Chapter 308: Chapter 272: Big Belly No. 1
The performance of the third-generation military aircraft has been significantly improved, and its cost has also increased considerably.
The cost of the Eagle-3 reconnaissance aircraft reached 27,425 Australian dollars, and the cost of the Bengal Tiger-3 fighter aircraft reached 29,105 Australian dollars. The most expensive is the Phantom-3 bomber, which costs 32,725 Australian dollars.
In Arthur’s plan to build 500 military aircraft, it includes 150 reconnaissance aircraft, 100 fighters, and 250 bombers, with a total cost of up to 15,025,500 Australian dollars, which is not a small number.
Even that is only a few million Australian dollars less than the military budget of Australasia last year, which is enough to show the current high cost of aircraft.
However, compared to these expenses, the role these 500 aircraft will play is far greater than the cost.
After equipping all aircraft and forming combat capabilities, the naval and land forces of Australasia will be enhanced for coastal operations and operations within a certain range.
The reason is nothing more than because Australasia has mastered the complete air superiority.
Imagine that if a certain country’s naval and land forces were at war with the Australasian Army, and suddenly hundreds of bombers appeared in the sky to conduct a bombing, who could stop them?
This is not only a huge, unprecedented threat to the army, but also a significant threat to warships within the bombing range.
At this moment, various warships have not mastered anti-aircraft weapons, and these 250 bombers can at least destroy a few dreadnoughts.
If the aircraft that was previously equipped is also included, after the completion of this aircraft order, the number of military aircraft equipped in Australasia will reach 560, far exceeding the total number of military aircraft equipped by other countries globally.
Of course, it is not clear whether other countries have military aircraft at the moment, and for the first time, Arthur felt the sense of isolated domination in Australasia in a specific area.
However, although a significant step ahead of other countries in military aircraft, Arthur currently has no idea of completely publicizing the Air Force.
The last war with Portugal has already attracted the attention of airships from all countries worldwide. After that war, many countries have begun investing in airship research and development and have made no small achievements.
Although there are also cases of research and development failures, where is the success of all weapon research and development? Other countries have no doubt about the practicality of airships.
As far as Arthur knows, investment in airships in Britain and Germany has already been significant, with at least several million pounds.
Of course, the achievements are also outstanding, already catching up with or even surpassing the achievements of Australasian airships, and continuous research and experimentation are being carried out.
The success of these two countries has convinced the somewhat weaker powers and subordinates.
After all, the two most potent countries are continuously researching airships and making significant progress, so what reason do they have to doubt airships?
Up to now, the number of airships equipped in Europe has exceeded 1,000. It can be said that this is a temporary airship golden age.
If no surprises occur, Arthur believes that the most magnificent moment of airships in history will be staged in Europe more than ten years earlier, after all, the attention and full-blown research and development of a top power are not jokes.
It is also because of the attention of airships worldwide that various kinds of airship companies and factories have been born.
Although a specific business system has not yet been formed, Arthur believes that airships are about to become a major transportation tool in Europe and then spread from Europe to the whole world.
While airships do indeed have good transportation capabilities, certain areas of Australasia also use airships for transportation.
However, for air transportation, Arthur is more looking forward to airplanes.
Yes, after the last time Arthur requested an Aero Labs to develop a passenger aircraft and four years of research, the first passenger aircraft was finally born.
Of course, if you only carry passengers, in fact, the second-generation reconnaissance aircraft is already ready. However, this kind of aircraft that can only seat two people cannot be commercialized. To run a single trip for one person, how much would this plane ticket cost?
The first manned aircraft developed by the Aeronautical Research Room is named SF-1 by Director Theodore.
SF actually means safe because the most important thing for an aircraft with multiple passengers is to ensure the safety of people.
SF-1 can currently accommodate up to seven passengers, excluding the driver, with a maximum load of 1.5 tons.
Because the seating position is in the belly of the plane, this also caused the SF-1 to have a big belly and was even jokingly referred to as Big Belly No. 1 by the researchers of the Aerospace Laboratory.
As the SF-1 carries more people and weight, the average flight speed of this manned aircraft is only 170 km/h, and the maximum flight speed is only 195 km/h.
This flight speed is far behind military aircraft, but it is enough for manned flights.
After all, neither the current trains nor the ships can reach the terrifying speed of 170 km/h.
For example, the current passenger trains in Australasia, with an average speed of only 70 km/h, the maximum speed is only 85 km/h.
Not to mention ships, the speed is far behind trains, let alone comparable to aircraft.
