Chapter 746 War Preparation Plan

As time entered the 1930s, Arthur couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Although the United States has been divided, the world situation has not calmed down. Not to mention the war in Eastern Europe, the situation in Germany is also very chaotic.

In addition, the French have been making small moves recently, and even have the intention of starting another naval arms race.

The island countries in Asia are not very calm either. Not only are they building navies crazily, but they are also expanding their army again and again.

All these have shown that war may happen in the 1930s. Although it is not clear which year it will be, it is necessary to prepare in advance.

In order to ensure Australasia's advantages in the sea, land and air, Arthur decided to carry out a new round of military expansion, increase the size of the forces in the sea, land and air, and make Australasia's military strength firmly in the top three in the world.

First of all, the size of the army.

At present, Australasia has a total of 15 regular infantry divisions, 2 guards infantry divisions, 4 regular cavalry divisions, 1 guards cavalry division, 6 regular artillery divisions and 3 regular tank divisions. The total number of soldiers in the regular army and the guards exceeds 400,000.

Judging from the size of the army alone, the total number of Australasia's army is already quite large, almost at the same level as France and the island countries.

However, the territory that Australasia has to defend is too large, which invisibly consumes the number of troops that can be mobilized.

If a war breaks out, Arthur can mobilize up to 300,000 troops, which is only a drop in the bucket for a large-scale war.

In terms of the army, Arthur does not plan to expand the army on a large scale. After all, the previous army reform has only been implemented for more than a year, and there is no need to make too many changes for the time being.

What needs to change in the army is to strengthen the scope and number of reserves. As mentioned earlier, among the college students, there is a two-week military training every year.

Military training mainly trains discipline and marksmanship, plus some military posture and physical training, to ensure that these college students can exert their combat effectiveness after being put into the battlefield.

Secondly, for adult citizens who have reached adulthood and are under 30 years old, the government will call for military training every two years.

The training for these people will be relatively loose, generally speaking, it is to contact and familiarize themselves with firearms, and then to familiarize themselves with military discipline, etc.

These groups are the planned reserve forces of Australasia. If a war breaks out, by calling up these reserve forces, the combat forces of the Australasia Army can exceed 1.5 million at any time.

The navy and the air force need to be expanded this time.

Let's talk about the air force first.

After the proposal of the General Staff, the current Australasia Air Force is divided into the Persian Gulf Defense Zone, the Homeland Defense Zone, the Southeast Asia Defense Zone, the Pacific Defense Zone and the North American Defense Zone.

Each defense zone has an air force headquarters and stationed a varying number of air force units.

Under each air force unit, there are corresponding fighter units, reconnaissance aircraft units, strategic bombing units and strategic transport units.

At present, the number of aircraft in the Australasia Air Force has exceeded 2,200, of which fighters and bombers are the largest, exceeding 900 and 500 respectively.

In theory, the Australasia Air Force should be considered the strongest in the world. The data released by various air defense zones are only the fourth-generation and fifth-generation fighters, but the real trump card is the strictly confidential jet aircraft.

As long as the war breaks out, jet aircraft can be put into war at any time to destroy the enemy's air force at a very fast speed and gain sufficient air superiority for the ground forces.

Of course, the number of aircraft does not include the carrier-based aircraft carried by aircraft carriers.

The navy actually has aircraft, and the number is not small.

More than ten years have passed since the end of World War I, and the size of the Australasia Navy has changed a lot.

At present, the size of the Australasia Navy can only be said to be neither up nor down, with 6 dreadnoughts, 5 battlecruisers, 6 aircraft carriers, 2 pre-dreadnoughts and hundreds of small and medium-sized warships.

Since the end of World War I, no dreadnoughts have been built for more than five years, which actually shows that Arthur did not want to cause competition in the navy.

But now it is different.

According to the previous naval restriction treaty, the size of Australasia's navy has not reached the upper limit stipulated by the treaty.

In other words, Australasia can legally and legally build its own new warships without worrying about attracting the attention of other countries.

Regarding the construction of new warships, under Arthur's order, the Navy Command quickly proposed a plan and submitted it to the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense for review.

By the time this naval expansion plan was delivered to Arthur's desk, it was already the third day of internal discussions within the Ministry of Defense.

Arthur frowned when he saw this naval expansion plan, and for a moment he didn't know whether to approve it.

