Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 728 Closing the Surrounding Circle

A Hongqi Type 17 anti-aircraft combat vehicle quietly parked at a corner of the battlefield, responsible for supporting the air defense network on the battlefield.The radar on its top can detect targets that appear and disappear in the southeast direction.According to the commander's experience, these are likely to be several low-speed drones or helicopters. In fact, he is more inclined to the latter judgment. If it is the enemy's low-altitude drones, they are unlikely to gather together and hover too far away from the battlefield. For a long time, because there is not much spying on anything that way.Maybe a scout helicopter and a couple of attack helicopters that would lead the air assault, or fire scouting.The commander took precautions. Once the enemy got closer, he could use the fire control radar to intercept the target and open fire.

The early warning aircraft can make most of the air targets approaching by low altitude and mountainous areas invisible, but the detection effect on slower targets is not ideal, and the ground radar will have many blind spots due to the curvature of the earth and ground fluctuations. , the detection distance of helicopters has been compressed to a minimum, which means that although these systems responsible for the air defense of motorized troops do not have much advantage in the face of reconnaissance helicopters using millimeter-wave radar, even in terms of detection distance, It is also very likely to become prey itself.

As detected by the radar, a Longbow Apache was moving slowly, sometimes moving sideways to avoid the detected radar waves.The pilot knows how to deal skillfully with those anti-aircraft missiles. If they rush directly to attack, the opponent's anti-aircraft missiles are much faster than Hellfire.

Although they can communicate with each other through the data link, the Super Cobras that are assembled behind and ready to attack do not have millimeter-wave anti-tank missiles. They can only rely on the millimeter-wave radar in front to provide accurate reconnaissance information for everyone.Theoretically, the detection distance of the Longbow is far inferior to the various centimeter-band radars used by an ordinary air defense system, but if the pilot can fly low enough and be good at using the terrain, he can completely detect the enemy first.

Colonel Eichmann hovered behind the reconnaissance plane, used the information collected on the ground to make a judgment, and then commanded the various teams to outflank it from everywhere.

As long as a Super Cobra can sneak up to within 6 to 8 kilometers, it can use Hellfire missiles to strike enemy targets.There is no doubt that his priority targets are those Hongqi 17s. If these things are not in the way, he can easily deal with tanks.

When these attack helicopters were deployed to Agra, they were intended to easily neutralize the ground force superiority of the Chinese army. In principle, this group of veterans could indeed do this, just need to fly to a good field of vision and be able to spot the target at 6 kilometers away. In certain areas, it is only necessary to irradiate a Chinese tank with a beam of laser light. This distance is not enough for the general anti-aircraft guns to reach the helicopter. Everything will be like what often happens in Iraq, and the tank will not be able to resist at all.

But the situation here is much more complicated than that in Iraq. The Chinese tank group is always accompanied by this kind of thing, which is similar to the Russian Doyle M1.They pose a great threat to helicopters.

Colonel Eichmann originally planned to carry out many sneak attacks that could be advanced and retreated on the enemy's long defense line, slowly disintegrating the enemy's tank superiority, but this all-out attack by Frings led to the enemy's rapid response and a decisive tank battle There are early signs, he knows that Yelinsky's mighty tank group will soon collide head-on with the enemy tanks within a few hours, and he can't stay out of it.

Experienced reconnaissance planes can easily spot those HQ-17s even though they don't use radar.

Anti-aircraft weapons are usually far away from the tank group, so as not to fall into the fire net by mistake. At the same time, they also like to park in a higher place. If you see a chariot parked alone on a hill, you can roughly confirm that it is a Hongqi 17 or 35. mm air defense system.

"Blue Skull team, follow the route I specified to outflank the enemy's air defense units, and the owls will attract their attention and fire channels from the front."

The colonel gave the order calmly.He knew that helicopters had a lot of tactics to attract the radar beams of wary enemies so that another team could go around and strike.Of course, if the anti-aircraft vehicle realizes that it is in danger, it can call a friendly vehicle to come over to assist in the defense, but the faster helicopter will definitely take the absolute initiative in such a mobile attack and defense.

2 Super Cobras are quietly making a detour from the route designated by their superiors. They are still concealed. They are expected to find the target with optical equipment from a terrain gap displayed on the map within 30 seconds. If the target takes countermeasures immediately, they will Turn around and flee immediately, or fly low to escape, after all, confronting an anti-aircraft weapon is no joke.

"King, I see the present and request an attack."

"Blue Skull 1, prepare to attack."

"The blue skull understands."

