Chapter 313: The Secret Establishment of the Air Force.
Admiral Churchill glanced around and found that not a single cabinet member in the British cabinet supported him.
In desperation, Churchill finally agreed to the 1:1.5 construction plan proposed by Foreign Minister Edward.
Of course, this does not mean that Britain will build half a battleship, but that for every two battleships built by Germany, the British Empire must build at least three to maintain its numerical advantage.
This was Churchill's concession to other officials of the cabinet government, and it was also some concessions made by the British Empire to Germany in terms of finance.
But this is actually very normal. After all, although the British Empire has the most powerful naval fleet in the world, what this naval fleet wants to protect is a true empire on which the sun never sets.
Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Oceania, the six continents with large populations, all have territories or colonies of the British Empire.
This also represents the scope that the Royal Fleet has to protect, in a real sense even the whole world.
It is no exaggeration to say that the British Empire occupied one-fifth of the earth, approximately 27 million square kilometers of land.
This land brought supreme glory and profits to the British Empire, but it also forced the British Empire to invest a large amount of defense investment and naval fleets in these areas.
If it were the entire British Royal Fleet, the German High Seas Fleet would have no chance of surpassing it.
But if it were just the British Home Fleet, the German High Seas Fleet would still be capable of fighting.
What made the British choose to back down was not the more than 10 million pounds spent on the annual fleet construction plan, but the high annual defense budget and endless growth.
The current scale of national defense has already cost the British Empire a budget of more than 60 million pounds. If it continues to wildly expand the size of the fleet, what terrible level will the defense budget reach? Is it £80 million, £100 million, or several hundred million pounds?
The British Empire could withstand it for a while, but it could never withstand it for a lifetime. If the defense budget is allowed to increase in such an exaggerated manner, not only other cabinet ministers will not be willing to do so, but the people may also be unwilling to do so.
In fact, this problem is not limited to the British Empire, but all the great powers currently expanding their armies.
Especially the German Empire, which was a direct competitor to the British Empire, faced even more exaggerated pressure on funds.
Although it seems that Germany's local economy has surpassed that of Britain, the arms race has involved both the navy and the army, directly creating the world's number one army and the world's second navy.
But in fact, the Germans' financial crisis is more serious than that of the British, but Germany is more like holding its breath at this time, and they can no longer stop at all.
Either start this war and let the enemy repay the interest and losses on various loans for you, or just finish it and wait for the country to go bankrupt and the property to be divided up by other countries!
In fact, Australasia's own financial situation is even more serious, with military expenditures accounting for more than 40% of total government fiscal expenditures.
But who makes the Australasian government rich? Coupled with the large amount of construction, Australasia's finances have been rising steadily. As long as it is in a state of surplus, the high proportion of military expenditures is not an important thing.
When it comes to military spending, in reality, military spending in Australasia will only be higher.
It's just that the current expenditures of the Air Force and Guards Division all rely on the royal family, otherwise military expenditures should have increased by at least 20 to 30%.
Speaking of the Air Force, because World War I was approaching, Arthur also decided to establish the Air Force in advance in order to prepare.
Of course, this decision has been relatively secretive so far. Except for important senior officials in the Australasian Ministry of Defense, even the cabinet government did not know about the establishment of the Australasian Air Force.
According to history, the British Empire should have been the first to establish an air force, and it should have been established in May 1912.
Although countries around the world currently attach greater importance to airships than aircraft, this does not mean that they will give up on the development of aircraft.
In fact, according to Arthur's intelligence, if the information is correct, top powers including Britain, Germany, France, the United States and other countries have already developed preliminary militarized aircraft.
However, the technology of this kind of aircraft is not comparable to Australasia's first-generation military aircraft. Their aircraft technology is still a long way from Australasia.
Australasia currently has more than 600 military aircraft, but the air force still does not have a leader.
After some careful thinking, Arthur secretly called Prime Minister Kent and Defense Minister Raul to discuss the establishment of the Air Force.
"Everyone, now is the time to formally organize our aircraft into a force and establish a brand-new military branch that soars in the sky." Arthur said with a smile on his face as he looked at Prime Minister Kent and Minister Raul.
The Air Force is a completely new service. There was no concept of the Air Force before.
After hearing what Arthur said, Prime Minister Kent and Minister Raul finally understood the real reason why Arthur had formed a large aircraft force but did not attribute it to the army or navy. It turns out that His Majesty is setting up a brand new military branch to equip these aircraft!
