Minister Zhang's words are naturally mostly jokes. In fact, with the increase in national strength, it is relatively easy to cope with military investment.

Moreover, Fan Wubing's investments have become physical enterprises now. Since it is an enterprise, it must look like a enterprise. How can it become a bottomless pit with no profit but only investment?

When Fan's Investment Group is difficult to make a choice in the government, it has already made great contributions to the advance layout of some huge investment projects. It is obviously impossible to let them fill holes endlessly. After all, the employees of so many of its companies also need to be supported.

At present, Fan Investment Group has supported more than 1.5 million employees nationwide, making it the most popular enterprise group in China. The number of people with revenue must double this number, which has a huge impact on the entire national economy.

Even the senior management cannot see this importance and do something about killing the chicken and retrieving the eggs.

To describe it in an inappropriate sentence, Fan's Investment Group is already in a big way at this time.

The military performances are also more solemn, with most of them group dance programs, and in addition, they are sung by military songs. However, what surprised Fan Wubing was that the singers participating in the performance, especially those first-line stars, were basically wearing military uniforms, including general government, maritime government, air government, second artillery art troupe, etc.

"Why didn't you see that there are programs in your General Equipment Department?" Fan Wubing asked curiously.

"We are not doing our job properly. They are all art troupes under the Political Department. Do you think that just one unit can do this?" Minister Zhang said suddenly.

Fan Wubing smiled and then said that art is also a kind of weapon and equipment, and it is of great use.

He said this not groundlessly, but it does have some basis. For example, after the mainland implemented the reform and opening up policy, the popular culture of Hong Kong and Taiwan immediately swept across China, causing Taiwan to have new content on mainland radio, that is, to play a large amount of pop music.

The earliest songs of Teresa Teng were broadcasted because it was the first Taiwanese singer to be recognized and appreciated by mainland listeners.

Many people have actually forgotten that songs such as "The Moon Represents My Heart" and "Sweet Honey" were first broadcast to the mainland through the Voice of Free China. It is worth mentioning that because Teresa Teng's songs are deeply loved by mainland audiences, she also received a certificate from the General Political Department of the Ministry of Defense of Taiwan.

The truth is the same. The mainland also attaches great importance to this influence. The art troupe has existed before the liberation, and has been passed down to this day. Most of the first-line stars who are active on various stages now have military backgrounds. Even the occasionally wild singers will be included in the military once they become famous. This is not a rare thing in the industry.

Just like in today's performances, many singers usually show off in casual clothes, and only in these regular military performances will they be fully prepared.

However, I am used to seeing the images of singers in strange costumes, and now I find that they are all wearing military uniforms, it feels really different.

"Girls wear military uniforms and are indeed a bit heroic and cool." Minister Zhang also expressed after seeing it.

After the performance, there was a dance party. The leaders were excited to dance with the girls. They hugged each other and rubbed them slowly. However, Fan Wubing had no feelings about this and hid aside to drink drinks and eat.

Military products are always more exquisite, and the same goes for food and drink. Fan Wubing holds drinks in one hand and cake in the other, lying on the sofa in the dark corner, listening to music and watching the people dancing inside, eating very comfortably.

But there were also people who didn't dance. An admiral came over and took a bottle of Moutai and found Fan Wubing.

"Mr. Fan, take a few sips?" the other party said.

Fan Wubing turned his head and saw that this was the newly promoted Admiral Chen Guangyi, so he sat up and said, "Drink if you drink, you are idle anyway. Besides, you are invited by the old man, so you can't help but give face."

Speaking of which, the two of them have known each other for a long time. When Fan Wubing proposed the design plan for a snowstorm torpedo, Chen Guangyi was just a lieutenant colonel, and he was in his thirties. He was already sixty and promoted to general.

It would be fine if I didn’t think about this. When Fan Wubing saw Chen Guangyi, he couldn’t help but sigh, “The world is changing, and time always passes fast.”

And Chen Guangyi was not so moved in his heart? When he met Fan Heng and Fan Wubing, Fan Heng was just a middle-level cadre in the enterprise, and Fan Wubing was just a three and a half years old. At that time, the generals in charge were all founding generals. At this time, things had changed, and the characters had already changed one after another. Even if he was promoted to the position of general, he would not have been in office for many more years.

But Chen Guangyi still has a dream in his heart.

"Mr. Fan. I heard that the major project of Southeast Heavy Industry is about to begin recently. When will we use our own aircraft carrier?" Chen Guangyi pulled Fan Wubing and asked while drinking with him.

Fan Wubing was a little hesitant. Of course, this kind of thing should not be clamoring all over the world. However, Chen Guangyi's level is here and has been knowledgeable for many years, so he carefully said, "I also hope to see it as soon as possible. However, there is nothing at present, and I cannot predict this accurate time. After all, there are many technical and technological problems in it that are not easy to solve."

Chen Guangyi nodded. As a navy general, he still has a good understanding of Fan Wubing's words.

Not to mention anything else, an aircraft take-off and landing device is on the aircraft carrier, which is very technical.

At present, the most advanced thing on aircraft carriers is catapult takeoff, which requires strong scientific and technological strength. Currently, only the United States and France have mastered this technology, and aircraft carriers in other countries take off with a slit.

