Hutori

[ChitinKal]

Major Bilateral Trade Deal Signed Between Liore, Hutori

[RileyHP]

Houston Industries Invests in DMA Motors

Houston Industries and DMA Motors have announced an agreement that will see Houston invest 500,000,000 Lira into DMA in exchange for a 49% stake in the company. The cash influx will allow DMA to begin large scale production of their Model-1 self-driving electric sedan. The company says they have already delivered more than 1,000 Model-1s since launching last fall, with another 42,000 orders placed. DMA says that with this investment, they will be able to deliver every current order, and produce an additional 100,000 cars by the end of the year.


Mary and Richard Houston, CEO and CFO of Houston Industries sit down with HBC after the announcement.

Houston Industries issued a statement following the announcement and expressed their excitement with the deal. "Houston Industries is proud to partner with such a bright young group of entrepreneurs and their fantastic company DMA Motors. We are always looking at ways we can support Hutorian entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground, and when we heard the story of DMA Motors and the passion these people have for both automotive excellence and environmental stewardship, we just had to be involved. This investment will allow high quality, environmentally friendly, self-driving cars of the future to be built right here in Hutori."

The deal is also expected to create as many as 3,200 new jobs in Axminster.

[RileyHP]

Successful Election Night Leaves Liberals as Kingmakers


Liberal leader James Taylor takes the stage at his election night HQ.

After a wild election night, the Monarchists have lost their majority, losing a net 18 seats, and the newly formed Liberal Party has gained 67 seats in the House of Parliament. Meanwhile the opposition Republicans took the larger hit to their caucus, losing a net 49 MPs. The Liberals found their greatest success in Falristan where they received more than 2.3 million votes and won 18 seats. With the new minority situation, it is likely Prime Minister Joshua Woodbury will remain in office in a coalition government with, or as a minority government with confidence supplied by the Liberals, however no commitment has been made from either side at the time of publishing.

In his election night address, Liberal leader James Taylor said he was ecstatic with the results and is ready to hit the ground running on day 1. Taylor says his Liberals will support and work with whichever party shows commitment to environmental responsibility, women's rights and growing the middle class, among other issues. When Parliament re-opens in the coming weeks, all eyes will be on Bekenial.

[RileyHP]

Liberals Agree To Coalition With Monarchists


James Taylor rises for his inaugural address to Parliament, in which he would announce the Liberal's agreement to the proposed coalition government.

Liberal leader James Taylor rose for the first time in Parliament today and announced his Liberal caucus would be supporting the proposed coalition government with Prime Minister Joshua Woodbury and the Monarchists. The proposal will see 7 Liberal MPs be appointed to the cabinet, along with 8 Monarchist MPs, including the Prime Minister. It is intriguing to see the Monarchists give the Liberals essentially half the cabinet, given the large difference in seats the parties hold in parliament. However speaking with reporters after his speech, James had this to say;

"It was important to us that we have a meaningful voice at the cabinet table, and in our talks with the Prime Minister, we found him to be very keen on working together and giving our caucus a strong voice. I'm thrilled to be appointed and I know my fellow Liberal appointees are as well. Our caucus is excited to get to work!"

It remains unclear exactly what Taylor's role in the government will be with his appointment as a Minister Without Portfolio, however pundits are expecting him to play a large part in crafting government policy.

[colonelvesica]

Hutorian Broadcasting Channel
International News

Hutorian Armed Forces Increases Presence in Davostan


Elements of the 3rd Fighter-Bomber Squadron at Cederstrom Air Force Base
ooc; Elemdorf Air Force Base, rl source; https://media.defense.gov/2019/Feb/06/2 ... 32-009.JPG

The Hutorian Armed Forces have announced a quiet increase in their troop compliments in their four operating bases in Davostan starting immediately, for the first time since 4815, when the last great drawdown of soldiers and remained at their near constant state. Prior to the announcement Hutorian Forces in Davostan consisted of two Regiments of ground troops, the 18th Search and Rescue Wing and the Western Squadron of the First Fleet, made up of a pair of Liberty class Destroyers and a pair of Bekenial class Frigates.