If this attack is successful, it means that a corner of the enemy's air defense network has collapsed, and some rear armored vehicles or self-propelled mortars will leak out.

The shooter used the sighting system to clearly see the enemy tank on the top of the small slope in front of him. He could see that the radar on the top of him was rotating, which completely corresponded to the repeated scans recorded by the helicopter's warning system. However, the helicopter's low-altitude hovering, Coupled with the interference of the terrain, the Hongqi 17 was not found here.Of course, there is also credit for luring the enemy head-on. If the commander uses the photoelectric system to search 360°, he may also see the helicopter.

"Attention guidance radar warning."

The weapon guide reminded.

"They also kept an eye on the king and didn't see the enemy using the range-finding laser."

Blue Skull 1's helicopter didn't have to use laser rangefinders, since the Longbow's millimeter-wave radar could provide approximate numbers, which saved him from having to go through a lot of trouble.

The shooter projected a beam of laser light onto the ground next to the target's track. Since the intelligence could not explain which vehicles in China used the laser warning, the pilot did not aim directly, at least not at the beginning of the attack, to prevent the target from Perceive the danger and spray out protective smoke to block the laser, so that the laser semi-actively guided anti-tank missile will not hit.

"Okay, launch."

A missile flies off the pylon and clings to the ground toward its target.

The Chinese commander in the distance was staring in another direction, and appeared from time to time, but the helicopter that was not approaching, almost caught it a few times, but the opponent quickly lowered the altitude and got rid of the fire control radar.He didn't notice the real threat 40° away.The crew of this tank is so small that it is difficult to take into account all aspects of the 360° direction.

The U.S. military weapons guide counted the numbers silently, then manipulated the laser pointer to point the laser to the chassis, but the opponent was still not vigilant.

It can be seen from the monitor that the target was hit and then burned up. The missiles in the tank ignited by themselves and began to fly into the sky. Eichmann's new tactics worked. This is a tank that is far more expensive than the main battle tank. chariot, and more importantly, he opened up gaps in the battlefield.

"King, hit. Confirmed."

"Good job." Eichmann appreciated that he didn't need to spend so much thought when attacking targets in the West Bank before, "Viper, it's your turn, move quickly."

5 helicopters stuck to the height of a tree and charged forward.A longbow accompanied them to indicate the target for them. The group of helicopters quickly caught up with the self-propelled mortar units that were approaching other anti-aircraft weapons, and these weapons were quickly caught in the fire net.

He Fan was directing the cleanup of the battlefield when suddenly there were reports of new aerial enemy situations from the southeast, and there were many batches.

He immediately judged that the enemy had penetrated the air defense net. In order to make the vehicle easier to travel, he did not carry a wheeled chassis with a longer range of anti-aircraft firepower. Radar, the situation will be much better, but he is not without a plan. At this moment, the air defense company directly under him has acted on his own to plug the gap according to the emergency plan.This unit also has some individual anti-aircraft missiles that can be scattered on the battlefield as an important supplement to anti-helicopter.

He Fan didn't have time to participate in the specific deployment, because the security forces in the north had also found signs of tanks moving ahead. It is not clear what kind of enemy it is, but Indian tanks immediately returned to the battlefield after being defeated. I haven't encountered it before, so it is likely to be the heavy troops of those mercenaries.

Based on the ever-changing battlefield intelligence, the air defense company immediately moved in the direction of the enemy's possible breakthrough, and the command also asked the air force for assistance.Air combat has never stopped in the higher airspace, and now must participate in low-altitude interception operations.

The company commander of the 1st tank company on alert to the north found that the dust was flying in the distance, which was different from the smoke when the Indian army retreated before. It seemed that a large army was approaching.Most of the commanders stretched out their heads to observe, and there were explosions from time to time in the distance to the east. Obviously, the air defense situation was not optimistic.But in the current battle, tankers shouldn't worry too much about those things they can't control. The decisive battle between tanks and tanks seems to be imminent.

"Each vehicle team reported the observation situation. Have you seen any enemy reconnaissance vehicles?" asked the company commander.

"not yet."

Each team replied.

"After receiving the latest instructions from the superior, we launched an attack. After each vehicle group started, we opened the distance horizontally. Beware of enemy shelling."

"clear."

More than 10 chariots attacked forward at a medium speed, and at the same time expanded their formation horizontally.

