Chapter 133: Aerial Purgatory
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Eight kilometers southwest of the Twin Reefs, at an altitude of six thousand meters, four MiG-23 fighters with a solid red circle painted on their tail and a golden five-pointed star inlaid in the center are sailing northeast at Mach O.8 degrees.
If you look at it from the direction of the blue dome, the four MiG-23 fighters just form a trapezoidal formation that is slightly inclined forward and semi-twisted, and the four-plane formation of this configuration is the high-low double-group four-plane formation commonly used by the North Vietnamese Air Force during the anti-US war, in the high-low double-group formation, the four planes are staggered at a certain angle, so that each plane in the formation can see the other three planes.
This time, the Vietnamese Air Force reinforced Nanzi Island, because the support of the road-based radar for the aircraft group was extremely limited, so the Vietnamese Air Force split the entire flight regiment into six high-low double groups and four-plane formations, and changed its disadvantage of not being able to command large aircraft groups to fight by dividing the high-altitude and low-altitude combat airspace and dividing it into parts.
During the 8.O9 air battle, the two Su-22 fighters that served as decoys were piloted by the pilots of the Vietnamese Air Force, and the four MiG-23s responsible for the ambush were all piloted by Soviet volunteer pilots.
After some processing of the matter at the Cam Ranh Bay base of the Soviet Army, the Vietnamese Air Force mistakenly believed that the air battle in Nansha was a six-on-six situation, and even the civilian pilots of the United States were attracted by the Chinese government's heavy money. The pilots took part in the 8.o9 air battle.
After all, the MiG-23 fighter has made a lot of true and false achievements since its launch, and the F16 fighter that has been recognized by the international community as being similar to the F4 fighter, the A4 attack aircraft, and even the F16 fighter that is later than the F14 fighter entered service was once a member of the MiG-23 downed figures, and after the Soviet Union solved the puzzle, the Vietnamese Air Force did not pay attention to the defeat of the 8.O9 air battle.
If the Vietnamese Air Force had obtained the true details of the 8.o9 air battle in Nansha, it would be difficult to say whether it would have been able to summon up the courage to reinforce the garrison of Nanzi Island on a large scale.
In terms of the firing capability of the F14 fighter, after each AIM54 air-to-air missile launch. A second shot can be fired at an interval of 612 seconds.
From the distance between the two sides at a distance of 16O kilometers, Luo Ke and Sun Qiliang operated the AG9 radar and began to lock on to the target. By the end of the two rounds of salvo firing in the F14 fighter twin formation, the whole process did not exceed 12O seconds.
For the AIM54 air-to-air missile, which is close to Mach 5, the distance of about 1oo kilometers only takes about 6O seconds, and the eight straight smoke trails on the channel in front of you have begun to dissipate. Ning Lei steadily controlled the course of the F14 fighter. The aircraft radar is pointed at the MiG-23 fleet in the distance at the best angle.
Roque was engrossed in operating the AG9 radar. Staring at the oval-shaped tactical display in front of you, you can do relay guidance for the AIM54 air-to-air missile.
Although the AIM54 air-to-air missile is an active radar-guided missile, it is claimed to be a fire-and-shoot missile. But this does not mean that the carrier aircraft will turn around and go home immediately after shooting, but it must maintain continuous radar irradiation on the target and transmit instant information to the AIM54 in a timely manner.
Until the radar seeker carried by AIM54 is turned on, at this time, the AIM54 air-to-air missile is about 15 kilometers away from the intended target, and the intended target is completely within the working range of the radar seeker of the air-to-air missile itself.
If the carrier aircraft really pats its ass and leaves after firing, then after nearly 100 kilometers of flight, the error accumulated between the AIM54 air-to-air missile and the intended target is quite large, and after the missile's own radar is turned on, there is a good chance that it will not hit the target as scheduled, and the air-to-air missile without the current target will maintain its original course and fly in a straight line, turning into a large rocket until the end of the range and then self-destructing.
