King Khalid Military City, Joint Forces Command.

It was busy until 10 o'clock in the evening that Ding Zhennan distributed the last battle plan, and only then did he find time to go to the restaurant to fill his already empty belly.

It's so troublesome, and it's not a "joint" pot?

When drawing up the operational plan, the first thing that was determined was that after launching the second phase of the combat operation, it was necessary to go all out at the first opportunity.

In modern warfare, there is no talk of gradual escalation.

As long as you shoot, you have to fight to knock the enemy down at the first time!

According to the plan, the Imperial Air Force alone will dispatch about 300 combat aircraft, the Navy will dispatch another 300, and the Coalition forces will have 200.

As many as 800 tactical combat aircraft were put into operation at the first time.

In addition, more than 60 bombers deployed at the Diego base, as well as on the empire's mainland, will be involved in the assault, launching attacks with cruise missiles.

However, according to the adjusted battle plan, the bomber assault was postponed for several hours, and the Navy participated in the first round of assault with cruise missiles instead.

The reason is also very simple, the battlefield is so big that it can't accommodate too many assault forces.

In fact, it is not easy to arrange so many combat aircraft.

What's more, several allies are involved.

If only the Imperial Air Force and Navy undertake the first round of assault missions, the problem is not very big, after all, several joint exercises of the whole army are carried out every year.

When it comes to allies, trouble comes.

If Ding Zhennan was in charge, he would arrange the Allied combat forces in the second wave.

Unfortunately, this matter is not up to him.

In Shi Zhiliang's words, it is only by operating with the Allies and assigning tasks to the Allies that the combined forces are not in vain.

All in all, the Allies had to be involved in the battle at the first opportunity.

In the first round of assaults, the Goju Air Force will deploy more than 40 attack aircraft, 12 of which will be responsible for attacking the Saleh Air Base on the outskirts of Baghdad.

To say, this is also the most valuable part of the Allied forces.

Although the Imperial Air Force also has quite a few special attack aircraft, none of them are suitable for ultra-low-altitude penetration, to be precise, suitable for assault air bases. The Imperial Air Force's attack aircraft, which were highly winged and suitable for ultra-low-altitude flight, were withdrawn from active service after the Polish-Iraqi War.

After that, the Imperial Air Force changed its thinking, no longer emphasizing ultra-low-altitude penetration, and focusing on out-of-zone ammunition.

It is a pity that so far, none of the several standoff munitions invested and developed by the Imperial Air Force have reached the level of being usable!

The key point is that the air-to-surface missiles equipped with the Imperial Air Force are mainly used to deal with point targets, and are not suitable for dealing with surface targets such as airfields.

In the tactical system of the Air Force, the task of bombing airfields was previously undertaken by bombers!

On the contrary, allies like the High Giant Kingdom have retained a lot of attack aircraft suitable for ultra-low-altitude penetration.

It was precisely in this way that Ding Zhennan handed over the task of raiding the Iraqi air base to the Goju Air Force and arranged to participate in the first round of assault operations.

The Dayman Air Force also dispatched more than 20 combat aircraft, including 16 attack aircraft, to bomb military camps outside Baghdad in the first round of assaults.

Giving this task to the Dayman Air Force is not to say that the Imperial Air Force does not have suitable attack aircraft to carry out the mission, but that the risk of a surprise attack is too great.

In addition, of the coalition forces, only the Dayman Air Force is armed with long-range air-to-surface missiles.

In this way, the Dayman Air Force attack aircraft were able to deliver ammunition beyond the range of anti-aircraft missiles, avoiding the risk of entering the skies over Baghdad.

The Pakistani Air Force will also dispatch more than 30 combat planes to bomb Iraqi military camps near Basra.

The main reason for this arrangement is that Pakistan's combat planes are deployed in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, which are far away from Iraq and cannot penetrate deep into Iraq.

In fact, this is also the problem of most of the Allied forces.

Because the troops of the Nanzhi Kingdom, the Malai Kingdom and the Nanzhu Kingdom were deployed in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and the combat radius of the fighters was short, they were sent to the southern region of Iraq or to bomb the Iraqi army in Kuwait, so as to avoid adding a burden to the logistics as much as possible.

To put it bluntly, it is not to cause trouble for the tankers of the Imperial Air Force.

Don't look at the fact that the Imperial Air Force has arranged more than 40 large tankers, and the Navy has also prepared dozens of partner tankers, but compared to the sortie volume of as many as 800 planes and the combat intensity of having to complete the strike mission in more than 2 hours, these tankers may not be enough!

As for the forces involved in the fight of the oil-producing group, all of them were sent to bomb the Iraqi army in Kuwait.

