Kalistani Major History

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KALMILINCO confirms meetings, cooperation with Indrala
“Kalistan will have a multi role fighter come hell or high water!”
Kaliburg, Ananto
March 31, 5098

As has been reported in Indralan Papers, and noted in brief in The Republic, Kalistani officials from the Ministry of Defense, KALMILINCO, and AeroKal have been holding meetings with Indralan counterparts in the Capital this week. The meetings come quick on the heels of the suspension of the LWF program due to structural design flaws and other issues.

“The fighter program is not dead, after all,” said defense spokeswoman Diana Shelby. “We consider this change of direction a good opportunity to continue our efforts to defend the Republic from external expansionism and militarism and increase security in the Northern Anantonese.”

When asked what this means for the growing bonds between Kalistan and Lourenne, Shelby was explicit. “We are still fully on track with Lourenne to restore their security position in our region. It is in our interest to have a secure Lourenne, and to aid ourselves in the defense of this area of mutual concern to both Kalistan and Lourenne. However: we have long expressed an ambition to bring our airforce and our navy into the modern era, and this proposed work with Indrala is the first sign that a country wants to put significant resources and effort into helping us achieve our strategic ends. Despite external nations attempting to stop us, Kalistan aims to go ahead and build regional defense at any cost, and it makes no difference to us, a nation which is, at the end of the day, neutral and not formally aligned with any collective security arrangement, who’s help we accept to accomplish this goal. If Lourenne wants to put resources and time in on this project, Kalistan fraternally welcomes them.”

Matters discussed are the joint development of a new fighter jet which will serve both air defense, interception, and ground attack functions, potential creation of both Kalistani and Indralan variants, research and construction of avionics, and development of new aerodynamic designs. “The plane, when completed, will be built by both Kalistan and Indrala, with no restrictions on its construction or deployment. Naturally, each country will design elements that serve its respective intended role. But splitting the cost of design and construction saves both of us resources, and allows both of us to acquire aircraft in our own terms.”

The spokeswoman was asked about closer political ties with Indrala as a result of the cooperation. “Closer political ties were not on the table,” she answered. “These meetings are strictly about cooperation over the design of this aircraft. Naturally success will likely lead to closer ties, but we would anticipate that Indrala would be far more interested in closer commercial and diplomatic relations, and Kalistan is under no circumstances interested in granting anyone any political concessions.”

Meetings will continue over the next few months and the spokeswoman said to expect the next updates to come from Indrala regarding design and specs.