The Rise of Australia

Although there were no plans to participate in the Spanish Civil War, this war was a good learning opportunity for Australasia.

Because of the participation of the so-called volunteer armies of Germany and Italy, this war can provide an early understanding of the German combat style, as well as the current thinking of Germany and Italy on modern warfare.

To this end, Australasia decided to send a limited number of military observers. The military observation group remained neutral throughout the Spanish Civil War. Its main task was to observe the tactical systems, operational ideas and strategic principles of the entire war on both sides.

This rare war will also become one of the few real-life subjects of the Royal Military Academy of Australasia. A small number of outstanding military academy students will be given the opportunity to join the military observation group.

On this point the British and Australasians were of the same mind.

Although the British did not take much action in the Spanish Civil War, the British military also sent a military observation team with the purpose of observing the combat effectiveness of the German and Italian armies.

For the British, the combat capabilities of the German and Italian armies are related to their subsequent diplomatic operations.

If the German and Italian armies were very strong, the British would turn to support France, ensuring a balance of power on the continent.

But if the combat effectiveness of the German and Italian armies is just that, and there is not a big gap between them and the French, the British will continue to remain neutral and let France and Germany consume each other.

This is also the reason why the British did not stand up against Germany and Italy sending so-called volunteer troops. After all, this was a good opportunity to test the combat capabilities of the German and Italian armies.

November 15, 1934, Madrid, the capital of the Spanish Republic.

It was a beautiful, cloudless day. Above the vast blue sky, listening to the rumble of the engine, observation team member Reno Coffin looked attentively at the battlefield below.

"Oh my God! Reno, this is crazy! Please forgive me, what's so good about a war like this? There's no air support, no fire coverage, just constant fire from both sides in the trenches.

I even doubt whether their bullets can hit the enemy. Look at that guy, his barrel is almost raised to the sky! "Next to Reno Coffin, David Smith Canone, who was also a member of the military observation group, looked at his partner in surprise and kept talking.

"Not all countries have our weapons and equipment, David." Reno explained: "Moreover, this war will never be that simple.

For both warring parties, the capital Madrid is definitely the most important city, and it also symbolizes the initiative of both parties in this war.

If my guess is correct, German and Italian volunteers will also join this battle, which will make it exciting. "

"What the hell, didn't the intelligence department say that the fighting in Madrid was fierce? Why hasn't a decent war broken out after we've been in Madrid for several days?" David Smith Cannon also understood what Reno said. Wrong, but in terms of the size of the battle currently taking place, there is really nothing to observe.

"Isn't it the same for everyone else? Just wait patiently. We are here for military observation, not tourism." Reno continued to look at the battlefield below attentively, his eyes never moving from the telescope. opened.

Boom! Boom!

Suddenly, the roar of an engine came, which instantly refreshed Reno and David.

"According to radar detection, there is a squadron of aircraft approaching us near us. It may be the Spanish Air Force." The pilot of the aircraft reported.

"Watch it, David." Reno said with excitement: "The real war is about to begin."

Sure enough, after the Spanish Air Force appeared, the Spanish Republic Army, which was originally just defensive, instantly launched a counterattack.

Under the cover of the Spanish Air Force, the Spanish army turned from defense to offense and quickly gained an advantage on the battlefield.

But this advantage did not last long. Soon, Spanish rebel planes, including planes supported by Italy, also arrived at the scene.

Due to previous restrictions, Germany currently does not have much reserves of military aircraft, let alone providing military aircraft to support Spain.

"This is really a good show!" Looking at the planes from both sides that had started fighting in the sky, Reno smiled and remained focused.

Compared to the few aircraft carried by the Australasian Military Observer Mission, the Italian and Spanish aircraft were further behind.

Their attack method is also very simple, which is to fire wildly through the machine guns carried by the aircraft, but they are rarely able to hit the enemy aircraft.

It can be seen from the casualty ratio of both sides' aircraft that the Italian aircraft is more advanced than the Spanish aircraft.

This is actually quite normal. After all, although Italy is relatively low in strength among the great powers, it is also recognized as a great power, and there is a big gap between it and ordinary countries.

The air battle lasted for more than an hour and ended with a disastrous defeat for the Air Force of the Spanish Republic. In the sky, the performance data of the aircraft is very important and determines the victory of an air battle.

Of course, whether the pilot can exert the true combat effectiveness of the aircraft is also a very important and decisive factor.

From all aspects, the advanced level of Italian aircraft and the ability of Italian Air Force pilots have determined Italy's victory in this air battle.

"How was it, David, how was the air battle?" After the entire air battle was over, Reno had some time to rest, turned around and asked his partner David with a smile.

"It's very good. At least it provides us with a lot of experience in aircraft design." David nodded and said with satisfaction.

Yes, Reno and David were not ordinary military observers, but observers specially sent by the Royal Aircraft Factory.

Their mission was to collect data on the aircraft produced by the enemy in this war, and based on this data and air combat information, discover deficiencies in the design of the Australasian aircraft.

"If nothing else, our planes are enough to crush these planes." David said with a smile on his face: "Can you believe it? The firepower of their planes is still in the age of machine guns. I dare say that as long as our planes join the battlefield, , the enemy cannot cause casualties to our aircraft at all."

What makes David so confident is naturally the advanced level of Australasian aircraft.

As internal members of the Royal Aircraft Factory, they naturally know the current data of the Royal Aircraft Factory.

The most advanced jet aircraft, the speed is ahead of these aircraft on the battlefield. What's more, in terms of aircraft weapons, Australasia has airborne missiles and cannons, which are more powerful weapons than machine guns.

When facing Italian and Spanish aircraft, Australasian aircraft can definitely achieve faster speed, thicker armor, and stronger firepower.

