Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 1328 - 1064: Historic Moment

Chapter 1328: Chapter 1064: Historic Moment

For Wang Ye’s "summons," Shao Yigu would certainly not refuse, especially since the topic of discussion was the budget issue he was most concerned about lately.

So, he appeared in Wang Ye’s office on time.

The two were old friends, with no need for pleasantries, and they got straight to the point after sitting down.

"I need thirty billion US dollars! Anything less won’t make much of an impact," Shao Yigu said candidly, though not making an outrageous demand.

Thirty billion US dollars, compared to the budget increase Wang Ye had given him in the past two years, was only a hundred billion more or so. It seemed reasonable.

After all, Shao Yigu’s status had changed compared to before; he needed to save more face!

Wang Ye thought for a moment and promptly replied, "Sure! Thirty billion is no problem. However, this money must be spent precisely, only for purchasing... Forget it, these funds probably can’t buy any decent warships; better to purchase all fighter jets instead. The United Aviation Group’s Sukhoi Design Bureau recently developed a world-leading level fighter jet. Have you seen it?"

"Pfft, Sukhoi developing a global leader? Can it compare to the F22? At the very least, it should be close to the F35. You’re not talking about the SU35, are you? Although that plane is claimed to be a fourth and a half generation and has strong air combat capabilities, the problem is, it’s not stealth! When facing those fifth-generation jets, if the others are stealth and you can’t even see them, what’s the use of having strong maneuverability? It’s merely used to bully other fourth and third-generation planes," Shao Yigu said with a somewhat dismissive laugh.

True, since the advent of the SU27 in the seventies, Sukhoi hadn’t produced anything impressive.

The subsequent improved model, the SU35, had its prototype present in the eighties, but then the Former Soviet Breakdown occurred, so the project stalled. Only in recent years under Wang Ye’s reorganization of the United Aviation Group did the final version of the SU35 start up again, soon to be deployed, which Shao Yigu knew about.

But in private, the so-called fourth and a half generation SU35 was just a gimmick; as long as it wasn’t stealth, it still couldn’t be called a fifth-generation plane!

And the F22 he mentioned was developed by the United States in the nineties and was already deployed in service and had combat capabilities!

F22 and SU27 and SU35 had a generational difference, leading by a whole generation.

Not to mention the F22, even the "lower-quality F22", the F35, had its first flight and would soon be formally commissioned.

If the F22 was too expensive for other countries except for the United States to afford, the F35 was much cheaper and would become the mainstream model in the future.

So, the fighter plane Shao Yigu most hoped to purchase had performance parameters close to the F35, not falling too far behind. Otherwise, there was no need to upgrade, better to invest in more "Big black fish."

Wang Ye smiled slightly and calmly said, "It actually does compare to the F35! I’ve provisionally named this newly developed fighter the SU57, and its performance parameters are already fifth-generation!"

Shao Yigu was stunned.

Fifth-generation!

Ever since the United States introduced the F22, truthfully, all other countries worldwide could only look up to it because the gap was huge!

F22 was a stealth fifth-generation fighter, leading an era compared to all other country achievements.

It had been more than a decade, but still, no country had introduced a new fifth-generation fighter jet, which even made the United States feel too far ahead and isolated in its superiority.

Also, the F22 was excessively powerful and "overperforming," not to mention its staggering price of two hundred million US dollars per plane!

Moreover, since this plane’s technology included too much "black tech," the United States wouldn’t even sell it to its own allies, thereby having to bear all the research and development costs, making production costs unable to drop.

So it was a bit overwhelming, so they simply created a "youthful" version, the F35, reducing the price and made it exportable to all allies.

Gazing at others’ F22s and F35s made Shao Yigu’s mouth water with envy, but there was nothing he could do; it was impossible to acquire them.

Thus, he could only purchase his country’s SU35. Although it didn’t match up to the United States’ fifth-generation fighters, it was still regarded as one of the more advanced models worldwide.

Even for this so-called fourth and a half-generation SU35, the price wasn’t cheap; the external sale price was up to eighty million US dollars per plane, even if it were at cost price domestically, it needed forty to fifty million US dollars!

This price was even approaching the cost of the United States’ fifth-generation fighter, the F35!

But it couldn’t be helped, with low sales and few countries willing to purchase that naturally lowered the production, and costs couldn’t be driven down.

...

After a long while, collecting his senses, Shao Yigu suddenly grabbed Wang Ye’s arm, anxiously asking, "You’re not kidding, right? How come I haven’t heard about this?"

Wang Ye laughed and said, "This project started three years ago after the establishment of the United Aviation Group and is classified Top Secret Level; only I and those at the Kremlin knew about it. Now that we have achieved results and it’s about to make its first appearance, you can also know."

In terms of developing such fighter jets, military cooperation is absolutely essential; otherwise, what’s the use of bringing out a plane you think is advanced but doesn’t actually meet the military’s requirements?