The Van Rowe Air Force helped, but nearly a hundred F-4Es also played a role in a pinch.

When the "Battle-11B" rushed up, 12 F-16C/D were directly scattered, and when the E-3B was about to be overtaken, the F-4E group arrived.

The situation was a dire one.

When the first batch of 20 F-4Es arrived, the "Battle-11B", which broke through the F-16C/D interception, was less than 200 kilometers away from the closer E-3B.

The key is that the several "Battle-11Bs" that rushed to the front still have a few KK-12A left.

Against large aircraft such as the E-3B, which have almost no ability to maneuver, even if it is a tail chase attack, the effective range of the KK-12A is more than 120 kilometers!

That is, the F-4E of the Van Rowe Air Force arrived in time and immediately fired at the "Battle-11B" in front of the breakthrough, and the E-3B got out of danger.

However, this is also just a waste of missiles.

The official designation of the F-4E equipped by the Van Rowe Air Force is E (I), that is, on the basis of the E type, corresponding improvements have been made in accordance with the requirements put forward by the Van Rowe Air Force, including the use of more fuel-efficient turbofan engines and the increased ability to use the "Sky Flash" air-to-air missile.

Because it is used exclusively by the Van Roe Air Force, it is distinguished by the initials of Van Roe Bran.

In addition, this is also the last batch of mass-produced F-4E fighters.

Objectively speaking, the F-4E (I) is more advanced than the F-4E used by the Nuland Air Force, especially the air combat capability, because it is equipped with more advanced fire control radar and uses medium-range air-to-air missiles with better performance, so the F-4E (I) has reached the level of three generations of over-the-horizon air combat capabilities.

Of course, prices are also rising.

Compared with the F-4E used by the Nuland Air Force, the purchase price of the F-4E(I) of the Van Rowe Air Force is twice as high, and the lifetime cost is more than doubled!

The reason is also very simple, the engine and fire control radar, which are equipment from the Xilu Group, are more expensive to maintain.

As a result, the number of aircraft purchased has been reduced from the first planned 280 to 120, and more than 10 have crashed during daily training.

According to the intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Agency, there are only about 100 F-4E(I) left in the Van Rowe Air Force.

There is no doubt that the F-4E(I) was also the most advanced fighter of the Van Rowe Air Force before the acquisition of the F-15 and F-16, and it was the main force of air supremacy.

For a long time, these fighters were all deployed in the northwest and northeast.

However, after the acquisition of the F-15 and F-16, the F-4E (I) was no longer the main fighter, and it was also relegated to the second line and deployed in the southern part of the mainland.

These more than 100 F-4E(I) are still the only naval strike force in the hands of the Van Roe Air Force.

Although the Van Luo Air Force purchased special attack planes from the Western Continent Group, the MG-27 in West Luosha and the "Puma" in the Bran Kingdom, it did not obtain anti-ship missiles that could be used by these two attack aircraft, mainly because there were no light anti-ship missiles that could be used by attack aircraft, and the "Exocet" anti-ship missiles used by the "Cougar" were never able to negotiate because the Locke State refused to reduce prices.

In order to enhance its ability to strike at sea, the Van Rowe Air Force had to choose the AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile and improve the existing fighters.

Obviously, the F-4, developed from carrier-based fighters, is the most ideal platform to carry on.

It was for this reason that, after obtaining better air superiority fighters, the Van Rowe Air Force deployed the F-4E(I), which had taken a back seat, to the south.

In the combat system of the Van Roe Air Force, the first task of the F-4E(I) is to deal with the Liangxia fleet close to the mainland.

Because the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force is in Trivan, there is no need for the Van Rowe Air Force to deploy dedicated air supremacy fighters here.

It's just that these F-4E (I) retain full combat capabilities for air supremacy.

It was for this reason that the Van Rowe Air Force sent these fighters out.

Because of the use of the slightly better performance of the "Sky Flash" medium-range air-to-air missile, the F-4E(I) is still above the F-16C/D in over-the-horizon air combat capabilities. The main gap is reflected in the combat air combat, that is, the maneuverability of the F-4E (I) is far inferior to that of the F-16C/D, and the supporting combat missile is the AIM-9L (I) improved from the AIM-9P, and the performance is far inferior to the AIM-9L used by the Nuland Air Force.

This missile does not have omnidirectional attack capabilities!

The number L was adopted just so that the Van Roe Air Force would pay for it, after all, the L type belongs to the third generation of combat missiles, while the P type is the second generation.

It must be admitted that the F-4E (I) fleet that arrived in time did solve the urgent need.

It's just that these fighters failed to turn the tide.

Just a shot, to be precise, after turning to avoid the medium-range missiles fired by the F-4E(I), and then accelerating into the melee air combat phase, the battle quickly ended. A group of 20 F-4E(I) failed to shoot down a single Battle-11B in a dogfight before it was completely wiped out.

It was only when the turn was evasive that 1 "Zhan-11B" was shot down by the "Sky Flash".

