Chapter 496 Investment in Military Research
Speaking of military technology research after World War I, one of the important technologies must be inseparable, and that is radar.
Although the original purpose of the British developing radar was to find German aircraft in the sky, it is undeniable that with the development of technology, radar has become the most important part of military weapons.
Arthur attaches great importance to the research of radar technology. He asked Tesla to establish a radar research laboratory a few years ago and allocated 2 million Australian dollars for Tesla to conduct research as much as he wanted.
The research on radar is definitely not accomplished overnight. As early as 1842, the Austrian physicist Doppler proposed a Doppler radar that utilizes the Doppler effect.
After this, in 1864, the British physicist Maxwell derived a formula that could calculate the characteristics of electromagnetic waves.
So far, various countries have made certain progress in radar research. Research on radio waves, electric mirrors, vacuum triodes, etc. are all milestones in human radar research and also represent the progress of scientific research in the military field of various countries. .
If Arthur remembers correctly, the first radar should have been produced before World War II, in 1935 to be precise.
There are still 16 years left before the birth of the first practical radar. Tesla still has enough time to study radar, and even achieve overtaking in corners before Robert Watson Watt invented the first practical radar. .
After all, 2 million Australian dollars is definitely a lot of research funds. If you save a little, it will even be enough for Tesla to research until the birth of radar.
The reason why it costs so much to research radar is because radar is very important for the subsequent improvement of military technology. This is not only related to the most basic aircraft and tanks, but also to more advanced rockets and missiles.
Like radar, missile research projects in Australasia have already been established. It is headed by Tsiolkovsky, a former Russian expert and now the general director of Australasian rocket research.
Rocket research not only allows Australasia to take a big step forward in aerospace, it can also militarize it, making Australasia the first country to possess missiles.
Missiles are definitely one of the most important weapons in future generations. Their lethality, effective killing distance and deterrence are definitely among the highest among all conventional weapons.
If coupled with nuclear warheads, intercontinental missiles that can cover the entire world will be Australasia's biggest trump card and a sharp sword for sanctioning some morally corrupt countries.
Of course, in addition to these trump card weapons that require a long time to study, Arthur has never stopped researching conventional weapons, and the research intensity is also very intense.
First of all, it was a tank that only appeared in the late stages of World War I and still required a lot of research.
Tanks from the First World War were generally unreliable, even those carefully developed in Australasia.
The denning rate of British tanks is as high as over 80%. Coupled with some accidents, the number of tanks that can be put into combat is even less than 10%.
Although the tanks in Australasia are better, the den rate is still as high as 60%, and the number of combat tanks is basically less than 30% (first-generation tank data).
Such data is obviously unfeasible. Although the second-generation tank, the T-14 tank, has not actually been put into combat, the den rate in the simulated battlefield is as high as more than 30%.
The T-14A heavy tank's den rate is even as high as 40%. After all, it has a huge body and solid steel armor.
Although the den crawling rate has been significantly reduced compared to the first-generation tanks, the 30% to 40% crawling rate is still unqualified. It must be reduced to at least 20% or even less than 10% to meet the requirements before and after World War II. war needs.
Therefore, the main direction of third-generation tank research focuses on the failure rate, which Arthur is very concerned about.
The actual role of the first-generation tanks in World War I was still very huge. It was able to cause a large number of casualties to the enemy. At the same time, its own casualties due to the war were not high.
The German army basically has no way to defeat the first-generation tanks. The only thing that can defeat the first-generation tanks is the rate of defeat.
Compared with the first-generation tanks, the second-generation tanks are greatly improved, and their deterrence in war is destined to be stronger than the first-generation tanks.
It is no exaggeration to say that the second-generation tanks are not weaker than the tanks of World War II in terms of firepower, but there are still big flaws in their reliability.
The next main research direction of the third generation tank is to reduce the den rate as much as possible and improve the stability, and also to strengthen the protection of the tank. After all, the weapons of World War II were much more powerful, and Germany even developed missiles. There are also more and more weapons that can punish tanks.
With the emergence of various anti-tank artillery, the protection capabilities of tanks must also become stronger and stronger.
