[Germany] Phone Call to the Russian Federation

[NagandEmerald]

@Emira

Upon direction from the Kaiser himself, the Federal Minister of Defence was set up with a private, and Level 4-Encrypted call to the office of his Russian counterpart, with options open to allow for the Russian President to join in the call if need be. Peter Nickel waited patiently for his Russian counterpart to pick up on the other end of the line, sipping a soda from a local eatery that he had brought in today.

 

[NagandEmerald]

@Emira

 

[NagandEmerald]

@Emira

 

[Emira]

Znamenka 19, Headquarters of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Moscow, Russian Federation,​

The Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Sergey Shoygu, was informed by the Chief of the Main Directorate for Political-Military Affairs of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel General Andrey Kartapolov, that the Federal Minister of Defence, Peter Nickel, had phoned on a secure line and wished fo speak with him. The Minister of Defense nodded and thanked Colonel General Kartapolov and then picked up one of the secure/encrypted phones on his desk to speak to his German Counterpart. Minister Shoygu was then patched through to the waiting Federal Minister of Defence on the other end of the line by his secretary.

A rather quiet and contemplative man of few words, who was known for his loyalty, honesty, and ability to complete tasks ahead of schedule, Minister of Defense Shoygu said "Minister Nickel, this is Minister Shoygu here. To what do I owe the pleasure of your phone call?".

@NagandEmerald

 

[NagandEmerald]

@Emira

"Well, firstly, I would like to thank you for taking the time to answer my call," Minister Nickel began, scratching his chin as it itched due to a rather rushed shave from the morning, "And, secondly, I wished to talk to you in regards to military affairs between the Russian Federation and German Reich." The German minister paused for a moment, hoping to god that the Russians were willing to cooperate, and potentially help the German military on its feet after so many years of turmoil in Europe attributed to them.

"In particular, I wished to discuss on the nature of new equipment designs for the German Armed Forces...in particular, for our Infantry Fighting Vehicles and for a domestic aviation initiative to be undertaken by our new nationalization effort in Reichland Defence. After observations made by our General Officers, I feel it is necessary to improve our capabilities in the creation of anti-aircraft and armored fighting vehicle design, as well as begin domestic aircraft production again, and it was either turning to United States, or to Russia; given the superiority of much of your equipment to the rest of the West, I feel that our designers and engineers in Reichland Defence could learn from the Russian model, especially for any upcoming projects."

 

[NagandEmerald]

@Emira (Apologies. I forgot to tag you when I first made the post)

 

[Emira]

Minister of Defense Shoygu replied to his German counterpart and said "No need to thank me at all. I am always available to speak with my international colleagues and the current administration certainly promotes the Ministry of Defense establishing military-to-military ties and channels of communication with as many nations as possible. So I am pleased that you've phoned me and look forward to our conversation.".

When Minister Nickel said "And, secondly, I wished to talk to you in regards to military affairs between the Russian Federation and German Reich.", Minister Shoygu expected the two would have a rather typical conversation between two Ministers of Defense from two historic rivals nations within the same region. A conversation regarding such things as establishing direct channels of communication in times of crisis, informing one another in advance of planned military drills, and other standard operating procedures between two Ministries of Defense. However, when the Federal Minister of Defence of the German Reich explained that he had called to request assistance from the Russian Federation in the design of new IFV's, Air Defense Systems, and the establishment of a German aviation industry, Minister Shoygu nearly spit out his tea in shock.

While the Russian Federations defense industry was making significant inroads in achieving a sizable market share of the European arms trade, signing a variety of recent arms deals with such nations as France, Romania, and Ireland, the request from the German Reich came as a complete surprise. A shock to put it mildly. The Russian and German nations had been bitter rivals throughout much of history, with the two nations fighting against one another along what were perhaps the most savage and hard fought fronts in the history of warfare, during the vicious Eastern European Campaigns of WW1 and WW2. The Russian people had a long memory and the incredible sacrifices made by the Russian people during WW1 and the "Great Patriotic War" (WW2) in particular, were memorialized with great monuments, annual tributes, even the largest secular holiday of the Russian Federation "Victory Day", which marked the triumph of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany, in what could only be described as a titanic struggle for survival for the Russian people. So it went without saying that Minister Nickels proposal had taken Minister Shoygu completely by surprise.

