Chapter 964 Air Meat Grinder
The southeast, south and southwest carrier-based aircraft fleets of the U.S. Air Force converged in the airspace 50 kilometers south of Lavan Island, and the huge fleet obscured the sky of the entire Persian Gulf for a while. The roar of the buzzing fighter engine converged into a stream of sound waves and transmitted to areas hundreds of miles away, leaving countless spy ships and other state intelligence personnel lurking around them with a look of tension, excitement and fear on their faces.
Four strict early warning aircraft escorted by F-16 fighters form an air command and information transfer center in the 8-kilometer airspace behind the fleet, providing tactical guidance for the U.S. fighters on the whole battlefield.
In the high and low airspace of 4 kilometers to 10 kilometers, American fighters are also divided into three offensive formations. Among them, medium and airspace fighters are the largest, all composed of F-15 heavy aircraft fighters. At low altitudes, which originally belonged to the combat area of F-16 fighters, were replaced by carrier-based aircraft. At an altitude of 10 kilometers, there are more than 40 F-22 Raptor fighters in two squadrons.
All kinds of information about the enemy's mobility, environmental and climate on the battlefield are transmitted to each fighter through early warning aircraft. Various operational instructions are constantly issued on the public communication channel as they approach the United Air Force fleet.
On the other hand, the fleet of Su-27SS, MiG-29, J-10 and a small number of F-14 fighters taken off from five Iranian air bases by the Joint Air Force also synthesized a huge fleet of more than 100 aircraft in an airspace near the Iranian continental shelf in the north of Lavan Island.
Unlike the American fleet, the airspace where the United Air Force fleet is located is in medium and low altitudes, and at an altitude of more than 10 kilometers, there are only four "Eagle" fighters of the 'Cobra' group responsible for monitoring the U.S. military fleet.
In the 21st century, the number of participating aircraft is the largest, and the most advanced air war is about to break out. The two sides have invested 300 advanced fighters to participate in the war, of which the worst are three generations of famous aircraft.
After the two aircraft groups became attack formations, there are at least tens of thousands of 'watchers' in dozens of countries around the Persian Gulf, and in space, almost a dozen satellites are monitoring here at the same time. The whole world is holding its breath at this moment, waiting for the fierce and grand air battle.
After the fleets of the two sides approached the distance of 60 kilometers, what everyone did not expect was that the first to attack was the joint air force.
The F-14 fighter jet has been purchased from the United States as a tribute by the Iranian Air Force. In the rear of the fleet, under the powerful AWG-9 radar, the F-14 fighter first launched more than 16 "undead bird" long-range air-to-air missiles at the U.S. low-altitude F-15 fleet.
The preemptive attack of Iranian pilots made all American pilots and American political axes black. They were angry that Iran first launched an attack on the U.S. aircraft fleet in such a significant air war with aircraft and missiles produced by the United States. This was Chiguo's slap in the face.
During the reign of King Palevi of Iran, in order to block the Soviet Union's intention to go to the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the United States vigorously pulled over Iran, which was close to the United States. The then President Nixon asked Palevi from the United States F-15 and F-14 after King Palevi complained that the Soviet MiG-25 fighters often went deep into Iran. Choose one of the fighters to purchase. Iran's political axe later purchased 79 F-14 fighters, although most of them are now unusable. But the remaining F-14 fighters, more than 20 years later, launched the remaining "undead bird" missiles against the American fleet.
The 'undead bird' air-to-air missile is the first long-range air-to-air missile developed by the United States, which has set a distance record of 203 kilometers to intercept supersonic aircraft. This is a real long-range air-to-air missile, rather than the concept of 'over-the-horizon missile' that was almost blurred later.
When the Joint Air Force F-14 fighters first launched missiles, the American fleet also launched an 'over-the-the-horizon strike'. From high-altitude F-22 fighters to the mid-air F-15 fighters and low-altitude F-18 fighters, all with the assistance of early warning aircraft, the assigned strike targets, one surname More than 60 AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles were launched.
Compared with the Joint Air Force, the U.S. fleet is obviously much more 'atmospheric'. At a time, dozens of over-the-horizon missiles were launched for over-the-horizon strikes. In the airspace in the middle of the two groups, they saw all white slender missiles flying at high speed with tail flames.
After the missile was launched, the early warning group in the rear security airspace took over the control of the missile by the fighters. Under the work of the usual surname and the missile engine, the missile soon reached Mach 4, like a lightning in the air, and the direct fire was still in the joint air force fleet out of sight of the pilots.
The early warning aircraft is constantly correcting the flight parameters and dynamic direction of the target for the missile group. When the missile enters the end of the flight, the active radar of the missile is turned on to automatically search for the attack target information.
