Hotel by the lake (attn: Franken and Upper Swiecziema)

[Rheinbund]

Due to Eiffelland’s southerly location, September is still a summer month there. The temperature sometimes even reaches the 35 degrees celsius, and occasionally a summer thunderstorm emerges. Yesterday evening, there had been such a thunderstorm above Trier, but now the sky was blue again. The weather forecasts promised a beautiful day, less warm than yesterday, but still temperatures rising to 30 degrees celsius and staying above 20 degrees celsius during the night.
The river Rhine has done something strange in the area where Trier is situated. The Rhine’s main stream flows through Trier, along the west side of the city centre. But a side arm of the Rhine flows farther to the west, feeding some small lakes in Southwestern Trier, and also the Trierer See to the Southwest of Trier. Geodetists say that this was made possible by a fast‑flowing river flowing into the Rhine to the North of Trier. This is also the place where the side stream splits off the main stream. Both the river flowing into the Rhine and the Rhine’s side arm flowing west of Trier are called Havel. South of Trier, the Havel flows into the Rhine again.
The lakes in Southwestern Trier, but especially the Trierer See itself, are popular among the Trierers to go to on warm days. Many well‑to‑do Trierers have a weekend house near the Trierer See, the Royal Family itself has a weekend house there as well, there are camping places, holiday resorts, companies that let out boats, and hotels from cheap to extremely expensive.
Between mid October and mid April, the Government usually rents Schloss Köpenick for important meetings like the one between officials from the Ministries for Defence of Franken, the Mezhist Union and Eiffelland, and representants of the defence industries of these countries. But Schloss Köpenick is situated in a city quarter. OK a middle class city quarter in a city that is quite roamy and green for a city with 2.7 million inhabitants, but still a city quarter. During the summer months, it can be extremely hot there in an Eiffellandian summer. Therefore, during the summer months, a luxury hotel by the Trierer See is rented for conferences. That was also the case for this conference.
Minister for Defence Daniel Wolzow was about to receive representatives from Franken and the Mezhist Union, as well as representatives of the defence industries from Franken, the Mezhist Union and Eiffelland. The topic would be to find out possibilities for cooperation between the defence industries of these countries. Such a cooperation had already taken place in the past; the defence industries from Franken, the Mezhist Union and Eiffelland had developed tanks together. The result of that was the Panther medium tank and the Tiger (or Grizzly, as it was called in the Mezhist Union) heavy tank. After that, when more efficient armour methods became available, the Germanic tank producers had developed an universal tank, the Universalpanzer Löwe, while the Mezhist Union had upgraded its Panthers. But there would come a time when further adjustments to Löwe or Panther were needed. Furthermore, it was also interesting to see whether people could cooperate regarding other topics as well.
Everything was ready to receive the guests from Franken and the Mezhist Union. Minister Wolzow would receive them together with a representant from the plane manufacturer Dassau (Franz Markus), one from Magirus‑Deutz, the company that builds the tanks in Eiffelland (Armin Köppen), one from Rathenau Militärausrüstung (Werner Rathenau, the eldest son of the CEO of the Rathenau Gruppe and pater familias of the Rathenau family, as well as a personal friend of the Crown Prince), one from Carl Zeiss GmbH (Florian Hönemeyer) and one from Agfa (Roland König). Now they were waiting at the airport of Trier‑Tempelhof to receive their guests.

 

[Großlausitz]

Airport Trier-Tempelhof, Eiffelland

Since the developing situation in Danmark as well as Yuijn politically prevented the Minister of Defence from leaving the capital, he had selected his senior deputy minister to lead the delegation from Franken. Staatssekretär (State Secretary) Maximilian Goldberg was a dashing and tall man in his late forties, who was keen on using each and every opportunity to get ahead in politics. In the long run he wanted to secure either a prestigious cabinet post or become the chief of government of his home duchy of Rhönland. Other notable members of his entourage were the chief excutives of Vereinigte Fränkische Schiffswerften (VFS - shipbuilder), Dr. Erich Stollberg, the CEO of Thorberg Werften (shipbuilder), Xaver Mollberg, the CEO of KWM AG (an OEM for tanks, ships and airplanes as well ammunition producer), Valerian Pocher. Last but not least there were representative of five other OEMs, including FMW’s defence supply division, which produced parts of armor for land vehicles.