Not to mention the semi-actively guided Sparrow series air-to-air missiles, from the moment the missile leaves the pylons to the time it hits the target, it is necessary to maintain the effective illumination of the airborne radar, and it can be said that the basic mode of modern air combat has been fixed since the moment the AIM54 Immortal Bird missile was introduced.
With the advancement and development of technology, among the well-known medium- and long-range active-guided air-to-air missiles in later generations, whether it is the AIM12O of the United States, the Meteor of Europe, the Thunderbolt of the Republic, the R77 of Russia, or the Mika of France...... , no actively guided air-to-air missile can subvert the current working mode of the AIM54 air-to-air missile.
This is also the fundamental reason why the US Navy still insists on using a two-seater configuration on carrier-based aircraft after entering the new century, despite the rapid development of electronic technology (Note 1), and a pilot is responsible for both guidance and flight, and the intensity of work in the face of a real enemy is considerable.
The "100-Eyed Giant" oceanographic research ship is a large geophysical research ship jointly owned by the Swedish National Science Foundation and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Stockholm University, with a length of 15o meters and a displacement of nearly 6ooo tons, and is planned to sail from Singapore to Tokyo, Japan.
On the foredeck of the Cyclops, a huge, blue and yellow Swedish flag was fixed near the anchor chain, and when the navigation radar equipped on the Cento detected a large group of aircraft approaching from the rear of the route, Captain McManaman ordered the crew to turn the flag out and fix it on the foredeck.
At this time, the helicopter deck and the extravehicular bridge of the Hundred-Eyed Giant were full of crew members who came out to watch the excitement, and as eight MiG-23 fighters in the sky quickly crossed the top of the Hundred-Eyed Giant's route, there were bursts of discussion on the ship.
"It's the Warsaw Pact's MiGs. One, two, three, four, five, eight, I saw eight. β
"It seems that some time ago, the domestic report that there was a very high possibility of armed conflict near the Nansha waters in the South China Sea is still very well-founded. β
"There is another batch in the back, and I heard from the radar room that there are currently 16 MiGs. β
Without warning, as if everyone was in front of their eyes, the high-flying MiGs seemed to hit an invisible concrete wall of air in the air at the same time, and the entire space shrank slightly after a brief freeze, and then suddenly expanded.
Four clusters of crimson fireballs appeared in the sky at the same time, almost in no particular order, facing the flight at the end of the AIM54 Immortal Bird missile at a degree of 15oo m/s. The difference of several tens of meters between the MiG-23 fighters in the front and rear of the four formations is almost negligible.
Four puffs of black smoke that swelled up incomparably quickly mixed together in the blink of an eye. From the deck of the Hundred-Eyed Giant, a large cloud of gray-black smoke rolled in the air, and dense fireballs of different sizes fell like raindrops below the smoke, pulling out countless thin gray-white smoke trails.
"Oh. Profound. Oh my God!!!" rang out with the sound of an explosion like rolling thunder. There are also the incomparably high-pitched screams of women.
Except for the end of the shrill cries of a few women, the once noisy deck had fallen silent, and everyone was looking up at the purgatory-like sky. The mind is clearly frozen.
It was only a few seconds, and it seemed like half a century long, when someone on the deck of the Hundred-Eyed Giant shook his slightly stiff neck and was about to take a long breath, four bright fireballs suddenly lit up from high in the sky, and with the dense loud noise and the formation of another gray-black smoke, the eight MiG fighters that had just made a loud roar were gone.
This time, except for the low hum of the research ship's own diesel engine and the whining of the sea breeze, the sky and deck had become a dead silence, and suddenly, an extremely short scream only sounded at the beginning, and then abruptly stopped, with a pop, in the face of this extremely exciting scene, finally someone successfully fainted.
A moment later, the voices of Roque and Sun Qiliang sounded in the headsets almost simultaneously, and the first batch of MiG-23s had disappeared from the radar.
"Owl, exit the sharing mode, turn on the airborne radar to confirm the results repeatedly, let's change the altitude. Ning Lei's voice was also difficult to hide a smile.