The next battle was still one-sided.

When the fighting was at its most intense, the "Zhan-11B" used all its machine guns.

Actual combat has proved that in the face of third-generation fighters, even in melee air combat within visual range, second-generation fighters such as F-4E (I) have no chance of winning.

There is simply no way to make up for the performance gap between generations.

According to the battle report of the Silan Garrison Command, the "Zhan-11B" alone shot down almost 50 F-4E(I), and almost all of them were the results of dogfights in air combat, and the subsequent "Zhan-10B" also shot down about 40 F-4E(I), more than half of which were obtained by medium-range missiles.

In just one battle, the fleet of F-4E (I) aircraft of the Van Rowe Air Force was completely wiped out!

In fact, there are many F-4E(I) that were shot down with medium-range missiles by the "Zhan-10B" of the two squadrons that were chasing when they were turning and escaping.

To this end, the Imperial Air Force also urgently dispatched four additional "Tank-20A" to provide fuel for the returning "Battle-10B".

That is, under the courageous interception of Van Roe fighters, the two E-3Bs of the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force managed to escape and avoid the fate of being shot down.

Unfortunately, it failed to change the outcome of the fiasco.

After three large formation air battles, the Imperial Air Force repelled the roadblocks and gained air supremacy, and the second wave of air strikes began simultaneously.

That is, the hundreds of cruise missiles projected by the second bomber group, as mentioned earlier.

It is only a supplementary strike, and the main target is still long-range warning radar and air defense positions, especially the regional air defense missile system controlled by the Nuland Expeditionary Air Force.

The third wave of air strikes, led by tactical aviation, followed one after the other, with almost no intervals.

In terms of specific tactics, there is not much new in fact, and there is no need for that.

After gaining air supremacy, the first thing to do is to destroy the enemy's command system, communication nodes, and air defense units, so that the enemy will not be able to coordinate operations and lose his basic defense capability. After completing this step, you will be able to launch air strikes as you like.

This time, it was the "Tap-11A" that acted as a sharp knife.

According to the arrangement, the eight "Attack-11A" planes divided into two formations first bombarded the Nuland garrison headquarters in Trivan, the headquarters of the New-Van coalition forces, the local communications center and other major strategic targets. After paralyzing the enemy's communications and command system, other aircraft groups were sent into battle.

The point is that through the first two waves of bombing, the long-range warning radar has already been "destroyed".

Of course, according to the intelligence obtained later, that radar was not completely destroyed, only destroyed. For fear of being bombed a third time, it was closed until the end of the battle, and it did not play its due value, let alone pose a threat to stealth attack mechanisms.

As in the Bosa Bay War, the Attack-11A used laser-guided bombs.

It's just that this time the ground-drilling warhead was used.

The reason is also very simple, several military targets that must be destroyed are buried deep in the ground, and the use of ordinary bombs, even with a delay-time fuse, is not very effective. Only with the use of specialized ground-penetrating bombs can it penetrate the soil and completely destroy these targets.

As already mentioned, the Reich did not develop laser-guided bombs, but developed a laser seeker, to be precise, a guidance module including a control system. The modules use a standard interface that allows them to be used with any standard caliber bomb without any modifications.

The difference between a ground-penetrating bomb and an ordinary laser-guided bomb is the equipped warhead.

In order to improve the penetrating ability, the body of the ground-penetrating bomb is made of scrapped gun tubes, and the barrels of naval guns with better quality and more holdings are also available. The commonly used 1000-kilogram ground-penetrating bomb uses the barrel of a 150-mm naval gun, while the 2000-kilogram bomb uses the barrel of a 200-mm naval gun. Theoretically, a 1,000-kilogram ground-penetrating bomb can penetrate 15 meters of soil or 3 meters of concrete.

This penetration capability is enough to destroy 99% of military targets.

The eight "Attack-11A" carried a total of 16 1,000-kilogram ground-penetrating bombs, and only six targets needed to be destroyed. That is, only a 37.5% success rate is needed to destroy all targets, and the strike efficiency of the "Attack-11A" in the Poshawan War exceeded 80%.

For the sake of secrecy and suddenness, these "Attack-11A" all departed from the airfield on the mainland of the empire, flew for nearly 10 hours, and carried out two in-flight refueling before dropping the bomb, and maintained radio silence throughout the whole process, and did not even communicate with the AWACS aircraft.

It was only after the start of the combat operation that the Silan garrison command informed the front-line commander that half an hour was left for the "Attack-11A" group to drop bombs.

Following the "Attack-11A" was the anti-aircraft suppression formation led by the "Attack-8FZ".

If anything, the Imperial Air Force also made a bloody investment.

In order to destroy the air defense network protecting Trivan, the Imperial Air Force dispatched not only 12 "Attack-8FZ", but also 20 "Battle-16AD".

As can be seen from the number, the "Zhan-16AD" is a special anti-aircraft suppression fighter.

