Let's talk business | Reitzmag - Ineland summit

[Ineland]

---

Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hautcour

Kasper was going over some files while also checking some polling figures for the upcoming election. Even though a new center-right government under his leadership was expected by almost anyone, an increase in support for both the progressives and the ultranationalists was worrysome. His best method to keep his mind away from those thoughts was to work on stuff from the MFA. And that day was going to be specially busy as he was going to head to Aigues Calmes for the summit with the Reitzmic government.

The visit by the Reitzmics was significant as it was the second time an ECON-aligned government was visiting the country in the last two months. And that, indeed, was sending a strong sign to the EU: we want to join ECON. That was something, of course, dependant on the fortunes of the upcoming election, but it was almost certain that the necessary parliamentary majority of parties in favour of ECON membership would be achieved as the parties in government and part of the progressives supported the goal.

ECON was, of course, not the only matter on the agenda. Reitzmag was known for it's military hardware production and Ineland wanted some of it. Another of the hot topics for the summit was the acquisition of nuclear submarines, destroyers and aircraft carriers to finally provide the Inelander Maritime Force with blue water capabilities.

But with so much checking over details for the summit it was almost 10am, about time to go to the helipad for a quick helicopter ride to Aigues Calmes. Frederick Vandervelde and Cyril Gagnot, the minister of Defence, were already in the helicopter waiting for him. As Kasper hopped into the helicopter, the propeller blades started turning and once the appropriate rotations were achieved the chopper gently rose up before starting the journey to the coastal resort city of Aigues Calmes.

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

RAF Hampton

Preparations had been underway for such a trip by the Reitzmic Government. Simon himself was very interested and looked forward to visiting Ineland since he came to power. Early in the morning, the Prime Minister and the rest of the delegation arrived at the air base, quickly they got into each of the 5 Vespina planes. Not long after, fighter jets prepared to trail behind the flight. Upon receiving takeoff clearance from the control tower, all the VIP jets took off to the air and went into formation as soon as possible. Later on, the escorting Felon F.15 followed quickly and went beside each jet. The flight was headed for a near-straight path to the designated airfield at Hautcour. To aid them, tankers were dispatched to refuel the escorts allowing them to return to Reitzmag upon breaking from formation while the flight enters Inelandic Airspace.

Hautcour
The planes each land after being guided by the control tower. They then are directed to a specialize apron where a convoy of cars and escort police will take them to the Aigues Calmes. Simon got out and took a deep breath of the clean air in Ineland, something he's also used to experiencing in Reitzmag. The convoy then leaves with all the delegation, and takes them to the meeting place.

Aigues Calmes
The convoy arrives and Simon takes a look at the beautiful view, he's very much in love of the place and enjoys it. Prior to arrival, he prepares all his things and practices his greetings to the Inelanders.

[Ineland]

Villa Juillet
Aigues Calmes

After the two hour ride, the helicopter landed into the improvised pad at the rear garden of Villa Juillet. Kasper, Frederick and Cyril came out of their transport and went into the building to get a drink and a quick chit-chat before the arrival of the Reitzmic motorcade. In a few minutes their counterparts would be arriving, and after a brief posing together in front of the building, they would all get inside to begin discussing the future cooperation between their countries.

While they waited for the arrival, Kasper went over some information on the meeting. Being such a workaholic, this meeting couldn't be any different in that sense. Frederick and Cyril, on the other hand, liked taking this kind of encounters through a more informal approach. However, it was a brief wait as the motorcade soon arrived. The three of them went to the front garden to greet their guests, passing in front of the modest band that was preparing to play the tune of the Reitzmic anthem.

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

Villa Juillet

Simon got out of the car and greeted the Inelanders with a smile and a handshake whilst bowing his head.

SB: "I'm very pleased to meet you Mr. Vandervelde, your country is impressively beautiful."

He then follows the procedures as it goes.

[Ineland]

Frederick extended his hand and shook his colleague's

• FV: The feeling is mutual, Mr. Bridges. Welcome to Ineland. It is great to finally have you here. I hope the flight here wasn't too unbearable.

After a brief photoshoot by the entrance of the villa, both men went inside followed by their respective attending cabinet members and their entourage. As they entered Kasper joined both prime ministers and, as much of a History fan he was, started telling them the story behind the construction of the villa.

