Rise of the Argentine Empire

When Saint Hérse announced the five-year plan, most of the people present remained calm, not feeling that it was too difficult or anything.

However, when he announced the establishment of the tank design bureau, the air suddenly became quiet, and after a moment, it exploded with excitement.

"Boss, are you really going to design a tank? Really? I want to participate too. Do you have a candidate for the director of the tank design bureau?"

Standing next to him, Horst looked a little excited, simply because the boss had said the word 'tank'.

In Saint Hérse's eyes, Horst was the kind of person who wouldn't budge even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him, which fit his impression of traditional Germans: serious, conservative, self-reflective, hardworking, task-oriented, and striving for excellence.

It can be said that Germany is currently the strongest nation in the mechanical industry worldwide. Since the Second Industrial Revolution, German quality has always been well-reputed. Industries such as automobiles, machinery, and military industries are all top-notch.

Tanks can be said to be a pain in the hearts of every German designer present. They are just pitiful creatures after the failure of the war.

Whether it is now, in the past, or in the future, even Americans cannot help but admire the Germans' talent for war vehicles.

The German designers present, except for those from the artillery design bureau, even German employees who designed pistols requested to participate in this brand-new design bureau, while the local Argentine assistant designers showed no expression.

"Um, yes, it's a tank. I've already shipped the American equipment and production line back."

Saint Hérse felt a little surprised, but also felt it was normal, only feeling that there were too few German immigrants in his factory, and many things were not being carried out effectively.

"Boss, approximately when will it arrive? I think the gun barrel we developed can be installed on it, and we can also develop a heavy machine gun. I already have some ideas in mind."

Saint Hérse's original plan was to develop a medium-sized tank, but seeing the enthusiasm of the scene, they even started discussing ideas.

He couldn't waste such good morale, and the military industry can effectively improve the development of civilian industries such as metallurgy technology, material technology, armor technology, and diesel engine technology.

"Everyone, please be quiet for a moment. I'll provide you with an idea. Everyone knows that current tanks are divided into three categories according to tonnage, but I've decided to develop a brand-new tank, which is a main battle tank. As for why it's called a main battle tank..."

The three categories are mainly divided into light, medium, and heavy according to tonnage and firepower, which can basically be said to be the idea of the first-generation tanks.

Light tanks are below 30 tons, medium tanks are approximately 30-45 tons, and heavy tanks are generally above 45 tons.

During World War II, the warring parties produced approximately 300,000 tanks and self-propelled artillery pieces. In the early stages of the war, Nazi Germany was the first to concentrate the use of a large number of tanks and implement blitzkrieg tactics.

In the middle and later stages of the war, there were several large-scale battles involving thousands of tanks on the Soviet-German battlefield.

And Saint Hérse began to turn his attention to the second-generation tanks, which are the main battle tanks.

The third-generation tanks will have to wait for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is the internet information technology revolution. It's not something that can be done now, but it is actually possible to develop main battle tanks.

"Main battle tank means that the firepower and overall protection capabilities reach or exceed the level of previous heavy tanks, while overcoming the shortcomings of heavy tanks' poor off-road performance."

"Boss, can we really develop this tank with our research and development capabilities? The performance is very powerful, and the required diesel engine may have to be designed by ourselves."

Horst simply calculated the data of this tank and found that the performance of this tank exceeded the data of the German tanks produced in World War II.

His research on tanks is not superficial, but he has actually drawn sketches.

"Yes, according to my intelligence, the Detroit Tank Plant in the United States has already developed a Patton medium tank called the M48,"

"Equipped with a 105mm rifled gun, power of 560 kilowatts, and they are also developing the fourth-generation Patton tank, whose performance far exceeds our current tank data."

"The Soviets have also developed the T-54 model tank, and the improved data may be even more exaggerated than the American M48."

The T-54 series of tanks is the most produced tank in history and has a large number of improved models.

"In addition to personnel support, my opinion on the staffing of the tank design bureau is around 200 people, so everyone doesn't have to worry about personnel issues. Funds and test sites will be arranged."

Saint Hérse continued, adding up the several design bureaus of Rheinmetall currently only has 200 people, which will far exceed other design bureaus.

After all, making tanks is a high-tech, demanding thing, which cannot be compared with those light weapons and artillery. Of course, artillery production experience is also conducive to the development of tanks. To be honest, 200 is too few.

