Rise of Australia

Chapter 796 Terrified Thomas

If he had to choose the one that Arthur valued most among all missiles, it should be the existing Pigeon missile, and it is a ship-based version of the Pigeon missile.

To be honest, among the three armed forces, Australasia's navy is currently relatively weak.

Although the army is small in size, it is already at the top of the world in terms of tanks and has extremely excellent firepower. Coupled with the two slave states of the United Sultanate of Kalimantan and the Philippines, the army does not need to worry.

Of course, it goes without saying much about the Air Force. If Australasia's air force dares to claim to be the second in the world, no country should dare to claim to be the first in the world. But the premise is that the air force strength of each country is displayed, rather than hidden like Australasia.

Only the navy, Arthur was actually more worried about. Although the design of the navy has reached world-class level, after all, the scale of the navy can only be said to be average.

If naval deterrence is not strengthened in all aspects, for a country like Australasia, whose territory spans the entire continent and spans several oceans, there will be some loopholes in the war.

Australasia's greatest enemies in the Pacific are the island nations. For Arthur, the importance of pigeon missiles, which can effectively kill enemy warships, goes without saying.

If the enemy's warships can be effectively sunk after the war, Australasia will be invincible, and Arthur will have the confidence to focus on the European battlefield instead of playing house here with the islanders. .

Precisely because of this mentality of attaching great importance, Arthur reached a state of concentration on the final test of the Pigeon missile.

Fortunately, the final test was worthy of Arthur's attention, and Arthur finally felt relieved.

Although it is not as accurate as a fixed target when aiming at a moving target, compared with the previous generation missile, the hit rate has been improved quite well.

A total of 50 missiles were tested, and 3 of them hit the tank-sized model by chance. This also shows that the pigeon missile improves the actual hit rate of the missile.

If it is a second-generation missile, if it wants to hit a tank-sized model, even if it is moving at full speed, even one of the 50 missiles may not be able to hit it.

After all, the error of the second-generation missile is still about a few hundred meters, and the maximum error can even reach more than one kilometer.

As for the new generation of pigeon missiles, the maximum error of 50 missiles is only 500 meters, and it is a relatively special situation.

Most of the missiles were within 300 meters of the tank, and more than 22 missiles fell within the designated bombing zone, which also means that these 22 missiles were equivalent to hitting the target.

Depending on the situation, the real warship will be larger than the designated bombing zone. Moreover, the movement speed of warships in the sea is slower than the movement speed of tanks on the ground.

Although it is only test data, this test data is quite recognized and satisfied by Arthur and the senior military officials.

"Director Herman, what is the effective range of the Pigeon missile?" After watching all the missile tests, Defense Secretary Thomas could no longer bear it and looked at Herman expectantly.

Judging from the current test data, these missiles have greatly improved compared to the previous generation, and they are all very attractive to Minister Thomas.

If great progress has been made in terms of effective range, then Secretary Thomas will have to increase this year's military expenditure by at least half at the risk of being scolded by Arthur.

The missile's hit rate and range have been effectively improved, which cannot be matched by several aircraft and tanks.

If possible, Secretary Thomas is even willing to use half of the military expenditure to purchase missiles, and then just wait until the war breaks out and just throw the missiles wildly.

"Currently, the air-to-air version of our Test-3 missile has an effective range of 5 kilometers, and the maximum missile flight speed has reached 580 kilometers per hour, which has exceeded the maximum speed of aircraft from various countries that we know." Herman said With a smile on his face he said: "

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

As for the pigeon missile, the missile we are currently testing has a flight speed of approximately 480 kilometers per hour, a maximum flight altitude of 19.7 kilometers, and a maximum flight distance of 320 kilometers. "

Hearing the various data revealed by Herman, even Arthur couldn't help but feel a little moved.

Needless to say about the airborne version of the missile. This type of missile is not originally pursuing flight distance, but pursuing faster speed.

The maximum flight distance of the Pigeon missile has been increased to 320 kilometers. This improvement is still quite exaggerated.

Moreover, the maximum flight altitude reaches 19.7 kilometers, which also means that all objects in the sky are within the strike range of the Pigeon missile.

The flight speed of such a missile is no longer important. After all, countries at this time have relatively single means of intercepting missiles, or even none at all.

How to intercept missiles? To put it bluntly, it is a very simple principle, allowing the missile to explode earlier without damaging the buildings and people on the ground.

