21: Weapons and equipment have officially arrived; Daxia only regrets its lack of financial resources

Chapter 21: weapon equipment officially arrives; Da Xia only regrets insufficient financial resources!

“Interested in the B-2 Bomber??” Zheng Lixing was completely stunned.

Which country in the world isn't interested in this thing? Who doesn't want it? If there is one, it can only be said that its strength doesn't dare to utter the words 'interested'.

This is the world's only Stealth Strategic Heavy Bomber. Although its bomb load is less than half of the Tu-160 White Swan Strategic Bomber, the B-2 Bomber is a Stealth Strategic Bomber. This is as important for a bomber as maneuverability and speed are for a fighter jet.

After all, what good is a bomber with a hundred-ton bomb load if it's detected by radar and taken out by a single missile?

Zhang Yuli naturally understood this and replied decisively.

【We are very interested in this technology.】

With the opportunity to acquire the B-2 Bomber right before him, even a second of hesitation from Zhang Yuli would be a sin and a blasphemy.

Soon, the Mysterious Person's reply email chimed.

【Please wait for good news. When the time comes, you can also settle the previous payment.】

Looking at this message.

Zheng Lixing still found it incredible: “Old Zhang, this person wouldn’t be talking about the Eagle Nation’s B-2 Spirit Bomber, would he? Maybe he made a mistake?”

“Mistook the B-1 Bomber for the B-2?”

After all, this possibility might be higher. The B-1 Bomber, also known as the Lancer Strategic Bomber, is also one of the Eagle Nation's most important strategic bomber forces. (Mainly the B-1B model; only 4 prototypes of the A model were produced).

Zhang Yuli's eyes were burning: “No, I don't think he would make such a mistake.”

Someone who can obtain something like the F22 design blueprints would never joke with you.

If he didn't have absolute caution and care, he wouldn't have survived in the Eagle Nation until now.

After a moment of thought, Zhang Yuli typed another line.

【Please be extremely careful. Even if the technology isn't acquired, we will still give you a certain reward.】

“I hope he can be more careful and not take risks rashly,” Zhang Yuli murmured to himself.

This was his biggest concern; as for the reward, it was completely irrelevant.

No matter how tempting the B-2 Bomber was, it was far less valuable than this Mysterious Person who could bring technology from the Eagle Nation.

Although he wasn't sure who he was, the Mysterious Person's strategic value was incomparable to the B-2 Bomber. After all, Da Xia could develop the former by burying its head in research for ten or twenty years, but the latter might not be encountered even once in a hundred years.

The Mysterious Person's current status was that of a true national treasure.

Zheng Lixing next to him shook his head: “The B-2 Bomber is good, but it's probably hard to build.”

“It's simply too expensive.”

The B-2 Strategic Bomber, the only Stealth Strategic Bomber—who wouldn't be confused by it?

But the problem is that its cost is ridiculously high, averaging a staggering 2.4 billion usd per unit. This is nearly 18 billion RMB. How can anyone afford that?

“The main reason is the expensive R&D costs. In reality, the cost per unit should be around one billion usd,” Zhang Yuli shook his head, continuing to speculate.

“And so many years have passed, using current manufacturing processes, the cost can be further reduced.”

The Eagle Nation only produced 21 B-2 Bombers, and the R&D expenses were as high as tens of billions of usd. Isn't the average cost per aircraft prohibitively high? If mass-produced, it would drop significantly.

Coupled with the development of modern technology, materials that were expensive before would now become much cheaper, and the cost could be further reduced.

Despite this, Zheng Lixing still looked troubled: “No matter how much we save, it would probably still cost eight or nine hundred million usd to build one. That's still very difficult to bear.”

Eight hundred million usd, that's a full 5.5 billion RMB.

This is even with the Mysterious Person being able to obtain the complete data, and they only needing to bear the single-aircraft construction cost.

It's important to know that the estimated unit cost of the J-20 project is only six or seven hundred million RMB, which is less than one hundred million usd. 5.6 billion RMB would be enough to buy two full squadrons of aircraft.

Zheng Lixing's face was somewhat dim: “We still lack money. Even if we really have this technology, we can only look at it and sigh.”

This astronomical sum is something Da Xia currently cannot afford.

Not to mention the J-20 project, the Varyag is still in the dry dock awaiting conversion into an aircraft carrier, and the 072 Project (Y-20) is still in full swing.

Even many Type 051 destroyers have not yet been decommissioned, with service lives approaching thirty years, and the development of new destroyers is also imminent. Which of these major projects can wait? Which one is not more urgent than a bomber?

Zhang Yuli sighed helplessly: “Alas, I understand everything you're saying.”

A B-2 Bomber costing 800 million usd per aircraft would need at least ten or more to maximize its combat effectiveness, which is a full eight billion usd.

How much was Da Xia's military budget this year? At most, just over 400 billion RMB, which is less than 70 billion usd.

To take out more than one-tenth of that share to build bombers? The General Logistics Department would go bankrupt and still couldn't produce that much money.

Even if the Mysterious Person really sent them the B-2 Bomber technology, it might not be possible to start construction immediately.

Instead, it would be kept as a technical reserve, waiting for suitable technology in the future to integrate these technologies into Da Xia's new generation of Stealth Strategic Bombers.

Otherwise, they could only hope that they would come into a huge windfall.

One sentence perfectly encapsulates their inner feelings:

“Only regret insufficient financial resources.”

Two days later.

Eagle Nation, LLNL National Laboratory.

Time slowly came to Friday, with two days remaining until Lu Ze's next replication opportunity.

In these past few days, Lu Ze discovered a key point.

Professor Michael Hassen, whom he was following, was even more of a slacker than him. He would clock in at the LLNL Laboratory at nine in the morning, then go straight home to rest. As for the research project, it had been in a 'create folder' state for a long time.

If he didn't know the inside story, Lu Ze would suspect that he was a ghost employee at the LLNL Laboratory.

Of course, he and Lucy, as students, naturally followed their supervisor's pace.

Anyway, as intern graduate students, they didn't earn much, so why bother working hard? The two of them always adhered to the principle of never being early if they could be late, and never working overtime if they could leave early.

At this moment, the two of them sat comfortably in their chairs, slowly enjoying the complimentary snacks.

Lucy swallowed a tart in one bite and remembered something: “Lu Ze, the latest batch of weapon equipment from the Ministry of Defense has already been pulled back for overhaul and upgrade.”

Lu Ze put down the latte in his hand, his eyes showing surprise: “That fast?”

Doesn't that mean he can replicate equipment right away?

(Please keep reading, please collect!)