Munitions Empire-Chapter 1203 - 1123 air defense, anti-submarine, anti-ship!
In fact, many factories in the Great Tang Empire are already overwhelmed with work, frantically producing various orders from all over the world.
The Great Tang Empire has sold over 4,000 various propeller fighters to foreign buyers. Most of these aircraft must be fully assembled in the Great Tang Empire before being shipped globally by sea.
These include Spitfire Fighters, TA-152 Fighters, Yak Fighters, Mustang Fighters… These aircraft have brought several billion in revenue to the Great Tang Empire.
Additionally, a large array of aircraft models is also being produced: aircraft tailored for use on aircraft carriers.
Although Zero Fighters did not perform well in the hands of Mirage Country, that is merely the case for Zero Fighters. The designs of the 99 Dive Bomber and 97 Attack Aircraft, created by Japan during World War II, might become highly sought-after items among many countries later.
Furthermore, the Great Tang Empire is accelerating production on its own carrier-based Stuka aircraft, the carrier-based Pirate Fighter, as well as the United States’ carrier-based Dauntless Dive Bomber and Avenger Torpedo Bomber… even the less-advanced but highly practical F6F Carrier Fighter...
All these aircraft are being rapidly produced by the Great Tang Group because inevitably, countless nations will seek to purchase them! After all, when it comes to carrier-based aircraft, the rest of the world has absolutely no experience.
The Great Tang Empire directly employs mature aircraft carrier designs and pairs its Navy with Pirate Fighters, thereby raising the entry barriers for carrier-based aircraft and carriers.
Airplanes like the Swordfish Attack Aircraft and early-generation carrier-based aircraft are considered worthless by the world’s navies. They urgently need more robust carrier-based aircraft to protect their fleets, along with mature aircraft carriers capable of launching such planes.
Thus, the slow emergence of low-performance designs from the early exploration phase, as dictated by historical progress, is entirely out of the question. Under these circumstances, navies worldwide can only obediently accept technological "aid" from the Great Tang Empire.
Trying to develop their own systems? That’s almost impossible: Subsequent developments also confirmed the judgment of Great Tang Empire engineers, with countries around the world beginning to request purchases of carrier-based aircraft.
Producing thousands of airplanes at once is no small feat: even propeller planes require immense effort. Were it more complex jet aircraft, an annual output of two to three hundred units would already be considered remarkable.
Shockingly, while manufacturing thousands of propeller planes, the Great Tang Empire is simultaneoulsy building large quantities of helicopters and civilian planes. This astonishing industrial capacity is the true reason behind the invincibility of the Great Tang Empire.
The Great Tang Empire is constructing an Otherworld Boeing Aircraft Manufacturing Plant: Tang Mo plans to produce roughly five hundred planes annually, while pushing Shireck as a competitor akin to Airbus against Boeing.
Both companies will yield immense profits for Tang Mo every year, monopolizing the global aerospace market and ensuring that Tang Mo’s factories control all jet passenger aircraft production worldwide.
To lay groundwork in advance for Shireck, Tang Mo has already transferred the relevant technologies of the 97 Attack Aircraft and 99 Dive Bomber to Shireck, allowing the Shireck Consortium to supply these technologies worldwide.
By doing so, they will leave other nations with a favorable impression of an "aviation company" and grant recognition of their certain level of expertise in aviation technology.
Meanwhile, the Great Tang Empire continues launching various types of satellites with varied capabilities. Advances in communication technology already allow intelligence data to be transmitted from these satellites without needing to return to the ground.
Tang Mo is urgently working to construct a complete satellite network, building a GPS system that will make missiles more accurate and ensure maps remain continuously illuminated.
Regrettably, the technology for this system is still immature. At present, Tang Mo’s electronic computers are roughly the size of refrigerators. Further progress and accumulation are needed.
Although the Great Tang Empire is reluctant to export RPG Rocket Launchers to maintain its armored corps’ quality advantage, similar technology has already spread out.
Virtually overnight, nations worldwide produced similar weapons, resembling anything from Germany’s Panzerfaust Rocket Launcher to the Bazooka.
Regardless of approach, every country has developed their own versions of low-tech weapons. Whether they function effectively or not is anyone’s guess.
These weapons primarily consist of an armor-piercing shell and rocket propulsion. Their difference lies in efficiency. The basic principle can be copied easily enough by anyone with access to a sample.
Unlike jet engines or submarine technologies, this is a field that can readily be replicated. As long as they obtain samples, what nations produce are generally similar.
However, these rocket launchers can never lead to the development of anti-tank missiles. The latter requires entirely different expertise, making it much harder to imitate.
