GBP #500 - The giants strike back
#500 - The giants strike back
In North America, senior representatives from the four giants – McDonald Douglas, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin – gathered together.
"Gentlemen, we're facing a big problem now." Hegel, the Vice President of Boeing, was the first to break the silence. "Airbus from Continental Europe, their first jet airliner, the A300, has already begun operations. I think you gentlemen have all received market performance reports on this aircraft. Frankly, in the hundred-seat class, this aircraft has an overwhelming advantage. I don't think anyone here has any objections, right?"
"Of course, that's not the worst thing. If it were just John Bull alone who came up with this aircraft, we could all find ways to squeeze them until they couldn't continue, isolating them in the market until they agreed to join our ranks." Those present were all insiders from the North American industry, and Vice President Hegel spoke about these things without any reservation.
"The problem is that behind this company is actually Dongda. As everyone knows, Dongda's progress in aerospace over the past decade or so can only be described as miraculous. They not only have strong capital but also the powerful Dawn Research Institute as support. They jumped from propellers to jets without any pause. Moreover, in terms of jets, their turbofan jet engines are a generation ahead of our current turbojet engines."
Vice President Hegel's words resonated with the senior executives present, especially Douglas, which also had a large share in the hundred-seat-class airliner market. Of course, for McDonald Douglas and Lockheed Martin, which were at an absolute disadvantage, this meant adding insult to injury, and they would have even fewer market opportunities.
"Gentlemen, Mr. Hegel is right. We do need to take action. In terms of the core technology of airliners, especially the development of avionics and aviation engines, we must cooperate more closely with companies such as Pratt \u0026 Whitney/GE and MBI, and we must spare no effort in investing in technological development," said Williams Martinez, Vice President of Douglas.
"The above is about the technical aspects. In terms of the market, we must unite and use our influence in the aviation industry to prevent the issuance of the A300's airworthiness certificate as much as possible. The reason is also very sufficient: they do not have long-term test records, and their safety cannot be fully verified. If we can prevent them in this regard for 2 to 3 years, then our opportunity will come, which will directly allow us to survive the research and testing time of our new aviation engines and the testing time of new aircraft."
"I believe that on this point, everyone has full say in the FAA airworthiness certification process," Vice President Williams Martinez added meaningfully.
The senior executives present understood each other's intentions. Such tripping was basic operation, and everyone would do it without being reminded.
However, this was not decisive. After all, there were many ties between the Bull and Eagle countries, and they could not permanently block it.
2 to 3 years was almost the limit because, during this time, the other party's fleet would probably have hundreds of airliners, and the accumulated flight time would be so long that it could fill the FAA's office desks. If there were no problems with the other party's airliners, the FAA would face enormous political pressure!
At that time, they would definitely not be able to withstand it.
"Before the FAA issues the airworthiness certificate, the good news is that everyone doesn't have to worry about this aircraft encroaching on our North American market. We can even influence the South American market not to purchase this aircraft; otherwise, it will not be allowed to enter the North American aviation area," Vice President Hegel said.
"Although this gives us a chance to breathe, it is clear that the Continental European market will be unfavorable to us. Next, we may encounter the same problem in obtaining Continental European airworthiness certificates. If we are also delayed, the actual loss will be very large. After all, the aviation markets in Continental Europe and North America are now comparable," Tim, Vice President of McDonald Douglas, reminded. "Even if we want to delay, we must have a justifiable reason that John Bull's family cannot find fault with."
Obviously, this was a rationalist. Of course, the reality was that McDonald Douglas's airliner business was not the company's mainstream. The most important thing for their company now was the fighter jet business. Many Continental European countries' fighter jets came from McDonald Douglas. Their F3 and F101 were relatively popular fighter jets in this timeline.
"I agree with this view. What we are doing now must stand the test and not leave any future troubles. If we are questioned for deliberately making things difficult for the other party, then the possibility of us being retaliated against in the future is indeed very high," the Vice President of Lockheed Martin, who held the best-selling fighter jet F104, agreed with the words of the Vice President of McDonald Douglas.
Their products were not good in terms of airliners. Although it was politically correct to demand solidarity against Continental Europe, the degree of urgency was different from that of Douglas and Boeing.
"Well, that is indeed a problem." Vice President Hegel frowned, then smiled slightly. "Of course, we must provide sufficient reasons to prove this point. In fact, we are only ensuring the aviation safety of the North American people. Our people need a sufficiently safe airliner. Isn't that a natural demand for the people to have? So, isn't it only natural that we ask Airbus, a company that has only been around for two years, to fully prove themselves?"
