The world of Chinese style creates a prosperous era for girl groups

"Fatty, what inside information do you know? Tell me about it."

"It's not an inside story. Anyone who has come into contact with it knows it." Xia Haoyang smiled. "The products purchased by the military are different from those used by ordinary people."

"Well, you said."

"For example, a true story tells about a US aircraft whose cockpit seat is of old design, different from the current mainstream spring-type design, and cannot be used interchangeably. However, the aircraft is still in service, and if the seat is broken, does it need to be repaired?" Xia Haoyang looked at Han Xiyu.

"Just say what you want to say. If you have to fart, just fart quickly. This is not a crosstalk. Why do you need someone to support you?" Han Xiyu rolled his eyes. He couldn't stand people who spoke in a mysterious way.

Xia Haoyang smiled again: "The military's aircraft seats are broken, so they ask the military enterprise they cooperated with before to repair them. There is no doubt that although the entire set of equipment and production line have been eliminated, the military enterprise still maintains this seat production line and a group of maintenance personnel who are proficient in the equipment, and then provide technical services to the military. Have you ever thought about how much it would cost to maintain a production line specifically for a set of outdated seats, and also maintain a group of professional and technical personnel over the decades?"

This time, before Han Xiyu could speak, Xia Haoyang continued, "So a set of ejection seats for the latest aircraft might cost about two million Chinese Yuan, but the maintenance cost of an old-fashioned set of seats is more than 20 million."

"This is too outrageous. We might as well just scrap it." Tianci interrupted.

"Is it outrageous? This cost is not only the expenditure for maintaining this production line and labor wages, but also the testing and inspection costs. All equipment and materials used by the military need to be tested in the actual environment before they can be delivered. Therefore, special tests and related investments are required for this purpose. The test-related costs prepared for this purpose exceed 15 million." Xia Haoyang explained.

"Well, there's no telling."

"It's not just the U.S. military, it's the same in all countries. Let me give you another example. You should know that the quality standards for military products are higher than those for civilian products. Take the temperature index of electronic products for example. The use standard for our civilian electronic products is -10° to 70°. As long as the electronic products can be used normally during this temperature period, these components are qualified and can be used in the production and use of mobile phones and tablets. In addition, the quality inspection of civilian products is a sampling inspection. That is, from the same batch of products, perhaps thousands or even tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, a few dozen are randomly inspected for testing, and then the qualified rate of a product is obtained from these dozens of products, and then it can be sold."

"But military products are different. First of all, the temperature index of electronic products is -20° to 80°. They have more stringent material standards for electronic product components. And no matter the quantity, they are tested one by one. They will be put in a temperature-controlled box for actual testing. If they pass one by one, their testing standards are different. Do you think the prices of civilian mobile phones or computers can be the same as those purchased by the military?" Xia Haoyang said.

"The prices are definitely different. The quality standards of your components are different. Computers and mobile phones purchased by the military are definitely more expensive."

"Yes, take the Thinkpad T40 laptop twenty years ago as an example. The market price at that time was 7000 Chinese yuan. I know that a certain military unit purchased 40 T40 laptops, but the price of each laptop was. Because the T provided to the military not only has better quality components, but is also a three-proof product. It can all meet the requirements of waterproof, spill-proof, mildew-proof, moisture-proof, and salt spray-proof. It can be said that it is completely different from our civilian products."

“But 7000? That’s too expensive.” Tianci was shocked.

"I said this example to mean that many products purchased by the military cannot be measured by the prices of civilian products that you know. For example, the news reported that the military spent tens of thousands of dollars to purchase a small bag of screws? Well, let me give you another example. Before the launch of the Beidou-70 satellite, my country also mainly used GPS navigation, and antennas are required to receive GPS signals. For example, our mobile phones have GPS chips, but they also need to integrate a satellite antenna on the mobile phone circuit board. Twenty years ago, the cost of civilian GPS antennas was tens of yuan, because the high temperature resistance index was only up to 80°; military antennas cost hundreds of yuan each, because the high temperature resistance index can reach 90°. But at that time, a tank unit in Changshan needed to use them in the northwest desert area. Because the weather was hot and the surface temperature of the tanks could reach or degrees, the GPS antenna often failed and could not receive satellite signals normally, so they needed an antenna that could withstand high temperatures of up to degrees."

"You can't just say you can't use tanks in the desert if you can't receive signals, because you can only buy GPS antennas of higher standards. As a result, there is only one company in the world that produces GPS antennas that can withstand temperatures of 85 degrees, and the price is several thousand. The military purchased it, but it still didn't work. It still malfunctioned. It had to withstand temperatures of 90 degrees. So this German company redesigned a new antenna and finally produced it. The military also signed a purchase contract with the company, but the price was sky-high."

"So, if you compare, a civilian-grade 70-degree high-temperature antenna costs only a few dozen yuan; a normal military-grade 80-degree high-temperature antenna costs only a few hundred yuan; and the world's highest existing 85-degree high-temperature antenna costs thousands of yuan. But when the product still cannot meet the needs of the military and needs to be developed and designed to create a new product, even if the other functions are exactly the same, but the upper limit of high-temperature resistance is only increased by 5 degrees, you will pay an astronomical procurement fee."

"From an antenna that you thought was worth a few dozen dollars to an astronomical amount spent by the military to purchase it. If you didn't know these details clearly, would you think it was corruption and squandering? So the news reported by the media that a small bag of screws cost tens of thousands of dollars, although I don't know its cost, it is definitely not something we can buy at a hardware store for a few dollars. It looks inconspicuous and you think it is very cheap. The military's use environment and raw material technology are completely different from the civilian products we see. So it is normal that the procurement costs of some products are shocking. Of course, the small bag of screws in the news is most likely caused by corruption."

"I understand what Brother Haoyang means. Many of the products purchased by the military are of better quality or more powerful functions, so the prices will be more expensive than the market prices of civilian products we know, and much more expensive, and it is not entirely because of corruption and kickbacks." Tianci said.

"Well, yes, but these special cases reported by the media should be corruption within the U.S. military. There is no need to wash it away. Haha, I'm not saying this to wash it away, but I just happened to know something about it. We're all just having a meal and having nothing else to do, so we just chatted about it."