While the employees of the Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau were lining up to receive their salaries, not far away, in the building of the Design Bureau, the general director of the Madasich Group, Belaev, was receiving a group of guests from Austria.

In fact, he had not received any news about it before, except that yesterday morning he received a phone call from the secretary of the Minister of Industry, informing him that such a group would be coming today.

The exact identity, size of the number of visitors, and ultimately their ultimate purpose are unknown.

And, rather strangely, he was specifically asked to go to the Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau to meet him.

You know, although both Madasich and Progress are located in Zaporozhye, the latter is, after all, a subsidiary.

It is a bit strange to let the person in charge of the group go to the subordinate enterprises to receive customers.

"Dr. Dereis, this is the head of our Madasich Group, General Director Vyacheslav Belaev."

"This is Alexei Kulitsyn of the Ivchenko-Progressive Design Bureau......"

“……”

The first to speak was Anatoly Ribiyazin, the Minister of Industry of Ermao, who came with his entourage.

Belaev and the others, as the hosts, had no choice but to stop their doubts and shake hands with the visitors one by one.

After introducing the identities of the relevant personnel on his side, he turned his head to look at Belaev and them:

"This is Dr. Christian Dr. Dereis, the managing director of Austria's Diamond Aircraft Industries, who has come to choose a suitable power plant for a brand new light aircraft produced by their company."

"I see."

Hearing this explanation, both Belaev and Kulitsyn were bright-eyed and hurriedly changed their attitudes:

"Then welcome Dr. Dress, our Madasic Group has strong strength in the field of aero engines, I believe you will be able to find a model with the right price and performance, and we will try our best to cooperate."

In fact, the whole group is still in the chaotic stage after privatization, even the two people who are the heads of the group and the design bureau do not dare to say what archives they can dig out from the pile of old papers, otherwise they will not have been suppressed by the big hair next door in the export of D436 engine technology, and finally only received almost 15% of the payment.

Of course, even then, tens of millions of dollars in contracts and almost two million dollars in advances (although a considerable part of them had already become hryvnia by the time they arrived) breathed a sigh of relief to the entire Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau.

However, as the parent company, the Madasiic Group has received very limited benefits from this contract.

During the last negotiations, they were too honest and admitted that a lot of their process data had been lost and needed time to search and replenish, resulting in the production of engine parts being almost entirely handed over to the two manufacturing plants in Moscow and Ufa, and Madasic only got a small share of the bearings and fans.

So no matter what the actual situation is this time, Belaev, who has already suffered a loss, must still let his words out first.

"Well, that's why we chose to come here instead of looking for an established aero-engine company like General Dynamics or Rolls-Royce, which is too strong as a supplier."

Fortunately, Dress, who was on the other side, didn't seem to see any clues, just nodded sincerely, and continued to add:

"And, now that the Iron Curtain has fallen, someone has to take the first step to accept our new friends."

It's already 1997, and Belaev naturally won't believe these nonsense anymore.

If Europe really took its side as a friend, how could it be the way it is now?

It's just that for the sake of business, he still can't show these slanders.

Curitsyn, who was afraid that his old friend would not be able to resist the foul language, quickly changed the topic:

"Let's get down to business, what is the class of new aircraft you are designing, and what are the specific technical requirements for the engine? We can supply a wide range of models from 1.5 tons to 25 tons. ”

In fact, Kuritsyn had never heard of any aviation manufacturing industry in such a country as Austria before, but since the other party can talk about Minister Ribazin, there must indeed be a relevant demand.

While talking, the group had already entered the conference room located at the top of the building.

"Uh...... I think you may not know a little bit about our diamond company, our main business is in the field of general aviation, and we don't need jet engines. ”

Dress, who had just sat down, was not annoyed, but took out two documents from the briefcase he was carrying and handed them to the representative of the Madasic Group who was sitting opposite:

"This is a new product launched by our company for the new century, and it is expected to be the main model in the next 20-30 years, the DA450 dual-purpose multi-purpose aircraft, and the estimated production number may exceed 500 aircraft."

Kuritsyn and Belaev took the document, and when they opened it, it contained a promotional rendering of a single-engine propeller aircraft, as well as some basic performance data.

"Empty weight 1350kg, maximum take-off weight 2800kg, fuselage length 10.75m, wingspan 11.74m, maximum flight speed 463km/h, cruising speed 426,000km/h, maximum ceiling 7010m, maximum range 2300km, maximum external load 750kg......"

