Colonel C. Vincent (right) will now answer questions kindly submitted to him earlier this month.
Anonymous wrote : "How do you see the DDS' relationships with the Dino's evolving in the medium term?"
Interesting question, the Dinos are flexing their muscles now and have been investing heavily in their land forces for the last few years, now they are looking into power projection capability. It indicates the Dinos' foreign policy may be more aggressive and interventative in future. But that is fine, the galaxy is big enough for us both. After we have crushed the Utrek we will work together to build a lasting solution to the Utrek problem.
Anonymous wrote : "What sort of security risk do the Clones represent?"
I feel we've taken our eye off the ball WRT the Clones recently. They have had a lot of trouble but seem to be sorting out their new post-empire future, or do they? Sources indicate a lot of tension behind the scenes and a break up / civil war cannot be ruled out. We need to keep our eye on the situation there.
Anonymous wrote : "Does the DDS need a bigger space fleet?"
Fleet wise i think we have a big enough force but as the territory we have to patrol and control increases then we need more patrol combatants. I think the size of the fleet as planned in the short term is right and UCAVs will help release ships for other duties.
Anonymous wrote : "There are many hostile races surrounding the UNP, what does the DDS need to do to maintain security?"
Partnerships with friendly races are key, we are building a good relationship with the Aritans now, the Dinos are our allies and the DDS are rebuilding are relationship with the Starbotians after the Rotarios years. We need to beef up our intelligence gathering systems though.
The Stripper wrote : "The DDS are getting slack and flabby, they need HARD discipline and HARD TIMES! I trust Gruppenfuhrer Wind Von Scorpion will whip the yung men into shape! He must be merciless on their yung bodies!"
Ohhhh boy!
Captain Ramirez wrote : "Decentralisation and the modernization of the fleet are both expensive businesses, will the DDS have to compromise on either to keep in the black?"
No i don't feel so, i have seen the short-medium term plan for the DDS and it is all worked out and properly costed and financed. Decentralisation will bring in a lot of money in any case, around Hexian City alone it is estimated selling of current sites will bring in 3.1 billion zarks. Of course you have to purchase and build new sites but these will be in much cheaper real estate areas so there will be some profit to be made which can be ploughed into better infrastructure. The Proximan government are keen for us to decentralise too, if we move to areas of the planet with high unemployment they are going to contribute to relocation and basic infrastructure costs.
Anonymous wrote : "I am a serving officer on a DDS warship, why is it taking only now to address issues with space combat we have known for years?! We are only now getting protective gear to protect us against blast fragments and proper damage control systems, why does it take lost warships and dead comrades before these things get done?"
I hear ya... Well i hate to try and pass the buck but lets face it, the DDS did not do that well in the Rotarios years. He was keen on bright and shiny (and thus expensive) capital projects like the Panther but cut funding on the less sexy but just as vital areas of maintaining the DDS. All ships in the combat fleet should just about now have received protective goggles and fragjackets for it's crews and the patrol fleet will follow suit by the autumn. We'll be looking to further improve this gear in future and will be looking at internal ship design and the materials use to miminise fragments and contain damage.
Finally Redjec wrote : "Here is my question, why do you still allow such a degrading, vile, gay LOUSE like Quarz to serve in the DDS? He is so gay he makes Liberace look butch! He should be kicked out of the DDS and executed at once!"
Because Redjec, you are a twat.
