Among the companies that originally bid for the U.S. military's "Pioneer" unmanned reconnaissance aircraft project, only H Company has the ability to provide advanced UAVs. The other companies were only brought in by the U.S. military to make up the numbers due to legal reasons.
Since it is a separate business, Company H is not in a hurry. It only needs to be delivered by the Tengfei Factory before the end of the year and then handed over to the US military for testing.
Everything seemed to be going well. Even H Company itself felt that the order was in the bag, so it did not continue to invest its energy. Instead, it tried its best to negotiate with South Africa about the bundled sales of the "Attacker" drone.
"There is no way. Mr. Lindemann has accumulated a large amount of second-hand US military equipment. If he does not sell it, the old man will go bankrupt.
Because of this, when South Africa placed a large order for 2,500 Attacker drones due to their performance in the Angola civil war, Lindemann immediately instructed Lister to bundle 76 of them into the order. m48 tanks, twenty-six Vietnam War-era 105mm howitzers and other types of light and heavy equipment.
The total value exceeds four million US dollars.
This amount is not much for South Africa, and it is completely affordable, not to mention that Company H previously gave them a US$5 million discount on the price of their "Attacker" drone, and now the increase of four million is nothing more than another Returning to the original price, South Africa has budgeted based on the original price of the "Attacker" drone, so it is not beyond their capabilities.
But the problem is that if Lindemann's equipment was in good condition, it would be fine if he bought it back and invested it in Angola to catch the tribal army off guard. But in fact, these equipment are either old or poorly maintained, and some of the artillery and firearms are not even rifled. It's almost worn out.
As for the various equipment inside, they are in bad condition and rusty. Not to mention taking them back to join the war, even if they are sent to the steel factory for re-melting, people think the travel expenses are expensive.
South Africa is not a big business. As long as it is happy, it will scatter US dollars like jelly beans. Its own money does not come from strong winds. How could it be cheated by the Americans?
So the two sides had differences, and when they had differences, they had to sit down and argue. This argument lasted for more than a month.
In the end, the two parties finalized the contract for this batch of old equipment for US$2.4 million. There was no way, the "Attacker" drone was really good, and South Africa was going to buy it back for in-depth development, so it had to bow its head.
Company H is also in a hurry to complete this order, otherwise this year's performance will be a bit too ugly. So both parties took a step back, and the transaction of more than 70 million US dollars was completed.
South Africa got what it wanted, Company H¡¯s performance was outstanding, Mr. Lindemann finally got the funds back, and all three parties were happy.
However, before Lister and Lindemann could celebrate, a notice from the U.S. Army's "Pioneer" UAV Project Office washed away their joy like ice water in winter. .
Particle Accelerated Aeronautical Systems, backed by General Motors, joined the bidding for the Pioneer drone project.
The notification is very simple, but very shocking.
It¡¯s not that the Aerospace Systems Company is so awesome, but that General Motors¡¯ brand is too big. As one of the U.S. military industry giants, General Motors is a leader in many fields, especially in aerospace engines and globally. The most powerful among the Big Three.
But precisely because of this, GM really wants to rely on its aviation development advantages to enter the aircraft manufacturing industry, thereby opening up the entire upstream and downstream industry chain in the aviation field, and forming a true three-dimensional super hegemony of sea, land and air.
"It is a pity that the American aviation monopoly group is very wary of GM's move. They have joined forces many times to attack GM's aircraft manufacturing dream and blocked this barbarian from the door of aircraft manufacturing.
Although General Motors did not achieve what it wanted, it did not give up completely. Instead, it lay dormant and slowly looked for a breakthrough. When the time was right, it would unleash all the power it had accumulated over the years.
Soon General Motors discovered the breakthrough point they had been looking for for many years, and that was drones!
Especially after Company H successfully bid for the Ministry of Justice, the disdainful attitude of the major aviation giants made General Motors discover that this appendix-like aircraft, which was regarded by major airlines as a technologically immature aircraft, could really become General Motors' entry into the aviation field. An excellent springboard.
So without saying a word, he immediately used his powerful resources to start integrating domestic UAV R&D institutions and manufacturers in the United States, and soon established the Particle Acceleration Aviation Systems Company. Later, through the relationship with the U.S. Air Force, he joined the "Pioneer" drone company. Man-machine project, participate in bidding.
This is enough to make Lindemann and Lister feel anxious. You must know that over the past thirty years, GM has accumulated a large number of talents and technologies in order to enter the aircraft manufacturing industry. Once these resources are utilized, the explosive energy will be huge. .However, GM felt that this was not enough, and brought in the Israeli company IAA to jointly develop a long-endurance UAV platform.
¡°So Lindemann and Lister were not suddenly upset, but really started to panic. You must know that they had been preparing to cooperate with IAA before, but due to a series of changes, the cooperation ultimately failed.
If this is the case, no one can say anything. The problem is that before H company terminated the cooperation, it cheated IAA company in a very unethical manner. Not only did several drone patents be swallowed up by H company, Even the valuable unmanned production line was unceremoniously put into its own pocket by Company H.
Iaa was so angry that he went to the United States to sue Company H without even thinking about it. The result is one can imagine. How could Company H, with little fox Lister and old fox Lindemann in charge, let iaa, a foreigner, sue? Not only did iaa not If he wins the lawsuit, he will have to compensate Company H for US$600,000 because he violated current U.S. laws.
The amount is not much, the key is that it is too disgusting.
So when the particle company came to seek cooperation in order to defeat company h in the bidding, iaa agreed without even thinking about it. As long as it could bring down company h, iaa company would not even mention cooperating with the particle company, even if it was dancing with the devil. No matter what.
Lindemann and Lister know the strength of IAA Company and their overwhelming hatred for H Company, so this bidding is really a tough battle to the death.
"However, the leak happened overnight. Just when the two were still thinking about how to deal with this powerful combination, Mike, the head of the defense department of H company, suddenly quit General Motors.
This was nothing short of a bolt from the blue for Lindemann and Lister. You must know that just when the two were breaking up the contract with the South Africans, H Company's "Pioneer" project had been linked to the military by Mike, so there was no need for H Company. Mike knows everything about the performance of the human-machine platform.
When he switched jobs to General Motors, he was tantamount to handing over Company H's trump card to Particle Company. This was a huge blow to Company H. That's why Liszt hurriedly asked Zhuang Jianye to deliver the goods quickly, for no other reason than that. I hope to make some improvements to the electronic equipment before bidding, otherwise it will be difficult for Company H not to be beaten!
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