Although AWACS aircraft were arranged to carry out patrol missions in the southwest direction, the distance was too far to maintain real-time communication with the attack aircraft group.

As a rule, communications satellites are relied upon in such combat operations at distances of more than 1,000 kilometers.

Unfortunately, the communications satellite was attacked and is still paralyzed, and no one knows when it will be able to resume operation.

As a result, only intermittent reports were received from attack aircraft groups.

The first to engage the enemy were the escort fighters who came out.

The battle was fought very fiercely, even tragically.

After being intercepted by Liang Xia fighters, the F-14B group did not turn to evade, but also accelerated the assault, relying on speed to shorten the engagement distance.

In fact, this is also a typical escort tactic of the carrier-based aviation of the Nuland Navy.

Compared with the air defense mission, the biggest feature of the escort mission is that there is no AWACS aircraft and the support provided by the air defense warship. So for escort fighters, when encountering air defense fighters, the only chance is actually to shorten to within the visual engagement distance before they are shot down, and then win through dogfight air combat, or to entangle the opponent's air defense fighters.

In the opinion of the Nuland naval aviation, a quick assault is the most effective means of escorting.

The reason is also very simple: anti-aircraft fighters rely on early-warning aircraft deployed in the rear, and the rapid assault of escort fighters will inevitably pose a threat to early-warning institutions. In order to keep the AWACS planes, the air defense fighters had to intercept the surprise escort fighters, and they would not be able to deal with the attack aircraft group following the escort fighters.

Based on this tactical theory, the Nuland Navy drew up a very detailed set of escort tactics.

Obviously, the fast assault F-14B is indeed a big threat.

It's just that the Liang Xia fleet has also been prepared.

Don't forget, the F/A-18Ds on reconnaissance missions had already exposed the presence of the Nurant Mixed Fleet before launching the attack.

That is, before the attack aircraft group arrived, the Liangxia fleet had already strengthened the air defense of the fleet.

The F-14B fleet is facing air defense fighters led by the "Battle-9B".

If you want to say it, the Liang Xia fleet has also made a bloody investment.

Judging from the reports sent back by the three assault groups, the Liangxia fleet dispatched at least 32 air defense fighters and built two air defense interception networks.

It is this, after intercepting the escort fighters, it is also possible to deal with the group of attack aircraft that are following behind.

It's just that the commander of the Liangxia fleet definitely did not expect that the attack aircraft group of the Nuland fleet would be divided into 3 formations and launch an assault from 3 directions.

In fact, this has violated basic attack tactics.

In order to improve the penetration probability of attack aircraft, or the proportion of penetration after being intercepted, they often use large aircraft groups to launch attacks.

In this way, even if they are intercepted, some of the attack aircraft will be able to break through the enemy's air defense network.

In addition, escort fighters can be used more effectively.

After all, escort fighters are covering a group of attack aircraft in one direction, and how many attack aircraft are in the group is a secondary issue.

In other words, if the fighters sent by the three aircraft carriers are placed in the same direction, that is, 24 F-14Bs, which will definitely pose a serious threat to the air defense network of the Liangxia fleet, such as dispersing the air defense fighters, so that the attack aircraft group can reach the airspace over the attack area.

Even if it is necessary to disperse the enemy's air defense, at most it will be divided into two groups.

It is precisely because of this that when the Liangxia fleet was making air defense deployments, it focused on the east and northeast.

In fact, this also proves from one side that it is indeed the 61st Task Force.

Normally, in high-intensity air defense operations, the two-carrier battle group can only pay attention to two directions at most, that is, the carrier-based fighters on board, and the sortie speed of the two aircraft carriers, which can only ensure that sufficient air defense forces are invested in the two main directions.

If there are more, a third aircraft carrier will have to be added.

Because under normal circumstances, aircraft carrier battle groups have to face threats from multiple directions, so when carrying out high-intensity combat missions, three aircraft carrier battle groups are often used. In fact, only three aircraft carriers can carry enough carrier-based aircraft to build a sufficiently solid air defense network.

As a result, the group of aircraft that attacked from the southeast was not blocked.

By the time the AWACS planes that came out of the front discovered the attacking group of attack planes, to be precise, the escort fighters that came out, it was too late to make adjustments.

At that time, the "Zhan-9B" that took off to patrol were all in a state of combat, and the "Zhan-9B" that was urgently dispatched had not yet arrived.

Probably for fear of being shot down, or perhaps the fleet commander gave an order, the Finger-6C turned and flew away after judging that the attacking enemy plane was an F-14B.

Then, the 24 A-6Ds following the F-14B began to accelerate the sprint.

