Thunder Strikes Back

191 Bystander

Hassan found that he couldn't get rid of the radar scanning from all directions. Obviously, there were more than one enemy, and they were flying from different directions.He is not sure whether the enemy will launch medium-range missiles, but during the two-month war, the Mirage 2 has never used Matra medium-range missiles.

The pilot in the back seat looked back from time to time to see if the enemy was approaching.Even 5 days ago, Indian fighter jets would retreat in a timely manner after going deep into a certain distance, but now the situation is different. Far away, to lure the Pakistani side's radar to turn on.They have roughly been able to separate Pakistan from north to south.At present, where Pakistan can control the air supremacy, there is only a very narrow airspace along the border between Afghanistan and Iran.If nothing else, these areas may fall within a week or two.

"We can guide them to the missile position in Suleiman Mountain." The pilot in the back seat reminded Hassan in a panic.

"Don't waste your time, the ground will not make an exception for us."

said the major.At present, the remaining Pakistani radars in the central region can only be turned on occasionally during the day, and at night is when these mobile radar stations move their positions.

"Squadron leader, it looks like they've pinched us from both sides. There are still a few Su-30s to the north. It's hard for us to turn around and head back north."

"Want to kill us? It's not that simple. We can fly west."

"what?"

"Don't worry, they won't go all the way to Afghanistan."

"but……"

"Trust me I'll be fine."

F16 did not return to Peshawar according to the route planned by the guide, because this route has been cut off.The major flew straight to the border area.Not long ago, when the Bottom 5 Squadron was fighting on the northern border, veteran pilots often used the borders of Tajikistan or China to deal with deep-rooted enemies, which was very effective. Indian aircraft generally would not approach these areas.Now Hassan wants to repeat the old trick. As long as it enters a few kilometers, the Indian planes will have nothing to do. After all, it is still the territory of the Americans.Of course, he also thought about the risks, but he was sure that the Americans would not mess around.

The interception by the Indian aircraft was very resolute. They didn't want to give the fighter plane any chance to turn around and flee back to Peshawar. Several Su-30MKIs left the AWACS aircraft running far away and cut in from the northeast in time, occupying a favorable position.But wait for it to fall within range.It seems that the single F16 has nowhere to go.

On the F16D's MPCD display, threat signals from all directions appeared one after another. The legal Thomson Doppler radar trailing and the Russian-made phased array radar on the side were all identified as major threats by the electronic threat system.But these are not all. In the distant 270 bearing, there is a peaceful and weak radio signal that has been shining on this fighter jet. It is a NATO E3 watchtower early warning aircraft on patrol. Since Pakistan and India went to war, each neutral The air power in the direction has also become busy, and they have been using various means to observe the war.

"Squadron leader, will they misjudge?"

"I don't think so. The Taliban don't have planes." The major said briskly. When he was young, he trained in the United States for a period of time, and he had a good impression of American weapons and Americans.It has always been difficult for him to understand why his own government would turn against the United States for harboring terrorists.Since the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the United States has been an important ally of Pakistan.Of course, the backing of China seems to be more sincere, and there is no political coercion attached to their help, but in the view of the major, the help that the United States can give is something that China cannot give; both J-6 and JF17 are just weapons with mediocre technology .

The fighter jets plunged headlong into the dark night sky in the west, constantly changing their attitude and altitude. These effective evasive actions made it impossible for the trailing phantom to complete the lock-on.Hassan is an old hand, he has experienced many near-death battles, and knows all the ways to evade the lock. It is not so easy to target him.

The plane quietly crossed the border at a low altitude of 500 meters. On this side is the Paktika province of neighboring Afghanistan. He knew very well that the watchtower early warning aircraft should have seen the sign that he was going to cross the border a few minutes ago.Right now, no one on the radio gave him any warnings, and he thought maybe the Americans were too lazy to care about him.In fact, this border has always been in vain. As early as the 80s of the last century, Pakistani planes often crossed here to engage fighter jets of the Soviet Empire. However, the tribal areas on both sides of the border are all Pushitu people of the same ethnic group, and they have no concept of borders.

"Have they gone back yet?"

"Still trailing. At least the Mirage 2000 is still at 10 o'clock. We can't go too far. But at least within range of their missiles."

The major lowered the nose of the aircraft and continued to penetrate.If the enemy Indian Air Force could not continue to follow it with radar down look, he turned and slipped back to the north. In Peshawar, several air defense systems were still active.He was waiting for an air call at any time, expecting Kabul to ask or warn.

Sure enough, the trailing Indian Phantom Squad began to fear the border. The Phantom fleet hesitated for a moment, and decided to fly along the border instead of crossing to pursue it. It probably didn't want the plane that destroyed most of the regiment's tanks to come back easily, and didn't want to provoke NATO.There is always one plane in the phantom formation that keeps scanning to grasp the real-time position of F16, while the rest of the planes follow quietly.

