Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1283 The opportunity to cause trouble for the Easterners is coming soon (5k)

It's not very clear what kind of ammunition it is, but you can see that many of the boxes are rather long and narrow.

The comrades on the destroyer looked at the scene on the beach and turned around: "Let's go, the comrades on the island have come to pick us up. We still have a lot to learn from them."

"Yes, the Qianyang ship has already practiced some of its refitting exercises, but we haven't done any yet. We still have a lot to do."

The refit of this destroyer started and progressed slower than that of the frigate. After all, the destroyer has many more parts to modify, and unlike the frigate, which is basically a mature piece of equipment, it also had to wait for the progress of the equipment under development, so it was naturally later.

If the equipment technology and manufacturing difficulty were not relatively low these days, the time might have been even later.

For them, Jiuxing Island is truly the best choice for training the Zhengxian-62 missile, bar none, since the most accurate Zhengxian-62 missiles in China are all in the guided-missile patrol boat squadron on this island.

They straightened their uniforms and walked toward the deck. On the dock, the piers of the two large ships had been lowered, and the comrades on the island were walking toward the ships.
-
At a Citizen Air Force base in southern Cochinchina, ground crew are assisting a pilot disembarking from an aircraft.

The F-105 was leaning at the end of the runway, with an ambulance and several other support vehicles parked next to it.

It's more accurate to say it was towed down than to assist. The nose, cockpit windows, and fuselage skin of the aircraft were riddled with visible bullet holes. Fortunately, it was clear that they were the work of artillery shell fragments and steel balls, rather than the rod-shaped fragments of a missile warhead. Otherwise, the aircraft might not have been able to fly back at all.

The severity of damage caused by a steel ball and a long rod inside an aircraft is different.

The fact that this plane was able to fly back is a testament to the pilot's strong willpower. The fact that it was able to stop at such an angle at the end of the runway without any other major problems is even more a testament to incredible luck.

The pilot, who was dragged out, was covered in blood, and it was impossible to tell where he was injured. After losing adrenaline, he had fallen into a coma and was unable to explain his condition.

Ground staff helped the pilot into an ambulance, which sped off with its lights on to the hospital next to the airport. If the pilot was lucky enough, he might be saved.

"Peter, are there any more planes coming back?" a ground crew leader asked his assistant.

The assistant flipped through the notebook in his hand, which was covered with checkmarks and crosses: "There shouldn't be any more. This is the 17th plane today. Judging from the time, no plane will come back. It's been so long, the fuel must have run out long ago. Unless they make an emergency landing at another airport, three of the 20 planes that went out today will never come back."

Looking at the F-105 covered in fire-retardant foam, leaning precariously in the grass, the ground crew leader said, "SOB! Four of them. This plane is finished too."

It's incredibly lucky that it could fly back after being hit, but it's not worth repairing; at least, it would be difficult to repair in their hands.

His assistant casually drew an X in the notebook: "Yes, four!"

The ground crew leader took the notebook and said to his assistant, "Contact the nearby airports to see if any of our planes are there. If it is confirmed that these three planes that did not return did not land at any other airport, report them as missing."

Even for pilots, getting a KIA isn't so easy; think of the "disappearance feast."

A hint of reluctance flashed across the assistant's face, but he didn't say anything and just nodded.

That's how the system works; rules are rules, and KIA's standards are standards. There's nothing they can do about it.

That afternoon, at the Citibank Air Force Command in Cochinchina, the commander looked at the April loss statistics with a worried expression: "The losses are still increasing. Since we stepped deeper into this quagmire, there has been almost no good news."

“General, the Army and Marines have been winning battles consistently. They’ve won most of the fighting. Our losses could be a victory for them,” the staff officer beside him said.

"No, no, no, if we include our losses in supporting their operations, our losses are not small. The people of North Vietnam only lost a few people, but we lost a lot of planes! The manufacturing costs, maintenance costs, and pilot training costs of the planes combined mean that our losses are no less than those of the people of North Vietnam."

For Citibank, everything can be measured in money; if it can't be measured, they'll just come up with a few more algorithms.

“Some of our men are just missing, maybe there was no loss, maybe they are living happily in the POW camps in Jiaozhi, far away from the war,” the staff officer reassured his superior.

"You believe it? Don't get your hopes up too high. Even in the Jiaozhi POW camps, they weren't happy. The Jiaozhi weren't Easterners, and their POW camps weren't as wonderful as they seemed. Being an enemy of Easterners is both the greatest misfortune and the greatest fortune."

After saying this, the commander picked up the statistical report, stood up, and said, "Prepare the vehicle. The May operations meeting is about to begin. I need to go and have a good talk with our dear garrison commander about this matter."

When he spoke of "communication," he emphasized it, his voice cracking.

Thirty minutes later, he and the other military commanders gathered in the office of the American commander in Cochinchina.

"...Gentlemen, our ground operations are generally going well. We have been winning. Apart from the personnel losses in the air, we have not lost many people on the ground."

Indeed, the number was small. It was a game where the equipment was overwhelmingly superior, and some of the casualties were missing or non-combat casualties, so the operational losses were not significant.

