Chapter 993 Flying Coffin

"I'm thinking of a suitable reason." Slim smiled bitterly, "Well, I'll make a combat plan to support it."

"That couldn't be better." Pamela Mountbatten expressed her gratitude. She explained the benefits of the partition of New Guinea from the military field. It can be said to be a heavyweight evidence, especially since the British Marshal personally did it, it will definitely be able to Convince the Australian government.

The formulation of military plans does not necessarily have to be implemented. War is always the last option. The military advantage of separating New Guinea's island, New Britain, is that one day New Guinea can be checked and balanced after independence.

The current Governor-General of Australia is a genuine British field marshal. Slim's military journey has been full of twists and turns. He had conflicts with almost all his superiors, except Mountbatten, the commander of the Allied Forces in Southeast Asia.

With such a relationship, Marshal Slim, who is about to step down as Governor-General of Australia, has no reason to refuse Pamela Mountbatten's request this time.

Because of World War II, the British Empire has become a thing of the past, but its current remaining strength is still a behemoth for Australia. At least part of Australia's security still depends on the United Kingdom, especially considering the importance of the existence of the Malayan colony.

During World War II, New Britain Island was an important base for the Japanese troops going south and an important springboard for threatening Australia's security. Therefore, a war broke out. The battle for New Britain Island lasted for two years until Japan formally surrendered.

Australians must still have fresh memories of the battle at that time. This plan explains the benefits of dividing New Guinea and New Britain from a military perspective.

Pamela Mountbatten did other things. She played an indispensable role in Australians' insecurity about Asia. She frequently mentioned the history of the Japanese army going south and it was almost a required course every year.

Gatherings to commemorate the outbreak of war and important battles cost the Mountbatten Group a lot of public relations funds.

But the public relations money spent was worth it. Pamela Mountbatten easily gathered a group of MPs and opened a revolving door for them.

It’s not just Australians who can open the revolving door to Australian parliamentarians, the UK can do it as well. Pamela Mountbatten didn’t know that in the 21st century, there was an example of the Australian Prime Minister going to the UK to work as a senior civil servant after he stepped down, but the revolving door had already opened. The destination is different but the reason is the same.

Holding up hands waving pounds, Pamela Mountbatten conquered these MPs with her wealth and was willing to provide support for this. "The heavy aircraft carrier has been completed, and the second ship belonging to Australia is also under construction in an orderly manner. If If everything goes well, the gentlemen will be able to meet it soon."

"The quality of British construction is unquestionable." Six or seven Australian MPs immediately rushed to express their goodwill.

"The same goes for strategic vision." Pamela Mountbatten said with a gentle smile that she did not praise her enough.

At the Cabinet Office meeting, Alan Wilson, who was losing weight because his wife left London, was listening to the Ministry of Defense's fighter procurement plans and requirements. Since the US F104 fighter jet was officially put into service last year, the Ministry of Defense was discussing whether to compare the performance data of the F104 fighter jet. Make demands on suppliers.

F104 fighter? This type of fighter jet cheered up Alan Wilson. He was actually not very familiar with various fighter jets in the early Cold War, especially the first and second generation fighter jets. But this one is just an exception.

Who doesn’t know the famous name of the aerial coffin? The crash rates of F104 fighter jets are: 32% for the Federal Republic of Germany, 31% for the Netherlands, 37% for Belgium, 37% for Italy, 45% for Canada, and 100% for Japan. Fifteen points, undisclosed by the United States.

Not to mention this typical failure, even the Phantom fighter, the leader of the second-generation fighter jets, is not very advanced.

The design of the "Phantom" is based on the expectation that future air battles will be duels between long-range missiles.

The warring parties cannot see each other. So why do fighter jets need air-to-air cannon and air-to-air dogfighting capabilities?

Unfortunately, the technical limitations of early missiles such as the Sparrow radar-guided missile and the restrictive rules of engagement meant that the Phantom had to engage in close-quarters combat with smaller, lighter MiG fighters.

The entire second-generation fighter jets had various designs and arrangements due to advanced concepts, resulting in this generation of fighter jets having strange shapes. However, in actual combat, it was found that they could not meet the requirements of actual combat because the combat methods were no longer as expected. A lot has changed.

High-altitude and high-speed are not the main scope of air combat, so the performance advantages of the second-generation aircraft are not the decisive factor in determining the victory of air combat.

"Frank, the development of new fighter jets must have put a lot of pressure on the Ministry of Finance, right?" Alan Wilson, who had just returned to his senses, suddenly said. He had just wandered out of his mind and without a specific idea, he kicked the ball to the side of the Ministry of Finance.

