What are they waiting for!?

Could it be that the tanks of the Marine Corps are not well hidden?

Thinking of this, Ding Zhennan also deliberately observed the tanks and combat vehicles that were hidden by the terrain.

This concern is obviously a bit unnecessary.

If anything, night and distance are the best cover.

Although the T-72 developed and produced by the Luosha Democratic Republic and jointly marketed with the Empire is also known as the third-generation main battle tank, the exported T-72M is the best main battle tank that can be bought in the international market by the majority of third-party countries, such as the powerful 125 mm smoothbore tank gun, which has good maneuverability, but the T-72 itself is a low-profile version of the spare tire, and the export version is even more inferior.

In many respects it is not even comparable to modernized second-generation main battle tanks such as the "ZT-80DG".

For example, in order to reduce costs, mechanical ballistic computers, which have long been obsolete, are still used.

Crucially, the absence of a reliable two-way stabilization system has resulted in virtually zero inter-march firing capability and a lack of credible night combat capabilities.

On the exported T-72M, the active infrared night vision devices developed by the Luosha Democratic Republic are used, and they are not equipped with infrared imaging night vision devices developed by the cooperation between the Rock and Locke enterprises, so the combat effectiveness of the T-72M at night is more like a gimmick for propaganda.

Relying on infrared searchlights, its night observation distance will not exceed 1000 meters.

Interestingly, the tank, equipped with infrared imaging night vision devices, was able to observe the radiation emitted by the infrared searchlight at a distance of 2 times that.

Apparently, the T-72M has night blindness and is simply not suitable for fighting at night.

The Iraqis certainly did not find the "ZT-2000AL" lying in ambush at a distance of 99 meters.

As for aerial reconnaissance, it is even more unlikely.

After the daytime fighting, the Iraqi Air Force has long since calmed down, and the Iraqi Air Force does not have a few reconnaissance aircraft capable of flying at night.

Obviously, the commander of the Iraqi armored forces must have received the order long ago.

Their mission is only to demonstrate on the border and to put on a show, not to really invade Saudi Arabia.

Actually, it's completely understandable.

Having lost air supremacy, it is simply impossible to take advantage of a ground war, let alone allow armored forces to advance hundreds of kilometers without support.

Hundreds of kilometers south of the border are deserts that are inaccessible.

Even a few oases and towns along the route would not be enough to support the armoured troops, and even a basic water supply would not be guaranteed.

Having armored units stationed near the border is more a demonstration of military presence, that is, a challenge to the no-fly zone set by the Joint Forces Command.

To put it more bluntly, even if the commander of the Iraqi armored forces was told that there was not a single enemy in the south, he would not lead his troops across the border.

It seems that there is nothing to worry about anymore.

"Sir, look!"

When Ding Zhennan hesitated to move back, the battalion staff officer next to him suddenly shouted loudly.

In fact, before the battalion headquarters staff officer shouted, Ding Zhennan saw the fast-moving and very dazzling point of light in front of the right.

However, by the time he picked up the shimmer telescope, the point of light had disappeared.

Illusion?

The battalion headquarters staff officer also saw it, and it certainly couldn't be an illusion.

It was a heavy anti-tank missile fired by a cavalry fighting vehicle.

The solid-fuel rocket engine used in the missile works for only a few seconds and stops working after propelling the missile to 250 meters per second.

As it was, the point of light only existed for a few seconds.

The missile has been fired and is heading towards the target.

Judging from the location where the missile appeared, the anti-tank missile was launched by a cavalry combat vehicle that had suddenly carried out reconnaissance missions and was on the north side of the battle line.

Why are the cavalry chariots firing and at whom?

"Over there, BMP tanks!"

Under the instructions of the battalion headquarters staff, Ding Zhennan quickly found the infantry fighting vehicle that was moving fast and was obviously in a much higher position.

It was a BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle, also imported from the Rosa DPR.

Externally, the most distinctive feature of this infantry fighting vehicle is the anti-tank missile launcher mounted on the barrel of a 73-mm low-pressure smoothbore gun.

Critically, the chariot is heading wildly to the north.

Apparently, it is likely that the Iraqi infantry fighting vehicle had crossed the border before that, but it had not penetrated deep into Saudi territory.

Probably because I don't know the situation on the other side of the border, maybe it's just to complete the tasks assigned above, and symbolically cross the border line.

Perhaps, just a test near the border.

In any case, the Iraqi tank, as soon as it crossed the border, turned back.

"Sir!"

"See!"

