Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

In mid-July, bad news came from Rhodesia. A team transporting agricultural machinery was hijacked by tribal armed forces more than 100 kilometers outside Harare!
"The current situation is that the local authorities in Rhodesia have said that the situation is very troublesome. There are about 500 people in that Bantu tribe. According to intelligence, they have at least 50 Enfield rifles. We are not sure whether these militants have other weapons. The local authorities' garrison is cautious, and these tribes are entrenched in the mountains, so it is very troublesome to find them. After discussions between the two countries, we have strived to send a small force of no more than 50 people to conduct a joint rescue." When Staff Officer Ye brought the bad news, Ren Zhong was discussing the latest plan for the first-generation front-line support attack aircraft based on the A4 attack aircraft with the main person in charge of the Aviation Research Center.

Since the engine and airframe design are all ready-made, the first-generation attack aircraft Q-5 has passed the test flight. Now the main focus is on avionics and weapons equipment. The project leader is hesitant whether to add air combat capabilities, that is, to carry air-to-air missiles and radars.

According to Ren Zhong's understanding, this is a pure front-line assault fire support weapon. Everything is based on the attack on the ground, acting as the real main force of air fire output. Therefore, the weapons are mainly machine guns, bombs and rocket launchers, but the choice of rockets must take into account the need to destroy ground armor.

When fully fueled, it can carry 2.5 tons of ammunition and has a range of over 3000 kilometers. When supporting the front line, it only needs half fuel, and can carry up to 4 tons of weapons, with a combat radius of about 800 kilometers. Considering the current combat range and intensity, the attack capability of the J- in the front-line support mode is very impressive. After all, the ammunition carried by the J- is delivered very accurately to the enemy's head, which is much more accurate than artillery bombing.

At the same time, this model focuses on light ground attack and has very low requirements for field airports. It can take off and land as long as there is a hardened dirt runway of several hundred meters. There are no restrictions on its deployment on the battlefield. It can be said that it can be put into combat anywhere. Its support capability for battles above the brigade level can be imagined. You must know that Ren Zhong originally wanted to include this fighter in the Army Aviation Sequence, and form the main force of the Army's frontier air firepower output with armed helicopters.

However, researchers at the Aviation Research Center believe that this fighter can be considered for export in the future. Under the condition that propeller fighters have not yet been withdrawn, there is no problem for the Q-51's air combat capability to surpass the Mustang PD fighter, so the air combat capability should be retained as much as possible to facilitate future exports.

What the project team said makes sense.

Ren Zhong is discussing with him the feasibility of later modifications.

This news from Staff Officer Ye made Ren Zhong stop talking about this topic immediately. After all, Staff Officer Ye’s matter was more urgent now.

"How are the people? Are they okay now?" Ren Zhong asked. He didn't expect trouble to come so soon.

"Everyone is fine now. Lin Zonghan has already arrived in Harare. According to the information he received from the local authorities, this tribe is demanding a ransom. They want 5 pounds." Staff Officer Ye replied.

"In this case, we won't delay any longer. Let Li Yunlong select the personnel and choose 50 people from the rapid response team to set off immediately." Ren Zhong said without hesitation. "Before that, the diplomatic department should coordinate a temporary stop and refueling in Colombo. If there are 8 people, we can send out a Y5 transport plane, loaded with 5 Cheetah all-terrain vehicles and airborne three-wheeled vehicles. The rapid response team will immediately set off from Yanshan Base to the South Base, and then refuel once at the South Base, and then refuel again in Colombo, and then fly directly to Harare."

Ren Zhong had already deduced and prepared for the situations that would be encountered while farming in Heifei, and the rapid reaction force that Li Yunlong trained had the biggest combat target to be these blind tribal bandits.

Although Ren Zhong is not sure how well Li Yunlong has trained the rapid reaction force, no matter what, it is at least not worse than the soldiers of the independent regiment.

After all, the current nutritional status, training level and weapons and equipment are completely different. Any platoon pulled out from Li Yunlong's troops are capable of fighting tough battles.

However, this kind of hostage rescue operation requires more than just strong combat capability, and places higher demands on the team.

