Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1292 They all run faster than the last (6k)

"Four destroyers? Are there any in the air?"

"There's no air support, probably because they're relatively close in the air, and they haven't sent air force support yet."

In fact, the fleet commander was eager to engage the Americans in a real battle. He believed that with their anti-ship firepower, these four American destroyers would have almost no chance of escaping unscathed. As for why he knew they were American destroyers, the reason was simple: South Vietnam simply did not have the capability to assemble four destroyers at once.

However, the most important thing in carrying out a mission is to achieve the objective, not just to have fun. If the mission's execution environment is disrupted simply because one wants to fight, then it would be a case of losing more than one gains.

"Forget it, the best strategy is to subdue the enemy without fighting, and the most skillful strategist achieves no great feats." The squadron commander could only console himself with this thought. After all, this place was closer to southern Vietnam. If they really stirred up a hornet's nest with the Americans, even if they won, it wouldn't be a good thing for the comrades who would be stationed here for a long time.

He thought for a moment and said to the communications officer, "Send a signal to the forward command post of the South Ship in Cape City, requesting attack aircraft to carry anti-ship missiles and launch an attack! Bombers, prepare."

After giving the order, he turned to the captain of ship 203 and smiled, "Whether we fight or not is another matter, it would be good to give them a scare."

The captain of the 203 ship, who had already achieved results in this operation, seemed satisfied and not particularly belligerent: "Yes, yes, it's better to scare them off than to defeat them. Let's test their mettle."

It's not that they don't want to achieve great things; it's just that they don't want to cause a major upheaval.

At Cape City, four attack aircraft, carrying only two JX-62K missiles and two Thunderbolt-3 missiles for self-defense, with the rest of their payload loaded with fuel, took off from Cape City's airport. At their cruising speed, it would only take them an hour to fly from there to their designated area.

Before air defense weapons have significantly improved their interception efficiency against anti-ship missiles, and before almost all countries have a clear means and technical route to intercept this new type of weapon, saturation attacks have been considered. Based on past combat examples, two missiles can take down one destroyer, which is very effective.

The pilots were excited; maybe they'd get to eat meat this time!
就在他们路过久兴岛海域的时候，4架从久兴岛起飞的战-7战斗机挂着3油2中2近的挂载和他们会合，向目标区域飞去。

The formation flew in the air for about an hour. The fighter jets, which were at a higher altitude and providing escort, even jettisoned one of their empty auxiliary fuel tanks in order to reduce drag and save fuel.

They were not too far from our naval formation at this point, since both the Attack-5 and the Fighter-7 had cruising speeds of over 700 km/h.

This means that the enemy can also see them.

"Captain! All the destroyers have reported that eight aircraft are approaching from the north. Judging from the radar signatures, four of them are the new fighter jets from the East that we previously detected near the North Sea. The four aircraft are very similar in appearance to the Il-28s of the White Bear!"

Although they have never detected the Attack-5, they are familiar with the Attack-5's predecessor, the Il-28 light tactical bomber, which the White Bear has frequently detected in Europe.

The captain was in charge of this temporary fleet. He hadn't expected us to take the initiative, because the Americans, who had been rather careless in their preparations, couldn't even suddenly put together a commander to oversee the whole operation. After all, they hadn't even considered sending out destroyers in the first place.

"Distance, direction?"

"120 kilometers to the northeast." At this moment, the fleets on both sides, as well as the formation in the air, formed a shape similar to an equilateral triangle.

"It seems the Easterners are very well prepared, bombers... Oh no!" Realizing that there were bombers among the incoming planes, the temporary commander of the US Navy felt a chill run down his spine. He knew very well how the ships in South Vietnam sank last year, and he also knew very well how powerless the anti-aircraft weapons on these destroyers were against the Easterners' anti-ship missiles.

He believed that sea-skimming attacks could cripple almost all of his fleet's anti-aircraft firepower. By the time the sea-skimming stealth effect wore off, it would be too late. He didn't think the 40mm anti-aircraft guns on his destroyers would be effective against anti-ship missiles.

"Notify the formation to reduce speed to 10 knots! Call the air force base and request them to send aircraft to provide support!"

Things seemed rather serious. Rushing there at top speed now didn't seem like a good idea for them. The only thing that could deal with the air force was the air force, at least for now.

Fortunately, although their attack was hasty and haphazard, they were not entirely unprepared. Six fighter jets that had been patrolling the skies for some time rushed over. They didn't initially follow the formation because they didn't want to expose their position too early. The radar technology and air defense capabilities of the East had already been proven in the North Gulf.

