Fang Lang's skill of changing the subject was not very clever at all, but General Leta understood what the other party meant and did not want to say too much about the business of the military contracting company.
Fortunately, General Leta was simply curious about Fang Lang's military contracting contract. Now that he knew the general situation, there was no need to dig deeper.
Smiling, he followed Fang Lang into the conference room. The staff of Fangyuan Shipyard had already arranged the venue and even placed name tags, drinking water, fruits and the like on the conference table.
Seeing this situation, General Leta smiled and patted Fang Lang's arm and said:
"Then let's take a look at your company's products."
Then he pointed to the situation in the conference room and said with a smile:
"We are all family, there is no need to engage in these formalities."
Hearing this, Fang Lang smiled and said:
"I know we are family, but this is official business, I certainly can't make things difficult for you. Following the formal process can save you a lot of trouble, right?"
...
...
As he spoke, Fang Lang also pointed at the logistics officers who followed General Leta.
Knowing that Fang Lang was thinking about him, he didn't say anything more. After all, his position was too sensitive and many people wanted to sit in this lucrative position.
Therefore, he could not guarantee how many of his subordinates would be truly loyal to him.
"Okay! I heard that you participated in the design of this product?"
"What? Don't you trust my level?"
Fang Lang asked jokingly.
General Leta waved his hands repeatedly and said:
"Of course not. What I mean is that you are an admiral of our navy. We don't even need to inspect the products designed by you.
After all, you are our authority!"
Hearing this, Fang Lang burst into laughter. While sitting side by side with General Leta at the conference table, he said with a smile:
"That won't work. A program is a program. Although I think these two products are very suitable for us, I am not the actual user. You guys in the logistics department who are responsible for equipment procurement still need to confirm it."
As the two were talking, the logistics personnel and the staff from Fangyuan Shipyard who came in with them took their seats.
Seeing this, General Leta shrugged and said:
"Okay! I'll listen to you, let's get started!"
Fang Lang nodded and winked at Ousmane Aragon, the general manager of the shipyard, who nodded in understanding.
Soon, a professional technician stood up and hung a rendering of a 500-ton inland patrol boat on the wall. He began to explain, and everyone's attention was quickly attracted by the patrol boat in the painting.
They all listened carefully to the technician's explanation. When they heard that the autonomy rate of this inland patrol boat reached 90%, General Leta could no longer sit still. He turned to Fang Lang beside him and asked in a low voice:
“Are you serious about the 90 percent autonomy rate?”
Hearing this, Fang Lang smiled, nodded, and whispered:
"Except for the radar, most of the other parts are produced by our own factories in Brazil. Even the machine tools used to process these parts come from our own factories in Brazil."
After receiving a positive answer, General Leta looked at Fang Lang in surprise. For a moment, he was speechless. According to this situation, the process of Brazil's military industry independence will be greatly accelerated!
In the future, perhaps all weapons can be completely produced domestically by Brazil. As far as General Letta knows, artillery and firearms can already be produced domestically.
In addition, the Air Force and Naval Aviation have commissioned Fangyuan Group's aircraft manufacturing company to begin developing independent trainer aircraft. Once successful, the Air Force equipment will also have independent production capabilities.
Judging from the current situation, Fangyuan Group Shipyard is fully capable of manufacturing naval ships!
This forced him to look at Fang Lang differently, because he knew very well that these industries were all under his control. It could be said that Fang Lang was the actual Minister of Equipment of the Brazilian Ministry of Defense.
The quality of the Brazilian military's equipment is completely in the hands of the other party. In fact, given the other party's relationship with the Minister of Defense and the President, it is not difficult to push a product into the Defense Force's procurement list.
But if someone wants to replace the other party's position, it is not so easy. First of all, the other party is the real power holder in the navy and controls more than half of the navy's military power.
In addition, the other party has a close relationship with the United States, and no one can easily move the other party. And if the other party's position in Brazil is shaken in the capital market now, it is even more unlikely.
As far as General Letta knows, the influence of the three major joint venture automobile brands and supporting industries in Brazil cannot be easily shaken, not to mention the Nice company that has actually controlled the entire process of production and sales for Brazilian farmers and herdsmen.
Some companies that export goods abroad through the American Global Import and Export Company have gradually grown and developed with the support of the Brazilian Development Bank. Under the integration of Fangyuan Asset Management Company, these companies have become a force that cannot be ignored in the Brazilian capital market.
Just the industries that General Leta said he knew about had already made the Fang family a giant financial group in Brazil. It was almost impossible to shake their position in Brazil.
It was not until this moment that General Leta realized that the young man sitting next to him was someone he could only look up to.
The explanation in the conference room was still going on, but General Leta's mind was no longer on the specific information of those products. He had a lot of random thoughts in his mind, and he didn't know how long it had been, only to hear warm applause from everyone in the conference room, and he suddenly woke up.