• KM: Up until 1875, Aigues Calmes and it's surrounding states were a single polity, the Kingdom of Carnielle. That year the then monarch of Carnielle, Henri III, expected to be elected sovereign of Ineland. However, the king of Voorland, Willem, was elected instead. Henri, furious after the perceived ignoring of French-speakers due to more than a century of Dutch and German-speaking monarchs, proclaimed the secession of Carnielle in front of the kingdom's parliament. This obviously led to a reaction from the Inelandic authorities, which invaded Carnielle after a costly months-long offensive. Henri was forced to accept the dissolution of his kingdom and he and his family self-exiled in this villa, which he had ordered built in 1869 as a summer-residence. After Henri's death in 1892, the manor remained empty for over two decades. The Kingdom of Carnielle Civic Society bought the villa in 1915 and turned it into a museum on the former country's monarchy. However, the Society went bankrupt in the 1970's with Villa Juillet Historical Museum ending up under the management of the Aigues Calmes Metropolitan Authority.

After the brief explanation, all of them advanced into the main living room to proceed with the meeting.

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

SB: "Of course, you know you're gonna have a very safe and comfortable flight if you're with the RAF."

He then follows the instruction for a photo and proceeded into the villa. He's amazed at how elegant the interior is, something he also enjoys when visiting important historical places in Reitzmag or when attending an audience with the king.

SB: "I'm impressed at the history of this majestic villa. Our country had its fair share of revolutions and conflicts much like the ones in your story Mr. Kasper. However, we were lucky that our great King Richard succeeded at uniting all the kingdoms that formed a nation named after him. How is this building used then under the management of the new authority?"

He then keeps looking at the ceilings and the walls and is impressed at the architecture. When they arrived at the room, Simon sat down like everyone else.

SB: "I'm impressed at your choice of a meeting place Mr. Vandervelde. The atmosphere fits perfectly for our agenda."

[Ineland]

Kasper and Frederick were really glad to hear Simon's words, clearly enjoying the brief tour

• KM: Currently the local administration still keeps it as a museum house, maintaining the original furniture and decoration under Henri, but the venue is very often used for conferences and events.

• FV: Actually it was Minister Merckx's idea to hold the summit in this venue, and I completely agree with your consideration of it as a perfect choice.

As they all sat and were served some drinks, the time for talks began.

• FV: So, as you are aware, for our government this summit has a series of very clear objectives which are mostly centered around military cooperation and, specifically, ECON membership. For this bigger point, though, I will let Minister Merckx talk.

• KM: Thanks, Frederick. Indeed, our government is aiming for ECON membership in the coming weeks or months. Even though there is an election coming up by the end of the month, and therefore our parliament cannot yet validate an accession to ECON as constitutionally required, it is almost 100% certain that the election will return a pro-ECON majority in parliament. However, we would like to hear a bit more about ECON's relations with Telum and other EU member states before accession. We are aware of ECON-Telum's difficult relations and, though we are far away from the 'flashpoints' so to call them, we wouldn't want to become a source of further tensions between both organisations.

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

SB: "Well indeed I am glad for your interest at joining our organization. ECON has explicitly not been aimed at any nation or other organization as stated in the Cair Para Treaty, however there are nations that antagonize us due to our principles of fairness and non-aggression. In fact, we even accept the membership of nations in the Telum Treaty. Some may say that ECON may have indeed been created to counter the Telum after the United Duchies was left out in the new treaty, however this is only partially true. As you see, the three founding nations of our organization were the ones who opposed the aggressive claim of our friends in Spain to the entire Red Strait, or as they love to call it the Strait of Adventuranza. However, our actions are more justified and our friends from the United Duchies exposed what the members of the Telum Treaty really were. When we formed ECON, they told us that they felt restrained by other members of the Telum and that this may be proven by their removal from the new treaty for not supporting the aggressive claim that Spain had in that important trade route. This is also the reason why our organization strictly prohibits mandatory participation in joint operations and allows members to freely conduct their own affairs. With all these, I hope that you are persuaded by the fact that we formed out of the need to counter expansionist and imperialist aggressors from establishing a bully hegemony in the region. And the fact that they see us as a threat clearly shows that such nations have ambitious plans to which we contradict for stability and fairness to smaller nations who they treat like underdogs."

"On the other hand, we maintain positive economic relations with many other nations. Although so far, we have not yet signed a unified treaty with another nation or organization on certain points, but we hope that we will eventually do so. With which, I also want to direct you to the fact that ECON isn't focused only on defense but also provides economic and social benefits for our nations and our citizens. This includes freedom of movement, cultural and educational exchange, technological cooperation, and many more. Brickston, our newest member is a witness to the improvements at their nations' economy. Their GDP has been booming and they are rising through the ranks of nations with the largest economies. Considering all of these, I assure you that you will not be a source of further tensions. Our organization is defensive and not aggressive, we do not wish to create havoc and chaos but rather maintain peace and balance of power (that is if there really needs to be). Our nations do not have the weapons to match the destruction that may be caused by their nuclear weapons, but we certainly do have the weapons to defend ourselves from such kind of aggression."

