Chapter 654 Military Vehicle Research Institute
Having said that, the Whale Highway is not just a road, it is also equipped with a telegraph line of the postal department, which also ended the history of no telegraph in Southwest Africa.
Mainly along the coast of southwest Africa, such as Walvis Bay, communications have always relied on ships of the Postal Department. Even the nearest port city of New Hamburg is 3,000 kilometers away, and there is a risk of being intercepted by the British Royal Navy in Cape Town.
Therefore, this land telegraph line is particularly important. After it is opened, any disturbance along the coast of southwest Africa will allow the central government to be alerted earlier and respond more quickly.
Southwest Africa has no value now, but if someone takes a risky move, it is not impossible to land on the coast and then launch a surprise attack on the hinterland of East Africa.
…
Recently, Ernst finally finished most of the work he had accumulated for half a year. Now that he had some free time, he went to the weapons and equipment testing site of the Guards Division to take a look.
The Guards Division is deployed throughout the Central Province. Due to the special nature of the garrison, its weapons and equipment have always maintained a first-class standard.
The weapons and equipment testing field of the Guards Division was built on Mount Kidunda on the left bank of the Little Rhine. Mount Kidunda is actually a plain and hilly terrain, and the name was inherited from the indigenous people.
The straight-line distance from here to the first town is more than 80 kilometers. It mainly relies on the water transportation of the Little Rhine to connect with the first town, so the transportation is quite convenient.
After the Little Rhine was renovated, most of the river channels became suitable for navigation. Of course, the waterfall area upstream could not be passed directly, but a canal was specially built in East Africa, which was also an important reason why the Central Canal was divided into three sections at that time, so it could be bypassed.
Otherwise, if you only rely on the Little Rhine, you can forget about reaching the upstream area through its original river channel. Of course, the weapons and equipment testing site of the Guards Division is not far from the First Town, so there is no need to take a detour through the canal.
Ernst arrived here two hours later on a Guards Division warship. When he got off the dock, he could see a road extending towards a construction area.
There is a sign on the side of the road: "Military area, no entry." This is of course for ordinary people to see to prevent accidental entry, but no one will deliberately come here to the Kidundashan Weapons and Equipment Test Site.
Although there are ships passing through the Little Rhine, their destination is the first town or Bagamoyo downstream, and they are mainly used to transport grain, and will not stop at the Kidunda Mountain Weapons and Equipment Test Site.
"Our Kitundashan weapons and equipment test site has a total area of 61 square kilometers. The building in front and the one behind are the newly built 'Military Vehicle Research Institute' in the southeast of the test site. It is specially used to study the application of internal combustion engine vehicles to the military." Marvin Xius, the person in charge of the test site, introduced to Ernst.
After getting off the dock at Mount Kidunda, the first building we saw was a row of small bungalows, the so-called Military Vehicle Research Institute. It looked very simple, and most importantly, there was not even a single car to be seen.
So Ernst asked: "Why don't we see any vehicles in this military vehicle research institute? What are you researching without vehicles?"
Laird, the staff officer of the Imperial Guard Division, said: "Your Highness, the Military Vehicle Research Institute is currently in its infancy and does not have any official samples or products. Car manufacturers are more knowledgeable about this than we are. Therefore, our Imperial Guard Division has a related cooperation project with the Hechingen Energy Power Company. However, for some tests, we can only conduct separate tests in consideration of military confidentiality."
"What about your test subjects?"
"Reporting to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, we have two prototype cars, both purchased from the Dar es Salaam automobile factory of the Hechingen Energy Power Company. However, the car is a brand new thing, and our people, except for two technicians, do not fully understand the principles and mechanical functions. Therefore, the two cars are now being disassembled and studied in the warehouse." Marvin Hughes introduced.
Laird also explained: "The current military research institutes cannot be compared with the automobile companies that have been working hard for ten years. The engine research of Hexingen Energy Power Company alone is at the world's leading level, while the military can't even gather relevant R&D personnel, so it is inevitable to rely on enterprises in the early stage. Of course, our Guards Division also attaches great importance to the application prospects of automobiles in the military, so we want to make progress and achieve results."
There are currently three state-owned automobile factories in East Africa, located in Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, and finally Harare.
All of this relies on the technical support provided by the Heixinggen Energy and Power Company. The three state-owned automobile factories just completed the construction of the factory in March this year. The expected production capacity is more than 30 vehicles a year. To put it bluntly, it is a larger automobile workshop.
But this is easy to understand. In the past, until the end of the 19th century, the United States, which had the most developed automobile industry, only produced a few thousand vehicles per year.
The automobile industry is new all over the world now, so the production capacity of 30 vehicles at the East African State Automobile Factory is already very large.
Although East Africa's automobile production is so limited, it is already the world's second largest automobile industry distribution area after Germany. Of course, in addition to the three state-owned automobile factories, the Hechingen Energy and Power Company has also built three factories in Mombasa, Dar es Salaam and Harare, so the current structure of the East African automobile industry is semi-public and semi-private.
The automobile factory of Hexingen Energy Power Company mainly considers export issues, assembling and producing in East Africa and then exporting to other countries.
"We are now cooperating with two car companies in Dar es Salaam. Last year, we purchased two test vehicles from Hexingen Energy and Power Company. The technicians were also hired from Hexingen Energy and Power Company, and there are only two of them in total. Therefore, the role of the Military Vehicle Research Institute is very limited now."
Even starting a business is so difficult, let alone the military's military vehicle research institute. Now the Military Vehicle Research Institute of the Guards Division can be said to be a "small office" established by the Hexingen Energy and Power Company, but the ownership lies with the Guards Division.
"The Ministry of National Defense also has related projects, but they mainly cooperate with several state-owned automobile factories, and the relevant research is directly undertaken by the enterprises."
State-owned automobile factories are also government assets, so the Ministry of National Defense has no psychological burden in using them. Moreover, the military will definitely be given priority when it comes to cars produced by state-owned automobile factories, because they are not entirely for profit-making purposes, and the military will definitely be the one that can take more orders domestically.
In recent years, except for the exaggerated expansion of the navy, the army has not changed much, and the number of personnel has even been reduced. This has enabled East Africa to invest more sufficient research and development funds in weapons and equipment.
Ernst probably knew the composition of this military vehicle research institute. So far, it is still just a showpiece. But this is not surprising. Cars have only appeared for such a short time, and there are probably only a hundred or so technicians who know more about cars. Most of them are still working in the European part of the Hechingen Energy and Power Company.
Naturally, there are imitators in other countries, but so far, only the Heixingen Energy Power Company has finished products for sale on the market.
Therefore, creating something from scratch is a very difficult step for the East African military, but it is already much better than other countries, as they may not even have seen a sample.
Ernst then lost interest in this place, but still encouraged them: "I hope you can achieve results soon. The automotive industry has a huge impact on the military, just like the railways. One step ahead means a hundred steps less in the future, and your task is to widen this gap."
After all, his subordinates are motivated, so Ernst did not criticize them. Moreover, the project is experimental in nature, and if it fails, the car companies will provide a guarantee.
(End of this chapter)
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