Previously, the Imperial Air Force had been using the "Zhan-10AD" to carry out air defense suppression tasks, and strictly speaking, the "Zhan-10AD" was not a special model, but upgraded the fire control software of the "Zhan-10A", so that it could mount and use anti-radiation missiles to attack the air defense radar. Theoretically, any "Battle-10A" only needs a few hours to upgrade the fire control software before it can become an air defense suppression fighter.

Of course, the combat efficiency will certainly not be much higher.

The key is that the "Zhan-10A" is a light fighter, and no matter how it is improved, the payload capacity is very limited, and it cannot carry too much strike ammunition.

In a low-intensity war, the "Zhan-10AD" is barely enough. In the event of a high-intensity war, it must be beyond our strength.

It was in this way that the Imperial Air Force decided to use the "Battle-16A" as a platform to develop a heavy anti-aircraft suppression fighter, and it was an all-round model.

That is, it will be used not only to replace the "Battle-10AD", but also to replace the "Attack-8FZ".

In the future, only one type of combat aircraft will be needed to accomplish the task of air defense suppression, and there will no longer be any need to arrange for multiple combat aircraft to coordinate operations.

This is also the key reason for choosing the "Zhan-16".

In the equipment sequence of the Imperial Air Force, the real identity of the "Battle-16" is actually a "tactical bomber", not a heavy multi-role fighter, let alone a heavy attack aircraft.

Strictly speaking, there was no shortage of heavy attack aircraft in the Imperial Air Force, and the need for them was not very urgent.

If nothing else, there will be no problem for the "Attack-8" series to fly for another 10 years. After 10 years, I am afraid that there will be hundreds of "Attack-11A". Even if the "Attack-11A" can only be regarded as a light attack aircraft, and it is too troublesome to maintain and difficult to equip on a large scale, there is still a "Attack-12A" of the Navy to look forward to. Even if the Navy is unreliable, there is still the "Zhan-11C", which was developed according to the standards of multi-role fighters and acts as a spare tire.

Relatively speaking, after all the "H-7" were decommissioned, the tactical bombers were already "broken".

It can be seen that the real green and yellow are actually tactical bombers.

It is a pity that no matter how many reasons the Air Force puts forward, both houses of parliament refuse to allocate funds for the new tactical bomber, believing that the tactical bomber no longer exists.

The reason is also very simple, the combat radius of heavy attack aircraft exceeds 1500 kilometers, and the bomb load is about 10 tons, which is no worse than that of tactical bombers, and with the support of tankers, coupled with the popularization of precision-guided munitions, even the only gap has become irrelevant.

What's more, there are heavy multi-role fighters with more outstanding comprehensive performance.

Well, what is the reason to waste resources on tactical bombers?

It's just that the Imperial Air Force didn't stop there.

Not to mention how much value tactical bombers still have, but the establishment system of more than 1,000 aircraft needs to be filled with other combat aircraft.

Strategic bombers are certainly not suitable, because they are too expensive.

Attack aircraft are also inappropriate, because their combat capability is still lacking, and keeping the size of their establishment unchanged will certainly lead to a reduction in combat effectiveness, and the expansion of the size of their strength will certainly meet with opposition from both houses of the debate.

As for multi-role fighters, that's fighters.

It was for this reason that the Imperial Air Force, under the guise of a "heavy attack aircraft", began to develop tactical bombers.

In order to obtain appropriations, it must not be done too explicitly, after all, there are some capable people in the military committees of the two houses, let alone experts as advisers.

As a result, the "Zhan-16" is actually a deeply improved model of the "Zhan-11".

For this reason, the number of the fighter was also retained.

The biggest difference from the multi-purpose type developed later, that is, the "Zhan-11C", is that the take-off weight is relaxed to 50 tons when it is designed, and the requirements for maneuverability are completely abandoned, and there is no need to even have self-defense air combat capabilities, and all improvements are made to enhance strike capabilities.

Thankfully, the final design wasn't so extreme.

The reason is also very simple, tactical bombers are indeed not suitable for modern warfare, a little smaller, positioned above the heavy attack aircraft, or enhanced strike capabilities, is the most ideal choice, can also better adapt to future wars.

It is precisely in this way that the "Zhan-16" has become the main attack aircraft that replaces the "Attack-8".

Before the outbreak of the Great War, the "Zhan-16" had already begun mass production.

With the outbreak of the Great War, the Imperial Air Force immediately placed a large order for 1000 aircraft.

Judging from this point in time, the Imperial Air Force's large-scale purchase of the "Zhan-16" actually has a little selfishness, that is, it wants to use this to strike at the "Attack-12" dominated by the Navy, and even force the "Attack-12" to dismount, seize the dominance of future attack aircraft, and comprehensively dominate the tactical aviation.

Do not forget that the "Battle-20" is led by the Air Force.

Of course, this also proves from one side that the "Zhan-16" is indeed a very advanced heavy attack aircraft.