"But then of course, it will depend on your people whether to proceed with membership. And so I wish you good luck in your elections and hope to see you once again when we meet at the signing of the Hautcour Agreement. Anyway, I heard that you are interested in military cooperation. And I also heard that you are especially interested in procurement of weapons from our nation's defence companies. Could you tell me more about this?"

[Ineland]

• KM: It's great to hear that, Mr. Bridges. If you're okay with me being a little more informal from now on I'd call you Simon. But let's get back to the topic. Indeed, we're pleased to hear of the broad nature of ECON and its stance on other blocs such as Tellum. Therefore, if I am lucky enough to get to head the next cabinet the first legislation I'd like to introduce will be the ratification of admission into the alliance. And admission I hope we can sign again in this villa.

As the Prime Minister mentioned the issue on equipment procurement, Cyril took it to himself to talk about the matter.

• CG: You are right, monsieur le prémier ministre. At the moment, we are working towards the development of blue water capabilities for our navy, with the air force being the next object of our upgrade programme. At the moment our navy is barely capable of properly protecting Inelandic assets farther away from our EEZ, not to mention across the globe. Thus we are working on a massive expansion programme to revert that situation. Besides that, though we are working on a full normalisation of relations with our neighbours across the strait, the instability Icholasen experienced with its relatively recent regime change is unsettling. The prospect of having such a huge, nuclear-armed unstable regime by our doorstep is the second, but maybe more relevant reason behind our attempts to develop a navy ready enough to effectively protect our coasts and seas from any agression. We have been considering several options, and some of the Reitzmic hardware we have been scouting is amongst our favourite options, more specifically the Akula class submarines and the Kuznetsov-class carrier.

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

He smiled seeing the openness from the Inelandics to make the meeting somewhat less formal.

SB: "Well then I'll call you Kasper, Frederick, and Cyril if you allow me. Anyway, our country indeed offers quite a wide variety of military hardware for all branches of every armed force. But I'm more surprised about the intentions, and also the choice of hardware. Regardless, I'll only provide advice on the hardware but not the intentions unless you ask me. For that, I think it's best my Defence Minister give you the necessary information."

BW: "Thank you Simon, and I'm glad to meet you Mr. Vandervelde. I'm Ben Wallace, and I am the Minister of Defence of our country. As Simon just said, we are indeed surprised at your choice of equipment. The Stewart-class Aircraft Carrers have long been phased out in our country's service to give way for our nuclear-powered supercarriers and due to their already obsolete design. To which I recommend that you instead take our decommissioned King Richard-class supercarriers, something that may be refit to the standards of your Armed Forces such as STOBAR or CATOBAR configuration. For the Shark-class Submarines, we are happy to give our already decommissioned 14 submarines under this class for free if you wish to have them available as soon as possible. We can ask our defence contractors to refit them and modernize them for use by your armed forces, this may also include the installation of Inelandic technology. There's also a package deal that we could offer comprising of an aircraft carrier group and its air wing, and this is something we only offer to allies and possible allies. Apart from that, is there any more equipment that Ineland may be interested in? Maybe we could include those equipment in a package deal."

OOC

In the war system, Supercarriers can be operated with less aircraft for Standard Aircraft Carrier classification.
Equipment in Reitzmag have different names and classifications from its IRL Counterparts.
King Richard-class Supercarriers are fully CATOBAR in configuration, but the ski-jump may be added to the bow for mixed launch system config.

[Ineland]

The three of them were listening closely at the brief explanation on the equipment possibilities.

• CG: Thanks a lot for your input, Ben. Indeed, the King Richard-class seems like a much better option and the possibility of having either CATOBAR or STOBAR seems technically attractive. And your offer to negotiate a full package including jets is really something we would appreciate. Which kind of hardware would be talking about on that side? And on the submarines, the 14 decommissioned submarine deal sounds wonderful to us. If retrofitting is possible, we would like to work on an adaptation of its systems to include noise reduction technology for silent navigation.

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

BW: "The carrier group package we offer includes at least one King Richard-class Supercarrier or Queen Victoria-class Supercarrier as capital ship along with escorts composed of Premier-class Destroyers or modernized versions of the Beast-class Destroyers, City-class Frigates or Admiral-class Frigates, and Crusader-class Multi-role Replenishment Ships. All of these vessels may be customized with the necessary requirements of your armed force, and the number of ships will depend on your naval doctrine and style of formations. Apart from these, we may also include Victory-class Amphibious Assault Carriers to provide additional amphibious and aviation capability as well as modernized Royal-class Cruisers for additional group security and defense, but that will also depend on the system your Armed Force employs for ship formations. There's also the Block III and Block IV modernized/upgraded variants of the Vanguard-class Battlecruisers which we only offer to closest allies such as those in ECON, these ships may be employed into carrier groups or their own separate formations with them serving as lead ships. Our country prefers to have these ships in their own formations to serve as deterrent against carrier strike groups to which are very vulnerable to such big ships with big firepower."

