As the time came to October 1913, the Second Balkan War, which broke out in the middle of the year, had basically come to an end.

Before the outbreak of this war, both Bulgaria and the anti-Bulgarian alliance had sufficient confidence in this war.

But with the outbreak of war, the obvious difference in strength between the two sides has made all countries in the world understand a truth, that is, countries supported by foreign powers and countries without the support of foreign powers are really two extremes.

Bulgaria's cites of the crushing defeat in the war proves that even the promises of the great powers are not so credible.

If they don't have too much strength, the great powers may also go back on their word at any time and tear up their previous promises and agreements.

The Second Balkan War broke out on 19 May, and less than five months later, on 17 October, the warring parties signed a peace agreement that hastily ended the war.

As a defeated country in the war, Bulgaria suffered heavy losses in this war.

According to the Bucharest Treaty signed between the two sides, Bulgaria lost a large area of territory occupied in the First Balkan War and needed to pay a large amount of money to the anti-Bulgarian alliance.

Because the anti-Bulgarian alliance involved Romania, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and other countries, this war also had the participation of Turkey.

As a result, Bulgaria was divided into five countries, and Bulgaria's territory was almost reduced after this contract.

Serbia got Huada Macedonia, Greece got Aegean Macedonia, Montenegro got a part of the more peripheral territory, and Romania got Dobroga.

The division of part of Thrace by Greece, combined with the pact with Turkey, resulted in the near loss of Bulgaria's territory in the last Balkan War, as well as extensive military casualties and financial crisis.

In addition to Bulgaria, there was actually another country that suffered the most losses in this war, and that was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had previously pledged to assist Bulgaria.

The breach of its promise made the reputation of Austria-Hungary unfriendly among European countries, and also caused the prestige of the Central Powers to suffer a certain amount.

Of course, this is not the main thing either. What's more, after the Second Balkan War, Serbia grew in power and became the most powerful country in the Balkans.

Serbia and Austria-Hungary were themselves in a state of hostility, which further hindered the expansion of Austria-Hungary in the Balkans.

In addition, the Balkan War gave impetus to the national liberation movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which demanded that the people of the region break away from the rule of Austria-Hungary and unite with Serbia.

The already serious national crisis in the Austro-Hungarian Empire has once again intensified, adding a bit of a burden to the old empire.

In the long run, the strength of Serbia exacerbated Russia's intervention in the Balkans, and the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia inevitably interfered with the two major military blocs of the Entente and the Central Powers.

The Balkan War made the conflict between the two major military blocs more intense, and also accelerated the arrival of world war in disguise.

If he was neutral, Arthur would have enough leisure to sit and watch the situation unfold in Europe.

But now that they have joined the Entente, they have to make more adequate preparations to ensure that in this world, the Entente is also the final victor.

After signing an order for the purchase of trucks with the Benz Automobile Factory, Arthur went non-stop to the aviation laboratory to see the newly developed fourth-generation aircraft in the aviation laboratory.

The biggest disadvantage of military aircraft in this era is this, because the initial military technology is relatively simple, resulting in the rapid replacement of aircraft.

It has only been less than ten years since the birth of the aircraft, and the fourth-generation military aircraft has been developed so far.

On average, it will be updated every two and a half years, which also makes large-scale equipment of military aircraft seem somewhat unrealistic at present.

After all, according to the current speed of updating and iteration of aircraft, an aircraft that costs a lot of money to build will become a backward product in a few years.

Even the construction time of the aircraft will take more than half a year or even several years, and it may be that the aircraft order has not been completed, and there are already new aircraft waiting to be reviewed.

The progress of the development of the fourth-generation military aircraft varies, but it is still accompanied by a manned airliner, reported to Arthur, and awaited inspection.

Hearing the news that the aviation laboratory had developed a fourth-generation military aircraft, Arthur rushed to the aviation laboratory non-stop to inspect the world's most advanced military aircraft.

In general, the fourth-generation military aircraft has undergone considerable changes compared with the third-generation aircraft, and the performance and data of the aircraft have also been greatly enhanced.

Of course, all this also depends on Diesel's improvement of the aircraft's special engines. The fourth-generation military aircraft all use Diesel, and the improved new aircraft engine has increased the speed of the fourth-generation military aircraft by more than 30%.

