"Actually......"

Pierre reached out and rubbed his chin, hesitated for a moment, and then continued:

"I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with that."

Lemaire slowly turned his head and looked at the other with a hellish expression:

"Do you really know it's NH90?"

"Of course."

Because the Z-9WY had re-landed on the tarmac, the eyes of the two returned from the sky to the ground.

Pierre nodded as he walked forward.

"NH90, NATO Helicopter 90, NATO utility helicopters."

Lemaire, who quickly stepped forward to keep up with the other party, specially bit the accent on the NATO:

"Are you going to cooperate with the Huaxia people to produce helicopters for the NATO system?"

Although there are also plans for a civilian version of the NH90, its development itself is still a military model, and it is also the ministries of defense of several NATO countries that ultimately provide funding.

Working with Huaxia on such a project is simply whimsical in the eyes of Le Maire.

"NATO's helicopters...... That's a nice thing to say. ”

Le Maire mentioned the cooperative nature of the NH90 helicopter, which annoyed the otherwise calm Pierre:

"I know you're now the vice president of the French Aerospace Industry Association, and you have a lot more to think about than you did when you were in the company."

He turned around, his eyes fixed on his childhood friend:

"But Guillaume, you must know that the aviation manufacturing industry, in the final analysis, is to use technology to speak."

"The plane doesn't care how noble your ideals are to unite all of Europe, or how much effort you put into bridging our differences, it will only work precisely, precisely, and rigidly according to the principles of physics."

"And my friend, politics can't change physics."

A slightly fiery rhetoric silenced Le Maire.

Perhaps seeing his vacillation, Pierre continued:

"The NH90 project started 13 years ago, and soon the British unsurprisingly withdrew from the project, then the Germans, and then the Germans came back in, and now every country has its own little ninety-nine in the project, and I, with my own eyes, saw the design become fragmented in the compromises again and again."

"In order to market their carbon fiber self-laying machine, the Dutch require the airplane body to use a large number of carbon fiber materials that are thermoformed at one time, which can be used to reduce weight."

"However, the use of large-area carbon fiber is not mature at all, which will not only reduce the structural strength of the aircraft, but also lead to the inability to repair or replace the structural parts of the fuselage, and once damaged, it will lead to the overall scrapping."

"Of course, this doesn't matter for passenger aircraft, but we are designing helicopters, even if they are civilian helicopters, it is impossible to avoid damage in low-altitude missions, let alone military helicopters?"

"At that time, the American Black Hawk and the Russian Hippopotamus will only need to replace a piece of skin to be repaired, while the NH90 will need to replace the entire body made of carbon fiber? This simply does not meet the requirements of the usage environment. ”

"There are also Italians, who ask for T700-T7E engines for helicopters, saying that it is because of better performance and higher power output, but in fact it is only because the Fiat Group is involved in the development and production of this model."

"The Americans' engines are even calibrated in the imperial system, and it is impossible for us to design a transmission system that is perfectly compatible with the RTM322 and T700 engines, and we can only make sacrifices in transmission efficiency."

"And the Germans ......"

“……”

Pierre then spent a full ten minutes criticizing the problems that these "allies" had caused to the NH90 project.

Finally, he summarized the current state of the project:

"If I continue to do this, of course I can build the NH90, but I'm afraid it won't meet the requirements of any country, let alone challenge the status of the Black Hawk helicopter."

"I don't have a problem with international cooperation, but we need really meaningful cooperation that can improve the level of the project, rather than inviting a bunch of shit to slow down the development progress for their own benefit."

"And what are you going to do, according to your will?"

This time, Le Maire did not directly refute, but first asked the other party's opinion -

As an executive who came out of a technical position, he is a little more rational than most of his peers.

What Pierre has just said certainly makes sense.

Otherwise, such a not-so-complicated 10-ton helicopter project as NH90 would not have dragged on for almost 15 years.

You must know that the "90s" in its name refer to the 90s.

However, this is about to turn millennium, and the test flight process is not yet halfway through, and there are many problems that need to be reworked.

However, perhaps because he was afraid that the other party would say something amazing, he immediately added:

"It is politically unfeasible to say in advance that it is politically feasible to completely abandon allies and engage in independent research and development."

"As I said, I have no problem with international cooperation."

Pierre's expression also softened a lot:

"But you have to follow the Airbus model."

"Countries can be equal in cooperation, but there must be a subject in technology, especially in the overall design of the aircraft."

"Several other countries, willing to participate, can provide technology that meets the overall design needs, we will also select suppliers who meet the requirements in partner countries, will not let them work in vain, and those who are not willing to participate can also simply contribute, and then distribute profits according to the proportion, or put some production links in their countries to complete."

"But if you don't want to do any of this, then get out of the project, it's better than dragging it out to the end and making a flashy waste, and we French can't live without NATO, besides, there will always be people who will choose to stay."

He said all the thoughts he had been in his head for a long time.

"What about the Huaxia people?"

Lemaire asked:

"It is definitely impossible for the Chinese to cooperate militarily with us within the framework of NATO cooperation, how are you going to involve them?"

Apparently, he had already begun to seriously consider Pierre's proposal.

Among other things, the idea of "making helicopters quieter" is undoubtedly extremely attractive.

Compared to the Black Hawk, the NH90's current disadvantages are that it is not compact enough, has poor maintainability, and has a small side door area, which limits the firing range of the door machine gun.

The advantage is that the cabin is larger and there is a tailgate that can carry large cargo.

The problem of maintainability can be solved by replacing carbon fiber with high-performance lithium-aluminum alloy, but even then it can only be regarded as having its own advantages and disadvantages.

In this case, if you can add a "quiet" Wang bomb, it will undoubtedly be a lore.

In the face of this question from his friend, Pierre was prepared:

"I looked at the agreement between the European Aviation Agency and Airbus and Huaxia last year, and I found that they liked the 'technology-for-technology' type of cooperation."

"Of course, NH90 is a military project after all, and it is inconvenient to engage in in-depth cooperation like aviation meteorological safety issues, but the scale can be reduced."

"For example, if they provide NH90 with a complete noise reduction solution, in exchange, we can also provide them with technical assistance on a peer-to-peer project, and solve the problem on a case-by-case basis, without involving the teaching of methods and approaches to each other."

"In this way, only one joint venture company is needed to complete the whole process, and after the cooperation is over, the company will be broken up, and there will be no trace when God comes."

Le Maire finally saw that the other party had come prepared.

Not only the method, but even how to deal with the aftermath has been planned.

It's definitely not a temporary solution.

However, after a few minutes of hesitation, he slowly spoke:

"As for the way of cooperation with other allies, I need to go back and discuss with my colleagues in the Aerospace Industry Association and the Ministry of Defense, and I can't guarantee the specific outcome for the time being."

"But let Huaxia provide a noise reduction solution for NH90, you can start preparing after you go back."

"I'll convince those old stubborns."

(End of chapter)