Legate Dralson, ex-Dino Army and Security CouncilNew Arit is the third most powerful planet in the DTA, and of course defected from the DDS sphere of influence after the Bolitic-ABBO War in which their fleet was almost wiped out. Earlier this week i spoke to General Varkady who is the Aritan military liaison to the Dino Army about Aritan plans for their space fleet.
Dralson : General Varkady, after the war your fleet was nearly totally wiped out, how hard has it been to bring the Is Lanki back to life?
Varkady : Very difficult, the Aritans are not a rich people and we have always had to rely on the generosity of our partners. Luckily we do have a few ships left and that gives us a base to build upon.
DR : I know by 2115 your projected fleet ORBAT is for your Pentekonter-E as flagship supported by 7 Kalahati Tuuls and 14 Dinomark XTs. That gives you a decent fleet but you would not be able to support parallel operations and have little reserve. Do you agree with this assessment?
VA : Yes Dralson, its a harsh fact of life that the Aritan fleet will remain rather puny for the foreseeable future. We entered the war as a medium ranking power and now are left as a third rate one! By 2115 i think we will have returned to the middle rank though our fleet will be inferior to how it was pre-war. We should not forget though that the Aritan fleet does not exist in a vacuum but will be part of the DTA operationally.
DR : Does that mean you plan to rely on the Dinos and Sirikwanese?
VA : No but we do pull our weight in other ways, we have the second best army in the DTA for example. Even if our economy does recover we will not be a rich planet any time soon. However we do bring value to the DTA, our soldiers are good and our strategic location is very useful.
DR : So what are your fleet plans beyond 2114?
VA : We will be pursuing a mostly Dinomark fleet plan from now on. I expect us to exceed 14 Dinomark XTs and we would like to have some PTs. We also wish to take part in the PT replacement programme when the Dinos get around to starting it.
DR : So lets say by 2121, ten years time, what will the Is Lanki be like?
VA : Our Pentekonter and KTs will remain the core of our fleet until 2130, but by 2121 i think we will have over 20 XTs and a number of PTs. We will be fully integrated with our DTA allies and helping drive the future development of the DTA politically and militarily!
