Faced with Alvin's question, Doom fell silent for a moment before saying helplessly, "Sokovia can't afford a spaceship program. An industrial supply chain on that scale has to be global.
I've always thought that, given Earth's size, it could support mass production of at most two classes of spacecraft.
In the future, the entire spacecraft industry will inevitably be spread across the world. We'll need to buy the parts and assemble the finished ships ourselves.
Sokovia currently lacks the ability and the confidence to buy and assemble spacecraft. In fact, the only countries capable of doing so are China and the United States. Even Russia would have fallen completely behind if it weren't for Steel Digital."
As he spoke, Doom glanced at the aircraft not far away and smiled. "This is one idea the fringe scientific oddballs in Hydra provided me with.
A small craft capable of traversing the Solar System...
I can modify it into a fighter, a landing craft, a rescue ship, or a small passenger vessel...
Sokovia has battle-hardened soldiers. We can fight on the front lines and take on battlefield support missions."
Looking at Doom's earnest expression, Alvin nodded, feeling a little impressed.
While everyone else was caught up in the big spaceship projects, the man had made the very sensible choice to focus on small shuttles.
Now that the Allied Forces were integrated, all it would take was Alvin's support for Doom to make his shuttles standard equipment.
After all, Western politicians were generally pretty "lazy." With a good, ready-made piece of equipment in front of them, most would rather buy it than risk developing their own and failing—or use something generations behind and invite the front-line troops to curse their mothers.
With the ability to land, attack, and provide support, these small craft could