Seeing that everyone's eyes were focused on him, obviously waiting for him to speak, he coughed twice to drive away the messy thoughts in his mind, and said in a brisk tone:
"Very good, I said that Fangyuan Group's products will not disappoint us!"
Then he turned to look at Fang Lang beside him and asked:
"I heard that the product has been produced. I wonder if you can take us to see the real thing!"
Hearing this, Fang Lang glanced at the expectant eyes of everyone in the conference room, smiled and nodded:
"Of course, you can. The ship can now sail normally except for the radar which has not been installed yet. It is currently undergoing navigation tests. It is just in time for everyone to check it out."
Upon hearing this, General Leta stood up and said:
"What are you waiting for? Let's go see the real thing together."
Everyone left the company's meeting room in a great hurry and came to the dock, where they saw two patrol boats, one large and one small, parked. Without any instructions, the shipyard's general manager, Ousmane Aragon, had already started a tour with the military logistics department personnel.
After seeing the two warships at the dock, General Leta was completely relieved. He did not go on board to take a closer look, but stood at the dock with Fang Lang, waiting for his men's report.
After turning his head to take a look at Fang Lang, who was calm and composed, General Leta asked softly:
"Fang, I wonder if your shipyard has any idea of building a larger warship!"
Fang Lang, who was standing by, heard this and his eyes moved. He looked at General Leta with a smile and said:
“Of course, General Leta, the reason why this shipyard was established was because of Marshal Moraes’ commission, hoping to one day build warships for the Brazilian army.
The two current inland patrol boats can only be considered a trial run, and can be considered a preliminary achievement of Marshal Moraes' expectations.
The next step is to refer to the Fletcher-class destroyers currently in service in the US military and combine them with the latest development direction of military equipment to develop our own destroyers in Brazil."
General Leta, the Minister of Logistics, was obviously very interested in this project and asked immediately:
"Oh! I wonder what you mean by the development direction of military equipment...?"
This question stumped Fang Lang. When it came to producing destroyers, Fang Lang certainly didn't want to continue producing the current traditional destroyers equipped with artillery.
What he wanted to produce was a destroyer equipped with new anti-ship missiles, but Brazil's missile development has not yet started, and it is impossible to launch a real missile destroyer so quickly.
Even if the United States and the Soviet Union have not yet started research on such a project, if he were to take the lead in setting a historical precedent, it might attract the attention of the whole world, which is not what he wants to see.
However, he could not evade the question from the Brazilian Defense Forces Logistics Minister, so he could only think carefully before answering:
"I wonder if General Leta has ever heard of the HS-292 anti-ship missile invented by the Germans at the end of World War II?"
This question obviously touched upon the knowledge blind spot of General Leta, the Minister of Logistics. After all, he was not a professional naval officer. He had heard of missiles, but he had never heard of anti-ship missiles.
So, he shook his head awkwardly and said:
"I have heard of the V-2 missile, but I have never heard of the HS-292 anti-ship missile. But what does this have to do with the destroyer you want to build?"
Obviously, General Leta did not know much about missiles. After all, as a general who had not participated in World War II and was in a logistics position, in his opinion, perhaps all missiles should be launched from land like the V-2.
It seems that it will take some time for the other party to fully understand missiles, let alone directly manufacture missile destroyers. This makes Fang Lang a little hesitant. After all, no one has yet determined the future development direction of warships.
Even the United States had to wait until the 1950s to start developing the first generation of guided missile destroyers. It seems that one should not take too big a step, otherwise everyone will think that one is crazy.
So, he thought about it again, and then slowly said:
"Well! How should I put it? This is just my personal opinion! At the end of World War II, the Germans used HS-292 anti-ship missiles to destroy many Allied transport ships.
This is a completely new way of fighting, which is completely different from the current attack method where you can only rely on luck after firing artillery and torpedoes. I feel that this may be the future of naval warfare.
Just imagine, if these anti-ship missiles were carried onto warships, after being launched, the missiles could turn themselves and lock onto their targets under the guidance of radio or radar.
Even if the enemy warship tries to evade, the missile can lock on to the enemy ship by adjusting its flight posture. Then the enemy will have no escape, and once locked on, it will surely be destroyed.
Under such circumstances, our current warships will inevitably be quickly eliminated, and warships capable of launching missiles will become the future.
So, my idea is that we need to be able to build this kind of guided missile destroyer in the future."
As soon as he finished speaking, Fang Lang regretted it. Isn't this ruining his business?
If General Leta really listened to his advice and waited until the relevant technology of missile destroyers matured before agreeing to manufacture missile destroyers, wouldn't his own shipyard lose a large number of orders?
However, in fact, Fang Lang was obviously worrying too much. General Leta did not want to think about issues that were too far away, perhaps because he was too old or because his term of office was about to end.
