Dominate South Asia

Negotiation requires art. Muhammad retreated several times and cheated the Americans countless times. When the contract was completed, they realized that they had been fooled by Muhammad.

And this time, it was the same again. Everyone realized that the other party wanted an aircraft carrier, which was just a cover. The real purpose was to get these four warships!

"These four warships have now entered our navy. It is probably unrealistic to directly decommission them from the navy and join your navy." Weinberg said: "I think it is better for your country to choose from our retired warships. Except for aircraft carriers, we will give them to you as long as you like them. I wonder what President Muhammad thinks?"

Weinberg immediately denied what he had just said and narrowed the selection range of the Pakistani Navy to the retired warships of the US Navy. Except for aircraft carriers, there are no combat-capable ones. Giving them to the Pakistani Navy will not destroy the balance of the region.

"Mr. Minister of Defense, can we request other retired naval equipment except aircraft carriers?" Muhammad looked at Weinberg and said.

Looking at Muhammad's eyes, Weinberg felt an ominous feeling again, but it seemed that apart from aircraft carriers, there was nothing that could not be exported, right?

"Yes." Weinberg said.

"Then we ask you to give us a retired Sturgeon class." Muhammad said.

Sturgeon class? Weinberg's face suddenly changed: "No, that's a nuclear submarine."

This is the first teardrop-shaped submarine in the United States. Although this type of submarine has long been outdated in the US Navy, the advanced Los Angeles class has begun to serve, but nuclear submarines are strategic forces and cannot be exported.

Weinberg was talking about naval vessels. Muhammad was talking about naval equipment. The difference of this one word included nuclear submarines.

The atmosphere at the scene was very awkward.

"I'm sorry." Muhammad said: "Now, I have doubts whether you really want to help us fight against the Indians' maritime power, or just talk about it."

Of course, it's just talk! The United States has no interest in fighting against the Indians, but in front of Muhammad. The United States cannot express it.

"Originally, we in Pakistan were still looking for clues to help our American allies search for the missing citizens of your country in Lebanon. Now it seems..." Muhammad was very helpless.

American citizens missing in Lebanon! This sentence immediately made President Reagan's eyes light up.

For the US president, no matter where in the world, if American citizens have an accident, he must go to rescue them. Just like the Roman Empire at the beginning, any Roman could walk safely in the corner of the world. Behind them was the powerful Roman Empire!

President Reagan certainly remembered that President Carter failed to compete with him because of the Iranian hostage crisis. Because the government handled it poorly, the hostages were detained in Iran for more than a year, which eventually led to President Carter losing the support of the people.

And now, the same problem. It was in front of him. Just a few months ago, several American citizens in Lebanon suddenly disappeared.

The CIA mobilized a large number of forces and searched for several months, but there was no clue, and the families of the missing American citizens were already very anxious. Once they could not be appeased, it would lead to a new crisis of trust.

Now, President Muhammad is actually saying that Pakistan has already got a clue?

"We can't let our allies down." President Reagan said: "You requested a Kidd-class destroyer, and we can meet your needs. However, the number is reduced to two. Moreover, the operation of the most complex air defense missiles on it requires our technicians to operate."

As long as the United States agrees, get the destroyer back to Pakistan first! As long as it is in Pakistan, Muhammad has a lot of ways.

Aircraft carriers, destroyers and nuclear submarines, if the United States chooses to sell them, the United States will naturally choose to sell destroyers. After all, the other two are at the strategic level.

"Thank you very much." Muhammad said: "We Pakistan and your country have always maintained a good friendship. We will do our best to help our American friends return to their own homes."

As for those people, Muhammad certainly knows where they are. They are all controlled by the Iranians behind the scenes. It is not the first time that Pakistan has contacted the Iranians. Pakistan can still get something from the negotiations.

The destroyer could not come immediately, and there would be follow-up negotiations. The United States only agreed to sell it in principle. However, with the news of the hostages, Muhammad could take the initiative.

"In our battle with the Soviets, air combat is the main form." Muhammad continued: "Now, the number of our fighters is not enough to deal with conflicts in two directions, so we have applied to you to purchase 40 fighters. We hope that you can deliver as soon as possible."

Pakistan has ordered 40 F-16 fighters again. These fighters have reached the level of F-16C, which is another major military purchase for Pakistan.

"These military aircraft are being produced intensively by General Motors and are expected to be delivered next year." Weinberg said that this type of fighter is very popular, and the United States will first ensure its own equipment before Pakistan and other countries will take their turn.

