Babylonian Empire

Page 643

Amir's exclamation just now is not too expensive, but too cheap!

Now, the barrel life of the original Iraqi T-72 is approaching the limit, and the newly produced T-72 tanks on the production line also need new barrels.Because of the friendly relationship between Iraq and the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union charged [-] U.S. dollars for each gun barrel "almost at cost". For Iraq, there is a production line, but the gun barrels cannot be produced by themselves. It could be a product imported from the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union can make a steady profit by exporting the barrels, and this batch of brand new barrels only cost [-] US dollars, isn't that cheap?

However, Andre didn't understand what he meant. He thought it was too expensive, so he lowered it by half, one hundred dollars, which was sixty thousand dollars. He and Vlamir each had half, and they also had thirty thousand dollars. One year's salary.

"No problem, one hundred dollars each, we'll take all of these 620 sticks," Amir said.

"It doesn't count in fractions, it's [-] dollars." Andre was also very happy: "This money, [-] dollars, can be directly transferred to my account, and the other [-] dollars, Vlamir, do you have an account abroad? ? By the way, call directly to your daughter's account."

Vlamir couldn't close his mouth anymore, more than 600 gun barrels, enough for an armored division, just like that, it became scrap iron, and then, all the expenses for his daughter's study abroad in Europe came out?

Thinking that my pension has not come out yet, thinking that I fought for the country but not even getting the treatment of a soldier, and seeing how easy it is to make money now, I am afraid that there will be a change in everyone's heart.

Money is a wonderful thing. In any country, in any society, money is not omnipotent, but without money, everything is absolutely impossible. Desire can make a person greedy.

The tall city wall erected in Vlamir's heart suddenly collapsed, and Vlamir only saw the gold everywhere.

"In our warehouse, there are still a large number of tank shells."

Tank shells?Amir was overjoyed when he heard that, tank shells are also something that Iraq urgently needs.

Due to various reasons, when the Soviet Union sells weapons to other friendly countries, it will shrink to a certain extent to ensure that the weapons used by the Soviet Union's own army are the most advanced, and it is also to prevent the West from acquiring its own due to the proliferation of weapons. secret.For example, the Iraqi T-72 tank was simplified on the basis of the Soviet Union's own use.Simplified main armor, simplified fire control, simplified shells.

Fire control, Iraq itself has been upgraded, the main armor, which Iraq cannot move now, and artillery shells, this thing, President Qusay is very dissatisfied.

Now, in the duel of armor forces, the main type of ammunition is armor-piercing ammunition.

Armor-piercing projectiles are to forcibly penetrate the armor of the tank, which is also known as head-to-head, mainly relying on the high kinetic energy of the projectile when it hits the target and its high strength to penetrate the steel armor.If you want to make a hole in the armor, you can't do it without a strong body.Therefore, the projectile of the armor-piercing projectile needs to be harder than the armor of the tank.

The different materials of the pointed core of the armor-piercing bullet have an important impact on the armor-piercing depth.The Soviet Union exported high-density alloy steel bullet cores, while its own use was tungsten alloy armor-piercing bullets made of tungsten carbide and other materials, and even depleted uranium armor-piercing bullets.

Among these types of ammunition, the depleted uranium armor-piercing ammunition is the most inhumane one.Depleted uranium is a by-product of the production of uranium 235. In order to prevent radioactive pollution caused by it, it can only be treated as nuclear waste for a long time.However, when depleted uranium is mixed with certain elements, it will become a metal with high density, high strength, and high toughness. The performance of this metal exceeds that of the toughest tungsten alloy. Use it Used in the manufacture of armor-piercing projectiles, not only can turn waste into treasure, but also greatly improve armor-piercing ability.

Moreover, when the depleted uranium bomb hits armored vehicles such as tanks, the huge impact force can generate high temperatures above 900°C.The temperature of uranium burning in the air is only 400°C. Therefore, when the bullet core penetrates the armor, it will also burn by itself, reducing the local strength of the armor, piercing through the armor, and killing the personnel and internal equipment in the vehicle.

It's just that this kind of armor-piercing projectile is usually troublesome to maintain, and after use, it will cause nuclear pollution.Not only will it bring various radioactive diseases to the local residents in the future, but also the own personnel used at that time will also have certain sequelae. This has been verified in the Gulf War. Years later, some veterans of the war began to notice their own symptoms.

Therefore, for Qusay, obtaining tungsten alloy armor-piercing projectiles for the Soviet Union's own use is a very effective way to improve the power of Iraq's own T-72 tanks.

Moreover, the warheads used by the Soviet Union are not only different, but also the propellant is better. Therefore, although the tank guns are the same, the firepower of the exported T-72 is weaker than that used by the Soviet Union.

Now, when he heard that the one-eyed colonel in front of him, who had made a 180-degree turn, mentioned shells, Amir's eyes lit up and he asked, "What shells do you have in your warehouse?"

"Fin-stabilized anti-sabot shells, fin-stabilized armor-piercing shells, and fin-stabilized grenades for 125mm tank guns," Vlamir said.

Although in the history of tank guns, there have been ammunition such as fragmented armor bullets, but unfortunately, they can only be fired by rifled guns. Therefore, in later generations, except for the British armored soldiers who have ammunition such as fragmented armor bullets, in other countries , this type of bomb is extinct.

"What kind of armor-piercing bomb? Are there depleted uranium bombs?" Amir asked.

