Defense industry of Nouvelle Alexandrie
|
This article or section is a work in progress. The information below may be incomplete, outdated, or subject to change. |
The defense industry of Nouvelle Alexandrie is a strategically important economic sector of the New Alexandrian economy and one of the largest employers in the country. It is a key player in the global arms industry and supplies many of its allies and partners of the Raspur Pact, as well as being a major supplier to the Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie.
The New Alexandrian defense industry has significantly developed given key government investments made in research and development and expanding manufacturing since 1673 AN. in 1694 AN, Nouvelle Alexandrie's more than 150 defense and defense-related firms (thousands of other firms were engaged in subcontracting) fell into one of three ownership categories: state-owned enterprises, privately owned firms, and firms with mixed state and private ownership.
Nouvelle Alexandrie's defense industry employs close to 1.5 million people in the Federation. The defense industry accounts for 15% of all manufacturing jobs in the Federation. Aldurian shipbuilders and missile manufacturers survived a difficult period of transition from government-owned to private and have managed to thrive and grow on their own as private companies. Nouvelle Alexandrie also has implemented programs to attract and keep talent and skills needed for the development of a healthy and robust economy.
The New Alexandrian defense industry is dominated by several large private contractors as follows:
- Javelin Industries;
- the Pontecorvo Firm;
- Kerularios & Company;
- Neridia Defense Industries;
- ESB Susa;
- United Manufacturing Corporation;
- Rimarima Armaments;
- Sarbanes-Lopez CyberSecurity.
The largest government-owned military contractors are:
- Armaments of Alduria;
- Aldurian Aviation Corporation;
- the National Research and Development Corporation.
It contains several tiers of smaller, more specialized companies and suppliers as well, with hundreds of other companies and contractors throughout the Federation.
The largest of the New Alexandrian defense firms is Javelin Industries, which makes the Silver Hammer, along with missiles, aircraft, rockets, and other important military hardware.
Growth of the defense industry was achieved by a mixture of imported technology and the innovation of New Alexandrian entrepreneurs, scientists, and engineers. Many New Alexandrian firms purchased production rights and entered into joint ventures with defense companies that supply Raspur Pact nations to manufacture both end products and components. Nearly every electronics firm had links of some sort with Natopian and Constancia producers.
History
Nouvelle Alexandrie produces a wide range of products from ammunition, small arms, and artillery pieces to sophisticated electronic systems, missiles, tanks, and ships. Having expanded in territory quickly since 1685 AN to cover a vast Federation across several continents and islands, Nouvelle Alexandrie is in the process of building a comprehensive and modern standing armed forces - the Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie. The defense industry of Nouvelle Alexandrie, along with a vast network of Raspur Pact suppliers and partners, are working to furnish it with an arsenal of highly advanced and durable military hardware.
The government, which owns three major defense firms, also encouraged the formation of private companies to equip the Federal Forces of Nouvelle Alexandrie. After the formation of the Federation, the government engaged in an aggressive programme of privatization of many state-owned companies that were supplying the military. The process of privatization and a favorable business environment (including high demand for weapons) led to the development of a sophisticated defense industry. This inevitably led to exports, which today account for a large part of export revenues and allows the country's defense industry to compete against some of the largest companies in Micras for foreign contracts. This is in addition to producing many of the arms needed for the Federation's own defense and for many of its Raspur Pact partners, like Constancia, Ransenar, and others.
Alduria
The manufacture of small weapons and explosives for the forerunners of the Armée Altusienne Unie and the Aldurian military had begun in small arms factories around Punta Santiago, Narbonne, and Hatkrou around 1661 AN. When Alduria was founded in 1669 AN, it acquired a vast array of surplus military aircraft, tanks, artillery, and weapons from the Armée Altusienne Unie and the Punta Santiago Arsenal. The Aldurian arms industry started out, initially, as a specialty of upgrading, repairing, and overhauling such equipment, usually acquired from Jingdao, Natopia, Shireroth, Constancia, Caputia, or Krasnocoria. The West Baatharzi War and the Verionian-Raspur War gave further impetus to the development of a strong, native defense industry that could supply the Federation's military with the best military hardware as well as their Raspur Pact partners facing threats from Verionist or Vanic interests abroad.
With the end of Aldurian neutrality with Alduria's accession to the Raspur Pact, the defense industry of Alduria gained access to a steady market of high demand for quality military hardware. It was also during this time that the defense industry began to make a concerted effort to employ their research and development teams in devising products for non-military markets and, more frequently, in adapting defense technology for civilian applications. Indeed, many of the most innovative products developed by the New Alexandrian civilian high tech industry, especially in the field of telecommunications, trace their origins to military technology.
Wechua Nation
The Wechua Nation, prior to the Restoration in 1673 AN, had a rather small native defense industry. For the most part, the Wechua Nation depended on access to hardware through its partnership with the Raspur Pact and also through its large western neighbor, Caputia. The Wechua Nation had undergone a particularly bloody civil war that further emphasized to the government that at the very least, government-owned corporations were needed to ensure that the Wechua government forces were able to prevail in the civil war.
After the Restoration, the government of Vicaquirao Alvarez passed economic reforms that liberalized the market and allowed the government to partner with a myriad of small to medium companies and contractors, including 16 defense start-up companies or contractors. The government made it policy to invest and give regulatory preference to the development of a native defense industry, with the assistance of Raspur Pact partners (Constancia and Natopia) and the Republic of Alduria, who was heavily dependent on the Wechua Nation's foodstuff exports.
Raspur Pact assistance
The stunning success and rapid development of a strong native defense industry in Nouvelle Alexandrie are credited largely to the transfer of technological knowledge, technical assistance, access to financial markets, and growing demand for military hardware that comes from the Raspur Pact.