Although a little shocked, Prime Minister Kent quickly responded and asked: "Your Majesty, how should this new military branch be established?" After all, it is a brand-new military branch, how to establish it, its
combat methods and the importance of this military branch. Sex can only be known through exploration.
"I believe you all understand the role of the three military aircraft. The importance of aircraft is no less than that of the army and navy. The air force will be listed as the three most important services together with the army and navy." Arthur said with a smile.
Prime Minister Kent and the Minister of Labor both nodded naturally.
Although they have some doubts about the new branch of the Air Force, this does not mean that they will deny the role and combat capabilities of aircraft.
Large-scale aircraft indeed play a vital role in the battlefield, and are fully qualified for the entire country to pay attention to its development.
"The Ministry of National Defense can secretly start to form the Air Force Department. I will transfer all more than 600 aircraft to the Air Force Department of the Ministry of Defense. Your task is to make our Air Force force more than 2,000 people in size within two years, and have A fighting ability that is trustworthy enough." Arthur looked at Minister Raul and ordered.
Aviation academies with military academies are currently fully capable of training pilots. Not to mention the extra 1,400 pilots, even if the number is doubled, it will not be difficult for the current Australasia.
The relatively difficult thing is actually to conduct more detailed research on the Air Force as a service, and to work out its combat methods, specific organization, how to cooperate with other services, and daily training matters.
These are also enough headaches for the Ministry of National Defense, and they need to be carried out in complete confidentiality, which further tests Secretary Raul's ability.
"I understand, Your Majesty. Please rest assured that I will complete the task." Minister Raul nodded and accepted Arthur's task without hesitation.
"Within a few years, the establishment of the Air Force Department will be kept in a state of complete secrecy. Without my consent, no information about the Air Force will be disclosed to anyone except the officers and soldiers of the Air Force. This is very important for the development of our Air Force. It is also something that must be done." After giving orders to Minister Raul, Arthur looked at Prime Minister Kent again and gave instructions.
"I understand, Your Majesty. I will help Minister Raul and resolutely keep the information of the Air Force confidential." Prime Minister Kent nodded to express his understanding.
The good news is that it is not as difficult to train pilots today as it will be in later generations, at least Australasia is currently training thousands of them every year.
Of course, such large-scale training is currently not cost-effective, so the aviation academy’s temporary enrollment quota is only 400 people.
However, if necessary, the Aviation Academy can expand its enrollment to more than 1,000 students at any time to cultivate more air force talents for Australasia.
As for the production speed of aircraft, with a large amount of investment from the royal consortium, the current production speed of aircraft in the aviation laboratory has been able to reach at least thousands of aircraft per year, which can match the training speed of the aviation academy.
This also means that if Arthur wanted to, he could train at least 4,000 air force pilots and form an air force with more than 4,000 military aircraft before the war broke out.
Such a large number of aircraft gives other countries a crushing air superiority.
That is to say, Arthur did not want other countries to pay attention to the air force in advance, so he hid his aircraft.
In addition to expanding the air force to at least 2,000 aircraft, Arthur also placed requirements on Army training.
Whether it is a standing division or an indigenous division, training must be carried out rigorously in the next few years.
There is no need to be afraid of the waste of weapons and ammunition. Rapidly improving the combat capabilities of the army and the tacit understanding and cooperation between soldiers of various formations are the most important tasks of the Ministry of National Defense at present.
Arthur even promised that if Minister Raul could accomplish this, he would allow the Department of Defense to increase its budget by five million Australian dollars each year.
This budget is provided by the royal consortium, which can be regarded as a financial subsidy for the defense sector on the other hand.
This five million Australian dollars is not a small sum of money for the Ministry of National Defense. It can at least speed up the equipment of military trucks and large-scale weapons for other forces.
Minister Raul is looking forward to this and is therefore very motivated to complete the more rigorous training required by Arthur.
Needless to say, the two Guards divisions needless to say. More than a year ago, Arthur announced more rigorous training for the Guards divisions.
Of course, although the training duration and items have increased, in order to keep the soldiers in good physical condition and condition, the food standards of all Australasian armies will be raised to a higher level again. Not only must every meal include meat, but also vegetables. Meats, fruits, snacks, etc. will also be provided in a variety of ways to relieve soldiers' fatigue and tense nerves caused by highly stressful training.
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