When Bai Huawei thought about it, Jiang Wenlong had already made a detailed analysis of the investigation report he received.

There are two types of intelligence, one from the Navy's patrol planes and the Air Force's electronic reconnaissance planes.

The former is relatively simple, mainly in the sea area where contact was lost.

Most anti-submarine patrol aircraft are equipped with navigation systems that work in parallel with data communication equipment, and after activation, a position message is sent every few minutes. Usually, this information is not very valuable, and it is usually used for task tracking. Only this time, the Navy took full advantage of this information, which means that it can grasp the exact location of all patrol aircraft in real time.

In addition, every 15 minutes, the pilot has to report to the rear where he is and what is going on around him.

It is precisely in this way that the Navy Command has been able to accurately grasp the whereabouts of hundreds of patrol aircraft, and it has also been able to increase its accuracy to within 50 kilometers.

In this way, even if the pilot of the patrol plane fails to issue a report in the event of a sneak attack, the rear will be able to know the approximate location of the patrol aircraft when it lost contact.

In fact, it was on the basis of this information that the scope of the "dark zone" was determined.

As for the latter, it is even more important.

In order to find the Nuland fleet, the Air Force not only dispatched more than a dozen large early warning planes, but also used a large number of electronic reconnaissance planes, and followed the Navy's patrol planes.

According to the deployment, these electronic reconnaissance aircraft all worked in a "silent" mode.

To put it simply, it is to collect electromagnetic signals in a passive way to search for enemy ships and enemy aircraft, especially the indispensable carrier-based early warning aircraft.

This is also a key task for this operation.

Like the Finger-6 of the Imperial Navy, the E-2 of the Nuland Navy did not have the ability to refuel in the air.

To say, when designing the AWACS aircraft, the Imperial Navy and the Nuland Navy all believed that the range and endurance of the carrier-based AWACS aircraft were good enough, even if there was no air refueling capability, it was irrelevant, and the Navy did not have large tankers, and the efficiency of air refueling was very low.

This is not true, at least 20 years ago.

For example, the "Finger-6C" can not only fly to a distance of 500 kilometers to patrol for four hours, but also rely on radar to extend the detection range by 400 kilometers. The key is to be able to fly up to 1,000 kilometers away for two hours when necessary, and to be able to cooperate with the air defense warships in the fleet. Normally, there will be an air defense warship with command capability cruising in the vicinity of the AWACS aircraft.

In contrast, carrier-based fighters generally have a range of less than 4 hours.

Of course, the most important thing is that the carrier-based early warning aircraft are not large enough, usually only 2 or 3 commanders, and the ability to command the battle is very limited. Before the advent of digital communication equipment, that is, only command by voice, 1 carrier-based AWACS aircraft could command only a few fighters.

There is no comparison with the large AWACS aircraft of the Air Force!

It is for this reason that the Navy attaches great importance to air defense warships. Up to now, air defense cruisers are not only equipped with the most advanced phased array radar and regional air defense missiles with a range of up to 200 kilometers, but also have a complete air defense combat command center, which can command carrier-based fighters to conduct air defense operations.

In fact, in the air defense system of the Imperial Navy, the carrier-based early warning aircraft is more like a flying radar, and its primary value is to make up for the blindness of warships.

The reason is also very simple, due to the curvature of the earth, even the advanced phased array radar has a limited detection range for ultra-low-altitude targets, which generally does not exceed 40 kilometers. In contrast, air defense radars often have a detection range of hundreds of kilometers for high-altitude targets.

As a result, a system capable of detecting low-altitude targets is required.

If you want to say that, the Imperial Navy developed carrier-based AWACS aircraft for this purpose. Mainly, many of the losses suffered by the Imperial Navy in the Second Global War were due to the failure to detect enemy aircraft flying at low altitudes in time and missed the opportunity to intercept them.

Of course, the "carrier-based" feature also limits the performance of AWACS.

The maximum take-off weight of the "Finger-6C" is more than 36 tons, and its size has also reached the limit, because in order to ensure other performance, only three commanders can be arranged, one of whom also serves as an officer of electronic equipment and navigation work, and is also equipped with an integrated control platform that takes into account other functions. Under normal circumstances, the "Finger-6C" can only guide 4 fighters into combat, and even in ideal conditions it can only reach 6.

As a result, carrier-based AWACS aircraft basically do not have the ability to perform combat missions alone!

Nowhere is this problem more evident than in the allies that have purchased the Finger-6C.

