The NS has admitted that the latest Mulberry 36A has been delayed because of a lack of an available worm drive for it. The NS factory for Electron W1A worm drives currently builds 3-4 a month and all of these have been used up by new and upgraded ships in the fleet over the last year. This has resulted in the NS not being able to build up a strategic reserve of "spare" worm drives.
NS Commander Knobhead last month said the NS needed a reserve of at least 10 drives (the current number is 3 and this includes a test engine used in engineering simulations and training - though it probably could be used on a ship). Knobhead has given the NS Engineering until the Summer to build up a sufficient store, this means that new ships may be delayed pending available drives.
Dr Forbidden has been looking at the feasibility of increasing production but says that although a surge of 5 a month would be possible for a couple of months any long term increase in production would need a substantial investment in the factory or maybe a second line. Dr Forbidden said as the NS is currently at peace with no short or medium term threats on the horizon it is unlikely to happen for now.