"For the customizations, we have reached out to the designers and builders of these ship classes and they have assured us that they will be ready to customize all the equipment such as radar and navigation, as well as defensive and offensive weapons systems like CIWS and SAMs, and they also said it's possible for them to cooperate with your local defence companies on the customizations you wish to make. However, we impose limitations as to how extensive the changes may be as well as the level of technology applied on the equipment installed depending on the levels of relations and ties between our country and the customer. Although, I think it's possible we update the official request for whatever modernizations and upgrades once your country ascends to the ECON."

"Other than vessels, we also offer carrier-based variants of the Dragon F.14 and/or Lightning FA.7 to fill the fighter squadron/s, Raptor U.21 for your drone squadron/s, Mireuk AEW.3 for your Carrier Onboard Delivery Squadron/s and Airborne Early Warning Squadron/s, and Excalibur HC.6 or Pegasus HU.13 for your helicopter squadron/s. All these would be able to fill your carrier air wing and the aviation equipment of the attached escorts. These aircraft may also be customized, however we only offer limited customizations to export variants for countries we don't have close ties and relations just like the vessels. Though, we also reached out to the manufacturers of these aircraft and they are also ready to conduct whatever customizations as long as they are in line with government policy."

"Our defence companies also told us that they will also be ready to manufacture the aircraft in Ineland as long as certain requirements from both the government and themselves are met, the vessels on the other hand will be assembled and partly manufactured in Ineland with some parts manufactured in Reitzmag or other partner countries to make delivery quicker and sooner."

"Moving on, our decommissioned Shark-class Submarines were only out of service last 2012 due to budget cuts and to make way for newer vessels. Therefore, many modern systems and noise reduction technology applied to current submarines that the Royal Navy operates are also applied to these decommissioned boats. We also did talk to RAe Systems Maritime who manufactured these boats, and they said they will be ready to provide modernization services and support and that it is possible for them to cooperate with your local defence companies on adaptation of local equipment. However, since RAe Systems is a government-owned company, they are bound to regulations and policies by the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Trade and Industry. And much like the vessels we offer for the package, the upgrades and modernizations of these are limited depending on the relations between our nation and the inquiring country. But since Ineland is due to join ECON, I think it is possible for us to give an immediate exemption on such a deal and defend it in Parliament with such reasons which is also likely to pass due to the majority we possess in the Commons."

"Overall, a lot of the parts of this deal will be dictated by the events that may happen, especially your country's accession to the primary alliance which we commit to. I'd like to know your thoughts on these Cyril, Frederick."

[Ineland]

It was indeed a great offering by Ben. Of course there was the issue with not being yet a member of ECON, but that wouldn't last for long.

• CG: What you are offering seems really in line with what we are expecting to get. For the carriers we’d definitely go with two King Richard-class carriers, along with 8 City-class frigates, 3 Crusader-class replenishment vessels and 4 Royal-class cruisers. And a Vanguard-class battlecruiser seems like a perfect addition for our high seas capabilities.
  On the air wings, 80 FA.7’s of the carrier-based configuration and 20 HC.6’s are an initial amount we would be interested in acquiring. On the manufacturing aspect, while we’d prefer the aircraft to be built in Ineland, we’d like the vessels to be assembled in one site with the minimal movement of parts so if they can be assembled in Reitzmic drydocks and our crews can then take them from there back to Ineland that’s a solution that would be optimal to us.
  And what you're telling us about the state of the Shark-class submarines from a technological stand point sound incredible. If your parliament could grant a temporary lifting of the limitations to exports for Ineland, so that at least the vessels can get built while we work on the accession to ECON, we'd be really grateful.

[Kingdom of Reitzmag]

Simon was impressed with Ineland's choices and rather surprised with the enthusiasm on having the most powerful surface vessel since the battleship era ended.

SB: "I'm happy with your choices Cyril, and I would do my best to persuade Parliament to approve whatever is necessary for this deal to get through. On the manufacturing aspect, I believe it's better if you inquire with the manufacturers on the requirements they wish to meet and also the process for manufacturing such as where they see it more suitable to construct the vessels and the aircraft. Especially because our country is landlocked and only a canal in the United Duchies allow our products to directly transit from the Caspian to the Atlantic and vice versa. Other than that, is there anything that Ineland is interested in for a deal?"