With sufficient troops and clever tactical arrangements, it is unlikely that such an attack will fail.

As long as the air defense fighters are suppressed, hundreds of heavy anti-ship missiles projected by 20 B-52Gs will definitely be able to wipe out the 61st Task Force.

Stark, though, didn't take it lightly.

After sending escort fighters, the three aircraft carriers each dispatched two EA-6B electronic attack aircraft.

It is extremely difficult to arrange for carrier-based early warning planes to direct escort operations, mainly because the range of the early warning planes is insufficient, and the flight speed cannot keep up with the fighter formation, and there is a risk of being shot down by enemy planes when they venture forward, but it is not so troublesome to send a few electronic attack planes to provide support for the escort fighters. In fact, only these six EA-6Bs in Task Force 51 are in good condition and ready to take to the skies for combat duty.

Apparently, Stark pinned his hopes on bombers from the very beginning and did not think about relying on carrier-based aviation to destroy Task Force 61.

In fact, this also reflects that the Nuland Navy's pre-war preparations are indeed insufficient.

Each of the three supercarriers of Task Force 51 carried only six EA-6Bs.

Although this number is 50% higher than usual, compared to high-intensity combat operations, 6 electronic attack aircraft will definitely be overwhelmed.

To speak, the Liang Xia Navy has a similar problem.

In peacetime, a carrier-based aviation wing of the Liangxia Navy usually has one squad of electronic attack aircraft, usually four and a few six. It's just that the Liangxia Navy has a total of 15 carrier-based aviation wings, but it is equipped with 120 electronic attack aircraft.

That is, under standard conditions, each carrier-based aviation wing has 8 electronic attack aircraft.

In fact, the reduction in the number of deployments in peacetime is due to the fact that the maintenance of electronic attack aircraft is more troublesome, and there are relatively few opportunities for electronic attack aircraft to be dispatched during daily combat readiness patrols. Carrying a few fewer aircraft can not only reduce the operational burden of the aviation department, but also save a lot of money.

As for the surplus, they are grouped in the non-deployed aviation wing.

Because several carrier-based aviation wings are in a non-deployed state at any time, it is not a big deal to say that dozens of electronic attack planes are left behind, that is, deployed in naval air stations, and there is no problem of being criticized by the two houses of parliament because of the low utilization rate.

In fact, because the combat readiness deployment time is relatively short, compared with carrier-based attack aircraft of the same type, the service life of electronic attack aircraft is much longer. For example, the "Attack-5CZ" of the Liangxia Navy has been in service for almost 30 years, while the "Attack-5C" of the same era has long been retired, and even the "Attack-5F", which was added to the combat sequence nearly 10 years late, has been retired one after another, and the "Attack-5CZ" will be in service for at least 15 years.

Of course, after entering the combat state, it is definitely necessary to restore the wartime establishment.

After the outbreak of the Bosshawan War, the Liangxia Navy immediately made adjustments so that the electronic attack aircraft detachment of the carrier-based aviation wing carrying out combat missions reached full strength.

Actual combat has proved that 8 is still far from enough!

Compared with frequent combat operations, especially in the early stage of war, when it is necessary to forcibly break through the enemy's air defense network, every combat operation needs the cover of electronic attack aircraft, and the combat intensity is very large, so that the electronic attack aircraft unit is almost exhausted.

Crucially, the Navy's electronic attack aircraft have more comprehensive combat capabilities.

Compared with the Air Force's "Attack-8FZ," the Navy's "Attack-6CZ" is not only capable of using electronic jamming pods to suppress the enemy's air defense radar, but also can use anti-radiation missiles to directly attack the enemy's air defense radar.

Under normal circumstances, the "Attack-6CZ" is dispatched in a two-plane formation, which is responsible for electronic jamming and air defense suppression.

If the Air Force's combat planes were to carry out a similar jamming and suppression mission, it would be necessary to dispatch not only two "Attack-8FZ" fighters but also several fighters or attack planes carrying anti-radiation missiles to carry out the task of air defense suppression, and the combat efficiency would obviously be inferior to that of the Navy's "Attack-6CZ."

It is precisely so that in the Posha Bay War, electronic attack aircraft of the Navy were very popular.

In addition to covering carrier-based attack aircraft, in many cases they are also called to cover the combat aircraft of the Air Force, and even accompany bombers in combat.

At any given time, there will be several "Attack-6CZ" hovering over the battlefield, and the "Attack-6CZ" has thus become the carrier-based aircraft with the highest frequency of sorties.

According to the experience of the Posha Bay War, a carrier-based aviation wing needs at least 12 electronic attack aircraft.