As expected of someone who had risen to a high level, Vice President Hegel very skillfully said a bunch of correct nonsense in the face of a slightly disharmonious situation.
He immediately made up for his previous recklessness.
"Okay, gentlemen, that's a small problem. Next, should we also review our cooperation strategy with Rolls-Royce? You know, we previously suspended the procurement of Rolls-Royce aviation engines. Now that they have not received the signals we released, they are determined to enter the complete aircraft industry. According to their tradition, they will inevitably enter the combat aircraft field soon after succeeding in airliners. They have a complete aviation industry chain. Obviously, after getting back on track, it is a threat to each of us, I mean markets such as Continental Europe and the Middle East."
During World War II, John Bull's family developed many fighter jets while fighting, and they fought back and forth in the air with the incomparably powerful Three-Dukes. They did not lack top aviation industry talents and industrial chains. The reason why they lost their edge after the war was that the collapse of the colonial system and economic bankruptcy prevented the Empire from having enough resources to continue developing.
Of course, the lack of necessary integration of the Empire's aviation industry to form large aviation giants to concentrate resources on major events was also a reason.
Losing a huge colony not only lost a huge aviation industry consumer market but also lost a huge economic blood transfusion package, making the economic development of the Empire far lower than that of its North American counterparts, and even owing a debt that they did not know how long it would take to pay off.
In the main world, John Bull's aviation industry had to merge and reorganize to keep warm in the sixties and seventies. The eventual formation of a group company like BAE was actually too late. Its performance was acceptable, but the BAC1-11 airliner, which was delayed due to a lack of resources, would have had a chance if it had been launched seven or eight years earlier. Unfortunately, it was launched too late, and the aviation market had solidified into a duopoly of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, monopolizing the development of the world's aviation airliners. In addition, John Bull was overly ambitious and lacked the necessary resources, and he did not fully invest in the Airbus program, allowing the Franco-German axis to eventually gain momentum and take the last big piece of the aviation airliner pie.
Of course, the rogue eagle and other giants in this world cannot see these things.
What they see now is that John Bull's aviation industry is on the verge of death, and there is even a risk of a second spring.
"Yes, according to our latest intelligence, they have actually started the Tornado jet fighter research program (PS: In the main world, this fighter was jointly researched by multiple countries in the late 1960s). This is a multi-functional new fighter, which will have the ability to conduct air superiority operations and ground and sea operations in the future. For us, this fighter is a real threat, and it will have a huge impact on our next-generation fighters." Vice President Williams said.
"We must try our best to nip this plan in the bud. Now Dongda's J-9 fighter has put great pressure on us. If John Bull's Tornado fighter development plan continues, and they get technical help from Dongda in terms of turbofan engines and avionics, our current fighters will not be able to form a clear advantage over them. This will inevitably pose a huge threat to us in the European fighter procurement, and as we all know, the European fighter market accounts for at least half of ours."
Speaking of this, the vice presidents of the four companies were all awake, because this was a real threat.
Moreover, the feasibility of this matter is very high. Now there are many cooperations between Dongda and John Bull. It is not surprising that the two sides have one more cooperation. Although the Tornado fighter plan has not yet cooperated with Dongda, it is because John Bull may think that he can do it again and wants to develop his aviation industry independently.
For a country's main fighter, they certainly hope to minimize their dependence on other countries. This is the last stubbornness of a world power.
However, now the pressure is on the four giants of the rogue eagle aviation industry. According to the informal agreement reached at their secret meeting, they will comprehensively contain John Bull's aviation industry in terms of airworthiness certification, airline airliner procurement, and aviation engine procurement.
At the same time, they will lobby the White House to provide subsidies and provide John Bull with the latest fighters at low prices in the name of close allies, with at least 100 aircraft in the first batch. This will squeeze the market space for John Bull to develop its own Tornado fighters, and it is best to eventually make this plan die in the womb due to lack of market and research and development costs.
These secret actions from the rogue eagle aviation giants have had a huge impact on the Airbus program. Without the FAA airworthiness certificate, this airliner cannot land and fly routes in the North American market.
Although this was an expected thing, Rolls-Royce was still very angry. Under the suggestion of Dongda, Rolls-Royce began to further expand, and took the lead in integrating the British aviation industry to form a BAE aviation group company that was more powerful than in the historical time and space of the main world. It concentrated the British aviation strength and fully launched the research and development of three major products in different fields: Vulcan bomber, Tornado fighter and Airbus airliner.