Anyway, it's not far, there's no problem getting there in time.

Compared to the speed of ships, airplanes are much faster.

"Attention, six enemy aircraft are heading towards you, due west, 70 kilometers away! Aircraft type: F-105." Compared to the Z-7 fighter jet, which had to maintain its course and whose radar could not detect from the side, the Tu-4 special aircraft, which was more relaxed when roaming in the air, could do so much more easily. Although its large belly was ugly, it was effective.

Due west? It seems they flew over from the land of Cochinchina.

"Are there any other enemy aircraft?" The squadron leader of the Fighter-7 remained calm.

"No more, not even at low altitudes!" Although the Tu-4 fighter's radar doesn't see particularly far compared to a proper early warning aircraft, its downward-looking capability is unparalleled.

Moreover, even if they could use the sea clutter as cover, low-flying fighter jets posed almost no threat to the attack-5 and the even higher-altitude fighter-7 at 5000 meters. Once they left the protection of the sea clutter, they would be detected by the Tu-4 bomber before they even had time to climb to their combat altitude. At that point, let alone fighter jets, even the attack-5 carrying the Thunderbolt-3 missiles could easily give the enemy a hard time by attacking from high altitude.

The reason why pure fighter jets don't focus on ultra-low-altitude penetration is this: penetration is not only useless, but it also makes them easy prey.

Of course, using fighter jets as attack aircraft is another matter entirely.

The lead pilot of the Z-7 formation was relieved: "Let's go, comrades, let's go meet them. 02, follow me, 03 and 04, continue to protect the formation."

The F-105 is familiar, bulky, and easy to deal with.

At this moment, the formation of Citizen 6 aircraft flying straight towards our formation also noticed our movements.

"Rabbit-1, there are two enemy planes flying towards us."

"We've seen it. Let's teach these arrogant Easterners a lesson."

Two against six, those Easterners are incredibly audacious!

The two aircraft were rapidly approaching each other, and the 70-kilometer distance was rapidly shrinking. This distance was not too far for fighter jets.

When they were still 60 kilometers away from the enemy aircraft, the lead fighter jet of the Z-7 had already called out to its wingman: "Fire control lock!"

When the Thunder-2 semi-active medium-range air-to-air missile was finalized, everyone knew that the missile's range was actually quite short compared to the radar's capabilities, meaning it couldn't fully utilize the radar's guidance range.

However, the comrades have taken this feature and used it in a different way, namely, to lock in advance!

Regardless of whether the missiles can reach the enemy aircraft, lock onto the enemy aircraft first. This way, you can gain a greater initiative in the battle.

Moreover, this pulse PD radar has the capability to engage 6 out of 2, which is their biggest source of confidence to charge up with just two aircraft! For the cumbersome F-105, this is even worse news.

“Holy shit!!! I’ve been locked on!!” Rabbit-1 shouted frantically on the radio.

He didn't know what kind of magic the Easterners had used, or if it wasn't magic at all, but simply creating an illusion—the illusion that they had locked onto his aircraft from 60 kilometers away.

However, the situation was much more serious than he had imagined.

"F**k, I've been locked on too, from 60 kilometers away!"

"I've been locked down too..."

"I'm being followed! WTF!!!"

The sound of aircraft being locked on rose and fell in the formation; in short, more than two aircraft were locked on.

In the formation channel, you could even hear the radar warnings going off in the cockpits of each aircraft.

What kind of magic is this? Didn't they only have two planes? Are there several other unseen planes nearby?

This situation terrified them even more than being locked down 60 kilometers away.

They dared not fly any further. The radar lock in the cockpit was real. Who knew if the Easterners had launched a missile? Although it was impossible for them to have missiles with a range of more than 60 kilometers, they dared not gamble.

It's right not to gamble. Although there are no 60-kilometer routes, there are 45-kilometer routes.

We don't necessarily have to launch missiles, but the enemy doesn't dare to gamble.

For a time, enemy targets appeared to be darting around and performing highly maneuverable maneuvers on both the Tu-4 Special Forces and the Z-7 fighter jets' radar screens.

Seeing the enemy's actions, our comrades all laughed. They were too cowardly and acted too early.

Not interesting.

However, they misunderstood the enemy. The enemy was not making these moves to dodge missiles, but to turn around!
The F-105s, somewhat clumsily, made a quick turn in mid-air, then engaged afterburners and roared away.

