Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 740 The Tank to Be Repaired

The U.S. E3 early warning aircraft suddenly had insufficient troops to deploy. Although the first round of medium-range bombardment seemed to end in the separation of the two sides, the second batch of Chinese fighters came from the rear and immediately launched an offensive. The early warning aircraft It was found that the second batch still had as many as 12 fighters, most of which were heavy aircraft.

There are not too complicated tactics in this, just trying to give full play to the pure quantitative advantage.Over the past few days, the air dispatch capability of the Chinese Air Force has been steadily improving, but it has been unable to gain a decisive advantage in the confrontation with the U.S. Air Force, which is understretched.It seems difficult for the Chinese Air Force to operate properly and turn numbers into victories, but quantitative changes are accumulating.In the end, the young commanders decided to launch a decisive air campaign, using the newly acquired 2 Il-78 tankers plus 1 Pakistan Air Force aircraft of the same type to form a new refueling area close to the front, which greatly increased The ability of the Chinese Air Force to project forces at the same time.According to the calculations of the U.S. military, the limited fuel capacity of the H-6 tanker is simply not enough to refuel the J-11 formation, and the command capability of the Chinese Air Force is not enough to command a large number of aircraft to fight at the same time.

The U.S. military's E3 reached the limit position eastward, and then turned to fly westward, which was almost a fixed route for several days.Obviously at such moments, they must keep the most concise lines to protect the vision.There are only a few F1Cs and high-altitude drones between an E3 and a Chinese fighter.

The F15 fighter jets that are being withdrawn from the battle will occupy the runway and ground duty time, which is bound to disrupt the enemy's rhythm, just like the first domino to fall.

Zheng Hui tried his best to climb up, occupying an altitude of 12000 meters, and prepared to attack the F16 first. He always paid attention to the early warning aircraft and grasped the distance, but he did not use radar for tracking, so he could not alert the enemy yet.He saw that the enemy's early warning aircraft was still flying smoothly on the route.

The J-11s in another formation seized the opportunity first and fired medium-range missiles at F16. Although it was at the limit distance, the opponent was forced to turn. They could safely throw away the medium-range missiles at long distances, but they could not face the missiles. Flying, these missiles will eventually fall to the ground, but it is difficult for the F16 to turn back to the turn field.

The Chinese aircraft fleet took advantage of the momentum to further oppress the enemy's space. The mounting capacity of the J-11/16 series made it unnecessary for them to withdraw from the battle because the missiles were exhausted after the first shot.

Zheng Hui's formation pretended to pursue the fleeing F16 and 4 planes. At the same time, he asked the headquarters to allow him to conduct a surprise attack on the enemy's early warning planes.This is not his personal whim. The purpose of the combat plan is to compress the opponent's space, and the enemy's early warning aircraft is the ultimate goal.If the AWACS is driven out of the combat zone, it means that Agra's ground radar cannot routinely maneuver, and the ground radar has a large curvature dead angle, which is undoubtedly the second domino that fell.

The command plane immediately approved the attack request, but Song Ning on the command plane asked to wait until the E3 left the most effective defense zone of the Patriot missile before attacking.If a team of fighter planes launch anti-radiation missiles at the Patriot radar at the same time, it can at least paralyze the ground air defense for a period of time, but the air force is still unable to coordinate to such an accurate level, and can only wait for the enemy to make mistakes for the time being.

Zheng Hui kept an eye on the radar from the southeast. The radar on Patriot Field tracked all the targets, but the watchtower was moving away from it.The offensive launched by the ground forces at Indira Airport greatly reduced the air defense area of ​​​​the Indian troops in New Delhi, which gave Zheng Hui room to carry out sneak attacks.

He didn't know why the E3 still kept the original route. Maybe they still had some capital to rely on, or there were some troops hidden nearby that he couldn't see?If there are still F35s hidden in the air, then they will be subject to many restrictions and cannot cope with sudden air superiority operations. This is the experience summed up in the battle in Pakistan. Stealth aircraft must face the problem of how to maintain posture in the air. They The first principle is to point the more invisible side at the opponent's radiation source. Pilots are full of these things, and sometimes they don't know whether they are being seen. This will inevitably limit tactical capabilities. Of course, for both sides For fighter jets, the problem is the same.

Over the past few days, the ground radar at the Agra base and the air early warning aircraft have supported a huge air defense, like an invisible wall preventing the Chinese Air Force from breaking into the corridor.This cooperative relationship seems to be perfect. The early warning aircraft needs Patriot missiles to provide protection, while the ground base needs the early warning aircraft's ability to detect ground and air sneak attack targets to ensure that they are not attacked by surprise. Now this symbiotic relationship of mutual protection will be challenged. .

Zheng Hui waited for the right time, and suddenly led the formation to turn southwest, and rushed towards the early warning aircraft 250 kilometers away.Instead of rushing to track the primary target, he made a vertical scan of a relatively small width to ensure he could see escorts around the target.If these things do exist, if they are ready to fight, whether it is to change the posture to seize the position, use the radar or open the magazine, it will give away.