"The owl received. Qiao Pengfei said in a relaxed tone.
"Hole, we're about to climb. Ning Lei said as he turned on the afterburner switches of the two TF3OP414 engines.
The two bright blue flames on the tail of the F14 fighter suddenly turned orange, and with the sudden high-pitched scream of the fighter engine, the two fighters quickly flew into the air with their noses held high.
"Dongyi, now the Su-22 fleet, the distance is 16o kilometers, the height is 6ooo, the direction is 33o, the degree is Mach 6, and the formation is four. Roque's voice came from the headset, but it was calm.
"Owl, is there a Su-22 fleet now?" Ning Lei pulled the joystick in his hand almost to the end, so that the F14 fighter maintained a climb angle of more than 7o degrees.
"Hai Dongqing, the owl has appeared in the Su-22 fleet, how to deal with it?"
"After rising to a height of 1oooo meters, the formation is disassembled, I will go to find a flock of birds to deal with the last two batches of MiG-23, and the owl will carry out the predetermined plan after it rises to 16ooo, if there are many hooks, the eagle's nest will notify you to go directly to the rear to deal with the Su-22. β
Qiao Pengfei's F14 fighter is now completely lightly loaded, and there are only two 100-kilogram Sidewinder infrared combat missiles left, which is just right for this kind of assault work.
"The owl received, good luck to Hai Dongqing. β
3o seconds later, Ning Lei climbed to an altitude of 1oooo meters, gently pushed the lever and slowly leveled the fighter, while Qiao Pengfei continued to maintain a large-angle climbing flight attitude, and swept past Ning Lei's flank in a blink of an eye.
"Cave birds, flock of birds, 3o kilometers ahead of us, they fly really low, they will definitely not go past 2oo meters (Note 2). β
"Let's say hello to the second batch of Vietnamese. Ning Lei said.
"Dong Yu, the second batch of Vietnamese is adding, and the course of the MiG-23 formation has changed drastically. β
There is only a distance of about 10 kilometers between each batch of the Vietnamese Air Force, although this distance is somewhat difficult for the MiG-23 fighters in flight. But those eight fleeting bright fireballs, not to mention pilots, would appear even in ordinary myopic eyes.
In the face of this sudden attack, Ruan Chi Minh, commander of the 3rd Regiment of the 372nd Aviation Division, who led the reinforcement of the garrison on Nanzi Island, was completely stunned, and after eight flashes of fire in less than ten seconds, there was no news from the eight MiG-23 fighters of the first formation.
Although Ruan Zhiming has 10,000 reasons not to believe that the Chinese Air Force already has the ability to strike at a long-range distance, it is a pity that in the face of iron-clad reality, Ruan Zhiming's reason tells him that the first batch of eight MiG-23 fighters is already unlucky.
Didn't the Soviet instructor say that the AIM54 air-to-air missile carried by the F-14 fighter had a real range of only 6O kilometers against small targets such as fighters? Didn't the Soviet instructor say that the MiG-23 fighter radar searched for the F14 fighter at a distance of more than 7O kilometers? Didn't the Soviet instructor say that the MiG-23's radar warning system would sound an alarm when it was locked by the enemy's radar?
How to explain this qiΔ in front of us, 8 long-range air-to-air missiles need to be dispatched at least 4 F14 fighters. No matter what the intelligence is, it shows that the Chinese Air Force originally went to the United States for training with only one crew. This means that there is only one F-14 fighter that can be dispatched, so could it be that the Americans really entered the war? Ruan Zhiming felt that his logic was about to collapse.
The Americans are afraid of death, as long as we approach the fleet of F14 fighters, the Americans are guaranteed to run faster than anyone else. In terms of range and fuel load of the F14 fighter. Conduct an air battle over the waters of Nanzi Island. Carrying 2 AIM54 long-range air-to-air missiles is already the limit, and now 8 have been destroyed, and there are up to 4 AIM54 air-to-air missiles.
The losses of the Vietnamese People's Army in the Air Force. Let's supplement it with the seven ships of the Chinese Navy, Ruan Zhiming thought hatefully.
