A Few Requests
Adeline Koval walked briskly through the doors of Union House, the president's official home and heart of the executive. The lobby was adorned with a chandelier, the flag of the Union, and wood furniture. While the lobby wasn't a prime spot for socializing, it was packed with representatives and staff of various departments making small talk while they waited for appointments. She was the first Secretary of Defense of the Voley Union, and it was a wonderous thing to be at the dawn of their new history, Adeline imagined that in years to come there would be pictures of Korovin hung up by his successor, but for now the walls were bare. She maneuvered through the crowd, arriving at the door that would grant her access to the rest of the House, and ultimately the president's office. She took the key she wore around her neck and opened the door, quickly stepping through so the guards could close it behind her.
The hallways of Union House were, like the lobby, lacking in decoration save for sparse pictures of important moments from the founding of the Union. There was one of Keretse declaring the union, the first meeting of the House of Voley, and little else. The din of the lobby faded as she made her way down the hallway, she was carrying a ring binder stuffed full of papers for the president. When she arrived at the president's office she could hear the Secretary of the Interior talking. She waited and a few minutes later he opened the door, they nodded to each other and she entered the office.
"Good evening Adeline." Keretse greeted her with a look that quickly soured when he saw the binder she was carrying. "Is that all for me?"
"You knew the report would be long when you asked for it so don't give me attitude." Adeline put the binder on his desk and opened it.
It was the defense report. An initial assessment of what would be needed to defend the Union, who and what they might need to defend it from, and how they could get what they needed. Local militias and gun clubs weren't going to cut it anymore, they needed a real military.
"Easy part or hard part first?" Adeline asked.
"Easy." Keretse replied.
"Alright, the good news is that anything we need that can be mounted on a truck, we can get from Learod. I've spoken to her and she showed me the current catalog of the 230 series. They've got a good selection of air defense options, everything we need to set up a battery save for missile based SHORAD, which they're still working on. They also have a ground and sea radar system and an anti ship missile system to go with it. If we want any other kind of missile that won't be a problem either, apparently the launch boxes are pretty easy to retrofit. So that's our air defense, land based anti ship, and missile artillery covered."
"Don't they have gun artillery?" Keretse asked.
"For the 210 series, but those are basically prototypes and not up to current production standards, expensive as well, so we'll have to ask them to develop an artillery option for the 230 which would be smaller, or we could ask them to bring the 220 up to the 230 standards and put a big gun on it, but I don't know if that would be worth it." Adeline flipped through pictures of the Learod catalogue as she explained their options. "So that's the situation for all truck related equipment, the last easy thing is an air superiority fighter. Krotz Aerospace has already developed a multirole fighter out of their own pocket, I guess they were going to try to keep the company afloat by exporting it, but now they're eager to build them for us."
"I see. I don't want to buy from the UIF and I don't know who else would have an offering, so I suppose I'll be asking the House to buy us some of those. And you said that was the easy part? What else is there?"
They talked for two hours. At the end of it they had a list of must have items.
Army:
Main battle tank.
Infantry fighting vehicle.
Armored SHORAD ideally on the same chassis as the IFV (likely using the same system as the in-development Learod design)
LRAD, MRAD, SHORAD, CIWS (Covered by Learod series platforms)
Mobile artillery, gun and/or missile. (Missile artillery covered by Learod)
Attack helicopter.
Utility helicopter with target designation and some attack capabilities.
All terrain utility vehicle capable of being retrofitted with a variety of weapon packages. (Ideally can be carried by utility helicopter underslung and airdropped from cargo aircraft.)
Air Force:
Multirole air superiority fighter. (Krotz option likely.)
Medium tactical fast attack aircraft capable of bombing, SEAD/DEAD, and deployment of air to ground missiles, including anti ship options. Should be able to outrun air superiority fighters with no armament and keep up with them when fully armed.
AWACS
In air refueling tanker.
Cheap one way attack drone.
Medium cargo aircraft capable of airdropping supplies and ideally carrying the all terrain utility vehicle.
Navy:
Three Corvette or Frigate size vessels capable of area air defense and light anti ship duties, with a hanger and flight deck to accommodate a helicopter.
Helicopter capable of detecting submarines and engaging in anti submarine warfare with torpedoes. Ideally a navalized version of the army utility helicopter.
"So, that's everything then?" Keretse looked over the list they had drafted, it didn't have exact numbers save for the warships, but it would do until they had actual options to choose from.
"Yes it is. I'll get working on requests for proposals with the chiefs." Adeline gathered up her binder and made her way to the door.
"Goodbye Adeline"
"Goodbye Keretse"