It was not the 101st Air Assault Brigade that fired the first shot of the counterattack.

At the beginning of the counterattack, the brigade was still more than 100 kilometers away in the rear, and several hundred officers and men on assault missions were waiting for orders to leave.

The first to go into battle were the tactical aviation of the Air Force.

1 whole brigade of 20 "Attack-9B".

In fact, this is also the first batch of "Attack-9B" obtained by the Imperial Air Force.

As mentioned earlier, in the design stage, the Imperial Air Force did not require the "Attack-9" to have all-weather combat capabilities, especially night combat capabilities, so in order to reduce the difficulty of research and development, and also to control the price within a more acceptable range for the Air Force, complex electronic equipment was not installed at the time of design, making the "Attack-9A" an attack aircraft that can basically only operate during the day.

As a result, after the "Attack-9A" was officially installed, the Imperial Air Force discovered that even a rudimentary attack aircraft must have all-weather combat capability. To be precise, it is to be equipped with advanced observation and sighting equipment, so that the attack aircraft can use precision munitions such as air-to-surface missiles and laser-guided bombs.

After the "Attack-9A" was officially installed, the Air Force launched the "Attack-9B" research and development project.

Strictly speaking, it's actually an improvement.

However, the development and production of the "Attack-9B" did not go smoothly.

To say, it was also influenced by the "Attack-9A".

Because of the serious lack of anti-tank powerful attack aircraft, there is indeed a need for this, so the "Attack-9A" won the favor of the Imperial Air Force after it was put into production, and nearly 1,000 aircraft were ordered in three batches in just a few years, and its production was scheduled after 155 years of the new calendar.

When the "Attack-9B" was finalized, there were still about 500 "Attack-9A" that had not been produced.

Affected by this, the two houses of the debate felt that the Air Force did not need so many attack planes, and they have always refused to approve the procurement plan of the "Attack-9B."

Fortunately, the Air Force found a solution.

According to the contract signed between the Imperial Air Force and aviation enterprises, the 482 "Attack-9A" that had been ordered, but were not produced, were upgraded to Type B, and the Air Force will make up the difference when they receive it. The key is that the 476 "Attack-9A" that have been delivered will be successively improved to Type B.

The first to be delivered was not the newly produced "Tap-9B", but the "Tap-9B", which was improved from the A-type.

At the beginning of the year, the Imperial Air Force accepted 60 "Attack-9Bs".

In fact, these "Attack-9B" were originally produced for Pakistan Railway.

Because it also has to face severe defensive pressure, that is, the armored force of Van Luo is 5 times that of Pakistan, and only the third-generation main battle tank has more than 3,000, while Pakistan's tanks do not have a total of 1,500, so after the advent of "Attack-9A", Pakistan Railway took the lead in proposing to procure.

The "Attack-9AP" sold to Pakistan Railway is the "Attack-9A" of the Imperial Air Force, but according to the actual situation of Pakistan Railway, the operating system using Blanche has been replaced, and the readings of the instrument panel have been adjusted to ensure that Pakistani Railway pilots who do not speak the Liangxia language can also control this attack aircraft.

Don't look at Pakistan Tie is a hardcore ally of the empire, many high-ranking officers have studied in the empire, but it has been colonized by the Bran Kingdom for nearly two hundred years, and many things cannot be changed in just a few decades. Besides, the status of attack aircraft pilots in the Pakistani Air Force is not high, and they are not elite at all.

As for other aspects, there is almost no difference between the "Attack-9AP" and the "Attack-9A".

When this batch of "Attack-9AP" was produced, the "Attack-9B" had already passed the finalization test, and the Imperial Air Force was actively seeking procurement funds.

As a result, the Pakistani Air Force demanded that the "Attack-9AP" be improved according to the "Attack-9B" standard, and was willing to bear the corresponding costs.

At that time, the two houses of parliament had not yet approved the transformation and upgrading plan of the "Attack-9A", and the "Attack-9A" had already been discontinued, and the aircraft production plant would certainly not let the production line stop.

It is precisely because of this that this batch of "Attack-9AP" was the first to accept the transformation.

It was during this period that the Battle of Posha Bay broke out.

Fearing a global war, the Imperial Air Force asked aircraft manufacturers to postpone deliveries of these attack aircraft and prepare to convert them to the Air Force version.

It's not complicated, it's mainly to replace the control panel, as well as to replace the operating system that uses Liang Xia characters.

It was in this way that the Imperial Air Force was able to acquire these "Attack-9Bs" immediately after the start of the war.

Because only the all-weather combat capability has been increased, and there is not much change in other aspects, there is no need for additional training for pilots.

As for the flying skills required for all-weather combat, it is not a big problem.

Attack aircraft pilots, also from the Imperial Air Force's flight academy, mastered all-weather flying skills when flying advanced trainer aircraft.

