in training, we will not only learn a lot of things, but will also be able to temporarily gain a number of powerful combat capabilities. ”

Bandar nodded again and again, thinking that what the official said was very reasonable. It's just that he didn't think deeply about how it was possible to fight for the Iranians if the Chinese pilots who had really lent them to Iran did not agree.

And Qi Yiming, who was sitting opposite, watched this scene of the Saudis turning heads and ears, and his heart was happy. From the day the Saudis arrived in China, Qi Yiming sent special personnel to conduct "public relations" for several important members of the Saudi delegation, which was to put it bluntly, to send money and goods. The few people who just spoke definitely took the benefits of the Chinese side, so they tried to mediate, and once the contract was reached, they would also receive a considerable benefit fee.

Qi Yiming saw that Bandar had been moved, looked at his watch, and pretended to have something to say: "I'm sorry, Your Royal Highness, I still have a very important meeting to attend, if you have any questions, you can continue to ask my deputy Zhou Yutong, hehe, please go to a very distinctive restaurant in Beijing in the evening and try our Chinese food!" ”

Bandar laughed and said that although this part of China is much worse than the bustling city of London, it is clear that China has a peculiar culture to appreciate, especially the Chinese food, which has been praised by the Saudis again and again. The Chinese, who are very discerning and expensive, also invited them to live in a luxury villa complex that seemed to have just been built, and actually invited Yanmar to come to China for service. Bandar could no longer get any benefit from the gloomy Britain, and the Chinese reception made him feel "at home".

Qi Yiming said hello and walked out of the conference room, and nodded to Zhou Yutong, who was waiting at the door. It's not that he really has any important meetings to attend, it's that the next topic is not for him to be present. Although he doesn't have a very official status, he can be regarded as a person with a head and a face. Shenghua Group is now a national key mega defense enterprise, and there are some things he must avoid, that is, to cut off direct contact with himself.

Zhou Yutong, who has always been Qi Yiming's master, entered the conference room with a smile on his face and asked Bandar how yesterday's entertainment was, and all the Saudis smiled very much.

Zhou Yutong sat next to Prince Bandar, lit a cigar for him, and then whispered: "Your Royal Highness, if you are interested in purchasing the Thunder Dragon, we can provide you and your subordinates and family members with a generous gift, well, the flow and disposal of funds will be absolutely clean, we are much more careful than the British to do this kind of thing, what do you think?" ”

Bandar was really interested when he heard this, and said bluntly that although the money in his hand belonged to the royal family, it was still public, but if the transaction could be changed from the Saudi royal family's to China's, and then to his and his father's, it would definitely be the most satisfactory result.

"Yes, let's see what's going on......"