The Rise Of Australasia - Chapter 363

Chapter 363: Chapter 312: The Secret Establishment of the Air Force

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Navy Secretary Churchill glanced around, realizing that in the grand British Cabinet, no cabinet member actually supported him.

Left without a choice, Churchill eventually agreed to the 1 to 1.5 construction proposal put forward by Foreign Minister Edward.

Of course, this does not mean that Britain would build half a battleship, but that for every two battleships Germany builds, the British Empire must build at least three to maintain a numerical advantage.

This is a concession from Churchill to the other Cabinet Government officials, as well as a financial concession from the British Empire to Germany.

But this is actually very normal. After all, although the British Empire has the most powerful navy fleet in the world, this fleet has to protect a true sun-never-setting empire.

Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Oceania—these six continents with large populations living on them—all have British territories or colonies.

This means that the range the Royal Fleet has to protect, in a true sense, can be even said to be worldwide.

It is no exaggeration to say that the British Empire occupies one-fifth of the Earth, about 27 million square kilometers of land.

This land brings the British Empire unparalleled glory and profit, but it also forces the British Empire to deploy a large defense budget and navy fleet separately in these areas.

If it were an entire Royal Fleet of Britain, the German High Seas Fleet would have no chance to surpass it.

However, if it were only the British mainland fleet, the German High Seas Fleet would still have the power to fight.

What made the British choose to retreat was not the over ten million pounds of the fleet’s annual construction plan but the high and endless growth of the annual defense budget.

The current scale of funding has cost the British Empire a budget of over 60 million pounds. If they continue to expand the fleet size at this crazy rate, how terrifying would the defense budget be? Would it be 80 million pounds, 100 million pounds, or even several hundred million pounds?

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The British Empire could afford it for a while, but it could not afford it forever. If the defense budget continues to grow so exaggeratedly, not only will other cabinet ministers be unwilling, but the people will also be unwilling.

In fact, such a problem exists not only in the British Empire but also in all the expanding powers.

Especially for the German Empire, which serves as a direct competitor to the British Empire, the pressure on funding is even more exaggerated.

Although it seems that the economy of Germany’s mainland has surpassed that of Britain’s mainland, and military preparations have captured the world’s first army and the world’s second navy with both navy and army competitions, in reality, the Germans’ financial crisis is even more severe than that of the British. However, Germany at this time is more like holding its breath, and they just can’t stop.

Either they start the war and let the enemy pay for their loan interest and losses, or they just go bankrupt, wait for the country to go bankrupt, and let other countries divide up the property!

In reality, the financial situation in Australasia is even more severe, with military expenditure accounting for more than 40% of the total government fiscal expenditure.

But who can rely on the Australasian Government for money? Coupled with the large amount of construction that raises Australasia’s fiscal revenue, as long as they remain in a surplus situation, a high proportion of military spending is not a major problem.

Speaking of military spending, in reality, Australasia’s military spending will only increase.

It’s just that the current expenditure on the Air Force and Guard Division depends entirely on the royal family, otherwise, the military expenses should have increased by at least two to three percent.

As for the Air Force, as the First World War approached, Arthur decided to set up the Air Force in advance to be prepared.

Of course, this decision is still relatively confidential for now. In addition to the important senior officials of the Australasian Ministry of Defense, even the Cabinet Government is unaware of the establishment of the Australasian Air Force.

According to history, the British Empire should be the first to establish an air force, which should be established in May 1912.

Although countries around the world pay more attention to airships than airplanes at the moment, this does not mean that they will give up the development of airplanes.

In fact, according to Arthur’s information, if accurate, top powers including Britain, Germany, France, and the United States have already researched preliminary militarized aircraft.

However, their aircraft technology is incomparable to Australasia’s first-generation military aircrafts, and their aircraft technology still has a long way to catch up with Australasia.

Australasia currently has more than 600 military aircraft, but the Air Force still has no head.

After some careful consideration, Arthur secretly calls Prime Minister Kent and Defense Minister Raul to discuss the establishment of the Air Force.

“Gentlemen, it’s time to formally organize our airplanes into troops and establish a new, soaring army in the sky.” Arthur looked at Prime Minister Kent and Minister Raul with a smile.

Air Force, this is a completely new military branch, and the concept of air force did not exist before this.

Hearing Arthur’s words, Prime Minister Kent and Minister Raul finally understood why Arthur had formed a sizable fleet of aircraft but did not attribute them to the army or navy.

