The special nature of the Guards means that they have no shortage of military expenditures and can purchase and equip a large number of advanced weapons, wires, radios, airships, missile balloons and numerous large-caliber artillery.
And now, the Guards has begun to purchase and equip heavy machine guns.
After deciding to equip the heavy machine gun, the research department of the Royal Institute of Technology licensed the heavy machine gun patent to three major weapons companies. As for the subsequent production, it has nothing to do with the Royal Institute of Technology.
After the empire's three major weapons companies received authorization, they organized production and began to win orders from the military. Although the military was determined to equip heavy machine guns, it was unclear how much equipment they would have and how much time would be allocated to equip them. At the same time, the most critical thing was
It is not certain which weapons company they will purchase from.
Now the three major weapons companies want to grab more market share in this new weapon.
It is not easy to win orders. The heavy machine gun developed by the Royal Institute of Technology is only a prototype machine gun. If the military purchases it in the future, it will definitely put forward some detailed requirements of its own for use together.
Currently, the military needs not one type of heavy machine gun, but several types.
For example, when equipped with infantry units, as battalion-level support firepower, these heavy machine guns are required to be light in weight and easy to maneuver.
Secondly, it is equipped on cars or armored vehicles. This is specially prepared for the Army's experimental mechanized troops. It is required to be directly mounted on cars and armored vehicles, and it can also be disassembled and used when necessary.
Others are equipped on ships, which require larger caliber, longer effective range, and higher accuracy than those used on land.
The design departments affiliated to the three major weapons companies will design detailed models that better meet the needs of the military based on the technical information and patent authorization provided by the Royal Institute of Technology.
The first company to launch a specific model was the Northern Arms Company. They directly used the prototype machine gun from the Royal Institute of Technology, with four different gun mounts, including a wheeled gun mount, a triangular gun mount, and a wheeled gun mount with a shield, which was fixed on the
Fixed gun mounts on cars or ships. Although these four gun mounts are different, the machine guns used on them are all the same, and the gun mounts can be replaced by themselves.
And quickly gained recognition from the military.
The other three major arms companies were not to be outdone, and within a few days they launched almost identical designs.
The military doesn't bother to differentiate between these models produced by the three major weapons companies. Anyway, they are all fired according to the design specifications proposed by the military. They all have a caliber of eight millimeters and fire eight millimeter metal bullets. This bullet is actually the same as
The bullets used in the Union Type II rifle and the Lee Fu rifle are still universal.
Therefore, they are all unified and standardized as the Type 44 eight-millimeter machine gun.
As for who can get more of these ordinary machine gun orders in the end, it depends on the business capabilities of the three major weapons companies.
However, in addition to this, Jiangnan Weapon Company also developed a new model, not an eight millimeter, but a twelve millimeter caliber.
The barrel is longer, the caliber is larger, and it is also heavier, which makes the effective range of this machine gun longer and more powerful. They call this machine gun a heavy machine gun.
This kind of heavy machine gun was valued by the Navy. The Navy felt that this thing was more reliable than an eight-millimeter machine gun if equipped on a warship. It quickly placed an order and finalized the model as a 44-year-old 11-millimeter heavy machine gun.
In almost a short period of time, a new weapon like the machine gun went from the research and development testing stage to the small-scale service stage. With the current R&D and production capabilities of the three major weapons companies in the Tang Empire, large-scale production will not be possible even in a short period of time.
production, but there is no problem in producing a few hundred of them first for preliminary equipment testing.
Soon, the Guards, the Army, and the Navy each divided a small group to train technical personnel for each service and develop combat manuals for use.
The Navy was more straightforward. They directly temporarily installed the eight-millimeter and 12-millimeter versions of heavy machine guns on the cruiser Quang Ninh, which was preparing to go on missions overseas.
After the cruiser Guang Ning set sail from Wusong Military Port, it went all the way south, first arriving at the Hong Kong Naval Base to join a frigate, and then heading to Malacca.
After passing through the Strait of Malacca, it entered the Indian Ocean and finally arrived at the Ceylon military base.
This is the largest naval base of the Tang Empire overseas.
More than tens of thousands of army troops and a large number of naval warships are stationed here all year round, and nearly massive amounts of various combat materials are stored here.
Of course, even though this is a naval base, there are still a large number of ordinary people living here, including family members of soldiers, or people who provide various weapons to the military.
In addition, the Port of Colombo on the Island of Ceylon is also an important transit port on the Indian Ocean route. Most ships crossing the Indian Ocean will replenish coal, fresh water, food, etc. here.
Therefore, although the Island of Ceylon is a military base in the general view, in fact Colombo on the Island of Ceylon is still very prosperous, and this port is not much worse than Malacca.
The cruiser Quang Ninh is going to serve overseas this time to join the Indian Ocean Fleet.
After arriving in Colombo on the Island of Ceylon, the cruiser Quang Ninh stayed here for about five days. After briefly resting and replenishing supplies, they began their new mission.
Together with another frigate, it escorted four transport ships transporting some army personnel and a large amount of ammunition to Bomu Prefecture. After escorting the ships in place, the cruiser Guangning will stay in Bomu Prefecture for more than a month.
time, and then go to the Port of Basra in the Persian Gulf, and the task is also to escort the ship.
Escorting various ships has been the norm for the Tang Navy in the past ten years or so. It can even be said that this is the only thing they can do in normal times.
These cruisers of several thousand tons can hardly find any combat targets on weekdays, and they cannot easily enter various inland rivers and fight with indigenous people like those small-tonnage frigates or simply offshore patrol ships.
Therefore, the naval officers and soldiers serving on the navy's cruisers, armored cruisers and even battleships are actually quite bored on weekdays, and are in a situation where they have no battles to fight all year round.
The only way for them to have fun is to perform gunboat diplomacy missions.
But this kind of thing does not happen often. Many officers and soldiers of the navy have not fought in a war before they retire after serving for several years.
In order to maintain the combat effectiveness of these capital ships, the navy engages in so-called escorts when there is no war.
But in fact, Datang's merchant ships did not need the escort of warships at all!
The few sail warships that the indigenous people had could sink them in a collision, and they could not pose any actual threat to the steam and steel merchant ships of the Tang Dynasty.
However, the navy still escorts these merchant ships!
After all, you can't just stay in the port doing nothing all day long. You have to find a name and go out to sea for a stroll!
Escort is the most commonly used name in the navy.
The cruiser Quang Ninh successfully escorted several army transport ships to Bomu Prefecture, and then headed to the Port of Basra alone. After arriving at the port of Basra, the officers and soldiers of the cruiser Quang Ninh were preparing to go ashore for a few days of fun in accordance with past traditions.
However, the warship received a request from the local garrison. It was said that many unidentified indigenous troops had appeared on the western border of Basra. The local garrison was preparing to go to eliminate them and requested the Quang Ninh to send some sailors and marines for support.
Naturally, the Quang Ninh would not refuse and directly sent a marine group of about 60 people ashore. However, the weapons they carried made the garrison a little curious!