Chapter 118 - 114 Howard Lin Ju_1

"Why laser technology?"

Lin Ju left on the ARJ21 airliner provided by the base, and it took a special flight to get back to New Yuan.

Having waited until he was seated in his own business car, Lin Ju finally voiced his question to Guo Shen.

Although the base had also agreed to offer high-power laser technology in exchange, Lin Ju didn’t quite understand what use it had.

Guo Shen said, "Boss, in deep-space travel, small asteroids and debris can easily cause massive damage to spacecraft, which must be eliminated before impact, and the only weapon currently capable of destroying them quickly and with enough power is one kind."

Lin Ju said, "So you wanted the laser technology?"

Guo Shen said, "Develop the laser well, and it will be a technology that changes the world order, potentially elevating our status to an unshakable level."

Lin Ju asked, "How does it change things?"

Guo Shen extended two index fingers toward each other: "The world is peaceful now because it’s built on a foundation of balance."

Lin Ju immediately thought of the answer.

"What is the strongest assurance of balance?"

Lin Ju said to himself: Rockets.

Guo Shen said, "In a vacuum like that in space, lasers experience almost no attenuation over distance."

Lin Ju shuddered, thinking of a terrifying scenario.

Guo Shen continued to describe:

"For small asteroids or debris that might threaten spacecraft, we can detect them in advance using a global satellite monitoring system, then guide the laser to attack in time, thus eliminating the threat."

"As long as there are enough satellites, they can defend against asteroids from all directions, right?" Lin Ju finished the sentence for him.

"Yes, not many are necessary. If the power is sufficient, they could operate in geosynchronous orbit. Between 80 and 100 laser satellites would ensure nothing remains in near-Earth orbit.

Even without that many satellites, multiple lasers could be concentrated in a large space station. As long as a certain area’s safety is assured, the effect would be the same. Even an attack on the space station itself could be easily intercepted."

"..."

It was already evening, and with no lights on in the car, Lin Ju gazed at the brilliant lights of countless homes along the road, silent for a long time, before finally uttering softly:

"Classify this as a top-secret project, no matter the cost, we need such technology. This... is for world peace."

"Yes, boss."

...

At this year’s Zhuhai Airshow, the visitors at New Yuan Aeronautics’ booth were continuous, but unfortunately, there weren’t many business partners, just onlookers.

After all, apart from France, New Yuan had rejected any intentions of selling the H1, and the Progress on display could only be a static exhibit.

The two models of aerospace engines that Lin Ju placed high hopes on were also exhibited, resulting in a dismal and completely ignored outcome.

As expected...

After all, who would believe that a space company could also excel at making aerospace engines? It’s as ludicrous as SpaceX making airliners.

Speaking of passenger jets, COMAC’s C919 also made an appearance at the show.

The C919 large aircraft first took part in the Zhuhai Airshow in 2010, and then touched a lot of people. In 2015, it was still touching people, but its maiden flight was nowhere to be seen.

The reason was simple: the C919’s domestic production rate was too low, depending entirely on imports for critical components from avionics to engines. Getting stuck at any step could be fatal, yet there was no choice but to be stuck.

After all, foreign countries held the standards for airworthiness certification. If you used your own produced parts, they would say it didn’t meet the airworthiness standards, forbidding you from taking off or landing at foreign airports.

America would block you, then the European Union would block you, from parts to standards. Unless you are willing to give up the key components, satisfying the giants until each C919 could essentially provide a substantial reward for international collaborators, issuing an airworthiness certificate would be profitable.

Then couldn’t the C919 just fly domestically without going abroad? That wouldn’t work either.

Because civil aviation is different from military aircraft, it requires routine maintenance at all domestic civilian airports. This maintenance system was designed over decades of market dominance by Airbus and Boeing. Domestic passenger planes must adapt to this system instead of going to the trouble of building a new one, which would be a loss.

To adapt to this system, naturally, international standards had to be applied. And so, we’re back to square one—it all ends with paying international manufacturers.

So even if COMAC wanted to use New Yuan’s XW-10 for the C919, it couldn’t happen. They had no choice but to select the LEAP-X1C engine, which is a joint production of France’s Safran and America’s General Electric.

As for transport aircraft, the Y-20 has domestically produced WS-18 and the developing WS-20 engines, so there’s no need for the non-dominate XW-10.

XW-10 orders: zero.

It was still unclear about the XW-9. There is definitely no market domestically, and similarly, there was no movement from the foreign guests at the airshow, obviously due to a variety of factors.

However, although we can’t count on a purely domestically produced large passenger aircraft, Lin Ju could still get himself one with the same effects.

He bought the ARJ21 that was to take him back, to be used as the company’s business jet.

Now with many matters at New Yuan needing him to fly here and there, waiting for flights was too troublesome. He simply bought an ARJ21 as a dedicated plane that could take off from B-level Base Airport, and, with New Yuan’s privilege to apply for flight routes, getting anywhere was quick.

But as soon as the plane touched down, it was wheeled into the hangar by New Yuan’s engineers, ready for modifications.

Its two GE34 engines, each providing 9 tons of thrust, were to be replaced by two XW-10 engines with modified bypass ratios, increasing the total thrust from 18 tons to 30 tons.

This would greatly enhance the ARJ21’s takeoff and landing capabilities, especially improving the boss’s comfort level.

Additionally, there was a change in livery and interior modifications to better suit long-distance office work, though Lin Ju more resembled a rubber stamp.

Standing in front of the enormous assembly hangar, Lin Ju watched the workers push the ARJ21 into the modification spot, their hurried figures against the backdrop of the vast hangar like a colony of hardworking ants, suddenly welled up a strong sense of pride.

In the midst of frenzied leapfrog development, by November, New Yuan’s current number of employees had exceeded 1300, with an additional 300-plus part-time staff dug out from colleges, totaling over 1700 people.

The B-level Base was like a behemoth and continued to devour talent from all walks of life, not resting until the number of employees reached 3000.

Taking into account the high level of automation at the base, the contribution of these 1700 people was no less than that of 5000, enough to make every crazy dream come true.

Lin Ju suddenly missed his old trade, the unremarkable mechanical engineer.

He hurried towards the aviation department, and amidst the astonished looks of the engineers, he pulled out a piece of specialized drawing paper the size of a table, rolled up his sleeves, holding a huge set square in one hand and a pencil in the other.

"Boss?" the deputy chief engineer of the aviation department cautiously asked,

"What are you doing, is there anything we can help with?"

Lin didn’t even raise his head and drew the centerline on the paper,

"I’m going to design an airplane, and I’m going to fly it myself."