Chapter 763, Disarmament
After the work report of the alliance government represented by Ossena was finished, Gu Hang had another meeting.
The reporter was Taddius, the chief political commissar of the Alliance's military and political department, who was also responsible for military construction.
If we say that the political and economic aspects of the alliance have been developing and expanding at a rapid pace in the past two years, then for the alliance's military, the past two years have not been very comfortable.
During the Iron War and the Zerg War, the scale and intensity of the wars were so large that the entire system of the Alliance could not help but turn to serve the war.
The size of the army has expanded significantly. Not only are there troops sent to the front line, but there are also a large number of reserve troops who must be ready at all times and sent to the front base camp. In case an army group is defeated at the front line, a new army can be formed and sent to the position.
But now, there is definitely no need to go to such extremes.
The war was over and disarmament became the mainstream.
Of course, although it is said to be over, in reality, the war can never be truly settled in the 7,109 worlds controlled by the Alliance.
On a larger scale, the swarms of infected Zerg that have lost their central command are spread all over the Spider Web Universe. They are no longer a big threat, but they still have to be eradicated. It may take at least ten years to completely eradicate them.
The aftermath of war is always like this. Haven't you seen that the main battles of the Irontooth Orc War have been fought for many years? Now the northeastern four star regions of the Dragon Eagle Star Region, the areas formerly controlled by the Irontooth Orc Empire, have become the Alliance's granary. But in fact, it is hard to say that the orcs have been completely wiped out. On many planets, orc tribes still appear in large groups; in places that have been relatively cleaned up, one or two small orc tribes emerge from time to time.
It has been like this for more than ten or twenty years.
The difficulty of cleaning up the Zerg infested is much simpler than that of the Orcs, but after all, the scale of the disaster left behind is larger, and the time required for cleaning up is not much shorter.
It is true that these need to be dealt with by the army, but after all, such a large-scale decisive battle army is not needed.
During the war, at the peak of the Alliance, the Army had over 350 Army Groups, with seven billion Alliance Army men on the battlefield, fighting for the Alliance, or ready to fight for the Alliance at any time.
The alliance has to pay more than 100 billion yuan in maintenance costs every year.
The Alliance Army is very expensive now. According to the standards of the Astra Militarum, a group army of 20 million people would cost just over 1.2 billion, which is already at the equipment level of the Astra Militarum.
Many so-called star army soldiers don’t even have equipment worth so much money.
But the cost of building an army group of the Alliance has soared to three billion.
Various heavy-bolter machine guns, plasma anti-armor guns, and individual missiles distributed to the squad level...many of these things can only be seen at the company level or at least the platoon level in the Astra Militarum;
The coverage rate of exoskeleton armor can generally reach about 5-10%. At the regiment level, a special assault company can be formed. All members are equipped with exoskeletons and carry individual missiles and grenade launchers to charge. They are an important force in offensive battles or in regaining positions in defensive battles.
A special commando team equipped with feedback power armor can form an entire spearhead battalion at the division level, but in the ordinary star army, I am afraid that even an army group cannot gather so many sets.
As for the armored forces, artillery units, and aviation units, there is an even greater gap in the quantity and quality of firepower and vehicles.
Why was the Union Army able to fight?
Of course, it has something to do with Gu Hang. He has spent countless gift points over the years to train T5 and T4 elite soldiers, which, combined with the morale boost of the entire army by the military and political commissar, are the key to forming the powerful combat power of the Alliance Army.
However, spiritual will and technical and tactical levels cannot completely determine the combat effectiveness of the army.
Money is also important.
What is even more crucial is that on the basis of the extremely high quality of the soldiers, the investment in equipment funds is more than three times that of ordinary star army troops.
Since the alliance is adopting the strategy of elite troops, let's do it more decisively.
But the cost of maintaining such an elite force is also very high.
The maintenance cost of over 100 billion is only the amount needed to maintain the existence of the army and normal training in non-war periods.
If a war breaks out, the cost will be out of control. The shells that fall like rain, the fuel consumed on countless battlefields, and the total cost can fill the ocean. These costs are enormous. Not to mention that when a war breaks out, people will die, and there will be the cost of pensions, the cost of replenishing troops, the cost of replenishing vehicles and equipment...
