For Wang Ye's "summons," Shoigu naturally would not refuse, especially since they were going to discuss the budget issue he had been most concerned about lately.
So he arrived at Wang Ye's office right on time.
The two were old friends, so there was no need for pleasantries. Once seated, they got straight to the point.
"I want thirty billion US dollars! Anything less than that won't have much effect," Shoigu said frankly. He was not making an outrageous demand.
Thirty billion US dollars was only ten-odd billion more than the additional budget Wang Ye had given him over the previous two years. It was within a reasonable range.
After all, Shoigu's status was different now. He deserved a little more respect.
Wang Ye thought for a moment, then readily said, "Fine! Thirty billion is no problem, but the money must be spent where it matters. It can only be used to purchase... Forget it. That amount probably won't buy any decent warships anyway. It would be better to spend it all on fighter jets. The Sukhoi Design Institute under United Aviation Group recently developed a world-leading fighter. Have you seen it?"
"Pfft. Sukhoi developed a world-leading fighter? Can it compare to the F-22? At the very least, it should not be too far behind the F-35. You're not talking about the Su-35, are you? That aircraft is called a fourth-and-a-half-generation fighter, and its air combat capability is indeed strong, but the problem is that it isn't stealthy! Against fifth-generation fighters, they're invisible and you can't even see them. What good is superior maneuverability then? It can only bully other fourth-generation and third-generation fighters," Shoigu said with a somewhat dismissive smile.
That was true. Ever since Sukhoi introduced the Su-27 in the 1970s, it had not produced any particularly impressive