Empire of the Ring

Youngho and Putin were having an in-depth conversation while emptying two bottles of wine.

“It’s an interesting idea to compete with advanced countries by developing assembly technology. I guess you’d be thinking of something similar to a laser weapon.”

It seemed Putin already knew about the laser guns which were Kazakhstan’s secret weapon somehow.

Since he already found out, Youngho admitted.

“Oh, we only got lucky while we were trying to make a distinguished weapon.”

When Youngho admitted, Putin’s eyes sparkled.

“I’d like to see its operation someday. Our country recently developed a next-generation tank and I’d like to test it against our tank. If we open our new weapons and test them together, it’ll help to find and correct any flaw.”

Youngho was relieved to hear Putin’s proposal. He wanted to share technology rather than coveting Kazakhstan’s laser weapon. If he liked the laser gun’s performance, he could even trade the technology Russia’s next-generation tank for the laser gun.

Youngho agreed without hesitation.

“You’d be surprised to see it with your own eyes, but aren’t you afraid of possibly leaking the Russian tank’s weakness?”

“We will only have related officials to the demonstration, so what’s to worry about? We have nothing to hide from each other.”

The reason why Putin was helping Kazakhstan’s armament was because China’s rapid progress was relentless.

With its large foreign-currency holdings, China was reinforcing its defense rapidly that even Russia feared it.

So, Russia helped Kazakhstan’s defense reinforcement by transferring technologies for Sukhoi Su fighter jet and a cruise missile and promising their license production.

However, the Chinese government protested against this, saying that it would reconsider its investment in Russia, pressuring Putin.

Thankfully, the Kazakh royal family deposited five billion dollars easing the economic stress and this time, it resolved the pipeline project and the second Yamal project at once.

All was achieved without Chinese capital, and Putin was pleased inside.

So, he was ready to transfer a new weapon technology despite China’s disapproval.

The weapon Putin wanted to test out was T-14 Armata, a next-generation battle tank known to be equipped with an active defense system that could withstand anti-tank attacks such as anti-tank rockets and high-explosive anti-tank missiles.

It could easily destroy an enemy’s tank that was 1 kilometer away.

Experts said that considering the effective range of Abrams tanks in the U.S. was 3-4 kilometers, at least Armata tanks could defeat their counterparts three times as far away.

Armata was considered to have laid the groundwork for battle tanks to evolve into complete robot tanks, with its computer technology, speed, and operational performance.

In addition, the turret was capable of turning 360 degrees and had a 30-millimeter anti-aircraft gun and a 12.7-millimeter machine gun that could shoot down helicopters and drones at a distance.

And Armata’s main gun was 125 millimeters long, 15-20 percent higher in accuracy than the existing T-90, and had automatic shell loading and aiming functions.

The strongest point was that it maximized soldiers’ survival by making an unmanned turret and boarding three crew members in the front-facing armored capsule.

If what Russia claimed was true, there was no battle tank that could beat T-14 Armata at the moment.

However, it was known that only 100 units would be test-produced due to difficulties in mass production caused by economic conditions in Russia.

“Your Excellency, instead of using the tanks as a test target for our laser guns and exposing them to the outside world, why don’t we build an attack system combining the two weapons?”

No matter how secretively a test was done, it would be leaked to outside someday if related officials of the two countries gathered for a military test.

Youngho thought that there was no need to expose one’s own weaknesses.

Whether Kazakh laser gun destroyed T-14 Armata or T-14 Armata destroyed the Kazakh laser gun, it was not desirable to have a test that would expose either weapon’s weaknesses

Youngho’s suggestion meant that he would transfer laser gun’s technology if Putin would transfer T-14 Armata’s technology.

“Now that I think of it, it’s a little stretch to compare the performance of two weapons with unique strengths. Then I guess you are saying you can open the laser gun technology to us.”

“I heard that Russia has already developed a laser weapon, but if you want, I’ll provide you with our technology.”

There was not a huge difference between Kazakhstan’s laser gun and the one developed in Russia, but Kazakhstan’s gun was proven to be effective in real battles.

