The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1065 - 795: Terrified Thomas

Chapter 1065: Chapter 795: Terrified Thomas

If I had to choose the missile that Arthur valued the most among all, it would definitely be the existing Dove-style missile, and specifically, the ship-borne version of the Dove-style missile.

Honestly, among the navy, army, and air force, the navy of Australasia is currently the weakest.

Although the army isn’t large in scale, it is at the forefront of the world in tank technology and possesses extremely formidable firepower. In addition, with the allied support of Kalimantan and the Philippines—two vassal states—there’s no need to worry about the army.

There’s no need to say much about the air force. If the air force of Australasia dares to claim second place in the world, probably no other country would dare to claim to be the first. However, that presupposes that the air force capabilities of all countries are revealed, not hidden away like Australasia’s.

But as for the navy, Arthur was actually quite concerned. Although the design of the navy had reached a world-class level, in the end, the navy can only be considered average in terms of scale.

If the navy’s deterrent capabilities are not strengthened in all aspects, for a country like Australasia, whose territory spans an entire continent and crosses several oceans, there will be many vulnerabilities in the event of a war.

In the Pacific Ocean, the biggest enemy of Australasia is the Island Nation. For Arthur, the importance of a missile like the Dove-style, which can effectively destroy enemy warships, goes without saying.

If it’s possible to effectively sink the enemy’s warships once the war starts, Australasia will stand on invincible ground, and Arthur will then be confident to focus on the battlefields of Europe, rather than playing house with the Islanders here.

Precisely because of such a signifcant level of importance, Arthur watched the final test of the Dove-style missile with an unwavering gaze.

Fortunately, the final test was worthy of Arthur’s attention and finally allowed Arthur to be at ease.

Although targeting a moving target wasn’t as precise as targeting a stationary one, the hit rate compared to the previous generation of missiles had improved satisfactorily.

In total, 50 missiles were tested; 3 of them fortuitously hit tank-sized models, which also demonstrated the improvement in the actual hit rate of the Dove-style missiles.

If it were the second generation of missiles, to hit a tank-sized model—especially one on the move—it would be uncertain whether even one out of 50 missiles would strike its target.

After all, the error margin of the second generation missiles was still around several hundred meters, with the largest deviation even reaching over one kilometer.

With the new generation of Dove-style missiles, the maximum error out of 50 missiles was only 500 meters, and that was under rather exceptional circumstances.

Most of the missiles landed within 300 meters of the tank, with over 22 missiles falling within the designated bombardment area, which means these 22 missiles were essentially considered as having hit the target.

By comparison, real warships would be larger than the designated bombardment area. Plus, the movement speed of warships in the sea is slower than that of tanks on land.

Although it’s just test data, everyone from Arthur to the top brass of the military highly regarded it and were very satisfied with the results.

“Director Hermann, what is the effective range of the Dove-style missile?” After reviewing all the missile tests, Defense Minister Thomas could no longer contain himself and, full of anticipation, he turned to look at Hermann.

From the current test data, these few types of missiles had greatly improved compared to the last generation, all of them very appealing to Minister Thomas.

If there was also significant progress in the effective range, then even at the risk of being scolded by Arthur, Minister Thomas would need to increase this year’s military budget by at least half.

Missiles with significantly improved hit rates and range are not something easily matched by a few airplanes and tanks.

If possible, Minister Thomas would even be willing to spend half of the military budget on missiles, so that when war breaks out, they could simply bombard with missiles.

“Currently, our Test-3 missile, in the air-to-air version, has an effective range of 5 kilometers, with a maximum flight speed of 580 kilometers per hour, exceeding the maximum speed of any aircraft known to us,” said Hermann with a smile on his face:

The ground-to-air version of the Test-3 missile, although its maximum flight speed is only 450 kilometers per hour, its effective range has increased to 25 kilometers.

As for the Dove-style missile, the flight speed of the missiles we tested is approximately 480 kilometers per hour, the maximum flight altitude is 19.7 kilometers, and the maximum flight distance is 320 kilometers.”

When Arthur heard the various data Hermann revealed, even he couldn’t help but be moved.

There’s no need to go into detail about the aircraft-mounted missile versions. These missiles are not designed for distance but for faster speeds.

The maximum flight distance of the Dove-style missile being increased to 320 kilometers is quite a significant improvement.

And the fact that the maximum flight altitude reached 19.7 kilometers means that everything in the sky is within the strike range of the Dove-style missile.

