Chapter 241 A Game of Ever-Increasing Expenses (2/2)
After exchanging some meaningless pleasantries, he asked, ”May I ask what's the purpose of your visit?”
Chen Gang said in a hurry, ”Of course it's because of the aircraft engine. We have a solu--”
”Ahem,” Chen Jin coughed heavily, ”Our main purpose is to discuss the progress of the domestic aircraft engine. This topic is classified. I was wondering if the secretary can lock the door?” He looked at the male secretary.
He Jin Long picked up on the hidden request immediately and ordered the secretary to exit the room. ”Little Lin, go out for a while and lock the door.” Only the three of them were left in the room.
Chen Gang could not control his impatience again and said in a hurry, ”President He, my son's company has a solution to the problem of the poor performance of the domestic engine!”
”Dad, why are you so anxious?” Chen Jin looked at him impatiently. He threw him a gaze that seemed to say, Stay out of it and keep quiet. Let me talk to President He.
He Jin Long gave him an astonished look. His expression was filled with doubt.
Chen Gang shut his mouth in embarrassment.
”President He, can you let me have some of your time so we can talk about the progress of the development of the domestic engine?”
He Jin Long nodded. ”Yes, of course.”
They two began to discuss the matter. However, Chen Jin was the one doing most of the asking and He Jin Long was the one doing most of the answering.
”President He, tell me honestly. How big do you think the gap is between our engines and the most advanced engines from overseas?”
”Erm, there's at least a thirty-year gap. Honestly, the gap could be as much as fifty years.”
”Why is the gap so big?”
”The aircraft engine is the product that can best reflect the standard of a country's industrial foundations. Our foundation is still seriously lacking. The industrialization of the West took more than 300 years. We are not even 60 years into it. Many basic sectors are still too lacking. I'll use a simple example. The Mericans went to the moon 52 years ago, but we still can't do that.”
”But, I saw on many articles that you've conquered most of the material technologies needed to construct an advanced engine. Materials are no longer a problem. The main problem lies in engine design. We are still weaker than others in that area… Is that the reason?”
”Yes, you are right!” He Jin Long nodded. ”We've fixed the flaws in the materials used. The main problem lies in the design. Our country is still lacking in design masters who can come up with a top quality engine.” Of course, the mediocrity of their current engines was not entirely due to the lack of good designers. The insufficient investment by the government in this field was another significant reason. A good engine was not entirely born from a good design, it was also born from loads of money! It went without mentioning that equipment like the specialized wind tunnels and test versions cost a lot. For every engine test bench, a few tons of aviation fuel would be consumed. Sometimes, more than ten tons... The money for fuel had to be spent day after day, year after year. For example, the test for a foreign matter caught in the engine included throwing a rock as large as a fist into the engine. And just like that, an engine that was worth tens of millions of dollars became nothing more than scrap.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
It was difficult to carry out such expensive activities when the economy of Z country was doing poorly. But even now, when Z country had become richer and more powerful, an annual investment of tens of billions was still insufficient. In simple words, one could only successfully develop the advanced aviation engine by footing the exorbitant costs day after day and year after year. Past efforts would be wasted if the work was stopped halfway, Only countries who could afford those continuous expenses could become a powerful manufacturer of engines.
But… Chen Jin had a ”cheat sheet” that would not only save them large amounts of on-going development costs, it could also drastically reduce the R&D period. He explained this special software to He Jin Long. This software would allow ”tons of fuel to be saved daily,””coordinate the simultaneous testing of hundreds of engines,” and ”reduce the R&D period by 90%.”
He Jin Long immediately jumped up from his seat. He yelled in shock, ”How is this possible?!”