It turns out, His Majesty is forming a whole new branch of the military to equip these aircraft!

Although somewhat shocked, Prime Minister Kent quickly reacted and asked, “Your Majesty, how should this new military branch be established?”

After all, it is a new branch of the military. How to establish it, its combat method, and its importance all need to be explored before it can be determined.

“I believe you should all understand the role of the three types of military aircraft. The importance of aircraft is not less than that of the army and navy. The Air Force, along with the Army and Navy, will be the three most important branches of the military,” Arthur said with a smile.

Prime Minister Kent and Minister Raul nodded their heads naturally.

Although they had some doubts about the new branch of the Air Force, it did not mean they would deny the role and combat capability of the aircraft.

A large-scale fleet of aircraft indeed plays a crucial role in the battlefield, fully deserving the attention of the entire nation for its development.

“The Ministry of Defense can secretly start forming an Air Force Department. I will transfer all 600+ aircraft to the Air Force Department of the Ministry of Defense. Your mission is to expand our Air Force to over 2,000 personnel within two years, with enough combat capabilities to instill trust,” Arthur instructed Minister Raul.

With the Aeronautical College of the Military University, the training of pilots is already more than enough. It’s not a problem for the current Australasia to cultivate 1,400 more pilots, even double that number.

The relatively more difficult task is actually to conduct more detailed research on the Air Force, discuss its combat methods, specifics, and how to cooperate with other branches of the military, as well as routine training matters.

These will be enough to vex the Ministry of Defense and need to be carried out under complete confidentiality, which will test Minister Raul’s capabilities even more.

“I understand, Your Majesty. Please be assured that I will complete the task,” Minister Raul nodded without hesitation, accepting Arthur’s mission.

“The formation of the Air Force Department must remain completely confidential for several years. Without my consent, you must not disclose any information about the Air Force to anyone other than the Air Force personnel. This is very important for our Air Force development and is something that must be done,” Arthur instructed Minister Raul before turning his attention to Prime Minister Kent.

“I understand, Your Majesty. I will assist Minister Raul in keeping the information of the Air Force strictly confidential,” Prime Minister Kent nodded in agreement.

Fortunately, training pilots is not as difficult as in later generations, at least Australasia can currently train thousands yearly.

Of course, such large-scale training is not cost-effective at present, so the temporary enrollment quota of the Aeronautical College is only 400 people.

However, if needed, the Aeronautical College can immediately expand its enrollment scale to over 1,000 people, cultivating more Air Force talent for Australasia.

As for the production speed of aircraft, with the large investment from the royal financial group, the Aerospace Laboratory’s current aircraft production speed can reach at least 1,000 a year, just right to match the training speed of the Aeronautical College.

This means that if Arthur wants to, he can completely cultivate at least 4,000 Air Force pilots before the outbreak of war and form an Air Force fleet of over 4,000 military aircraft.

Such a large number of aircraft would give other countries a crushing advantage in air superiority.

It’s just that Arthur does not want other countries to pay attention to the Air Force early on, so he hides his aircraft carefully.

In addition to expanding the Air Force to at least 2,000 aircraft, Arthur also made demands on the training of the army.

Whether it is a regular division or a native division, in the next few years, training must be strictly carried out.

There is no need to fear the waste of weapons and ammunition. Quickly improving the combat capabilities of the military and the cooperation between soldiers in various formations is the most important task for the Ministry of Defense at present.

Arthur even promised that if Minister Raul can achieve this, he will allow the Ministry of Defense to increase its annual budget by 5 million Australian dollars.

The royal financial group will provide this funding as a financial subsidy for the defense department in another aspect.

This 5 million Australian dollars is not a small amount of money for the Ministry of Defense, at least it can speed up the equipment of other units’ military trucks and heavy weapons.

Minister Raul is looking forward to this, so he is very motivated to complete the strict training requirements set by Arthur.

As for the two guard divisions, there is no need to say much. More than a year ago, Arthur had announced that more rigorous training would be carried out for the guard divisions.

Of course, although the training time and projects have been increased, to maintain the soldiers’ physical and mental condition, the catering standards for all Australasian troops will be raised again. Not only ensuring they have meat in their meals but also supplying various vegetables, meat, fruits, snacks, etc., to alleviate the fatigue and tension caused by the intense training for the soldiers.

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