Chapter 139: I'll Leave Old Sha in Your Hands

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Suddenly, the door opened, and Nie Shuai nodded in approval, signaling the staff outside to come in. The subsequent details were the most contentious part of the entire negotiation. Yang Hui stepped into the conference room, carefully observing the expressions of Nie Shuai and Prince Sultan.

There was no need for Yang Hui to strain himself trying to guess, as Prince Sultan and Nie Shuai smiled together and announced:

“Quiet, quiet. Now, let’s bring everyone in to continue the meeting. We’d like to announce the progress of our missile export negotiation project with Saudi Arabia. After friendly and fruitful exchanges, both sides have reached a preliminary intent for missile exports.”

At this moment, Sultan stood beside Nie Shuai, nodding as he looked at the numerous attendees, affirming and reiterating Nie Shuai’s words.

“Yes, that’s right, it’s a preliminary purchase intent.”

Nie Shuai then continued, “At the same time, the export project is only a framework; we still need to delve into the specific details.”

Like a recording device, Prince Sultan repeated Nie Shuai’s statements once more.

“Yes, yes, and the specific details.”

When it came to discussing details, Yang Hui and other experienced negotiators were baffled. Could it be that this discussion of details still only involved Prince Sultan alone?

Prince Sultan selectively ignored the issue of manpower and continued to announce the significant news alongside Nie Shuai.

Nie Shuai’s original speech: “Therefore, we need a sufficiently staffed negotiation team, including the aerospace system, the Science and Industry Commission, and the Ministry of Defense.”

Prince Sultan, like a recording machine, once again repeated Nie Shuai’s words: “Yes, yes, a large negotiation team.”

Suddenly sensing something was amiss, Prince Sultan noticed the sea of Republic faces below and realized that very few people from Saudi Arabia had accompanied him. This was another problem.

“Of course, our Saudi negotiation team is on their way. Tomorrow, Saudi’s plane will fly directly to the capital.”

Nie Shuai knew that detailed negotiations could not begin immediately and continued to announce cooperation-related matters.

“This negotiation is specifically led by the Ministry of Aerospace and the Science and Industry Commission. I am responsible for the overall coordination, so once these two departments return, they must promptly assign personnel to join the negotiation team.”

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The so-called announcement was merely a directive for the subordinate departments to dispatch personnel. Having addressed the main issues, there was no need to say more, and Nie Shuai happily declared the meeting adjourned.

Despite the adjournment, except for Prince Sultan who had to contact people back in Saudi Arabia, most of the others stayed behind.

Seeing how sensible the department representatives were, Nie Shuai felt gratified and decided to continue discussing some matters.

“Zhang Jun, Chen Bing, and Yang Hui, come over here for a moment; there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

Yang Hui roughly guessed what he was being called in for, but hearing the names Zhang Jun and Chen Bing surprised him slightly. These two were now the top officials of the Ministry of Aerospace and the Science and Industry Commission. Could it be that these top officials themselves were going to join the negotiation team and engage in verbal sparring?

However, as Yang Hui suspected, the three followed Nie Shuai into a smaller room. After sitting down, Nie Shuai began by introducing Yang Hui.

“This project is a major one, and it’s thanks to Yang Hui’s early groundwork that we have it. However, since he belongs to the aerospace system, there’s no need for him to join the later detailed negotiations. So, he will now share his experience from his long contact with the Saudi side.”

Haha, having Yang Hui, a junior soldier, share his experience with the bigwigs—only Nie Shuai could speak so bluntly without any embellishment.

Chen Bing and Zhang Jun were both quite senior and felt somewhat embarrassed, but considering this was a project worth over a billion, there was no harm in hearing from someone who had long contact with the Saudis.

“Well, that’s good. Let’s listen to this young comrade’s experience. To be honest, this is our first time dealing with Saudi Arabia, so it’s a bit unfamiliar.”

Yang Hui treated this as a formality, just sharing what he knew without overthinking it.

“Well, to talk about Saudi Arabia: the first impression is that the country is very wealthy; the second, they are very generous; and third, they dislike hardship. So I said this project should pay attention to ergonomics, making the working environment comfortable. Whether it’s the missile carriers or the underground facilities, these must be considered.”

After mentioning the usual faults of the wealthy, he added another point that needed attention:

“Also, the Saudis have very little patience. When we were justifying the new J-7 trainer program, it was exactly like this. So during negotiations, try not to get bogged down in trivial disputes. If there are disagreements over less critical matters, a little concession is acceptable. The key is not to drag things out too long.”

Yang Hui had said what he needed to, and what would come of it depended on the negotiation team’s fortune. But since Nie Shuai personally oversaw this major project, it seemed promising.

Having remembered Yang Hui’s remarks on the quirks of the wealthy, the others had a clearer idea and then said they understood what to do.

“Alright, that’s clear. We’ll keep these issues in mind during the subsequent negotiations. Anything else?”

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Anything else? Of course there was, but Yang Hui felt the rest were minor and didn’t require separate mention. Besides, elaborating further might be seen as padding.

“No, that’s all I know. In short, Saudi Arabia is in your hands. Perhaps this will be the most unique arms deal in history.”

With Nie Shuai’s consent, Yang Hui left the room. From this point on until the finished products were manufactured and transported, it would no longer concern him.

Temporarily detached from the missile order, Yang Hui began to think about the wind tunnel tests at Beihang University. Seeing the time, he decided not to go to the wind tunnel test lab now; instead, he wanted to get updates on the subsequent negotiations for the new trainer aircraft.

The detailed negotiations for the new trainer had likely started as well. Yang Hui, having been busy with the Saudi missile project, guessed that the financially strained British defense company would be extremely meticulous.

By the time Chief Engineer Yu returned, it was late at night. Yang Hui went to Yu’s room to inquire about the negotiation progress.

“Chief Engineer Yu, how are the follow-up negotiations going? It seems there’s also the development of the 0132 cockpit avionics system. Have they proposed further cockpit optimizations?”

Optimizing the cockpit—Yang Hui’s guess was correct. Tur Jida had already briefed Chief Engineer Yu several times, repeatedly urging him to make a “one up, three down” glass cockpit.

The so-called “one up, three down” means equipping one heads-up display and three heads-down displays. The heads-up display was ready to be installed, which Yang Hui understood, but adding three new heads-down displays surprised him—it seemed like a big leap.

“Three heads-down displays? Our J-7s have all been full instrument panels. Installing three heads-down displays now—what’s the purpose? The technical demands must be very high.”

After hearing Yang Hui, Chief Engineer Yu continued explaining Tur Jida’s idea, which he partially supported.

“Of the three heads-down displays, two are dedicated LRUs for the Blue Fox radar, which don’t take up much space. Ferenti provided photos of the Sea Harrier cockpit, which looks quite good, with only two cathode-ray tube displays used for radar. We can try to do the same in the new aircraft.”

So after all, the two small CRT displays for the Blue Fox radar were counted among the three heads-down displays. When Yang Hui first heard “one up, three down,” he instinctively thought of the future “one up, three down” cockpits, but that was his imagination running wild.

In later generations, the three heads-down displays would be multifunctional displays capable of switching between various data. But the current Blue Fox radar displays clearly aren’t multifunctional; they only show fixed radar dynamic data.

(To be continued.)