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Lee Haydn's visit was a special plane to the Sinai Peninsula, and then took a warship to the Far East.

His Royal special plane was riding 12 senior Imperial Army and Navy generals, including Marshal Holty, the Imperial Navy Minister. The SM28 "Royal Air Yacht" manufactured by the Imperial Standard Aircraft Manufacturing Company, which can carry 26 passengers, is well-known throughout the world. This civil aviation aircraft with a novel cylinder shape, a semi-hard shell fuselage and a retractable landing gear, was officially put into operation in 1932, but was sought after by civil aviation companies around the world. In just over a year, it received orders of 12 aircraft.

In order to advertise its aircraft manufacturing company, the Austro-Hungarian Emperor also ordered a special plane as a royal aircraft to replace the old Etrich j-12 passenger plane.

The SM28 is a medium-range twin-engine civil aviation passenger aircraft. After testing, the Austro-Hungarian military also ordered 120 as transport aircraft and tactical bombers.

The sm28 has a length of 23 meters, a wingspan of 29.6 meters, a maximum speed of 468 kilometers, and a range of 2300 kilometers. However, the maximum load capacity and range are indeed not satisfactory for a bomber.

Lee Hayden hopes that the military will equip a four-engine heavy bomber or transport aircraft with a larger load and a longer range. For this reason, the Austro-Hungarian military has issued a bidding mission to the four major domestic aircraft manufacturers. In this era, aircraft is still a product with a relatively simple structure and relatively easy to manufacture. The production and manufacturing process are not complicated, and it does not require too much money to set up an aircraft manufacturing company.

As long as the designer can design an aircraft with excellent performance, if it can win military orders, the aircraft manufacturing company will immediately develop rapidly. At most, there were 6 aircraft manufacturing companies in Austro-Hungary. However, with the increasing development of aircraft manufacturing technology, the requirements for manufacturing processes are getting higher and higher. After mergers and reorganizations, there are only four large aircraft manufacturers and six small aircraft manufacturing companies left in the entire empire.

The plane flew over the Mediterranean, and the Navy Aviation Corps sent four fighter planes to escort the emperor. Sitting in the relatively comfortable seat of the Royal Special Plane, looking around the passengers on the plane. A strange thought suddenly appeared in Lee Hayden's mind: What changes would happen to history if the plane crashed?

To be honest, he doesn't like to take planes. Unless necessary, he usually travels by train or warship, inspecting territories that are not small in the empire, including African colonies.

Marshal Holty, the Minister of the Navy, and Admiral Pachner, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, sat beside him. The emperor needed to exchange some opinions with the two naval masters on the construction of the navy during the journey. Due to the rapid development of the Imperial Navy during the European War, most of the senior generals during World War I were still alive. In terms of the army, some generals trusted by Lee Haydn have passed away one after another, and most of them have passed away.

"I think it is necessary to conduct several confrontational exercises with aircraft carrier formations and battleship formations to reverse your concept." Lee Haydn expressed his views to the two naval generals. Until now, there has been endless debate in the Imperial Navy about whether to focus on battleships or aircraft carriers in the future. It is time to end this debate.

"I think it's OK. The three "Istrian Grand Duke" class have been modified and are currently in service. With the "Pilotion" and "Atila", they can almost show corresponding combat effectiveness." Pachner said. He was deeply influenced by Lee Haydn and has gradually accepted the view of the "Aviation Sect". Marshal Holtie is still an absolute leader of the "Fleet Sect".

"No problem, we will complete the preparations for the exercise before His Majesty returns from the Far East!" Marshal Holtie seemed full of confidence.

"Okay, I hope I can see a wonderful confrontation after I come back." Lee Haydn said, "In addition, all surface ships need to be equipped with air defense weapons. This work has begun, right?"

"It is underway, and according to the plan, the four Austrian class ships will be remodeled at the end of the year, and the modification of the "Grand Duke of Frederi" class will be carried out after the modification of the "Austria" class is completed. It mainly remodels the power system and increases the number of anti-aircraft guns." Pachner said.

"I hope to replace the 10mm secondary gun on the main ship with a dual-equipped 120mm high-level dual-purpose gun. It can also be used as a long-range anti-aircraft gun." Li Haidn suggested.

"This requires a final decision based on the results of the confrontation with the aircraft carrier formation." Holtie frowned. He did not like the emperor's idea of ​​weakening the caliber of the gun caliber of the battleship.

"Okay. OK, Micklow, if you make a bet, I believe you will lose to me again." Lee Hayden laughed.

"Okay, I'll bet again, 100 crowns!" said the marshal helplessly.

"Why not put the bet bigger, Marshal?" said Lee Haydn.

"I need to support my family, your majesty, you know I have seven children," Holtie argued.

This made both Lee Haydn and Pachner laugh, which made Egon Leirshi, the commander of the Imperial Navy submarine force sitting behind them, sat upright and looked at them with wide eyes.

Lyrch was promoted to admiral last year. The submarine force commander has shown his excellence in the training and daily exercises of the submarine force. There is no doubt that under his leadership, the Imperial submarine force is still an important force that the entire world cannot ignore.

Under the leadership of General Lairch, although the Imperial Submarine Force currently has only 8 submarines, it is one of the most elite troops in the Imperial Navy. What is most remarkable is that the Imperial Navy's latest equipment, the 0110, has just completed a land-free global cruise exercise.

The newly developed ocean-type submarine with a surface displacement of 2,300 tons, has reached 36 days of self-sustaining capacity, with an astonishing 14,00 nautical miles, and has quite strong combat capabilities. It can be foreseen that if war breaks out in the future, Leirsch's troops will definitely cause considerable trouble to the enemy of the empire.

The plane landed in the port of Arish in the Imperial Province of Sinai. In 1920, the Austro-Hungarian Empire brazenly announced the incorporation of Sinai into the empire, which was fiercely opposed by the British. But it was useless. The Habsburg family still did their own thing. This is the relationship between the country, and the axiom is always within the range of the cannon.

In Arish, the emperor put forward his own suggestions on the development of the empire's naval in the next five years: the Imperial Navy should focus on the Indian Ocean waters to maintain the dominant position of the Mediterranean region and ensure the safety of maritime routes from the Red Sea to the South China Sea. This is the main task of the Imperial Navy. To this end, the Imperial Navy needs to increase the number of some highly mobile light cruisers and destroyers. In terms of large surface ships, the Empire will add six large surface ships in the next five years. However, whether to build aircraft carriers or battleships, the final decision needs to be made after the results of the naval confrontation exercises come out.

In addition, the Navy needs to accelerate the development and bidding of new fighter jets and dive bombers, and the Navy needs to use new fighter jets with faster and longer ranges to update the current large number of old biplane aircraft.

As for threats, there is no country that can threaten the German-Austrian alliance in Europe. Although the British have always been hostile, their development has fallen behind Germany after the European War. Even Austro-Hungary has surpassed this old empire in major industrial fields. At present, the entire Austro-Hungary steel production has reached 1 million tons, while Germany's steel production has reached 38 million tons. The industrial capacity of the German-Austrian alliance is almost equivalent to that of the country on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Of course, there are also some unsettling phenomena. Due to the impact of the economic crisis, the French People's Front, dominated by the Communist Party, came to power and is vigorously reorganizing its military facilities and re-forming the so-called "Eastern Alliance" with the Soviet Union. Although this move was strongly opposed by Germany and Austria, the French People's Front, which tends to be totalitarian, remains the same.

The political situation of the Ottoman Empire has been turbulent since the war and is now intensifying.

These are factors of regional instability. Of course, the most tense situation is the Far East. (To be continued)
Chapter completed!