Chapter 1110 Difficult Choices

International arms purchase orders have always been full of various pits. If you don't reserve a few additional payment items, you must not be a qualified arms dealer.

Relatively speaking, the seller of the Vienna government is already very conscientious, not doing anything on the airship, and even giving away a lot of spare parts.

However, no matter how conscientious it is, it is inevitable to develop subsidiary add-on businesses, and this time is no exception.

Facts have proved that the transport airship is not only about the carrying capacity, but also needs security.

In the face of enemy aircraft, the survivability of the transport airship is too low, and it must be escorted by fighter jets.

It is a pity that the poor Russian government cannot afford such a tall and new product as the Air Force. Except for a flight formation that only supports the facade, it simply cannot undertake the task of escort.

If it weren't for the fact that the Japanese army on the opposite side was also poor, and the number of aircraft and equipment was also scarce, the Russian army would have suffered a lot.

Now the big loss is not much to eat, but two transport airships on the front line have been shot down, so that the airship transport team was forced to suspend business.

Since ancient times, it has been "easy from frugality to extravagance, and difficult from extravagance to frugality". The Russian army is no exception.

When there was no airship transport team, everyone didn't feel it. Now that it is, and suddenly it can't be used, the officers on the front line can't sit still.

You must know that since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian army has been suppressed and beaten by the Japanese. It was not until the vigorous development of the smuggling trade and the addition of the airship transport team that the trend of decadence was reversed.

A few days have passed since the good days, and now they have been cut off again, and the top Russian military cannot bear it.

Affected by the butterfly effect, in recent decades Russia has been in constant wars, and even the level of officers has been raised a notch.

Whether it is the level of professional knowledge or combat experience, it is much richer than the original time and space.

In order to solve the problem once and for all, the Russian military command in the Far East decided to seize air supremacy and formulated a comprehensive operational plan. Now the air force is missing.

In theory, the Russian Empire is also able to build fighter jets, and there are a number of "independently developed" products with superior performance.

It stands to reason that you should take care of your own business first. Unfortunately, these "superior products" have various shortcomings.

Not only the spare parts to be imported, but even the production and assembly, it is necessary to seek OEM from foreign manufacturers.

There is no way, the money-making business is robbed by everyone, and the losing business is not asked.

The tsarist government was poor, unable to build the air force on a large scale, and the civilian use was not widespread. Naturally, no one invested in aircraft production plants, even assembly plants.

The so-called domestic production has produced a designer who is imaginative, and is not even sure if the design is his own.

Not surprisingly, as one of the quasi-industrialized countries, the Russian Empire is also a big copycat country.

It's just that others optimize product performance, or reduce production costs, or modify them according to local cultural habits and aesthetics.

The Russian business world is different. First of all, performance is not the first pursuit; facilitating people's lives is also not the main goal; optimizing product performance is not to be expected.

The concept of "making is worse than buying" has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. If it were not for the purpose of cheating subsidies from the tsarist government, or seeking preferential policies, no one would go into industry at all.

In this context, everyone's pursuit is limited to being able to produce products, and nothing else matters.

It's not that everyone doesn't pursue it, but the main reason is that the industrial supporting system can't keep up, and the quality of labor is also holding back.

Not to mention high-tech spare parts, even screws with slightly higher precision requirements need to be imported. It's not that it can't be produced, it's mainly that the yield is too impressive.

This is also the origin of the "silly big black rough" made in Russia. It's not that everyone wants to play like this, it is really impossible to make refined products.

In order to ensure normal use, we can only make sacrifices in other aspects, so there is no need to count on performance. The only laudable advantage is that it is durable and durable.

However, this advantage has great limitations. It is limited to ordinary daily industrial products and is not suitable for any high-precision products.

Not to mention the high-tech product of the aircraft, Russia can only produce the first generation of wooden aircraft.

Now the most popular aircraft in the world has transitioned to metal alloys, and none of the core technologies can be handled by Russia.

