Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 492 The Night Attack of Nine Deaths
The phone rang suddenly, like a lingering curse, and the major picked up the phone in fear.

"Squadron leader, the attack time is up, please report to the briefing room immediately."

"Got it, I'll be there soon."

After 30 minutes, Major Pandit sat in the cockpit of his MiG-27. Although the aircraft was old, it was better than those Tejas fighters that were prone to stall and crash. He had already witnessed several LCA crashes due to inexplicable reasons.In fact, the chief test pilot of LCA is his fellow countryman. He told him a year ago that the test flight of this kind of aircraft is very incomplete. It is said that this kind of aircraft should not be qualitative at all, let alone combat.As proof, most of the Tejas fighters MK1 and MK2 delivered since the start of the war were lost.Since the start of the war, HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), inspired by the prime minister's war mobilization, has been rushing to produce this kind of aircraft day and night. While establishing a second production line, it will continue to increase the high failure rate. 3 times.

It is the last few LCAs of the Scorpion Squadron that are now escorting these MiG-27s.This aircraft is not suitable for MiG-27 formation flight, or for tactical cooperation. LCA must maintain an airspeed and altitude greater than the manual figures to maintain a minimum flight stability, which will inevitably drag down the MiG-27, which has a low-altitude advantage.But the higher-ups took it for granted that the two aircrafts were combined (of course, it was a helpless move due to too much damage in the battle); in the Scorpion Squadron, as a compromise, the flying altitude of the Brilliant Escort in the formation was higher than that of the MiG-27. 200 meters, a serious consequence of doing this is to expose the formation position in advance, sacrificing the low-altitude penetration capability of the MiG-27; and when the enemy air force swarms out, the Glorious fighters often have run out of fuel and go back first, leaving the landing The single MiG-27 was left behind.

Major Pandit has repeatedly suggested to his superiors that the MiG-27 must act alone, but he has not received any reply. He can only accept that the LCA will be used as a second hand during the attack, or use them to monitor the movement of the enemy's air force in the key direction at high altitude. In the case of insufficient LCA radar can still play some role.

In the cockpit night gauges flashed, the major started the engine just before the runway, he braked and pushed the throttle, bringing the revs up, but in no rush to take off.The plane made a rumbling roar and shook violently. Before the order was issued, he hoped to reduce some unnecessary loads.

One advantage of taking off from Chandirga is that it is only more than 100 kilometers away from the northern target, and there is no need to carry auxiliary fuel tanks or even fill up the fuel; while the enemy usually only uses medium-range bombs to intercept at night, keeping the aircraft dexterous in these missions is important It is very necessary. Of course, the superior does not agree to take off with half fuel, so he can only consume some by himself first.

"Scorpion leader, you can take off."

"clear."

The major adjusted the wings to the takeoff angle and took off with a full load of bombs.He has calculated the battle damage of the Indian front-line squadron. The current loss rate of the pilots of the attack aircraft squadron is more than half. Among them, the pilots who perform low-altitude penetration missions account for the majority of losses. Even the Rafale fighter force is no exception. That is to say, every To dispatch once means a huge risk.

This mission is to bomb the tank group of Pakistan's No. [-] armored group. It is a relatively deep target. Since it is an armored group, air defense missiles are naturally indispensable. It is an impossible task to complete simply.

The major has long noticed that recently the Air Force has always assigned this particularly dangerous task to the Scorpion Squadron, and deliberately saving the Su-30MKI or Mirage 2000 fighter jets of other squadrons seems to have something to do with the huge loss of the Tiger Shark Squadron in the east.However, after losing three wingmen in a row, he no longer cares about these things.The war may only last for another 3 to 1 months, but the major is not optimistic about his end. Only when most of the planes and old pilots are exhausted, will the gamblers in New Delhi wake up.

