After weeks of wrangling between
Captain Clone and
Benito Clone, who did not want his defence budget sacrificed too much, the
HCS have finally placed an order for replacement ships to restore the fleet to strength after the
Xenon defeat. The bill for new ships is 8.6 billion zarks on top of the existing budgets over the next 4 years. Year 1 (2.1 billion) will be covered from emergency funds though the rest of the extra shipbuilding budget is likely to have to come from the existing defence budget which means that some projects elsewhere may have to be delayed or even cancelled.
The ships ordered are :
- 20 Cosmos cruisers in a new-build standard called Cosmos G with ground attack capabilities
- 3 Soulaki SLBK battlecruisers
- 12 Shark frigates, these will be Shark H with minesweeping equipment
- The funds needed to restore the 7 Kalahati Tuul Bs and 2 purchased ex-Utrek Molentic Tuuls to MTM standard are also included in this budget