Because the "Finger-8" series is too expensive, and the performance is also seriously excessive, and there are also problems with technical control, most of the allies purchase the "Finger-6C". In order to give full play to the value of the "Finger-6C", these allies without exception purchased the communications and command system of the Imperial Navy.

It was for this reason that the Imperial Navy and the Imperial Air Force jointly invested in the development of digital communication equipment, which laid the foundation for the integration of the communication systems of both sides.

To put it simply, carrier-based AWACS aircraft are mainly used for fleet air defense and basically do not participate in offensive operations.

Well, there is no need for in-flight refueling.

Each carrier-based aircraft wing has at least four "Finger-6Cs" and some have five, which are fully capable of ensuring that one aircraft is on air patrol at any time during high-intensity combat operations for at least three days, and a second aircraft can be urgently dispatched when needed.

With high-intensity sorties of carrier-based aircraft, the mission time of the aircraft carrier battle group is only about three days, after which it has to be withdrawn to the rear to replenish fuel.

In addition, there are generally 2 or 3 aircraft carriers in the fleet, and there are about 10 AWACS aircraft that can be used, so this is even less of a problem.

All in all, the E-2C of the Nuland Navy also did not fly far.

That is, as soon as the E-2C is found, then the Nuland aircraft carrier is not far away!

In addition, there are definitely air defense warships in the vicinity of the E-2C, most likely cruisers of the "Tikan" class. The key point is that the early warning aircraft must maintain contact with the air defense warship and conduct frequent communication contacts, even if they use high-performance agile radio stations, they can be found by electronic reconnaissance planes.

An aircraft carrier can carry 4, or even 5 AWACS, and air defense cruisers, which provide direct cover, are only 2 at most.

According to the information provided by the Military Intelligence Agency, Task Force 51 has only 5 Tikan-class ships, and Task Force 52 is likely to have only 3 ships.

On average, there are less than 1 air defense cruisers covering 2 aircraft carriers.

Although the formation of the two-carrier battle group and the three-carrier battle group is more dense and can appropriately reduce the number of escort warships, the value of air defense cruisers is certainly far greater than that of AWACS.

In general, air defense cruisers do not go far from aircraft carriers.

With the usual tactics of the Imperial Navy, even if cruisers were to be sent out to expand the air defense range, the distance would be between 150 and 250 kilometers. If it is operating in high-risk sea areas or carrying out high-intensity combat missions, the distance must also be shortened to less than 100 kilometers to ensure that the aircraft carrier can be covered at any time. Most of the time, the fleet commander will keep the air defense battleship within 50 kilometers. The reason is simple, when attacked by saturation, the only thing you can rely on is the neighboring warships.

Obviously, as long as the air defense battleship is found, the aircraft carrier is also found!

In fact, this is the minimum standard of investigation.

Simply put, in the absence of an aircraft carrier, if an enemy fleet's air defense battleship is found, especially a cruiser acting as an air defense pillar, the fleet commander will be able to give the order to attack.

It is a pity that in the reconnaissance report received, there was no mention of the anti-aircraft warships of the Nuland Navy.

The Air Force's electronic reconnaissance planes found all carrier-based early warning planes, and they were concentrated in the western part of the dark zone, with only two in the southwest direction.

There are only 5 that can be confirmed.

Deploy so many AWACS aircraft in one direction at the same time !?

Obviously, there is little point in repeating the deployment of AWACS.

The key is that the carrying capacity of the aircraft carrier itself is not strong enough, so when making mission arrangements, the commander will try to maximize the value of the carrier-based aircraft.

Why, then, did the commander of the Nuland fleet do this?

"If it weren't for the Ecstasy, the only appropriate explanation would be that the enemy had anticipated a counterattack in the near future, and that the two task forces were retreating eastward. Even if he doesn't give up attacking the transit island, he will avoid our edge and make other plans. ”

"Getting to the point!" Liu Zunling reminded Jiang Wenlong, who was a little too proud.

"To put it simply, after the fleet has been withdrawn, and there are no air defense cruisers left, more AWACS aircraft are needed to direct air defense fighters."

Liu Zunling's brows jumped a few times, and he turned his gaze to Bai Huawei.

"It's a possibility." Bai Huawei nodded slightly and said, "If Stark has sensed the danger, then the first thing that comes to mind is that we have returned to the vicinity of the transit island. After joining up with Task Force 61, a counteroffensive will be launched with the support of shore-based aviation and air force. Just like Jiang Wenlong said, first of all, we have to avoid our edge, and then make plans after frustrating our sharpness. ”

"So, the Nuland fleet is in the eastern part of the Dark Zone?"

Bai Huawei did not answer Liu Zunling's question, but turned his gaze to Jiang Wenlong.