It is a pity that in the short term, not only will there not be so many electronic attack aircraft available, but there will also be no more space on the aircraft carrier to support additional electronic attack aircraft.

It's not that you can't park, it's that you can't provide the necessary maintenance.

As mentioned earlier, electronic attack aircraft have relatively high requirements for maintenance support, especially those complex electronic equipment needs to be overhauled frequently.

Because electronic equipment is susceptible to environmental influences, maintenance work must be carried out in the hangar.

Not to mention large aircraft carriers, even supercarriers, there is only a maintenance workshop in the front and back of the hangar, which can maintain and overhaul precision equipment.

Obviously, it is not only electronic attack aircraft that need to be maintained in the workshop.

Most of the time, the workshop is used to repair and maintain equipment such as radars, engines, and data links.

If nothing else, just maintaining the engines of dozens of carrier-based aircraft requires a lot of time, to be precise, it takes up a lot of workshop time.

Well, there will not be much time that can be spent on the maintenance of electronic attack aircraft.

It is precisely like this, 1 aircraft carrier with 8 electronic attack aircraft, it is already the limit.

In fact, the Liang Xia Navy has long recognized the problems caused by the shortage of electronic attack aircraft.

It's just that it's really not easy to solve this problem.

The key is actually technology.

According to the plan made by Liang Xiajun, or the method he came up with, it was actually through technical means to make the electronic attack aircraft no longer so special.

The reason is also very simple, all electronic attack aircraft are based on attack aircraft as a platform, but by equipping and mounting special electronic warfare equipment, and arranging electronic warfare officers to operate, they have obtained powerful electronic warfare performance, and in essence they are still an attack aircraft.

The key to the complexity of electronic attack aircraft is that the technology is not advanced enough.

If the technology is advanced enough, then there is no need for specialized electronic warfare equipment, and there is no need for or a reduction in the number of electronic warfare officers.

In fact, the relevant advanced technology has been applied.

For example, the active phased array radar developed by the Liangxia Air Force for the "Zhan-20" showed a powerful electronic warfare capability during the test; in addition to being able to imitate electronic reconnaissance equipment in a passive way, it can also suppress and jam the enemy's radar through phase control.

In addition, the emergence of automation technology, especially intelligent technology, and its widespread application in the military field, have made it less complicated to operate electronic equipment, and it is possible to use one electronic warfare officer to complete operations that used to require two or even three electronic warfare officers to complete.

It is precisely because of this that the next-generation electronic attack aircraft of the Liangxia Navy is no longer significantly different from the carrier-based attack aircraft.

To put it simply, by replacing a small number of necessary on-board equipment, using relevant fire control software, and mounting and using a special electronic warfare pod, the two-seater version of the "Attack-12" can carry out electronic attack missions. If necessary, anti-radiation missiles can also be carried in the internal bomb bay.

In this way, at least half of an attack aircraft group, that is, 12 attack aircraft, can be used to carry out electronic warfare missions. Because the number of carrier aircraft has been reduced, it has also been possible to expand the size of the attack aircraft, for example, by carrying one more brigade, and 12 electronic attack aircraft have been added.

It is a pity that before entering the war, the Nuland Navy did not have a clear understanding of the value of electronic attack aircraft.

Even if it knew that electronic attack aircraft were important, the Nuland Navy did not realize that the usual establishment of 4 to 6 aircraft was simply not usable.

As a result, during the attack on the transit island, the EA-6B sorties of the two task forces were all more than twice the maximum design standard.

In some cases, one EA-6B makes five sorties in a single day, which is equivalent to 2.5 times the design standard.

According to statistics, the EA-6B of Task Force 51 flies an average of more than 10 hours per day, while that of Task Force 52 reaches 12 hours.

Such a high intensity of sorties will inevitably lead to a sharp decrease in the completion rate of electronic attack aircraft.

Prior to this, Task Force 51 had lost three EA-6Bs, all of which were caused by high-intensity sorties. Even if there are 15 left, only 6 are in good condition to be sorted, and the other 9 cannot be dispatched for one reason or another.

In fact, even the 6 that can be dispatched have some minor problems.

Six electronic attack aircraft were also enough to carry out only one attack mission.

That's why Stark didn't use these electronic attack planes in the first round of attacks.

According to the arrangement, all six electronic attack aircraft were lifted into the air after the fighters.

Obviously, this is not quite the same as the usual sortie sequence.

In the past, if it was necessary to arrange for an electronic attack aircraft to carry out an attack mission, or to escort an attack aircraft group, it was necessary to first let the electronic attack aircraft take off.

