Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 21 Night Attack
"The fuel level of this plane should have been more than half, because we noticed that all the Pakistani planes in the first wave were bombed, and we thought it was impossible for this plane to fly too far, so we aligned the noses of all the planes The two F16s coming from the direction of Mian Valley, this judgment is wrong."

"He shot down a MiG-21?" Goya asked, not sure if a man would sneak up on an enemy four times his size unless he was a lunatic.

"A very experienced guy, he followed the MiG-21 over the border and shot down two of them,"

Goya opened his mouth wide and waited for Luo Er to speak.

"Then he got into a circling, 1 on 2, and our radar with limited look-down capability couldn't track the aircraft very well. And we were out of fuel and medium-range missiles. However, Falcon Squadron rushed to The F16 arrived still had a lot of fuel and AIM120 with superior performance, they shot down the third MiG-21, and finally verified that only one MiG-21 returned to the Sarxi base.”

Lujad Nahan, a senior director of the Ministry of Defense, appeared again out of nowhere.Goya and Rolle break off this sad conversation.

"Young man, there is bad news. The recording of the program has been postponed. Now everyone is waiting for the latest statement from the government. I believe that the war is not far away. Your program production time has to be delayed until the early morning. Tomorrow night, the national The audience will be proud of you, and all the squadrons will be targeting you. There is also good news, the host of the show has been replaced by the respected Dr. Lani, and the Ministry of Defense believes that women should not be allowed to interview heroes."

Goya raised his head in surprise, he couldn't understand what kind of good news this was, Captain Rolle continued to lower his head in thought, he didn't care who came to interview.

Inside Jorbut's air force base, it was busy. The first wave of 4 MiG-27UPG fighter-bombers lined up on the side of the runway, and the other 4 were refueling and reloading.The pilots of the first attack wave had already sat in the cockpit of the plane, and everyone was waiting for the Prime Minister's statement. Of course, the pilots already knew that this was not a statement welcoming the UN investigation, but a declaration of war.The Prime Minister chose this time, politically, of course, to accuse the United Nations of being unfair. In addition, from a military point of view, the early hours of the morning may be the time when Pakistan's defense is relatively paralyzed.

0:05 AM.The voice of Lieutenant Colonel Markunda appeared on the communication channel of the aircraft:
"2 minutes ago, Prime Minister has declared a special period of war on terror. All borders have been closed and we are in a limited period of war with Pakistan. Henkhesh (Hindi: Roar) operation plan has started, No. 29 Squadron Let’s start acting according to the original plan.”

"Call the leader, Scorpion One requests to take off." Pandit called from the cabin.

"The runway has been cleared, and the Scorpion team can take off at any time."

Captain Pandit put on his oxygen mask, switched the fuel switch to body fuel, and then started the engine. He waited for the engine speed to rise slowly, and looked back at the ground crew to remove the external air supply pipe.It was time to let off the brakes, the plane started roaring and turned into the runway, the runway was brightly lit, but the starless night sky was dark, he didn't know what was waiting for him today.

"Scorpion 1, you can take off."

The captain's plane began to accelerate, his left hand left the throttle, pushed the variable-sweep wing control lever down to the minimum 16-degree sweep angle, and the angle lock indicator light came on.The captain's left hand went back to the throttle, pushing it into afterburner.Even with the afterburner turned on, the speed of the aircraft did not increase very quickly. This is because too many weapons were mounted, and it was necessary to wait patiently until the end of the runway to pull up.

The outline of the MiG-27 gradually disappeared into the darkness at the end of the runway, leaving only the tail navigation lights and the flames of the tail nozzle still flashing. When the second plane entered the runway, everyone saw the flashing navigation lights and left. On the ground, the dead plane finally pulled up.

"Scorpion One, please check the main hydraulic pressure boost gauge and wing (swept wing) status indicator."

"Scorpion One understands." Captain Pandit glanced at several instruments that must be checked after takeoff, and adjusted the instrument lighting at the same time. Night combat is a very troublesome task.Especially for an older combat aircraft that doesn't have HDD's and advanced navigation capabilities to show the way it's going.

The captain circled around the airport a few times and waited for his other three teammates. The first wave of attack was not a good thing for him, because he could only get the cover provided by a few older MiG 23s of the 21rd Squadron. If it happened to hit the enemy's low-altitude missile position or the enemy's fighter plane, these MiG-21s, which cannot be protected by themselves, would probably be unreliable.But as the squadron leader said, what really worked was the suddenness. Lahore was on the other side of the border, the distance was very close, and the 4th Army, which was understrength, was defending this area, the only one in this army. The air defense brigade was dismantled to defend a very long border, and the HQ 9 missiles equipped by the brigade have an attack range of low-altitude aircraft that is far below the maximum range of this missile.

"Scorpion 260 calls the leader, the formation is assembled, heading 57, [-] kilometers away from the border."

"Scorpion team, no ground-to-air radar was found. No early warning aircraft was found either."

"Fighting is on in the north, Pakistani planes are flying in the direction of Punjab, away from us."

"Scorpion team, lower the altitude to 400 meters, attack the formation, keep the distance between the planes, and pay attention to the rear at all times."

Pandit led the other three MiG-27s to lower their heights. He adjusted the swept wings to the middle position and increased the speed to 500 kilometers per hour, so that the MiG-23s of the 21rd Squadron would not be unable to fly too fast. Provide cover.

"I saw them, about a few kilometers to the left."

"Call Captain Black Panther."

"I saw you too, Captain Scorpion, we are at your 3 o'clock direction."

Pandit was unconvinced that these short-range missile-laden aircraft offered much protection, but it was better than nothing, so at least his squad wouldn't be the only target on the enemy's radar.After approaching the border, the MiG 21 team also turned off the navigation lights, so that no one could see who, but they all knew which side the other side was on.

Pandit's team crossed the border without incident at a very low altitude.

"Scorpion Team, check the sight stacker."

The captain has been paying attention to the Selina radar alarm on one side, but she has not responded. It is not known whether it is because she is lucky, or this old equipment is not working.

(End of this chapter)