As for the missiles, they could dodge them when they flew over, just in case the other side didn't launch any. They had a vague feeling that the other side might not launch missiles directly unless they made any major provocative moves.

Their own guiding principle was to "restrain their actions," which further diminished their motivation to push forward despite their difficulties.

Although Easterners are ruthless, they are quite cautious before they act.

"It got away? Never mind, release the lock." The lead fighter-7 ordered. He had no intention of giving chase; his mission was to protect the attack-5, not to try and shoot down enemy aircraft—there was a big difference between the two. Besides, fuel was precious, and he wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble.

The radar warnings in the cockpits of the six F-105s that were fleeing at high speed disappeared in an instant, which relieved the enemy. It seemed that the Easterners did not intend to exterminate them; they really just wanted to complete their "scientific research mission."

"WTF!! What are you doing?" The temporary commander of the destroyer squadron, who saw six F-105s fleeing in disarray on the radar, was dumbfounded and cursed loudly.

"The Easterners are very difficult to deal with. They were able to shoot down at least half of our planes just now! We need to retreat." Rabbit-1, as the lead aircraft, dutifully reminded the destroyer formation.

"Are you carrying church candles under your wings? You have missiles too!"

"Yes, we do, but our missiles can't be launched from 60 kilometers away, and we can't lock onto multiple targets with one aircraft at the same time! However, their aircraft speed is a weakness."

This is the most fortunate thing for the F-105. Although the other plane is fierce, it can't catch up with it. As long as it runs a little faster, the other plane can't shoot it down at a distance of 60 kilometers. After all, when calculating the range of a missile, the additional flight conditions are that they are moving towards each other. One is chasing at low speed and the other is fleeing at high speed. The missile has no way to catch up at such a long distance.

Before he could finish speaking, the F-105 had already flown more than ten kilometers away.

"Cowards! Lame!" The temporary commander of the destroyer squadron cursed into the radio in anger, but there was nothing he could do. That was the air force, and he was from the navy. They were not on good terms to begin with, and he had no right to command the other side. It had nothing to do with rank; it was purely a matter of command and coordination.

SOB! Why is the air and naval coordination of Easterners so good?

However, before he could get an answer to this question, he realized that the issue was no longer about the air force escaping, but about whether he himself should run away.

It was clear that the Easterners were aggressive and unyielding in the face of their own actions. The six aircraft in the air had obviously clashed with the Easterners on an invisible battlefield, but without victory.

This means two things.

First, the Easterners did not want to escalate the situation, because they did not attack the six F-105s.

Secondly, the Easterners dared to escalate the situation because they fiercely and proactively suppressed the six aircraft, causing them to flee in fear.

The former was good news, but the latter was not good news for them, because there were four bombers in the formation!

He seemed to see several missiles hurtling towards him, and he shook his head, trying to banish this terrifying image from his mind.

"Commander, their air formation has changed direction!" The radar operator, who was staring intently at the screen, raised his hand.

"Turn around? Turn around in which direction?" The temporary commander was overjoyed. Could it be that they were just passing by?
"They've turned towards us!" The radar operator's manner and rhythm of speaking had a touch of dark humor.

"SOB!!! Notify all destroyers to turn! Tell the Cochinchinets to wish them a successful mission!" The interim commander didn't care about anything else and made a decisive decision. What the hell were the Cochinchinets? Fighting for another country in this tropical rainforest full of monkeys already made no sense to him, and now he was seeing his life or honor at stake. He quit! The Cochinchinets weren't his father!!

The other three destroyer captains did not object to his decision; in fact, they acted even faster than the temporary flagship.

It seems they don't want to stay here either.

"These sons of bitches, I bet 100 US dollars that they were already preparing to turn before I even gave the order," the fleet's temporary commander cursed, watching the other three destroyers begin to turn in a very short time.

"Captain, whether they were prepared or not, we have to turn around now."

"Hard to port! Forward four!" The captain readily complied.

On a slightly larger South Vietnamese transport ship, the South Vietnamese representative for this operation stared in disbelief at the four US destroyers rapidly drifting on the sea, and then glanced at his communications officer again.

"They just wished our new team all the best, right?"

"Yes." The communications officer was also in a daze.

"Then why did they run away? If they run away, our operation will not be able to proceed smoothly! No, it will be impossible to complete!" Their ship did not have good radar, and they had no idea what had happened in the air and at sea in the past ten minutes.

"I don't know, maybe it's a mechanical malfunction?"

"When have you ever seen four destroyers break down at the same time? Mechanical failure isn't contagious, you idiot! Go ask them what happened!"