The first is the Eagle-4 reconnaissance aircraft, currently the fastest aircraft to fly in Australasia.

In terms of construction, it is not much different from the third-generation reconnaissance aircraft, but the size has increased slightly.

The maximum range of the Eagle-4 reconnaissance aircraft without carrying auxiliary fuel tanks can reach 750 kilometers, and after carrying two auxiliary fuel tanks, the maximum range of the Eagle-4 reconnaissance aircraft can even reach 1,250 kilometers.

And that's not all, the improved aircraft engine allows the Eagle-4 reconnaissance aircraft to fly at an average speed of about 250 kilometers per hour, and the fastest flight speed can even reach 280 kilometers per hour.

As for the flight speed, which crushes all the current airplanes and airships, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is currently the fastest means of transportation in the world.

As an ally of Britain, France and Russia, Australasia also has access to aircraft data from Europe.

Although airships are the mainstream of research in European countries, this does not mean that European countries will give up the study of aircraft.

Both Britain and France have their own aircraft research centers, and some results have been achieved.

However, the results achieved by Britain and France so far are somewhat insignificant compared to Australasia.

If the intelligence is correct, the most advanced and fastest aircraft of Britain and France will not exceed 130 kilometers per hour.

Australasia's Eagle-4 is almost twice as fast as this aircraft, creating an insurmountable gulf between the two aircraft.

The changes in weapons are not significant, after all, the Eagle-4 is a reconnaissance aircraft in the true sense of the word, and its role is to reconnoiter intelligence, not to participate in air combat as a fighter.

Of course, judging from the MA-107 Maxim heavy machine gun currently mounted on the Eagle-4 reconnaissance plane, the combat capability of this reconnaissance plane is estimated to be not weak.

It is not even an exaggeration to say that the weapons of the Eagle-4 reconnaissance aircraft have surpassed most of the British and French aircraft, which is to be one step ahead, step by step.

However, this also means that there is bad news, that is, the development of fifth-generation military aircraft is not so easy, and it may even be normal to have no news for four or five years.

After all, because of the improvement of aircraft engines, the performance of fourth-generation military aircraft has improved a lot compared with third-generation military aircraft.

But the improvement of aircraft engines is not so easy, and the improved version of the aircraft engine carried by the fourth-generation military aircraft has been the crystallization of Diesel efforts for several years.

It is even possible that throughout the First World War, Australasian military aircraft will not usher in the next generation.

Therefore, Arthur, after careful consideration, decided to begin mass-equipping military aircraft with fourth-generation military aircraft.

In terms of reconnaissance aircraft, this kind of aircraft, which is the fastest and can perform reconnaissance missions very well, is the most important for warfare.

Combined with the financial situation of the Australasian government, Arthur placed an order for 500 Eagle-4 reconnaissance aircraft with a wave of his hand.

You must know that the cost of an Eagle-4 reconnaissance aircraft is as high as 28,493 Australian dollars, and 500 are a full 14.25 million Australian dollars.

Fortunately, Australasia's financial situation is very good, and it has sufficient funds and a loan from the United States, so it was able to sign this order without blinking an eye.

In terms of fighters, the increase in the combat effectiveness of the Tiger-4 is not small.

After the Tigro-4 fighter is equipped with the latest aircraft engine, the average flight speed has been able to reach 215 kilometers per hour, and the maximum flight speed is 245 kilometers per hour, which has very excellent performance.

In terms of weapons, the Tiger-4 fighter is equipped with two MA-107 Maxim heavy machine guns, and it also has good armor protection in the fuselage, which is why after being equipped with the latest aircraft engine, the speed of the Tiger-4 fighter is not much improved compared with the previous generation of fighters.

However, this speed is actually enough. After all, on the premise that the speed is far higher than that of other countries' aircraft, it is possible to have more powerful firepower and armor protection capabilities, which can greatly improve the combat capability of fighters.

Even the aviation laboratory has been tested many times, and someone else's heavy machine gun occasionally swept over the fuselage of the Tiger-4 fighter, which did not have much effect on the fighter.