After listening to Fang Lang's vision of the future, he just looked at Fang Lang seriously for a while before slowly speaking:
"Fang, how long do you expect these technologies to mature?"
Fang Lang was stunned when he heard this, but he still thought about it in his mind before saying:
"If we move forward steadily, it should be fully realized in about ten years."
General Leta's expression was somewhat intriguing. He looked at Fang Lang and said seriously:
"Then how many more years do you think I can remain as the Minister of Logistics?"
Fang Lang didn't know how to answer this kind of question. After all, the other party's position was too lucrative, and too many people wanted to replace it, so it was hard to say how long the other party could stay.
However, after the other party said this, combined with the previous question, Fang Lang understood what the other party meant. It seems that the other party wants to take advantage of the last term of office to make another fortune!
Since this is the case, Fang Lang certainly would not refuse.
General Leta, who had been staring at Fang Lang, noticed the change in Fang Lang's expression. He realized that he already knew what he was thinking, and smiled again.
"Since Marshal Morais originally supported you in building a shipyard in order to build our own warships for the navy, now that you have the ability to build warships, shouldn't you take action?
You know, the Brazilian Navy currently has a huge shortage of warships. Do we still have to buy warships from abroad?"
In fact, although Brazil has a long coastline, the environment in South America is still relatively safe. Apart from Argentina and Chile, which have strong naval strength, Brazil does not have too many competitors and does not have much naval pressure.
But as the owner of a shipyard, Fang Lang certainly hopes that the navy can order more warships. Only in this way can his shipyard have more business!
More importantly, if the shipyard has the ability to build warships, as long as the warships it produces can keep up with the times, it will be able to sell its own warship products around the world in the future.
For Fang Lang, this is the real big business.
Since the Minister of Logistics wanted to make more money during his tenure, he would of course have to purchase more equipment. Given his good cooperative relationship with Fang Lang, he would definitely want to start with warships.
The other party has already put the words in front of him, and Fang Lang certainly will not refuse such kindness.
Therefore, he spoke without hesitation:
"General Leta, I understand! As long as it is needed for national defense, our shipyard will do its best to help.
We immediately began organizing researchers to develop our own destroyer."
Hearing this, General Leta nodded with satisfaction, pointed at Fang Lang and said:
"Haha... Fang, you're still taking too small a step. Our Brazilian Navy needs more than just destroyers, we also need higher-level cruisers and even aircraft carriers. And submarines, these are all urgently needed by our navy."
Fang Lang didn't expect General Leta to have such a big appetite. The current Fangyuan Shipyard certainly doesn't have such strength. According to Fang Lang's idea, the first step to build will definitely be destroyers and submarines.
As for cruisers and aircraft carriers, they will definitely be built in the future. However, Fang Lang is not very interested in this project now, especially since the aircraft carriers built during this period are not actually the highly professional aircraft carriers of later generations.
And they will be eliminated soon, so there is no need to waste resources.
Fang Lang did not think that now was a good time for the Brazilian navy to expand. Whether from the perspective of personnel quality or the economic environment, Brazil did not have the strength to own another aircraft carrier.
So, he told the truth:
"The Brazilian Navy does need to expand its strength, but I think we can't rush into this. There's a saying that has been circulating since the era of sailing battleships: it takes ten years for the army to grow, and a hundred years for the navy to grow.
I think it still makes sense today, especially when I was leading this aircraft carrier formation, I found that the gap in personnel quality was really serious.
So far, my aircraft carrier formation has not yet formed a real combat effectiveness and is just an existing fleet.
If it is not wise to blindly expand the size of the navy at this time, I think we can start with the construction of destroyers and submarines, and then gradually move towards aircraft carriers. "
General Leta obviously did not expect that Fang Lang would look at this matter so rationally, and had no intention of making money at all. He could not help but look at Fang Lang with a strange look and said:
"Then how many destroyers and submarines do you think we should add?
Now Fang Lang is a little confused about what General Leta is thinking. According to his original idea, he should first produce inland patrol boats to gain experience in manufacturing military ships, and then start building destroyers, so as to let Fangyuan Shipyard grow little by little.
But now General Leta's words made Fang Lang feel that he was a little too hasty. Was his position about to change? Or was his appetite getting bigger?
For a moment, Fang Lang couldn't figure out the reason.
He looked around and found that no one was paying attention to their conversation. He lowered his voice and asked:
"General Leta, is there something special happening?"
Looking at Fang Lang who was looking at him inquiringly, General Leta smiled and said:
“The new fiscal budget for the new year is about to be planned. As far as I know, the Navy Minister has submitted a naval expansion plan, hoping to further expand the capabilities of several other naval bases.
This is an opportunity, isn’t it?
Fang Lang was stunned when he heard this, and said hesitantly:
“Can this… be passed?
The military budget is limited. If the navy budget is increased, the army and air force will be squeezed. Will the powerful army agree to this?"
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