"I knew that Brother Ren had a way," said Staff Officer Ye, relieved. "When Brother Ren suggested that Li Yunlong form a rapid reaction force, some of us didn't understand the point of establishing such a force. After all, we already have a reconnaissance team and a special forces unit, so why do we need to build a rapid reaction force? In this situation, the role of Brother Ren's rapid reaction force is reflected."

Although the higher-ups intended to mobilize special forces when they received the news, Staff Officer Ye still insisted on asking Ren Zhong.

Because Ren Zhong had asked Li Yunlong to apply for the construction of a small-scale rapid reaction force before, although Staff Officer Ye did not have much impression, he could roughly understand what it did by hearing the name, so it did not delay things by coming to Ren Zhong to ask about the situation. Unexpectedly, Ren Zhong recommended this small force without hesitation.

Staff Officer Ye did not understand what Li Yunlong and his men were doing, but he knew that Ren Zhong would not do anything without a purpose.

Li Yunlong's request to personally lead the rapid response team to rescue the hostages was ruthlessly rejected. In the end, the chief officer of the rapid response force, Captain Zhou Lei, led the team to set off.

After the improved Y-8 transport aircraft was replaced with four TurboPropellant-4 engines, its effective range with full fuel has increased to 5 kilometers, and its maximum flight speed exceeds 6500 kilometers per hour. After diplomatic coordination, the team's route was changed to a direct flight from Yanjing to Colombo, reducing the time for takeoff and landing and saving as much time as possible.

Five Cheetah all-terrain vehicles and five converted airborne tricycles were transported by a Y-5 transport plane with 5 members of the rapid response team. After a day and night of continuous flight, they landed at the airport in Harare.

"Comrade Zhou Lei, you have worked hard all the way. Thank God you finally arrived." As soon as the plane stopped, Lin Zonghan came forward and shook hands with Zhou Lei, who was walking in front of him. "This is Captain David Cobbs, who is cooperating with our operation from the local authorities in Rhodesia. We have prepared a room at the airport as a temporary combat command center to facilitate the command of our rescue operation in Harare."

"Hello, Captain Kobos, I'm Major Zhou Lei who is in charge of the rescue this time." Zhou Lei spoke directly to Captain Kobos in E language, which made Captain Kobos stunned for a moment. He obviously didn't expect that a major sent by Dongda University could speak E language.

According to Ren Zhong's requirements, all rapid reaction force team leaders and above must be able to speak a foreign language, either English, French, or Portuguese or Spanish, because the original intention of this rapid reaction force is to be globalized.

"Hello, Major Zhou Lei, welcome to Harare, but it's obviously not the time for us to sit down and chat. Let's talk while we walk. When we get to the temporary combat headquarters, we will introduce the current situation to you based on the map." Captain Kobos quickly came to his senses and made a gesture of invitation to Zhou Lei. Zhou Lei and the three team leaders followed to the headquarters. The rest of the team was busy unloading equipment, and the equipment support team in the team began to skillfully restore the aerial three-wheeled vehicle that had been disassembled into parts.

Everything is going on in an orderly manner for combat preparations.

"The tribe that kidnapped the engineering machinery team is called the Caribu tribe. They live in the jungle more than 100 kilometers north of Harare and make a living by hunting. Of course, if a caravan passes by, they often play the role of kidnappers. Since the area where they live is in a jungle of more than 300 kilometers, it is difficult for our local armed forces in Harare to effectively encircle and suppress them. After all, our main force defending Harare is only a battalion," Captain Kobos explained to Zhou Lei, pointing to a map.

"The leader of their tribe is called Sachikongyi, a wanted criminal who once served in the local guard for three years and has certain military capabilities. It is said that the militarization of the Caribou tribe was completed due to his efforts. They used the looted property to buy weapons, and then used stronger force to rob more property. We have dispatched several armed forces to encircle and suppress their forces, but they moved too fast in the jungle and our missions failed every time." Kobos did not hide the difficulty of his opponent and gave a brief introduction to his opponent's situation.

Of course, they are not very clear about it. After all, the situation of these tribes is not fixed in a certain place, and it is even more difficult for someone to infiltrate the tribe to obtain specific intelligence. Therefore, there is no information about their lairs, and no one knows how many people and guns they have. They can only roughly give the scope of their activities.