According to the elevation of the terrain, it is about 10 meters lower than the north 10 kilometers away, and there are some ups and downs in the middle. For the Type 99 tank with a smaller turret, this is not a small bargain, because the enemy is at the limit distance. What I saw was the Type 99 tank turret rising from the horizon. The area to be hit was small, and the frontal protection of the wedge-shaped turret was excellent.The barrel of the Type 99 is close to the horizon, and the shooting range is good.This is why the company commander has the confidence to push the enemy flat.

He Fan's preset plan, of course, estimated the enemy's approach, and he has been studying these things in recent years.

As the enemy's guide, it is most likely light-armed reconnaissance troops, not tanks. They are mainly responsible for testing firepower and attracting artillery fire. Tanks will stay behind, waiting to launch an assault in a certain direction.In the US military operations in the past 20 years, there have been very few precedents for tanks to attack all the way.

If you also send out a reconnaissance battalion to test each other with the enemy, there is nothing cheap to discuss. It is better to let the tanks go up directly, so as to avoid being covered by enemy artillery fire.

Sure enough, the artillery shells in the air flew over screaming. According to the intelligence, it should be the M109A6, the "Paladin" self-propelled artillery.Americans' demand for artillery mainly lies in digitalization, so this type of gun still uses 39 times the caliber artillery and is loaded manually. Its range and limit rate of fire are not ideal, but the reaction time is relatively fast.

The Chinese commanders got into the turret one after another to avoid being killed by fragments.

The shells fell behind the tank, about 200 to 300 meters away.Obviously the enemy's first round of shooting came very quickly, but He Fan expected this standard way of fighting.15 kilometers behind, China's 155mm self-propelled howitzer is also ready to fire, just waiting for the artillery radar to intercept the target information.

"A company-scale salvo. Keep up the pace and continue to stagger formation."

The company commander said that the radar at the rear should be able to detect the enemy's firing position at this moment, and after a while, a round of shells will pass, and they will have to run away.

"Report, we saw enemy reconnaissance troops."

From a distance, several Humvees could be seen turning in the smoke, seemingly trying to run.

In the air, the artillery shells of the two sides met at the head of the tank group. The artillery shells of the Chinese artillery went straight to the enemy's position. The enemy's shells still fell behind the tank group, slightly corrected, and closer.Its third and fourth rounds could possibly threaten the tank, if it still fires a few more times.

At this moment, He Fan's 2nd company has entered the attack position of the 1st company, rumbling towards the north, and his entire battalion is also preparing to attack at this moment, and there are still a large number of troops coming on the road behind.

If the enemy tanks dare not fight, he will push it to the end, close the encirclement, and drive the enemy back to the outside line.

As a backup, Lin Huaisheng is mobilizing a cutting-edge Pakistani armored force to prepare for a two-sided attack. Since the personnel and equipment voluntarily participating in the war are all from the Gulf countries, the equipment is relatively messy and they have little actual combat experience. Obviously, they cannot continue to fight.However, He Fan didn't expect too much from the allied forces who lost nothing in the night, he felt that relying on his own strength would be enough.

On the other side of the battlefield, Eichmann received a new order, and his superiors strictly ordered him to immediately attack the enemy tanks and not waste time on piecemeal attacks.

He could already see the smoke and dust rising from the west. The main tanks of both sides were preparing for a decisive battle. If he could get close to 6 to 7 kilometers from the side, he could almost dominate the entire battlefield. Such a temptation was indeed irresistible.

As the longbow Apa used as reconnaissance, Qi took the risk of raising the height to detect the enemy's movement in a wider range. They have opened a breakthrough, but can they go deep into the battlefield in one fell swoop?Eichmann left some squads on the side, waiting to ambush the approaching anti-aircraft tanks, centered himself, and directed the entire battle.

He Fan's air defense unit took infantry transport vehicles and spread out in the wilderness. The air defense team carried missiles and radios and looked for commanding heights. The enemy's attack on the mortar company wasted some time, which gave these units time to deploy.

The anti-aircraft combat vehicles that have just launched the battle for the hills, after intense ammunition loading, are also immediately put into interception operations. They will rush to the designated area a little bit later.

The Longbow Apache can see about half of the battlefield clearly, and the smoke cannot block the line of sight of the millimeter-wave radar. For the time being, it cannot see the anti-aircraft fire on the way forward. This is consistent with the results of optical reconnaissance. Of course, the millimeter-wave radar The individual soldiers carrying missiles could not be detected, and they were blocking the road.

More than 20 helicopters rushed in, ready to kill the killer. These veterans can limit the assault height of entering the battlefield to less than 10 meters, and can also use the fastest speed to fire all the ammunition. If they get close enough to break through as they wish.

(End of this chapter)