The performance of the third-generation military aircraft has been greatly improved, and its cost has increased significantly.

The cost of the Eagle-3 reconnaissance aircraft reached $27,425 and that of the Tiger-3 fighter reached $29,105. The most expensive is the Phantom-3 bomber, which has already reached $32,725.

Arthur's 500 military aircraft construction plan included 150 reconnaissance aircraft, 100 fighter jets and 250 bombers, and the total cost amounted to 15,255,500 Australian dollars, which is not a small number.

Even this is a difference of millions of Australian dollars from last year's military spending in Australasia, which is enough to see the current high cost of aircraft.

However, compared to these costs, the 500 aircraft can play a much greater role than the cost.

When all aircraft are equipped and combat effective, Australasia's navy and army will be able to combat in the near sea and within a certain range.

There is no other reason than because Australasia has mastered complete air superiority.

Imagine if a country's navy and army were at war with the Australasian army, and suddenly a swarm of hundreds of bombers appeared in the sky to bomb them, who could stop them?

This is a huge unprecedented threat not only to the Army, but also to warships within range of aircraft bombing.

At present, all kinds of warships have not yet mastered anti-aircraft weapons, and these 250 bombers are all dispatched, if nothing else, at least able to blow up a few dreadnoughts.

If you add the aircraft that have been equipped before, after the completion of this aircraft order, the number of military aircraft in Australasia will reach 560, far more than the number of military aircraft equipped by other countries in the world combined.

Of course, it is difficult to say whether other countries have military aircraft or not, and Arthur also felt the feeling of Australasia's loneliness in some way for the first time.

However, while he is already a big step ahead of other countries in terms of military aircraft, Arthur does not yet have the idea of making the Air Force completely public.

The last war with Portugal has brought airships into the eyes of countries around the world. After that war, a large number of countries began to invest in the research and development of airships, and achieved considerable results.

Although there are cases of failure in research and development, how can the development of weapons be completely successful? Other countries also have no doubts about the practicality of airships.

As far as Arthur knew, Britain and Germany were already investing a lot in airships, at least millions of pounds.

Of course, the achievements are also very good, and they have caught up with or even surpassed the achievements of the Australasian airship, and are still being developed and experimented.

The success of these two countries has also convinced some of the weaker and lesser powers in R&D.

After all, the two most powerful countries are constantly researching airships and have achieved great results, so what reason do they have to be suspicious of airships?

As of now, the number of equipped airships in Europe has exceeded a thousand, so to speak, this is a temporary airship boom.

If nothing happens, Arthur believes that the most glorious moment of the airship in history will be staged in Europe more than a decade earlier, after all, the attention and full research and development of a top power is no joke.

It is precisely because of the importance attached to airships in various countries around the world that various airship companies and factories have been born.

Although a specific commercial system has not yet been formed, Arthur feels that airships will soon become a major means of transportation in Europe, and then from Europe to the world.

While airships do have a decent transport capacity, airships are also used in some parts of Australasia.

However, Arthur is more looking forward to airplanes for air transportation.

Yes, after the last time Arthur asked the aviation laboratory to develop a passenger aircraft, after four years of research and development, the first aircraft capable of carrying passengers was finally born.

Of course, if it is only to carry passengers, in fact, the second-generation reconnaissance aircraft is already there. However, this kind of plane that can only take two people cannot be used for commercial use at all, and how much does it cost to run a special trip for one person?

At present, the first manned aircraft developed by the Aviation Research Laboratory was named SF-1 by Director Theodor.

SF actually means safe, after all, it is a plane with multiple passengers, and the most important thing is to ensure personal safety.

The SF-1 is currently capable of carrying up to 7 people in addition to the driver, with a maximum carrying weight of 1.5 tons.

Because of the location in the belly of the aircraft, this also caused the SF-1 to have a big belly, and was even jokingly called the Big Belly One by researchers at the aviation laboratory.

Due to the increased number and weight of the SF-1, the average flight speed of this manned aircraft is only 170 kilometers per hour, and the maximum flight speed is only 195 kilometers per hour.

This flight speed is far behind military aircraft, but it is enough for manned flights.

After all, neither the current train nor the ship can reach a terrifying speed of 170 kilometers per hour.

Take Australasia's current passenger trains, for example, with an average speed of only 70 km/h and a maximum speed of 85 km/h.

Not to mention the steamers, which are far behind the trains, let alone on a par with airplanes.

This also means that this manned aircraft can greatly improve the connection between two distant regions and greatly reduce the time spent traveling to distant regions.

If you take the industrial rail from Western Australia to the capital Sydney, it will also take more than two days at the earliest.

But what if it's on such a passenger plane? At an average speed of 170 km/h, it takes just over 10 hours to reach Sydney.

Of course, the current aircraft will not be able to sustain such a long voyage, and even the SF-1, equipped with multiple fuel tanks, has a maximum range of only 1,100 kilometers.

In fact, judging by the volume of the SF-1, it is fully capable of adding a few more fuel tanks to increase the maximum range to at least 1500 km.

But this is more than worth the loss, after all, no one can guarantee that there will be no problems when the aircraft engine runs for a long time.

Even a car engine that is currently very stable may fail after more than ten hours of continuous operation.