This battle was a tough one for Zhou Lei, because he had to rescue the hostages successfully in an unfamiliar place against unfamiliar opponents, which was a challenge of hellish difficulty.

"Comrade Zhou Lei, there are a total of 15 employees in our engineering team, and they have all been abducted. It is worth noting that these employees are retired personnel, so some clues may have been left behind in the process of their abduction. Please pay attention to this." Lin Zonghan secretly introduced this detail to Zhou Lei's ear, which shocked Zhou Lei, who was originally very embarrassed.

"Captain Kobos, does anyone here know the language of the Cariboo tribe? I think if there is a chance, we can have someone who can communicate with them in the tribal language." Zhou Lei and the three team leaders looked at the map carefully, making sure they had all the key points memorized. Zhou Lei said to Captain Kobos.

"I can," Captain Cobbs said, "so I will be with you in this rescue."

The aerial three-wheeled vehicle team took the lead and flew directly to the target area.

Five members of the communications team quickly set up satellite communications and battlefield radio communications systems at the airport to ensure connectivity between the radio equipment carried by each team and the rear command center. Lin Zonghan and the communications team provided full support for the team's communications and coordination work at the temporary command center at the airport.

Now the communications of the rapid reaction force are divided into internal communications within the squad and communications between groups. The squad uses walkie-talkies built into the helmets to communicate, and basically they can talk to each other within ten kilometers. The squads communicate through their radio walkie-talkies, which, after adopting a multi-level jump method, can support three-level signal relay jumps to support voice calls within a range of 3 kilometers.

In this way, after the entire team enters the target area, communication is basically ensured to be unimpeded.

The forests of Rhodesia are different from the impenetrable jungles of Southeast Asia. There is usually no dense grass under the big trees, and elephants and other large animals can come and go freely. Zhou Lei led his men to drive the Cheetah all-terrain vehicles and ran directly in the forests without the need for roads, quickly approaching the target... Xiang Yunrong of the air team took 5 aerial three-wheeled vehicles and arrived at the target mountain area in just over 40 minutes. They dispersed into a line with an interval of about 500 meters, lowered their altitude and observed carefully at an altitude of about 3 meters in the air. In this way, a line can cover an area of ​​about 500 kilometers at a time. After all, there are more than people in the Carib tribe, and the traces of their activities will not be too small, so Xiang Yunrong's team quickly discovered their tracks.

Several thatched houses with small mushroom-like domes were found in the mountains, as well as livestock pens made of stones. "Report, Falcon 1 has found traces of suspected tribal residences, with a total of domed buildings and a livestock pen."

"Report, Falcon 2 has discovered traces of a tribe living there, with a total of ten dome-shaped buildings."

On the other side, Zhou Lei and two teams driving the Cheetah all-terrain vehicle rushed to the place where the engineering team had the accident under the guidance of Captain Kobos, and soon found the secret direction sign here.

Combined with the information reported by Falcon, Zhou Lei confirmed that the people in the engineering team were from the Cariboo tribe. Since the direction of their destination had been received from the front, Zhou Lei and his team went straight into the wilderness and headed straight for the target. Sure enough, they found more signs left by the people in the engineering team on the road.

Captain Kobos watched the convoy heading in one direction almost without hesitation, and felt a little confused. He didn't know how Zhou Lei and the others were sure that they were going in this direction.

However, the Cheetah all-terrain vehicle's powerful off-road performance has already conquered this veteran of John Bull's family. This strange and even ugly looking vehicle may seem like a jeep, but unlike a jeep, Kobos has driven a Willys Jeep before and knows that despite its off-road capabilities, the Willys Jeep cannot pass through such places. However, this small team from Dongda University does not seem to have this problem. Wherever an elephant can go, this off-road vehicle can go as well.

Captain Cobos was sure that if they found the people of the Cariboo tribe, they would have nowhere to escape driving such an off-road vehicle, as two legs could not outrun four wheels.

The four heavy machine guns on the vehicle look even more formidable. If the Carib tribe puts up an armed resistance, their demise may not be far away.

Captain Kobos did not have much good feelings towards this notorious tribe. In fact, if they encountered them in battle, they would either arrest them and send them to jail, or kill them on the spot. There was almost no chance of a third way.

(End of this chapter)