The fact that the Empire spent over one hundred trillion to fight an Ironclad War is proof of this.
Now, the war is not going on, but we still have to bear the military expenditure of 100 billion, which is really unbearable.
Disarmament is inevitable.
There are some troops that do need to be cut.
The Ironclad War started a massive expansion of the army, and now 17 years have passed. That’s not just two generations, but even three generations of youth, who have spent their youth in war and in the military. Some old soldiers who are old and have not been promoted to officers or sergeants can retire.
Of course, they are all veterans who have been baptized by war, and some core forces must be retained.
Moreover, the laid-off soldiers and retired officers will not be wasted.
They will not really become farmers or workers - it's not that there are none, but in the end their majors are not suitable. After all, the retired soldiers have served in an elite force like the Alliance Army. When they arrive on the planet, the planetary defense force, police department, merchant ship escort, and even the professional bodyguards of security companies... all need them to use their abilities.
Maybe the treatment is better than staying in the army.
Speaking of which, the Alliance’s army strength is not just the Alliance Army.
The Alliance's military forces are roughly divided into four parts: the Alliance Army, the Alliance Navy, the Alliance Defense Force, and other special forces.
There are some similarities with the Empire's system. The Alliance Army is comparable to the Astra Militarum, the Navy is not to mention, and the Alliance Defense Force is comparable to the Planetary Defense Forces of various Imperial worlds.
The number of defense forces is not as small as that of the Alliance Army.
The Alliance has 12 trillion people and 7,000 worlds. It is impossible for the Alliance Army to defend them alone. The mobilization ratio is less than 0.6% of the total population. Each planet can only be allocated one million soldiers. What's the use of that?
Don't laugh at the Empire. The Alliance will also delegate military power to planetary governments and allow planetary governors to form their own defense forces. At the same time, the cost of the defense forces will also be borne by local governments.
Of course, there are similarities as well as many differences. The star district and star region governments of the Alliance are not allowed to form interstellar forces. The Alliance Army and Alliance Navy are fully responsible for all interstellar operations. When necessary, the star region government can mobilize the planetary defense force to conduct interstellar operations, and the planetary governor has no right to refuse.
The planetary governors of the Alliance do not have as much power as the planetary governors of the Empire. The planetary governors of the Empire are local tyrants who can do whatever they want after paying taxes. The Alliance's planetary governors are just bureaucrats who will be supervised and have performance indicators. If they do a good job, they will be promoted, and if they don't do a good job, they will be fired. The planetary defense forces can be transferred at the will of the superior military affairs unit.
At the same time, the difference between the military systems of the Alliance and the Empire is that the Alliance Army and the Defense Force are fully connected. A large proportion of the Alliance Army is recruited from the Defense Force, and they will return after retirement; the Alliance Army has full power to mobilize the Defense Force. Even the commander-in-chief of the Defense Force system falls into the Army.
Not to mention the army's disarmament and the transfer of personnel to local governments for resettlement, only a small portion of the remaining equipment was allocated to the defense force, and the bulk of the rest was paid as imperial taxes, directly relieving the burden.
It is true that easing financial pressure is the main reason, but there are indeed some old equipment models that can be eliminated at this opportunity.
Anyway, the imperial tax will not refuse any of these things - the empire is so big that there is plenty of space to absorb the equipment that the alliance doesn't want.
What is obsolete for the Allied Army may become something that others dream of if it is placed somewhere else.
Disarmament will continue in the next two years, and will eventually reduce the total military expenditure of the Allied Army to less than 80 billion per year (in a non-war state). The military equipment and supplies that can be used to offset the imperial taxes will exceed 100 billion.
There is no need to say much about the Alliance Defense Force. Although the Alliance Central Government has no regulations on each locality, at present, economic construction is the top priority of local governments. If the central government did not have certain requirements on the quantity and quality of local defense forces, they would rather maintain as few defense forces as possible - the expenses of the defense forces fall on the consumption of local governments, and the central government does not provide money.
The situation of the Alliance Navy was similar.
The Union Navy now has a total of more than 2,000 warships. All the armed merchant ships requisitioned during the war have been sent back.
Of these more than 2,000 warships, most are definitely small patrol ships and frigates. When it comes to destroyers and cruisers, the number is much smaller; and when it comes to battlecruisers, battleships, and aircraft carriers, there are only 21 ships in total.
