Chapter 415: Chapter 222: Machine Gun Orders and Reserve Plan
The testing of the Maxim gun went quite smoothly. After completing all tests, it naturally came to the military’s discussions about purchase quantities.
It is currently certain that the Maxim gun wields exceptionally powerful firepower on the battlefield, which current rifles do not possess.
The firepower of artillery is, of course, very powerful, but such heavy firepower of artillery is more suited to dealing with enemy fortresses and strongholds, particularly in large-scale siege wars.
However, machine guns can play a significant role in both offensive and defensive battles, causing great harm to the enemy’s manpower, something artillery cannot achieve.
Therefore, for the Spanish Military, it’s only a question of how many machine guns to purchase, not whether to purchase them.
"Mr. Maxim, what is the cost of manufacturing one of these machine guns?" Before discussing specific order quantities with the military, Carlo first called in Maxim to inquire about the actual manufacturing cost of such a machine gun.
"Your Majesty, the machine gun you see here costs approximately 7,280 Pesseta, which is about 280 Pounds. However, since this is an experimental sample, the cost of individual manufacturing tends to be higher.
If we could engage in mass production, the cost of a machine gun should be reduced to around 200 Pounds, which is about 5,200 Pesseta," Maxim explained.
This gun, specifically made for experimentation, naturally comes with an expensive price. Due to the lack of a dedicated production line, all the parts of the machine gun were practically handcrafted by these firearms experts.
This also led to the high cost of 7,280 Pesseta for this machine gun, which doesn’t even include the bullets—just the manufacturing cost of the gun itself.
Upon hearing that the cost could be reduced to around 5,200 Pesseta with mass production, Carlo breathed a sigh of relief.
One must admit, the cost of machine guns is indeed much higher than that of rifles.
The standard rifle in Spain, the Vitali M1872 Rifle, costs only 60 Pesseta, with a selling price to the Spanish Military of just 75 Pesseta, which barely covers the effort involved.
It was only through exporting weapons to Russia and the Ottoman Empire in this arms trade that the Royal Military Factory made significant profits. The rifles sold to Russia had a unit price of 95 Pesseta, while those sold to the Ottoman Empire were priced at 102 Pesseta each.
The reason the rifles sold to the Ottoman Empire were more expensive than those sold to Russia was primarily because the Ottoman Empire had the support of the United Kingdom and wasn’t short of money when purchasing weapons and equipment.
Conversely, if the price offered to Russia was too high, the country would rely on its domestically produced weapons and abandon its orders from Spain.
Although Russia has strengthened its industrial and economic power through reforms, its economy remains relatively poor.
War demands substantial financial expenditures, making it essential for Russia to economize on weapon procurement.
According to the manufacturing cost of the Vitali M1872 Rifle, the cost of one Maxim gun approximates the cost of 83 Vitali M1872 rifles.
But while 83 rifles require 83 soldiers to operate, a single machine gun requires only 5 to 8 people to unleash its full firepower, substantially saving manpower for Spain.
In some defensive battles, Spain could even deploy only a dozen or so machine guns, having them fire in turns to create a web of firepower and easily accomplish defensive tasks.
This small number of machine guns would require just dozens to hundreds of soldiers. Relying solely on these few hundred infantrymen to complete defensive tasks would not only be extremely challenging, but it could also lead to mission failure.
Carlo turned his gaze to the top military leaders, waiting for the Defense Department to decide the number of machine guns to be purchased.
The machine guns are priced at 200 Pounds, and the selling price will certainly exceed 200 Pounds. Even though the Royal Military Factory is Carlo’s own enterprise, not a single penny can be missed in a collaboration with the Spanish Military.
Based on previous collaborations between the Royal Military Factory and the Spanish Military, with a production cost of 200 Pounds per machine gun, the selling price to the Spanish Military is approximately between 220 to 250 Pounds, depending on the negotiations between the military factory and the Ministry of Defense—it’s essentially an internal price and fairly inexpensive.
The selling price for other countries’ military forces would range from 270 to 300 Pounds, with prices for certain countries reaching as high as 300 to 350 Pounds, which is the main source of income for the military factory—earning from foreign nations is the core principle.
Only if the Royal Military Factory earns enough money can it allocate sufficient budgets for various kinds of research. This, in turn, allows the firearms experts at the military factory to receive ample dividends, giving them greater motivation to work for the military factory and Carlo.
The top military leaders from the Ministry of Defense appeared to be highly intrigued by the machine guns. Even when aware the machine gun’s cost amounted to several thousand Pesseta, it still failed to dampen their enthusiasm for purchasing them.
Finally, after prolonged negotiations, Maxim officially set the internal price of this machine gun at 5,980 Pesseta, which is about 230 Pounds.
For every machine gun sold by the Royal Military Factory, a net income of at least 780 Pesseta is generated. Out of that, 741 Pesseta goes to Carlo, while the remaining 39 Pesseta is distributed among all the firearms experts in the machine gun project team.
Although only 39 Pesseta is allotted per machine gun, Spain’s arms order includes at least hundreds of machine guns. And this is just a small amount; when machine guns become widely equipped across countries or in the event of a large-scale war, the number of machine guns exported by the military factory will soar, potentially reaching tens of thousands, which wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
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