In the naval expansion plan, at least four more aircraft carriers will be built, as well as at least four newest dreadnoughts, five battlecruisers, 10 newest medium-sized frigates, 15 small destroyers, 22 light patrol boats, 17 coastal protection frigates, and 12 offshore gunboats.

You should know that the term of this naval expansion treaty is only six years. Once Arthur approves this plan, the size of the Australasia navy will reach the top three in the world in six years.

With Australasia's air force, its naval strength will be the third and second, second only to the British.

If it were normal times, Arthur might worry about causing the British to be wary. But at this time, the French have already had the intention of provoking an arms race, and the islanders are also frantically building a navy, and Arthur's idea is indeed shaken.

After all, the island country is also a potential strong enemy of Australasia, and it is impossible not to take precautions.

Only if the strength of the navy can stabilize the island country, Australasia can gain an advantage in future wars.

This is also a very simple truth. Either the islanders block the coastline of Australasia, or Australasia blocks the coastline of the islanders. This is the lifeline of the two island countries.

However, the island where Australasia is located is nothing more than a little bigger, but it still cannot change its nature as an island.

What makes Arthur hesitate is the financial cost of this naval construction plan.

Although Australasia's annual fiscal revenue has reached 370 million Australian dollars, its fiscal expenditure has also remained above 300 million Australian dollars.

Especially after the eight-year construction plan was launched, fiscal expenditure has exceeded fiscal revenue, and the annual fiscal loss has reached more than 20 million Australian dollars, or even more.

Look at this naval construction plan again, each item is a huge expense.

The cost of 4 dreadnoughts and 5 battlecruisers has exceeded 65 million Australian dollars. Adding 4 aircraft carriers, the cost of the main battleships is close to 90 million Australian dollars.

Although the cost of the remaining small and medium-sized warships is not that expensive, the funds required to expand the navy are at least 120 million Australian dollars.

One-third of the annual income is used to smash the navy, and it is an important time for the whole country to build a big construction. Is it really worth it?

After careful consideration, Arthur still thinks it is worth it.

There is not much time left for Australasia. If the military strength cannot be improved to a level sufficient to ensure national security during this period, it will inevitably cause greater financial and personnel casualties to Australasia.

The government can still afford it with just over 100 million Australian dollars.

Of course, for the sake of democracy, this naval construction order must be approved by the cabinet government before it can be implemented.

Since Arthur has decided to weaken the royal power, he must not arbitrarily agree to this plan at this time.

Otherwise, William in the future, or even William's son, will be so arbitrary, which is not a good thing for the development of the government and the continuation of the royal power.

After all, not every monarch will think for a long time like Arthur when making decisions. They also don't have Arthur's experience from later generations. If they make the wrong choice in a certain direction, they will not only face huge financial losses, but also have a high probability of damaging the prestige of the royal family.

In any case, the navy must be expanded.

Regarding the latest dreadnought in this naval construction plan, Arthur still expressed some concern.

This may be the last level of dreadnought to be built in Australasia, and then there will be aircraft carriers and destroyers.

Therefore, Arthur has very strict requirements for the tonnage and combat effectiveness of the dreadnought, which must be the most advanced level in the world.

The design of the dreadnought was handed over to several shipyards. Whoever designs a dreadnought that is favored by Arthur and the naval headquarters can easily win the order to build the dreadnought.

In the entire naval construction order, the construction of dreadnoughts occupies the majority, which also makes several major shipyards very enthusiastic about designing dreadnoughts.

The shipyards that are currently capable of designing and building the latest dreadnoughts are the Sydney Shipyard, Melbourne Shipyard and Auckland Shipyard, which occupy the royal name.

Because these three shipyards belong to the same royal consortium, their technical levels are actually similar.

No matter which shipyard designs an excellent warship design and finally gets the order for the dreadnought, the result is similar for Arthur.

As for the remaining government-built shipyards and civilian shipyards, they do not have the ability to build the latest battleships for the time being.

Although the government has encouraged the civilian shipbuilding industry in all aspects, the progress of the shipbuilding industry cannot be achieved so quickly.

However, in the field of civilian ships, Australasia currently has a certain level.

From small boats of a few tons to large civilian ships of several thousand tons, there are still many shipyards that can build them.

After all, it is a country with many islands. If the shipbuilding industry is not strong, the exchanges and communication between different regions of the country will be a problem.

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