"Oh, Alan, of course." Frank smiled, not knowing what Alan Wilson meant.

"After all, it's not easy to spit out money from the Treasury." As soon as Alan Wilson said this, colleagues in Whitehall laughed out loud, and the heated discussion just now turned into a relaxed one.

"This will all be taxpayers' money." Frank coughed softly, adhering to his duty as a humble social public instrument.

"There is such a saying, but I believe the Ministry of Finance does not think so." Alan Wilson frowned and said, "We all know that the application of new technologies costs money, and it costs a lot of money. The current situation It’s unclear. We may face a new minister this year, so it’s too early to talk now. Of course, we are not turning a blind eye to new technological innovations, but we just need to make more prudent considerations. Money must be spent on important places, right?”

Alan Wilson, who had no idea how to use the flying coffin, thought of a way to postpone the matter and wait until his thoughts became clear before proceeding with the operation.

There is no problem at all in thinking this way. Although he himself is not the permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of Defense, the chief of staff of the British armed forces is Field Marshal Mountbatten. If he wants to understand, he can discuss it with his father-in-law.

After the meeting, Alan Wilson greeted Frank and said he did not mean to cause trouble for the Treasury Department. Frank agreed with this explanation, because the real permanent secretary of the Treasury is also held by the cabinet secretary.

Without letting Frank misunderstand, Alan Wilson considered analyzing the value of the flying coffin, and even the entire second-generation fighter jet. What countermeasures can be taken to maximize the benefits for the UK?

It's not easy, because the rewards for each attitude are different, but it's almost impossible to get them all.

For example, it would be easy for the UK to refuse flying coffins, but it would therefore develop its own second-generation fighter jets. The second-generation fighter jets are a failed generation as a whole, and they are just moving from one failure to another.

Looking at the United States on the other side of the ocean, Alan Wilson not only does not want the number of second-generation fighter jets to decrease, but also hopes that the more the better. 10,000 fighter jets are too few to seize the day, which will cause trouble when it comes to upgrading.

Can we skip the second-generation fighter jet? There must be sufficient reasons. Who will fill the vacant positions? The UK is second to none in the world in the field of engines. This may not be a big problem, but can it keep up in other aspects?

"Use large transport aircraft and carrier-based aircraft to squeeze the Air Force's military expenditure? Sell a loophole to the United States?" Alan Wilson rubbed his chin and thought hard in the office of the Permanent Under Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It must be said that he thought of the old path of military service struggle.

This is of course harmful to a country. Isn’t that why the U.S.’s intercontinental missile program is lagging behind?

But I have to admit that if you want to squeeze the funds for second-generation fighter jets, this trick is not impossible to use when you have no choice.

Once Britain's share of second-generation fighter jets is squeezed, the alternative condition is to purchase American fighter jets. But this is diplomatic work, and Alan Wilson, as permanent secretary of the Foreign Office, has a hundred reasons why the deal cannot be negotiated.

From the perspective of the United States, Britain's lack of second-generation fighter jets is undoubtedly a big flaw. The United States can use this to blackmail Britain into making concessions on some issues of interest.

But only Alan Wilson himself knew that this was not a British flaw, but an American flaw. If the United States uses this to threaten Britain, the future will be quite wonderful.

The idea was wonderful, but Alan Wilson was not sure he could do it yet, while he was thinking hard. At this time in Canberra, the Australian capital, Australian Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies was holding the military battle plan formulated by Governor-General Slim. "Governor-General Slim's military plan is indeed quite reasonable."

"As the ruling party, we need to think more long-term. Today, New Guinea is managed by Australia, but what if one day it has to become independent and become an enemy of Australia? We must learn from the United Kingdom and leave a certain amount of weight in our hands. Code to prevent this from happening in the future.”

After hearing what the Prime Minister said, the ministers of the Menzies government, who had already opened the revolving door by Pamela Mountbatten, immediately expressed their agreement, "We have always admired London's keenness on strategic issues and its long-term vision of being prepared for danger in times of peace, which is worth learning from. "

The island of New Britain was separated from New Guinea and served as a British forward base to protect Australia's security. The passage of this resolution is a certainty.

An enthusiastic telegram arrived in London from Canberra. Alan Wilson, who was holding his wife's telegram, listened to the report from Wick, the secretary to the Permanent Secretary, and nodded, "Let Edel, the East Malaysia Commissioner of the Malayan Colony, come back." Come on, I want to talk to him about the appointment of the High Commissioner of the British Oceania Territory."

"Excuse me, Sir Norman, do you have time?" Alan Wilson picked up the phone and asked, "I want to hear Sir Norman's opinion on personnel arrangements in the Oceania Territory. Okay, I'll be there right away."