The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Prior to this, the Joint Force Navy had already launched 156 cruise missiles today.

Up to now, all the cruise missiles prepared by the joint forces have been launched.

It will take about half a month before cruise missiles are available.

The Joint Forces Command did not expect that the cruise missiles would be consumed so quickly.

In the first two days, the joint forces' offensive was the most fierce, but with the consumption of aircraft and missiles, and especially the damage of warships, by the third day, the offensive momentum declined a lot, and today, it has declined a lot again.

"Attention, Iraqi fighter jets have been spotted taking off, forty-two of them, at Tammuz Air Force Base near Basra in southern Iraq." An early warning came from the Hawkeye early warning aircraft.

The formation was flying over the Persian Gulf, about 100 kilometers away from the Iraqi coastline. Due to its high-altitude cruising flight, it had been discovered by Iraq's long-range radar network.

Iraq still has a relatively complete air defense system. Iraq has introduced various radar systems from China and Russia. In particular, some of the radar systems are mobile, highly maneuverable, and have strong survivability. They are not easily attacked and can detect this aggressive air strike force from a long distance.

"Attention, climb to 15,000, accelerate to 1.6, and prepare to launch the Phoenix!" The commander of the US carrier-based aircraft gave combat command: "Targets are assigned via data link!"

Both the F-14 and F/A-18 fighters are equipped with a new data link system that can assign targets to each aircraft through the lead aircraft to prevent omissions.

Heat was emitting from the tail engine, the wings were swept back, and the huge fleet of F-14 fighter jets began to accelerate, flying in the front, while the F/A-18 fighter jets were also accelerating.

The Phoenix missile at the bottom of the F-14 fighter jet was powered on and entered self-check mode.

The Phoenix missile is a heavy long-range air-to-air missile developed by the U.S. Navy. It uses active radar guidance, has a long range, great power, and the ability to attack multiple targets at the same time.

The Phoenix missile is the first long-range air-to-air missile developed and equipped by the United States after World War II. It is also the world's first active radar-guided long-range air-to-air missile to enter service with fire-and-forget and multi-target attack capabilities.

Phoenix missiles were only equipped on F-14 fighters, and only 6 missiles could be loaded at a time. The missile entered service at the end of 1974 and was discontinued in 1980. A total of 2580 missiles were produced, with a development cost of US$4.5 million and a procurement cost of US$9.5 million, with a unit price of US$45.8, which was US$70 in the 45.8s!
而另一边，伊拉克空军，四十二架战斗机，分别是18架苏27战斗机、18架米格29战斗机、6架歼11E战斗机。

The Su-27 fighter is a single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather air superiority heavy fighter developed by the Soviet Sukhoi Design Bureau. It has a maximum ceiling of 18000 meters, a maximum bomb load of 6800 kilograms, a combat radius of 1600 kilometers, a fuel tank capacity of 9 tons, a maximum speed of 2.35 Mach, and is equipped with K-60M, K73 short-range air-to-air missiles and K27 medium-range air-to-air missiles.

The MiG-29 fighter is a twin-engine medium fighter developed and produced by the Soviet Mikoyan Design Bureau. It began to be equipped with troops in 1983. It has an empty weight of 8175kg, a normal take-off weight of 15000kg, a maximum take-off weight of 18000kg, a maximum fuel capacity of 3200kg, a maximum external weapon load of 4500kg, and 7 hanging points, carrying K27 medium-range air-to-air missiles and R73 close-range air combat missiles.

J-11E fighter, a single-seat export model of the J-11 fighter, carrying the 'PLC-8' short-range air-to-air missile and the 'PLC-12' ​​air-to-air missile
PL stands for the 'Piercing' series of missiles, and C stands for the export model.

The Iraqi Air Force is also ready for combat.

Kill the Americans! Protect Iraq!
This is the persistent belief of Iraqi soldiers!

Now they are flying their own fighter planes at high altitudes to engage in air battles with the Americans.

这不是苏-27、米格-29第一次和F-14战斗机、F/A-18战斗机交战，但是却是歼11战斗机第一次和F-14战斗机、F/A-18战斗机交手。

There was no fear in the eyes of the Iraqi pilots at this time. The F-14 fighters were equipped with Phoenix long-range air-to-air missiles. If they were unaware of the defects, they would just be beaten without fighting back. But from the beginning they knew how to get rid of the lock of the F-14 fighters.

As long as you change direction and go around the radial direction of the opponent's radar, it will be filtered out as clutter by the pulse Doppler radar, causing the opponent to lose the lock! In addition, after the opponent's missile is launched, the jamming bomb is launched.

Of course, you can also maneuver to get rid of it.

Phoenix missiles were launched, but failed to shoot down a single Iraqi fighter plane.

As the distance gets closer, it has entered the attack range of medium-range air-to-air missiles.

"Boom~~"

A J-11E fighter jet fired a 'PLC-12' ​​medium-range air-to-air missile, aiming at an F-14 fighter jet.

The F-14 fighter jet performed a maneuver, but this time it was a little slow and its wing was hit by a missile, causing it to lose balance and continue to drop in altitude.

Fighter jets from both sides continuously launched air-to-air missiles and fought with air-to-air missiles.

The development of science and technology has transformed the third-generation fighter jets into ones that mainly rely on medium-range air-to-air missiles and short-range air-to-air missiles, making it difficult to use airborne weapons such as aircraft cannons.

The F/A-18 fighter jets are equipped with ground-attack weapons, but they have fewer air-to-air missiles than Iraq. In addition, the number of fighter jets is at a disadvantage. Even if the US carrier-based aircraft pilots are more experienced, it is difficult to make up for the gap between the two sides in this regard.

After sacrificing three F-14 fighters and six F/A-18 fighters, the Americans retreated, but the battle was not over yet, and the Americans launched a second wave of attack.

This time there were 25 F-14 fighters and 32 F/A fighters. As early as the early warning aircraft discovered the Iraqi aircraft, the two US aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf began to launch carrier-based aircraft.

The air battle broke out between the two sides more than 200 kilometers away from the aircraft carrier formation and at a relatively high altitude. The Americans did not use anti-aircraft missiles, and there were very few air defense missiles left, so they had to take precautions.

The Iraqi Air Force pilots did not immediately fight the Americans, but retreated towards Iraq and waited for reinforcements.

Now, after the previous consumption, Iraq's air force is not much left.

Even if volunteers from Arab brother countries fly planes to join the war, their air force is still inferior to the joint forces in terms of number.

In this case, we have to rely on ground-based air defense forces.

Air defense missiles all have the function of identifying friend or foe, which can lock onto enemy aircraft and then attack them.

This is also the strategy of the Iraqi Air Force, using this method to consume the US Air Force and prevent the US Marines from conducting landing operations from Iraqi waters.

With the help of minefields, Iraq optimistically estimated that it could hold off the Americans for at least three years.

As long as the southern waters are defended, the Americans will not be able to invade Iraq relying solely on the northeastern defense line.

The cruelty of mountain warfare will make the Americans bleed. (End of this chapter)