What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 444 WA Certification (6400 monthly votes in May)

The one who made this suggestion was, of course, Kazimirz.

Whenever something seemed amiss regarding the Second Fleet or the Lost Empire, Kazimirz remained unusually adamant that it was related to the KBG.

He had previously scoffed at the IAA's reopening of the investigation into Hans, and kept lobbying to take advantage of the internal chaos in Russia to obtain their confidential files and information.

At the time, some people questioned why, if KBG was responsible, there had been no leaks since five years had passed since their demise.
Kazimirz's explanation was that such a secret would certainly not be given to ordinary people, but rather might be in a top-secret independent base that possesses information related to the "Dead Hand" system.

After all, although the alliance has collapsed, some key departments that can operate independently have remained intact, and we must further infiltrate them.

From then on, Kazimirz's determination to fight the bears was beyond doubt, and even Rams couldn't stand it anymore.

He gestured for the other person to calm down before awkwardly breaking the tense atmosphere:
"Gentlemen, our main topic is not to make baseless suspicions about anyone, but rather that the Empire is preparing to establish an organization specifically targeting the Second Fleet to cut off their technological and resource input... Please let our expert Mark explain this to us."

Mark nodded at the table, then held up a report from several technical experts from the three countries and said:

"As we all know, technology is always systematic and has its own unique style. Just like weapons manufactured by different countries in the same era, even if they are knock-offs, they will be modified according to their own circumstances. Then, by analyzing their characteristics, we can roughly see the industrial capabilities and development path behind them."

However, after analyzing the warships of the Second Fleet and the aircraft wreckage at the Pakistan Air Base, we concluded that:
They do possess some advanced technologies that are currently inexplicable, but in terms of overall industrial capabilities, their scale is small and outdated, lacking the capacity for in-depth transformation.

For example, they copied the 'Gnat' aircraft and the early 'Sidewinder' missile. These were created in a time with too many limitations, and their performance could have been greatly improved with just a few small modifications—but they didn't.

Combined with other evidence, this indicates the following fact:
They did not have an independent and comprehensive technology research and development system. Instead, they concentrated their elites and achieved great success in some areas that we had not noticed. Many modern technologies were probably stolen during the chaos of the world in the 50s to 70s, and then the channels were cut off.

Regardless of whether they have received systematic assistance from a major power, controlling the flow of technology and equipment from now on can prevent them from acquiring more new technologies.

After Mark finished his analysis, the British and the chicken representatives looked at each other in bewilderment, and then looked at the experts they had brought, who also nodded slightly in agreement.

The rooster, representing Claude, asked with some confusion:

"We already have relatively strict control over advanced military technology, so what's next?"

"No, outdated civilian technologies are just as important!"

Rams tapped the table lightly:

"Many of the technologies used in mosquitoes and early rattlesnakes have been far surpassed by modern civilian factories, while the technologies used in home appliances, CD players, and high-end tape recorders, if developed in the 50s, could have given rise to many groundbreaking weapons."

My suggestion is to establish an organization to monitor and control world trade, allowing counterfeit technology to flow to the Second Fleet through high-risk areas.

"The Wassennar Arrangement?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Costa subconsciously uttered a name.

As a representative of the British, he was overly sensitive to this type of organization.

The most famous organization that controlled the flow of technology was Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM), but it lost its significance after the collapse of the coalition and was dissolved in 94.

However, last year the Empire spearheaded the "Watson-Laar Agreement Organization," which can be considered a weakened version of COCOM. It has no mandatory agreements and relies entirely on the members to make their own decisions, so it has no strong binding force.

Now that Rams mentioned it, he immediately remembered this incident.

"Yes, we hope to further strengthen the Watson-Larr Agreement to enable it to monitor the destination of technology of members involved in global trade."

To put it more clearly, it involves classifying technologies. Any international technology transaction involving our designated scope must undergo review and approval by the Watson-Large organization, which is known as WA level certification. For example, WA-1 represents general public technology, WA-2 represents basic industrial technology, WA-3 represents high-end technology…

Now Claude and Costa understood.

Familiar formula, familiar taste.

This is somewhat similar to how international financial transactions require IIF international financial certification, product transactions require 3C certification, and now technology transactions require WA certification.

Previously, this was only subject to review by the exporter themselves, but now it is mandatory to accept WA certification!

Whether it can effectively contain the Second Fleet is unknown, but the status of WA member states will become extremely high.

They are major industrialized countries and centers of advanced technology. It's as if sellers have a legitimate reason to unite and implement purchase restrictions, and then they can completely dictate the pricing power themselves.

"That's an absolutely brilliant suggestion!"

Costa couldn't help but clap and cheer, while Claude on the other side nodded repeatedly, saying:

"This is essential in Europe, and we will respond immediately!"

Rams was pleased to see their reaction; the proposal actually had a bit of his personal bias in it.

There are two views within the empire regarding technology transfer:

Supporters hope to reduce costs by doing this, so that as long as they have an invincible fleet, they only need to produce key components and outsource the rest to second- or third-rate industrial companies.

Opponents, including Rams, argued that as much industry as possible should be preserved.

Although he looked down on Tokyo University of Technology when negotiating the Type 001, he couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency from a place that could quietly produce three super battleships.

The enhanced WA Agreement can also be used to restrict the Empire's own technology outflow, keeping most of the factories that want to leave for a longer period of time.

……

After the meeting, the IAA shared a message with Kazimilz and Rams:
Third Brother is fiddling with mushroom eggs.

Kazimirz: "Is the intelligence source reliable?"

"It's very reliable. One of our agents obtained convincing evidence that the raw material purification work started a long time ago. Our experts believe that the test explosion is still about six months away."

“Wait, I remember they did Project Mushroom more than ten or twenty years ago.”

Rams suddenly remembered something, and an IAA agent beside him helped him recall:

"That was 23 years ago, but back then it was just a very imperfect device, a failure. This time it's very likely to be a qualified, real thing."

"..."

Kazimirz stared at him for a moment, then posed a profound question:
"Who helped them? The North, or the Second Fleet? The investigation into the mosquito gnat technology leak doesn't seem to have found anything. Could it be that they did a very discreet job and kept it from us?"

(End of this chapter)