„Herr Wolzow, it’s a pleasure,“ Maximilian Goldberg jovially shook the Eiffellander’s minister’s hand, „Unfortunately my busy job has barred me from visiting your fine country. I’m quite delighted that I’ll be able to join pleasure with work duties. Indeed, it’s about time we re-visited our countries‘ various agreements on defence industry matters as well as defence and foreign affairs. The last time was in the mid-1940s, wasn’t it?“

 

[Rheinbund]

Airport Trier-Tempelhof, Trier, Eiffelland

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Herr Gold," Minister Wolzow said. "Indeed, it was the mid-1940s. Quite a lot has changed since then, so indeed we need to discuss some things out. I have made sure that we can do so in a good athmosphere."

Also the other people greeted each other heartily, or were introduced to the other people, like in the case of Werner Rathenau, who was quite new on the stage of international business. Up to now, he had always been presented as the son of Walther Rathenau, the current CEO of the Rathenau Gruppe. Leading Rathenau Militärausrüstung was part of Werner's learning path towards succeeding his father in about 20 years. But Werner was by far not the spoilt son of the boss. He thanked his current position to his ancestry, but he would not have become the director of Rathenau Militärausrüstung if his father would not have had the confidence in him that he could do it.

 

[Ashkelon]

Airport Trier-Tempelhof, Eiffelland

It was no surprise that Ofelja Kinserdal, Director of Economy, Trade, and Industry, would be at this conference. If any new technology was to be imported into the Mezhist Union, she would be the first to see if it was worth importing. And if any new designs were to be had, she would be responsible for screening them before recommending anything to the FDF. The cold and calculating woman placed in charge of the Union's, well, Economy, Trade, and Industry. Hieronim Stefanski, Director of Federal Defence, was also present, of course, to ensure the balance of the equation, the two sides of the Union's Military-Industrial Complex. Stefanski was actually quite personable, and provided a jovial foil to the ETID Director's serious ice.

With them were other such big named individuals in the MIC as Jankowski - guns of all shapes and sizes, Kolbe - tanks and ground vehicles in general, and none other than Longin Malekowicz, the Mezist Union's self-proclaimed "Jet Advocate", who at one point had been alleged to have once boldly declared that all propeller planes in the Union should be scrapped, smelted down, and recycled in order to produce more jets - obviously ignoring the fact that there were still some places where propellers proved useful. And of course, there was the matter that it would take some time for jets to replenish the lost propellers in the Mezhist Air Force Reserve, and the fact that over three fourths of the aircraft that had been shipped to Yujin were propeller-based. No, Malekowicz would not have said that. He certainly was an advocate of jets, but he was quite certain that propellers still had their role.

Kinserdal and Stefanski led their delegation from their plane to meet with their counterparts and extend pleasantries. "Pan Wolzow", Stefanski started his greetings - Kinserdal nodded, with a suppressed hint of smile - "Pan Gold, allow us to express our distinct pleasure of being able to meet with you. I do believe there is no better time than the present to discuss our current key affairs. The times are rapidly changing, and we must keep up with them lest we be swept away."

 

[Rheinbund]

"Welcome to Eiffelland, lady and gentlemen," Minister Wolzow replied. "You're completely right, Minister Stefanski. A lot is happening in the world, and not only from a technological perspective. Let's see what we can do to to keep up the pace." Then he introduced everybody to each other, as far as that was needed.

A quarter of an hour later, the motorcade taking the three delegations to the conference hotel left the airport and drove over the main roads of Trier into the direction of the Trierer See, while it was explained to the Franconians and the delegation from Upper Swiecziema why Trier had wide roads compared with cities of comparable age. In fact, the reason was an Eiffellandian King who reigned during the first half of the 18th century and wanted to have a capital with wide roads for his passion: Military parades.

Two hours later, all the delegations had seated themselves in the conference room of the hotel. Armin Köppen from Magirus Deutz took the floor after a short introduction by Minister Wolzow.

