The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

The regional integration conference was held in Sanya, Qiongdao.

If we talk about important conferences in the world, the Regional Integration Conference is one of them, firmly ranking among the top ten.

The regional integration conference affects not only ASEAN and China, but its influence is global.

Similar to the EU, within the regional integration area, member states have abolished tariffs and quantitative restrictions on commodity trade between each other, achieving the free flow of goods in the internal market. At the same time, a unified tariff is levied on imported goods from non-member countries.

The Chinese Customs is responsible for collecting tariffs uniformly, and the tariffs collected are distributed uniformly according to the proportions agreed upon by various countries.

Under such circumstances, the entire ASEAN + China regional integration will be the world's largest economy, larger than the economies of the North American Free Trade Area and the European Union.

Not to mention, the ASEAN coalition forces have a size of over one million, and the strength of the navy, army, and air force cannot be underestimated.

The 10 member states held a regional integration meeting in Sanya, Qiongdao Island. Politicians, businessmen, scholars, media professionals and others from each member country gathered in Sanya.

At the same time, it also attracted many media, scholars and multinational companies from other places to come to Sanya to participate in this important international conference.

Although the EU was the best in regional integration in the past, it is no longer the EU but China that is doing the best in regional integration now.

Although the EU has also moved relatively fast under the leadership of the Franco-German alliance, the European coalition formed by the rapid reaction forces mainly composed of France and Germany has in fact replaced some of NATO's functions. However, the United States is unwilling to give up NATO and is unwilling to hand over NATO's dominance. The game between the two sides is still going on, and France and Germany have not been able to gain the upper hand.

Coupled with the chain reaction caused by Crimea, a huge rift has already existed between Europe and Russia.

It's just that both sides are trying to repair the rift and make it less obvious as possible.

But the cracks always exist.

There is a general concern among European countries now. The Crimea incident has awakened their deep-seated fear and vigilance towards Russia. The Tsarist Russia was once called the European gendarme and the European steamroller.

In addition, there is the shadow that the Soviet Union cast on Europe.

Even today, the Soviet Union's massive military exercises in 1981 shocked the whole world, and Europe, which is so close, felt it the most deeply.

The Soviet Union's powerful military strength and the oppressive feeling brought to Europe by the 500,000 steel torrents were the most powerful, and made all European countries tremble.

Even now, that military exercise is still unprecedented in scale, and no other military exercise can surpass it.

The European coalition force, mainly composed of France and Germany, now has a size of over one million people and will be officially completed in a few years.

But even the most optimistic military experts in Europe did not believe that the European coalition forces could withstand the powerful Soviet army of that time.

European countries are generally worried about the Crimea issue. If Russia takes over the East European plain, it is likely to return to its peak.

It is amid this concern that NATO has been able to survive.

The ASEAN coalition forces are different. The biggest threat they face comes from Australia in Oceania.

Australia's military strength is still far inferior to that of the ASEAN forces.

The ASEAN South Indian Ocean naval fleet alone is suppressing the Australian Navy. The two sides are also separated by a strait at their closest point, so large-scale land combat is almost unrealistic.

Under such circumstances, regional integration is the most successful.

After the realization of regional economic integration, the advancement of political integration, military integration, etc. has been relatively smooth.

Even if some people disagree, they are powerless in the face of the historical trend.

After all, most people benefit from regional integration.

Only a small number of interests were harmed.

The world's largest economy represents a huge market, which is large enough to benefit most people.

Look at those multinational companies, each of them wants to enter this market as much as possible and occupy more market share.

Just look at the current world rich list and you can see it.

Liu Tao did not attend the regional integration meeting, but instead came to a military base of the ASEAN South Pacific Fleet.

This is a deep-water naval port that can accommodate warships of about 5 tons.

This naval port is only 500 kilometers away from Australia.

This distance is even within the strike range of the Australian Air Force.

If Australia is equipped with short-range surface-to-surface missiles, it will even be within the range of short-range ballistic missiles.

However, so far, Australia is not equipped with short-range surface-to-surface missiles.

