Chapter 296 |
“Mr. President, what exactly is Austria doing?” The Americans reacted quickly. After discovering unusual troop movements in Austria, Alfred Maximilian Grunzer, then Supreme Commander of the European Union forces, immediately called the Austrian presidential office and bluntly confronted Karl Renner.
“I don’t quite understand your meaning, General!” Karl Renner responded with a smile.
“Your troops have entered the territory of the Bear, and have even surrounded our forces. Don’t tell me you, as the president, don’t know about this!” Grunzer said sternly.
“General, I disagree with your statement. When did our troops enter the Bear’s territory... huh? Are you perhaps referring to Hungary and Czechoslovakia? General, if I recall correctly, these two countries have always been independent sovereign states, and have been Austria’s friendly neighbors since ancient times—not territory of the Bear. Moreover, our troops entered these countries at their invitation, to resist possible invaders!” Karl Renner replied calmly.
“Don’t give me those fake political terms here. We both know the truth of the matter. Don’t you realize that your actions could infuriate the Bear completely? You will drag the whole of Europe into hell!” Grunzer slammed the table and roared into the phone at Karl Renner.
“General, you are overreacting. We simply want to contribute to the freedom and prosperity of our allies. I believe that in this world, truth still exists. No matter how strong the Bear is, it cannot stop Europe’s yearning for freedom!” Karl Renner continued to speak full of diplomatic clichés.
“Alright, alright, very good. So Austria already thinks it can represent all of Europe in confronting the Bear, huh? I want to see how you plan to end this!” Grunzer laughed bitterly. He was supposed to retire next month, but this unexpected incident had ruined his mood, and one could imagine how furious he felt at this moment.
“You need not worry about that! I believe the Bear side will still be reasonable!” Karl Renner said with composure.
“Hmph, set that aside for now. What does it mean that your troops have surrounded our forces?” Grunzer was tired of arguing with Karl Renner and instead asked about the three US divisions surrounded by Austrian forces.
But on the other end of the line, Grunzer was about to faint from anger.
Yes, the roads are all open, but that means defenses are deployed along the roadsides and strategic points, and all supply stations have been removed, right?
Whenever the air force approaches Austrian airspace, a bunch of fighter jets come out to “escort” them, right?
And talking about military cooperation projects contributing to Europe’s peace—doesn’t that just mean the US took a lot of your tech and now you’re repaying the favor?
And when thinking about those suddenly appearing new fighters, which outperform the Phantom III in every way, Grunzer’s temper flared again.
Those damn Austrians have been hiding a trump card all along.
“What’s the name of your new fighter jet?” Trying to suppress his anger, Grunzer suddenly asked.
“Ah? You mean that? It’s called the F4 Phantom. It’s a brand-new cutting-edge fighter we just developed this year. Why? Is your military interested? We’re happy to share it with you, though the development and manufacturing costs are quite high…” Karl Renner lied with wide-open eyes.
Grunzer was even angrier after hearing that.
Does he think I don’t understand fighter jet development and production?
A fighter called the F4 Phantom is obviously a highly versatile heavy fighter jet. From development to full deployment—do you think that can be done in a year or two?
According to monitoring over the past few days, there have been over a hundred sorties of this so-called F4 Phantom around Austrian airspace.
For jet fighters, that’s already a huge number.
Even Austria’s previous Phantom III jets never reached that figure—well, if you count the exported Phantom IIIs, there were at least a thousand.
And that doesn’t even include the joint US-Austrian production—this is just what Austria produces and sells abroad.
Austria’s arms business has been huge these past few years.
But even so, for Austria to rapidly replace so many fighters with F4s is quite intriguing.
Probably right after the Phantom III was developed, the F4 must have already been secretly in production, right?
“If your country is willing to share, I’m sure we will offer sufficient compensation!” Although furious inside, Grunzer suppressed his temper and spoke quietly, thinking about his ultimate goal.
From the start, Grunzer’s real purpose was not about Austria’s invasion of Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
Although the US was angry about Austria’s unauthorized troop deployment, after analysis by the White House think tank, they actually chose to tacitly accept it.
At this time, the US did not want to start a full-scale war with the Bear, but they did not mind someone probing the Bear’s internal weaknesses.
At this stage, US-Bear rivalry was just beginning; both sides were very cautious.
After all, both had just taken the position of global superpower and had yet to find their precise roles.
So the US attitude toward Europe was not too aggressive.
And the US was not worried about the safety of their three divisions surrounded by Austrian forces.
Since they had already angered the Bear, the US did not think Austria dared to directly fight them; the intent was merely to monitor US troops and prevent them from interfering with Austria’s actions.
That was almost obvious.
So the real purpose of this call was about the newly introduced Phantom fighter jets.
Although the Phantom III performed well, for a large, sprawling military with many allies and a global strategy, it was far from meeting the whole army’s needs.
Therefore, they were always trying to develop a more comprehensive fighter, but due to time constraints, no suitable design had been completed.
Especially the two companies with the highest hopes—Josh’s Boeing and Howard Lockheed Martin—had basically ignored this.