The rear command plane saw two targets with weak reflections before Zheng Hui, and climbed rapidly at an altitude of about 2 meters. It was the excessive climbing angle that exposed them. The enemy really had something hidden.It is not yet possible to determine the type of enemy aircraft. It may be a Silent Eagle or an F4000, but it is unlikely to be an F35.According to the available information, when the first two fighters climb at a large angle, they can still maintain the maximum stealth state to ground radars, but their air intakes will become less invisible to air radars.

The enemy planes passed by in a flash, and then disappeared again, but Zheng Hui roughly grasped the area where these targets were located. Currently, E3 is still at an altitude of 8500 meters, and the stealth plane is at a lower altitude. in an extremely disadvantaged position.The reason for this unfavorable situation may be that the F35 or Silent Eagle does not have omnidirectional stealth capabilities. When they turn, they may need to use the F15C formation as a cover and lower their altitude by several kilometers.

Since suffering some losses in southern Pakistan, the dispatch of these planes has become very cautious, which has ensured that they have not actually been exposed, and of course they have not played any practical role.

As the distance approached, Zheng Hui's radar began to find something, and he could see the target intermittently, but could not continue to track for the time being.However, the rapid scanning of the phased array radar can put psychological pressure on the opponent. Once the opponent opens the bomb bay, he may not be able to fire first, but he will never fall behind too much.At this time, another J-11 double-click formation also joined the sequence of chasing the early warning aircraft, and they could see the position of the enemy's stealth aircraft through the data link.

The Eastern Patriot missile has never fired. It needs to face more imminent and real threats. Zheng Hui is moving away from the formation in Agra, and is ranked behind in the priority list of the ICC system.

The No. 3 aircraft in the formation was the first to lock on an enemy aircraft, and it was judged as F35 from its characteristics. The enemy immediately turned on the radar for fire reserve.Within half a minute, the distance between the two sides was shortened from 70 kilometers to 50 kilometers. This time, the J-16 actually shot first, and the enemy had not yet entered the range.

Zheng Hui did not participate in the firing. He pushed the throttle valve to the bottom and accelerated towards the early warning aircraft.The opponent is forced to counterattack under the very reluctant condition of a height difference of 3000 meters. Shooting upwards will greatly reduce the range of the missile, but they don't have much choice. If they don't fire, they don't even have a chance to turn around and escape. 180° means the plane becomes less stealthy.

According to the established tactics, they hide at a height slightly lower than the F 15C, and obtain battlefield information through the data link.Only when the opportunity is perfect, do they suddenly launch medium-range bombs, and plan to attack those attack aircraft with lower altitudes, so that the range of the missiles can be fully utilized.But after the rhythm was disrupted, the offense and defense in the air became twisted.The height advantage occupied by the J-16 partially restrains its stealth advantage, not to mention the number of opponents, it is simply a nightmare.

The following J-11 seized the opportunity to lock the enemy plane with the magazine open, and they tried to catch up. The F35 turned on and accelerated and fled south.They were driven off the battlefield by several medium-range shells.

The watchtower early warning aircraft does not have such a strong acceleration ability to escape.It can only lower the altitude and increase the speed to about 1000 kilometers per hour, while Zheng Hui used the 4000-meter altitude advantage to dive and short-time afterburner to obtain a speed close to Mach 1.8.This will allow the missile to obtain a great initial velocity and additional gravitational acceleration.

Within 10 seconds, he fired 4 medium-range bombs and then turned west. Two newly arrived F2s are trying to track him from 16 kilometers away. He can forcefully return to the same route, but he can also go around New Delhi from above the ground troops in Wangzhenbei. When the enemy pursues, he must be careful of the red flag missiles on the ground. .

No one knows whether the missile hit the target yet. It may have to wait for the reconnaissance satellite report after dawn the next day. The fire caused by the crash of the large plane is not easy to extinguish.In any case, the enemy was driven out of the air corridor.The combat aircraft that arrived later began to shift the focus of their attacks to the ground facilities in Agra. The Indian air defense forces in New Delhi suddenly found that their pressure had weakened. Before air supremacy was established, they were no longer the focus of strikes.

Yelinsky's troops are in a bitter battle, and the main enemy forces are attacking in turn to test his defensive weaknesses. The depleted uranium armor of the M1A2 tank and the armor-piercing projectile of the same material can ensure that the opponent does not enter the 2-kilometer range, but the opponent's firepower still surprised him. The Chinese tanks advancing and retreating 3 kilometers away are always in a maneuvering state, even if they are shooting, they will not stop.The fire response speed of Chinese tanks is also faster than that of the US military.They hide in the smoke and approach, suddenly appear and shoot quickly, and then shoot the smoke again to hide themselves.However, the M1A2's theoretical aiming speed is greatly reduced in this battlefield. Part of the reason is that the opponent's laser countermeasure system always destroys the laser ranging, but the opponent's aiming is not affected by this.

