Chapter 993 – The Flying Coffin

“I’m trying to think of the right reason.” Slim let out a bitter smile, “Tell you what, I’ll formulate a battle plan to support it.”

“That’s more than fine.” Pamela Mountbatten expressed her gratitude, articulating the benefits of partitioning New Guinea from the military realm could be a weighty piece of supporting evidence, especially since the British Field Marshal himself was sure to convince the Australian government.

Military plans are made not necessarily implemented, war is always the last option, and the military advantage of separating New Britain, a dependency of New Guinea, is that it will allow for checks and balances to be put in place after New Guinea’s independence someday.

The current Governor-General of Australia is a proper British Field Marshal, and Slim’s journey into the military has been a tumultuous one, having fallen out with almost all of his superiors, with the exception of Mountbatten, the commander of the Allied Forces in Southeast Asia.

There is such a relationship, Pamela Mountbatten this door-to-door request, the outgoing Governor-General of Australia, Field Marshal Slim, is no reason to refuse.

Because of World War II, the British Empire has become a thing of the past, but the current retained strength for Australia is still a behemoth, Australia’s security, at least in part, is still dependent on the United Kingdom, especially considering the importance of the existence of the Malayan colony.

New Britain had been an important base for the Japanese forces moving south during World War II, an important springboard for threats to Australia’s security, and as a result, there was also a major war, with the fight for New Britain lasting two years until the official surrender of Japan.

The Australians certainly remember the fighting at the time, and this copy of the plan sets out the benefits of partitioning New Guinea and New Britain from a military point of view.

Pamela Mountbatten went off to do something else, and to say that Australians are insecure about Asia, she is to be credited with frequent references to the history of the Japanese southward advance, almost an annual necessity.

Rallies to commemorate the outbreak of the war, and the time of important battles, but it is a lot of public relations funds spent on the Mountbatten Group.

But those PR dollars were well spent, and Pamela Mountbatten easily assembled a group of MPs, while opening the revolving door door for those MPs.

It’s not just Australians who can open the revolving door to Australian MPs, the UK can do the same, Pamela Mountbatten didn’t know that in the 21st Century there are examples of Australian Prime Ministers going to the UK to work as senior civil servants after stepping down from power, but the revolving door has been open for a long time now, going in different directions but for the same reason.

Holding up her hands waving pounds, Pamela Mountbatten, with her many fortunes and billions, conquered the MPs and was willing to offer her support to this end, “The heavy aircraft carrier has been completed, and the second ship, belonging to Australia, is methodically under construction, and if all goes well the gentlemen will be able to meet with it soon.”

“The quality of British construction cannot be questioned.” Half a dozen Australian MPs immediately scrambled to show their appreciation.

“So is strategic vision.” Pamela Mountbatten, with a warm smile, said that she didn’t exaggerate the point.

At the Cabinet Office meeting, Alan Wilson, who was losing weight because his wife had left London, was listening to the procurement plans and requirements for fighter jets from the Ministry of Defense, because last year the U.S. F-104 fighter jets were formally put into service, and the Ministry of Defense was discussing whether or not to put forward requirements for suppliers in comparison with the performance data of the F-104 fighter jets.

F-104 fighter? This model of fighter, let Allen Wilson hit the spirit, he is actually not too familiar with the early Cold War various fighters, especially the first, second generation fighters. This one happened to be an exception, though.

Who doesn’t know the reputation of the Air Coffin?The crash rates of F-104 fighters are: thirty-two percent in the Federal Republic of Germany, thirty-one percent in the Netherlands, thirty-seven percent in Belgium, thirty-seven percent in Italy, forty-five percent in Canada, fifteen percent in Japan, and undisclosed in the United States.

Not to mention this typical failure, even the second-generation fighter Ghost is not that advanced.

“The design of the Ghost was based on the expectation that future air combat would be a duel of long-range missiles, with neither side able to see the other. So why would a fighter need air-to-air artillery and aerial combat capabilities?

Unfortunately, the technical limitations of earlier missiles, such as the Sparrow radar-guided missile, and the restrictive rules of engagement meant that the Ghosts had to fight the smaller, lighter MiGs in close, short-range combat.

Throughout the second generation of fighters, a wide variety of design arrangements emerged as a result of advanced concepts, leading to this generation of fighters being oddly shaped, but in actual combat, it turned out that they could not meet the requirements of actual combat because the mode of combat had changed significantly from what had been envisioned previously.

High altitude and high speed were not the main range of air combat, so the performance merits of the second-generation airplanes were not the decisive factor in determining the victory or defeat in air combat.

“Frank, the development of the new fighter must have put the Treasury under a lot of pressure, right?” Alan Wilson, who had returned to his soul, suddenly spoke up; he had just been soul-searching, and before he had a concrete idea, he kicked the ball over to the Treasury side.