The rulers of India are a group of elites who have been indoctrinated with various self-important ideas since they were born.For the purpose of containing China, the West exaggerates and compliments India's achievements all the time, but those who can say that India can fight against China and Pakistan at the same time and win are obviously insane.In the past 50 years, the elite group has continuously used its logistical advantages to take advantage of the Sino-Indian line of control, which to some extent encourages the confidence of military adventures.For many years the Chinese have been silently building their roads and railways on the other side of the Line of Control apart from empty verbal protests, even during the first few months of India's invasion of Pakistan, the Chinese showed no intention of doing anything , looking at it now, they are really waiting for the day when things will come to fruition, they are waiting for the ruling class in India to get out of control.

"Captain Scorpion, we noticed that you deviated from the course." The ground control tower reminded the major who was in a trance through the radio.

"I've noticed it, thanks for the reminder."

The major quickly corrected the course to one side.The upgrade plan of the MiG 27, because the funds have not been implemented, is only halfway through before the start of the war. This aircraft lacks a vertical display and cannot display complex routes. It just has a simple preset heading display on the top of the HUD, which can display each flight. The direction in which a turn is required on a flight path.

"Captain, if you are not in good condition, I can lead the pilot."

The escorting LCA pilot said.

"Listen, follow the designated route and I will remind you when you need to lower the altitude."

The major didn't answer the LCA pilot's big and small proposals.The MiG-27 had to increase its height and speed to match these guys, and they were not satisfied yet.

"Did you see the mountain pass in front? There is very likely an enemy's radar behind you. Keep your spirits up."

"Captain Scorpion, the enemy's early warning plane has just returned. The air situation is stable and the plan is going well."

"clear."

These days, the Air Force Staff finally worked out a new set of plans. They found a gap in the enemy's radar network in the mountainous area. Of course, they had to wait for the early warning plane to return before they could do it.The Chinese have just weakened their air force in the north, and they don't know what big conspiracy they are planning.

"Squad idea, 2 Thunder fighter jets are fighting the Trident, the bearing is 145 kilometers away." The ground continued to remind.

"They are all rookies, they are not vulnerable at all." In the formation radio station, the leader of the LCA fleet disdainfully disregarded that he only had 200 hours of flight time.

"We are not here to fight. All lower the altitude to avoid early exposure."

The three MiG-3s slowly lowered their altitude and hid in the mountains.If you choose this timing to attack westward, it is easy to be dazzled by the sunset in the west, but you can also fly with the help of the last ray of sunlight. When you reach the target, the sky is almost dark, and the effect of using night vision equipment is relatively small. it is good.

The MiG 27 itself is very suitable for this kind of mission, but the other 4 LCA pilots can only stay at higher altitudes. They hate flying at low altitudes, especially in the evening, although the multifunctional radar of this aircraft has a low-altitude penetration mode. Theoretically, it has a stronger ability to avoid terrain than the MiG 27 (there is no multi-function radar in the nose of the MiG 27, only optical reconnaissance equipment), but a large number of unexplained collision accidents in the LCA seem to be attributed to the low-altitude mode extremely unreliable.Now the Scorpion Squadron has redefined the specific height of "low altitude" to adapt to the LCA, which has helped the opponent to some extent.

The air battle north of Fort *** seemed to be over. The major switched to the communication channel of the Trident and heard the voice of the long-lost Captain Rolle. Captain Rolle was asking the wingman if he saw the missile hit the target, and the wingman said he was not sure.It seemed that the old guy was still alive, and Major Pandit felt a little relieved in his heart.

Rolle had been on TV before, and he was more low-key than the kid named Goya. He also covered the Scorpion Squadron in air combat, and repelled the sneak attack of the Black Spider Squadron. He was indebted to Major Pandit.

The plane flew at low altitude and never encountered distant radar.The major asked if the other two MiG-2s had been found. The radar scans where the wingman marked the siren and shot down seemed to come from his own positions in the east and north.

This second-generation aircraft does not have a data link, otherwise he should know at the same time that the light on his head has been exposed.

The last ray of sunlight fell on the distant mountain col, and the sky was already very dark.The MiG-27 formation leveled the aircraft and carried out automatic level flight.The major moved his head to the cathode ray tube monitor on the right. He had to search for the approximate location in night vision mode and then make a judgment.He kept switching to a narrower field of view for discrimination instead of using active, higher-resolution sensors like advanced fighters.