The sad and harsh warning sound kept ringing in the cockpit of the United Air Force aircraft. The pilots who participated in the last air battle were obviously of higher quality than the pilots who participated in this large-scale air battle for the first time. Even if the aircraft was locked, they could calmly carry out maneuver avoidance or prepare to launch foil dry. Disturbing bomb. And in this way, the best pilots are even looking for attack targets for the first round of attacks.
Generally speaking, an over-the-horizon attack is an over-the-horizon attack that the enemy is from the naked eye, that is, 8 kilometers away. Launching a missile at such a long distance is an over-of-the-horizon strike. However, the current over-the-horizon missiles also have a high and low level. Relatively speaking, the AIM-120 used by the U.S. military, especially the latter models, obviously occupies the first level of over-the-the-horizon missiles. Taking the AIM-120 missile as an example, the longest range reaches 60 kilometers, which is the actual range, that is Effective attack range. Generally speaking, the effective attack distance of the missile is before the missile engine stops working, because only when the engine is still working, the missile can carry out various overload maneuvers to attack the evased aircraft. Otherwise, the engine will stop working, and the power of the missile flight will be left only the usual name, and it does not have the ability to maneuver. The enemy It's easy for the plane to get rid of the missile attack.
The over-the-horizon missiles used by the Joint Air Force are all Russian-made R-77 air-to-air missiles with an effective range of 40 kilometers. In terms of range, it is a little short of the American AIM-120 missile. The increased range model behind the R-77 was not purchased by the United Air Force from Russia.
In a group confrontation, the range of the missile is also a very important factor in determining victory or defeat.
"Boom..."
A series of explosions came from the United Air Force fleet. Four MiG-29s and two J-10 fighters were hit in the first over-the-horizon attack of the U.S. military fleet. The fire of the explosion of the six planes and the scattered fragments of burning finally embellished the picture of this large-scale movie with some tragedy and blood.
Several parachutes fell slowly. This was the pilot who successfully parachuted, but when the final loss was reported to Doyazdani, he knew that there was still a pilot of his own fighter who did not have time to parachute.
Compared with six missiles launched by the U.S. fleet, the first "undead bird" missiles launched by the United Air Force were all evacued by interference.
The first round record of both aircraft groups outside the line of sight was 0:6, and the American aircraft group gained an advantage.
The news was soon sent back with the war reporters who risked their lives driving speedboats to shoot on the sea below the battlefield.
The news was quickly published and reprinted, and the news was immediately refreshed on many military forums and websites around the world. Some European gambling companies even opened the market directly, and countless gamblers flocked to this new gambling method.
The Western media are doing their best to promote the 'American victory theory', shouting that Soviet-made aircraft are vulnerable, and Western fighters are the most advanced. Among them, Western military aircraft manufacturers are also pushing behind their backs, trying their best to slander Russian-made aircraft and tout Western fighters.
And politicians also use this as a bargaining chip to attack those opponents like a proud rooster, both at home and abroad.
Colonel Yazdani, the combat commander of the Joint Air Force, took a little time to correct the confusion of the fleet formations caused by missile evasion. The fleet of both sides has entered the range of 40 kilometers. The second wave of over-the-horizon attacks unfolded again.
Unlike the first test attack, this attack by both sides is a real attack.
The three high and low fleets of the U.S. fleet launched the AIM-120 air-to-air missile first. Unlike the first time, each of them was targeted for launch, while the low-altitude F/A-18 fleet launched all the AIM-120 missiles mounted under the abdomen in a few seconds. .
The combined air force fleet also launched R-77 missiles.
More than 300 medium-range air-to-air missiles roared in the direction of the enemy aircraft. That scene made the field reporters on the sea below even forget to adjust the lens for a while.
"Oh, my God... This is simply a Verdun meat grinder in the 21st century. The fleet of the U.S. Air Force and the United Air Force launched an attack within a range of 40 kilometers, and the two sides launched hundreds of over-the-the-horizon missiles..." A field reporter of a neutral country stood on the swaying speedboat and explained with a frightened face to the camera. Yes. This is not a pretancy. Anyone who sees that kind of scene will react the same as this reporter.
Just like a positional battle and an artillery bombardment between the two sides, there is nothing fancy at all.
"I'm surprised that I, who don't know anything about the military, are surprised. Does the Joint Air Force, which is temporarily at a disadvantage, want to continue the air war in this way of consumption? The U.S. Air Force has more than 2,000 fighter jets, and the number of naval carrier-based aircraft is dozens of times that of the United Air Force. The way of consumption is obviously what the U.S. political axe is willing to see, but it is a major disadvantage for the joint air force that does not have the production capacity..." The field reporter expressed himself again in front of the camera. Surprise, the simple comparison of numbers makes many people wonder: Why is the United Air Force like this?
(to be continued)