Why would I join the army if I can’t drive a Gundam!

Chapter 296 They have money but don't build ships? Are they going to pay compensation?

"It has to be Gabro!"

As Markarius stepped off the transport plane, he felt the warm breeze blowing in his face and immediately took off the military overcoat he was wearing.

Just an hour ago, he was in a snow-covered cabin in the North American mountains, drinking iced cola and eating a warm hot pot with his family and friends. But now, time and space have shifted, and he has arrived at the Gabro base.

"But isn't President Goethe a bit outrageous? He'd rather send Midia all over the world to pick people up than hold an online video conference, even though the latter is obviously cheaper!"

Amuro, also dressed in casual clothes, tossed his coat to Makarius and then started cricketing Gopp.

"Don't pry into your superior's affairs, but did you remember what I told you on the way?"

Marcarius took the other man's coat and placed it in the jeep that had come to pick them up, then emphasized it to Amuro again.

"I've got it. Don't worry, I definitely won't mess it up!"

"Then I'm even more worried!"

Marcarius sighed. What could possibly bring him, Amuro, and countless Federation generals together in Gabro during the New Year holiday was certainly no small matter.

Of course, it's not actually that big, since only a few troops were mobilized. The busiest people were the cooks in the officers' mess at the Gabro base, since they were responsible for the food and drink of so many generals and their entourages. Especially now, during the Lunar New Year, the meal allowance was set according to holiday standards, so it couldn't be much lower.

However, the meal allowance is just a small matter, because what the Federation Army's high command will discuss next is a much bigger deal!

As we entered 0084, the first five-year phase of the Federation Army's post-war military reconstruction mission was successfully completed, and now it was time to begin the second five-year phase.

Compared to the first five-year phase goals, the investment in the second five-year goals was even more extravagant. On the one hand, this was because the Commander-in-Chief of the Federation Army, Reibir, had decided to retire in 0085. Therefore, as one of the main programs he promoted during his tenure, he naturally had to stand firm in his final post. On the other hand, it was also due to the economic situation of the Federation.

Despite the constant attacks launched by the remnants of the war in recent years, the Federation has not suffered any substantial losses or damage. In addition, the post-war reconstruction projects have been on track and have begun to generate their own revenue and support the Federation. Compared to the Federation in another timeline, which was overwhelmed by the devastation caused by the colonies that ravaged North America, the Federation is in a much better position.

Therefore, it was only natural to continue to upgrade the Federation Army's military equipment, and it did not even cause any opposition within the Federation Parliament. This was naturally thanks to the Zeon remnants' attack on the lunar city. Those members of parliament who had close ties with the Lunar Merchant Guild wished they could devour the remnants alive.

However, in the past, these councilors who colluded with the Lunar Chamber of Commerce were often the loudest voices of opposition, but after their own interests were harmed, they naturally changed their stance.

Against this backdrop, the Federation Army's spending was naturally extravagant. Its initial procurement projects covered all aspects of the various branches of the military, from field kitchen vehicles that had accompanied army officers and soldiers for many years to standard beam rifles for mobile suits, from uniform replacements for ordinary naval officers and soldiers to the replacement of warships for the Space Force.

The bulk of the expenses are naturally for mobile suits and space battleships.

The GM-C currently in service with the Federation Army's regular forces, as part of the post-war modernization project, is somewhat outdated. After all, the Federation's finances were limited at the time, and the GM-C program was the most cost-effective solution for upgrading and improving the GM with standardized specifications. Markarius strongly agreed with this plan, as he was a very pragmatic person who only used the money to equip the best equipment available.

But now, times have changed. The Federation is no longer the same Federation. Therefore, the machines used to replace the thousands or even tens of thousands of GM-C units across the entire army can no longer be made up for so easily!

As for the space fleet, although most of the Salamis and Magellans are still brand new, there are also quite a few old ships that were built before the war and survived the war, and they also need to be replaced by new ships.

And now is precisely the time when the Federation Army is undergoing a reform of its military doctrine, and the design requirements for replacing older warships naturally need to be changed.

The purpose of convening a meeting of senior generals is to conduct various discussions on the entire major phase of the project.

As for Amuro, he was there to report on behalf of Makarius. All the data and information from the Combat Technology Center's operations over the past six months had to be compiled, and the new training syllabus also needed to be reviewed. Since Makarius was going to have a meeting, these tasks naturally had to be left to Amuro!
This was a good experience for Amuro, since he couldn't stay a major forever. To get promoted, he would have to deal with all the departments of the Gabro Corporation. The intricacies of the situation were too numerous to explain in three days and three nights, and he would have to experience it for himself.

Meanwhile, Makarius had to carry his water cup, filled with hot milk tea, and sit with a group of old men on the leather sofas of a spacious conference room for days on end. Moreover, he couldn't even sneak off to doze off during these meetings!

Overall, such meetings were by no means a good experience for Makarius, especially the reports from various branches of the military, which were so long and tedious that they were more effective at putting him to sleep than medication.

"I'd rather go and fight a hundred Great Zams with bayonets!" This was what Makarius said to Gao Yun and several familiar officers during a break in the meeting, as he was sweeping around the samovar outside.

The latter leisurely savored the fruits and snacks on the plate, smiling broadly.

"Then I suggest you prepare yourself. There will be countless meetings like this in the next few decades. You'll get used to it!"

"Yeah, and on the bright side, at least we can maintain a normal work-rest schedule. If you were to fight a hundred big Zam, you'd probably collapse from exhaustion before you even finished them all off!"

These old men were quite friendly to Makarius and very willing to share their life experiences. They even secretly took turns sitting during meetings to chat with Makarius about military gossip that he was unfamiliar with, mainly about the embarrassing stories of old men from other branches of the military.