These three points are already huge improvements for aircraft. As long as the pilot's ability is acceptable, enemy aircraft are as fragile as paper to Australasia.

"But there are still many areas for improvement." Reno replied seriously: "The enemy's aircraft are also developing, which is not a good thing for us."

"It seems that this report should be written earlier. It will be very helpful for our research on sixth-generation military aircraft." David also nodded.

Because of the importance of data, telegrams were not used for data transmission. Instead, the stupidest and most efficient method was used, which was to use airplanes to transport documents.

At the speed of an airplane, it takes less than a week to reach Australasia from Spain, which is much faster than a ship.

Moreover, the safety of the current aircraft is also guaranteed. This is currently the most appropriate way to report important documents.

A week later, on November 22, the Royal Aircraft Factory successfully received the data from Spain.

Although Italian and Spanish aircraft could not pose a threat to Australasian aircraft, they did provide certain ideas for Australasian aircraft design.

Moreover, Australasia's aircraft have not been updated for a long time since their development.

Since the invention of the jet engine, Australasia has been exploring more advanced jet engines to greatly increase the speed of its military aircraft.

After that, in less than a month, Arthur had received the design drawings of the sixth-generation military aircraft from the Royal Aircraft Factory.

Looking at the design drawings in front of him, Arthur was slightly surprised.

Although the sixth-generation military aircraft has been under research, some issues have reached a stalemate, which is also the reason why the sixth-generation military aircraft has not been developed.

It had only been about a month since it received the air combat data from Madrid. How come the Royal Aircraft Factory had already solved the previous problems?

With this question in mind, Arthur called in Robert Hernandez, the head of the Royal Aircraft Factory.

"Director Robert, can you introduce our sixth-generation military aircraft?" Arthur said.

"Of course, this is my honor, Your Majesty." Robert Hernandez nodded with a smile, and then introduced to Arthur: "Your Majesty, you should have also seen the design of our sixth-generation military aircraft. drawing.

The sixth-generation military aircraft uses two brand-new Diesel axial flow jet engines. The maximum thrust is expected to reach 2x775kg, which is much faster than our fifth-generation military aircraft.

Thanks to improvements in engines, our fifth-generation military aircraft can be equipped with more weapons and ammunition, and can also have stronger armor protection capabilities.

Based on data from air battles in the Spanish Civil War, we canceled the reconnaissance aircraft in the sixth-generation military aircraft and attached the reconnaissance aircraft function to a single-seat fighter.

Currently, there are three types of our sixth-generation military aircraft, namely single-seat fighter (Raptor-6A), two-seat fighter (Raptor-6B) and single-seat bomber (Falcon-6A). This is their specific design data , please take a look. "

Arthur took the data and scanned it roughly.

BP6A single-seat fighter (Raptor-6A)

Length: 11.5m

Wingspan: 12.4m

Height: 3.5m

Empty weight: 4200 kg

Maximum takeoff weight: 7045 kg

Crew: 1 person

Engine: Two Diesel axial flow jet engines

Thrust: 2×775kg

Maximum flight speed: 675km/h

Practical ceiling

Range: 1250km

Climb rate: 1025 m/min

Thrust to weight ratio: 0.28

Main weapons: 2 CA-2-27MM rapid-fire machine guns

2 MA-107 Maxim heavy machine guns

12 airborne missiles

Robert is right. Compared with the previous generation of military aircraft in Australasia, the sixth-generation military aircraft has indeed ushered in a considerable improvement in speed.

The speed of fifth-generation military aircraft is less than 400 kilometers per hour, and the speed of sixth-generation military aircraft has increased to 675 kilometers per hour.

The faster the aircraft is, the easier it is to avoid enemy attacks in air combat. This also means that when encountering enemy aircraft, the survival rate of Australasian aircraft will be higher.

Of course, things like speed will also be very useful when chasing enemies. Taken together, when facing any enemy, this aircraft can fight if it can defeat it and run away if it cannot defeat it.

Moreover, unless faced with a one-to-many situation, it is difficult to have a hit-and-run situation on this aircraft.

The data of two-seat fighter jets and single-seat fighter jets are similar. After all, the biggest difference between them is just the addition of a pilot's seat.

BP6B two-seat fighter (Raptor-6B)

Length: 11.7m

Wingspan: 12.4m

Height: 3.5m

Empty weight: 4350 kg

Maximum takeoff weight: 7045 kg

Crew: 2 people

Engine: Two Diesel axial flow jet engines

Thrust: 2×775kg

Maximum flight speed h

Practical ceiling

Range: 1200km

Climb rate: 1000 m/min

Thrust to weight ratio: 0.28

Main weapon: 1 CA-2-27MM rapid-fire machine gun

1 MA-107 Maxim heavy machine gun

36 airborne missiles

In addition to having an extra driving position, the biggest difference between the two-seat fighter jets is that the auxiliary firepower of a heavy machine gun and a machine gun has been eliminated, and instead they have more missiles on board.

This change largely comes from the data from the Spanish air battle sent back by Reno and others.

The current heavy machine guns are not a great threat to Italian and Spanish aircraft. For Australasia's most advanced new generation aircraft, the threat from machine guns has been reduced to a minimum.

Therefore, on the new generation of two-seat fighter jets, the Royal Aircraft Factory directly reduced the number of cannons and machine guns and used more missiles in an attempt to further enhance the firepower of the fighter jets.

Such an improvement is certainly bold, and is a first for the development of Australasian military aircraft.

It is no exaggeration to say that before the Royal Aircraft Factory made such improvements, in addition to the data of the Spanish air battle, all they relied on were their own guesses.

If the missiles did not exert their imagined advantages in aircraft combat, then the design of this two-seat fighter would have been a major mistake by the Royal Aircraft Factory.

An update for today.