Chapter 1007: 755 Chapter: New Type of Radar
The second day, early in the morning, Arthur decided to visit the construction site of Lake Eyre Canal to personally inspect the progress of the government’s highly regarded project.
Since he was departing from Adelaide, Arthur took the opportunity to travel from south to north, viewing the entire stretch of the Lake Eyre Canal.
Heading north along the Flinders Ridges, he soon reached the innermost part of Spencer Gulf, exactly where the southern end of the Lake Eyre Canal construction began.
The canal wasn’t dug directly starting from Spencer Gulf but was set a few hundred meters away from it.
After all, if water from the river were to enter the canal before it was fully operational, it could severely impact the excavation and even result in major casualties.
Soon, Arthur saw the actual state of the canal. Due to the large number of workers employed, the construction of the canal was progressing rapidly.
...
With the equivalent of three sections of the canal being constructed simultaneously, it had been just over a year and a half, and more than 30 kilometers had been built, nearing one-third of the planned length of the canal.
This also meant that, if the construction continued to proceed smoothly, it could be completed within three years, by the middle of 1933.
In that case, it would be possible to finish the canal before the outbreak of World War II and let it demonstrate a certain level of effectiveness.
Whether it was to strengthen sea transport or to improve the geological environment of the Great Basin, it was a good thing for both Arthur and Australasia.
The last leg of the journey was to observe the canal between North Lake Eyre and South Lake Eyre, which had already been completed.
As this section of the canal was less than ten kilometers long, it had been finished early on, quietly awaiting the inflow of water from the Indian Ocean and Spencer Gulf.
If successful, the river water flowing into Lake Eyre could even reverse into some of the rivers in the Great Basin and reach west to irrigate the land that had become desertified.
The canal and Lake Eyre would also serve as a sturdy barrier, preventing land desertification and the spread of the desert to the west, ensuring that millions of square kilometers of land to the east could be fully developed and utilized.
Seeing that the construction of the Lake Eyre Canal was satisfactory, Arthur wasn’t too worried and decided to return to Saint Arthur Castle to continue overseeing domestic affairs.
To be honest, although the country could operate on its own, it still required Arthur to occasionally supervise and handle some of the more important matters.
If Arthur relaxed his attention on any aspect, the officers below would become even more lax and might even remove certain projects from the development plan.
This was also the reason why Arthur inspected various regions from time to time. Arthur’s personal visits could make the officers feel valued and spur them to diligently complete their tasks.
He had traveled by car on his way there, but Arthur had no intention of returning by car.
To be honest, traveling by car was a waste of time. Moreover, it wasn’t as comfortable as traveling by train; it was purely to experience the achievements of the highway construction.
This time, returning to Saint Arthur Castle, Arthur chose the most advanced mode of transportation at the moment, which was also the hotly discussed airplane.
When speaking of it, the sale of the three transport planes had been going on for quite some time. Judging by the current results, the three types of transport planes catered to different customers, but the sales performance of each was still quite good.
Because of the extensive flying, the safety of the planes had already become somewhat assured.
As long as procedures are followed and the planes are thoroughly inspected before and after takeoff, there wouldn’t be any problems during flight.
Arthur experienced the speed of modern airplanes for himself and had to admit, the speed was indeed quite fast.
The journey from the canal to Adelaide was about 200 kilometers. From Adelaide to Saint Arthur Castle, there was still nearly 600 kilometers to cover.
Totalling almost 800 kilometers, it would take nearly nine hours by train. However, by flying, even accounting for the time spent preparing for the flight, it only took three hours to reach Saint Arthur Castle.
As for the cars Arthur had used for travel, they would follow the rest of the convoy back to Saint Arthur Castle, expecting to arrive at the Royal Palace the next day.
Just as he returned to the Royal Palace, Arthur received an urgent report from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Of course, the situation reported by the Ministry of Agriculture was not about the domestic state of Australasia, but rather a disaster that had just struck Asia.
This catastrophe had affected tens of millions of people, with many starving to death.
The purpose of reporting to Arthur was to export a large quantity of grain to the affected areas, converting the long-accumulated stockpile of grain into resources and funds.
This was actually a normal occurrence. As mentioned before, grain is always a scarce resource, no matter the time.
Such natural disasters are impossible to predict; at most, efforts can be made to minimize casualties. The loss of property and various resources is immeasurable and truly irreparable.
In fact, before Australasia took action, many countries had already mobilized and transported large quantities of grain to Asia.
They increased their grain prices by three to four times and sold them to the major grain merchants in Asia. Then those merchants marked up the price of the grain they purchased by several times more and sold it to civilians who had become disaster victims.
