The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 307: Chapter 271: Aircraft Carrier

The improvemts of the Bgal Tiger-3 Fighter compared to the previous geration of fighters are very significant.

Arthur had previously complained that among the three types of military aircraft, the fighter was, counterintuitively, the least useful. Now, it's a completely differt story.

The currt Bgal Tiger-3 Fighter can reach an average speed of kilometers per hour, with a maximum speed of up to 40 kilometers per hour, only slightly slower than the Eagle-3 Reconnaissance Aircraft.

The slight lag in speed is due to the Bgal Tiger-3 Fighter being equipped with two MA-7 Maxim heavy machine guns and upgraded armor protection.

Moreover, the ammunition capacity of the machine guns has also be increased significantly. The previous fighter models only carried ,500 s of bullets, which upon exhaustion, they either had to rely on the pilot's own weapons or return home to reload.

Now, the Bgal Tiger-3 Fighter has doubled its ammunition capacity to 3,000 s, greatly hancing its combat durance and firepower output capabilities.

With these hancemts, the fighter assumes a significant role. The Bgal Tiger-3 Fighter, with increased protection, firepower, and speed, may ev be capable of taking on multiple planes from other countries.

However, the Bgal Tiger-3 Fighter's range is not as impressive as the reconnaissance aircraft. Without auxiliary fuel tanks, the Bgal Tiger-3 Fighter's maximum range is 570 kilometers. With two auxiliary fuel tanks, this range extds to 890 kilometers.

This performance not only surpasses that of contemporary aircraft from other countries but also outperforms models used by various countries during World War I.

Unexaggeratedly speaking, Australasia's aircraft could have created numerous aerial legds ev amidst the backdrop of World War I.

The aircraft that Arthur currtly sees as the most practical for military use is, naturally, the Phantom-3 Bomber.

Last time, the swift defeat of the Portuguese army was largely thanks to the bombers.

Right now, no country in the world has much defse against aerial forces as anti-aircraft weapons hav't be developed yet.

The best they can do is probably to use rifles and machine guns against the aircraft.

However, Australasia's three types of military aircraft are far superior to basic models from other countries. Not only are they faster, but they are also quite well-armored.

While it is possible to take out an aircraft with just rifles and machine guns, the probability is less than a primitive plane defeating a more advanced emy aircraft.

The Phantom-3 Bomber is the slowest of the three types of military aircraft, with an average speed of 95 kilometers per hour and a maximum speed of only 5 kilometers per hour.

This is because the bomber is loaded with a large number of differt types of bombs. There are currtly three types of bombs that can be carried by the bomber: 45-pound small-scale lethal bombs, -pound medium-scale lethal bombs, and -pound blasting bombs.

The capacity for each type of bombs is as follows: 4 for the smallest, 4 for the medium, and for the largest.

The firing mode allows two bombs to be fired at a time, deploying two bombs with a single press of the fire button.

This leads to a peculiar characteristic of the bomber's firepower. The bombing frequcy depds on the firing speed of the pilot.

Nevertheless, firing too rapidly could lead to system malfunctions. This is, however, quite unlikely as pilots are unlikely to go on a chaotic and reckless frzy.

The increase in payload and bomb power has significantly hanced the bomber's destructive power.

Without any exaggeration, the destructive power of a single Phantom-3 Bomber far exceeds that of t GA906 semi-automatic cannons.

Before anti-aircraft weapons and other countries' aircraft are developed, Arthur is ev confidt that with Australasia's currt aircraft, the safety of Australasia can be assured.

However, looking at the bomber reminded Arthur of an especially important issue.

While the world's nations are heavily developing their navies and battleships, Arthur realizes that the era of battleships is coming to an d.

What truly led to the obsolescce of battleships was not the emergce of other powerful warships, but the birth and rise of aircraft.

The armor protection capabilities of battleships depd on knowledge about the parabolic arcs of other ship guns. Yet, aircraft bombings do not consider such trajectories as they gerally drop their bombs directly downward.

This gave way to the rise of aircraft carriers, outfitted with aircraft they became the nemesis of ev the most powerful battleships that dominated the late 9th and early 0th cturies.

Having said that, although aircraft carriers appeared during World War I, compared to later gerations, those early models were extremely crude.

What does the research for aircraft carriers need? The answer is aircraft. Without planes, talk of aircraft carriers is meaningless.

Secondly, there's shipbuilding level. Currtly, Australasia has mastered the technology of building dreadnoughts. Their shipbuilding level is absolutely capable of constructing a simple aircraft carrier.

If they can build aircraft carriers, why don't they just build one directly?

Arthur suddly came to a realization, th he asked Director Theodore in a serious tone, "Director Theodore, what is the shortest takeoff distance for our aircraft at the momt?"

Theodore answered, "Your Majesty, for our fastest reconnaissance aircraft, the shortest takeoff distance is a ,400 meters."