This is not surprising, after all, the competition between different military branches is coming soon!

However, this meeting wasn't just for idle chatter; it was just casual conversation between important matters. When it came to serious business, the old men were quite serious.

After nearly half a month, the high-level meeting finally finalized a plan. After being signed and confirmed by several senior members of the Federation Army, it could be submitted to the parliament. After the parliament's review, the plan could be announced!

As with the previously obtained proposals, the bulk of the Federation Forces' tender proposals are for warships and mobile suits. Regarding warships, the Federation Headquarters requires one light cruiser to replace the Salamis-class and one battleship to replace the Magellan-class. The ultimate goal is to complete the replacement and iteration of the entire fleet within twenty years.
The specific procurement quota is as high as six hundred, which is naturally an extremely exaggerated astronomical figure. However, considering that the plan will be carried out continuously for more than ten years, it is not so exaggerated after being averaged over each year.

As for the Alexander-class and Birmingham-class warships, since their designs combine the needs of mobile warfare and artillery warfare, there is no need for replacements. After all, the designs are quite new, and we only need to continue to purchase them in small batches. As for upgrades and improvements, we can consider them in a few years!
The new warship specifications are naturally aligned with the new era's Federal Army combat missions, requiring both the basic capabilities of artillery warfare and the needs of mobile warfare.

Over the years of conflict, even the most conservative and stubborn high command of the Federation forces had to admit that the single concept of large ships and heavy guns was no longer suitable for the development of the times. Even the naval battleships of the old Earth era had to carry some seaplanes, let alone the space battlefield scattered with grains of rice.

Only a handful of companies were qualified to compete in this tender, and ultimately, only Falkwellington and Anaheim were eligible to participate.

Faced with the Federation's tender requirements, Anaheim was indeed eager to demonstrate its technical prowess. However, the problem was that the Federation's tender requirements were for battleships and cruisers. Anaheim could draw on its experience with the new Pegasus-class ships like Albion for the latter, but designing battleships seemed to be beyond Anaheim's capabilities!
Therefore, Anaheim's design team took a different approach, using the Nelson-class and Trafalgar-class ships of the Union Army from the One Year War as models for their designs. After all, according to Anaheim's vision, the Union Army would certainly be reluctant to part with its huge stockpile of old ships. By using these old ships in their designs, they could make the most of them, which would also save the Union money to some extent.

As a long-established shipbuilder in the Commonwealth, Falkwellington had a more divergent mindset. Relying on its own superb design team, they developed several design schemes, some of which were completely redesigned, while others were improved versions. However, the template they improved was the Birmingham-class.

When Marcarius heard about the plan, he silently applauded Falkwellton, after all, he was well aware of the combat capabilities of this improved warship.

However, the proposal was never submitted and was immediately rejected by the Federation representative in Falkwellington. According to the plan, the Federation would need to procure about a hundred new battleships, which required a balance between cost and combat capability. While the Birmingham-class battleships were powerful, they were also expensive. Even if the entire Federation did nothing else for a whole year, from the Speaker of the House to babies, working in factories and tightening screws, they still wouldn't earn enough to build a hundred Birmingham-class battleships.

Moreover, the Birmingham-class is already powerful enough. Currently, there is nothing in the entire Earth sphere that can withstand its main guns. Are we going to build a hundred Birmingham-class ships to fight aliens?
Therefore, in the end, the Federation Forces only received two tender proposals: the Crap-class cruiser and the LaCellam-class battleship.

The two types of warships are roughly similar in appearance. The Krap is like a scaled-down version of the LaCellam. The former has eight mobile suits and a maximum capacity of ten mobile suits, while the latter has a maximum capacity of twenty mobile suits, which is twice that of the former. However, this is under extreme conditions, that is, the transport capacity when the mobile suits are disassembled (not considering external tethering). If it is kept in combat operation, the capacity of mobile suits is sixteen.

This number is slightly higher than in the other timeline. This is because the Federation was dissatisfied with the capacity of the Pegasus-class ships during the One Year War. After all, if the ships were not equipped with Gundams and only had conventional mobile suits, their combat power would be so-so. Therefore, on the last ship of the Pegasus-class, the Spartan, the Federation optimized the layout of the hangar.

After the layout of the maintenance platform was readjusted, the number of mobile suits carried by Federation warships was increased slightly. Moreover, considering that since the later stages of the One Year War, the Federation abandoned the three-person squad formation and switched to the four-person formation, the number of mobile suits carried was designed based on this standard.

The same applies to Albion; in fact, the designers at Anaheim ingeniously designed a segmented hangar, utilizing the elevation difference to accommodate additional fighter jets.

Of course, Falkwellington didn't do any of that. They just learned from Anaheim and designed both types of ships to be like the Pegasus-class, capable of entering the atmosphere.

This is what attracts the Federation Army the most. After all, what is the Federation Army building ships for? Isn't it to maintain its rule? So it's perfectly normal for warships to fly over everyone's heads from time to time!

Of course, simply designing the hull structure is not enough; it also needs to be paired with the Minovsky propulsion system. But that's the problem. The Anaheim design was quite good, and it even took into account the reuse of old ships. But precisely because of this, the older Salamis-class and Magellan-class ships, due to their hull structure design, could not fly in a gravity environment even with the system installed. Once they entered the atmosphere, the result would be the same as that of the Zeon's Gwakin during the One Year War, becoming broken wreckage.

"Falkwellington, choose Falkwellington!"

This is why most generals in the Federation Army prefer to use the Falkwellington-class Rakelam and Clap-class aircraft carriers. As for Anaheim, well, we can only apologize. After all, we've already seen enough of the Salamis and Magellan-class aircraft carriers in the past!

(End of this chapter)