240: Chapter 238 The Equipment of an Army 240: Chapter 238 The Equipment of an Army Antoncel left with the money, three million US dollars, in cash.
Maide kept his word.
As soon as Gao Yang informed Maide that everything went smoothly and that they need not leave before returning but could actually stay, Maide, without hesitation, dispatched men with two bags of cash directly to the Cloldylin.
Three million US dollars directly became Antoncel’s start-up capital.
As for how much each person in Gao Yang’s team would get from those three million, they would slowly figure it out later.
Of course, Bruce’s share was also indispensable.
Little Donnie would directly transfer his money to a designated account, and the commissions they had previously received were all stored with Little Donnie.
The money owed to Bruce had already been transferred in full to his account.
Originally, Gao Yang and his team needed to first escort the Cloldylin out of the Gulf of Aden to prevent it from being hijacked by other pirates.
However, after the Cloldylin was hijacked once, the company that Fernando worked for had contacted everyone who could help, and now a warship was on its way.
The Cloldylin could reach the main shipping lanes under the escort of the warship.
Although it wasn’t possible to enjoy the privilege of being escorted by a warship alone, the Cloldylin would be able to join a convoy escorted by a warship after reaching the main shipping lanes.
Everything had already been arranged, which is why Gao Yang and his team didn’t have to stay on the Cloldylin.
It wasn’t until dawn the next day that Gao Yang and his team returned to land.
However, they didn’t immediately start training because there was something more important to do before that.
After landing, the busy Gao Yang and his team didn’t rest, but immediately held a small meeting with Maide and Abu to discuss what specifically to buy.
Maide was completely ignorant about combat.
Abu had been a pirate; he had successfully hijacked two ships, but when it came to building a military force, Abu’s experience clearly wasn’t enough.
Also, none of Maide’s men could offer written suggestions on the matter.
Therefore, regarding future strength of the Skull Gang, Gao Yang and his companions, as outsiders, could play a decisive role.
Maide wanted to buy many things, and he had enough money to provide a much better life for thousands of people.
He needed to fulfill the promises he had made to the people around him, so food was most important.
However, to protect their food supplies, they needed a strong military force, making arms the most important topic, the first to be brought up.
The problem was that their way of communicating was too troublesome now, with several different languages being used—Chinese, English, Somali.
No matter which language was used, there were people who didn’t understand it.
Therefore, they reluctantly chose to speak in English, so that Abu only needed to translate for Maide.
When both parties agreed that military force was the most important, Gao Yang seriously said, “If you intend to establish a strong military force, I need to know your thoughts.
Do you plan to have a small but elite force to achieve quality, or do you want a large force to win by numbers?
Of course, the quality of their training must at least be acceptable.”
“Small but elite!”
“The more, the better.”
Maide and Abu gave different answers, but Maide spoke in Somali and Abu in English.
After each had given an answer, Abu quickly translated Maide’s words.
Abu clearly deferred to Maide in every matter.
After giving a different answer from Maide, Maide immediately shrugged and said, “Listen to him, small but elite is better.
But with small numbers, you can’t succeed without good equipment, and good equipment is very expensive.
In Somalia, everything has its price, except human life.”
Gao Yang shook his head and said, “If you plan to establish a real military force, you can’t have this kind of mindset.
Whether rich or poor, human life is always the most precious.
Moreover, a hundred experienced veterans are much more valuable than a thousand rookies who can only shoot.”
Abu shrugged and said, “It’s all up to you.
You are the military advisors, after all.”
Gao Yang laughed heartily and said, “We’re just instructors, not military advisors.
If we were advisors, you’d have to pay us more.
Okay, just kidding.
Well, if it were up to me, you could establish a small but elite force.
It doesn’t have to be very powerful, but it should be the most powerful in Somalia.
Of course, numbers are also important.
Numbers alone aren’t enough, but quality without numbers is even worse.
Therefore, the most suitable military is one that’s reasonably sized, with a mix of high and low equipment quality and personnel skills.”
After waiting for Abu to finish translating, Maide said in a grave tone, “You’re right, life is the most precious thing.
So I’m willing to do anything that can reduce casualties.
As for the mix of personnel, you make the decision.”
Gao Yang gave it some serious thought and then said, “One to ten, I think that ratio should work.
We’ll start by training a hundred people, then they can act as instructors to train others.
That way, you’ll quickly have an elite force and a larger army with sufficient numbers.
Of course, how strong your larger army can be depends on how well your instructors train them.”
Maide said somberly, “You can buy equipment according to the military composition you have in mind, as long as we still have enough money, buy whatever you need.”
As for what kind of arms to buy, Gao Yang couldn’t decide on his own.
He asked Glolov and the others, “What do you think we should buy?”
Without hesitation, Glolov said, “They don’t lack guns, but their guns are too lousy.
Change the guns, we must change the guns, and we also need heavy weapons.