Arthur nodded. This level is close to the takeoff distance of aircraft during World War II, which also proves the researchers in the Aerospace Laboratory have indeed made efforts.

But this is clearly still not ough. If they want to equip aircraft on an aircraft carrier, a sea warship, they should understand that ev the largest warships at prest are no more than a couple hundred meters in lgth.

This also implies that the takeoff distance of an aircraft on an aircraft carrier is at most two hundred meters, which places very strict requiremts on the construction technology of aircraft and aircraft carriers.

What methods of taking off from aircraft carriers were there for later gerations? Arthur thought carefully for a long time, but he was still clueless.

He only remembered that aircraft seemed to take off by catapulting and vertical lifting, but he didn't remember the specific form and principle at all.

Arthur shook his head slightly, th he decided to leave the professional tasks to the professionals.

Looking at Director Theodore, who was full of anticipation, Arthur smiled and said, "Director Theodore, your efforts are commdable. I am very pleased with the developmt of these three types of military aircraft, and I, on behalf of the military, promise to equip at least 500 planes within the next three years."

Theodore smiled joyfully and respectfully answered, "This is all thanks to Your Majesty's support. Without it, we would still be only auxiliary developers of airships."

"We can't drop the improvemts to the third-geration aircraft and the research and developmt of the fourth-geration aircraft. Meanwhile, there is also a rather important task for you and the rest of the researchers," Arthur continued.

"Your Majesty, just give the orders," Theodore was respectfully listing.

"I once heard a suggestion, asking whether it's possible to equip warships with aircraft to able their launch anywhere on the ocean, broading the attack range and operational area of our aircraft. Director Theodore, what do you think of this?" Arthur inquired.

"Your Majesty, may I ask whose idea this is?" Theodore cautiously asked.

No one could blame Theodore for being cautious. Those who are qualified to propose ideas and suggestions to Arthur are definitely Arthur's trusted ministers or subordinates.

Under such circumstances, ev if the ideas and suggestions were unreal, Theodore would not dare to refute them!

After all, this is an authoritarian state. If the suggesting minister is dissatisfied with Theodore and finds an opportunity to suggest Arthur to dismiss Theodore, th he would be in serious trouble.

Arthur chuckled, naturally seeing Theodore's internal thoughts. He reassured him, "Speak your mind freely. Rest assured, in this case, recommdations from experts like you are more important."

Upon receiving Arthur's assurance, Theodore th courageously said, "Your Majesty, I believe this is a bold idea. From a hypothetical standpoint, if we can equip warships with aircraft, it would indeed greatly hance the aircraft's combat capabilities and radius. However, ev our shortest takeoff distance for planes at prest is ,400 meters.

Surely, we could not build a warship over ,400 meters long!"

Ev in the late times, the world's largest ship, the legdary Sea Giant, is only 485 meters long.

But such a super colossal warship, with a full displacemt of 80,000 tons, is dozs of times larger than the currt largest battleship.

Let's not ev consider whether technology can support the construction of such a ship. Just the cost of building such a huge warship could probably bankrupt a second-tier power.

Arthur smiled and explained, "What if we used special launching methods? Like adding an extra power for the airplane to possess the initial speed to take off? Or, alter the span of the warship's deck, slightly bding it upwards, so the plane has a better takeoff scope? Could the required takeoff distance be reduced in this way, thus making it possible for airplanes to be equipped on warships?"

The birth of the aircraft carrier in World War I proves that ev in that period there were technologies and methods to significantly reduce the takeoff distance of aircraft.

Australasia's currt planes are already a step ahead of other countries in the world. Arthur doesn't believe that the developmt of the aircraft carrier could be blocked due to a minor issue of airplane takeoff.

With the collective scitific research capabilities of the whole country invested in it, Arthur doesn't believe that the progress of Australasia's aircraft carrier research and developmt will lag behind other countries in a few years.

After listing to Arthur's explanation, Theodore pondered earnestly for a while, th answered seriously, "Your Majesty, this could indeed be possible. But let alone us, the currt worldwide research on sea takeoff platforms is practically zero. Ev if this idea could become a reality, I am afraid it won't be developed in a short time."

Arthur nodded, smiling, "This is not a rush, Director Theodore. You can consider this as an important but not urgt task, not for at least the next three years. At prest, our main task is still the massive equipmt of aircraft to build a real air force and the vast construction of warships to build a strong navy.

This idea may become Australasia's main target for future naval construction, but it will take at least several years to implemt. Wh you've got some free time, you might want to have a detailed conversation with the experts from the shipyard. I'll give you three years. As long as there's some progress in this area, it'll be considered substantial success."

Aircraft carriers only played a key role in World War II. For the research and developmt of Australasia's aircraft carrier, Arthur aimed to have one within three to five years.

As long as they could build an operational aircraft carrier within this period, it would be considered going smoothly.