Realizing he had been silent for what certainly was several awkward moments, a stunned Minister Shoygu started speaking slowly, in order to gather his thoughts "The German Reich wishes to develop a new IFV? I have heard very good things about both your Puma IFV Program and your Lynx IFV Program, why are your armed forces looking to develop another totally new IFV? Not that the Russian Defense Industry isn't flattered by your request for assistance in designing a new IFV, I think those of us in the Russian Armed Forces and certainly within the Russian Defense Industry are all wondering why your armed forces have chosen to go in another direction from the Puma and the Lynx. As you can imagine, close cooperation between our defense industries is a rather sensitive matter, which I need to speak to the President about for approval, so if you could let me know why you've decided to look for new alternatives to the Puma and the Lynx, it will certainly make my conversation with the President go much smoother.

When it comes to the anti-aircraft capabilities, I certainly think that your armed forces and your local defense industry would greatly improve their abilities and capabilities, should the Russian Federation provide support within this field. Most of the equipment of the Aerospace Defense Forces is either considered to be the best or the second best in the world, from early-warning radar, to long-range air defense systems, medium-range defense systems, short-range air defense systems, anti-aircraft cannons, and various types of electronic warfare systems. What type of types of air defense equipment are you looking for our assistance in developing? Again I will need to relay this to and approve it by the President, though I can see clearly see that Russian defense firms within this particular sector can assist your domestic defense industry develop more advanced and capable air defense systems.

I can certainly understand both your need and desire to establish a truly national domestic aviation/aerospace industry once again, as the formation of Airbus, followed by the acquisition of Airbus by FCI, has certainly devastated your nations ability to produce modern aircraft and aerospace technologies of any type. What is the state of your domestic aviation and aerospace industries following the acquisition of Airbus by FCI? What type of infrastructure exists for R&D and testing? What type of facilities currently exist within the German Reich for the production of aircraft? Are any aircraft of any type currently produced within the German Reich? And what type of aircraft is the German Reich looking to produce? Once again I will have to inform the President of this and he will have to approve it, but I will speak with him immediately upon hearing your responses to my questions.

I certainly appreciate your reaching out to me on this..... Should the President agree to authorize various firms within the Russian Defense Industry to assist Reichland Defence increase their abilities and capabilities, while assisting in the development of various projects that are vital to the national security of the German Reich, I real progress will be made in the establishment of positive long-term bilateral relations between our two nations. Though the wounds and scars of the past can't be erased, it might be possible to create a new future, which ensures the mistakes of the past are not repeated....".

@NagandEmerald

(Not to worry! I had already seen your response.)

 

[NagandEmerald]

@Emira

This was a lot to take in...Peter Nickel took a tissue from his desk and wiped his head as he listened intently to what Minister Shoygu had to say on the matter. When it came to the matter of the President of Russia needing to clarify and, potentially, work out a deal with His Majesty on the matter himself, he was certainly relieved that all calls to foreign nations were recorded for quality-assurance and to ensure that there was always some form of evidence linking foreign nations back to Germany should it be necessary. When his Russian counterpart finally finished the long-winded inquisitorial responses to his request, Peter took a deep breath and chuckled rather nervously as he spoke.

"Whoa, now let us stop for a moment Shoygu. Give me but a moment to process this information..." As the words flooded through his mind, and finally filtered into something cohesive, he realized that he had Shoygu still waiting, for about 3 minutes of silence to be honest. It was rather embarassing, and the Federal Minister of Defence stumbled through his words as he pushed onwards. He had to be brave enough to answer as coherently as possible...for Emperor, God, and Fatherland!

"Okay...l-l-let's answer your q-questions in order, shall we?" Peter began, clearing his throat as he did, "To answer your first question on the Puma and Lynx IFVs...I honestly cannot overstate how good both IFVs are for firepower and for sheer power-to-weight ratios...but both IFVs suffer from a massive problem that my Generals assure me would absolutely hinder combat performance for the new Armed Forces, in particular, comparing them to the very vehicles that they are designed to be fighting against...in comparison to the Kurganets, or the Armata Heavy IFV, both vehicles simply do not meet the strenuous requirements that both IFVs exhibit, such as a potent active-protection system that utilizes both hard and soft-kill measures like Afghanit." The Minister stumbled as he recalled testing of the Armata's active-protection system being used against 120mm APFSDS successfully.

