Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 102 The new system of both sides debuts

"Then why do we follow a straight route? Is there an alternate route?" A pilot asked knowingly while looking at the chart. Maybe he wanted to know if there was any flexibility in the mission, but he also knew that it was not the captain who formulated the tactics. Blaming him meant nothing; Jaafar had little prestige in the new unit, so there were always a lot of questions in the briefing room that were out of proportion.
"There are several alternate routes on the return flight. When attacking, we form a dense formation. Use the shortest route to reach the southern part of the target first, then turn to attack and leave. The possible anti-aircraft firepower is marked on the map. The Air Force Staff believes that this route will not There's a lot of anti-aircraft fire, maybe a few Stingers, but they're not a threat as long as we keep altitude."

After Jaafar finished speaking, there was no critical voice below, and the pilots knew that this place was very close to the target, and there seemed to be no need for complicated air maneuvers.

"Can we use ordinary 500-kilogram bombs to work?" Someone asked suddenly.

Due to some trivial technical problems, the laser targeting pod guaranteed by the Air Force Staff many years ago has not been debugged so far. Therefore, the first actual combat of the "Glorious" MKII model is still only able to use 500 kg of aerial bombs.Fortunately, the Jhelum Dam is too big, and it is not easy to miss it.

"No one knows the answer to the question of the effect of the attack," Jaafar looked around, and he really had no idea, "but they told me that we should try our best to use experience to drop 500 kilograms of bombs on the bottom of the dam or near the bottom. On the water, it's better."

Sparse laughter came from the pilots below. Everyone hoped to maintain some altitude and speed as much as possible when dropping the bomb to prepare for unexpected events. Of course, if you do this, the bombing must be inaccurate.In view of the fact that the huge cracks on the dam gradually extended to the bottom due to gravity, the Air Force Staff advised the pilots to throw the bombs as far as possible below the dam. They thought that doing so might speed up the speed at which the dam was crushed by self-generated gravity.However, this is a high degree of low skill, the pilot can only rely on experience, and cannot use the autopilot to complete such a bomb, and there is a certain possibility that such an attack will hit the dam (LCAMKII in training, occasionally After the low-altitude and low-speed bombing, the sudden shift of the center of gravity will cause a short-term malfunction of the 4-degree flight control system. Due to insufficient test flights, the complicated reasons for this low-probability situation have not been found so far, and it is difficult to completely rule it out. )

"Captain, throw it into the water near the dam? It's really exciting. How fast is it close?"

"The speed of approaching the target is up to your judgement. To be honest, I think the part of the flight manual about low altitude is still very incomplete. So... you can fly a little higher." Jaafar said, his words were somewhat ambiguous. , which seems to have a different meaning than before.

"That is to say, we can judge by ourselves?"

"Yes, it can be judged by individuals. I think the good thing is that we will not encounter enemy fighter jets tomorrow. If they find us taking off again, we should have returned. In short, I wish everyone good luck." Jaafar After speaking, he turned and left the blackboard with the huge chart on it.In fact, not encountering Pakistani fighter jets is the only thing he can guarantee, and he even thinks it is unnecessary to bring two more fighting missiles.Of course, he also hopes that his new squadron can create miracles in battle, but the reality is that there are so many missions that the Su 30MKI and Mirage 2000 and their precision-guided weapons cannot complete, and he dare not expect this team of small aircraft to be able to do so. Give that dam a magical blow, although judging from the photos, she is indeed crumbling.

The Jhelum Dam lies quietly on the upper reaches of the surging river, waiting for the last straw that may crush itself at any time. This straw may be a bomb, or it may be the rising water level. For the time being, no one knows .The Pakistani government has known for a long time that the once magnificent dam is beyond repair, and the evacuation of the population downstream has been carried out for a long time.The Pakistani military only intends to mobilize more ground troops to the vicinity of the Fort before the dam collapses and cuts off the main road transportation; or additionally, the military also expects to use the remaining large Dam's special allure to the Indians, several ambushes were carried out.So far, the Indian Air Force has shot down more than half of the aircraft lost during the entire war in this area.This is a notable target, and the attack aircraft can only approach her with a fixed route in the final stage. This is indeed a good trap for the air defense force. Many Indian squadrons have already fallen here.But India is not a single muscle, they are also actively changing tactics. In the past week, India’s bombs have not fallen on the dam, and the focus of the Indian Air Force has shifted to the radar positions around Lahore.The Su-30MKI fighter jets of Rhino and Lion Squadron used anti-radiation missiles to chase the ground radar that dared to turn on.The several emergency liftoffs by the Pakistani Air Force all came back in vain. Since India used Russian-made anti-radiation missiles with a great range, it could lock and fire on the target on the side of the Indian border without any scruples. The man-machine unit, reconnaissance ground radar in various airspaces day and night, these new measures have destroyed nearly 10 Sidewinder surface-to-air missile positions in this area, and the remaining Pakistani air defense forces are forced to be in continuous transfer. It seems that in this round of ground-air confrontation, the Indian Air Force has a great technical advantage.