Clearly, the aircraft was designed with multiple uses in mind, allowing for trainer, patrolling, transporting, and even ground attack missions.

Kuritsyn quickly finished reading the technical specifications of the aircraft, but then frowned:

"You planes...... Seems a little too small for the empty weight and the maximum take-off weight compared to the size? ”

Although he is not an aircraft designer, as a veteran engineer who has been immersed in the field of aviation power for decades, Kuritsyn has some concept of aircraft.

For such a large aircraft, it is generally normal to have an empty weight of 1600-1800kg.

"Yes, the biggest selling point of the DA450 is the use of composite materials instead of metal in a large area of the structural part of the aircraft, which greatly reduces the weight and operating costs of the aircraft."

Naturally, Dresse was prepared for this kind of question, and replied unhurriedly:

"So we only need a 450 kilowatt turboprop engine for this aircraft to be able to operate normally, the cost of fuel consumption and engine maintenance is much lower than that of competing products of the same type, and this engine also needs to have a complete full digital control system, and the overhaul interval cannot be shorter than 2500 flight hours......"

After Dresse finished talking about their requirements for the engine, he sat at the head of the conference table, and Ribiazin, who had not spoken just now, then spoke:

"I remember the last time I visited here, I saw an engine called the AL460S, and the technical data should be exactly what Dr. Dreis and they wanted."

Curitsyn, who was next to him, raised his eyebrows slightly.

He didn't remember the last time Ribazin had been there, he had introduced him to this rather unpopular model, and the group had actually lost hope.

And although the other party is the Minister of Industry, the current Ermao is different from the past alliance, Ribiyazin is actually a businessman, and he has no engineering education background, and he can accurately remember the engine model and parameters, which is inevitably a little surprising.

Seeing that neither of them immediately opened their mouths to answer, Ribiazin, who was a little cold, had to continue one more sentence:

"Why don't you take Dr. Dresse and them to see the information of this type of engine in the afternoon?"

He had already said so, and Belaev had no choice but to nod and agree for the time being.

However, no sooner had the first meeting ended, and the two men pulled Ribiyazin into an inconspicuous place.

"Mr. Minister, the AL460S is not a finished engine that can be put into use right away, and some follow-up work is needed."

Kulitsyn said first.

"What's this, isn't their DA450 still on the blueprints, wouldn't it be nice if you spent some time perfecting the engine?"

Ribiazin shrugged, apparently not thinking it was a serious problem.

"However, both our design bureau and the Madasic plant, the people currently in charge of turboprop and turboshaft engines are concentrating on the development of the D27 propeller fan engine, and there is no way to put a new model into production in a short period of time."

“D27？”

Hearing this model, Ribiazin was at a loss.

This makes Kulitsyn a little strange.

After all, this is a model that is far more well-known than the AL460S.

Still, he explains:

"The power of the An-70 transport aircraft, the 10,000kw level of the Big Mac, as long as this model can be made, whether it is us, Antonov, or even the entire country's aviation manufacturing industry, it can be said that it will be saved."

But Ribiazin frowned after hearing this:

"But I heard that the current progress of the An-70 is not going well, the first prototype only crashed last year, and no external investment has been found, where is the money to complete a brand new transport aircraft project?"

"Doesn't it mean that the Huaxia people are in contact with Antonov's side, and if they are willing to take over this project, the financial side should be ......."

Kulitsyn was only halfway through his speech when he was interrupted by Ribiazin with some impatience:

"The Chinese people have just been to Antonov a few times, they are obviously more interested in the jet Il-76, we can't expect the An-70 to be such a long-term investment project, this time if the AL460S thing is done, you must give priority to ensuring the development and supply of this model after you go back, otherwise we can't even afford to pay liquidated damages......"

Kuritsyn wanted to say something, but was secretly stopped by Belaev next to him.

The latter had not spoken just now, but he was not stunned.

He just felt that he seemed to have seen a similar plot somewhere.

After Ribazin left, Kulitsyn turned around a little unpleasantly:

"Why did you stop me just now?"

"He's obviously determined, and it's not a problem that we can solve in two sentences."

Belaev shook his head:

"In addition, I plan to send someone to Antonov's side in the afternoon to confirm the situation, the matter of An-70 should not be as simple as it seems......"

(End of chapter)