But it is these 21 giant ships that actually account for nearly 70% of the navy's total expenditure.
A navy is more expensive than an army.
The Alliance spends more than 150 billion each year on maintaining its navy. This figure also refers to the cost of normal fleet cruises in non-war situations. If a war breaks out, the amount will rise to an unpredictable level, and the specific amount depends on the intensity of the war.
The navy also needs some cuts.
However, the reduction of the navy was much easier: just treat some unwanted ships as imperial taxes and be done with it.
Moreover, since the alliance's naval power was indeed underdeveloped in the past and there were not enough ships, during the war, all the ships available were pulled into the navy, which led to some problems in the structure of the naval fleet.
Take this opportunity to optimize it.
At the same time, some old ships and ships with lower technical levels should be sold.
For example, the Musician-class and Dragon Snake-class, the Alliance intends to eliminate them all from its own fleet.
Of course, the relevant production lines are still retained, which means a lot of money.
However, you just need to pay taxes on the new ships you build.
For example, the Moon-level and Holy Grail-level weapons made by the Alliance can be kept for their own use.
The size of the Alliance fleet would not decrease, and new ships would continue to be ordered. However, it was estimated that for every Holy Grail-class ship produced, a Serpent-class ship would be eliminated from their fleet and given to the Empire.
The Navy estimates that it will be able to eliminate warships worth more than 300 billion US dollars in the next two years.
However, military expenditure will probably not be reduced too much, and is estimated to remain around 150 billion. At the same time, military expenditure will also have to increase because of the need to order new ships.
It’s the same whether the navy has been laid off or not.
But there's nothing I can do.
The army is relatively easy to deal with. If needed, it can be called up at any time. The equipment is produced quickly and the inventory is large. If it really doesn't work, lower the standards a bit, there will always be some for use.
But there is really nothing we can do about the navy. Too many ships have been cut now, and when they are needed again, the shipbuilding cycle will take three to five years or even six to seven years. We cannot have core large ships immediately when we want them.
But in general, military expenditure is also the part that the alliance has to "suffer" first.
Wait a few years, until the alliance's financial situation improves, and then expand its scale.
However, there is one expenditure that has been increasing at a rate of several hundred billion per year under the guise of confidential projects.
Even though the alliance is under great financial pressure, this money has never been reduced.
The confidentiality level is high and almost no one knows what this project is, but Gu Hang certainly knows it.
That was actually an investment in the navy: the Queen of Glory-class battleships under secret construction.
When this thing is built, the value of one ship will be equal to that of an entire alliance fleet; its combat effectiveness will be exerted to an extremely exaggerated level under the protection of the alliance fleet.
This is a warship that even the central empire does not have control of.
The existing Queens of Glory are all in the hands of those ancient founding chapters of Space Marines.
Let’s not talk about how much trouble the Alliance will have if its ability to manufacture the Queen of Glory class is exposed. Whether the Alliance dares to use this ship publicly or not, they will have to own it first.
The difference between having and not having is the biggest.
…
Overall, the alliance's military buildup essentially came to a halt.
There is no choice but to make concessions for economic development.
But Thaddeus's recent work is not that simple either.
We can disarm, but we cannot cut our own aortas.
Rather than disarmament, Thaddeus prefers to call his work optimization.
Reduce costs and increase efficiency while keeping the overall military framework of the alliance unchanged.
The team structure can be optimized and costs can be reduced, but there must be room for improvement. The original framework can support the alliance to quickly rebuild the team when necessary, and even become bigger and stronger than before.
Gu Hang fully believes in his abilities.
At the same time, he was also very willing to believe in Ossena's abilities.
Just let it go and do your best.
He would check the news in the work reports of the government and the military.
At the same time, he also has the system's [Soldier Card] panel and the monthly income panel of gift points to check whether the reports given to him by his officials are misleading.
This is where he comes in handy: a data-based panel that faithfully reflects things that are difficult to measure using normal statistics.
There is a certain deviation between the two, which Gu Hang can accept.
Statistics is a very profound subject, and deviations are normal.
Just don't deviate too far.
In addition, Gu Hang did not sit idly by regarding the development of the alliance.
He now has a large amount of gift points on hand.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
