Chapter 407 Derivatives (II)
Baisha had just seen Zhang Wei and his group off, and hadn't even had two hours to rest when someone from another department showed up.
The visitor was none other than Jagufu, the deputy general manager of Ceylon Ocean Shipping Group.
After reading the introduction of the Dandelion Airship, Jaguv showed a very interested look on his face:
"The new type of airship you are researching is good. I am very optimistic about its transportation potential, especially in helping us to expand the African market and consolidate island logistics in the Pacific."
The West Pacific branch was established recently. Many of the places are small islands, and the distance between them is relatively far, so it is not possible to build a subway like the South Pacific Islands.
Now we can only rely on planes and ships.
But the transport capacity of aircraft is too small and the speed of ships is relatively slow, which is not conducive to the company's development of these islands.
Based on the data provided by Baisha, Jaguf believes that vacuum airships have great potential. Although the Ceylon Ocean Transport Group where he works is mainly responsible for sea transportation in the Ceylon Ocean, developing the African market is also within their scope of responsibility.
The coastal areas of Africa are still okay, and the ports in some small countries have been repaired and are barely usable.
But the inland area of Africa is almost a wilderness. There are few roads, let alone railways, and the airport facilities are also very simple.
This is obviously not conducive to the "investment" and "development" of the Sapiens company.
If a fleet of transport airships could be built, Sapiens would soon be able to deepen its influence over inland Africa with cheap industrial products and food.
"Team Leader Bai, what kind of support do you need for your airship's takeoff and landing and docking?"
"Since we use vacuum to provide buoyancy, buoyancy control is very simple. The landing site only needs a flat ground, and even if there is no cement hardened site, we can land safely."
Jaguf was even more satisfied after hearing this.
Compared to hydrogen airships that have safety risks, or helium airships that require the use of rare gases, vacuum airships are excellent in all aspects.
As for the problem of fear of fire, the airship can be wrapped with a layer of flame retardant material, or directly installed with aerogel protective armor.
Jaguf made a rough estimate in his mind.
A transport airship with a payload of 2,000 tons, a deadweight of 580 tons, and a total weight of 2,580 tons.
The approximate specifications are 700 meters in length, 80 meters in height, 60 meters in width, a vacuum volume of 2.4 million cubic meters, and a total buoyancy of approximately 3,160 tons.
Its flight altitude is below 5,000 meters, its daily cruising altitude is 1,000 meters, its maximum speed is 200 kilometers per hour, and its operating speed is 150 kilometers per hour.
He shared his ideas with Baisha.
Baisha reminded: "Manager Jia Gufu, why don't you use a larger configuration?"
"A larger configuration?"
Baisha then proposed an enhanced version of the transport airship with a length of 1,500 meters, a total vacuum volume of 14.4 million cubic meters, and a total buoyancy of 18,576 tons at sea level. After deducting the dead weight of the fuselage of 3,000 tons, there was still 15,000 tons of buoyancy.
After hearing this plan, Jagufu did not immediately make a decision, but asked:
"How much does it cost?"
"Because the transport airship requires a special engine and power system, the cost is about 4 million."
"4 million? This price is not bad." Although Jaguf thought it was a bit expensive, the transport capacity of the airship was quite suitable.
After all, building a transport ship with a deadweight of 15,000 tons requires 6 million US dollars, equivalent to 3 million gold yuan.
The speed of a transport airship is about 10 times faster than that of an ordinary transport ship.
However, considering the situation in various parts of Africa , Jaguf felt it necessary to install protective armor, cruise missiles and machine guns on the transport airship.
Otherwise, a batch of transport airships would have to be specially modified.
His thoughts have not yet been expressed.
People from the External Security Division also arrived.
Baisha felt a little helpless, feeling that today was really lively.
The people who came from the External Security Division were the heads of the Equipment Department and the Sky Department.
Obviously, people in the External Security Division are also very concerned about various new technologies within the company.
When they heard the news about the vacuum airship some time ago, they organized an internal seminar to discuss whether the airship could be used in the security field.
Although in the last century, airships have proven to be unsuitable for air combat.
However, this is a different time.
At that time, airships were replaced by airplanes and missiles due to technical and material problems.
In an internal seminar, the Air Force Department and the Equipment Department re-evaluated the war potential of airships under current technical conditions, and they found that the military value of airships was not small.
In particular, vacuum airships, their huge payload in the troposphere, and their huge volume are all things that can be utilized.
Based on the simulation design of the Foreign Security Division.
They plan to design an aerospace carrier with a total payload weight of about 30,000 tons, which can carry Seahawk fighters, large drones, and the gamma-ray cannon that is currently being developed.
As for the problem that the aerospace carrier is large in size and easily detected by radar.
After discussion, the External Security Division felt that this issue was not a problem.
The reason for this conclusion is due to magnetic field radar and gamma ray cannon.
No, you can't be invisible.
It doesn’t matter. As long as the aerospace carrier can detect enemy aircraft and missiles in advance, it can use gamma ray cannons to eliminate approaching targets.
What is a stealth airship?
As long as the enemy's means of attack are neutralized, the aerospace mothership will become a stealth airship.
Moreover, according to the assessment of the External Security Division, the aerospace carrier will most likely not engage in direct combat with the great powers in the short term, and its target may be those second- and third-rate forces.
In this case, there is even less need to worry.
Bullying those little shrimps is just a matter of one punch each.
Therefore, the External Security Division directly approved the aerospace carrier project and planned to build five ships in the first batch to verify the concept.
Baisha heard the Equipment Division's idea and said with some embarrassment:
"The production capacity of our factory is not enough. We also need to produce communication airships and transport airships."
The head of the Equipment Department certainly knew the production capacity of the factory, and he directly stated his plan:
"It doesn't matter. You can share your technology with us and send a few engineers to assist us. The Foreign Security Division has its own airship factory."
"That's no problem." Baisha breathed a sigh of relief.
However, Baisha was unaware of the existence of the gamma-ray cannon, so he reminded worriedly: "Will the aerospace carrier be too conspicuous? There is no way for this thing to be invisible!"
"Don't worry! The External Security Division has its own solution."
Upon hearing that the External Security Division had a solution, Baisha nodded, but did not continue to ask for specific details. For projects involving military matters like this, he still knew his limits.
After agreeing on a time for technology handover with the head of the Equipment Department and finalizing the contact plan at that time, the other party left in a hurry.
But the people from Ceylon Ocean Shipping Group are still here.
After all, the Foreign Security Division has its own airship factory, so they can definitely handle the design details themselves and don’t need to stay here.
However, Jaguf needed to discuss the design details with Baisha and put forward some requirements to avoid running back and forth.
Since the External Security Division has decided to develop an aerospace carrier, there is no need to equip the civilian transport airship with heavy armor. Jaguf only retained a micro-UAV launch device and 6 defensive machine guns.
Then he signed a cooperation agreement on behalf of Ceylon Ocean Group and Madagascar Space City, planning to produce 100 18,000-ton transport airships in the next three years.
Just a sub-project of the Dandelion project has brought a lot of new technologies. This is the derivative effect of large-scale projects.