If you want to make your own production, basically all the spare parts have to be imported. The performance is not guaranteed, and the cost is definitely going up anyway.

Now is the time of war, obviously not the time to be swollen and fattened. Rather than forcibly launching domestically produced fighter jets that are uncertain, it is better to directly purchase finished fighter jets.

At least the mainstream fighters equipped by the Shinra Air Force are produced in hundreds or thousands, and they have also experienced the test of time.

Gently tapping the seat with his right hand, Nicholas II frowned and asked, "How many fighter planes are planned to be purchased? How much budget do you need? How can the crew solve it?"

Time is the best teacher. After more than ten years of imperial career, Nicholas II is no longer the pink and tender boy he used to be.

Perhaps there is still a long way to go before becoming an excellent monarch, but basic common sense things can no longer be fooled.

In fact, the issue of purchasing fighter jets was not the first to be discussed by the Tsarist government.

The importance of air dominance is self-evident, if it can be grasped, no one will give up. But in the end it was all over for various reasons.

Knowing that there will be difficulties, and now I am still mentioning the same thing, the military naturally has to come up with a plan

Coping is coming.

Army Minister Yevgeny: "According to the information from the front, we need at least hundreds of fighters to gain air supremacy.

Considering that the current international situation is tense, the Anglo-Austrian war may break out at any time, and it will not be able to be replenished for a long time after this purchase. We are going to imitate the Shinra Air Force to form an air division.

In terms of preparing for battle losses, we need to purchase a total of 400 fighters, and the approximate purchase budget is between 30 million and 50 million Aegis.

The exact number will be determined only after formal negotiations. In the field of aviation, Shinra has an absolute advantage, even the British are behind an era.

With Japan's industrial strength, it is not easy to send the produced aircraft to the sky, and it is impossible to talk about performance.

To deal with them, it is enough for us to buy used Shinra fighters that are nearing retirement. Not only can you save costs, but you can also get the spot in the shortest time.

As for the crew, we entrusted Shinra to help train a group after the war broke out. After more than half a year of training, it's barely usable now. "

(Note: The Air Division of the Holy Roman Empire has 3 regiments, each regiment has 3 flying groups and a maintenance group, each group consists of 3 flying squadrons, and each squadron has 8 fighters. The whole division has a total of 288 aircraft. There are more than 5,000 fighter planes, flight crews and ground crews.)

With the strong disdain in his tone, it is not difficult to see Yevgeny's contempt for Japan. Although the Russian Empire is not much better, the superiority in the bones cannot be hidden.

No one was surprised by all of this. It is normal to look down on the Japanese, and if Japan is treated on an equal footing, then there is a real problem.

It can be seen from the plan that the Russian army has really made progress. If it was put on hold decades ago, the storage would be "a headache and a foot pain", and it was impossible for Duan Ran to prepare in advance.

As soon as the war broke out, they organized personnel to send them out for training. Such a forward-looking approach was obviously different from Maozi's roughness in the past.

It's just that Nicholas II was not happy, but a kind of despair emerged in his heart.

A little analysis of Yevgeny's words shows that the Russian army's dependence on Shinra is too high. If one day the two countries turn their faces, the combat effectiveness of the Russian army will be greatly reduced immediately.

You know, you know, but now that the Russo-Japanese War has broken out, it is impossible for Nicholas II to abandon advanced equipment in order to get rid of his dependence on Shinra.

It’s just about purchasing fighter jets. Counting down the foreign wars in recent decades, every war has inevitably imported arms from the next door.

The problem is that what I buy now is still second-hand. It has already lost the face of the Russian Empire. I didn't expect the military to be able to speak so calmly, which made Nicholas II unhappy.

Unhappy return unhappy, but now the Russian Empire needs to hurry. Not to mention the urgency of the battle on the front line, you can tell just by looking at the international situation.

As the relationship between Shinra and Britain deteriorated, the international situation suddenly became tense, and the whole world could smell the smell of gunpowder.

