Chapter 271 Industrial Development and Aircraft
The industrial development of Australasia has been going smoothly, especially with the help of Germany and the United Kingdom, the industrial construction has been rising steadily.
So far, Australia's total annual steel production has reached just over 3.1 million tons, including 1.7971 million tons of iron and 1.3142 million tons of steel.
Although the figure of steel production seems to be a lot, it is currently just above the level of Italy, the last great power. It is less than half of Russia and France during the same period, and a little more than one-fifth of the United Kingdom.
Although he has surpassed orthodox European powers like Italy, Arthur still has no joy at all.
Although Italy claims to be one of the European powers, it only sounds powerful. Its real status is definitely at the bottom of the European powers, perhaps a little better than the current island country.
Besides, it's just that steel production has surpassed Italy's, so there's really nothing to be happy about. Australasia is still a long way from the traditional European powers. If it wants to truly rival or even surpass the European powers, it may only have to rely on two wars to take a shortcut.
The good news is that various industrial constructions in Australasia are becoming more and more complete. In addition to the industrial steel industry, various chemical industries, civil industries, machinery factories, glass factories, fertilizer factories, cement factories, etc. are also blooming everywhere. status.
In particular, the James Machinery Factory funded by the royal family consortium has now developed into the largest machinery factory in Victoria and the second largest in Australasia, becoming a leader among many private enterprises.
As for the largest machinery factory, it is naturally the Royal Machinery Factory controlled by the royal consortium itself. The Royal Machinery Factory has orders from automobile factories, engine factories, various military factories and other various factories. Its annual production of machinery and equipment accounts for 60% of the Australasian market, and it has more than 20,000 workers.
All the factories and enterprises under the royal family consortium have more than 400,000 employees, spread across various industries and fields in Australasia, and are the absolute giant among Australasian enterprises.
The royal family's annual tax revenue to the government reaches tens of millions of Australian dollars, and its own net profit has exceeded 50 million Australian dollars.
However, Australasians are very welcoming to the various companies of the royal consortium. After all, the royal consortium not only provides them with jobs, but the welfare benefits and policies of any factory and enterprise belonging to the royal consortium are definitely the best in Australasia.
This is why when people in Australasia are looking for a job, their first choice is definitely royal consortium companies and factories.
There is absolutely good news. After nearly two years of construction at the Leonora Industrial Base, the preliminary construction has been officially completed.
The Ministry of Industry is currently discussing a specific list of companies to settle in the Linora Industrial Zone. These companies are undoubtedly giants in various industries in Australasia.
Because the purpose of the construction of the Leonora Industrial Base is to build a comprehensive large-scale industrial cluster, the invitation of enterprises to settle in this time will definitely take care of more industrial types and fields.
For example, the chemical industry, agricultural industry, machinery factories, etc. that the government has vigorously developed in the past will be the main targets of this industrial base invitation.
In order to show the importance of the industrial base, Arthur decided after discussions with the government to divide the entire Leonora Industrial Base into city-level municipalities, directly under the management of the Ministry of Industry.
The level of the person in charge of the Leonora Industrial Base is directly equivalent to the level of the mayor of the capital city of Australasia.
The head of the industrial base is appointed by the Ministry of Industry for a four-year term.
This also represents Arthur's attitude. Except for the cabinet government, no one has the right to interfere with the Leonora Industrial Base.
Starting from January 1910, the initially completed Leonora Industrial Base officially began to invite companies to settle in.
The initial goal is to invite thirty large companies and hundreds of small companies, and ten very large storage areas have been prepared for these companies.
Construction of the railways and roads connecting the industrial zones had begun long before the industrial zone was built, and were completed before the industrial zone was built.
The current Leonora Industrial Base is not only connected to Australasia's industrial railways, but also connected to the strategic highway network, allowing quick access to the east and west coasts of Australia.
It is conservatively estimated that even the first phase of construction of the Leonora Industrial Base can create more than 50,000 jobs and create an annual output value of at least 20 million Australian dollars for Australasia.
It is conservatively estimated that all enterprises in the industrial zone can generate millions of Australian dollars in tax revenue for the government every year. Even if they develop better, two to three million dollars is not too difficult.
What if all industrial bases are built? Create 200,000 jobs? Create a production value of A$100 million? Generate tens of millions of Australian dollars in tax revenue every year?
Although these figures are somewhat unimaginable, many people in the cabinet government vaguely feel that these can be achieved, and they are more supportive of the construction of the Leonora Industrial Base.
Of course, no matter what other people's attitudes are, Arthur attaches great importance to the Leonora Industrial Base and even asked the Minister of Industry, Pierre, to inspect the industrial base frequently if there is nothing to do. He must complete the construction of the industrial base with quality and quantity. .
Pierre did not dare to be careless about Arthur's instructions. He basically went to the Leonora Industrial Base every half month, lest any accidents occur during the construction of the industrial base and he would bear Arthur's wrath.