This is also the only requirement of the members of the Group of Oil-producing Countries such as Saudi Arabia.

In addition to air warfare, in terms of ground strikes, only the Iraqi army that invaded Kuwait was targeted, not Iraqi itself.

According to the Saudis' explanation, they just don't want to turn their guns on the innocent Iraqi people.

Arranging the first round of assault missions is actually not a troublesome matter, and many tactical-level tasks do not need Ding Zhennan to be personally responsible.

In previous years, the "Westward Expansion" joint exercise was conducted, and similar situations were repeatedly rehearsed.

Even if we add non-allied friendly countries such as Saudi Arabia this time, there is not much difficulty in arranging combat operations.

The real trouble is actually "kicking the door".

This issue is raised every year during the "Westward Expansion" exercise, and it has become a hot topic of discussion, and no ideal solution has been reached.

To put it bluntly, in the face of modern air defense systems, the risk of an air assault is enormous.

Iraq has the most dense air defense system in the Posha Bay area!

After an eight-year Iran-Iraq war, and with the full support of the Empire, Iraq has built the most dense and dense air defense system in the entire Posha Bay region with hundreds of radars and thousands of anti-aircraft missiles, claiming to be able to cope with any level of foreign invasion.

In addition, the Iraqi army retains tens of thousands of anti-aircraft guns.

To be sure, Iraq's air defense system was not bad, and the air defense radars and anti-aircraft missiles that served as the main force came from the Empire or other members of the Western Continent group.

In the Iran-Iraq war, the Iraqi army relied on these air defense systems and shot down hundreds of Boi fighters!

According to the deduction, the traditional penetration tactics should be adopted, and it is necessary to be mentally prepared for the loss of 80 to 100 fighters.

The key is that after suffering such huge losses, the assault mission may not be completed.

Over the past decade or so, the Imperial Air Force has been working on tactics to break through the air defense network, simply at the expense of blood.

So far, the tactics that the Imperial Air Force has put an end to are no longer as simple as breaking through the air defense network.

In a modern military system, air defense is actually only a part, so breaking through the enemy's air defense network is only a necessary condition for achieving the goal, not the goal to be achieved.

It is precisely for this reason that when drawing up the plan, Ding Zhennan repeatedly stressed that breaking through the air defense network is only one thing, and the key is to destroy or paralyze Iraq's communications and command system at the first opportunity, delay the response speed of the Iraqi army's command system, and thus seize the initiative in combat.

It can be seen that the key is the communications command system, not the air defense system.

Or that both are equally important.

It is precisely because of this that it was first determined that it was necessary to arrange for the first appearance in the counterinsurgency war in Sri Lanka, and the participation of the "Attack-11", which has been the focus of attention from the outside world in recent years.

To say, the 8 "Attack-11s" stationed in Saudi Arabia after dark are the only trump card in Ding Zhennan's hands.

The reason is also very simple, only this kind of stealth attack aircraft can break through Iraq's air defense network without the support of external forces.

It's just that only four of the eight "Attack-11s" will be able to make a sortie tonight at most.

The main thing is that the stealth paint used in the "Attack-11" is too delicate and difficult to maintain, so its actual combat readiness rate is very low.

According to Ding Zhennan's arrangement, two "Attack-11" planes will rush to Baghdad and destroy four targets with laser-guided bombs, including the presidential palace, the headquarters of the Republican Guard, the Baghdad air defense command center, and the State Telecommunications and Communications Building. At the same time, two other "Attack-11s" were dispatched to the rear to ensure that the main bombing mission could be completed when necessary. If the four main targets have been destroyed, the two Attack-11s will bomb Baghdad's state television station, power transmission and transformation center, or other strategic targets, as appropriate.

Based on the performance of the "Attack-11" in the exercises over the years, unless there is a breakdown or accident, it will definitely be able to complete the bombing mission.

Theoretically, the probability of destruction is as high as 96%.

The destruction of just a few strategic targets is not enough to open the picture.

In order to maintain secrecy, and because the sortie rate is not high enough, there are not too many "Attack-11s" deployed to Saudi Arabia, and it is impossible to dispatch all of them.

Even if the Air Force has made a promise to send all the "Attack-11s" over, it will not be until 10 days at the earliest.

The reason is the same, in the King Khalid Military City, there is simply no thermostatic hangar that can provide the necessary maintenance support for the "Attack-11".

The Air Force is deploying temporary maintenance centres, but it will take enough time.

Striking strategic targets near Baghdad requires the use of other forces.

However, the difficulty and risk are very huge.