Across the border, several Iraqi tanks that had been lined up opened fire, and they were aimed in the direction in which the anti-tank missile appeared.

Apparently, the enemy saw the missiles.

Theoretically, if the vehicle launching the missile can be destroyed in time, the missile can be missed, because the heavy anti-tank missile is controlled by wire.

Without vehicle control, the missile will only fly in a straight line.

The only thing that flies faster than a missile and can destroy a combat vehicle is a cannonball fired by a tank gun.

You don't need to use armor-piercing bullets, armor-piercing bullets or grenades.

But the problem is that the shelling of Iraqi tanks is not accurate at all.

If anything, the Iraqi tanks certainly did not see the cavalry tank, because the aiming position was actually in front of the cavalry tank.

The reason is also very simple, the "Ballista-8" heavy anti-tank missile uses the principle of cold firing propelled by high-pressure gas, and the engine is ignited only after the launch tube is launched.

As a result, by the time the engine emits visible light, the missile has already flown away from the combat vehicle and has flown tens of meters.

This is designed to keep the vehicle hidden.

More than ten seconds later, a deafening roar arrived.

Obviously, the sound of tank gun fire was not ordinary.

Ding Zhennan clearly saw that almost all of the dozen or so shells fired by Iraqi tanks fell in front of the cavalry chariot hidden behind the sand dunes.

In addition, the cavalry chariot did not move at all.

When firing missiles, the cavalry chariot only exposed the turret, and the hull was hidden behind the dunes, so the probability of being hit by a shell was not high.

If you want to run, you may be beaten.

Of course, the cavalry combat vehicle could not move until the missile hit the target.

As mentioned earlier, the "Ballista-8" anti-tank missile is a wire-controlled guide, which needs to be controlled by the shooter before the missile hits the target.

The average flight speed of the missile is less than 200 meters per second, so when firing at a target several kilometers away, it takes a long time to fly.

After the roar of tank artillery fire, near the border line, the BMP-1 tank, which was still running wildly, suddenly exploded.

The explosion was so violent that fireballs lit up nearby Iraqi tanks and combat vehicles.

In fact, the missile is not so powerful, and it looks like the ammunition in the tank has exploded.

In the midst of the lightning and fire, more than 30 "ZT-99AL" roared almost at the same time, to be precise, in a few seconds before and after, as if they had been discussed in advance.

It came very suddenly, even a little scary.

When the deafening sound of shelling came, even Ding Zhennan couldn't help but shudder a few times.

In addition, the muzzle of the tank gun flashes when it fires, which is very glaring.

The main thing is that it is closer and the intuitive feeling is stronger.

In the blink of an eye, about a second, on the opposite side of the border, more than 30 Iraqi tank fighting vehicles were "named" by armor-piercing shells.

Most of them are tanks, and almost all of them are T-72Ms at the forefront.

"Sir!"

After firing, more than 30 "ZT-99AL" rushed out from behind the dunes where they were hiding.

On the other side of the border, when the BMP-1 tank was blown up by an anti-tank missile, the tank, which had been stopped, restarted.

It's a pity that the Iraqi tanks reacted too slowly.

Perhaps it was the relaunch of Iraqi tanks that gave Liu Zunshan the order to open fire, that is, most of the Iraqi tanks were moving south, not reversing backwards.

In the first round of fighting, nearly 30 tanks and combat vehicles were destroyed.

The intensity of this blow was obviously too violent.

Less than 10 seconds later, a second blow followed.

This, if anything, is a big advantage of the Marine type "ZT-99AL".

While choosing a 52-fold diameter 125 mm smoothbore gun, the Marine Corps' "ZT-99AL" adopted a tail-cabin automatic loader that was only available in the B type, so as to use a larger full-loading shell, and the combat rate of fire was also higher than that of the semi-automatic loader of the "ZT-99A" and the rotary plate loader on the export version of the "ZT-99AG", which could theoretically reach one round per 6 seconds, and the actual combat rate of fire was about one round every 10 seconds.

It is precisely for this reason that the "ZT-99AL" of the Marine Corps is closer to the "ZT-99B" in appearance, and has also been often mistaken for the army's main battle tank before.

In fact, the tail compartment automatic filling machine can be regarded as a major innovation of the "ZT-99" family.

The invention also won the Empire's Science and Technology Innovation Award.

In addition to the improvement of safety and other aspects, the greatest value of the tail compartment loader is to solve the problem that large size, especially large length shells cannot be used turntable automatic loader, paving the way for the use of more powerful armor-piercing shells, and also paving the way for the use of larger caliber tank guns in the future.