Prior to this, Australia planned to purchase Lockheed Martin's "precision strike missile" from the United States. The missile has a range of 500 kilometers and can be launched by the M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS rocket launcher). However, the United States was worried that Australia would deploy it to the north, causing the situation to escalate, so it has not approved it.

Australia did not give up and independently developed a short-range surface-to-surface missile (SRBM). However, even the most optimistic military experts believe that it would be good if the missile could be equipped by 2025. If it is slow, it would be normal to be equipped by 2030.

Australia wants to purchase Tomahawk cruise missiles (Block V), which have a range of about 1600 kilometers and are used to equip the navy. If equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles, it can strike Coconut City, the most important city in Lan Fang.

The Americans wanted to take this opportunity to sell more of the long-serving "Sabre-class" frigates, "Knox" frigates, "Charles Adams" class destroyers, "Koontz" class frigates, and "Leahy" class cruisers.

It’s just that Australia is a little reluctant, and the two sides are still negotiating.

After all, the warships that the Americans want to sell to Australia, the youngest of which have been in service for more than 30 years, and some are even old ships that have been in service for half a century and are considered old guys.

These American warships are not only old guys, but also expensive. They are equivalent to newly built frigates and destroyers!
The main force of the Australian Navy now is the three 'Hobart-class destroyers' that have been in service in recent years!
Liu Tao came to this naval base and visited the military port.

As an important military port of the ASEAN Navy's South Pacific Fleet, the air defense force here is very powerful, thus ensuring air safety.

Because of electricity, there are no electromagnetic guns or laser cannons here!

It is equipped with the most advanced air defense missiles, mainly short-range air defense missiles and medium- and long-range air defense missiles. As for long-range air defense missiles, there are no such missiles.

The air defense force here is an air defense system composed of air defense missiles, anti-aircraft machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, drones, and air force.

Although it is not equipped with electromagnetic guns or laser cannons, it is equipped with large advanced radars. Even the F-35 fighter jets that Australia will be equipped with later will be unable to escape the detection of this radar.

Of course, apart from the surface forces, the most feared part of the ASEAN Navy is its submarine force.

The ASEAN naval ports are all excellent deep-water ports, equipped with Type 039 conventional submarines. This type of submarine is like a ghost in the sea, difficult to detect, and like an assassin hidden in the darkness, ready to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy at any time.

Australia's important cities, including Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, etc., are all within the attack range.

After all, the Type 039 conventional submarine uses a diesel-electric and fuel cell hybrid propulsion system, which is quiet and difficult to detect. It can launch both mines and missiles. The submarine-launched missiles it is equipped with include both submarine-launched air defense missiles and submarine-launched anti-ship missiles, and can also launch cruise missiles. Australia's major cities are all located in coastal areas.

In recent years, with the decrease in exports of iron ore, wool, aquatic products, wine, etc., and the large amount of military spending invested in defense, the Australian people clearly feel that life is not as good as before.

Thinking back to the past, life in Australia was so comfortable, and it was easy for us to live the life of a developed country.

Australia can live a good life just by selling resources.

But now, Australia's GDP seems to be increasing every year, but life is not so easy.

There are also many factions within Australia, and among them, the Japanese immigrants are the most special.

Japanese immigrants make up the largest number of immigrants in Australia. They have formed independent communities, have their own schools, own large farms and mines, control many television stations and newspapers, and have a strong influence in Australia.

Naturally, a contradiction arises here.

At this moment, the internal conflicts in Australia are becoming more acute, and the gap in interests among the various parties is huge and difficult to bridge.

Influenced by the United States, Australia's foreign attitude has become increasingly strong.

At this time, a meeting was being held.

This time, the meeting was aimed directly at Japanese immigrants.

Australia has always been wary of these Japanese immigrants.

"We will send a large army to suppress these Japanese immigrants with thundering force and send them back to Japan." An old white man said murderously.

He has been unhappy with Japanese immigrants for a long time.