For the same reason, world powers remain mystified by the Styx Anti-ship Missile employed by the Great Tang Empire Navy’s destroyer to severely weaken the main fleet of Mirage Country.
Lacking "reference" models to copy and a corresponding technological development tree, they are unable to emulate the missile’s principles. This starkly contrasts with the rocket launcher, offering a clear explanation as to why RPGs and AK rifles became the weapons of the poor.
Some armaments are indeed cheap, easy to manufacture, and technically unsophisticated, making them ideal options for underdeveloped regions.
Regarding those expensive weapon systems, poorer regions struggle even to repair them, much less secure replacement parts, rendering them unusable regardless of their superior performance...
Another highly sought-after weapon type is the torpedo: since anti-ship missiles are not for sale, torpedoes became the preferred tool for asymmetrical naval warfare in many nations.
Previously, these countries’ destroyers lacked any capability to challenge larger ships such as cruisers and battleships. They simply had no chance. But now, these destroyers finally possess a fighting shot, greatly enhancing the capabilities of smaller warships worldwide.
Equipped with torpedoes, destroyers and cruisers can now operate independently, gaining clear roles on the battlefield. At last, these warships have developed a distinct purpose!
Historically, small warships existed as affordable supplements to larger vessels—useful for patrol duty but virtually useless during actual combat, often "playing dead" in conflict. Their value-to-cost ratio was meager, and abandoning them felt wasteful.
Now, these small warships have genuine combat utility. They can serve as a fleet’s vanguard during wartime or be tasked with port defense, achieving unprecedented effectiveness!
Concurrently, along with submarines came sonar systems. Only after seeing these technologies were engineers worldwide struck by the realization: submarines could possess "ears."
Introducing this system induced an epiphany, prompting many to wonder: if submarines use sonar to evade surface warship patrols, could surface warships also employ sonar to hunt submarines?
Thus, anti-submarine destroyers were born—a brand-new domain, causing countries to madly invest in naval competition. Another wave of naval arms races began.
Smart minds in different nations quickly devised initial blueprints. With available technologies, producing affordable matching systems became straightforward: nations across the globe developed strikingly similar plans as they settled on the same path.
The requirements for new destroyers were remarkably consistent across navies. Firstly, destroyers must integrate anti-submarine capabilities, leveraging newly available systems that were previously unavailable. Secondly, torpedo warfare functionality is essential—a signature weapon destroyers must have! Lastly, updated destroyers will need enhanced anti-air capabilities, protecting vital warships from aerial threats.
With the advent of aircraft carriers, surface fleet air-defense challenges are no longer restricted to coastal areas. Even in vast open seas, aerial threats steadily increase.
As such, fleets must command formidable anti-air defenses, possess the strength to confront enemy fleets head-on, and counter potential submarine ambushes...
Anti-air, anti-submarine, anti-ship! That’s right—the three core requirements for fleet destroyers were laid out for the first time.
As a result, the new destroyers should measure between 3,000 and 4,000 tons, capable of operating during long-range missions and boasting rapid speeds, enabling independent operations or collaboration with aircraft carriers and battleships.
Larger hulls akin to light cruisers are necessary for accommodating advanced equipment: newly developed deep-water bomb technologies, anti-submarine rockets, sonar techniques, torpedo systems...
Simultaneously, these warships need to be armed with more anti-aircraft guns to defend themselves and nearby battleships or aircraft carriers.
Some astute and forward-thinking individuals even proposed mounting radar systems on warships to provide fleets with early warning capabilities.
Honestly, with the Great Tang Empire exporting radar, torpedo, and sonar technologies, global naval engineers have approached design concepts remarkably similar to those of their World War II-era counterparts on Earth.
Ultimately, they outline design requirements while the Great Tang Empire provides technological components. After piecing everything together, newly designed destroyers or light cruisers from various nations share strikingly comparable technical specs and appearances that can be hard to distinguish.
What they don’t realize is that the Great Tang Empire Navy’s destroyers have already evolved into missile destroyers within the same epoch. They are equipped with Styx Anti-ship Missiles as well as Tartarus-like air-defense missiles... Their durability in extended battles is average, but their combat effectiveness in short bursts is unmatched.
Many Great Tang Empire weapon systems are undergoing modernization, while countries worldwide keep upgrading their inventories. Amid the frenzy, people seem to have forgotten that a war remains unfinished in the distant northern Endless Sea region, near Shen Hai...
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Update slightly delayed; everyone can check it in the morning.
Additionally, on June, Dragon Spirit added four chapters as extra updates. Including my leave on the day before yesterday, as of now I owe everyone 18 more updates... Consider this a small contribution toward making up for it... Well, just a very small one.