The mass of the 125-mm armor-piercing projectile is close to 30 kg, which is already beyond the limit of human physical strength.

The next generation of tank guns in the design, whether it is the 145 mm developed by the Liangxia Empire, the 140 mm being built by the Nuland Republic, or even the 152 mm of the Western Continent Group, all use complete artillery shells, and the mass of the shells is more than 50 kg.

This means that an automatic loader must be used.

In fact, it was with the tail cabin automatic loader that the Liangxia Empire took the most critical step in expanding the caliber of tank guns.

The planned "ZT-99C" will use a 145-mm tank gun.

Of course, in order to fully exploit the power of the 145-mm tank gun, the next generation of tanks is needed, that is, the ZTX, which is still under development.

In real combat, the main value of the automatic loader is to ensure the combat rate of fire.

Whether on fast travel or on rough ground, unless the loader fails, the combat rate of fire can be guaranteed.

Obviously, it is impossible to change to a loader.

Even with a strong loader, it is difficult to ensure that the tank can be reloaded efficiently when it is rapidly advancing in the field.

In the field, the combat rate of fire of the "ZT-99A" is less than 1 round in 4 minutes, while its design rate of fire is 7 rounds in a second.

The gap lies in the loader, and the "ZT-99A" uses a semi-automatic loader, which only needs the loader to push the propellant pack into the breech.

This time, more than 10 tanks and combat vehicles were destroyed.

Instead of a significant reduction in the hit rate, there were no more targets worthy of armor-piercing shells, and several Iraqi tanks were hit by multiple armor-piercing shells.

According to post-war statistics, in this battle, one T-72M was hit by 4 armor-piercing shells!

It was only by this time that the last few surviving Iraqi tanks returned fire.

It's a pity that shells are basically wasted.

Not only was it not accurate, but it was also an armor-piercing bullet or a grenade.

Apparently, the Iraqi tanks had been preparing to fire at the cavalry fighting vehicles, choosing armor-piercing shells and grenades, and had not had time to replace them with armor-piercing shells that were used against tanks.

There is nothing strange that any tank will not have too many armor-piercing shells.

According to the unwritten rule, armor-piercing shells can only be used against enemy tanks, and armor-piercing shells or multi-purpose grenades are used against other targets.

The reason is also very simple, the purpose of armor-piercing bullets is very simple, and it is very expensive.

Those "ZT-99AL" of the Marine Corps, a base of 42 shells, usually only 8 armor-piercing shells, the others are multipurpose grenades.

In addition, some tanks carry special shells such as several flares.

The number of armor-piercing shells carried will be increased only when the task is clear.

For example, this time, each tank doubled the number of armor-piercing shells.

Actually, it's completely understandable.

On the battlefield, encounters with enemy tanks are a small chance event, and most of the time, tanks are facing non-armored targets.

When facing targets such as pillboxes and barricades, expensive armor-piercing shells are simply useless.

While firing back, the remnants of Iraqi tanks and tanks began to retreat.

The tank group of the marines did not stop, still advancing to the north and continued to fire at the retreating enemy.

The battle has begun, who cares about the border?

The enemy is there, and as long as there is a threat, you have to continue fighting until you have eliminated all the enemies, or you are no longer a threat.

However, it was only a matter of ten minutes.

Ding Zhennan reacted first, and after seeing the tank cluster rushing out, he immediately ordered the staff of the battalion headquarters to immediately return to the command vehicle, contact Liu Zunshan, and not cross the border line.

As long as the troops are still on this side of the border, there is no problem in how they fight.

In any case, it was indeed Iraqi tanks that crossed the border first, and Iraqi tanks returned fire, and the shells fell on the territory of the Saudis.

No matter how much trouble you make, it makes sense.

If the Marine tanks crossed the border, entered Iraqi territory, and left behind evidence, such as being destroyed, there is no way to pull it.

Don't forget that the empire is fighting the invaders, and it certainly can't invade other countries for no reason, at least not into Iraq before a formal declaration of war.

It was in this way that the battle ended after about 10 minutes.

At least 80 Iraqi tanks and combat vehicles were destroyed, and none of the Marine tanks were lost, to be precise, no combat losses.

The only loss was that a cavalry fighting vehicle deployed in the front of the tank, after the counterattack began, rushed to the front of the tank, only to be mistakenly hit by the tank, and the commander and gun commander were wounded.

Fortunately, the cavalry chariot did not carry infantry.

Otherwise, this cannon would have produced the first casualties of the Imperial army in this war.