African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1138: Chapter 167: Breaking the Limits on Naval Development

”Currently, our army’s armored and motorized units have a proliferation rate of up to forty percent, yet we still maintain a large number of traditional infantry and cavalry, which saves our military significant expenses,” Merk said.

Without defense pressure, East Africa finds it difficult to achieve comprehensive military innovation, as relying on the traditional army format allows East Africa to subdue those neighboring small countries or colonies.

The previous year’s military actions by East Africa in the Persian Gulf were completed relying on traditional forces, and the Arabs in the Beibu Gulf Territory are even quite deficient in rifle ammunition, so unless facing a military power like Germany, East Africa would only need to employ its most advanced forces.

”Our army is currently equipped with around four thousand three hundred pieces of artillery, covering various calibers and purposes. Worldwide, it ranks only behind Germany and Russia, comparable to France, and more than Austria-Hungary, primarily composed of seventy-five millimeter artillery, which accounts for about forty-seven percent.”

The East African Army had extensively equipped seventy-five millimeter artillery, a situation that persisted until the end of the last century, primarily due to the superior performance of this artillery and its mobility. Entering the 20th century, as East Africa’s automotive industry developed, seventy-five millimeter artillery continued to be favored by the military as a type of lightweight field gun, moderate in weight and convenient for vehicle towing.

Of course, compared to the French Army’s obsession with seventy-five millimeter artillery, East Africa is still far behind. Nearly all of France’s main artillery is seventy-five millimeter, and larger caliber artillery is less than three hundred pieces, whereas East Africa is equipped with over fourteen hundred large-caliber artillery pieces.

With the progress of the first two five-year plans, East Africa’s defense industry has achieved a qualitative uplift, significantly reducing the difficulty of manufacturing larger-caliber artillery, and artillery development has advanced to another level. Furthermore, as a major metal and mineral country, East Africa can access numerous rare metals deficient in Europe, providing excellent conditions for artillery research and development.

If considered purely from the artillery proliferation rate of the East African forces, East Africa even surpasses European countries. For instance, Germany comes only second to Russia with near seven thousand artillery pieces, but Germany’s army numbers are over a hundred thousand more than East Africa, and East Africa also has armored forces, with tanks serving as mobile artillery support, though not counted among East African artillery.

Overall, East Africa’s artillery proliferation rate is comparable to Germany, larger than other countries, despite Russia’s artillery numbers being the highest. However, the proliferation rate and artillery quality greatly differ compared to Germany and East Africa, falling short even compared to France and Austria-Hungary.

”Our artillery numbers are in the world’s second tier, with quality between Germany and France, and the artillery philosophy adopted integrates characteristics of the German, French, and Austria-Hungary approaches to confront traditional warfare and trench warfare concepts.”

In global artillery strength, Europe is overall first worldwide, notably Germany, France, and Austria-Hungary as the most prominent countries. Other nations generally take these three countries’ artillery as reference standards, which is also why East African Army has extensively equipped seventy-five millimeter artillery while also investing heavily in large-caliber heavy artillery.

Because East Africa considered two combat modes from the start of building artillery strength, during the South African war, both sides transitioned into relatively primitive trench warfare. However, this does not imply seventy-five millimeter artillery, aimed at linear infantry formations, is useless in East Africa. After all, among countries surrounding East Africa, Egypt’s military strength is the strongest, and dealing with a country like Egypt using large caliber heavy artillery is akin to using an ox to slaughter a chicken.

With other nations and colonies, the discussion need not extend further, as artillery is regarded as a rarity. For example, the Abyssinia Empire nationwide possesses only over twenty artillery pieces.

Merk continued, ”Our army, especially non-armored units, implements the concept of firepower superiority, equipping basic infantry with numerous easy-to-carry mortars and grenade launchers, forming multi-layered artillery strike coverage that adapts to various battlefield scenarios.”

”Apart from artillery, we also extensively equip other light weapons, such as rifles, machine guns, grenades, and landmines.”

”Aside from weaponry, another highlight in army construction is informatization. We are actively promoting the proliferation of radio equipment throughout the army while advancing the miniaturization of radio equipment, as well as telephones and wired telegrams, which have developed significantly in recent years, forming a robust information network at home that exclusively serves the military.”

Sometimes, warfare is merely about intelligence, so military forces are incredibly focused on information gathering. East Africa, leveraging its strength in the global electrical domain, stands as a top-tier entity. Particularly the radio proliferation has elevated world armies, including East Africa, to a new level.

”On the naval front, our navy’s total tonnage has now reached as much as six hundred eighty thousand tons, marking significant development, with an increase of over a hundred thousand tons level in the past three years.”

The East African Navy’s total tonnage still exceeds the initial agreement with the United Kingdom, which set the minimum standard at six hundred fifty thousand tons, and now surpasses by over thirty thousand tons.

Of course, this aligns with the agreement between the two countries, as East African Navy takes the French Navy as reference, and France has not ceased military competition in naval aspects. France’s naval total tonnage now approaches nine hundred thousand tons, so pursuant to the initial agreement East Africa reached with the United Kingdom, East Africa can naturally expand its navy correspondingly.

Besides, there’s another unstable factor affecting East African Navy construction, which is the Japanese Navy. The initial agreement between East Africa and the United Kingdom explicitly stipulated that the Japanese Navy could not exceed the East African Navy, or East Africa would have the right to independently revise its plans.

Currently, the Japanese Navy’s total tonnage has also reached the sixty thousand ton level, so East African naval expansion leaves no ground for British interference unless Britain settles matters with Japan, persuading the Japanese Navy to halt expansion.

However, Japan has long ceased to be immature. If it were before the Russo-Japanese War, Japan might have heeded Britain’s instructions due to the disparity in strength, but now Japan is recognized as one of the world’s great powers, having replaced Spain as the gatekeeper, naturally not simply obeying.

In reality, speaking purely from a military perspective, Japan ought to be above Spain, and even when considering economic factors, Japan and Spain are on par; due to population advantages, Japan somewhat edges out current Spain. Hence, labeling Japan as the gatekeeper might somewhat underestimate this nation.

Nonetheless, this is the perspective held by most Western countries. Japan, as an Asian nation, being considered as an equal by great powers, is already quite a rarity, making further acknowledgment of Japan’s international status challenging.

The present Japan has already positioned itself as the leader in the East Asia region, and thus does not heed England, its former master. Should Britain further decline, Japan may very well strive to expel Britain from East Asia. Defying former masters is, after all, Japan’s traditional skill; previously, Japan harshly taught Britain a lesson in Southeast Asia.

So, while Britain requests the Japanese Government cease naval expansion, Japan wholly adopts a two-faced approach.

As Japan continues naval military competition unabated, East Africa naturally does not lag behind. Although East Africa’s naval development stagnated for a period due to the East England reconciliation treaty’s impact, now it has again caught up.

That was actually a trap Ernst set from the start; with knowledge of Japan’s character, Ernst knew Japan would not comply with Britain’s instructions, thus incorporating Japanese Navy tonnage as a condition in the treaty.

Even if Britain is displeased now, there’s no choice, and this resentment can only be transferred onto the ”disobedient” Japanese Government, while East Africa, backed by Japan’s ambitions, circumvented the naval development restrictions of the East England reconciliation treaty.