Although the possibility of breakdowns has been reduced to a very small frequency, if a car breaks down on the road, that is, it breaks down and cannot walk, once the plane breaks down in the sky, the mortality rate is 100%.

Therefore, the maximum range of 1,100 kilometers is enough for a current aircraft, after all, 1,100 kilometers would take almost seven hours to fly at an average speed of 170 kilometers per hour.

After more than seven hours, even if there are no problems with the engines, they must at least be cooled down and overhauled before they can set sail again.

Anyway, it's not too far from Western Australia to New South Wales, and it's a big deal to make a stopover in the middle, and it won't take too long.

Although passenger aircraft have been created at the moment, Arthur does not plan to fly anytime soon, at least not in two years.

At least Arthur will not attempt until the passenger plane has undergone long, high-frequency experiments and it is determined that the failure rate is compressed into a very low range.

Of course, even in such a situation, Arthur would be fully prepared.

The current number of passengers and the degree of stability of the SF-1 Arthur is not too satisfied, and there is no need for the aircraft to be exposed to the eyes of various countries in advance, so he gave Theodor an order, that is, to continue to develop passenger aircraft, under the premise of ensuring the stability and safety of the aircraft, as much as possible to increase the speed and maximum range of the aircraft.

As for the number of people on the plane, Arthur did not ask for it in a short time.

After all, even if the aircraft are put into commercial use quickly, it is absolutely impossible for ordinary civilians to come into contact with the means of transportation.

Before it is popularized in the lives of ordinary people, even if the aircraft is put into commercial use, the market will not be too large.

Therefore, a seven-passenger plane is barely enough, and it is a big deal to add a few more flights.

Arthur was very pleased with the successful development of several aircraft, and naturally rewarded these researchers.

All the experts and researchers in the aeronautical research laboratory were able to receive a reward of at least 5,000 Australian dollars, plus a variety of supplies worth thousands of Australian dollars, which made them smile.

Even ordinary workers in the aviation laboratory, that is, ordinary workers, can receive a reward of at least five hundred Australian dollars and a certain amount of materials, which alone may be their wages for several years.

Although the bounty cost millions of Australian dollars, it was only a drop in the bucket for Arthur.

What's more, compared to the more than a million Australian dollars, Arthur is more concerned about the work attitude of these researchers and the progress of aircraft development.

After instructing Director Theodor not to ignore the quality of the aircraft he built, Arthur left the aeronautical laboratory with his subordinates and returned to Sydney Palace.

The next task of the aviation laboratory was mainly to build the 500 aircraft, and there was no need for Arthur to stay in the aviation laboratory to personally supervise the construction of the aircraft.

This kind of thing can be left to his subordinates, for Arthur, except for the research and development of some advanced weapons and the start of the construction of major national projects, there are not many things that Arthur can show up in person.

After all, as the king of a country, you still have to have the style. Arthur had gained enough prestige, goodwill, and support among the people, and what was needed now was to increase the king's authority.

Within a few days, Arthur arrived at the Royal Dockyard to inspect the current progress at the Royal Dockyard.

Since October 1909, when the three dreadnoughts were fully completed, the Royal Shipyards have been preparing for the start of construction of the Unity-class battlecruisers.

But after all, all three Monarch-class battleships were in the process of naval tests, and just in case, the Royal Shipyard did not start building new warships, but was ready to repair the battleships at any time.

After all, any battleship is the brainchild of Australasia that took millions of dollars to build, and there must be no surprises.

The good news is that for more than three months, there have been no incidents in the naval testing of the three dreadnoughts, and the year-long naval testing of the battleship Australasia has been basically completed, and it is about to be officially equipped into the Navy's queue.

As for the remaining battleships Australia and New Zealand, if the naval aviation test still goes smoothly, it is believed that they will also be able to be officially equipped with the navy in the second half of this year and become the hole card of the Australasian Navy.

By that time, Australasia will officially become one of the top 10 navies in the world. Even to exaggerate, it is not impossible for the top combat power of the Navy to enter the level of a great power.

In fact, if you count the air superiority of the aircraft, in the coastal operations, the Australasian navy really has the combat effectiveness of the great powers, but it can only be regarded as the level of the last great powers.

If you want to catch up with such a top power as Britain and Germany, it is simply impossible to do without a dozen or twenty dreadnoughts.

After all, in history, from the birth of dreadnoughts in 1906 to 1914 in just eight years, the major powers have exaggerated the construction of dreadnoughts.

The largest number of dreadnoughts was built in the British Empire, with 29 dreadnoughts built in eight years, ranking first in the world.

In second place, of course, was the German Empire, which also built 17 dreadnoughts over the course of eight years.

Although the United States was not very strong in combat before World War I, it also built a total of 12 dreadnoughts of the sixth class.

The pace of construction in the UK is exaggerated, with an average of 3.6 dreadnoughts being built each year, a pace that Australasia's current shipbuilding industry cannot keep up with.

Germany is also very exaggerated, building an average of two dreadnoughts per year.

If you look at the speed of shipbuilding in Australasia, eight years at full power, at most only a dozen dreadnoughts can be built.

Of course, this is without taking into account the cost of building a dreadnought and the training time of the crew, just referring to the speed of construction of the warship.

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(End of chapter)