“Oh Alan, that’s for sure.” Frank smiled, wondering what Alan Wilson meant.

“After all, it’s not easy to spit out the Treasury’s money.” As soon as Alan Wilson’s words left his mouth, his colleagues in Whitehall burst out laughing, and the heated discussion that had just taken place turned lighter.

“It’s all going to be taxpayers’ money.” Frank coughed softly, sticking close to his duties as a humble social publican.

“There is such a thing, but I’m sure the Treasury doesn’t see it that way.” Alan Wilson frowned, “We all know that the use of new technology costs money, lots and lots of money. Right now the situation is uncertain and we may face a new minister this year so it’s too early to talk about it, of course we’re not turning a blind eye to the innovations of new technology, it’s just that we also have to make more prudent considerations. Money has to be spent where it counts doesn’t it?”

Alan Wilson, who hadn’t thought of how to utilize the flying coffin for a while, figured out how to put things off until his thoughts were clear.

Think so there is no problem at all, although he himself is not the permanent undersecretary of the Ministry of Defense, but the British chief of staff of the three armed forces is Field Marshal Mountbatten, think about it can be discussed with his father-in-law.

After the meeting was adjourned, Alan Wilson greeted Frank and said that it was not his intention to find trouble with the Ministry of Finance. Frank recognized this explanation, as the real permanent undersecretary of the Treasury, was doubled by the Cabinet Secretary.

Without letting Frank misunderstand, Alan Wilson then considered parsing the value of the flying coffins, and indeed the entire second generation of fighters. What countermeasures could be taken to maximize the benefits to Britain.

It wasn’t easy, as various attitudes yielded different rewards, but it was almost impossible to gain them all.

For example, it is easy for the UK to refuse to fly coffins, but the UK will therefore develop its own second generation fighters, and second generation fighters as a whole are a failed generation, that is just going from one failure to another.

Looking across the ocean to the United States, Alan Wilson not only do not want to reduce the second generation of fighters as a result, but also hope that the more the better, 10,000 is too little just to fight, so that the renewal of the generation of time will be trouble.

Can we skip the second generation fighters? There has to be a good reason to do so, who will fill the vacated spot? The UK is second to none in the world in engines, so I guess it’s not much of a problem, but can it keep up in other areas?

“Squeeze the Air Force’s military spending with large transport and naval aircraft? Sell a break to the US?” Alan Wilson stroked his chin and meditated in the office of the Permanent Undersecretary of the Foreign Office, and it had to be said that he thought of the old ways of the struggle between the military services.

It was certainly harmful to a country, and it wasn’t the case that the US was falling behind in its ICBM program.

But it also has to be recognized that trying to squeeze funding for second-generation fighters isn’t a trick that can’t be used when there’s no choice.

Once Britain’s share of second-generation fighters is squeezed, the alternative condition is to buy American fighters. But this is a diplomatic endeavor, and Alan Wilson, as permanent undersecretary at the Foreign Office, has a hundred reasons why this deal can’t be negotiated.

And in the US perspective, the fact that the UK doesn’t have enough second-generation fighters is undoubtedly a big deal breaker. The U.S. can use this to blackmail Britain to make concessions on some issues of interest.

However, only Alan Wilson himself knows that this is not the United Kingdom’s crack, but the United States of America’s crack. If the U.S. uses this to blackmail Britain, the future is quite wonderful.

Think is very beautiful, but Alan Wilson is not sure can do, in his hard thinking. At this time in Canberra, the capital of Australia, the Prime Minister of Australia, Robert Gordon Menzies, was holding the military battle plan formulated by the Governor General, Field Marshal Slim, “Governor Slim’s military plan is indeed quite sensible.”

“As the ruling party, we have to think more long term before we can do so, today the island of New Guinea is administered by Australia, but what if one day we have to become independent and make an enemy of Australia? It is necessary to learn from Britain and leave a certain amount of weight in our hands to prevent this future from happening.”

Hearing the Prime Minister say this, the Ministers of the Menzies Government, who had already had the revolving door opened to them by Pamela Mountbatten, immediately expressed their agreement, “We have always admired London’s keenness on strategic issues, and the long term vision of thinking of danger in times of peace is something to be learned from.”

New Britain was separated from New Guinea to serve as a forward base for Britain to defend Australia. The passage of this resolution was a done deal.

An enthusiastic telegram, arriving in London from Canberra, Alan Wilson, who was holding his wife’s telegram, listened to the report of the Permanent Under Secretary, Wake, and nodded his head, “Have the East Malaysian Commissioner of the Malayan Colony, Ender, come back here, I want to talk to him about the appointment of a High Commissioner for the British Oceania Territory.”

“Would Sir Norman have a moment, please?” Alan Wilson copied the phone and said, “The issue of personnel arrangements in the Oceania Territory, would like to listen to Sir’s views, good, I’ll be right there.”