Minister of National Defence Gregory Bishop has announced that the increase of troop counts will include two additional Regiments, at both Fort Berrigan and Fort Cunningham. It was also announced that rather then rotating Battalions of the Regiments that were currently there, the Ministry of Defence would begin rotating the full Regiments between their parent Divisions, increasing the total amount of troops on the ground from roughly 2,000 to between 10,000 and 20,000 depending on the Regiment and requirements of the unit, though still fair less then the original 200,000 ground troops these two bases were meant to hold.

The 1st and 5th Fighter Wings would begin rotating in Fighter Squadrons into Cederstrom Air Force Base to join the 18th Search and Rescue Wing, each providing a pair of Fighter or Fighter-Bomber Squadrons each, generally to be either HF-44A Maelstorms or HF-35D Super Blizzards. Cederstrom Air Force was once home to the entire Western Air Command.

Finally the Western Squadron of the First Fleet would be joined by a Sentinel class Submarine, and an additional two Bekenial class Frigates.

The total increase of troop counts was stated to be related to ongoing issues with NACTO dealing with the AEFNS, with the incident in Kundrati sparking a review of Hutorian defence capabilities in "endangered" nations. When questioned Hutorian Minister of National Defence stated simply.

Under the Treaty of Bindoberg we are entitled to leases on bases in all three of the mainland provinces of Davostan and Kivonia. We are entitled to increase and decrease our troops at those bases at our discretion. We have no doubt that the security situation in Davostan is secure, but having seen the damage the AEFNS did in Kundrati, we have collectively decided to not take chances.

[colonelvesica]

Hutorian Broadcasting Channel
National News

Hutorian Armed Forces Complete Centennial Review


Then Vice Admiral, Ronald Ericson, current Chief of the Defence Staff, at a ceremony at Axminister Naval Base, five years ago
ooc: rl source; https://www.cp24.com/polopoly_fs/1.4464 ... /image.jpg

Hutori's top military commander, Admiral Ronald "Ron" Ericson, has completed his long awaited review on the current status of the Hutorian Armed Forces, and his intended direction for them for the next century, following Hutorian tradition of performing major reviews once a century to ensure the Hutorian Armed Forces are prepared for new conflicts. His findings concluded that the Hutorian Armed Forces were massively inflated, despite their lack of need, and while certain branches of the Armed Forces remained amongst the best in the world, with the Royal Hutorian Air Force singled out for their top of the line tech and considered to be amongst the best combat doctrines in the world, the rest of the Hutorian Armed Forces didn't fare as well.

The Hutorian Royal Army was targeted first, because of it's still inflated size left over from the Macon War of a century ago. At the height of the Macon War, and during the post war occupations of Telamon and Davostan, the Hutorian Army kept 1.4 million soldiers in uniform, with almost a third of them occupying the two countries. Following the end of the occupation, and the slow scale back of combat forces, the Federal Republic scaled back the active Army to 900,000, in the Regular forces and almost half a million reservists. This was retained for numerous decades, even in light of the lack of enemies for Hutori to fight, and kept a bloated defence budget and overly bloated military bureaucracy, that was combined with a nationalization of the nation's defence industries at one point. Without the purchase and research of new equipment, the Royal Army stagnated to the point that while it's likely Macon's largest, still stacking in at 450,000 Regular Force troops and a quarter million reservists, it's equipment is beginning to show it's age, and the military bureaucracy is still overly bloated.

Admiral Ericson has stated that his immediate plan was reduce the overall number of formations from 18 Combat Divisions and 16 Reserve Brigades by at least half, and invest the money saved from reducing the total number of soldiers in unform directly into R&D and equipment procurement.

The Royal Army of Hutori has few enemies it needs to fight, and as been proven time and time again, the size of the Army matters not as much as the equipment and the doctrine they are utilizing. We proved this historically multiple times, and it's time to return to those roots where the Royal Army was a smaller but highly elite force that foes feared to face, rather then a large unwieldly force.