"Everyone doesn't have to worry about personnel issues. We will set up a brand-new tank factory specifically for our tanks, temporarily named the Rheinmetall Tank Factory."

From the second-generation tanks onwards, it can be said that there is no such thing as a heavy tank, because there are too many problems with heavy tanks. Of course, each country is different. In backward countries, eliminated tanks are treasures.

Like Africans fighting, having a gun is enough. Tanks are not that important to most African countries after independence. Even infantry-tank coordination has not been learned. Even some backward tank armor cannot withstand RPG shoulder-launched rockets, so tank exports are actually very difficult.

For some developing countries, tanks are not as useful as mortars and RPGs. It's better to have a pickup truck or something.

For Saint Hérse, tanks have a more important position. If these people can really design and produce diesel engines, then he can engage in other civilian industries in the future, jointly researching with shipyards, and tank armor is also conducive to improving metal smelting technology.

If it proves that Rheinmetall can manufacture its own tanks, then it will be much easier to introduce truck, automobile, and heavy truck technology in the future.

You can use the research and development of tank technology to carry out talent training work.

"My suggestion is to also develop an infantry fighting vehicle at the same time, using the same chassis as our tank, reducing the difficulty of research and development, and also a practice of our modular thinking..."

An infantry fighting vehicle is an armored combat vehicle for infantry mobile combat. It is superior to armored personnel carriers in terms of firepower, protection, and mobility. The vehicle is also equipped with firing ports, and infantry can fire from the vehicle.

Infantry fighting vehicles are mainly used to coordinate tank operations. They are fast mobile infantry detachments that eliminate enemy light armored vehicles, infantry anti-tank fire points, and living forces and low-flying targets.

Saint Hérse suddenly felt that he seemed to have become a little shameless, but since he was here, and Argentina did develop a powerful infantry fighting vehicle and tank in later generations, although it was also imported from Germany,

Tanks and infantry fighting vehicles use the same chassis, and most of the equipment can also be used in common. Infantry fighting vehicles can also be exported as weapons and equipment, while tanks are more difficult to sell unless they can actually develop good tanks.

What Argentina introduced in later generations was the Marder infantry fighting vehicle, which Germany began to develop in 1960, and developed the TAM medium tank and the VCTP tracked infantry fighting vehicle.

After the final meeting, in addition to the future five-year plan, Saint Hérse passed the establishment of the Rheinmetall Tank Design Bureau and strongly set the two projects of the new tank bureau, the A53 main battle tank and the A53 infantry fighting vehicle, to expand the personnel of the major design bureaus again.

In order to prevent research and development failure, the Tank Design Bureau still arranged an improvement plan for American light tanks, improving and developing existing tanks to make them more suitable for Argentina's needs. This is also something that cannot be helped.

Although Argentina had developed some DL-43 tanks a few years ago, only 12 of them were produced and then abandoned. The factory was also directly dissolved, and it is not known whether those designers can still be found.

At that time, Argentina lacked an armored force. Otherwise, like Brazil, forming an expeditionary force and going to the European battlefield could also gain some political capital. I have to say that the military government at that time was a bit short-sighted. This is also a common problem of Argentina's previous governments. Elections are a big trouble for long-term development plans. In order to achieve the goals within the term of office more quickly, they become short-sighted and pay more attention to short-term interests.

The new research and development task of the artillery design bureau is anti-tank equipment, the research and development of shoulder-launched rockets, and the project is named RPG-53.

The research and development project of the Storm Rifle Design Bureau is the research and development of modular rifles, and the project is named MG-53.

The Pistol Design Bureau was renamed the Pistol Submachine Gun Joint Design Bureau to develop its own pistols, and the submachine gun project was named MP-53.

A research and development funding of 5 million US dollars will be allocated within this year, which will also be used to improve and upgrade major factories.

So far, Rheinmetall will have four major factories in the future: rifle factory, artillery factory, tank factory, and bullet factory.

At least in the next few years, it will basically not deviate too much from this framework. Even for tanks, it is already a bit beyond the scope.

Saint Hérse's original intention was to build a medium-sized tank, and it would be almost enough to modify the American Sherman tank. As a result, Rheinmetall's designers all maintained a strong interest in the new tank bureau, so it would be better to go with the flow.

You can't dampen the enthusiasm of your subordinates.