In order to reverse the decline of ground air defense, the Pakistani military has made some adjustments in equipment allocation.Transferred some new equipment around the fortress to Lahore.The forward-deployed 15th Infantry Division was the first to receive a battalion of new anti-aircraft missiles: a highly mobile air defense system called the FY80.This is the only supplement that the 30th Army has received after suffering huge losses. It was originally planned to deploy this battalion near the military headquarters, but because the defense area of ​​the 15th Division is just west of the Jhelum River, due to importance considerations, it was eventually It was handed over to the division; of course, in principle, the command is still in the military.

The FY80 missile is much superior to the original short-range Sidewinder MK30 missile of the [-]th Army, but the range is still not enough, and it is difficult to defend the entire "final area" (a fixed distance after each Indian aircraft makes a turn [-] kilometers south of the dam) .) Finally, under the advice of the consultant, several launch vehicles of this missile battalion were arranged concealedly behind the col on the west side of the dam, where the range of missiles can be well utilized, and at the same time, it is not easy to be detected by enemy drones after careful camouflage arrive.Radar vehicles and command vehicles are more valuable, and they must maneuver continuously on the route between several commanding heights, and the radar is prohibited from starting to search the airspace. , if there is a plane taking off at the frontline airport in India, they can get information such as the departure time and approximate route).This battalion has only one blind spot target radar as an exception. This radar was risky placed in a camouflaged open space upstream of the river, and it does not move at all. Its function is to prevent the Indian Air Force from using low altitude to avoid long-range search radar along the river. go north.This radar is the most important and dangerous part of the entire defense system.

It was about [-] a.m. when Jaafar walked across the noisy runway and climbed into the cockpit of the fighter jet. He was the lead plane of the attack mission and would be the first to take off.He already knew all the routes and details in his chest. After all, this was a simple mission with a short voyage, if the enemy's counterattack was not considered.

"Boss, Feijian No. [-] requests to take off." After checking all the instruments, Jaafar said.

"Feijian 1, this is the leader, the runway has been cleared, and takeoff is allowed." The captain looked around the airport.It was still dark at this time, and the mountains outside the airport were pitch-black.He thought, would there be a spy lying on the mountain and watching with a telescope?In that case, it would be troublesome. There were a few planes taking off on the brightly lit runway, but it was clear that this place was very close to the border, and a medium-powered walkie-talkie could relay the message there.

"Chief, are there our guard posts on the surrounding mountains?" Before taking off, the captain suddenly asked a question that made the control tower at a loss.

"Leader Feijian, I'm not very clear about this question. The garrison officer is not standing behind me. Maybe you can ask your superiors after you return." The control tower replied, apparently a little dissatisfied with the question raised by the strange pilot who had just stationed here.

It seemed that he had asked an annoying and superfluous question, but Jaafar stopped asking. At this moment, his engine began to vibrate violently.He released the front brake, and the plane slowly moved forward.To be honest, it was the first time for him to take off with such a large mount, and it was also the first time to take off at night.This unit has only been formed for two months, and the pilots have only been together for two months. It is too early to go into battle now, but the reality is that the entire Indian Air Force is fighting. How can the 2th Squadron stay out of it?
Pathankot's runway is not smooth and lacks maintenance, but this runway is 2.1 kilometers long, which is actually not very short. For the MiG-21 stationed here all the year round, the take-off and landing performance is not good. Length is required.Jaafar warned himself not to be reckless, and he had to wait until the speed was high enough to pull up.He doesn't believe in the so-called experience, because it is a brand new aircraft, and he doesn't fully believe in the manual, because the manual tells him that this aircraft only needs a take-off distance of 400 to 750 meters, and can take off with various loads, the captain hopes On this issue that is still unknown, there is a [-]% leeway, anyway, it will not be a disadvantage if you run a little longer.

The speed of the fighter increased, and the lights on both sides of the runway became dazzling golden lines. Seeing that they had already passed half of the runway, the captain tried to pull up the plane, and the movement was very soothing. Unsurprisingly, the reaction of the plane seemed not as sensitive as before. There is some delay in raising the head.He waited for a while to confirm that the takeoff was successful. It seemed that with a load of three and a half tons, this Indian-made aircraft could indeed fly.This made the captain suddenly feel that the worries he had mixed up before were a little superfluous, which shows that this plane is still reliable.As the plane roared up, the captain also felt some pride, which was a lesser reason for leaving No. 24 for No. 45 in the first place.

By the way, there is something to do tomorrow, so stop updating for a day.
(End of this chapter)