Well exact numbers haven't been released, insiders at the Department of National Defence have stated in advance that Admiral Ericson, working with the Army Chief of Staff, would be abolishing the Corps level unit that have been retained since the Macon War, and move back to the Army Command model, and leave the individual Divisions and Brigades as the largest possibly combat commands. More emphasis on training would be placed on the individual Regiments and Battalions of the overall Divisions to ensure unit cohesion as part of the greater whole. Further the Royal Army would be upgrading all of their ground based capabilities. The H7 series of rifles and H8 series of Carbines, would be receiving obligatory upgrades and new variants to fight the new fights, while older model vehicles would be replaced with massive contracts to Ross Motors. One of the few highlights of note for the Royal Army was actually their armored vehicles, with the Hutorian Leopard 2H8E, purchased directly from Dorvik, are still considered amongst the most powerful tanks in the world, and still considered the mainstay of the striking power of the Royal Army. The Hutorian Royal Armored Corps was one of few specialities in the Army to escape harsh criticism, that and the Hutorian Royal Airborne Corps.

The Royal Marine Corps, Hutori's other ground based combat force, escaped relatively unscatched, with the Royal Hutorian Navy having worked to keep the Marine Corps at a size they could support. Currently fielding 40,000 Regular Forces Marines and 10,000 Reservists, the 4 Brigades of Marines are still considered Hutori's preeminent expeditionary warfare specialists. Admiral Ericson stated that while the combat doctrine and the training of the Marine Corps was still solid, they would be going through obligatory upgrades for their equipment. While he wouldn't state whether or not Hutori would reduce the overall size of the Marine Corps, he did state that the two current Marine Corps bases in Adelia and Kenai would remain Hutori's only.

As stated above the Royal Hutorian Air Force, came out of the review in the best shape, with Admiral Ericson stating few if anything things would have to be adjusted to the Air Force. 18 Wings Commands are spread over Hutori, with the majority being held by Hutori's vaunted Fighter Wings. The Fighter Wings field amongst the best aircraft in the world including the HF-44A Maelstorm, considered still one of the best fighter inceptors in the world, and of course the mainstay of Hutorian air power, the HF-35D Super Blizzard, the modernized and upgraded variant of the HF-35A Blizzard and E Export variants. The HF-35D is widely acknowledged as the best multirole Fighter in the northern hemisphere, with only the modern variants of the Unionfighters coming close to it. Hutori's aircraft inventory is incredibly diverse but the Royal Hutorian Air Force have made it a point to either upgrade the units in the field, or replace them as soon as was convenient, allowing the Air Force to remain, without any shadow of doubt the single most advanced and modern branch of the Hutorian military.

Ironically, Admiral Ericson had the harshest critique for his own service branch. The Hutorian Royal Navy was once considered the best Navy in the entire world, with few if any challengers that could take on it's full might one on one. While some efforts were made prior to the Macon War to upgrade and modernize it's capability, much was left through the gaps and subsequently the Royal Navy, also the most expensive service branch of the overall Hutorian Armed Forces, has been left a shell of it's former self. Admiral Ericson put forward a radical thought to permenanetly reduce the number of Aircraft Carriers in service to four, possibly of an upgraded Graham class design, to expand the Bekenial Frigate and Liberty Destroyer fleets, but also to introduce offensive Cruiser classes, to be designed at a later date and time, but also to at a minimum double the Hutorian Submarine Fleet. Admiral Ericson noted this would not involve the Sentinel class Submarines, Hutori's mainstay nuclear submarines, but the construction of a brand new class of Submarine, currently under the code name of the 4900-Class, and it would be co-developed with Dorvik. Few details were released, but rumors within the Hutorian DND have stated it would be a dedicated attack submarine.

The last phase of the defence review encompassed the more specialized and classified branches of the Hutorian Armed Forces, including it's Strategic Weapons, Special Operators, and critically it's Cyber Warfare branch. These particular areas of the Hutorian Armed Forces are heavily classified, but some notes released simply stated that Hutorian Special Forces were still what they always were, and would simply be going through some refinement. Admiral Ericson confirmed that when it came to Strategic Weapons that Hutori's former stockpile of weaponized chemical and biological weapons were either destroyed or surrendered to the Department of Science's highly classified Defence Research Institute for custody. Admiral Ericson also confirmed that Hutori had successfully destroy a full 10% of it's original nuclear arsanel as had been negotiated at the Aldegar Conference several years ago, which included the successful destruction of the nuclear warheads that had been attached to the Sentinel class Submarines that had been sold tom Dolgava, and the nuclear weapons nominally attached to Hutori's HB-22 Emancipator bombers.