Building the Rheinmetall Tank Factory and developing infantry fighting vehicles and new main battle tanks will definitely take a lot of time. This is not reverse research and development, nor is it like assault rifles with prototypes, but a brand-new design. Saint Hérse is also a little worried whether he is a bit too ambitious.

Over the next period, the focus was on recruiting more employees for the tank design bureau. Tank design and development is no simple task.

Tanks are mainly composed of weapon systems, aiming systems, power systems, communication systems, fire control systems, armored hulls, and other systems.

Infantry fighting vehicles might be simpler, but not by much.

The power system alone is complex. Argentina currently has virtually no way to produce its own tank diesel engines and needs to design them itself.

Therefore, it's best to continue recruiting design members from abroad to meet the needs. However, recruiting such talent is not easy. Unlike firearms and ammunition, diesel engines are always in demand, used in shipbuilding, trucks, automobiles, tanks, and many other things. Fortunately, San Jose has a tractor factory and a shipyard, although primitive, they provide some foundation.

Tank communication systems, aiming systems, and fire control systems are even more difficult and require independent research and development. This concerns Argentina's electronics industry, where the country has no foundation.

Argentina doesn't even have an electronics factory at the moment. This task may have to be entrusted to Enco Electric in the United States, a roundabout way to save the country.

In fact, if the design personnel from Argentina's disbanded national tank factory could be recruited, it would alleviate some of the design pressure. San Jose asked around, but the Rein Bureau only had a few designers who had participated in the peripheral work of tanks. Talent in this area is heavily controlled, with most going to the United States or the Soviet Union.

San Jose needs military personnel to coordinate. Currently, the tanks in the country can be said to be from ancient times.

If the German tank factories hadn't been dismantled by the Americans and Soviets, San Jose would definitely have preferred to acquire German equipment.

The medium tanks produced by Germany were already very close to the appearance of main battle tanks, such as the Panzer IV and Panzer V Panther, which he considered far superior to the tanks produced by the Americans during World War II.

The tanks developed by the Soviets also looked much better than the old American tanks. The T-34 and T-44 tanks were quite in line with San Jose's aesthetics.

If Rein Military's tank development plan can gain the support of the Ministry of Defense or the Presidential Palace, then there will be no future sales pressure. According to his estimation, as long as more than a thousand tanks can be sold, the investment can be completely covered, and a large sum of money can be earned.

Argentina also needs new tanks, as the current army tanks are outdated.

The army and the Labor Federation have a total of 250 transport trucks, more than 400 Sherman tanks (M4A4 and Firefly), 18 Crusader Mk. IIs, 6 M7 Priests, and 320 M-series half-track vehicles.

The next step is to find a site for a large factory and prepare the groundwork. The tank production line and parts from Rio have already begun to be shipped to the country.

The new tank factory can only be located in the suburbs. His idea is to set it up between Bu City and La Plata City, which is conducive to the transportation of various steel and raw materials.

To be honest, establishing a tank factory is almost equivalent to establishing a tank industrial system. It is difficult to complete by relying solely on Rein Military, so several partners need to be found later, whether they are state-owned factories or private factories.

The tank factory also needs a final assembly workshop and various parts production workshops, which requires a huge industrial park to complete.

As far as military factories are concerned, it is most suitable to establish them inland, but San Jose currently has no way. The various high-quality reserve talents and workers needed by the tank factory are not as easy to find in the inland as in the capital.

Argentina now has many weapons and ordnance factories that always eat meat themselves without seeking cooperation with others, which will inevitably lead to jealousy sooner or later.

It is best to support a group of Argentine factories and have some of their own core suppliers, like Apple's mobile phones in later generations, with their own partners, especially electronic and electrical factories, which are a desert in Argentina.

The establishment of new factories and new design bureaus this time is also a way for Rein Military to move towards a more open step. It needs the overall rise of Argentina.

The industrial rise of Argentina can never be accomplished by San Jose's pile of factories alone, it must be a large number of industrial systems that can be formed.

For this reason, he also went to Commander Thompson's side and talked about many things.

The idle Commander Thompson's military rank has not actually decreased, he is still a Major General, and the position of Principal of the National Defense Military Academy is not too bad, at least it is much easier than the Ministry of Defense.

Although Commander Thompson has been away from Cordoba for a long time, he still has close relations with the Cordoba military.

He can help San Jose find some contacts, such as the personnel of Argentina's former tank factory, who may have been diverted to other weapons factories.