"Thomas, according to our intelligence, these Japanese are equipped with a lot of heavy weapons and should not be underestimated!" The head of the intelligence department, 'Bremen', said in a deep voice.

"So what if they are equipped with a lot of heavy weapons? We are sending out regular troops! These Japanese will definitely be defeated in front of our troops!" Thomas showed disdain in his eyes.

Whether it is a guard team or a security guard, how can they be compared with the army.

"Americans will not want to see our actions. They have always wanted to form a military alliance and an alliance system." Jefferson, head of the foreign affairs department, shook his head.

"The Americans are unwilling, but after we take action, they will definitely support us. We are the firm allies of the United States," said Thomas.

"No need to say more, just follow the military's plan!"

The news leaked just after the meeting.

After Fujita got the information, he took action immediately.

Guards' vacations were cancelled, fortifications were inspected, and weapons were moved out of storage.

Australia is wary of Japanese immigrants, and Japanese immigrants are also wary of the Australian government.

If the Americans had not always stood on Australia's side and even sent troops to help Australia, the Japanese immigration plan would have been successful.

The number of Japanese immigrants in Australia, including expatriates, has exceeded 10 million.

If necessary, a million armed forces can be organized.

The command centers of Japanese communities were activated one by one.

At the same time, the Australian government's plan was reported by the media, causing an uproar.

Various factions and media have been criticizing the Australian government's plan, and there has been an uproar internationally.

You know, this is the first time in so many years that a country has used violent institutions to wield the butcher knife against its citizens since the political chaos in Southeast Asia caused by the Southeast Asian financial crisis.

Those Japanese immigrants all have Australian nationality and are legal citizens of Australia.

But this time, the Australian government took a very tough stance and deployed its army, navy and air force in an attempt to break down the defenses of these Japanese communities.

Somewhere, a mechanized infantry battalion was rushing towards a Japanese community along the road.

Just then, a drone appeared in the air.

These drones launched an attack on this mechanized infantry battalion.

The current organization of the Australian military is similar to that of the US military.

一个机械化步兵营囊括了三个机械化步兵连，每个连装备有14辆M2‘布雷德利’步兵战车、M113/M577指挥车、悍马/轻型战术车，战斗支援单位包括装备120mm迫击炮的迫击炮排、装备‘标枪’导弹或‘陶’式导弹车的反装甲排、配属装甲推土机/扫雷装备的工兵排，一个机械化步兵营总兵力大概800~1000人。

This mechanized infantry battalion has a total of 900 people and is fully armed.

The Japanese escort force does not have fighter jets, bombers, etc., but it can obtain drones through private channels.

Reconnaissance and strike integrated drones and suicide drones launched attacks on this force.

The M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle can defend against 14.5mm bullets and 155mm artillery shell fragments, but it cannot defend against missiles, even small missiles.

"Boom~~"

A small missile dropped from the drone's weapon rack and flew toward an M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle below.

This is a laser semi-active guided air-to-ground missile, an air-to-ground anti-tank missile, weighing only 45 kilograms. The warhead is equipped with 6.8 kilograms of high-energy mixed explosives, and the maximum armor-piercing thickness is 1.4 meters.

The small missile hit the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, and the entire infantry fighting vehicle was directly destroyed.

One of these integrated reconnaissance and attack drones can carry four of these missiles.

Other suicide drones launched suicide attacks on Hummer tactical vehicles and other vehicles.

Meanwhile, the escort team, a mechanized battalion equipped with Type 89 infantry fighting vehicles and Type 10 main battle tanks, was already waiting.

Some of these infantry fighting vehicles and main battle tanks were shipped from Japan, and some were produced here in Australia.

The Australian Army's mechanized infantry battalion was attacked by drones, suffering heavy losses and its formation was disrupted. When it faced an attack from the mechanized battalion of the escort team, it was defeated easily.

In fact, whether it is the Afghanistan War or the Iraq War, the combat effectiveness of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces is much greater than that of the Australian Army, and the combat effectiveness of the two sides is not a little bit different.

With equal forces, the Australian Army is no match for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. (End of this chapter)