Russia would make one as great as Kazakhstan’s in the near future, so Youngho wanted to have a deal with it instead of holding onto it.

It was not an original technology but an applied technology anyway.

“Very well. Then we, Russia, will provide the T-14 Armata technology, but there are some problems. Some of the components can’t be produced in Russia, so we have to import them, but we have an issue with imports. This is delaying the mass production of our tanks.”

Youngho knew Putin had another intention for approving a technology trade so easily, and now it was revealed.

Russia wanted to import Western parts as it was difficult to produce main components such as night thermal imaging equipment, but it was not easy because of the economic sanction due to the dispute with Ukraine.

“We can import those main parts in Kazakhstan.”

“That’s it. If Kazakhstan can buy the components, we can overcome the Western economic sanctions.”

Putin’s proposal to test Kazakhstan’s laser gun performance was just a bait.

Russia did not need laser gun technology but needed Kazakhstan’s help to import main components for its new tank. It wanted to use Kazakhstan as a purchase deputy.

Regardless of the reason, a way to license-produce Russia’s next-generation tank, which was developed over five years, was open to Kazakhstan now.

***

As Kazakhstan’s relationship with Russia grew closer, the royal territory’s airport was frequently overwhelmed by the officials and technicians coming in and out of it.

“Your Highness, there was a proposal to develop a direct route to Russia from Russia’s Aeroflot.”

Suh Min-seok excitedly reported this to Youngho.

It was a big deal that Russia’s airline wanted to establish a direct route in the royal territory.

Although there was an international airport in the royal territory, there was no regular international flight line.

Despite the increased population, there were not many residents who were well-off enough to take overseas trips regularly.

“Do we have that many passengers visiting Russia?”

“It’s because of the recent increased investment projects in Russia. Now is the time to make a separate regular flight route in the royal territory because the Atyrau International Airport is overwhelmed. Aeroflot offered to operate a flight three times a week.”

“Isn’t it the airline that has a lot of old planes?”

Russia’s airlines were known to have a lot of declining civil aircrafts and there were frequent accidents. Youngho could not trust it.

Rather than taking a risk, it would be better to use Air Astana, the flag carrier of Kazakhstan.

“I heard it introduced a lot of new generation planes. Also, we can require the newest airplanes as a condition when we sign a contract.”

In the report, there were 450 travelers going to Russia on average. It seemed a direct flight was necessary.

“Notify the Transportation Bureau and ask if it’s okay to open a direct route to Moscow in the royal territory. I don’t want to get any complaints that the royal family unilaterally decided it.”

“Your Highness, I doubt that there are idle planes in Air Astana. It established a direct route to Krasnoyarsk recently. Instead, why don’t we make a royal airline this time?”

“You want to run a civil aviation business in the royal family?”

“Yes, sir. Technically, Air Astana is not a national airline. Russia is going to be the golden route, so there’s no reason to leave it to others.”

Air Astana had about 28 planes and a British company had 49 percent of its stake.

For a national airline, the number of aircraft owned was small, which was not enough to connect people to all parts of the world.

As there were not one or two joint projects with Russia, and if the economic power of residents of the royal territory in the future improved, overseas travel would explode, so the aviation business seemed to be able to generate some profits.

“Hmmm! Then conduct a market research. If it’s proven to be profitable, we can start with a few planes. There is plenty of flight demand to places in Russia such as Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, and Vladivostok.”

“It may be more efficient if the royal airline takes over international flights and Air Astana takes over federal and domestic flights. Some international flights are not spared the deficit, so the government is paying a certain amount of money to compensate for that.”

Many European routes were launched on a policy basis due to Kazakhstan’s national status, but because of the lack of passengers, Air Astana could not avoid losses.

It was done by the former government to increase tourism profits, but so far, there had been little use by Europeans due to a lack of tourism infrastructure.

It would be a golden route when the large tourist resort was built in a year or two.

“All right. Check and see if the Russian flight route is economically feasible first.”