Ever since his contact with Wells, owning his own steel factory had become a persistent concern for Shire.
Although Shire could purchase special steel at a fair price through the U.S. military for tank production, this was not applicable for Wells's shipyard and couldn't lift the shackles off his head.
The reason was that tanks demanded far less steel compared to warships. Even if the special steel imported from the United States included transportation costs and tariffs, the expense was still within an acceptable range.
More importantly, tanks had higher technical thresholds and were protected by patents.
For instance, the "Shire A1" was unique and unmatched, with no other tank capable of defeating it; the French military could only purchase this model.
Shire also made improvements to the engine and planned to enhance the tank gun in the future.
It was foreseeable that as long as Shire was around, no company, including Schneider, could produce a more advanced tank.