To say, attack aircraft pilots are about the same as fighter pilots.

By the standards of the Imperial Air Force, the best pilots were assigned mainly to tactical aviation, and it was up to the pilots to choose which aircraft to fly. Although most pilots will give preference to fighters, there will still be some good pilots who choose attack aircraft.

In the tactical aviation unit, attack aircraft and fighters belong to the "A" category and enjoy the highest salary.

The point is that the popularity of attack aircraft is definitely above that of bombers.

The reason is also very simple, the flight duty time of attack aircraft is about 2 hours, and rarely more than 5 hours, and bombers are often more than 10 hours.

Even if you are a well-motivated pilot, flying for 10 hours in a row is very hard.

What's more, the bomber was not much better than the attack aircraft in other respects, except for a slightly wider cockpit.

It was because the working conditions were so hard that the Imperial Air Force had to offer extremely high allowances and very attractive benefits to retain pilots, to be precise, to compete with civil aviation companies, and do their best to prolong the service of pilots who had spent a lot of money on training.

Before the outbreak of World War II, the average length of service of Imperial Air Force pilots before retirement was 13 years, the highest in the world.

Even so, a large number of pilots are lost every year.

If it weren't for the world's largest and most complete pilot training system, I am afraid that the problem of insufficient pilots would have been exposed long ago.

In any case, the arrival of the "Attack-9B" has greatly increased the strike capability of tactical aviation.

It's just that the "Attack-9B" is not all.

Along with the "Attack-9B" arrived, there were also two brand-new "Finger-10A" joint command aircraft.

These are 2 new machines that left the factory last month.

If anything, the "Finger-10A" is the key of the key.

In the evaluation of the Imperial Air Force, the "Finger-10A" is not only a force multiplier, but also an advanced weapon that changes the face of war.

On the other side of Posha Bay, the Finger-10A has proven its great value.

Only in August, the Imperial Air Force's fleet of "Battle-16A" aircraft, guided by the "Finger-10A", destroyed more than a dozen Iraqi ballistic missile launchers.

In addition, under the command of the "Finger-10A", several beautiful massive air strikes were launched.

For example, on 11 August, the "Finger-10A" operating in the airspace north of Saudi Arabia spotted a group of Iraqi armored units moving in the direction of the border, and then called for a strike force in the rear, and guided the air force's multi-role fighters, and it took only about half an hour to destroy this armored unit with more than 100 tanks, directly crushing the idea of the Iraqi army to launch a counterattack.

Later, on 23 August, the "Finger-10A" commanded the "Zhan-16A" group to carry out indiscriminate bombardment of an Iraqi army trying to evacuate Kuwait, and in the bombardment that lasted for half a day, the entire highway was turned into a sea of fire, destroying this elite force with tens of thousands of officers and men.

The number one value of the "Finger-10A" is that it has greatly improved the strike efficiency of tactical aviation.

However, there are still some doubts.

By the time the Finger-10A was engaged in battle on the other side of Posha Bay, the Iraqi Air Force had been defeated, and the Imperial Air Force had firmly held air supremacy, so the Finger-10A could patrol the forward airspace close to the battlefield, thus gaining a detection range of more than 150 kilometers.

Obviously, in the face of an enemy with a powerful air defense system, the "Finger-10A" may not be able to deploy at the front.

There is a powerful air defense system in West Luosha, with its S-300 anti-aircraft missiles having a range of more than 100 kilometers, and the latest models may reach 200 kilometers.

If this is the case, the position of the "Finger-10A" must be retreated, and the effective detection range will be greatly shortened.

If you want to monitor the battlefield, you can only let the "Finger-10A" be deployed in the front, and there are many unknown and uncontrollable risks.

In terms of value, the "Finger-10A" is still above the "Finger-8C".

With its performance in the Poshawan War, it must be a thorn in the enemy's side and a thorn in the flesh, and it is easy to be attacked by the enemy on the battlefield.

If a large number of fighters are used to cover the "Finger-10A", it will inevitably be a bit more than worth the loss.

All in all, the "Finger-10A" is more like a weapon used against a weak enemy, and it may not perform well in a full-scale war.

According to this viewpoint, the Air Force should pay more attention to small support aircraft and rely on battlefield observation aircraft such as the "Attack-2EG" to guide air strikes.

This is also the key to the fact that the Air Force has never let the "Attack-2EG" be decommissioned.

Of course, whether the "Finger-10A" can adapt to high-intensity warfare still needs to be proved by actual combat.

It is precisely for this reason that the Air Force sent over the two "Finger-10A" planes it had just received to guide and direct the "Attack-9B" group to launch an attack.

However, the Air Force also sent a large number of electronic reconnaissance planes and electronic attack planes.