This is not only the protection of the soldiers driving the tanks, but also the protection of victory in a battle.
After the tank was exposed, there was no need to use the Royal Agricultural Machinery Factory to hide it.
With a wave of his hand, Arthur directly separated the tank business of the Royal Agricultural Machinery Factory and established a separate tank manufacturing plant, which was affiliated with the Royal Ordnance Factory and was responsible for the research, development and manufacturing of tanks.
Because the tank factory has fully inherited the tank business of the Royal Agricultural Machinery Factory, the tank factory's production speed is still very fast. It can produce at least 200 tanks every year, and can produce an average of two tanks every three days.
After establishing a separate tank manufacturing plant, the construction speed of tanks can continue to accelerate. After all, in addition to building tanks, the Royal Agricultural Machinery Factory was also responsible for the construction of agricultural machinery, especially tractors.
Coupled with the fact that tanks must be kept secret, this greatly limits the speed of tank construction.
The new tank manufacturing plant is expected to increase the construction rate of tanks to about 500 tanks per year within five years and to about 1,500 tanks per year within ten years, which can basically meet the requirements of the Australasian army.
After all, judging from the current situation in Australasia, the navy is more important than the army, and the size of the army will also be greatly restricted due to population.
If Arthur is right, countries built tanks very quickly during World War II.
Germany, which is famous for its industry, can build tanks at a maximum rate of more than 700 tanks per month under various restrictions.
At that time, Russia, whose industry had already made great progress, produced a maximum of 2,000 tanks per month, which was enough to show the importance that countries attached to tanks and how much they invested in military affairs during the war.
But for Australasia now, compared to the production speed of tanks, the quality of tanks is the most critical issue.
After all, the total size of the army is only so large, so we can't have one tank per person. The scale of Australasia's tanks is destined not to be too large. After all, it is an island country. The ocean is what Australasia should pay most attention to, and it is also the real line of defense for the mainland.
No matter how powerful the armies of other countries are, as long as the navy cannot crush Australasia, it will still not pose a threat to Australasia's homeland.
With its complete island defense chain, Australasia can defeat a large number of enemies with a small navy. This also means that, except for long-range weapons like intercontinental missiles, Australasia's homeland is difficult to be threatened, even by the now powerful British Empire.
Australasia is already vigorously researching missiles and rockets. In the field of rockets, Australasia may not lose to other countries.
After all, more than one-third of the aerodynamics talents that Arthur has attracted are not vegetarians. As long as Arthur strongly supports it, other countries must spend more time or more manpower and material resources than Australasia if they want to overtake in corners. , but which country can attract more than one-third of its aviation talents? Especially under the premise that Australasia has already attracted less than half of its talents.
Arthur's expectations for the speed of Australasian tank production are basically based on the new tank manufacturing plant's goal of reaching 500 vehicles in five years and 1,500 vehicles in ten years.
Ten years later, it was only 1929. The tank factory still had about ten years to increase the production speed of tanks, use tanks as a weapon in the arms trade, sell large quantities to both warring parties, and earn a lot of profits for itself.
In addition to tanks, the research of aircraft is also a top priority in Arthur's plan.
Like tanks, the aircraft of World War I were just beginning after all, and there were still big flaws in their design, such as the bi-wing design that greatly affected speed.
Australasia's aircraft are not bad. After all, they have gone through four generations. The performance of the current fourth-generation military aircraft is comparable to or even slightly better than that of World War II-era aircraft.
This does not mean that the fourth-generation military aircraft has completely surpassed the aircraft during World War II. At least it still has considerable flaws in some aspects of technology. Also, because of the backwardness of the times, it lacks some new technologies possessed by World War II aircraft.
Australasia's most advanced fourth-generation military crisis is like this, not to mention the aircraft of other countries.
The First World War in this world is still very different from the First World War in history. At least the number of aircraft invested by various countries in World War I was not so exaggerated, and the full number of aircraft was only just over 10,000.
But in fact, although there may be as many as 10,000 aircraft, there are less than 1,000 aircraft that actually determine the battlefield in the sky, and most of them come from Australasia.