For Industry Minister Pierre, who has served as Minister of Industry for three terms, if he wants to continue to stay in the cabinet government, he can only take the further position of cabinet minister.
However, there are many cabinet ministers like Minister Pierre. Furthermore, there are only so many cabinet seats, and there is still a lot of pressure to compete with two people who have already served as prime ministers. If they can gain Arthur's favor and support, it will be a decisive help for them to go further.
Of course, Arthur didn't know all this, and he wouldn't care if he knew it.
For Arthur, it is just a matter of saying something to put anyone in the position, but why say this sentence?
At this time, Arthur had arrived at the Aeronautical Laboratory, focusing all his attention on the Aeronautical Laboratory's new aircraft.
After more than four years of development, the aviation laboratory's military aircraft has been successfully developed to the third generation, and its performance has been greatly improved compared to the second generation aircraft.
If we just talk about the current manufacturing and technological mastery of aircraft and military aircraft, Australasia is definitely the number one in the world, and is even ahead of the number two in the world by a large margin.
If the second-generation military aircraft can only barely be used in actual combat and have initially reached the level of World War I, then the third-generation military aircraft have been equal to or even exceeded the level of military aircraft of various countries in the late World War I, even if Australasia now stops aircraft In terms of research and development, it may not be easy for other countries to catch up with Australasia without five or six years.
But is it possible to stop aircraft development? Totally impossible.
Arthur is currently paying more and more attention to aircraft research and development, and the funding for the aviation laboratory is also rising.
However, the aeronautical laboratory is Arthur's private industry, so it does not cost government funds, but is funded and controlled by the royal consortium.
The current aviation laboratory costs Arthur at least half a million Australian dollars every year. The aircraft researched and manufactured at such a high cost are naturally much ahead of the privately researched aircraft in other countries at the same time.
It is no exaggeration to say that Australasia currently has attracted at least two-fifths of the world's aviation talents, and this proportion is still expanding.
If other countries want to surpass Australasia in aviation and aircraft manufacturing, they must fully control the remaining 30% of aeronautical talents and then spend a lot of money. This may be achieved within a few years.
But is this realistic? The remaining 30% of aeronautics talents are distributed throughout Europe and the United States, and are more or less valued by local governments and even some countries.
Moreover, there are also many patriots among these people, and Australasia is currently unable to win over them at a high cost. Arthur does not believe that any country can control all the remaining three talents.
Let’s talk about the current third-generation military aircraft.
The first is the Eagle-3 reconnaissance aircraft, which is currently the fastest and longest range of the three military aircraft in Australasia.
Like the second-generation aircraft, the Eagle-3 reconnaissance aircraft still adopts the design of two seats at the front and rear, but compared with the previous generation reconnaissance aircraft, the size has been reduced.
Of course, if you include the two additional auxiliary fuel tanks, the Eagle-3 reconnaissance aircraft is even larger than the previous generation reconnaissance aircraft.
The maximum range of the Eagle-3 reconnaissance aircraft without auxiliary fuel tanks reaches 700 kilometers, and the maximum range of the Eagle-3 reconnaissance aircraft carrying two auxiliary fuel tanks even reaches 1,100 kilometers.
This is not over yet. The Eagle-3 reconnaissance aircraft uses an aircraft engine specially developed by Diesel. The average flight speed can reach 215 kilometers per hour, and the maximum flight speed can reach 240 kilometers per hour.
The average flight speed of the Eagle-3 reconnaissance aircraft alone has exceeded the maximum flight speed of the previous generation reconnaissance aircraft, which is enough to show how huge the performance of the engine has been improved.
Of course, in order to take care of speed and range, the weapons equipped on the reconnaissance aircraft are relatively simple, just an MA-107 Maxim machine gun.
However, with the terrifying flight speed and range of the Eagle-3 reconnaissance aircraft, even if faced with enemy reconnaissance aircraft or fighter jets, it is still no problem to run away if they cannot defeat them.
Looking at the brand new Eagle-3 reconnaissance aircraft in front of him, Arthur couldn't help but have a question. Currently, the most powerful military aircraft from other countries can defeat this reconnaissance aircraft in Australasia that is only used for intelligence and reconnaissance. ?
Even though it is only equipped with one heavy machine gun, this is the latest product developed by Arthur's military factory for more than ten years since the last heavy machine gun. Its performance is definitely top-notch among heavy machine guns.
In the original history, it seems that most military aircraft in World War I were only equipped with heavy machine guns or other weapons. The equipment was relatively crude and far from as advanced and powerful as the aircraft in World War II.
Thinking about the possibility that Australasian reconnaissance planes would massacre other countries' fighters and bombers in the future, Arthur couldn't help but want to laugh, but he held it back in the end.
After all, in public, it would be detrimental to the king's dignity to lose his composure.
Anyway, such a scene is not a bad thing for Australasia. Let those countries be surprised if it happens!
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(End of chapter)