The design of the fighter and the thick armor gave this fighter a decent defensive capability.

After all, in the sky, machine gun fire was not so accurate. Many British and French planes still relied on the pilot's machine gun to fire at all, and it was impossible for the aircraft to be accurate under such circumstances.

The Tiger-4 fighter has been greatly improved, and there is still a reserve amount of ammunition for two machine guns.

The reserve of the two machine guns is as high as 4,500 rounds, which greatly improves the fighter's sustained combat ability and firepower output.

Since the accuracy cannot be guaranteed, then the output intensity of the firepower must be guaranteed. Since you can't make sure that every bullet will hit, then increase the number of spare bullets like crazy, and there will always be some bullets that hit the enemy, right?

However, there is also bad news, that is, the Tiger-4 fighter with increased armor and ammunition reserves, and the weight of the fuselage has also increased a lot.

This also led to the fact that the maximum range of the Tigger-4 fighter was much less than that of the reconnaissance aircraft. Without drop fuel tanks, the maximum range of the Tiger-4 fighter is 600 km.

Even with the installation of two auxiliary fuel tanks, the maximum range of the Tiger-4 fighter will not exceed 900 km.

But in any case, this performance is already significantly ahead of the aircraft of other countries, even compared with the various aircraft in the original history of the First World War, it is not much better than that.

However, as it stands, the role of the fighter is the smallest of the three types of military aircraft.

After all, at present, there are not many means of air defense in the world, and the research and development of aircraft is not very important.

And the airship, which has been highly valued by various countries, does not have much room to fight back in front of the aircraft.

As a result, even reconnaissance planes and bombers with weak combat capability can calmly carry out reconnaissance and bombing missions in the face of enemy planes or ground forces, without worrying about their own safety.

Even the combat effectiveness of the reconnaissance aircraft itself is enough to fight with all kinds of enemy planes without falling behind.

In this case, the fighter loses its strategic value, and it becomes a matter of course.

However, in order to prepare for a possible technological explosion in the war for Germany, Arthur decided to order 100 Tiger-4 fighters.

According to the powerful combat capability of the Tiger-4 fighter, even in the face of several times the enemy fighters, there is no hope of victory.

The cost of the Tiger-4 fighter is a bit higher than that of the Eagle-4 reconnaissance aircraft, at around $29,857.

However, because of the order of only 100 aircraft, the cost is actually not too high, less than 3 million Australian dollars.

In terms of bombers, this time the improvement should have been the largest of the three types of military aircraft.

To be honest, after Arthur saw the specific data of the Phantom-4 bomber, he couldn't resist the urge to equip the bomber on a large scale.

In terms of flight speed, the Phantom-4 bomber has also been improved to a certain extent, with an average flight speed of 215 kilometers per hour, which is exactly the maximum flight speed of the previous generation of bombers.

The maximum flight speed of the Phantom-4 bomber has been able to reach 245 kilometers per hour, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a fast-moving battery.

Of course, the biggest improvement of the Phantom-4 bomber is the various ground bombs it carries.

The types of bombs that the Phantom-4 bomber can carry have been updated to 45-pound small let-kill bombs, 75-pound small and medium-sized anti-personnel bombs, 120-pound large anti-personnel blast bombs, and 155-pound giant demolition bombs.

The first two types of bombs were mainly aimed at the enemy's ground forces, and were capable of delivering devastating blows to the enemy when the enemy was in a relatively concentrated position.

The latter two types of bombs are mainly aimed at the enemy's ground fortresses and fortresses, especially if bombs are dropped from the sky, which can inflict unexpected blows.

Of course, both bombs can also be thrown on the enemy's ground forces. These bombs have a higher casualty rate, but look more like a cannon hitting mosquitoes.

In terms of bomb load, the Phantom-4 bomber has also been comprehensively upgraded, which greatly strengthens the bomber's bombing capability.

Four types of bombs with a load of 90, 70, 28, 12.

The firing method is still the same as before, pressing the launch button once will automatically release two bombs.

However, the Phantom-4 bomber also has a disadvantage at present, that is, it cannot flexibly choose the type of bomb it carries, and can only choose a certain type of equipment.

The first update of 4,000 words, ask for support!

(End of chapter)