So, Muhammad could only shake his head helplessly: "No, it's too late. If we can't get back in time to join the war, our air force may not have enough aircraft."

Mhammad's words also foreshadowed that if they were really not enough, the Pakistani Air Force would have to think of other ways.

"We will give priority to your air force equipment." Weinberg said.

"Many of our first batch of F-16 fighters and F100 engines have reached the end of their service life. We need to overhaul them. We originally wanted to ship them back to your country for overhaul, but it seems that you are too busy. We request to build an F100 overhaul line in our country." Muhammad said: "The TF30 overhaul line has repaired many engines for us. We have enough experience to overhaul the F100 engine."

It is not very difficult to introduce an overhaul line for fighter engine. After all, Pakistan has introduced an engine overhaul line for Tomcat fighters. The F100 has not yet fully matured. In the later generations, in 1986, the F100-PW-220 engine was officially stabilized.

Hearing Muhammad's request, the US senior officials did not particularly object and nodded in agreement.

For Muhammad, the F100 overhaul line is of course more important. When they fall out with the Americans at some point in the future, the Americans will definitely block the supply of parts. In the future, if the United States does not show mercy and allow General Motors to continue to export F16 parts to Pakistan in the name of trade, Pakistan's F16 will become a pile of scrap metal.

Pakistan can make other parts by itself, but the overhaul of this engine must be done in the United States. When Pakistan has its own overhaul line, it can be guaranteed that it will not be blocked by the Americans again, and at some point in the future, it can also reverse map the F100 and produce this engine with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 7.

Engine technology is the crown of industrial technology. It is purely a dream for Pakistan to produce advanced engines in a short period of time. Therefore, the only way is to continuously digest and absorb this existing technology.

This one has been negotiated, and Muhammad's main purpose of coming to the United States has been achieved. The rest are some small things.

"We also want to introduce some weapons and equipment for the Afghan Free Army." Muhammad said.

Now, Pakistan is the spokesperson for Afghanistan, and the free government in the north is actually completely controlled by Muhammad.

When President Reagan heard Muhammad say that he wanted to import weapons and equipment, he asked, "What equipment do you need?"

In recent years, the United States and other Western countries have spared no effort to support Afghanistan with various weapons, but since Afghanistan is full of guerrillas, they can only support light weapons.

"M551 Shedenli tank and M247 York Sergeant self-propelled anti-aircraft gun." Muhammad said to President Reagan: "These two weapons, after joining the Afghan Free Army, will make the Afghan Free Army a real force."

The M551 tank is a light tank, weighing about 20 tons, with relatively advanced technology, and most importantly, it can be quickly deployed using the C130 transport aircraft. It is an armored vehicle that can perform airborne missions. Moreover, it is equipped with an M81 152mm low-pressure smoothbore gun, which once had a record of killing 59 tanks at a distance of 2,000 meters in the Vietnam War.

The light weight makes it easy to move freely in the mountains of Afghanistan. At the same time, it is also convenient for Pakistan's rapid reaction forces to use C130 air transport to perform special operations. It has been equipped with the US Army for decades, but now it is almost out of sight of the US Army. It is only deployed during exercises. There is absolutely no problem for the US to export such tanks.

The M247 York Sergeant self-propelled anti-aircraft gun is a useless weapon that the United States is currently developing. In 1977, the US Secretary of Defense approved the development plan of the divisional anti-aircraft artillery system and officially determined the development project of the "divisional air defense system", which is this self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. It uses the M48A1 or M48A2 tank chassis, two Bofors 40mm L70 guns and an improved version of the Westinghouse APG-66 radar used on the F-16 fighter.

The Americans are rich, and this self-propelled anti-aircraft gun actually uses a modified version of the radar on the F-16 fighter! This is also the reason why the cost of this self-propelled anti-aircraft gun has soared. During the development process, this self-propelled anti-aircraft gun invested 1.8 billion US dollars, an average of 6.8 million US dollars per gun, which is three times the cost of the US main M1 tank. Although even Weinberg personally wrote an article to defend this self-propelled anti-aircraft gun plan, these efforts failed to save the Sergeant York self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. In history, in 1985, this project was discontinued and the development of this self-propelled anti-aircraft gun stopped.

Now, this anti-aircraft gun has actually stopped development, the project progress is slow, the US Army dislikes the high cost, and Congress is also opposed. (To be continued ~^~)