Initiative #25 : Ship Building Plan 2110/11

The Orchid in the last of her 25 daily initiatives has outlined a provisional ship building plan for April 2110 up to the end of March 2111. The plan is huge with 22 new ships to be built in the 12 months though controversially transport types will feature little in the plan to allow the DDS' shipyards to concentrate on combat ships. Three new ship classes will also make their debut. The plan :

• 2 Missileer 21B (completing the class)
• 1 Olympus 23A (first of class)
• 3 Panther 35A (completing the class)
• 2 Solaris 37C
• 2 Freedom 41B (first of class, built by Raegris)
• 4 Falcon 47A (built by Dinos)
• 2 Pangaea 62A (part-built by Clones)
• 3 Oceania 63A (part-built by commercial partner)
• 1 Tethys Ocean 65A (first of class)
• 1 Extender 73A
• 1 Marconi 81A (completing the class)

The plan entails building 3 carriers, 5 destroyers, 6 frigates/patrol ships, 6 amphibious warfare ships, 1 oiler and 1 electronic warfare ship.

Notable by it's absence in the plan is the resumed production of the Rome corvette. These have now been put back until late 2111. The SOT is also delayed until the completion of the Isometric ILU which will be completed by the end of 2110 though SOT production will not resume immediately due to budget pressures.

Initiative #24 : MAV development project

The Orchid has awarded a 11 million zark contract to a Solaris technology company to develop a range of Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) for the DDS. These will be used for surveilance, battle field spotting and covert strike. One type Aerodyne Inc. have already developed is the size and shape of a dragonfly but has EO and IR sensors with a range of up to 5km.

The MAV has been used by UNP anti-terrorist troops for investigating a room before entering it. It is expected the Prowler units will also begin using the MAV. Another MAV under development is also "bug" sized and is the shape of a beetle. It is designed for reconnaissance and also attack. In a demonstration a beetle spiked the water supply in an insurgent base with a sleep drug which allowed the special forces team to easily pacify them without risk.

Initiative #23 : IWC2 chosen as standard DDS personal infantry weapon

The Orchid has announced that the IWC2 has been chosen as the new standard personal infantry weapon for the New DDS Army. The IWC2, an updated version of the IWC which was first developed during the Clone Wars, will replace the mixture of weapons currently in use. The IWC2 will be built at 3 factories, on Proxima 7 and New Arit.

The rifle is considered roughly comparable to late AR-100s in use by the HCS. 250,000 have been ordered and deliveries will begin next month.

Initiative #22 : Temporary Battlefield Satellite Communications

The DDS have developed a cheap and "disposable" low-orbit satellite for battlefield communications. Until now ships in orbit have provided communications for ground forces but this is wasteful in terms of ship deployment. Under a new scheme an array of satellites will be deployed over a battlezone to provide secure high bandwidth communications and targeting information.

The satellites will be built on demand by a custom built automated fabrication facility which will be carried by an Extender or Provider transport and is around the size of a standard cargo container. The facility will be able to produce a new satellite in minutes and they will have an estimated life-span of 6 months. Following use existing satellites will be "recycled".

Initiative #21 : Patrol boats for Maritime Support Regiment

The DDS Army's Maritime Support Regiment will receive 8 new Atlantic class patrol boats designed and built by a Proxima 5 company. The boats will be used for offshore and inland waters operations and will be armed with a 20mm cannon and a VLS firing dual purpose missiles.

The Orchid said that the DDS are looking into building a blue water navy at a later stage but at the moment will restrict themselves to mainly the inland waters environment to support land operations.

Initiative #20 : Formation of Amphibious Command

The Orchid has re-organised the DDS' fast growing amphibious warfare resources into Amphibious Command. The Command will consist of 3 amphibious flotillas, 1 of which will be always on a 12 hour standby, 1 of the others of a 3 day standby and the other on a week standby. It is likely the flotillas will be shared between Proxima 7, Solaris and Liberation.

A flotilla will be based around a Pangaea 62A ship which will be the command ship and include Oceania 63A ships and Falcon 47A ships too and other transports and later on Tethys Ocean 65A support carriers. The DDS is likely to test out this new flotilla structure with an amphibious exercise soon.

Initiative #19 : Greater independence to sector leaders

The Orchid has announced that "sector leaders", in other words the commanders in charge of the major commands of the DDS like DDS North, DDS Central, DDS Engineering et cetera will have greater independence in terms of their budgets and operational control.

"We want a more de-centralised and agile DDS." she told reporters, "We will replace iron control with an effective monitoring and feedback system with a clear objective path."

Initiative #18 : Published update schedule

The Orchid has announced that in future the update schedule for warships will be published and available in the public domain. Up until now the update schedule is rather vague and kept a secret, commentators having to guess when an ILU or MULE is due.

"The DDS is about openness and knowledge as knowledge is empowering." she said at a visit to DDS Engineering. She did not say exactly when the update list would be published.

Initiative #17 : Upgrades for earlier F-10S

The first batch of F-10S Shark 2100 fighters will be upgraded to the SEP standard which is the standard of the third batch which will begin construction later this year. The modified F-10S will have the wing and other aerodynamic improvements, the new databus and IR emission reduction.

The second batch, the F-10SIM will also be upgraded at a later date, probably when there are enough new build SEPs to allow for the planes to be taken out of service.

Initiative #16 : Object Blue Gamma

The Orchid has announced funding for a new phase in DDS Research's superluminal UCV development work. Object Blue A was a major project carried out last year that included operating the research ship SS Isometric unmanned.