[colonelvesica]

Hutorian Broadcasting Channel
Entertainment News

Hutori Selects Newest FOMAT Choice


Hutorian Band, The Gang, playing their hit, Rock Stars
ooc: original source http://www.loudmouthrockreviews.com/upl ... 1_orig.jpg

After a two year search, Hutori has selected it's band that will be going to FOMAT-X in Gadurios and ultimately came up with dark horse contender The Gang and their surprise hit, Rock Star.
The Gang have been one of Hutori's hidden musical gems for years, rarely playing at bigger events, and weren't seen at either the Acton Music Festival or the Carter City Music Festival. Rock Star, which highlights their rise through the music industry and their personal struggles as musicians; the Hutorian music scene has been widely quiet for years as most professional musicians prefer to travel to Kalistan rather then stay in Hutori.

The Gang's journey to FOMAT-X and Falristan's appearance at FOMAT-IX has sparked hopes not just at Hutori's FOMAT Committee but also within the greater Hutorian music industry that, even if The Gang doesn't win, the Hutorian government will support struggling artists and help return Hutori to FOMAT's highest rankings.

Rock Stars by The Gang

[colonelvesica]

Hutorian Broadcasting Channel
National News

Royal Hutorian Navy Embarks on Massive Naval Expansion and Modernization Program


Admiral Erik Steuart-Naval Base, outside of Axminister, Hutori's largest Naval Base
ooc: rl source; https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... C_2012.jpg

Following the passage of a massive Military Procurement Bill in Parliament as it rose for the sitting, the Royal Hutorian Navy has begun to embark on it's largest construction project begun in modern history.

The so called 50th Century Naval Requisition Act, is a fair reaching Naval Expansion plan, which will see the Royal Hutorian Navy retire a chunk of it's older vessels, to be replaced with newer designed vessels, some older and modernized vessels, and modernizing the vessels that would remain in service that wouldn't eventually be retired and mothballed. The highlight story of the bill was the retirement of six of Hutori's eight Graham class Supercarriers, with only the HMHS-Emperor Alexander I and the HMHS-Neal MacDougall remaining in active service. The six older vessels included two that have been in active service since just after the Great Terran War, would go through a long tear down cycle, while the Alexander I and MacDougall would be entering into a massive modernization program to bring their systems up to snuff. While six are being retired, inside the bill is an order for two additional Aircraft Carriers, currently unnamed, and one each being constructed at Axminister Naval Yard and Prosperity Ironworks in Port Prosperity. While currently unnamed, its widely believed that Queen Sarah VI is one name being selected and Eric O'Riley, being the other. Queen Sarah VI and Eric O'Riley were the Head of State and Minister of National Defence respectively during the Macon War a century ago, and Hutori traditionally picks Aircraft Carrier names from notable Monarchs, Presidents and wartime leaders as a tradition.

In addition to the Alexander I and MacDougall, all four of Hutori's Merrick class Amphibious Assault Ships would be placed in the Naval Modernization Program, following the Carriers, to bring the mainstay of the Hutorian Royal Marine Corps ability to project overseas up to the modern age. While the prospect of replacing the Merricks was apparently mused at Hutorian High Command, it was ultimately judged that the Merricks still performed their duties admirably and would not need to be replaced during this Construction Phase.

Other ships being replaced into the Modernization Program include all eight of Hutori's Bunker class Auxillary Replenishment vessels, twenty of Hutori's Liberty class Destroyer, and 20 of Hutori's Bekenial class Frigates. This constant cycle of modernization is expected to keep the workers at both of Hutori's major ship yard employed for the great part of the next century. Most of the modernization efforts haven't been spoken about, being listed as classified, but it's expected it's electronic warfare suites, weapons platforms, and detection systems are being targetting first and foremost for the modernization efforts.