Including the United Kingdom, the aircraft produced by various countries participating in World War I had considerable flaws in performance, which also limited the combat effectiveness of the aircraft to a certain extent.
After all, all countries in the world initially focused on airships. After the war discovered that aircraft could easily destroy airships, they hurriedly developed aircraft, but it was already too late.
Although the war has ended, according to the intelligence obtained by Arthur, European countries have not ended their research on aircraft, and have even invested more efforts.
Fortunately for a defeated country like Germany, the Allied Powers still have very strict restrictions on Germany, prohibiting Germany from conducting any research on new weapons, including aircraft and tanks that had appeared in World War I.
Even for airships that were determined to be inferior to airplanes, the Allies imposed a large number of restrictions on Germany.
The famous Zeppelin airship in Germany before World War I was directly dismantled by Britain and France. Two production lines were directly dismantled. Whether it can enter its peak period as it did in history is a question.
The British and French restrictions on German tank research were even more exaggerated. They directly moved all German tank research factories and explicitly prohibited Germany from conducting any tank research.
At the same time, Germany was prohibited from researching and producing artillery, heavy machine guns, etc. of any caliber. The 150,000 troops retained by Germany are only allowed to be equipped with rifles and pistols, and there are even restrictions on the bullet rations each soldier has.
Under such circumstances, it is almost difficult for Germany to research military technology before restrictions are relaxed.
At Arthur's suggestion, submachine guns were added to the list of weapons prohibited from research by Germany to prevent Germany from taking advantage of the loopholes like in history and failing to research machine guns and instead researching submachine guns.
Not only Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, but also the Kingdom of Bulgaria were severely restricted, prohibiting them from researching and producing large-caliber weapons.
This also means that only the victorious countries are really vigorously researching tanks and aircraft. Apart from Australasia, the only countries that really have large investments are Britain, France and the United States.
Although it is not clear to what extent the current aircraft research of Britain, France and the United States has reached, what is certain is that their research progress should soon surpass Australasia's first-generation military aircraft.
After all, the construction of the first-generation military aircraft is not that difficult to be honest. Judging from the existing technology and scientific research capabilities of Britain and France, it is no problem to develop it in a short time.
Although the Americans are weaker than Britain and France in terms of military technology, it is not difficult to break through the technology of the first generation military aircraft as long as the Americans pay attention.
Because of the flu, some of the benefits that Americans were supposed to receive were all abolished, resulting in Americans barely receiving any benefits from the defeated countries. The United States in this world is still far behind the United States in the late World War I. , especially in terms of talent reserves and scientific research capabilities.
What's more, after taking the blame for the flu, Americans' debts are not low.
Australasia originally accounted for most of the profits from the war, and was also faced with huge debts. At this time, the United States could be said to have lost both its wife and its troops. Not only did it lose money to participate in World War I, it also became a liability for reparations. one party.
In fact, it also represents a huge change in the status of the United States. Historically, the status of the United States in the late period of World War I has improved a lot. At least no one will ignore the voice of the United States.
But now, although the industrial strength of the United States has not been weakened, the overall strength of the United States is still second only to Britain and France.
But the representative’s status in the world is like the true strength of the United States. Generally speaking, the World Alliance represents most of the countries in the world.
The four countries with the greatest status and power in this alliance are naturally the four major powers: Britain, France, Russia, and Australia.
The notorious international influence of the United States is not necessarily higher than that of Australasia, but may only be ranked ahead of Italy.
If a civil war had not made the situation in Russia very anxious, and Tsarist Russia and Soviet Russia had weakened Russia's overall strength and status in the world, I am afraid that the status of the United States would only be a little higher than Italy.
The technological level of the fourth-generation military aircraft is equivalent to that of aircraft during World War II. This also means that if Australasia's aircraft research stops progressing, Britain and France will have no problem catching up during World War II.
However, there are still more than ten years left before World War II. This is also an opportunity for Australasia to develop a fifth or even sixth generation military aircraft.
The third update of 4200 words, late, sorry.
When I go out to play tomorrow, it may only be 6,000 words in two updates or 5,000 words in one big chapter.
(End of chapter)