The enhanced image became clearer and clearer, and as the plane approached in steady level flight, a large number of tanks gradually emerged.These tanks on the ground are not moving at all, and they are not in formation. The barrels are pointing everywhere. They are obviously damaged or abandoned parts on the battlefield. They look like Indian T72 tanks, and there are also T55 tanks of the Pakistani Army.

The field of vision extended forward, and did not see a target that matched the characteristics, but saw the wreckage of several helicopters, one of which seemed to be the Longbow Apache.

It seems that New Delhi can really mess things up. The expensive Rafale fighter jets that were boasted not long ago were almost all lost in the east, and now they have got new premium weapons.Intelligence shows that there should be a team of heavy tanks from Pakistan's First Armored Group guarding the main road, but it has never appeared.

"The specified target was not found."

"Captain Scorpion, continue flying to the northwest, it should be not far away. Repeat the reconnaissance several times if necessary."

Major Pandit hated search missions in deep areas. When the plane flew by suddenly, the ground firepower was often too late to return fire. If it flew a few more times, the situation would be much more dangerous.

The major didn't want to follow the ground command's request. He ordered the rest of the planes to disarm their weapons and fly over the pass without hesitation no matter what they saw.The scorpion carries ordinary cluster bombs, but if it is thrown too far, it can damage the side and rear armor and tracks of the tank, and its killing effect on infantry is also good.

"Listen, let me point out the target. Focus your attention on the enemy's ground firepower." He said to his own people, "After passing this mountain ridge, we will definitely be exposed. It takes about 15 seconds for the anti-aircraft gun to go from radar scanning to firing. .This is the limit of our search, if you don't find the target, do as I told you."

He once told the team members that it is not shameful to drop bombs and return home, but this cannot be discussed on the radio because it is easy to be heard by the superiors.

The three planes quickly crossed the mountain pass, and immediately encountered head-on radar scanning. The scanning was extremely complicated. Obviously, the pulses were emitted from different areas. It seems that the enemy is not completely defenseless. It seems that there are many weapons behind their defense line. Waiting for the low-altitude penetrating weapons that think they are concealed to pass by here.

The major held his breath, still staring at the TV monitor, the Selina alarm in his ear was beeping, this was not the first time he had experienced this kind of thing, knowing that he was making a hasty turn at this moment, but it was easy to aim steadily at the enemy in front timing.It is necessary to accelerate indomitably and destroy the enemy's continuous range measurement.

The major slowly pushed the throttle valve with his left hand, and at the same time pushed the variable-sweep wing lever, the wings of the fighter plane were retracted, and at the same time, flames were ejected forward.Disruption bombs were launched layer by layer behind the plane, and chaff fell all over the sky.

A long 10 seconds passed, and sure enough, there was no ground fire interception. The three MiG-27UPGs still maintained a dense formation of level flight and advanced 1.5 kilometers in depth.The major finally saw the suspected tank turret behind the mound, it was a huge square turret, some of the barrels were still turning, and the deployment was scattered, but for unguided weapons, it's not entirely a bad thing—whatever you want No matter how you drop the bomb, you can hit part of it anyway.

The major decided to take the risk of going beyond the time limit he had set, and hold on for a few more seconds.Dropping bombs can only be carried out in a dive or level flight state, and he cannot pull up to avoid dropping bombs at the same time.From the night vision, he could see clusters of intense flickers in front of him. The enemy had clearly started shooting, and it was fiercer than any anti-aircraft fire he had seen before. At this moment, the target had just disappeared from the vision of the night vision device. The sound sounded quickly, and he decisively pulled the bomb trigger, then pulled up to dodge.

The 30mm seven-barreled artillery on the opposite side ejected a terrifying barrage for a while, which was many times stronger than the 23mm double-barreled artillery that appeared on the battlefield before, and there were more than one.They formed a crossfire, weaving a gorgeous, impenetrable fire net in the air.

The major's acceleration action is still effective in calculating the distance change rate of destroying the opponent's commander, but the two wingmen who fell behind were one step behind, and fell into the dense firepower, unfortunately they were sieved.

(End of this chapter)