On the chopping block to be retired on the other hand are, as mentioned previously, six of Hutori's Graham class Supercarriers. In addition to the Supercarriers, considered the most complicated jobs of the lot, the remaining 20 Bekenial class Frigates are being mothballed, along with Hutori's entire fleet of Sutton class Coastal Patrol Vessels, and four of Hutori's Sentinel class Submarines. When asked, the Department of National Defence noted that the Bekenials and Suttons that were being retired were eventually going to be replaced with new vessels being developed underneath the 50th Century Naval Development Program, under the working names of the 5000 class and CPV50 class respectively. The 5000 class has mostly already been designed, with finalized efforts being placed to have the Frigates being the first to be replaced, while the CPV50 class of Coastal Patrol Vessels, has already been designed, and will be amongst the first smaller vessels to be built. The CPV50 class, as it's current working name goes, has been apparently designed for years, but was never put into service from lack of funding, planning, and for needs of the greater Navy. With Terra currently in relative peaceful times, it was decided jointly now would be the time to introduce the new class. Both the 5000 class and the CPV50 class will have official names being given later. The Department of National Defence confirmed that under the Procurement Bill itself twenty, 5000 class were ordered, to replace each Bekenial being retired, while twenty four CPV50 class were being ordered, to give greater flexibility to the Royal Hutorian Navy in patrolling it's home waters.

The biggest news from the program were the announcement of two joint projects that Hutori would be developing with international partners. The first was the 4900 class Submarine, being listed simply as a nuclear attack submarine. The 4900 class is being co-developed with the Kingdom of Dorvik, considered amongst the best Submarine producers on Terra. Unlike the retiring Sentinel class Submarines, which Hutori primarily used as a nuclear delivery vehicle, known popularly as a "Boomer" the 4900 class is being designed as a nuclear powered fast attack submarine, with modern technologies to avoid detection and being able to deployed anywhere in the world for lengthy amounts of time. The project with Dorvik has been a quiet cooperation for close to 10 years, since the Monarchists first came to power in Bekenial. Few details are being offered on the 4900 class, other then vague details, but it's expected the first of it's class to be unveiled within the next three years. The Department of National Defence noted that since Hutori is winding down it's nuclear capabilities, it has less need for the Sentinels, but wanted to maintain its edge in submarine warfare, with the 4900 Attack Sub being the answer to that.

The second co-development project is with Kalistan, in which Axminister Navalworks, a Government Crown Corporation, is developing a Guided Missile Cruiser with. Under the current working title of the 5100 Class, the new Cruiser is widely expected to be constructed in Kalistan, with Kalistan shipyards provided the hull, powerplant and other system, after which point they would be sent to Hutori for the installation of the weapons systems, electronics gear, and critcally, Hutori's acclaimed AEGIS Combat System, which Hutori and several of it's allies uses for tracking and destroying enemy targets all of types.

Under the Naval Procurement Program, Hutori is expected to order and construct sixteen 4900 class Submarines and sixteen 5100 class Cruisers.

[Doc]

Kalistan and Hutori come to terms on major Naval Development and Commercial Investment deals over donuts and coffee in Hutori

[colonelvesica]

Hutorian Broadcasting Channel
Entertainment News

Hutori Looks to FOMAT-XI After Second Place FInish; Carter Records Limited to join with ARC for International Distribution


Hutorian Pop Group Party Nation
ooc; rl source; https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RYJ_ci-8V30/maxresdefault.jpg

Coming off a close second place finish at FOMAT-X, Hutori has wasted little time preparing the submission for the next FOMAT in Kalistan. This time Hutori has pulled from one of the fastest rising groups, Party Nation, whose hit song, Party All Night has rocketed them to near the top of the Hutorian music charts, having finished at the top of the Acton Music Festival, which finished a month after FOMAT-X. Party Nation is known for their over the top style, and extremely catchy songs which tend to remain in you head for days afterwards, with many of their songs catching on in the Hutorian nightlife and club scene, something that Party Nation hopes will be able to catch in Kalistan, known for their enthusiastic Clubbing scene.

Despite their loss, the Gang doesn't hold it against Kalistani winner, La Sol, stating "She was the best, very clearly. Hell if we weren't in the competition we probably would have voted for her anyways! Great gal, can't wait to see her perform at FOMAT-XI as the opener!"

The Gang has confirmed they will be travelling to FOMAT-XI, to take in the Kalistani music scene, and explore their edge of it during the competition and after, acknowledging that Kalistan is still Terra's capital for music.

Meanwhile, Carter Records Limited, Hutori's largest music distributor has said they will be teaming up Lexington Entertainment, to collaborate with with ARC to aid in distribution of FOMAT-XI's tracks internationally and in the northern hemisphere. Carter Records Limited has come up recently in the Hutorian music scene as it sought to rebuild itself with Hutori enthusiastically embracing FOMAT and music in general.

Check out Party Nation's Party All Night Below,

Party Nation's Party All Night