Three minutes later, the communications officer said to the southern Jiaozhi official, "They insist that there has been a mechanical failure. If we don't believe them, they can show us the D flag."

The official from southern Vietnam almost laughed out of anger; he felt utterly helpless in the face of the American's outrageous explanation.

Watching the American destroyer drift rapidly and then accelerate back to over 30 knots, he looked at the dozen or so transport ships around him. These transport ships were completely unaware of the whole incident and were equally shocked by the American's "blessing" and actions.

"Sir, what should we do now?" At this moment, the captain of the Jiaozhi "flagship" asked the most pressing question.

This question stumped the official from southern Jiaozhi; it was a difficult question for him to answer.

Because he couldn't even contact his superiors back home, and the communication equipment on his ship wasn't that good.

Fortunately, having dealt with Americans for many years, he was well-prepared for this operation, especially knowing what to do when the Americans acted inhumanely.

He clenched his fist, turned around and ordered, "Tell everyone to turn around! We're not going!"

It's fine to hitch a ride with an American and get a little something extra, but to pull chestnuts out of the fire for an American is something even a real monkey wouldn't be willing to do.

Their participation in this operation was contingent on the American providing necessary military support, but now it seems that such support is impossible, making the operation nothing more than a mirage.

The transport ships from Kochi on the sea began to turn around one after another, and in the chaos, two ships even collided.

"The fleet that departed from Jiaozhi has turned back. The first to turn back were four destroyers, and then all the transport ships also turned back."

Transport ships aren't wooden boats. To save money, South Vietnam spared no expense in choosing transport ships, opting for iron-hulled vessels. While their radar signals weren't as clear as those of destroyers, and even their exact numbers were somewhat difficult to discern, the sheer size of the fleet meant the signals were still quite concentrated.

"Good, see? What did I tell you? It's better to scare them away than to fight them off. All imperialism is just a paper tiger, hahaha." Our formation commander was very pleased.

Similarly, the comrades in Beijing who had been closely monitoring the progress here were also very pleased.

This is more than just deterring an enemy operation; it represents a trend, a way of handling similar incidents. In the short term, as seen on places like Koh Kong Island, the enemy won't make any major moves and can only watch as we complete our mission.

"Very good! The comrades at the front are brave and determined. They solved a problem in one direction without shedding a drop of blood. This proves that the enemy is weak when you are strong."

"Yes, the cooperation between the Navy and the Air Force, as well as the formulation of the preliminary plan, also played a crucial role. The fact that we were able to react so quickly and have effective countermeasures immediately after the enemy situation occurred is inseparable from the preparations made by our comrades before the operation."

"I think the National Defense Committee deserves a lot of credit. If it weren't for the efforts of the comrades in the National Defense Committee system, we wouldn't have been able to get to such a far place at all. Even if we had managed to get there, without the right equipment, the enemy wouldn't have listened to us at all."

"..."

We were having a relaxed and pleasant discussion about the progress in the southern seas, while the fleet continued its journey and was not far from its destination.

However, in some places, people are terrified when they see this.

"Damn it!! If the University of Tokyo completely controls the southern sea area, it will be a major threat to our maritime traffic safety!"

For Japan, which has already begun its rapid shift towards an export-oriented economy, this shipping route in the southern sea is extremely important for the import and export of energy, raw materials, semi-finished products, and finished products.

Taking a detour is not impossible, but the cost is longer shipping times, more fuel consumption, and a greater threat of piracy.

Although African pirates are notorious, with even the Five Great Philanthropists using nuclear submarines for escort, the history of piracy is long and rich, with the area along the former Maritime Silk Road being no less notorious.

Southeast Asian pirates are also a long-standing pirate group, but compared to state-organized pirate groups like those of John Bull, the pirates in these places are almost all civilian groups, which makes them more difficult to eradicate.

"But what can we do?" The problem is obvious to everyone, but few can offer solutions, and even fewer of those solutions are truly useful.

"Protest to the East University, and demands from the American people!"

“Protest? We have no right to protest there.” That’s the most obvious thing.

"No, no, no, the protests are just an excuse, an excuse for our other actions. This is just the beginning. And we need to make some countries realize the threat posed by the Dongda people, so that they can unite and disrupt the situation in this region."

"What demands should be made of the Citibank?"

"Try to get the Americans to loosen the chains around our necks. That's the most important thing. We need to make the Americans realize that in East Asia, they need a loyal and powerful ally who can help them solve their problems." That's what the Japanese people most desire.

(End of this chapter)