After Hassan noticed that the enemy was turning right, the radar intelligence barely scanned him.But he didn't dare to turn back immediately, for fear of hitting the muzzle of Su 30 in the north. If the other party used a data link, such an ambush would be easy to do.This area is a continuous mountainous area, and he is going to take advantage of the low altitude to completely get rid of the enemy planes.

"Squadron leader, there is a new threat in the northwest, it seems to be NATO fighter radar."

"What?" Hassan was taken aback, looking down at the MPCD.Sure enough, I saw a new radar threat at the 10 o'clock position. It was some kind of phased array radar.He thought, could it be the F510C of the US 16 Squadron that Bagram took off?Hassan became suspicious. He hadn't heard that they had recently upgraded their avionics.

There are thousands of rays of light on the eastern horizon, and a round of morning sun is rising.Hassan avoided the glare of the sun and turned his head to look northwest.The radar scan of the NATO plane disappeared in due course, but the E3 early warning aircraft in the direction of Kabul stayed in the air and kept monitoring here.If they wanted to give radio warnings in English, they should have no problem, but their silence all the time seems to be trying.

Hassan didn't turn on the radar to check the azimuth and distance of the NATO plane, for fear of provoking the opponent, but he didn't quite believe that the opponent would actually open fire.This is just a diplomatic issue, not a military confrontation.The fighter jet was probably just flying over to check it out.

"Okay, let's turn back right away, I hope those Su-30s have already gone back." The major said.He always felt that NATO's response was a bit too weird.

A bright spot flashed in the sky, like a meteor flying horizontally past the 9 o'clock square, its height was about 2000 meters and the distance did not exceed 5 kilometers. Two Pakistani pilots watched the plane's movements closely, and the NATO plane flew into the distance.This is a bit abnormal. If you want to warn of crossing the border, or expel them, you should fly close to each other, and then use the radio or hand gestures to express your position.And the action of the F2 block 16 staggering in a hurry was more like waiting for an opportunity to occupy the attack position at the rear.

"You stare at the back. See if he has turned around." Hassan explained to his companion in the back seat.

"Will they fire?"

"Probably not." The major said, but he didn't have much confidence in what he said.In fact, he has no idea at all, and he also knows that Americans do sometimes do some inexplicable things.

The NATO plane faded into the distance, it was not seen turning back, and there was no radio communication of any kind.Hassan decided not to take any more risks, and he turned immediately to Peshawar.He has been flying close to the border for 10 minutes, and arrived at the approximate position of Nangarhar Province. He is very close to Peshawar, the key air defense of the army. The attack radius of HQ9 is about 100 kilometers in front. He does not believe the Indians Trail all the way here on the other side of the border.

"Look, I said that nothing will happen. Hehe, your worries are unnecessary. Those NATO planes took off to defend against the Indians. Their early warning planes should be able to see that we were forced here by a large number of Indian planes."

"I hope so."

As soon as the words fell, the radar warning sounded sharply again.With one fighter scanning from the dangerous 6 o'clock direction and not far away, it goes from power-on scan to track in one go.Hassan knew that without the guidance of the early warning aircraft, this would not be possible, and the aircraft's ability to look down and intercept was quite good.

"Oops, I can't get rid of it, this is not an ordinary radar." Hassan said in shock.He found that the opponent used the radar tracking after occupying the attack position almost quietly. This was not an expulsion but a sneak attack.

"what should we do?"

"Maybe a missile has been fired, you have to look behind."

The F16 continued to lower its altitude. The major tried to use the undulating terrain to get rid of the radar and quickly fled back to the east of the border, but facing the glare of the sun in the east made it difficult for him to fly too low.As a compromise, he could only fly to the northeast.

The pilot in the back seat turned his head from side to side in a panic. If the enemy attacked, he had to see it as soon as possible and alert the squadron leader.In the dim southwest sky, two gleams emerged from the clouds one after another, and they became dazzling.

"The enemy plane has launched an attack." The pilot in the back seat shouted.

"Damn, they did open fire, they must have made a mistake," Hassan said.Now he has no altitude, and he has been slowing down before, so it is quite difficult to avoid AIM120.He turned on the afterburner and released several sets of chaff and tracer rounds.The major then began to turn west.Doing so moves away from the border, but provides temporary protection from the glare of the sun.

In an instant, the aircraft escaped the radar track with a 6G overload, and the first missile was thrown aside, and it flew directly to the east of the border, heading towards Peshawar.However, the enemy plane outside the visual range quickly saw through this action, turned the nose and captured the low-altitude target again, and corrected the second medium-range bomb that dropped the target back to the correct direction through the data link.This time, Hassan's plane was also intercepted by the active missile radar that was already working.

(End of this chapter)