"Wakayama 1st and Wakayama 2, the enemy is very likely to have obtained long-range air-to-air missiles, and from now on, they will carry out a large-angle maneuver every 1o seconds, and pay attention to searching for traces of Wakayama 3rd and 4th Watayama. "Nguyen Chi Minh still has a glimmer of hope for the whereabouts of the first batch of MiG-23 fighters.
Although Ruan Zhiming had just realized that the Soviet instructor was a joke at all, at the moment of emergency, he reflexively turned over the Soviet instructor's teaching of dodging long-range air-to-air missiles.
It's a pity that Ruan Zhiming made a mistake in his busy schedule, and he hurriedly went to the front to verify the fate of the first batch of eight MiG-23 fighters, but only notified the second batch of MiGs he was into, but temporarily forgot about the third batch of MiGs behind him.
"Hole two, the Su-22 attack aircraft is good, it can be regarded as reducing the pressure on the air defense of the fleet. Ning Lei said.
"Wait, the course of the third batch of MiG-23s remains the same. Roque said with some surprise.
"Hole, heading 19o, we're a little bit to the right, a little more, okay, we're locking on to the target at an altitude of 6ooo meters, and there's still 9o kilometers between us and the target. Roque said quickly.
With the long sound of dripping in the cockpit, the body of the F14 fighter trembled slightly, and the last two AIM54 air-to-air missiles left the belly pylon, and after flying horizontally for a distance of several hundred meters, they slammed towards the sea level.
"Hai Dongqing calls the Eagle's Nest, and Hai Dongqing calls the Eagle's Nest. β
"Eagle's Nest received. β
"Inform the flock of birds to keep the altitude unchanged, they are still 5o kilometers away from the second batch of the Vietnamese Air Force, the target course is 39o, the altitude is two groups of 3ooo and 6ooo, the flight o.96 Mach 96, and is carrying out high-intensity maneuvers. β
"Eagle's Nest received. β
"The owl has arrived at 16ooo meters and is adding. β
"The owl is Mach 1.6 and is 65 kilometers away from the second batch of MiGs. β
"Dongyi, the third batch of MiG-23, one target signal has disappeared, and the other AIM54 may have missed the target. β
"Hole two, it's already very good, continue to monitor the owl's flight status, we're going to add. "Ning Lei didn't take it seriously, and the hit rate of nine out of ten is also the top level in the world, if it weren't for the fact that the Vietnamese Air Force did not have a radar signal warning system for F14 fighters at all, AIM54 would not have achieved such excellent results.
As Ning Lei opened the throttle valve, the afterburner of the engine was fully opened, and the F14 fighter in a light-loaded state slammed forward
"The owl is 2.1 Mach, and it is 4o kilometers away from the second batch of MiGs and is about to enter the radar perception range of the opponent. We are 6o km away from the second batch of MiGs"
"Looks just right. Ning Lei glanced at the Mach 1.8 number on the empty watch and said.
In the advance plan, Ning Lei or Qiao Pengfei is also one of the decoys, after the two F14 fighters carried by the AIM54 immortal bird missiles, the two lightly loaded planes will adopt the usual plunder tactics of the Republic Air Force on the Korean battlefield that year, at an altitude of 10,000 meters high Mach number breakthrough, when the enemy aircraft group split out of the small formation to turn to the pursuit of the bait, another F14 fighter in a slightly lower airspace high breakthrough, then the F14 fighter that broke in later will have a great possibility to directly face the tail of the enemy aircraft pursuit team that is braving a large number of infrared raysγ
The A7 attack aircraft group praised by Ning Lei as a flock of birds. Only one carried two laser-guided bombs and two Sidewinder combat missiles. The remaining A7 attack aircraft did not carry laser-guided bombs at all, but uniformly carried two auxiliary fuel tanks and 4 Sidewinder infrared combat bombs, ready to be divided into three groups under the command of Ning Lei to pick up leaks.