At this point, the speed of the missile isn’t that important anymore. After all, at this time, the countries’ means of intercepting missiles are quite limited, or one might even say non-existent.

What to use to intercept a missile? Frankly, it’s a very simple principle: cause the missile to explode earlier so as not to damage buildings and people on the ground.

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This implies that there must be a faster missile to intercept it and, moreover, the hit rate must be very high to effectively strike a missile that is moving fast and is small in size in the sky.

Don’t even mention now, even if we fast forward a decade, it’s still uncertain whether any country could develop a more perfected missile interception device.

That also means that, in a world without nuclear weapons, the Dove-type missile, with its longest hit range and virtually uninterceptable capability, is the strongest weapon.

With air superiority, it’s easy to obtain intelligence on enemy ground forces.

Utilizing such intelligence, eliminating enemies hundreds of kilometers away without a trace becomes a simple task. If Australasia could possess a large number of Dove-type missiles, future wars would be much simpler.

After confirming the Dove-type missile’s excellence in every aspect, Minister Thomas started to worry.

After all, the cost of manufacturing the previous generation of missiles was not low, not to mention an all-round upgraded new generation.

“Director Hermann, what is the cost of these missiles? Can the Missile Research Institute undertake the task of producing missiles on a large scale?” Minister Thomas asked his most pressing concern, the cost of these missiles.

The cost of making a second-generation missile was close to 12,000 Australian dollars, an already considerable sum.

In line with the initial contract with the Ministry of Defence and Arthur, a total of 1700 missiles of various models cost the Ministry of Defence a military budget of 18 million Australian dollars.

If the cost of the new generation of missiles were to hit a new high, that would not be good news for the Ministry of Defence branches.

If thousands of missiles are to be purchased again, the Ministry of Defence’s military budget will face a very heavy burden.

“Because we’ve abandoned the previous missile aiming system and adopted the new technology of the Dove-type missile, the comprehensive version of the Dove-type missile did not incur too much increase in cost, priced at about 15,700 Australian dollars each,” explained Director Hermann of the Missile Research Institute.

“As for the TEST-3 missile, it costs much less than the second generation. The antiair version is priced at around 7,500 Australian dollars, and the surface-to-air version is priced at around 9,700 Australian dollars.”

What Hermann said wasn’t wrong; the cost of the missiles hadn’t grown as dramatically as imagined.

While the numbers still appear significant, we must also consider currency devaluation over the years.

Even with the Dove-type missiles, the actual manufacturing cost compared to the previous generation of strongest missiles didn’t increase by a significant amount.

After all, the missile aiming system was merely three doves with the corresponding sensing system, not as costly as one would think.

What’s expensive is actually the missile’s propulsion system, the engine, which has been improved in many ways.

An engine capable of propelling a heavy missile to fly at extreme speeds, with a very long travel distance, is sufficient proof of the engine’s excellence.

After all, apart from the relatively standard power, hit rate, and range, missiles also need to ensure stability and safety.

No one wants to see a missile fall soon after launch, which would be embarrassing and also pose a great safety risk to the domestic population.

Upon hearing the costs outlined by Hermann, Minister Thomas’s concerns were largely alleviated.

Although the costs remain high, and the selling price to the military will surely be higher than the manufacturing cost, the Missile Research Institute also needs funds for research.

After the successful development of the missile and its procurement by the military, Arthur told Hermann that the Missile Research Institute’s research funds would largely come from the profits of missile sales.

According to the contract between the Missile Research Institute and the military, the Institute adds a 5% profit margin on top of the cost of the missile for R&D funds.

Based on the current cost of the missiles, for every missile sold, the Missile Research Institute could make a profit of at least 500 Australian dollars, becoming a source of funding for the Institute.

Of course, sustaining the entire Missile Research Institute on military orders alone is far from easy.

Besides the various experts in missile development, the Institute also has a production workshop, where the many workers inside have significant monthly expenses as well.

Even though the Institute’s missiles are sufficiently advanced, Arthur still has to subsidize at least a few hundred thousand Australian dollars annually.

This underlines the difficulty of developing military technology. In a case like Australasia, where the royal family controlled by Arthur is responsible for the research of most military weapons.

The royal family invests tens of millions of Australian dollars annually into these military factories. Without the involvement and substantial investment of the royal family, it would be nearly impossible for Australasia to achieve its current results in military technology.

This is also the gap between large countries and small ones. The income of smaller countries dictates that their budgets for military technology development won’t be very substantial.

Unless there are several super geniuses in the related fields domestically, the progress of military technology will be much slower compared to that of the superpowers.