For the time being, Yelinsky can still gain a firm foothold, but he found that the opponent has a lot of reconnaissance methods. Some people even found Chinese tank commanders throwing small drones on the turrets.The Cheetah self-propelled anti-aircraft guns deployed behind the M1A2 tank units, as well as those old-fashioned M163 close-in defense systems provided by the allies, have shot down various small drones, the smallest of which are similar to toys, and some even have no reconnaissance equipment at all. I don't know why I flew here.

Yelinsky didn't know that the Chinese army's previous experience in fighting the Indian army was to use a large number of low-cost drones to cover those drones that were actually equipped with high-value sensors.Of course, attracting anti-aircraft firepower is also the mission of some small drones.

The air defense of the U.S. military is becoming more and more perfect. In addition to some independent combat systems, it is mainly composed of the Patriot Information Coordination Center (ICC) and the Forward Air Defense Command and Control System (FAADC2). The software of the latter can be distributed through the data link according to certain priorities. Priority targets, generally speaking, are aimed at low-altitude targets that are relatively close to the ground forces. The system emphasizes the agility of the response, and can counterattack to targets the size of drones or even mortar shells, but in fact it cannot really distinguish the target value.

The Chinese army's tactics of consuming high-value air defense weapons through simple drones are very effective. Even if it is exchanged for a less valuable Stinger missile launched by the Avenger system, it still has its value, at least it can improve the use of reconnaissance. The survival rate of the machine makes it break through to more profound areas.

He Fan is thinking about the final details of the attack. His troops do not have depleted uranium bombs, so the attack must be very careful. The enemy's night-time reconnaissance capabilities are very strong, which is not in the same breath as the Indian army. Two hours ago, one of his companies was exposed at the front and was immediately attacked by a round of rockets, which can be said to have suffered heavy losses.

In the current situation, the enemy has some advantages in night vision distance and penetration distance, but the numerical advantage is always in their own hands.Almost all drones launched by the enemy have night vision systems, and half of them carry laser-guided bombs, but the total number is very small. His air defense system can still effectively block more than 16%.The source of the opponent's air defense weapons is relatively complicated, and the efficiency of the frontier air defense system integrated through the link[-] data link is improving day by day, and an unknown number of laser weapons are even deployed behind it, which can eliminate drones at a relatively low cost.

He Fan stared at the screen, waiting for a reconnaissance drone for the artillery to drill over the enemy's head to play video information. His 155mm howitzer battalion still has half of the base ammunition, which must not be wasted. He hopes to tilt these ammunition It is of course better if you can destroy a few headquarters on the artillery and mechanized infantry behind the enemy tanks.He knew that a brigade-level headquarters of the enemy was in the area covered by his firepower, and the enemy had been scouting the location of his own headquarters. One of his electronic deception troops had been simulating a regiment-level headquarters in the rear. , has been attacked as many as 4 times, and one of them even used ATACMS tactical missiles.

The drone moves forward slowly. Whenever it receives new information about the enemy’s anti-aircraft fire in front, the aircraft will modify its course. Once it bypasses the enemy’s fire, the aircraft passes through a cloud of smoke below, which is used by the tanks of both sides to hide itself. usual method.Behind the smoke were some Humvees crashing around like headless flies, while the wheeled chariots driving at a low speed beside the road seemed much more stable.There was a sudden flash of light on the screen, and then no one could see it spinning and falling.

It seems that the information is correct, it is indeed a laser weapon.

"Repair company, how is your progress there?"

Unable to carry out shelling immediately, he can only ask the repair troops 6 kilometers behind. This is a unit with enhanced personnel and equipment. Each platoon has a repair vehicle with the same chassis as the Type 99 tank. This is what he quickly advanced. Behind the scenes, the unit has repaired more than 250 tanks and other armored vehicles since he launched the offensive.When teaching the troops, he noticed the importance of repairing the troops. A tank is a vehicle that breaks down easily. It always damages the walking system in normal times, and any part may be damaged in wartime.

"The latest three combat vehicles have completed track repairs, replaced several road wheels, and one has replaced engine parts. However, four tanks cannot be repaired on the battlefield, and important parts can only be removed for backup," said the commander of the repair company. "You You know, getting hit by a terminal bomb is always a nuisance, and I don't have any more engine assemblies."

What the company commander said is indeed true. The terminal sensitive bullets do not cause much damage to personnel, but they always penetrate the engine compartment from top to bottom, which means that the entire engine is scrapped. If the helicopter transportation channel of the Army Aviation still exists, these tanks will still It can be fixed quickly, but not now.A good repair unit is always good at putting together a bunch of bad tanks into a few capable tanks when parts are in short supply, but once a unit falls within the range of the enemy's rocket launchers, the situation will be difficult. It will be bad, because most tanks break in one place.

(End of this chapter)