It's worth noting that during the Cochinchina War, non-combat casualties in the United States could reach as high as 18% to 30%.

He did not accuse the Air Force of causing his men to suffer losses, because even in the air, these helicopters actually belonged to the Army, not the Air Force.

"The only problem is that the losses during the withdrawal process will be greater. Compared to traditional combat methods, helicopter vertical assaults are very fast and stealthy, and the Cochinchin people, who lack effective detection methods, can hardly make any preparations in advance. However, when we complete the withdrawal, the anti-aircraft missile teams hiding in the jungle, alerted by our actions, will cause us some trouble. Fortunately, there are not many of these anti-aircraft teams."

Portable air defense missiles are far more mobile than any tubed weapon that can threaten helicopters. After all, even the 12.7-meter high-altitude helicopter weighs far more than a portable air defense missile system in its operational state. Apart from being deployed around key locations, it is not feasible to equip all guerrilla forces with these weapons. These weapons can threaten helicopters, but the area they cover is relatively small.

However, portable air defense missiles are different. Their range, altitude, power, and reaction speed are far superior to helicopters. In other words, they are less maneuverable than helicopters and cannot catch up with them, so they do not cause too much trouble.

"How effective are the infrared decoys installed on the helicopters?" After the helicopters were severely damaged, the Citizens weren't stupid, and infrared jamming was quickly installed on the helicopters.

"Hmm... It works, it can reduce the missile's hit rate, but it's not always effective."

"It's good that it works. After all, no weapon is omnipotent, is it?"

"Yes, but there's an interesting statistic: portable air defense missiles from the East have better anti-jamming capabilities than portable air defense missiles from the North Pole."

"How did your soldiers know these missiles came from the East?" The garrison commander didn't believe those ordinary soldiers had the professional skills and eyesight to clearly see what a missile in flight looked like, or to distinguish between the two types of missiles by the enemy's combat methods.

"The exhaust plumes are different, hmm... the ones from the White Bear are thicker, especially this year, the difference is very obvious. Even with infrared jamming, the Eastern missiles still have a higher hit rate than the White Bear's. I don't know how they achieve that, but that's the fact." The army commander shrugged.

The garrison commander covered his forehead. Orientals…it’s them again.

Ever since setting foot on the jungles of Jiaozhi, they had been like ghosts surrounding him, invisible and intangible on the surface, yet constantly reminding him of their presence through various troubles. In fact, even the Changying-62's ability to resist infrared chaff was limited, since its orthogonal quaternary mercury cadmium seeker was not an infrared focal plane array and therefore unable to image.

The Changying-62E missile, with its cooled lead-sulfur head, is even worse, offering almost no hardware-based anti-jamming capabilities. However, we have microcontrollers, which are inexpensive and readily available. By using mathematical judgment to filter out suddenly appearing infrared flares, even if blinded, the missile can still achieve a certain hit rate by calculating its trajectory.

In this respect, the SAM-7 from the White Bear is almost helpless. It is rumored that after the emergence of infrared jamming and other means, the hit rate of the SAM-7 in many hotspots around the world has dropped sharply to just over 10%.

Of that 10%, a portion was obtained when the target did not activate infrared jamming.

"Let's not talk about the Easterners anymore. Fortunately, you have achieved most of the victories, which is beneficial to the war."

Although it was clear that they were winning all the time, it was difficult to actually occupy or destroy the guerrilla resistance forces in southern Vietnam. However, this was still good news to some extent, since victory was always a better thing than defeat.

"But the total number of those killed in action, those who have not been killed in action, and those who are missing continues to rise, and now voices of opposition to this war are beginning to emerge domestically. We are losing as many as 3000 people a year for various reasons, which is not a good sign." As the army suffers the greatest losses, the commander is somewhat worried about this.

"That's something the gentlemen on Capitol Hill should worry about; we don't need to." The garrison commander shrugged; anti-war sentiment wasn't something he should concern himself with.

However, he did not leave it alone, but instead offered a suggestion: "Perhaps we can consider increasing the deployment of armored forces, which at least will prevent people from crashing and dying compared to helicopters."

"It's not very effective. In this jungle, armored forces can hardly play their advantage. Medium and larger tanks can hardly move an inch, while light tanks and armored vehicles have some mobility, but they don't have much of a chance against the large number of RPGs provided to Jiaozhi by the Easterners. Armored forces are suitable for defense, but they are somewhat difficult to use for offense."

In the jungles of Kochi, the large number of old 40mm mortars we provided proved quite useful. At close range, their range issues were effectively masked, and their relatively low armor-piercing power was even somewhat excessive against lightly armored vehicles, considering that the M113's aluminum alloy "armor" could even penetrate 12.7mm heavy machine guns.

"Another Easterner! Let's postpone discussing this issue for now. After all, the losses aren't significant yet, and maintaining the current ground combat posture is safe for the time being in terms of the war's trajectory. The only thing we can do now is report this matter to the congressmen." Everything seemed to be going well, but it didn't change much of the current situation. The commander was helpless in this situation; many things are like that, and you can only watch helplessly as they slide into the quagmire.