In fact, these A-6Ds have been accelerating their sprints, mainly because their flight speed is not fast in the first place, and the sprint speed is not much different from the cruising speed.

It was only after the escort fighters had driven away the enemy's AWACS aircraft that the A-6D fleet increased its flight altitude to 500 meters.

Prior to that, all 24 A-6Ds flew at ultra-low altitudes close to the surface of the sea.

If I want to say, ultra-low-altitude penetration has always been the A-6D's forte.

At the time when the A-6D was designed, portable anti-aircraft missiles and small-caliber self-propelled anti-aircraft guns equipped with fire control systems did not come out, and the greatest threat was a variety of long-range anti-aircraft missiles and large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, so ultra-low-altitude penetration was a relatively effective means of assault.

In fact, attack aircraft in this era attach great importance to low-altitude performance.

Representative, in addition to the A-6 of the Nuland Navy, there are also the "Attack-5" of the Liangxia Navy, as well as the "Jaguar" and "Tornado" IDS of the Western Continent Group.

These attack aircraft have very good stability at low altitudes, and the means of achieving them are similar.

To put it simply, it is a high wing load.

Although the high wing load will reduce maneuverability and make the aircraft more bulky, the heavier the aircraft, the better the stability of low-altitude flight.

It is with this that the A-6D has excellent low-altitude stability.

In fact, according to the most outstanding design idea, the first task of the A-6D is to hang a semi-armor-piercing aerial bomb, fly over the enemy ship at a height close to the sea surface, and drop the bomb. After all, in the era of designing the A-6D, anti-ship missiles were still a very unreliable weapon.

Only this time, anti-ship missiles were used.

After expelling the AWACS aircraft of the Liangxia fleet, the F-14B did not retreat, but continued to strike to the northwest.

Subsequently, the anti-aircraft fighters of the Liangxia fleet came to kill.

In addition to 4 "Battle-9B", there are several "Battle-12A".

Obviously, in the event of an emergency, the Liangxia fleet sent out all the multi-role fighters.

As in the other two directions, the escorting F-14Bs did everything they could to entangle the enemy's air defense fighters and create opportunities for the attack aircraft to penetrate the defense.

In fact, only the assault in this direction made a breakthrough.

At about 3:50 a.m., at least 2 squadrons of A-6Ds dropped the carrying anti-ship missiles at a distance of about 150 kilometers from the Liangxia fleet.

According to the report of the commander of the formation, before the attack, the aircraft carrier of the Liangxia Navy had been detected.

To be precise, it was through information detected by radar that it was confirmed that there was an aircraft carrier at a distance of 150 kilometers, and not a much smaller air defense warship.

All in all, 16 A-6Ds attacked one after another.

As for the eight A-6Ds of the third squadron, they were intercepted during the assault and did not reach the sea area where the attack was launched.

The attack range of 150 kilometers is very ideal.

The Harpoon anti-ship missile has a maximum range of 185 kilometers, so even if it is jammed, there is a second chance to attack.

The key is that the jump trajectory can be used at this range.

To put it simply, before approaching the enemy ship, that is, entering the interception range of the process air defense system, the anti-ship missile quickly climbs to a high altitude and then dives to launch an attack.

The biggest advantage of this move is that it can effectively increase the penetration rate of missiles.

It has a very outstanding effect on the terminal anti-missile interception system represented by rapid-fire guns.

Because the missile has a large range of maneuver, and the follow-up system of the anti-missile system may not be able to keep up, so in the face of a suddenly climbing anti-ship missile, the anti-ship system may not be able to keep up, and it is possible to lose the target, thus missing the most precious and only interception opportunity.

16 A-6Ds, in total, delivered almost 60 Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

This amount is not enough to annihilate the 61st Task Force, but it will certainly be able to inflict heavy damage on the 61st Task Force and make it lose part of its combat capability.

If anything, these missiles are only enough to launch a saturation attack on an aircraft carrier.

Do not forget that in the immediate vicinity of the aircraft carrier there will definitely be an air defense cruiser, as well as several escort warships with a certain anti-aircraft combat capability.

In fact, even anti-submarine frigates are equipped with anti-aircraft missiles.

What's more, there are also air defense fighters in the air.

Under the command of the AWACS aircraft, it is accurate to say that as long as the AWACS aircraft can detect the incoming anti-ship missiles in time, they can guide the air defense fighters to intercept them.

Even if it is paralyzed, or even sinks a supercarrier, it only takes more than 10 anti-ship missiles, but there are certainly not many anti-ship missiles that can break through the interceptions, let alone sink the aircraft carrier, it is good to be able to make the aircraft carrier suffer heavy damage and lose its combat effectiveness for a short time.

