A priceless military contract, which took three years to reach an agreement with British businessmen, is now facing cancellation, and China is facing 100 million in compensation. More seriously, if this contract is canceled, it will have a significant impact on China's diplomatic relations.
At the beginning of 1981, the heads of the People's Bank of China, the Third Ministry of Machinery Industry, the Embassy in Britain, the Air Force Department and other relevant institutions held urgent consultations in the Beijing conference room, and everyone seriously discussed this issue.
China has been honed on the road to the five permanent members of the United Nations, and finally won a place by strength.
After more than 20 years of illegal deprivation, the People's Republic of China has regained its seat in the United Nations and the Security Council. All five permanent members of the Security Council retain strong military capabilities, and China in particular has fought against four of them, and all of them have won.
Therefore, China's seat was won by its own guns. In order to consolidate this seat, China has decided to continuously strengthen its military capabilities. At the end of the 70s of the 20th century, with the advancement of reform and opening up, China's military industry also ushered in new development opportunities.
The strength of the Chinese Air Force is relatively weak, mainly relying on the J-7 series aircraft. This model originated in the 60s of the last century and is the second-generation main fighter of China's air force and naval aviation.
The J-7 fighter was originally designed based on the Soviet Union's MiG-21F-13, but due to the lack of key technical drawings in the information provided by the Soviet side, we could only grope forward.
Although we have carried out two internal upgrades, there is still a big gap compared with the international advanced level. Achieving a breakthrough upgrade required the introduction of foreign technology or the search for expert guidance, but this path was difficult due to the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations at the time.
In 1978, the decision to introduce advanced Western technology was made. Lu Dongdong, Minister of the Ministry of Aviation Industry, led a delegation of more than 20 experts to Germany, France and the United Kingdom for inspection, aiming to introduce relevant equipment and technology to improve China's aviation technology and air force.
If the J-7 project is successful, all of our aircraft will be sold domestically, and it is possible that they will be sold internationally, opening up the situation for China's military market in the world.
When we get out of the predicament of negotiations, we have a deeper understanding of the gap between China and developed countries in the field of aviation. In order to improve the level of our J-7 fighters, the delegation actively seeks to introduce new knowledge and technologies.
We were initially interested in the French Mirage 2000 fighter, a third-generation semi-fighter developed by France in the 70s of the 20th century. However, after in-depth exchanges, the French side said that they only finished the aircraft and did not transfer technology.
This meant that we had to research the technology ourselves, and we had to rely on France for later repairs. Such conditions expose us to endless costs.
Faced with the high asking price of the French side, the Chinese aviation industry delegation decided to change its strategy, starting with key components and technologies, and introducing electronic and fire control technologies to transform the 7 aircraft.
Subsequently, the delegation visited the United Kingdom and was warmly received. British Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Mitchell personally received the delegation and accompanied him to visit more than 100 enterprises. The easing of Sino-British relations made Britain very enthusiastic about the visit, and hoped to take this opportunity to win over China against the Soviet Union.
After a long period of screening, the British Marconi company and our side reached a preliminary cooperation intention on the J-7 transformation technology procurement plan. Marconi originated in the 80s of the 19th century and was once one of the fastest growing communications and IT companies in the world.
Its start-up business mainly produced small motors and alternators, and then gradually expanded, providing many military engines for the British military during World War II, becoming a military electrical appliance company, and after the war, it began to get involved in the wireless telegraph business.
Marconi has a strong reputation in the industry for its technology and expertise. For the British side, this cooperation will bring many benefits: first, closer relations with China; Second, we are looking for aviation technology and knowledge, and they can take this opportunity to raise prices; Third, with the help of this cooperation, they can open up the Chinese market; Fourth, through negotiations, they can understand the scientific and technological level of our side in the field of aviation, and prevent our technology from losing its value to them after acquiring it.
Negotiation is a game, and we know the status quo very well. Therefore, our side put forward a proposal to invite the British side to China for cooperation talks.
The British side sent a 12-member delegation to cooperate with China to negotiate the introduction of equipment and technology for the transformation of 7 aircraft. As soon as the negotiations began, a difference of principle emerged, which was also a matter of forejudgment on the Chinese side.