Of course, tanks and artillery are unrealistic, but at the very least we need heavy firepower capable of breaching fortifications.”
Gao Yang laughed and said, “If we’re changing guns, it’s definitely going to be AKs.
Everyone knows how to use an AK, and the most important thing is that they are cheap.
I can’t think of a better choice than AKs.
However, I believe that if we want to train an elite force, we should use AK74s.
Smaller caliber is easier to control and increases accuracy, and there’s almost no difference in appearance and operation from the AK47.
Reliable, durable, affordable, sufficiently powerful, and the ammunition is easy to find, so let’s go with AK74s.
We don’t need to discuss this, do we?”
Glolov chuckled, “Indeed, no need to discuss that.
As for heavy firepower, it seems there’s no need to discuss that either.
RPG-7 for rocket launchers.
Is there a better choice than this?
In addition, we need mortars as well, light ones will do, and there are many options to choose from.
Plus, hand grenades and landmines, Uriyangko has everything we need.”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “The RPG-7 rocket launchers need specific personnel.
I think we could also have M72 or RPG-26, of course, I don’t mean to replace the RPG-7, but rather that each soldier could carry one without it affecting the formation.
This would be very effective in increasing firepower.
At least in Somalia, I can’t think of a stronger individual soldier firepower than an M72 in each soldier’s hands.”
After the ultra-light M72 rocket launcher was introduced, the former Soviet Union quickly followed up with the ultra-light, non-formation RPG-22, and later developed the RPG-26 based on the RPG-22, equipping their forces on a large scale.
With these ultra-light rocket launchers, ordinary infantry could easily destroy light armored targets and fortifications.
On Somali battlefields, this definitely counted as heavy firepower.
At that point, Li Jinfang joined in excitedly, “Rocket artillery, large-scale saturation bombardment with rocket artillery, we don’t need to argue about this, do we?
It has to be the Type 63 107mm rocket launcher.”
Gao Yang and the others shared a knowing smile.
Indeed, for the Skull Gang and even guerrilla forces around the world, there was no more popular ultra-light rocket launcher than the Type 63 107mm.
To say the least, the Type 63 107mm rocket launcher’s prevalence and status in the heavy weapons family equated to that of the AK47 in the light weapons family.
The Huaxia military are experts in guerrilla warfare, and it was no surprise that the Huaxia-designed Type 63 rocket launcher was extremely suitable for guerrilla and mountain warfare.
In Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the Type 63 107mm rocket launcher was the American soldiers’ nightmare.
Of course, not only Americans suffered from it, as the Type 63 107mm had made its presence felt worldwide.
Gao Yang and his group had been bombed by the Type 63 107mm in Libya, and the Green Mamba once used this type of launcher to save their lives.
The Type 63 107mm rocket launcher has a simple structure and is very light.
On flat ground, one person could pull it, and it can also be disassembled at will.
One person could carry two barrels or two rockets, and it only takes three or four people to assemble an incomplete state launcher.
Actually, the Type 63 107mm can be used without assembly; just a single barrel can launch the rockets.
And even without a barrel, it’s still usable.
If one is particular, a pile of earth and stones works, but if not or there’s no other choice, just putting the rockets on the ground and rigging a few batteries and a couple of wires will do the job.
With a bit of electricity, the rockets launch with a swoosh, not much harder than setting off a firework.
With a maximum range of eight kilometers, it can launch twelve rockets in a short time.
Deploy a few Type 63 107mm rocket launchers, and you can cover a large area.
Plus, both the launchers and rockets are cheap, easy to learn and operate.
If the intention is to establish a basic artillery team, there is absolutely no better choice than the Type 63 107mm.
This is a consensus among guerrilla forces and impoverished troops worldwide.
As far as rocket artillery goes, it definitely has to be the Type 63 107mm rocket launchers, and for regular tubed artillery, Gao Yang didn’t plan to buy any.
Maintenance, usage, price, mobility, training – from any aspect, they were not suitable for the Skull Gang, so the heavy weapons were just rocket launchers, mortars, and Type 63 107mm rocket launchers.
Of course, for the Skull Gang, heavy machine guns also had to be considered as part of the heavy weaponry arsenal.
After deciding on what heavy weapons were needed, Gao Yang asked in a firm voice, “Anything else we need to add?”
Cui Bo immediately said, “Sniper rifles, snipers, we must have these.
Small investment with huge returns, they are force multipliers.”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “Definitely.
Well, like this, we should train a batch of marksmen to work alongside squads, weapons will be either SVD or M21.
We also need to train some specialized snipers.
As for weapons, we should choose something that offers good value for money.
For precision, we might as well go with Remington M700.
Of course, we don’t need to settle on these guns right away; we’ll see what Uriyangko can provide and decide based on what’s most suitable.”
Bruce, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up, “We also need an imposing and sharp-looking military uniform, not necessary for everyone, but elite and officers must have it.”
(To be continued.
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