"Alright, the congressmen are in charge of starting wars, those in the air are in charge of flying, and those on the ground are in charge of dying." The army commander shrugged, relieved that he wouldn't have to die.

The Air Force disagreed with his statement: "No, we in the air are also dying. Although we don't have as many people as you, the amount of our losses is not necessarily less."

You died a person, I died money.

You lost thousands of people, while I lost nearly six hundred planes and most of the pilots on board. In terms of money, I lost much more than you.

This number seems extremely exaggerated, but it's not surprising at all.

“The people of Cochinchina do not have an air force,” the army commander said.

They don't have any air force, and you still suffered so many losses?
"But the people of Jiaozhi have air defense forces, and not just the people of Jiaozhi!"

Everyone could understand what he was saying: "Another Asian?"

"Yes, the White Bear's anti-aircraft missiles plus the Easterners' anti-aircraft artillery." The air force commander said this through gritted teeth.

In fact, what most people cannot imagine is that in Gao Zhendong's previous life, the losses our anti-aircraft artillery units inflicted on the US Air Force were far greater than anyone could imagine.

Our anti-aircraft artillery units shot down 1700 enemy aircraft, while the Americans lost nearly 9000 aircraft in the entire Cochinchina War. So it doesn't seem like a high percentage, maybe 17% at most.

However, of the 9000 aircraft lost by the Citizens, more than half, nearly 5500, were helicopters, which had no chance of facing our anti-aircraft artillery units.

The aircraft that actually faced our anti-aircraft artillery units were about 3700 fixed-wing aircraft. After deducting the army fixed-wing aircraft that could not be sighted at all and non-combat losses such as mechanical failures, this means that more than half of the Citizens' aircraft in Vietnam were shot down by our anti-aircraft artillery, more than the number shot down by missiles provided by the White Bear and the aircraft that Vietnam later acquired.

By the way, this record was achieved in less than four years at the beginning of the war, averaging about 500 aircraft per year. Doesn't that make it even more amazing?

This is why, on this timeline, those who arrived early experienced a mental breakdown when faced with the radio proximity fuse we obtained in advance.

—The losses are too severe to bear!

If they could be beaten like this even without a radio proximity fuse, what would happen if they had one?
Steel combined with willpower, and the cannonball even developed a tiny bit of intelligence—in a cultivation novel, this would be the prototype of a divine artifact.

Moreover, just like Gao Zhendong in his previous life, the Americans ultimately chose low-altitude penetration as their main attack method in the early stages of the war. When they encountered anti-aircraft artillery groups equipped with radio proximity bombs, they really had no choice but to bomb them.

Therefore, it's not too surprising that the Citizens' air force suffered unusually high aircraft losses. This is because, at the beginning, the Citizens' force deployment had not yet reached its peak; otherwise, the losses would have been even higher.

So when it comes to war, it has to be a great power that can withstand the blows. Or, if you can't withstand the blows, don't even dream of being a great power. For example, the kind of country that cowers after losing six of its aircraft. "My power of thought" is useless in war, after all, no one is really Ork.

"I suggest you try to use high-altitude bombardment as much as possible, since they don't have that many anti-aircraft missiles." After all, compared to anti-aircraft guns, missiles are far fewer in number.

"But this kind of bombing won't be very effective."

"With the Easterners' anti-aircraft firepower, the bombing effect won't be very good, will it?" The commander was indeed a commander; his grasp of gains and losses was very accurate, and he genuinely couldn't afford such a large loss.

"But in doing so, the other side achieves their air defense objective." The purpose of air defense has never been to shoot down a certain number of enemy aircraft, but to protect one's own targets.

By driving Citizen planes to high altitudes for horizontal bombing, it's almost certain that the Citizens, aside from spending money, would not achieve the desired bombing effect on northern Vietnam.

"We are fighting, and that's enough. We are the military commanders, and we have that right. This is the best we can do until we acquire effective weapons. I think you should understand how much damage low-altitude penetration can cause under the air defense firepower of the Easterners, and whether it can truly inflict sufficient damage on the Jiaozhi people."

To put it bluntly, you've spent the money on your own plane, but the target is still there. It's somewhat similar to having someone still alive but losing money.

"I understand, I'm just a little unwilling to accept it. This is the most painful war I've ever fought."

For the entire US military, the Korean Peninsula war was the most painful, but for the US Air Force, the Korean Peninsula war was not too painful, because at that time our air force and air defense capabilities were still in their infancy.

"Go ahead and do it. Don't worry, the opportunity to cause trouble for the Easterners is coming soon." The garrison commander's face was contorted with rage, and he gritted his teeth.

At this moment, he didn't even consider any strategic or tactical gains or losses; he simply wanted to cause trouble for the Easterners.

As he spoke, he glanced at the desk calendar on the table.
-
In May, the temperature in Beijing was already rising. On the platform of Beijing Railway Station, a train from Jiuyuan slowly pulled into the station, and two comrades who had boarded the train midway through the journey hurriedly got off.

(End of this chapter)