"F-for example, i-in the tests that you have c-conducted using Afghanit, it whatever the vehicle it is attributed to practically i-invulnerable on the f-first shot. Regardless, the Puma and Lynx, as heavy infantry fighting vehicles weighing very close or above the weight of both of your very impressive IFVs, they both fall short in terms of real armor protection. Upon review of the Armata program at large, I feel that Germany could learn much in the way of materials-management with the help of Russian engineers, and I feel that it was appropriate to come to the nation which, indisputably, has a better armored fighting force than the United States for a far cheaper price." Taking a moment to breathe, the Minister finally could get to another area of concern for the German military: lackluster air power, and aerial protection measures.

"Now, I can say that, without a doubt, the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces are what we have decided to primarily base our new Luftwaffe off of to an extent as far as aerial defense goes. Your layered air and missile defence utilizing equipment like the Pantsir and the S-300 and 400 are second to none. I d-don't mean to be flattering, if that is how I come across, but we can all admire Russian aerospace defence, radar and layered aerial defence included. That being said...our Lufwaffe, since the end of the 2nd World War, has always been rather limited...we have had to primarily rely on the United States for those matters, and our generals have been begging for a new aviation producer since Airbus was absorbed by FCI. Now, I am not certain on the goings-on with Reichland Defence as of yet, as the Kaiser has yet to disclose any of the more private details, since he personally negotiated the deal, but from what I understand, he is subsidizing Rheinmetall, is looking to add in an aviation producer, and is currently negotiating deals with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann on joining this n-n-nationalized d-defence group." The Defence Minister cleared his throat, yet again, and took a sip of his soda as he continued on, his throat tightening in reflex as nervousness made him stumble across a few more words.

"As of right now, unfortunately, no facilities currently exist for testing and research, but from what I understand, the Federal Minister of Infrastructure here in Germany is going to be unveiling a new primary research, development, and testing facility, along with 3 subsidiary facilities across Germany. As far as I am aware, Rheinmetall also has plans to open a new tank factory sometime within the next year, which will ultimately create more competition with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann...b-b-but I d-digress." The Federal Minister of Defence took a moment to pull his head away from the receiver, taking in a deep breath as he made the shortened version of his requests on behalf of the military.

"To shorten this, I-I think that this should cover it. In regards to IFVs, we are looking to Russia to assist in armored fighting vehicle design for future military programs that should seek to improve the German military infrastructure, as well as provide a better sense of engineering skill to our designers in KMW and Rheinmetall. Regarding our air defence equipment, we are looking to primarily develop a multi-layered aerial defence network, utilizing SHORADS and MANPADS like the Gepard and Igla respectively, intermediate missile defence like the Tor, and long-range missile defence with anti-ballistic missile capability like the S-400...ultimately, as s-said...the L-luftwaffe has not been a proper entity since the 2nd World War." Finally, the biggest crutch of them all...discussing on the Luftwaffe and its revitalization.

"Finally, for aircraft...w-we are looking to produce a variety of aircraft, including a new multirole fighter to replace the Eurofighter program, which should be available in an air-superiority, strike capability, and fighter capability model, a new attack aircraft for close-air support operations, a new attack and multirole helicopter design to replace the Eurocopter Tiger, and a new strategic bomber aircraft as a means of acting as a deterrent against foreign aggression. I hope you understand, I ask for none of this lightly...as a man of peace, and as a man whose job is to ensure his own state's security, I hope you do not find the requests too steep for your country's own defence industry to help assess, and I certainly hope that President Yeltsin does indeed see this as the start of a new relationship between our nations. I would prefer that we not be the cause of another war in Europe, and instead act as its guardians." Upon finishing, he waited patiently for Minister Shoygu's response, terrified of what was to come.

 

[NagandEmerald]

@Emira

 

[NagandEmerald]

@Emira

 

[NagandEmerald]

@Emira