The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 921 - 687: Heir to the Throne

Arthur was very interested in the automatic rifle developed by Browning, and even personally watched the real-life testing of the BLN-28 Rifle.@@@@

To facilitate later stages, this rifle was designed to use the same ammunition as the Lee-Enfield rifle, with a caliber of about 0.303 inches, which is 7.7mm caliber ammunition.

Using this type of ammunition allowed the Lee-Enfield Rifle to have decent lethality, and it could play an unexpected role in trench warfare.

The Lee-Enfield Rifle’s practical test limit rate was about 30 rounds per minute, which was nearly the limit for semi-automatic rifles at that time.

It’s important to note that the magazine of the Lee-Enfield could only carry ten rounds, meaning that one would have to empty three magazines per minute, which was quite challenging.

This was also why Arthur stated that the firepower of the Lee-Enfield Rifle was already sufficient, as no country could bear the consumption of more weapon ammunition.

Although a fully automatic rifle seemed more appealing, even the prototype BLN28 Automatic Rifle could achieve a firing rate of more than 60 rounds per minute.

But this also meant that ammunition consumption in war would double, which posed a severe test to logistics and the country’s finances.

While fully automatic rifles could effectively increase a troop’s firepower, much of this firepower was superfluous and did not have a significant impact on actual combat operations.

If real firepower was needed, it would be better to continue to improve the quantity and power of light machine guns and firearms, as this was the truly effective way to increase firepower.

Although Arthur had no intention of equipping his forces extensively with fully automatic rifles, the current BLN28 Automatic Rifle still had a significant role to play.

After World War I, Larasian artillery research focused mainly on calibers of 127mm and below, and although this led to continuous breakthroughs in small-caliber artillery, there was not much progress in medium and large-caliber artillery.

To change this situation, on Arthur’s command, the Royal Military Factory developed a new generation M1928-150mm Howitzer and the CA1928 105mm semi-automatic Artillery, enriching Australasia’s artillery system.

The first was the M1928-150mm Howitzer, the masterpiece of another armament Factory under Arthur’s control, named the Melbourne United Military Factory.

This Factory, on the surface, was controlled by several entities, but in reality, it was completely owned by the Royal Financial Group.

With the capital support from the Royal Financial Group, the Melbourne United Military Factory had developed into Australasia’s largest "private" military factory, specializing in the development and manufacturing of firearms and cannons.

The codename M1928 is easily understood — M stands for model, meaning the standard model. The codename of this cannon signifies that it is the standard 150mm Howitzer developed in 1928.

Through the news from the Melbourne United Military Factory, one could discern Arthur’s intention to support other military enterprises.

While the expansion of the Royal Military Factory was good news, Australasia couldn’t solely rely on a single large military enterprise.

Competition in weapon research was beneficial. Only through internal competition could enterprises maximize their passion and power and be more innovative in weapon development.

Moreover, from a strategic point of view, having multiple large military enterprises made it harder for infiltration, at least making enemy intelligence work much more difficult.

The 150mm cannon essentially met Arthur’s expectations. Although transportation conditions in World War II had improved compared to those in World War I, a 150mm cannon still presented a significant challenge regarding transportation.

Most of Australasia’s wars involved going to Europe or Other Regions; it was even less likely to have high expectations of Logistics.