Aircraft must rely on their own power to take off and land on their length and limited deck space. They either use specially designed short-range or vertical takeoffs or landing aircraft, or they must significantly sacrifice the aircraft's combat performance and can only take off with light loads. Therefore, ski jump takeoff is very suitable for aircraft such as the Sea Harrier and F35B. It is also the first choice for light aircraft carriers in various countries, but it is not suitable for conventional carrier-based aircraft.

If the technology is not good and cannot create a catapult, it will be a good idea to use ski jump and take off, which will have a great impact on the combat effectiveness of the carrier-based aircraft. Therefore, it is best to have external force to take off the carrier-based aircraft. The best way to take off is the catapult.

A large number of tests and combat practices have proved that carrier-based aircraft of large and medium-sized aircraft carriers, especially fixed-wing aircraft with larger tonnages, are more advantageous in ejection takeoff.

For example, the US Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a full load displacement of more than 90,000 tons, and the French USS Charles de Gaulle nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with a full load displacement of nearly 40,000 tons. Almost all their carrier-based aircraft adopt catapult takeoff.

The steam catapult has a large ejection energy and good acceleration. It can accelerate the carrier-based aircraft from stationary to off-ship speed within a distance of several dozen meters. The steam catapult consists of a launch system, a steam system, a cable tensioning system, a lubrication and control system. During operation, high-pressure steam is generated by the boiler and stored in the steam chamber. Before ejection, the cable hooks the carrier-based aircraft on the reciprocating vehicle. When the high-pressure steam is charged into the cylinder barrel, the huge pressure of the steam pushes the piston, and the piston drives the reciprocating vehicle, and the reciprocating vehicle drives the carrier-based aircraft to slide forward rapidly, thereby ejecting the aircraft out.

The C-13 catapult currently installed by the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier can eject two carrier-based aircraft with a take-off weight of about 30 tons per minute. If four sets of steam catapults are used at the same time, it can eject one aircraft in just twenty to thirty seconds during the day, and at night, the interval will be extended to eighty seconds due to line of sight and other reasons.

However, the disadvantages of steam catapults are quite obvious. The thermal efficiency of the steam engine is relatively low. In order to burn fresh water into steam, a large amount of energy must be consumed and additional space must be left for the storage of fuel. If heat energy is directly drawn from the power unit on the ship, such as the nuclear power unit, the power used for navigation will be greatly reduced and the ship speed will be reduced accordingly. When the aircraft takes off and lands, the aircraft carrier is required to advance against the wind at a higher speed, which will naturally be detrimental to takeoff and landing.

Secondly, aircraft carriers have many sub-systems and complex structures. In addition to leaving equipment in the cabin, steam catapults also need large water tanks to store water. To eject a medium-sized fighter aircraft, it consumes about one ton of fresh water. In this way, the size and tonnage of the entire aircraft carrier have to be increased, and steam catapults can only be used for large and medium-sized aircraft carriers.

At present, except for the US and French aircraft carriers, almost all the other seven countries with aircraft carriers adopt the sliding takeoff method. In addition to financial and material resources, the more important thing is that the aircraft carriers of these countries are basically small aircraft carriers, with limited tonnage, captain, ship width and deck area, making it difficult for these aircraft carriers to install long track lengths, similar to the US C-13 steam catapult.

In fact, only the United States has steam catapults that have passed the technology and technology in the world. It is by no means possible to develop steam catapults with shorter orbitals and stronger power in the short term.

In view of this situation, the navies of small and medium-sized countries had to follow the British Invincible Class aircraft carrier and adopt skid takeoff technology to solve urgent needs. Take off on the aircraft carrier by skid, and the aircraft's departure frequency is not affected by the catapult power and faults, and has the advantages of simple operation and good safety. The cancellation of catapults will also help simplify the design of the aircraft carrier, reduce cost, and save training and maintenance costs.

Of course, the sled takeoff method also has many disadvantages. The length of the runway required for sled takeoff should be greater than the length of the ejection takeoff.

For example, the Su-27K's sliding distance under normal take-off weight on the ground is about 680 meters. It uses the 200-meter flight deck with a sled corner on the bow. Under normal circumstances, it can take off the ship, but it cannot guarantee that it can take off safely at the maximum full load weight, and its combat effectiveness is limited.

In addition, taking off and landing aircraft may interfere with each other, which is a major defect of this type of aircraft carrier. Early warning aircraft, anti-submarine aircraft, etc. cannot adopt the skid takeoff method, so helicopters have to use a carrier-based early warning aircraft, which is a choice that has to be made.

Although the former Soviet Union later designed and partially built the third-generation nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ulyanovsk, and equipped it with a straight deck and a steam catapult for the first time, so that it could take off and land a fixed-wing early warning aircraft, the aircraft carrier died due to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the military expenditure was not settled, and it was demolished and sold as scrap steel.

Compared with catapult takeoff, conventional carrier-based aircraft require a large area of ​​clean deck when taking off, which will reduce the parking spaces on the upper deck of the aircraft carrier. Most carrier-based aircraft have to be placed in the lower hangar, and the capacity of the hangar is limited, and it is very inconvenient to transport aircraft up and down.

Judging from just one catapult, China does need to overcome many difficulties in developing an aircraft carrier.
Chapter completed!