That's right, it was the "Attack-8FZ" electronic attack aircraft that shone in the Bosa Bay War.

According to the Air Force's arrangement, when the "Attack 9B" group launched an attack and the "Finger 10A" advanced to about 100 kilometers behind the battle line, two squads of the "Attack 8FZ" in each of the four main counterattack directions, and four planes of one of the squads carried out electromagnetic suppression tasks in the front line.

As for the other 1 team, it is on standby in the rear to ensure that it is ready to come forward in case of emergency.

If anything, it's definitely a big deal.

There are not yet 100 "Attack-8FZ" planes in total, and more than 30 planes are on the side of Posha Bay, and the necessary forces must be retained in other strategic directions, so the Imperial Air Force can put into the northwest theater of "Attack-8FZ" at most 40 planes, and this time it will use 32 planes.

In fact, the Imperial Air Force has already discovered a serious shortage of electronic attack aircraft and is working to solve this problem.

Last month, the Imperial Air Force issued only one purchase order for the conversion of 120 mothballed T-8s into electronic attack aircraft.

Critical, improve in accordance with the latest standards.

Here, it is related to the future development plans of the "Attack-8FZ".

As early as a few years ago, the Imperial Air Force proposed to develop an electronic attack aircraft to replace the "Attack-8FZ", but it was always only a hope.

The reason is also very simple, the number of equipment for this special aircraft will not be too large, and there will be more than 100 of them in the sky, and if you want to develop a special platform, the price will definitely be ridiculously high. You know, other tactical aircraft, even the smallest number of heavy carrier-based fighters, exceed 600 units.

Relatively speaking, it is obviously more appropriate to use existing combat aircraft for modification.

Of course, the Air Force and Navy have always done this.

The Air Force is remodeled with the "Attack-8", while the Navy is transformed with the "Attack-5".

The main reason for choosing an attack aircraft, in addition to the fact that the electronic attack aircraft does not pursue maneuverability, is also because the heavy attack aircraft has a larger internal space.

As for the flaws of the attack aircraft, such as the slow flight speed, it is actually not a big problem.

Electronic attack aircraft mainly accompany attack aircraft in operation, suppressing the enemy's air defense system, so it is enough to fly at the same speed as the main attack of the same era.

In addition, the "Attack-8" itself is a supersonic attack aircraft, so the speed of the "Attack-8FZ" is not slow.

Relatively speaking, on the contrary, the Navy's "Attack-5" has a much slower cruise speed than the Air Force's attack planes in order to chase a large range.

This problem is very prominent when conducting coordinated operations.

If the navy provides cover, it is necessary to let the electronic attack planes depart in advance and stand by in the agreed airspace, otherwise they will not be able to keep up with the air force.

Because the "Attack-5CZ" is unreliable, the Air Force has so far refused to let the "Attack-8FZ", which has been in service for 30 years, retire.

However, this is not to say that the "Attack-8FZ" is perfect.

Relatively speaking, the biggest problem with the "Attack-8FZ" is the trouble to maintain, and the maintenance cost is too high.

To say, this is also the reason why the Air Force is reluctant to purchase too many "Attack-8FZ", preferring to request support from the Navy when necessary.

All in all, the Air Force has always wanted to get a cheap, and sufficiently good electronic attack aircraft.

The Air Force's initial plan was to develop an electronic attack aircraft on the basis of the "Zhan-16."

However, with the intervention of the Ministry of Defense, the Air Force had to compromise, that is, accept the arrangement of the Ministry of Defense, with the Navy leading the development of specialized electronic attack aircraft, and then the Air Force and the Navy jointly procuring them, reducing prices through large-scale procurement, and simplifying logistical support.

The platform chosen by the Navy is the "Attack-X" under development.

The reason is also very simple, the "Attack-X" project is dominated by the Navy, and the Navy has the absolute right to speak.

According to the agreement, the Air Force is responsible for the development of electronic warfare subsystems, citing the fact that the Air Force has more experience.

Because the "Attack-X" project has been repeatedly delayed, the Air Force has also been using new technology to transform the "Attack-8FZ" and claiming to use the "Attack-8FZ" to test the weapon system developed for the next generation of electronic attack aircraft. It's just that due to financial constraints, not all "Attack-8FZ" have been transformed.

Before the outbreak of the war, only about 50 Attack-8FZ aircraft had been modified, and they were the youngest of the batch.

This time, it is these modified "Attack-8FZ" that have been invested.

In the counterattack operation on the night of the 14th, the "Attack-8FZ" and "Finger-10A" were the real main forces and played a decisive role.

As for the results of the counterattack, there is not much doubt.

The point is that the investment of so many support aircraft is a large-scale counterattack in the eyes of anyone, and no one thinks it is just a feint.