To demonstrate his benevolence and because his conscience would not allow otherwise, Arthur decided to donate ten thousand tons of grain to Asia in his own name.
Regarding the sale of grain, Arthur could not possibly go against his own interests and those of the numerous agricultural workers in the country.
In the interest of Australasia, this was a choice Arthur had to make at the moment.
After disregarding this piece of bad news, Arthur began to inquire about the latest actions of his Island Nation.
Ever since the establishment of the Pacific Alliance, the activity of the Islanders had become increasingly swift. The Islanders deeply understood that they could not outlast the Pacific Alliance by mere attrition.
Especially after their ally, the United States, was divided, the Island Nation had become diplomatically isolated.
But this inevitably brought up the British’s shitty balance policy again. After Australasia lost its rival in the Pacific, the British had already considered supporting the Island Nation once more.
If the revolution in India hadn’t drawn the British people’s attention, it’s likely that the Island Nation and Britain would have already started a new collaboration.
Thinking of this, Arthur felt even more strongly that the British needed to be significantly weakened in World War II.
If Britain still retained its strength, then they would be a real shit-stirrer, and the world’s situation would still be far from peaceful.
Not to mention, it seems the American People might have inherited this trait from the British. After becoming the world superpower, the world situation remained chaotic, and everywhere the United States went turned into a mess.
One can’t blame Arthur for being too harsh on Britain; their balance policy was indeed quite annoying.
No matter what Australasia thought, as long as the country grew stronger, the British would have to find a competitor for it.
A significant reason for the outbreak of World War II was the British balance policy, which intended to give Germany the strength to oppose France.
Unexpectedly, at the time, Germany wasn’t thinking about opposing France at all, but rather aimed to obliterate British and French forces through war, establishing German hegemony over Europe.
Not long after the bad news had passed, Arthur received some good news. This news came from Tesla’s radar laboratory.
After years of research and improvement, on June 1st, 1930, Tesla finally produced the second generation of Australasia’s radar, codenamed R2 Radar.
Previously, the first generation of radar had already emerged and, following testing, received a warm welcome from the navy.
The issue, however, was that the radar technology back then was still quite rudimentary, only capable of detecting within a range of about 24 kilometers.
24 kilometers was a short distance for both airplanes and warships, and the benefits to warfare were not as great as imagined.
It was after that time when Arthur proposed the development of anti-air, anti-ground, and anti-ship radars, commanding Tesla to conduct detailed research on these three types of radar.
The R2 Radar developed since then was precisely designed with these three systems, that could be freely equipped on airplanes, warships, and long-range ground-based radars.
Merely glancing at the data report submitted by Tesla, Arthur became eager to see the true face of this latest generation of radar.
Because in terms of radar detection range, compared to the first generation radar’s 24 kilometers, the second generation radar had nearly doubled its capacity, now able to reach 45 kilometers.
Don’t underestimate the detection range of 45 kilometers. For warships, this distance would require over an hour’s voyage, or even two hours for slower ones.
This one to two hours is more than enough for the navy to respond, prepare the appropriate combat formation, and quietly wait for the enemy’s military arrival.
For airplanes, 45 kilometers is not such a distant range. But even so, 45 kilometers still requires flying for over ten minutes, during which time the planes of Australasia can be readily prepared and take off without any issue.
This is under unprepared conditions. If the air forces of two countries unexpectedly encounter each other, the 45 kilometers detection range provided by the radar becomes extremely important.
Knowing the enemy’s position and numbers while the enemy radar has yet to detect you allows for preparations to be made in advance; it’s like having a full-map wallhack, practically guaranteeing victory.
Of course, the three types of radars differ in size, and thus the detection distances also vary.
The farthest detection capability is actually that of the ground-based radars, able to detect up to about 56 kilometers.
45 kilometers represents the normal level for naval radars fitted on warships, a range that far exceeds the attack capability of battleships, and the upgrade is undoubtedly immense.
The radars installed on airplanes, due to the requirement for a smaller scale, naturally have their detection distance significantly reduced.
As per Tesla’s report, the detection range of radars carried by airplanes is only about 30 kilometers, and at most will not exceed 32 kilometers.
Nonetheless, a detection range of 30 to 32 kilometers for airplanes is completely sufficient.
Arthur wasn’t certain whether the enemy would possess radar technology, but at best, their radar technology could only be on the same level as that of Australasia.
After all, the technology was developed through the investment of significant funds and resources; Arthur had great trust in the abilities of many experts, including Tesla.
Foll𝑜w current novels on fɾēewebnσveℓ.com.
Of course, the annual research funds provided by the royal family also gave Arthur full confidence in technologies like the radar.