"Well, as you all know, the tanks of our respective armies are the result of a cooperation between the Germanic countries and the Mezhist Union. We developed the Panther and the tank known to the Germanics as the Tiger and known to the Swiecziemans as the Grizzly together during the 1940s. That development was based on the tank tactics of those days, in which medium and heavy tanks were used. Since then, many things have changed. On the long run, it will be too expensive to keep up a fleet of heavy tanks: They will become too expensive to produce and too expensive to use. Furthermore, heavy tanks cannot go everywhere: Some bridges simply cannot be used by heavy tanks because they would fall through them. Will the future be for the medium tank then? Maybe. What if we could make a tank with the size and weight of a medium tank but the firecraft of a heavy tank and an armouring that is as strong as that of a heavy tank? An universal tank, or Universalpanzer? The consortium of which Magirus Deutz Militärausrüstung is a part already thought about that when new metallurgic techniques and new armour designs became available. The result of that is the Löwe tank, fielded by the Germanic armed forces. We used this tank in the Solaris War, and the concept worked out tremendously. So now we have an universal tank. But we have to think of the future. The Löwe is an advanced tank at this moment, but won't be advanced in the future, because the Havenites, Carentanians, Kievans and Vangalans are developing their tanks further as well. Therefore, we have to think of a successor to the Löwe."

 

[Großlausitz]

Hotel by the Lake
State Secretary Maximilian paid full attention to Armin Köppen: „You are quite right, Mr Köppen. The maintenance and deployment costs of the main battle tanks have become hard to bear. What’s more, it’s quite expensive to move them from continent to continent via ship. Thus far the Royal Army brigades using the Löwe tank have reported a positive user experience to us, i.e. the Ministry of Defence. According to our Royal Navy logistics top brass the Löwe can be handled far cheaper and more quickly. Later on Mr Xaver Mollberg of KWM AG will outline some ideas on how the tank could be further improved from the OEM side. For now my companions and me are looking forward to further input from Eiffelland.“

Meanwhile, Valerian Pocher of Thorsberg Werften and Dr. Erich Stollberg of VFS Shipbuilders were quietly discussing their joint contributions, which were scheduled to be given at the end of the defence matters section of the conference.

 

[Rheinbund]

"Of course we are continuously improving the Löwe," Armin Köppen said. "But I am looking further into the future. I am thinking of a successor to the Löwe."

Then Minister Wolzow took the floor again. "We have to look at it from a more general perspective. Both the Germanics and the Swiecziemans have their ideas, discoveries, investigations and developments regarding weapons technology. And at this moment, both the Germanics and the Swiecziemans have to deal with the same threat: Agressive Communists and Socialists. I'm not talking about the Tyrrhenians: They just want to live a happy life in the system they chose and don't aim to impose their system upon others. We have them as our neighbours and don't have a reason to complain thus far. But Carentania and the Communist factions in Yujin are a different story. There is quite a chance that Yujin will be turned into a powerful and agressive Communist nation. And then both we here at this table and the nations labelling themselves as radical republicans will have a serious problem. More precise, all nations that are not Communist or Socialist. To handle that problem more efficiently, it could be good if we bundle our efforts in developing our defensive technologies."

 

[Ashkelon]

"From our continued joint testing testing of Armour-Piercing Composite Rigid Ammunition and HEAT warheads with our friends at Kolbe," Aron Jankowski stood up to give his opinion, "It is becoming clear to us that the evolution of armour-piercing ammunition is coming close to rendering heavy armour obsolete, this despite the ingenious development of sloped armour in the past twelve or so years. There is no question that Heavy Tanks are out, and we should focus on the future of the 'medium' class, or rather, the concept of the 'Universal' tank, as you call it, as demonstrated by your Löwe."

He had been discussing this with Kolbe for some time now, especially considering the substantial armour on Heavy Tanks such as the Grizli, then that was the final nail in the concept's coffin. "If we are to develop a successor to the Löwe design, it is the humble suggestion of we Swieczieman manufacturers that it should prioritise speed and mobility, and firepower, over armour. The armour should be able to stop 20mm ammunition on all sides, at most, and protect against chemical and biological weaponry. Since, as I have already said, anti-armour ammunition would just punch through it, regardless of the thickness - which is a great contributor to weight. This vehicle would have to rely on its speed to outmanoeuvre enemy anti-tank fire. I know this sounds like a very radical departure from traditional tank engineering, but it is, after all, only a consideration."