The reason is also very simple, electronic attack aircraft fly the slowest.

With four electronic jamming pods and one large drop fuel tank, the EA-6B has a cruising speed of less than 800 kilometers per hour, while the F-14B has a cruising speed of more than 1,000 kilometers per hour, and even the A-6D has a cruising speed of more than 800 kilometers per hour.

To do this, it is necessary to have the electronic attack aircraft take off first, and then join the attack aircraft group during the flight, usually before entering the combat zone.

This, if anything, is also the main flaw of the carrier-based electronic attack aircraft of the Navy.

The same is true in the Liangxia Navy.

Because the flight speed of electronic attack aircraft is too slow, each attack operation needs to be carefully planned and arranged, and there is no guarantee that it will be executed in place every time. In the Bosshawan War, about 17 percent of the attack missions of the Liangxia Navy's carrier-based air force were not able to carry out, and more than 60 percent of them were caused by the failure of the electronic attack aircraft to be deployed or the failure of the attack aircraft group to converge with the electronic attack aircraft.

Obviously, this problem would not have arisen if the electronic attack aircraft had flown fast enough to be able to operate with the attack aircraft group throughout the entire process.

From another point of view, this is also the key reason why the Liangxia Air Force insists on using heavy fighters as a platform to develop electronic attack aircraft, and makes electronic equipment as built-in as possible, and even cancels the ability to plug in external weapons. Only in this way can we ensure that the electronic attack aircraft can fly at a fast enough speed.

The Liangxia Air Force's "Attack-8FZ" has a cruising flight speed of more than 1,000 kilometers per hour and is even capable of supersonic flight!

It is precisely for this reason that the "Attack-8FZ" is the only electronic attack aircraft that can cooperate with fighters to carry out offensive missions.

Of course, in this operation, the Nuland Navy's electronic attack aircraft did not need to fly too fast, because the object of their cover was the slower bomber. To be precise, in fact, the escort fighters do not have to fly too fast, just launch a surprise attack before the bombers arrive.

In any case, six EA-6Bs will at least help the F-14B fleet gain air supremacy.

In fact, Stark knew very well that he had done his best, and whether he could destroy the 61st Task Force would depend on luck.

If Major Smith's speculation is correct, then there may be 40 fighters in the skies above Task Force 61!

In addition, there are several carrier-based early warning aircraft, as well as electronic attack aircraft that can also play a role in defensive operations.

If so, Task Force 61 may be able to withstand this attack.

However, this also meant that Task Force 61 had to use most of its fighters for fleet air defense, rather than sending bombers to cover counterattacks.

In other words, if the Liang Xia Navy had already deduced the general location of the 51st Task Force and planned to launch a counterattack to destroy the 51st Task Force, in addition to the Air Force's bombers, the 61st Task Force would also have to arrange fighter planes to escort the bombers.

It is precisely because of this that Stark is now worried about the air defense of the fleet.

After the electronic attack aircraft took off, the aviation crews of the three "Niz"-class aircraft carriers did not stop, but immediately let the F/A-18 fighters, which had been on the flight deck and had been mounted with air-to-air missiles before that, take off to strengthen the air defense of the fleet.

Next, one E-2C was dispatched each.

Together with the 3 that were lifted off before, there are a total of 6 carrier-based AWACS aircraft over the 51st Task Force!

The purpose of arranging so many AWACS aircraft is actually to reduce the burden on the air defense cruisers so that they can concentrate on carrying out the air defense tasks of the fleet.

To put it simply, without using air defense cruisers, AWACS aircraft can direct air defense fighters on the periphery to intercept incoming enemy aircraft.

The point is that the E-2C has only 2 commanders and is capable of commanding up to 4 fighters at the same time.

If you want to command more fighters in the same direction, either let the air defense warships assist, or send several more AWACS aircraft.

Arrange 6 E-2Cs, theoretically capable of commanding 24 fighters at the same time.

Because the AWACS planes are divided into two groups, the inner and outer ones, they can command 24 fighters to intercept the incoming enemy planes in batches, thus enhancing the flexibility of air defense operations.

However, this also decided that for more than 10 hours after this battle, there would be no AWACS available!

In the end, it is to let the remaining F-14Bs rise into the air.

However, only 12 fighters were successfully sorted.

3 F-14Bs were detected as malfunctioning at the preparation stage and were not able to rise into the air as planned.

By the time the last F-14B left the flight deck of the Nyx, it was almost 7 a.m.

Although AWACS did not detect the incoming enemy aircraft, Task Force 52 did not send fighters or even respond to Stark's orders.

Stark was also helpless about this.