The failure of Argentina's tank project in the first place was largely due to the large scale of the project, coupled with Argentina's poor artillery technology, so it did not develop its own tank factory like the Canadians.

Even more short-sighted was that the factory was eventually disbanded, the tank project was abandoned, and tanks produced by other countries were bought instead.

.....

On March 1st, two Victory ships passed through the Prari convoy and were transferred to the port of Buenos Aires.

San Jose did not actually purchase many finished tanks, but purchased seven or eight of each model that could be purchased, light, medium, and heavy.

He mainly purchased abandoned tank production lines in the United States, after all, the difficulty of redesigning a production line is far greater than the difficulty of doing a transformation on an existing foundation.

Hoster led the team to be responsible for docking. These tanks had already been dismantled into individual parts by the team in the United States and transported to Brazil under various names.

Now they are arriving in Argentina by means of transportation.

These parts will be transported in batches to the Rein Tank Factory in the suburbs. This is not coastal, but a relatively hidden small valley, which has received some support from the Argentine military, and safety can still be guaranteed.

At least it is not easily attacked directly and can also be transported externally by rail.

To reassemble the tanks, San Jose also tried to ensure smooth transportation. The current Argentine railway has become dilapidated, and he is really worried that the train will not be able to transport the tanks by then.

Unlike the original few factories, the tank factory needs to be kept as confidential as possible in the early stage, and it must be safe. It cannot be set up on the coast like steel mills and other factories.

If it weren't for the talent in the capital, he might have directly set up the tank factory in Maria City.

Even if it is difficult for Argentina to have a war, the safety of these precious factories must be considered.

Fortunately, this non-coastal town is an abandoned town, so it is necessary to build factory buildings while continuing to engage in construction and research and development.

San Jose is also lobbying for the tank project.

Argentina needs a batch of new tanks to replace those outdated goods. His tank design bureau in Rein Military has reached more than 60 designers, and has newly recruited some personnel and assistants, with a total number of more than 80.

San Jose, according to the appearance of German tanks in World War II and Soviet tanks at present, and then added memories and various parameters, first came up with various sketches.

Through these sketches, the two departments of the Army Department and the Ministry of National Defense were docked and lobbied.

It really won a pilot quota from the Army Department. Although there is no actual benefit support, it also provides Rein Military with some experimental sites and tank soldiers, which may be helpful in the future.

The Argentine military is very interested in Rein Military's research and development tank program. In the past two years, Rein Military has been a very good national defense qualified company. It is currently the largest national defense contractor of Argentine private companies, but it mainly produces light weapons.

In terms of status, it cannot be compared with Argentine military aircraft manufacturing plants and other "high-tech military factories". I didn't expect Rein Military to engage in tanks, which is not a small matter.

Therefore, the Ministry of National Defense and the Army Department have given certain support and are willing to provide some help.

Regarding tank research and development, there is also a not-so-good news, that is, there are currently no electronic factories in China, and it is impossible to produce things like diodes, and even telephone lines have to be imported from the United States.

This can only be done by San Jose himself in the later stage, and then a joint venture factory will be established in Argentina with New York Enco Electric.

At present, it is impossible to find any talent in the country for the development of the electronics industry.

Fortunately, the tanks currently produced involve relatively little electronics, so it is not impossible not to engage in them.

The electronics industry is a long-term matter, and there are many difficulties in Argentina in the short term.

Developing its own tank industry and training technical talents is also a long process. If the tanks designed by Rein Tank Design Bureau can reach the performance of the Type 59 in later generations, it will basically be considered a success. If it can reach the performance of the Type 69, then it is secretly making up lessons.

The prototype of the Type 59 is the Soviet T-54. If you can get a few of these types of tanks, it will be a good reference for the personnel of the Tank Design Bureau. After all, the German tanks are outdated.

The Americans plan to rearm Germany in the next few years, and then Germany will have the opportunity to rebuild its national defense industry.

The data given by San Jose to the Tank Design Bureau is the Leopard 1 main battle tank, which is slightly weakened, but Argentina does not have a strong automobile, truck, and engine manufacturing industry like Germany.

At present, the military industry in West Germany has now been transformed and integrated into the civilian industry, and can also be turned to military research and development at any time. The Americans have also gradually relaxed their control over these factories. Countering the Soviets is the top priority.

The foundations of factories such as the Bavarian Motor Works, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, as well as Krupp, Rheinmetall, HGG, and MAN are still there.