In a new 9 million zark contract SS Isometric will again be modified for unmanned operation in a new series of tests called Object Blue Gamma. This will build on the earlier work and look into automated repair and maintenance systems as well as continuing the work on unmanned superluminal operation and integration with manned assets.

Initiative #15 : Reinforcement of DDS South

Knobhead has announced he has received an extra 17 million zarks from The Orchid to carry out some immediate improvements to orbital facilities around Liberation and other planets in DDS South. Liberation's main space dock will receive an armament upgrade and a new auxiliary communications node.

A squadron of F-10 fighters armed with TPM-A anti-satellite/space ship missiles will also be deployed to the planet by the early Summer.

Initiative #14 : Commercial Activities

The Orchid has said that the DDS cannot rely alone on UNP funding and will need to find more and more money itself if it expects to expand and develop as planned. The Orchid cited a prime example the joint company with the Raegris to sell export versions of DDS warships which yielded well over a billion zarks to DDS funds last year.

At a joint media briefing with Finance Officer The Shiner The Orchid outlined some other areas of commercial revenue opportunity including weather reporting and communications which can piggyback on existing DDS infrastructure. "We produce weather data anyway for the DDS so why not sell a version of this data for commercial and civil use too? Our data network typically runs at 30-40% capacity in peace time so there is opportunity there to sell the spare bandwidth."

The Orchid has set a target of 500 million zarks a year revenue from commercial opportunities (not including exports) by 2112.

Initiative #13 : Personal Development

The Orchid has announced that DDS staff will be encouraged to take personal development classes. "DDS staff are on a journey, a journey of holistic self-actualisation!" she said at a media briefing. Classes staff will be strongly encouraged to attend will be diversity awareness, manual handling and personal time management.

The latter is very strongly encouraged. The Orchid believes very strongly in arriving on time and is understood to have been annoyed by some of the lateness of senior DDS officers to some meetings.

Initiative #12 : Deep Space Intelligence Probe

The DDS has issued a 42 million zark contract to build 6 Deep Space Intelligence Probes which will be located at secret places around the DDS. These unmanned stations will include very sensitive passive sensors ranging from Elint/Siginit sensors to shorter range EO sensors. The probes will continually transmit raw data to the nearest DDS planetary base for processing and analysis.

AI routines will be used on a first pass to quickly detect possible enemy action or activity. Analysis teams from the new Intelligence Office will then conduct deeper searches of the available data.

Initiative #11 : New DDS Light Tank competition

The DDS have issued a specification for a light tank, called New DDS Light Tank (NDLT) at the moment (hopefully a more imaginative name will be thought up later on). Three arms manufacturers including an Aritan company are likely to submit designs.

The NDLT will be an easily transportable armoured vehicle able to offer fire support and reconnaissance duties. Bids are not expected to be returned until late in the year.

Initiative #10 : ICT reorganisation

The Orchid has announced that centralised ICT systems in the DDS will be reorganised and rationalised around a new DDS Intranet. Over the years a number of separate systems have been developed including DDS Engineering's Data.Net and DDS Communication's ComNET.

The Orchid has ordered the formation of a new DDS ICT Division and combine the various computing, network, information and communications efforts across the DDS in this new division. This will simplify and rationalise DDS computing and in the long run save a lot of money.

Initiative #9 : New Intelligence Office

The DDS are to centralise intelligence gathering in a new Intelligence Office which will be led by Inspector Black Hat. The Office will handle human (or alien) intelligence, elint/sigint and work with DDS Security's counter-intelligence officers.

The Orchid said that intelligence was the key to the future and the DDS needed to bring together it's currently chaotic and ad-hoc approach. Black Hat has been promoted to Inspector-General.

Initiative #8 : Motivational posters

Motivational posters showing senior DDS personnel such as The Orchid and Redjec exhorting the DDS to greater acts of professionalism have begun to be put up at key locations around the various DDS establishments. General Redjec said, "Sloth will be vanquished by a call to professionalism!"

"Obedience in the law will be encouraged by these posters." Redjec said, "Though if any wish to disagree with that Mr Dump will be happy to have a nice little chat with them."

Initiative #7 : Improved long range sensors for Marconi fleet

The Marconi EW / Elint fleet will receive upgrades in their long-range sensors among other updates to improve their intelligence gathering and processing capabilities. The Marconi ships will receive new radio receivers, improved computers and better crew facilities to allow for a larger complement of intelligence officers. Communications facilities will also be upgraded to allow for more data to be sent to planetary bases for further processing.

The Orchid has stated that the DDS must greatly improve it's intelligence gathering processes as part of the new proactive policy. These Marconi updates will just be a part of that.

Initiative #6 : Improving fitness of DDS personnel

For her latest initiative The Orchid is taking the lead and took part in a volleyball match between HQ staff and Team Redjec. The HQ staff won 42-0. Afterwards she said that DDS fitness had to improve. "Too many DDS are lazy these days, content to play out their techno-warfare sat down. But fitness gives one a distinct advantage in warfare thats why all DDS will have to undergo a 10km cross country run once a week. Those who do not complete the circuit will be disciplined..."

"There will be no excuses, all will have to take part (unless you are ill). Everyone from the lowliest toilet attendant like Trojan Warlord to the likes of Redjec."

Redjec was reported to be very unhappy looking and was sick into a bucket.