The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 387: Chapter 330: Exchange of Interests_2

Although Arthur had not originally intended to use airships to make a fortune off the European great powers, since they had come to him themselves, he couldn't let the opportunity slip away.

Following Arthur's advice, Director Theodore engaged in long negotiations with Europe, aiming to acquire advanced technology and technical experts from European great powers.

Thanks to the emphasis placed on airships by Britain and Germany, the European great powers had no choice but to equip themselves with airships to gain air superiority and strengthen their air counterattack capabilities.

The negotiations between the two sides lasted a long time. After Germany began to equip its own airships and announced that they would hold an airship parade soon, the British couldn't sit still, expressing their willingness to offer more technology and technical personnel in exchange for airships and airship technology.

Firstly, on the British side, according to Arthur's suggestion, Director Theodore requested many ship-gun design experts, as well as warship power system design experts and so on.

With the future development of super dreadnoughts, the caliber of the guns would increase to a staggering 15 inches, which is about 381 mm.

Keep in mind that the dreadnoughts currently equipped by other great powers have a gun caliber of about 305 mm. read-only-on-MvLeMpYr

Although the British currently only possess 343 mm gun technology, their success in hastily changing the original 343 mm main gun technology to 381 mm and achieving great success after the outbreak of World War I had demonstrated that their naval gun technology was quite successful and worth Arthur's attention.

Benefiting from a good relationship with the British, and Arthur's assurance that he would not sell the AU-3 airship technology to the Germans, the British government happily agreed to Arthur's request, promising to send 300 experts to Australasia, with 100 experts in ship guns, power systems, and warship design each.

This was a generous offer by the British government, as they promised to have the 300 experts and their families sent to Australasia within a month and a half to reside there permanently.

Due to the British's generosity, Director Theodore also generously offered to sell 50 airships to Britain at a price lower than the market price, which was 70,000 pounds, and directly transfer the AU-3 airship technology to Britain.

Arthur is estimated to make a profit of 1.5 million pounds from these 50 airships. Along with the 300 British experts, this exchange would be absolutely worthwhile for Arthur.

As for the promise not to cooperate with Germany, even if the British hadn't mentioned it, cooperation between Arthur and Germany would have been unlikely to happen.

Though Germany's airship technology wasn't as advanced as Australasia's at the time, they were definitely the leading contender in the rigid airship field outside of Australasia.

Moreover, after receiving the AU-2 airship donated by Arthur previously, German research on rigid airships never ceased, and the Zeppelin Company received strong support.

This time, almost all European countries contacted Australasia to buy technology, with the exception of Germany, which only wanted to buy a few airships but didn't mention anything about airship technology.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Germans should soon master airships capable of global navigation. After all, global navigation is actually a journey made up of multiple long-distance flights.

Judging by the furthest distance that the AU-3 airship can fly during its global navigation, it would only be over 8,000 kilometers from Los Angeles to London and Sydney to Hawaii.

Following the historical trajectory, the world's first airship capable of global navigation should have been produced by the Zeppelin Company.

Now, with the strong support of the German government, it is not impossible for the Zeppelin Company to develop an airship capable of global navigation ahead of schedule.

Aside from Britain and Germany, at Arthur's suggestion, Director Theodore also reached cooperation agreements with other European great powers.

Including France, Russia, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy, Australasia gained a large number of technical experts and staff, as well as many advanced technologies from these countries.

From ship guns, firearms, warship power systems, engine technology, medical technology, industrial equipment, industrial technology, and so on; coupled with thousands of technical experts, Arthur believed that Australasia's technology would make significant progress within a few years, truly reaching the status and influence of the great powers, which is not far away.

Since cooperation has been reached with these European great powers, the manufacturing of airships by the Aerospace Laboratory can be accelerated.

After sharing technology with these countries, it is expected that the airship companies and airship technology of these countries will advance quickly.

Perhaps in a few years, airships like the AU-3 that can fly around the world will no longer be valuable, and the profit margins in the airship market will be significantly reduced.

After all, being the newest mode of transportation, airships currently have high speeds and more comfortable travel experiences, along with the 'luxury' appeal, which leads to the high prices of airships and airship tickets.

Any airship company possessing airships capable of global navigation would instantly make huge profits, and their stock market value would increase several times, if not ten times.

This frenzied situation even surpassed the previous rubber market. If the Aerospace Laboratory had not been suppressing the construction speed of airships before, the airship market might have become saturated like the rubber market, eventually facing a stock crisis.