If the arms purchase agreement is not reached as soon as possible and the arms transaction is completed, after the war between the two countries officially breaks out, even if you have money in your pocket, you may not be able to buy it.

Only second-hand equipment can be delivered in the shortest time. If you really place an order directly from the military factory, it will be impossible to get it done within a few months.

Fortunately, Nicholas II did not know the real situation. If he found almost all second-hand equipment in the Russian army, it was estimated that a volcano would really erupt.

In a sense, there is nothing wrong with second-hand equipment. Not only is the price cheap, but more importantly, the performance is reliable.

There are a lot of things that international arms dealers have cheated on these days. If I don't leave a few traps, I'm embarrassed to call myself an arms dealer.

Since the British made a bad start, everyone's integrity has plummeted. For example, before exporting the most advanced weapons, part of the performance should be cut.

And the more advanced weapons and equipment are, the more weakened they are, and at most they can only be regarded as high imitations.

But no matter how high the imitation is, the fake is still not real. If on the battlefield, imitations meet genuine products, it will be a tragedy every minute.

The Russian army uses second-hand equipment on a large scale, naturally not because they like it, but more because the officers and soldiers are scared by the domestic bureaucrats.

There is no way, once the officials and businessmen collude with domestic weapons of poor quality, there is no need to count on them.

In contrast, second-hand equipment purchased directly from Shinra is much more reliable. Not only the performance has not been deleted, but even the quality has passed the test of time.

"Then do it!"

Nicholas II replied flatly. Everyone could see that His Majesty the Tsar was not in high spirits now.

However, if you are not interested, you will not be interested, and government affairs still have to be dealt with. Especially at a critical moment like now, it is even more unacceptable to slack off.

Foreign Minister Mikhailovich said: "With the intensification of the conflict between Britain and Austria, the situation in Europe has become more and more tense in recent days.

In order to avoid standing in line again, European countries have stood up to call for peace, among which the Netherlands, Portugal and other coastal countries have been the most active.

So far, we have received notes from eleven countries, hoping that we can take the lead in maintaining neutrality to avoid being drawn into a hegemonic war.

Considering the complexity of the situation, it is difficult for us to figure it out for a while, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not give a direct response. "

It's not easy to take the lead. All European countries don't want to be involved in the war, but no one has come out to be the leader.

The head bird itself can explain a lot of problems.

The current situation is very obvious. It is clear that whoever emerges first will bear most of the firepower.

If he had encountered such a good opportunity thirty years ago, without even thinking about it, Mikhailovich would have agreed.

But things are different now. Although the strength of the Russian Empire is growing, its reliance on Shinra continues unabated.

In particular, the ongoing Russo-Japanese War requires the support of the Vienna government. You can't stab at others while seeking support from them, right?

Not being consistent with countries is also a big hassle. Without the Russian Empire leading the organization, the so-called neutrality of all countries is a big joke.

For no other reason, the political pressure and military pressure exerted by Shinra and Britain must have someone come forward to bear it, right?

Who but the Russian Empire can withstand this pressure?

Even Spain, because of its own lack of strength, is also unable to undertake this important task.

Not to mention other countries, if they don't have enough strength and mix things up indiscriminately, there will be a price to pay.

No one dares to lead the trouble, so it is imperative to stand in line.

In this context, the position of the Russian Empire is crucial, and it almost acts as a weather vane for the choices of European countries.

If the tsarist government supports the Holy Roman Empire, it means that there will be no war on the European continent. Everyone just waved the flag and shouted, and there was no need to mix with the British at all.

On the other hand, if the tsarist government supports Britain, then this war will be decided by both land and sea, and the future is truly uncertain.

After sighing, Nicholas II stood up from the seat, and after wandering a few steps in the room, he said helplessly: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can do it! Anyway, we have no other choice now, don't we?

Use this opportunity as much as possible to strive for greater interests for the empire, I am afraid that there will be no chance in the future. "

The reality is so cruel. The Russian Empire, which is deeply bound by Shinra, also has no choice but to follow Vienna to the dark.