"This is our speculation, and there is not enough evidence. The point is that, according to the information just received, the landing fleet did not withdraw. While saying this, Jiang Wenlong circled the icon representing the Newland landing fleet on the chart to emphasize his point.

Bai Huawei didn't answer, but his brows tightened.

In fact, this is also what he has never figured out.

Even if Stark had other plans, there was no reason to leave the landing fleet at the landing site.

To put it bluntly, this move has a taste of silver here.

Relatively speaking, if the Nuland landing fleet has withdrawn from the landing site, even if it is in the dark area and is not discovered by the patrol aircraft of the Imperial Navy, it can make Bai Huawei suspicious, at least he will feel that the Nuland Navy's efforts to preserve the landing fleet are actually to make a comeback.

Now, the complete abandonment of the landing fleet is meant to show that it has been abandoned?

If this is the case, even if Stark secures the fleet and returns to the port on the west coast of the mainland, he will definitely be waiting for the gendarmerie and military court.

Do not forget that there are dozens of large landing ships, and there are as many as 6 amphibious assault ships alone.

On these ships alone, there were about 30,000 officers and men.

In addition, the landing fleet is subordinate to the navy, and unlike the marines fighting on the transit islands, it is impossible for any fleet commander to ignore the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of naval officers and men.

"You mean, the Nuland fleet didn't leave?" Liu Zunling turned his gaze to Jiang Wenlong.

"It's a real possibility." Jiang Wenlong was obviously a little embarrassed, because he was just an ordinary staff officer, and many questions should not be answered by him.

Being able to give a report to the commander is enough to make people jealous.

Fortunately, Liu Zunling didn't ask.

"If this is the case, then the Nuland fleet is still in the western part of the dark zone, and not too far from the landing site, most likely in the sea where those AWACS aircraft are located." Bai Huawei pointed to the southwest corner of the dark area, and said: "The problem is that the dark area is too long, more than 3,000 kilometers from the west end to the east end. Even if this speculation is correct, there is nothing we can do now, or nothing can be done. ”

"If that's the case, then still act as planned."

Bai Huawei nodded and did not make any other comments.

"If I have time, I might be able to try out the authenticity."

After Jiang Wenlong said this, Bai Huawei and Liu Zunling immediately looked at him.

"Be specific." Liu Zunling reminded Jiang Wenlong again.

"Anyway, there are dozens of landing ships there, and six amphibious assault ships, which is almost the home of the Nuland Navy."

"Deal with the landing fleet first?"

Jiang Wenlong nodded, and Liu Zunling also looked at Bai Huawei.

After pondering for a moment, Bai Huawei said, "Is it too early to let the sixty-first task force take action now?" ”

"Why not bombers of the Air Force?"

Bai Huawei was stunned for a moment, but then shook his head with a wry smile.

Obviously, compared with young officers like Jiang Wenlong, he is still too old-fashioned, or closer to the older generation of naval generals like Zhou Yongtao.

To put it simply, there is a deep-rooted view of the portal, which distinguishes you and me very clearly.

As a matter of fact, this is also one of the drawbacks that the new military doctrine is mainly aimed at.

If it were not for the outbreak of the Great War, the "Imperial Royal Military Academy" would be established at the end of this year, to be precise, the original Imperial Royal Military Academy would be renamed the Imperial Royal Academy, and then personnel from the army, air force and navy, as well as other professional military academies would be transferred to form a new Imperial Military Academy.

The purpose of this academy, which mainly provides advanced training for officers on active duty, is to train all-round commanders.

If it is to be said, similar reforms have already begun in all branches of the armed forces.

For example, at the Imperial Naval Academy, courses related to joint command were added a year ago, which are still compulsory and will be included in the graduation assessment.

Young officers like Jiang Wenlong have a much weaker sense of the door and are better at relying on the assistance of other branches of the military.

Of course, this is a development trend in itself.

It's just that in the eyes of some conservative generals, this is a shameful act that is not only uncommendable, but also despised and should be spurned.

"Commander White?"

After Liu Zunling reminded him, Bai Huawei found that everyone was looking at him, waiting for him to give an order.

To fight or not to fight?

Obviously, this is not a difficult question to decide.

As Jiang Wenlong said, there are dozens of large landing ships, including six amphibious assault ships, all of which are the home of the Nuland Navy's amphibious projection force.

The point is, there is no need to let Task Force 61 take action yet.

Even if it is not the main goal, the elimination of the landing fleet will be able to crush the dream of the Nuland Navy to capture the Khowaii Islands.

In that case, what is there to hesitate about?

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