African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 654 Military Vehicle Research Institute

Having said that, the Mount Whale Highway is not just a simple road, it is also equipped with a telegraph line for the postal department, which also ended the history of no telegraph in Southwest Africa.

 Mainly on the coast of Southwest Africa such as Walvis Bay, communication has 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 disturbances along the coast of Southwest Africa in the future can be alerted to the central government earlier and then responded.

Southwest Africa is of little value now, but if someone makes a dangerous move, it is not impossible to land on the coast and launch a sneak attack into the hinterland of East Africa.

 …

Recently, Ernst had finally finished the work he had saved for more than half a year. With a rare 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, it has always maintained first-class standards in weapons and equipment.

The weapons and equipment experimental site of the Guards Division was built on the Kidunda Mountain on the left bank of the Little Rhine River. The Kidunda Mountain is actually a terrain of plains and hills, and its name was inherited from the indigenous people.

It is more than 80 kilometers away from the first town in a straight line. It mainly relies on the Little Rhine water transport to connect with the first town, so the transportation is quite convenient.

After the reconstruction of the Little Rhine, most of the river channels are suitable for navigation. Of course, the waterfall area in the upper reaches cannot be passed directly, but canals were specially built in East Africa. This was also an important reason why the central canal was divided into three sections at that time, so it can be bypassed. .

 Otherwise, relying only on the Little Rhine, there is no way to reach the upper reaches through its original river channel. Of course, the weapons and equipment experimental 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 took a Guards Division warship and arrived here two hours later. When he landed at the pier, he could see a road extending towards a construction area.

There is a sign on the side of the road: "Military Zone, No Passage." This is of course for ordinary people to see to prevent them from entering by mistake, but no one at the Kidunda Mountain Weapons and Equipment Testing Site will deliberately come here.

Although there will be ships passing by on the Little Rhine, the destination of these ships is the first town downstream or Bagamoyo, and they are mainly used to transport food and will not stop at the Kidunda Mountain weapons and equipment testing site.

"The total area of ​​our Kidundashan Weapons and Equipment Testing Ground is 61 square kilometers. The building in front of us and behind it are the newly built 'Military Vehicle Research Institute' in the southeast of the testing ground, which is specially used for Study the application of internal combustion engine vehicles to the military." Marvin Hughes, the director of the proving ground, introduced to Ernst.

 After landing from the pier of Kidunda Mountain, the first building we saw was a row of small bungalows, the so-called Military Vehicle Research Institute. It looked very simple, and the most important thing was that we didn't even see a single vehicle.

So Ernst asked: "Why don't you see a single vehicle in this military vehicle research institute? What are you doing without vehicles?"

Laird, Staff Officer of the Guards Division: "Your Highness, the Military Vehicle Research Institute is currently in its infancy, and there are no formal samples and products yet. Vehicle manufacturing companies have more research on this than us, so our Guards Division, and Hechingen Energy Power Company has related cooperation projects, and for some of the tests, considering the need for military confidentiality, we can only conduct separate tests."

 “What about your test subjects?”

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, we have two prototype cars, both purchased from the Dar es Salaam automobile factory of Hechingen Energy Power Company. However, the car is a brand new thing. The principles and mechanics are unknown. Our people, except for the two technicians, don’t know much about its role, so these two cars are now being dismantled and studied by us in the warehouse." Marvinsius introduced. Laird also explained on the side: "The current military research institutes cannot be compared with the automobile companies that have been working hard for ten years. Hechingen Energy Power Company is a world leader in engine research alone, and the military Fang Lian doesn’t even have the relevant R&D personnel, so it’s inevitable to rely on companies in the early stage. Of course, our Guards Division also pays special attention to the application prospects of automobiles in the military, so we want to make progress and make achievements.”

There are now three state-owned automobile factories in East Africa, namely in Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, and finally Harare.

 All rely on the technical support provided by Hechingen Energy Power Company. In March this year, the three state-owned automobile factories have just completed the construction of the factory area. The estimated production capacity is more than 30 vehicles a year. To put it bluntly, they are larger automobile workshops.

However, this is easy to understand. In the previous life, until the end of the 19th century, the United States, the most developed automobile industry, had an annual output of several thousand vehicles.

 The automobile industry around the world is new now, so the East African state-owned automobile factory's production capacity of 30 cars is already very large.

East Africa's automobile production is so limited, but it is already the world's second largest automobile industry distribution area after the German region. Of course, in addition to the three state-owned automobile factories, Hechingen Energy Power Company also has operations in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. There are also three factories built in Harare, so the structure of the East African automobile industry is currently half-public and half-private.

The automobile factory of Hechingen Energy Power Company mainly considers export issues, assembling and producing in East Africa, and then exporting it to other countries.

"We are currently cooperating with two car companies in Dar es Salaam. Last year, we purchased two test models from Hechingen Energy Power Company. The technicians were also hired from Hechingen Energy Power Company, and there are a total of There are two people, so now the Military Vehicle Research Institute plays a very limited role."

It is so difficult to even start a business, let alone the military vehicle research institute of the military. The current military vehicle research institute of the Guards Division can be said to be a "small office" established by Hechingen Energy Power Company, but the ownership is not in the near future. Health division.

“The Ministry of National Defense also has related projects, but they mainly cooperate with several state-owned automobile manufacturers, and the companies directly undertake relevant research.”

State-owned automobile factories are also government assets, so the Ministry of National Defense has no psychological burden when using them. Moreover, the military will definitely give priority to the cars produced by the state-owned automobile factories, because they are not entirely for profit, and more domestic orders can be obtained. That must be the military.

In recent years, apart from the exaggerated expansion of the navy, the East African army has not actually changed much, and the number of troops has even been streamlined. This has allowed East Africa to invest more in research and development funds for weapons and equipment.

Ernst probably also knows the composition of this military vehicle research institute. So far, it is still the same. But it is no wonder that cars have been around for such a short time. There are probably only a hundred or ten technicians who know a lot about cars, and most of them are Works for the European division of Hechingen Energy Power AG.

There are naturally imitators in other countries, but so far, only Hechingen Energy and Power Company has finished products for sale on the market.

Therefore, starting from scratch is quite difficult for the East African military, but it is much better than other countries. They may not even have seen samples.

Then Ernst didn't have much interest in this place, but he still encouraged him: "I hope you can make achievements soon. The automobile industry has a huge impact on the military. Just like the railway, taking the first step represents the future." A hundred steps away, and your task is to widen this gap."

  After all, his subordinates are motivated, so Ernst did not criticize it, and since it is experimental in nature, there is a possibility that the car companies will take advantage of it.

 (End of this chapter)