Chapter 333 Weapon Research and Development

As time entered November 1912, the Royal Australasian Physical and Chemical Research Society was basically reorganized into the Royal Academy of Sciences.

The members of the previous research society also transformed themselves into academicians of the Royal Australasian Academy of Sciences.

For these scientific researchers, the change of their status is a good thing. After all, although the Royal Physical and Chemical Research Society was also highly valued by Arthur before, the status of these members was not that high.

Now, after becoming members of the Royal Academy of Sciences, they have a guaranteed status like the mayor of a city, and they are also considered to be the upper middle class in Australasia.

As long as they can break through the barriers between the first-level academicians and the second-level academicians and successfully reach the level of the second-level academicians, these scientific researchers can be regarded as truly entering the upper class of Australasian society and have an extraordinary status.

Now that the Royal Academy of Sciences has been established, it is time to start the large-scale research of the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Arthur attended the first plenary meeting of the Royal Academy of Sciences and emphasized several research directions of the Royal Academy of Sciences.

The first is the radio technology that Tesla has mastered. Radio technology is a vital technology for both civil and military fields.

Radio technology will also become one of the main research directions of the Royal Academy of Sciences. Radio technology based on telegraph will be the main research direction of Tesla and the Royal Academy of Sciences.

In addition to radio technology, Tesla also needs to strengthen the research on alternating current technology. Various power generation equipment and power generation, as well as current transportation equipment, all need new improvements.

In addition to serving as the vice president of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Tesla was also appointed by Arthur as the chief designer of the Australasian National Power Engineering, responsible for adding bricks and tiles to the power engineering of Australasia.

As the best electrical engineer in the United States before, Tesla is naturally the most suitable for the position of chief designer of power engineering.

It is worth mentioning that the current electricity is already one of the energy sources that can be used frequently for Australasia.

Electric street lights can be seen everywhere in big cities like Sydney and Melbourne. Electric lights have also entered thousands of households and have become one of the main lighting methods for urban residents.

In addition, electricity and equipment using electricity are also widely used in industry.

Although Australasia was born out of the British Empire, the most obvious difference between it and the British Empire is the equipment innovation used in the industrial technology of both sides.

Many old factories in the UK are still using old equipment headed by steam power. But in Australasia, many new factories have adopted electricity as the main energy source, and only a small number of factories have to use steam and coal power.

Because air conditioning has been invented for a long time, some factories in Australasia can even see air conditioning running in some workshops with hot indoor temperatures.

This meeting determined the main research direction of the Royal Academy of Sciences, which are basically some projects related to the major interests of Australasia.

Of course, in addition to these projects, the academicians of the Royal Academy of Sciences can also decide on their own research projects and apply to the Academy of Sciences for their own research funds.

In addition to the Royal Academy of Sciences, Arthur also has high expectations for the technical experts in the military factories and shipyards.

After the talent supplement in Europe, there is no shortage of talents in the Royal Military Factories and Royal Shipyards, and there are enough people to carry out research on new weapons.

After the meeting of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Arthur summoned Browning, who had been working for a while, to discuss the current research direction of the Royal Arsenal.

Browning's experience in light weapons is definitely one of the top talents of this era.

Pistols, light machine guns, heavy machine guns, submachine guns and automatic rifles, there are almost no weapons that Browning will not design and improve.

Combined with the current series of weapons in Australasia, Arthur asked Browning to improve Australasia's pistols and submachine guns, and find a way to develop a lighter machine gun.

At present, Australasia has only one pistol, the AS-1898. It has been more than ten years since the development of this pistol, and it is obviously behind the trend of the times.

Browning's attainments in pistols are unquestionable. Letting him improve this pistol is definitely the most suitable talent in the military factory.

As for submachine guns, although Australasia currently has Kassadin submachine guns, the original design of this submachine gun was based on Arthur's proposal, and it can only be regarded as a submachine gun that barely meets Arthur's requirements.

If Browning can improve the Kassadin submachine gun and increase its firing rate and power, it will also be beneficial to the Australasia army.

After all, there are many troops equipped with Kassadin submachine guns. In addition to the intelligence personnel of the Royal Security Bureau, Arthur's guards and the guards of the palace are all equipped with this submachine gun.