"Sorry, Mr. Kochakin, we only have tungsten alloy armor-piercing bullets here, and depleted uranium bombs are usually stored complicatedly. They don't exist here, and they are only assigned to European troops." Vlamir said.

So much the better!Amir just wanted to say, buy all the shells, although he was a bit greedy.

However, Andre next to him was worried. He could have various excuses to sell the gun barrel. Those with high performance cannot be used as tank guns, but can also be used for other purposes. Now the Soviet Union is very chaotic in various aspects. It is no problem for him to do so, but the artillery shells are not.Because, shells can never be sold, even if they are rusty, if there is a problem with the shells, they can only be destroyed!

Seeing Andre's expression, Vlamir knew that Andre had never thought of selling shells at all.

"Recently, isn't the military region going to hold an exercise code-named Iron Lion?" Vlamir asked.

At the mention of this, Vlamir immediately thought that half a month later, the Kiev Military Region would indeed conduct a military exercise, and this military exercise would definitely involve firing a large number of shells. On, adding an extra zero is enough.

This is a good idea.

"How many scrapped shells are there in our warehouse?" Andre asked. Now in his mouth, those shells are all scrapped.

"There are armor-piercing shells, [-] rounds each of armor-piercing shells and grenades," Vlamir said.Each one is one dollar, and twenty thousand dollars is also paid. To him, this is a big sum.

A total of [-] rounds!This is enough for several armored divisions in Iraq, and Amir is also very excited.

"Then, let's spend [-] more rounds of shells each at a cost of thirty dollars each during this exercise. Comrade Korchagin, what do you think?"

For the price of the tank guns that was negotiated just now, Andre felt that he had spoken too early, and he was a little bit at a disadvantage, and sold them a little cheaply, so he decided to get them back on the shells, and it was impossible to get all the [-] rounds. Sell ​​it, otherwise what would the exercise troops use?

In fact, thirty dollars a round of shells is not expensive. You must know that the shrunken shells imported from the Soviet Union by Iraq are more than twice the price.

Of course, Amir would not agree to this price: "The gun barrel is only one hundred dollars, and the shell is thirty dollars. Three shells are worth one barrel, which is not worth it. We We're talking about spent shells now."

"Up to $25," Andrei looked at Amir after finishing speaking, seeing that he hadn't said anything, so he continued: "Twenty dollars each, it can't be cheaper, otherwise, this batch of shells will not be sold .”

"Yes, this is already the lowest price, 1 rounds of shells, a total of 24 dollars, plus the 30 dollars just now, a total of [-] dollars, rounded up." Vlamir said.

$30!In Vlamir's eyes, everything was golden at this moment.

"Okay, then we've made a deal, but you have to give me [-] rounds of armor-piercing bullets." Amir said.

"I didn't ask." Andre agreed, and it's not difficult to give five hundred more.

Amir was overjoyed. Today was a good start. It helped Iraq save a lot of foreign exchange. It seems that President Qusay was right, and this place will become a paradise for Iraq.

Each person could get 15 US dollars, and Vlamir was very excited, but he didn't seem to be satisfied, and said: "Automatic rifles, rocket launchers, grenades, these weapons, do you want them?"

Amir shook his head. He still doesn't like those light weapons. What he needs are advanced Soviet weapons that Iraq cannot produce by itself.

There are quite a few places in Africa that are at war. It seems that you can contact there to see if you can sell more weapons.Vlamir thought to himself.

With the conclusion of this transaction, Amir's vigorous arms smuggling operation in the Soviet Union finally kicked off.

Chapter 765 The Iron Lady's Choice

"Ma'am, if this continues, our British oil industry may be destroyed." Xiu En said anxiously to Mrs. Thatcher.

After another half a month, they finally couldn't stand it any longer.

"Now, the international oil price has dropped to nine dollars a barrel, and we lose more than three to four dollars for every barrel we produce. This has caused our North Sea oil fields to run at a loss all the time. The company has always been losing money, but we can't cut production, otherwise, our oil workers should go on strike. If the oil workers also lose their jobs, our economy will deteriorate further. But now the oil companies It has been operating at a loss and is already facing the danger of breaking the chain of funds." Xiu En continued to explain.

"Haven't we already provided loans to oil companies through the Bank of England? Two times, a total of [-] million pounds has been issued. Isn't it enough now?" Mrs Thatcher asked.

For the glory of the British Empire, in order to maintain domestic economic stability, to allow its own oil industry to continue to produce steadily, and at the same time, to prove the strength of the United Kingdom and win the competition with those oil-producing countries in the Middle East, Thatcher Madam gritted her teeth and lent money to oil companies twice.However, I didn't expect that a loan of [-] million pounds was already a very large amount, but this did not last until victory.

"What about the Americans? Until now, Americans have been watching us fight an oil price war with the Middle East, and then our oil industry was dragged down by malicious competition?" Mrs. Thatcher asked dissatisfied.

"No, ma'am, just two days ago, oil merchants in Texas, the United States, united and sent us a message, saying that they are willing to provide funds to help us tide over the difficulties." Foreign Secretary William said.

American oil merchant?I'm afraid they can no longer maintain profitability now?How can they be so kind and provide funds to BP?

"What do they want?" Mrs Thatcher asked.

"They hope that our oil company can sell us our shares in the Texas oil field to them, so that our company will have enough funds to carry out this smokeless war with the Middle East. "William continued.