And it officially exchanged the cooperation of arrester cable and steam catapult technology for the joint research cooperation of Dongda's avionics and WS-9 next-generation products.
The latest novel is first published on 69shuba.com!
This cooperation is carried out in the form of a secret agreement. In name, each has a team to research and develop, but the core part is provided with key technical support by the other party.
For Dongda, this cooperation seems to be a bit of a loss on the surface, but Ren Zhong is clear that it is not a loss at all. Our WS-9 technology adopts the principle of taking and using. The team's understanding is still not as thorough as Rolls-Royce's experienced veterans. With Rolls-Royce participating in the new generation of main turbofan engines, Dongda's team will definitely grow faster than Rolls-Royce.
From the vertical take-off and landing engine cooperation project, the Dongda R\u0026D team, holding the Yak vertical take-off and landing kit, quickly got started after cooperating with Rolls-Royce, and found the key technology of the new generation of vertical take-off and landing engines from the Yak and Pegasus engines. The design of the first generation of vertical take-off and landing engines has been completed and the prototype verification has begun to be manufactured and verified. If there are no surprises, our vertical take-off and landing fighter will fly in three years!
However, these competitors cannot see these things now, but the obstacles set by these competitors are now visible to the naked eye. Judging from the materials continuously required by the FAA, even a blind person can see that Airbus, with John Bull as the major shareholder, is being discriminated against by the FAA.
Obviously, the four major North American giants have begun to exert their strength to prevent the Airbus A300 from landing in North America.
This is a difficult stalemate. Ren Zhong doesn't have a particularly good solution to this matter. After all, if people start to act like rogues, John Bull has no way to force this younger brother, who wants to become a big boss, to bow his head.
Now John Bull is dying. It is no longer the era when the invincible fleet of the British Empire arrived and all nations bowed their heads. A fallen empire is not as good as a dog. Ren Zhong searched for experience and answers from the history of the main world, and finally discovered a fact, that is, he must push John Bull to take the EEC route! Only by uniting the entire European continent can he deal with the powerful rogue eagle!
A thin John Bull lacks the strength to compete with the rogue eagle. Only by uniting can he have the bargaining power.
After thinking clearly about this, Ren Zhong shook his head. He didn't expect that in the Bright Sword world, he would be forced to become the behind-the-scenes promoter of European integration!
In order to cope with the rogue eagle giants' containment in terms of airworthiness certification, Dongda suggested that John Bull promote the establishment of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which is to realize the integration process of European aviation standards, which is more than ten years ahead of schedule to promote this department that is mainly responsible for the formulation of airworthiness technical requirements for large transport aircraft and engines.
It should be known that in the main world, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was not established until 1970, and European standards were established to fight against American standards in order to survive.
In the real history, the background of the establishment of Airbus can be traced back to the 1960s, because at this time, the European countries already had a clear understanding that they could not compete with the powerful North American opponents in the airliner field by relying on one company alone, so they began to gather together to discuss the development of a new generation of wide-body airliner research and development plan.
Corresponding to this is to first finalize the airworthiness standards, so the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was first established in 1970, and then in December 1970, Airbus was established in Toulouse, France! Their purpose is to share research and development costs through cooperation between countries and gain a larger share in the international market.
It's just that the initial Airbus was a relatively loosely organized consortium. It was not until 2000 that several real aviation industrial groups in Europe realized the corporatization merger and established the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), and Airbus was 100% owned by EADS at this time, which truly realized the integration of the main national forces of the European aviation industry (except for John Bull).
Now that we have arrived in the Bright Sword world, in order to open up the market, we have to embark on this old road! It's just that the BAE, which has been promoted and integrated in advance, is now led by the powerful Rolls-Royce. After feeling that it has the Airbus A300, a cash cow, it is terribly strong, and I think it is even more unwilling to share a piece of the pie with its former opponents on the mainland. Ren Zhong also doesn't know whether the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) can be promoted in advance as desired.
After all, without the exchange of interests, it is difficult to unite the loosely organized European continent, but Ren Zhong believes that this road is the only feasible way to break the situation at present, so let Rolls-Royce and the others go all out to strive for it. After all, neither Rolls-Royce nor Downing Street can sit back and enjoy the huge benefits contained in the Airbus A300 without doing anything. (End of this chapter)