The key point is that the "Harpoon" is not aimed at supergiants such as aircraft carriers.

In the tactical system of the Nuland Navy, it is actually the anti-ship type of the "Tomahawk" that bears the heavy responsibility of anti-aircraft carrier combat, that is, the BGM-109 series of heavy anti-ship missiles, while the AGM-84 "Harpoon" is a light anti-ship missile, which is mainly used to deal with small and medium-sized warships.

It is a pity that the air-launched version of the Tomahawk missile ended in nothing.

In fact, even if there is, it will be too bulky, especially too large, to be mounted and used by carrier-based aircraft.

It was this that the Nuland naval aviation had to use the "Harpoon" all the time.

As for the legendary new anti-ship missile, that is, the anti-ship version of the "Silent Rainbow", even if it is developed, it can only be provided to shore-based aviation for the time being. It's not that it's too bulky to be mounted by the A-6D, it's that the A-6D's electronics aren't advanced enough.

In the plan of the Nuland Navy, the A-12 attack aircraft, which is still under development and does not know when it will be able to enter service, will be equipped with the "Silent Rainbow" anti-ship missile.

However, Stark did not expect to take out Task Force 61 with a group of attack aircraft.

If anything, it would be nice that those attack aircraft were able to successfully launch the mounted anti-ship missiles.

To put it bluntly, even if all three aircraft groups made a breakthrough and attacked from three directions, they would not be able to completely annihilate the 61st Task Force.

After all, it is not so difficult to deal with subsonic light anti-ship missiles like AGM-84.

Not to mention the 61st Task Force, even the 51st Task Force Fleet can withstand this level of attack.

It is precisely in this way that Stark's goal is actually to break the combat deployment of Liang Xia's fleet through this round of attacks and create opportunities for the next attack.

That's right, an attack by bombers!

When Task Force 51 launched an attack with carrier-based aircraft, 40 B-52Gs with heavy anti-ship missiles were flying westward over the Northeast Guia Ocean.

According to information from the rear, these bombers were able to arrive around dawn.

Actually, only 20 bombers in one formation are enough.

This is also the deployment made by Stark.

Involve 20 B-52Gs in operations against Task Force 61, with another 20 on standby in the rear.

In addition, Task Force 51 Hoi An sent carrier-based fighters to escort the bomber group to ensure that the bomber group could successfully complete the attack mission.

It was precisely as a result that while the A-6D group was attacking, the three aircraft carriers of Task Force 51 were preparing for the battle after dawn.

Since Task Force 61 has been found, there is no longer a need to arrange for carrier-based aircraft to carry out reconnaissance missions.

Comparatively speaking, the task of air defense has become more heavy.

After all, the Liang Xia army would definitely launch a counterattack.

To this end, Stark made adjustments to aviation operations, so that all 24 F/A-18s originally scheduled for reconnaissance missions were converted to fleet air defense missions. To be precise, it is to remove the auxiliary fuel tank and reconnaissance pod, hang up the air-to-air missile, and prepare for takeoff.

The top priority was to return the air defense fighters that had been dispatched on the night of the 12th.

The reason is simple, only the F-14B has a large enough range to provide cover for the bomber group, so these fighters must be ready for launch as soon as possible.

It is precisely in this way that the F/A-18 has to be put on air defense duty.

The point is that the three aircraft carriers of Task Force 51 are only carrying 24 F-14Bs in one group, and there are no extra fighters available.

Even if only about 10 fighters are recovered from each aircraft carrier, it is a very troublesome matter.

The main thing is that it is necessary to keep a group of air defense fighters on the flight deck, and it is necessary to complete the overhaul work of the second sortie on the flight deck.

In addition, it was necessary to lift the escort fighters into the air before the return of the attack group.

Otherwise, the flight deck will be a mess.

There is no doubt that this is a high-intensity support operation, which cannot be encountered at all in peacetime, and it will only appear in high-intensity battles.

Obviously, this is also what the Nuland Navy lacks the most.

It's inevitable that you can't make mistakes when you're busy.

The situation on the side of the "Nitz" was slightly better, after all, the best officers and men were assigned to the flagship.

On the side of the "Spu" and "Hal", one fighter was scrapped in less than an hour, and the reason was that the service personnel did not operate properly while doing maintenance.

It was almost 5 a.m., and Stark had to wonder if he could send the escort fighters before dawn.

The point is that the carrier-based aircraft that have completed the attack mission have returned, and there is not much fuel left, so they need to land on the aircraft carrier as soon as possible.

After entering the state of recovery operation, don't think about sending out air defense fighters.

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