Ning Lei's tactics are completely based on the long-range radar of the F14 fighter and the radar performance gap of the MiG-23 fighter with a detection range of 4o kilometers. After all, in air combat, the situation is perceived in the air. It is always the most important factor in the victory.
What's more, the F14 fighter has an overload of up to 2G at Mach 7 at the M7 number. So that Ning Lei's plundering tactics can be completely fast in and out, and the bulky MiG-23 can't keep up with the rhythm of the F14 fighter at all, and can only be in a passive position. The MiG-23 fighter's radar, which has a detection range of only 4o kilometers, can only be slightly equal to nothing for the F14 fighter that can run 4o kilometers per minute.
When Ruan Zhiming's headset sounded the news that the radar station on Spratly Island had turned around, informing him that 25339 had been shot down and 25331 had been damaged, he hatefully slapped the joystick in his hand, gritted his teeth and said: "Inform the 5th and 6th teams of Songshan to maneuver in formation, and pay attention to long-range air-to-air missiles." β
However, it seems that the formation maneuver still has an effect on evading long-range air-to-air missiles, otherwise the Chinese Air Force would not attack the fifth and sixth teams that it had just notified, and now there are only two long-range air-to-air missiles left on the opposite side, and Ruan Zhiming is thinking about what method is the most cost-effective way to defeat the F14 fleet.
Less than 4o seconds after the end of contact between Nguyen Chi Minh and Spratly Island, the radar detector in the cabin suddenly sounded a prompt tone, Ruan Zhiming looked down a few times, a fighter plane with Mach 2.1 was rushing towards the entire team from an altitude of 16ooo meters 4o kilometers in front of him.
Finally appeared, actually only a single plane appeared, where are the other F14 fighters, do they plan to use the old-fashioned plundering tactics? Whether it is a decoy or not, this plane must be the crew trained by the Chinese in the United States, whether it is a bait for plundering tactics or serious medium and close combat, running directly into the enemy's fleet like this is a high-risk occupation, and those American civilian hired pilots who only make money will say that they will not do anything.
"The first and second teams of Wakayama climbed to a height of 16ooo meters, and the course of Group A of Team A of Team Wata turned to 375, and the course of Group B turned to 195, and we must take down this F14. β
"The Mekong River called Changsha Island and notified the 5th team of Songshan to prepare to climb, with a height of 16ooo meters, pay attention to vigilance, and the mission of the 6th team of Songshan remained unchanged. β
Nguyen Chi Minh decided to dispatch eight MiG-23 fighters in the second wave to surround and intercept the fighter piloted by the Chinese pilot from three directions, and in Ruan Chi Minh's opinion, after shooting down the Chinese pilot, the remaining F14s may collapse without a fight.
On the hundred-eyed giant on the sea, most of the people had regained control of their emotions and bodies, looking at the MiGs who were divided into three directions in the sky, trying to climb upwards, and the sealed door near the rear deck was violently pushed open, and a young man with binoculars ran out and shouted: "The radar room is now 12 degrees east north of the high-flying object, it is likely to be the opponent of these MiGs." β
After listening to the young man, the crowd on the deck stretched their necks to look at the high sky in the north, and suddenly a fat middle-aged man held the telescope in his hand and shouted: "My God, this is terrible, is it that the Third World War is about to explode, I don't believe my eyes anymore." β
Then the crew members with telescopes in their hands shouted out of shape, and the crew without binoculars asked loudly what was going on, and a young man put down the telescope in his hand and said with some trembling: "A U.S. Navy F14 fighter flew over from the north, and a few minutes ago, there were eight Soviet MiGs turned into fireworks, what do you think of when you see this scene?"
Note 1: Of course, in the end, the U.S. Navy still didn't get the U.S. Congress, not only was the tradition of the two-seater cut off, but also stuffed with a fleshy fat man F35.
Note 2: The full floor got the information wrong, about the low-altitude flight mentioned above, it is okay to fly 5o meters in a short time on the sea surface, and it is good to fly 2oo meters below for a long time, of course, the limit is 20 meters high, but it is basically only half a minute.