The British side is worried that we will abandon them after we get the technology, and will not accept the plan of purchasing and testing first, and wants to confirm China's technology first. However, we believe that it is impossible to know whether the product is suitable without a trial, so we plan to install test flights on several aircraft first, and if the effect is good, we will introduce it on a large scale, otherwise we will consider other companies.
Although we made sufficient preparations before the negotiations, we had to invest a lot of time and energy to understand and respond to the difficult technical requirements and aviation terminology put forward by the British side.
The dual barriers of language and technology have kept us in a passive position during the negotiation process. Although the negotiation process was difficult, we never gave up. Because this is not only related to the foundation of China's future aviation industry, but also a matter that Deng Gong is particularly concerned about, we cannot sign it at will because we don't understand.
After 10 rounds of painstaking negotiations and a year and four months of hard work, we finally succeeded in obtaining a production license for the purchase of some equipment such as airborne radar and heads-up devices.
Marconi introduced 124 radar altimeters for the J-7 radar, including 7 items of equipment and 20% spare parts, as well as a contract for the conversion of 100 J-7 aircraft (including the corresponding production lines), with a total value of 37 million pounds.
In June 1980, this contract was officially signed in the British Ministry of Defense Building, which was the first cooperation with Western countries in the field of military industry since China's reform and opening up.
Our technical team and experts are very excited, because this marks a new breakthrough in China's aviation industry. Despite the shortage of foreign exchange in our country at the time, we were able to quickly collect the deposit and pay £6 million to the UK.
Just as the two sides began to make full efforts to develop and dock, at the end of 1980, Tu Jida, the chief designer who presided over the J-7 aircraft transformation project, was urgently recalled to Beijing to attend an important meeting.
In Beijing in early 1981, China was faced with a thorny problem that plagued the country's aviation industry. Tu Jida, a representative of the Third Ministry of Machine-Building Industry, attended the meeting as scheduled.
Representatives of the People's Bank of China, the embassy in the UK and the Air Force also attended. The representative of the Air Force reluctantly stated: "Due to the financial difficulties of the state, in the interests of the national economy as a whole, it may not be possible to continue the implementation of the program to convert 7 aircraft." ”
As soon as these words came out, the scene fell silent for a moment, and then someone whispered. The representative of the Third Ministry of Machinery Industry resolutely stood up and emphasized: "This project is a contract that we have inspected and signed for almost 3 years, but now it is going to be canceled, how can this be?"
If we cancel the contract, we will need to pay huge compensation to the UK. ”
Picture source network, some people proposed that if the cancellation of this project, it will affect the credibility of the central bank in the world, diplomats in the UK also believe that this project is an important international cooperative relationship, if canceled may affect the follow-up diplomatic situation, the air force also said that this project is very important to enhance the strength of the air force, but because China's economy is currently in a period of adjustment, limited financial resources need to give priority to solving people's livelihood problems, so the project is facing the possibility of cancellation.
When it comes to issues related to the people, everyone is silent, indeed, the people's affairs are the top priority. But if an international contract has already been signed, do we say that if we don't perform, we won't perform?
In fact, the state also took into account the impact on us if we unilaterally renounced this contract at that time: first, China was just starting out at that time, and its international community status was also in its infancy, and if we unilaterally broke the contract, it would bring huge risks to the country's credibility; the second is that we have already paid the deposits, and if we default, we may not get back a single cent of them, and we will lose £6 million if we get nothing; Third, the British side has made personnel arrangements according to the contract, invested in R&D and technical production, and if we no longer perform the contract, we will definitely need to compensate for these costs; Fourth, the breach of contract itself involves a high amount of liquidated damages.
In the face of uncertain source network problems, we adopted a strategy of pessimistic planning and optimistic piloting to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Even in the event of a breach of contract, our priority will remain to protect the domestic economy and people's lives.
At the same time, ** is also actively looking for new financial revenue** to fill the funding gap of the J-7 aircraft renovation project. Therefore, Liu Guomin, deputy general manager, led a team to visit abroad to find possible buyers.
China began exporting military equipment as early as 1980, when Egypt imported 60 J-7I fighters from China with a transaction value of $200 million. This export not only allowed us to gain experience in advanced aviation technology, but also to adapt its performance to the needs of Egypt.
