Legate Dralson, ex-Dino Army and Security CouncilThe question El Diablo and the Dino Army command isn't the number of Dinomarks they need and can afford by 2116 or 2120 it is whether the Dinomark concept is still the right one in the changing galaxy we live in.
For decades the Dinos have based their space power around small, nimble and powerful warships they could build in large numbers. The current plans are to maintain large fleets of the main combat PT and the support XT, 222 examples combined. A big fleet! The problem with that is the DDS fleet (to take an example) is also big!
By the next decade the DDS could have over 50 Fleet Combat Ships and over 100 Medium Combat Ships. Are 70 Dinomark PTs the match for 50 Panthers and Solaris? Although the PT is an excellent ship i think the ratio needed in a combat scenario would be at least 2:1. For XTs maybe 3:1 or higher given a lot of XTs are older ships.
No the Dino fleet isn't big enough. To base a fleet around the Dinomark concept no longer cuts it. Our rivals have much bigger fleets than they had in the last century. They have gone for larger and more powerful ships in decent numbers and that has really eroded any advantage the Dinos have, especially as the Dinomark fleet has to perform other duties too like air and ground operations.
What the Dinos need to do is great a combat fleet based around its RS type consisting of around 20 larger warships (Panther size and class) to support the RS (which we could do with more of). This would be the combat fleet and then allow the PTs and XTs to be used for support and patrol.
The main problem with this is it is not the cost and time (although these would be big problems) but the cultural changes that would need to be made. For decades now the Dinomark through its various incarnations has been the face of Dino space power. Larger ships would need considerable doctrinal and cultural changes (the RS are rather unpopular for this very reason hence the small number built).
So the alternative would be to greatly increase the Dinomark fleet. Really El Diablo should have doubled the target for PT and XT deployment not salami sliced it. I really worry about how the Dino fleet would hope in a major war against a first rate power like the DDS, Utrek or even Clones. We simply do not have enough ships!
