Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 133 The Final Rehearsal
After the video call ended, Singh returned to his bedroom in the Ministry of Defense with great ambition, where he had been living for more than a month.A few days ago, he asked his wife to find all the photos of his military uniform from a long time ago and put them by the bedside.Now he can no longer wear the straight military uniform, and walks around in front of his subordinates with a riding crop under his armpit. This is somewhat a pity for him.Singer lay down on the bed, picked up a small wooden photo frame from the cabinet on one side, and looked at it. It was a photo of a heroic tank company commander with a mustache. The photo was taken in December 1971 at the current Bangladesh; at that time, he had neither rested his head nor gained weight, and could nimbly leap onto the turret with the cannon in his arms.

"Our ideal is finally coming true, and India's rise will begin tonight." Singh said to himself, so moved that he wanted to cry.

At the same time, the desert area south of Shujaabad in central Pakistan.

The young commander, Sergeant Yahini, was conducting a search and shooting exercise with his crew in the early hours of the morning. The reason why he chose such a timing was not because of the tactical needs arising from the fear that the Indians would attack in the early morning. The main reason was It is because this is the coolest time of the day in the desert area, and it is actually already a little cold, so that there will be no problems such as heatstroke of soldiers and overheating of machines.In fact, no one thought that the Indians would rush to the other side of the desert on a cool moonlit night, because the intelligence agency had discovered that most of the main numbers of the Indian Army appeared in the north.

The Khalid II tank commanded by Sergeant Yahini is the best tank in Pakistan. There is only one brigade equipment in the entire division (the rest of the Khalid II is equipped with the 6th Armored Division in the North.), and the first armor of his vehicle group belongs to The 17th Tank Battalion of the division is the best armored force in Pakistan after the 6th Brigade under the 7th Armored Division.

The tank rumbled across the desert, leaving the platoon leader and the other three vehicles 3 kilometers behind,
"Have you found the target?" Gunner Tahim asked. He is now very worried about finding the target. The low-light night vision effect at dawn is not good, and the division always prohibits troops from using thermal imagers during training. It is said that It is because in the temperature difference in the desert, the cooling machine of this expensive equipment wears out very quickly. Although it is only 10 degrees Celsius now, the rigid regulations are like that.

"Not yet, don't rush." ​​The driver said.What he saw during the week vision ceremony was similar to that of the gunner, with similar outlines of sand dunes everywhere, and the low-light night vision equipment was not very effective in the desert with a monotonous background.

"Steady and slow. Walk straight. Turret at 2 o'clock."

Yahini simply stood on the chair and stuck his head out of the turret. It was almost dawn outside, and he hoped to use the telescope to search for the target.

"Panshi 221, this is Panshi 104, I can't see you anymore, you seem to have left the practice area." The long hair in the earphone asked.

"No, I've been in the exercise area, but it's just deeper into the desert."

"You shouldn't have left the column..." Suddenly, Khaled II fell into a low-lying place, and the platoon leader's signal became unclear, and it seemed that he was a little far away.

The bottom of the huge bunker suddenly became steeper, and the sergeant's head almost fell on the side machine gun.

"I told you to drive straight, not into a hole," the sergeant shouted.

"Understood." The driver replied weakly.He pulled the joystick and re-engaged the gear, and the tank crawled out from the other side of the big pit roaring, but his operation did not change at all, still stubbornly walking in a straight line.

"Great. I spotted the target. Turn right 20 degrees."

Yahini got into the tank with a whoosh, pushed the tank cap a bit higher, and then turned the commander's perimeter sight. At this time, the light outside was good enough. He chose the 3X white light mode with a large field of view, and quickly found A 2X5 wooden target about 2 kilometers away, this target is now facing Yahini, and he presses the instruction button on the right handle.Alert the gunner to find the target's location.

"Don't stop the car. Keep the speed."

As the gunner began to adjust the gun horizontally, the turret hummed and turned under the drive of the motor, and soon the gunner Tahim saw the target indicated by Yahini in the scope.

"I asked to stop." Tahim reported, he felt that the target was a little far away.

"parking."

The driver hit the brakes, and the tank rocked back and forth a bit before coming to a stop.

"The target is too small. I estimate it is 2 kilometers away." Gunner Tahim pressed the laser rangefinder and said. Just after he finished speaking, the laser rangefinder had the result, 2507 meters.

"It's too far away, it's impossible for armor-piercing bullets to hit, we have to get closer."

"No, buddy, this is the time of war. If you find the enemy, you should kill him as soon as possible. Understand? We can't indulge ourselves to drive to 150 meters before firing." The commander immediately stopped the request to advance, which made the aim a little bit Difficult because the standard tank cross-sectional area of ​​this target arm is much smaller.

"Okay, since you said so, let me give it a try." Tahim looked down at the fire control computer panel, adjusted the working condition to stable image, selected the ammunition type as armor-piercing ammunition, and then pressed down to reload.