In terms of heavy machine guns, the demand for improvement is not that great. At present, Australasia has the MA-107 Maxim heavy machine gun, which is an advanced weapon improved from the MA-99 Maxim heavy machine gun and is currently a world-class heavy machine gun.

But Australasia has not made any progress in light machine guns.

Although heavy machine guns are good, they not only require several people to operate them, but are also a big problem to transport.

If there is a lighter light machine gun with not much weaker firepower to make up for the shortcomings of heavy machine guns, it can not only increase the firepower diversification of the Australasian army, but also ensure that the troops can carry enough firepower weapons when the Australasian army needs to travel long distances.

At present, with the technology of European countries, Australasian artillery technology does not need much improvement.

From 37mm machine guns to 283mm Krupp giant artillery, the Royal Ordnance Factory in Australasia can currently produce them, and the technology is trustworthy.

Of course, although the 283mm artillery looks very exaggerated, the Australasian army is equipped with the most, and in fact it is still mainly composed of CA-1-37mm machine guns, M1897-75mm artillery, GA1902-75mm rapid artillery, Krupp 105mm howitzer, Krupp 155mm howitzer, GA1906-105mm semi-automatic artillery.

The M1897 artillery is the famous Miss France, while the GA1902 artillery is a more powerful artillery obtained by Australasia and Germany after the cooperation and improvement of Miss France.

The rate of fire of Miss France can reach 15 rounds per minute, while the rate of fire of the GA1902 artillery can reach 20 rounds per minute.

At present, the army of Australasia has fully replaced the GA1902 artillery and gradually abandoned the previously trusted Miss France.

The GA1906 105mm rapid-fire artillery, which is also in the GA series, is still a cooperative product of Australasia and Germany.

Borrowing the principle of Miss France, the rate of fire of this artillery can also reach 12 rounds per minute.

Coupled with its huge lethality of 105mm caliber, the three types of rapid-fire artillery, 37mm, 75mm and 105mm, have become the most equipped artillery in the Australasia army.

Semi-automatic artillery and machine guns with faster firing rates are used to cause mass casualties, while giant artillery with a caliber of up to 155 mm and 283 mm is used to bombard and devastate the enemy's strong fortresses.

This also makes the firepower of the Australasian army reach a perfect level in theory. Artillery of this caliber has been equipped in large quantities. In terms of firepower, the Australasian army is not inferior to any country.

Coupled with a variety of machine guns, submachine guns and advanced rifles, this is also the reason why Arthur firmly believes that the combat effectiveness of the Australasian army ranks first in the world.

What's more, in addition to these very powerful firepower weapons, the Australasian army will not save any ammunition and artillery shells during training.

With a lot of training and advanced equipment, how can the combat effectiveness of the army not be strong?

Speaking of artillery, the artillery experts of the Royal Arsenal have also received tasks and requirements from Arthur.

The largest caliber artillery currently equipped by the Australasian Army is the 283 mm giant artillery of the Krupp factory.

But in the navy, in addition to the 283mm guns, the Royal Arsenal and Shipyards also have 305mm and 343mm naval guns.

These two calibers correspond to the current dreadnought and super dreadnought gun calibers, which are the guarantee and source of the powerful firepower of warships.

Australasia's 305mm gun technology comes from Germany, and 343mm gun technology comes from the British Empire.

After obtaining artillery experts from the British Empire, France, Austro-Hungary and other countries, Arthur will naturally not be satisfied with the current artillery caliber.

You know, during World War I, the British Queen Elizabeth-class battleships used 15-inch caliber artillery.

15 inches is about 381 mm. This gun caliber will be far ahead of the caliber of warships in other countries, giving the British Empire's navy a unique advantage in firepower.

In fact, in order to cope with the pressure from the German naval competition and to consolidate the superior position of British warships in firepower, British Navy Minister Churchill strongly advocated the installation of larger caliber guns on the new warships, namely the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, that is, 15-inch caliber guns to replace the original 13.5-inch caliber guns.

In later history, in order to catch up with the progress, the British conducted experiments and manufacturing of 15-inch caliber guns at the same time. Finally, before the outbreak of the war, that is, in January 1915, they were successfully equipped on the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships and put into the war.

Although the British had a very tight time to study the 15-inch caliber main gun, the 15-inch caliber main gun studied by the British was very successful in the construction of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships because of the good performance of the guns and the huge increase in the power of the guns. It also showed good combat effectiveness in the war.

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