This means that there must be a faster missile to intercept, and the hit rate should be very high, and it can effectively hit missiles that are very fast in the sky and small in size.

Let alone now, even if time goes forward ten years, no country may be able to develop a more complete missile interception device.

This also means that the pigeon missile, before the emergence of nuclear weapons, is the most powerful weapon with the longest hit range and is almost impossible to intercept. When the air force has the upper hand, it can easily obtain information about enemy ground forces.

With the help of such intelligence, it is possible to easily kill enemies hundreds of kilometers away without being seen. If Australasia can possess a large number of Pigeon missiles, future wars will become very simple.

After confirming that the Pigeon missile was excellent in all aspects, Minister Thomas became a little worried.

After all, the cost of the previous generation of missiles is not low, not to mention the new generation of missiles that have been upgraded in almost all aspects.

"Director Herman, what is the cost of these missiles? Can the Missile Research Institute undertake the task of building large-scale missiles?" Minister Thomas raised the issue that he was most concerned about, which was the cost of these missiles.

The manufacturing cost of the second-generation missile is close to 1.2 Australian dollars, which is already a very high number.

According to the original missile order agreed between the Ministry of National Defense and Arthur, a total of 1700 missiles of various types cost the Ministry of National Defense's military budget of 1800 million Australian dollars.

If the cost of a new generation of missiles reaches a new high, it will not be good news for the defense sector.

If we still purchase thousands of missiles, it will face a very heavy burden on the military expenditures of the Ministry of National Defense.

"Because we abandoned the targeting system of the previous missile and adopted the new Pigeon missile. Therefore, the cost of the comprehensive version of the Pigeon missile has not increased too much. The cost of each missile is approximately 1.57 Australian dollars." Missile Research Hermann, director of the institute, said: “

As for the Test-3 missile, its cost is much lower than that of the second generation. The air-to-air version of the missile costs about A$7500, and the air-to-ground version costs about A$9700. "

Herman is actually right. The cost of missiles has not increased as much as imagined.

Although it may seem like a lot, the depreciation of the currency in recent years must also be taken into consideration.

Even for the Pigeon missile, the actual manufacturing cost has not increased much compared to the most powerful missile of the previous generation.

After all, the missile's aiming system is just three pigeons and the corresponding sensing system, and the cost is not as expensive as imagined.

The most expensive thing is actually the missile's power system, which is an engine that has been improved in many ways.

Such an engine can propel heavy missiles to fly at extremely fast speeds and over very long distances, which is enough to prove the excellence of the engine.

After all, what the missile needs to guarantee, in addition to the more conventional power, hit rate and range, is also to ensure the stability and safety of the missile.

After all, no one wants to see the missile fall down soon after it is launched. This is not only embarrassing in terms of face, but will also cause huge safety hazards to the domestic people.

After Minister Thomas heard the cost proposed by Herman, most of his worries were finally eliminated.

Although the cost is still not low, and the selling price to the military will definitely increase compared to the cost, after all, the Missile Research Institute also needs corresponding research funds.

After the missile was successfully researched and purchased by the military, Arthur told Herman that most of the future research funds for the Missile Research Institute would come from the profits from the sale of the missile.

According to the agreement between the Missile Research Institute and the military, the Missile Research Institute will add 5% as profit on the basis of the cost of the missile, which will be used as research and development funds for the Missile Research Institute.

Judging from the current cost of missiles, the Missile Research Institute can earn at least 500 Australian dollars in profit for every missile sold, which is the source of funds for the Missile Research Institute.

Of course, it is still not easy to support the entire missile research institute just by relying on orders from the military.

After all, in addition to various experts who develop missiles, the Missile Research Institute also has a production workshop, and many workers in the workshop also have huge monthly expenses.

Even if the missile performance of the Missile Research Institute is good enough, Arthur still needs to subsidize at least hundreds of thousands of Australian dollars every year.

This also proves that it is not easy to develop military technology. Like Australasia, the royal family controlled by Arthur was almost responsible for the development of most military weapons.

The royal family invests tens of millions of Australian dollars in these military factories every year. Without the royal family's participation and large investments, it would be basically impossible for Australasia to achieve today's achievements in military technology.

This is also the difference between big countries and small countries. The income of small countries has determined that their budgets for military technology research and development will not be too large.

Unless the country can produce a few super geniuses in related fields, the progress of military science and technology will be much slower than that of major countries.

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(End of this chapter)