A series of annoying noises culminated in the clang of shells in place as a long-rod fin-stabilized AP shell was loaded into place.Now is the time of war, all the vehicles are loaded with live ammunition instead of training ammunition, and the superiors are no longer so fussy about things such as ammunition consumption during exercises. Sergeant Yahini hopes to take this opportunity to fight more Practice your hands a few rounds.In fact he had always had the urge to go beyond shooting and take aim once himself.

"He was underestimated by the people of the 6th Armored Division, did you hear that?"

"It's too far away to hit, I bet." Said the driver Saad in a low voice.

The gunner Tahim turned a deaf ear to the nonsense of the commander and the driver. He put his forehead close to the image-stabilized sight, selected the magnification of 3X to observe the target, and then used the [ ] sight to hold the target steadily. He needed to track continuously for a while for various Item solution, of course, the tracking time for a stationary target is slightly shorter.You can hear the tiny sound of the trunnion adjusting with the height machine.

The firing permit came on, and he decisively pressed the launch button. After a huge explosion, the smoker started to work suddenly, but no one had the time to care about it. All three members were trying to observe the shells flying into the distance in their own ways.

"It didn't hit, haha. I guessed it right." The pilot Saad yelled, looking very happy. It was strange that he was the only one among the three who observed with the naked eye, but his reaction was also the fastest.

"It really didn't hit, let's make another shot." Yahini said, he saw some erratic trajectory of the shell at the end, maybe due to the influence of the cross wind, but it doesn't matter, the second shot of this sophisticated targeting system Shooting has a higher hit rate.With a series of metal clashes, the second shell was loaded.The gunner decisively pressed the fire button.This time, everyone clearly saw that the shell passed through the center of the target accurately, and then hit the sand dune behind, raising a burst of yellow sand.If it was a real tank, it would probably have started burning by this time.

"Okay, don't use image stabilization, adjust to disturbance aiming, we want to simulate the situation when image stabilization is damaged." The commander wanted to take this opportunity to practice his various shooting methods. It is reported that the government is considering using He had dreamed of transporting a main battalion of the [-]st Armored Division to the front by a large transport plane, and he had to be fully prepared for it.

"Okay, watch mine."

The gunner switches the aiming mode from "stabilized image" to "installation meter", that is, conventional disturbance aiming, which will test the gunner's level more than those highly automated aiming methods.

He pressed the [ ] line of sight against the target to start tracking and laser ranging, and then a new mark was generated on the side of the image, which was the aiming symbol prompted by the computer after correcting the crosswind and ballistic characteristics.Corporal Tahim slowly adjusted the gun manually for a second aim.Aim this modified [ ] sign at the target.At the same time, the commander was also looking at this step in the peripheral sight, which made his heart itch.

"Adjust the high and low angles up by one secret position." Yahini said, he was also a gunner, and he likes to dictate when others are aiming.

Tahim had no choice but to adjust according to the instructions. He knew that if he didn't do this, the commander who was one year younger than himself would definitely press the button on his right hand to overtake the gun adjustment, and it was definitely his fault; Sergeant Yahini has always been that kind of person who likes to do things for him.Under the interference of Yahini, it took a full 25 seconds to aim quietly, which was a life-threatening time on the battlefield.

"I think it's almost there." The driver said proudly.The driver Saad quickly covered his ears.

After a loud bang, Saad immediately drilled his head out from under the turret. Under the dismal Polaris, a flash of light rushed towards the target and hit it for the second time, although it was slightly off than the last time.

"A hit again," the pilot yelled.

"Okay, I'm right, you can't trust the computer completely; continue to drive at low speed, we have to shoot a few shots on the move." The commander ordered to move forward to the tattered pine target.He knew that he had to fight a few more times before the platoon leader intervened. Anyway, it was the army's money and he didn't feel bad.

Within 2 minutes, car No. 221 fired 5 bombs in a row, with a hit rate of 40.00%.Not bad for a small target.

"Panshi 221, I'm Panshi 104, what's the matter with you, I stopped 8 shells, you must be crazy. You think these shells don't cost money. Hurry up and report the location, the superior asked us to shoot once per vehicle, not you One person shot 8 times." The platoon leader's exasperated voice came again, because someone in the headquarters carelessly placed a target that deviated from the exercise area, so he has not found the target so far.

"Sorry Lieutenant, I think there is something wrong with the communication, I can't hear you clearly."

The No. 221 tank continued to rumble forward. Since there was no inter-vehicle data link, if Yahini didn't want to tell the platoon leader where he was, it would be difficult for the platoon leader to find Yahini unless he stuck his head out of the turret to listen. The direction of the gunfire.

On the long border, these are the few troops that are still conducting daily training.Actually the Pakistani army staff kept this elite division here, not because of what was foreseen, just because after the road was destroyed, there was no suitable transport plane to transport these 50 ton behemoths to the north, but the war was like a war In a stage play that has not been fully rehearsed, the most brilliant parts are often those inadvertent mistakes.
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I have something to do tomorrow, please ask for leave first.
(End of this chapter)