Chapter 180: French sales pitch? Performance too poor, no!

Ha Gong Da, Aircraft Overall Research Institute.

Ha Gong Da's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Manufacturing Engineering was established in 2008; earlier than that, in 1987, the Control Engineering Department, Radio Engineering Department, Mechanics Department, and Aircraft Overall Research Institute were merged to form the College of Aerospace.

Now, Ha Gong Da's most professional organization for aircraft work is this Aircraft Overall Research Institute; now this place has also become the design unit for armed helicopters.

At the gate, an extra plaque has been hung.

The Armed Helicopter Project Office gave Qin Miao a sense of déjà vu, as if he had returned to last year when he had just begun developing the truck cannon, which also had its own project office.

The computer had just been installed, and some French engineers were communicating with the project's supervising teacher; meanwhile, in the office of the research institute's director nearby, some people were also talking.

"Thomson Company is our French largest electronics equipment company; they have produced many advanced airborne radars, including the radar used on the Mirage 2000, all of which they manufacture; they have also installed radars on helicopters, for example, the naval version of the Dolphin Helicopter was fitted with a sea-search radar."

Tulam's face full of enthusiasm: "Now, for our armed helicopter, we want to install an advanced radar on top of the rotor; this project can be handed over to Thomson Company, and they will surely complete the development task perfectly."

"Exactly!" Baptiste, an engineer from Thomson Company, said: "We only need five million US dollars, and we can develop a new-generation radar that will surely meet your requirements."

Tulam's heart skipped a beat; "Brother, don't spill the real purpose—total R&D budget is only 200 million, you're asking for 50 million; can the Easterners agree? Let's first ask for 20 million, and if problems arise later in development, we can add more; anyway, their project delivery time is short, so when the time comes, to quickly solve the problem, we'll have to add money."

If you say that now, how could the other side possibly agree?

"Everyone, I am only responsible for coordinating our Ha Gong Da's R&D and the airframe development with the French Aviation Company, along with its supporting subsystems; I have nothing to do with this." said the institute director, who is also the overall project leader, Jiao Yingbo.

This guy actually went hands-off! This left Baptiste bewildered, and he turned his gaze to Tulam.

"Then who will be in charge?"

"Of course, it's Comrade Qin Miao."

"Is he here?"

"He is!"

Hearing the sound at the door, everyone turned their heads; that incredibly young guy was Qin Miao, and as for the person beside him who looks a lot like Chu Miaomiao but is somewhat older, who is that?

Everyone was very curious.

"I heard that Thomson Company is going to help develop airborne radar; I don't know what you plan to do."

"We currently have the ORB-32 sea-search radar; it's compact, suitable for helicopter installation, with a search range of up to over a hundred kilometers, so we plan to use this radar to improve and meet the armed helicopter's needs; actually… at this stage, armed helicopters fundamentally have no need for radar—optical equipment is sufficient."

Even the Apache only added millimeter-wave radar starting with the AH-64D; the current versions still lack it and rely on normal optical means.

Therefore, regarding these suggestions from the Easterners, they are somewhat dismissive, which also serves to show off their high-and-mighty attitude.

"No, for a sea-search radar, it's enough to detect large targets like warships; the beam is wide and the sidelobes are large—this radar is fundamentally unsuitable for use on an armed helicopter."

The woman beside Qin Miao spoke!

Everyone looked over, seeing that…… the woman who spoke French directly.

Even Qin Miao was stunned; he only knew that Chu Guilan spoke Arabic and had taught Chu Miaomiao, but he never expected that Chu Miaomiao's sister would also know multiple foreign languages—she's absolutely a talent for import-export business! Let's go back and have Miaomiao help with some ideological work as well!

Baptiste furrowed his brows: "What are you saying? If this radar isn't suitable, then what radar would be suitable?"

"An armed helicopter flying at treetop height doesn't need a large search range; ten kilometers is enough. The radar's transmit power doesn't need to be high, but the beam must have an extremely narrow pencil-shaped main lobe and a confidential low intercept rate modulation technique."

Zhang Honghong was equally unreserved, various professional terms kept popping out.

"At the same time, we need to use real-beam probing of the ground, to penetrate camouflage and foliage etc., identify fixed targets, and also display a synthesized image of the real-beam video..."

The French guys were stunned.

Armed helicopters still aren't generally equipped with radar—only reconnaissance helicopters have it; the characteristics of radar for armed helicopters are still being figured out by them, and they never expected that a young Eastern woman would explain it so clearly.

There are concrete requirements, and a technological path to achieve them……

Actually, the detection targets of armed helicopters and those of anti-infantry radar are largely the same; these requirements are common—if you need to detect enemies in the southern jungle terrain, you definitely need these technologies! They've been researching for half a year, so of course they're more professional than the French.

Baptiste suddenly thought of something: "Exactly, you need these technical requirements; this way you'll need our help even more—without Thomson Company, you couldn't develop such an advanced radar."

"We've already developed it."

"What?"

"We currently have a radar operating at 35 gigahertz; it works in clear weather, at night, and also in harsh conditions like smoke, dust, rain, and snow; it can detect moving targets up to eight kilometers and stationary targets up to six kilometers, perfectly matching our armed helicopter."

Seeing the Frenchmen's astonished gazes, at this moment Zhang Honghong felt extremely proud; people always say we're backward in this and that, but now the product developed by Ha Gong Da is even more advanced than foreign ones!

Too bad we can only experience it once, unless……

Gathering her thoughts, Zhang Honghong smiled: "So… Thomson Company engineers, if you can't produce technology more advanced than ours, please leave."

And still five million US dollars—don't try to swindle us! Our developed anti-infantry radar has cost less than three million yuan in total!

Baptiste took a deep breath: "We… would like to see the actual device; if your radar's performance really is as good as you say, then we… hope to introduce your technology."

At this moment, Zhang Honghong felt as if she were floating on clouds, comfortable; foreigners also have days like this—for this moment, she has worked day and night for half a year, and it's all worth it!

But…… how should we answer?

"I have no authority to decide; you need to ask the gentleman beside me."