It is precisely because of this that Ding Zhennan chose a cruise missile that does not have to worry about casualties.

Here, Ding Zhennan made a compromise, that is, he handed over the first round of missile assault missions to the navy, and the navy ships launched cruise missiles.

It can also be said to give face to the Navy.

After all, the Navy dispatched six aircraft carrier battle groups and sent hundreds of large warships, so we can't watch the excitement.

According to Ding Zhennan's arrangement, the navy will launch more than 150 cruise missiles, focusing on attacking Iraqi air defense positions near Baghdad and Basra.

To put it simply, it is to knock out the Iraqi army's air defense capability and open the way for the attack aircraft group that will be killed later.

This includes the "Attack-11".

Although it is a stealth attack aircraft, the "Attack-11" is not impossible to detect by radar, but relies on stealth design to greatly shorten the detection range of radar. To put it bluntly, as long as it is close enough, the radar can still detect and even lock on to the "Attack-11".

When carrying out attack missions, the "Attack-11" needs to avoid the enemy's air defense radar as much as possible.

In fact, this is also the number one problem.

There are simply too many anti-aircraft radars in Iraq!

According to the information provided by the Military Intelligence Agency, not to mention the "Attack-11," even a cruise missile flying at an ultra-low altitude throughout the whole process may not be able to successfully break through the Iraqi prevention and control network. Because of the slow flight speed and the fact that they fly along a set line, cruise missiles are extremely vulnerable to being shot down by anti-aircraft fire after being detected. There is no need to use anti-aircraft missiles, just small-caliber anti-aircraft guns are capable of knocking down cruise missiles.

To put it simply, the penetration capability of cruise missiles mainly lies in concealment and suddenness.

Fortunately, Iraq's air defense system is not an iron bucket.

There is a loophole in the air defense system, which covers the whole country and focuses on Baghdad and Basra.

To the west of Basra, southwest of Lake Hamar, south of Nasiriyah, facing the Saudis, there is only one air defense radar responsible for long-range vigilance, and this radar is deployed in a relatively forward position, and the nearest air defense units are dozens of kilometers away.

Against the Royal Air Force in Saudi Arabia, there are no problems with such a deployment.

In the face of the Imperial Air Force, it was a fatal dead end.

To put it simply, as long as this radar can be dismantled, a gap can be torn out in Iraq's tight air defense network that allows fighters and missiles to enter.

Through this gap, stealth attack aircraft and cruise missiles can go straight to Baghdad!

It's just that it will be difficult to destroy this radar station.

It was not just a radar station, but a fully fledged air defense unit with not only radar, but also 3 air defense battalions nearby.

One of the battalions, armed with more than 10 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns designed to deal with low-altitude targets!

This 4-pack 23-mm anti-aircraft gun from the Democratic Republic of Luosha is known as the killer of helicopter gunships.

The key is that this radar is a mobile deployment!

In the event of a threat, it can be transferred within 5 minutes.

Obviously, even if an ultra-low-altitude assault is used, it may not be able to destroy the radar in one fell swoop.

There's another problem that's hard to solve.

In fact, all the information that Ding Zhennan had was obtained by the Military Intelligence Bureau during the Iran-Iraq War when he had close relations with Iraq, and at most it was verified through reconnaissance satellites during this time, so the timeliness was very obvious and it may not be reliable.

In other words, it is necessary to obtain accurate information through preliminary investigation.

If anything, this is also the most important part of the "kicking operation".

First of all, it is necessary to use a surprise attack to knock out that vital radar and tear a hole in Iraq's air defense network, and then the "Attack-11" and cruise missile raid troops will enter and rush to Baghdad, destroying Iraq's communications and command system in one fell swoop.

After paralyzing the command network of the Iraqi army, the coalition air power launched a strike.

Ding Zhennan handed over this extremely important and arduous task to the troops he knew best.

That's right, army aviation.

However, to be precise, Army Aviation and Army Special Forces.

As for tactics, it's actually no secret.

In past exercises, the Army has been emphasizing the "treetop height advantage" of helicopter gunships, which are particularly suitable for difficult assault missions, relying on extremely low flight altitudes and using terrain cover to avoid enemy air defense radars.

As for the special forces, even more so.

So far, there is no technical means capable of replacing special forces to carry out reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines.

In fact, in large-scale regular warfare, special forces are mainly used to carry out high-risk reconnaissance missions.

The postponement of the second round of the crackdown by two days is also related to this.

It will take at least 2 days for the special forces to be deployed!

In addition, according to the deployment made by Ding Zhennan, the assault operation will not officially start until the special forces send back the reconnaissance report.