 

[Großlausitz]

Hotel by the Lake

Although ambitious and keen on showing his personal assets in public to further his career goals, State Secretary Maximilian Goldstein never shied at admitting an obvious mistake "Obviously I misunderstood you, Mr Köppen. Other than my esteemed companions, who have both worked in the business for a long time and enjoyed a thorough scientific or technical training, I'm but a mere layman when it comes to technical terms. What I meant with Weiterentwicklung was actually the further development of tank as a combat vehicle or, more concisely, putting a new kind of tank out there. And Mr Jankowski, I do like your very radical proposition." He cleared his throat and then addressed the relevant companies' representatives: "How long would it take to take such radical a concept from the drawing board to the test stage? And even more importantly, how much money would you require?"

Youthful over-eagerness was one of the State Secretary's weaknesses, as his fellow Franconian delegation members could observe.

 

[Rheinbund]

“Then I obviously misunderstood you, Mr. Goldstein. Sorry for that,” Köppen said, eager to prevent loss of face for the young State Secretary. “Mr. Jankowski, we came to the same conclusions about the future development of tanks as you did. No matter how thick the armour will be, there will be a warhead that can go through it. The characteristics of a future tank described by you may be a radical shift from traditional tank warfare, but it is the path to follow. So indeed a tank that is fast and mobile enough to outmanoeuvre anti‑tank units, but still has a large firepower, and can protect against chemical and biological attacks. And now I come back to your questions, Mr. Goldstein, I think we will be able to develop such a tank in about 7 years, when our three nations cooperate. And then we can also split the development costs.”

 

[Ashkelon]

"Then I think that it is now a matter of how we should go about cooperating on this." Mr. Jankowski turned to Director Kinserdal, and nodded, giving the floor, "Ma'am?"

"There are a few ways I think we can do this. Once we've shared the relevant technical information, then we can either hold a competition for the best prototype design, or we can divide the design of components between the three of us. Expanding on the latter, each state can then hold a competition for the best design of a specific component. Frankly, I'm more inclined to do the former. A complete tank prototype can eliminate the need for tedious compatibility checks when dealing with divided component manufacture. Of course I think there are other ways to do it. These are merely my top two suggestions. If you gentlemen have a more efficient way to go about it, by all means, please tell us."

 

[Rheinbund]

"There are two disadvantages in the competition model: We let several teams of engineers develop the same thing so that we don't use the potential of three work forces of engineers combined, and all teams of engineers except one will become the loosers, which might hamper the cooperation between our respective engineers," Wolzow said. "Then it would be better to divide the components to develop among our respective engineers. However, we should not do so bluntly. Our respective companies have already thought about a new tank design. Let's see how we can get the best of three worlds, because only then will we all benefit from our cooperation."

 

[Großlausitz]

"While your concerns on a competitive model have their merits, Mr Wolzow -", Valerian Pocher remarked, "we have to find a modus operandi which meets the expectations of both our political leaders as well as allows our businesses enough wiggle room to run our operations efficiently. Anyway, my engineers, who are used to ponder the less visible equipments of a vehicle such as drive or its ammunition, have come with a novel approach to the design of tanks' track rollers. They suggest to make them from aluminium in order to reduce the tank's weight and consequently save on fuel. One of those engineers is with our group, so it would be no problem to explain the matter more thoroughly."

 

[Rheinbund]

“That is a very good idea, Mr. Pocher,” Armin Köppen from Magirus Deutz said. “Aluminium is a light but strong metal. It is not for nothing that it is used for planes. Indeed, it would be good if your company would focus on the riding parts of the new tank, as well as on the grenades. Given our experience with modern armouring techniques, it would be good if we from Magirus Deutz would take care of the armouring. We could also develop the cannon. Mr. Jankovski, would you and Kolbe volunteer for the development of systems to keep biological and chemical atttacks out of the tank?”