Boeing, after being acquired by Josh, had been focusing on aerospace and automotive industries; of course, they hadn’t abandoned aircraft but were also producing large jetliners. Boeing’s orders were nearly overwhelming, leaving no time for new fighter projects—also partly due to Josh’s influence.
Lockheed Martin, although not making cars, because Howard wanted to compete with Josh, mostly aligned with Boeing. They spent much effort on aerospace, and aircraft development continued on large planes (like the C-130). Profitability was fine, and Howard had been obsessed with researching the Cosmic Cube, so little energy was left for new fighters.
Thus, the only companies left willing to accept military requests were McDonnell and a few others.
However, due to Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s aggressive expansions over the years, companies like McDonnell suffered huge business squeezes, many researchers were poached, and their R&D capacity greatly diminished. Developing a fighter surpassing the Phantom III in this era was truly difficult for them.
Moreover, in recent years, Josh’s Continental Group continuously released advanced technologies, especially developments related to intelligent robots, which directly raised the tech level of all industries by several tiers, causing many traditional companies to lag behind.
Take Austria’s newly replaced F4 Phantom. Outwardly, it looks very similar to the original Phantom from the prime timeline.
But in reality, its control, electrical, hydraulic, and fuel systems have all been completely redesigned, no longer the same as the original.
Its performance more closely resembles a mid-development canceled variant in the original timeline—the F-4X fighter.
This was a 1970s US-Israeli joint development fighter.
But this model, which was supposed to be based on the F-4, was halted by the US because of its long development time, high investment, and projected performance so superior it might jeopardize F-15 sales to Israel.
Now Austria’s modified F4 Phantom has reached the paper specifications of the F-4X, meaning this Austrian “magical modification” has brought its actual performance to rival or even surpass the fourth-generation F-15.
Yet even such a powerful fighter capable of crushing the world is, in Austria’s military view, only a bargaining chip for negotiations within the Western bloc.
As long as the West pays, Austria is willing to sell!
So when Grunzer expressed interest in the F4, Karl Renner’s heart was filled with joy.
“Of course, the United States has always been Austria’s close ally, and we have always attached great importance to the relationship between our two countries. As long as your side offers the right price, not to mention fighter jets—even the corresponding technology and production lines are completely open to you!” Karl Renner said very emphatically.
That’s right, we not only dare to sell fighter jets, but also production lines and technology—just as long as you Americans can afford the price!
After all, whether it’s the F-4 or the F-15, how can they compare to the F-22? Right?
Yes, at the same time that the Air Force was fully transitioning to the F-4, Austria’s military factories, under Josh’s instructions and assistance, had already begun establishing an F-22 production line.
Of course, due to the era, Yuri’s world, because of timeline issues, did not have the technology for the F-22 fighter.
Therefore, the source of Josh’s F-22 technology is Lawrence from the I Robot world. In his world, the F-22 had long since become a very outdated fighter. With Lawrence’s capabilities, obtaining the relevant technical reserves from the military was naturally not a big problem.
Moreover, with Josh’s help, Austria didn’t have to worry at all about the high cost of producing the F-22.
The high cost of fighter jets ultimately comes down to the supporting industrial productivity and manufacturing technology not keeping up.
But these problems were not issues at all for the Ouroboros organization, which had long since started building space warships.
For Ouroboros, producing an F-22 did not cost much more than making a large figurine.
And for Ouroboros, providing Austria with the F-22 fighter was never the first choice because both Yuri’s world and Lawrence’s world had fighters far more advanced than the F-22.
The reason for choosing the F-22 was simply because Josh wanted to see the pride of another world’s America become America’s nightmare in this world—pretty fun, isn’t it?
Thus, the F-22 that Josh’s past self had discarded for being surplus to combat requirements was about to appear decades early in this world.
Only now, the American side could not possibly realize the problems involved here.
So, hearing Karl Renner so decisively state that everything about the F-4 could be sold, Grunzer couldn’t help but feel like he was dreaming.
Could the White House’s assumptions be wrong? Did Austria actually have no intention of fully freeing itself from American control?
This was way too smooth.
As for how much it would cost to buy the F-4 technology and production lines, Grunzer didn’t think too much about that.
At this time, on Earth, was there anything that great America couldn’t afford?
That’s just how domineering it was.
After a few tentative exchanges to confirm Austria was genuinely willing to sell F-4 technology, Grunzer hung up the phone.
His mission was done.
The subsequent negotiations were no longer the task of him, the European Allied commander.
All that was left for him to do, besides reporting to the White House, was to withdraw the three divisions inside Austria back to the Federal Republic of Germany.
Oh, and just withdraw the fleet from the Adriatic Sea too. After all, the fleet stationed there originally was mainly just to support Austria and didn’t have many warships.
Might as well do a favor while at it.
Now, at last, he could retire in peace.
Grunzer on his side was relieved but Karl Renner on the other side couldn’t rest because the Bear (Soviet) ambassador to Austria also came knocking at this time.
Compared with the Americans, who had already taken an evasive stance in this struggle, the Bear were the main course Austria had to face in establishing the Kingdom!