Therefore, in this fundraising, we plan to use military exports to find funds for the J-7 aircraft renovation project**.
At a time when our initial fundraising plan didn't go well, we were fortunate to be welcomed in Jordan. The Jordanian Air Force showed great interest in the J-7 project of our modification and expressed a desire to purchase it.
This good news is undoubtedly a timely rain for us, not only to help solve the problem of funding our follow-on contract with the UK, but also to open up the military equipment market in Jordan and further improve our aviation technology.
Our team was very excited about this, and after bringing the news back home, the relevant departments organized another meeting, and after research, we unanimously decided that as long as the Jordanian Air Force procures our modified J-7M, then the contract with the UK will continue to be executed.
However, in the course of negotiations with Jordan, we have encountered new challenges. In addition to purchasing the content that we have improved according to the project, Jordan has also put forward a number of additional requirements, such as the addition of auxiliary fuel tanks on the wings, the improvement of the catapult survival function, and the installation of the "Matra" infrared combat missile.
Although the Jordanian side took advantage of our financial difficulties to lower our prices, we ultimately benefited from the following three aspects: first, we were able to improve our technology through this transformation; Secondly, with sufficient funds, our contract with the UK can also go smoothly; Finally, it is an important opportunity for us to break into the international market.
After 15 days of four rounds of negotiations and more than a dozen contract amendments, we finally reached an agreement with the Jordanian side.
In 1981, China and Jordan signed a contract, and Jordan's advance payment was quickly received, and China was required to produce fighter jets as soon as possible. This batch of aircraft was actually prepared for Iraq for the "Iran-Iraq war".
Despite the international embargo and sanctions on the "two Irans", the two countries still buy through third-country intermediaries, hoping to win the war. Therefore, Iraq privately commissioned Jordan to import a batch of "Jian-7M" fighters from China.
According to the agreement, we need to deliver 20 J-7B fighters by October 1982, and then deliver the remaining 60 J-7M fighters by October 1984.
There are many transformation projects and great difficulties in this transformation, but we Chinese are the least afraid of fighting a tough battle, and we have repeatedly expressed instructions and emphasized that we must fight this tough battle well.
The network engineers did not dare to take it lightly for a moment, and they cooperated with the British side to start the project of renovating the fighter jet in full swing. However, the project was not all smooth sailing.
Despite the many difficulties encountered in the process, they were all successfully solved one by one. In accordance with the contract, the first batch of fighters was delivered to Jordan on time. However, the second batch of renovations is much more difficult.
In October of the same year when the first batch was delivered, the modified 2 J-7 aircraft began test flights. However, during the test flight, the situation of ground clutter could not be solved in any case.
Seeing that the delivery time was approaching, but the Chinese side has not given feedback, Jordan began to become anxious and made many reminders and reminders of the fine. In fact, the Chinese side is also very anxious, and has communicated with the British side many times in the hope of finding out the cause of the problem, but each time the British side has lightly explained the past.
The Pakistan Air Force is interested in the Chinese J-7M aircraft, and Pakistan is a good ally of China, so the Chinese side asked Pakistani pilots to test flights and listen to their opinions.
After the test flight, the pilots thought that it was normal for the radar to have ground clutter. After listening to their opinions, the Chinese side finally added a suppression circuit to the radar after various studies, and successfully solved this problem.
Pakistani pilots have passed many test flights and endured various tests, and finally, the J-7M was officially successfully developed. In May 1985, China delivered 60 J-7M fighters to the Jordanian Air Force and delivered them to the battlefield in Iraq.
After our active negotiations and the excellent performance of the Iraqi aircraft, we successfully signed this contract, and accumulated valuable experience in the process, laying a solid foundation for future aviation research and development.
The economy is the foundation of national development, and the military is the guarantee of the country. In 2020, the sales of Chinese industrial enterprises accounted for nearly one-ninth of the global market, and the advanced research and development of ** was widely popular around the world.
Today, China still adheres to the concept of peace, and the country's strength is no longer limited to military strength, but through humanities, science and technology, culture and other aspects to achieve a socialist power.
Let's look forward to a stronger future for China!