When he arrived at the front line, Liu Zunshan did not stay with Ding Zhennan anymore, but went to his battalion commander's car, a command tank equipped with several radio stations.

If you want to say it, the Marine Corps is also bloody this time.

So far, only two armored battalions of the Marine Corps have completed the refitting work, replacing the "ZTT-69BL" medium tank, which has been in service for more than 30 years, with the "ZT-99AL" main battle tank, and the Marine Corps has the same technical equipment as the main army for the first time.

In the past few decades, the Marine Corps has been treated as an "adopted son", and its main technical equipment is a generation inferior to that of the Army.

In fact, before it became an independent branch of the armed forces, except for special equipment such as amphibious combat vehicles and amphibious tanks, almost all of the main battle equipment of the Marine Corps was second-hand goods picked from the army.

Even now, not much has changed.

The production of the "ZT-99" series of main battle tanks has exceeded 7,000 units, and has developed to the second generation, and the number of equipment of the "ZT-99B" alone has exceeded 2,000 units, and the main forces of the army have long replaced the "ZT-80" series of main battle tanks and become the pillars of the front-line troops.

As a result, the Marine Corps was granted the right to purchase only last year, and the number of equipment to date is less than 100.

To say anything, the position of the Marine Corps is inferior to that of the allied armies.

Prior to this, about 1000 "ZT-99AG" had already been exported to several major allies, of which at least 400 were second-hand for the Army.

In fact, the first batch of "ZT-99AL" taken over by the Marine Corps was also second-hand goods that had been eliminated by the Army, but they were improved according to the requirements of the Marine Corps.

The most important modification is to replace it with the latest 52 times diameter 125 mm tank gun.

As for the electronics, especially the all-important infrared imaging night vision device, due to financial constraints, it is still the old model and has not been replaced with a new model of the "ZT-99B".

However, the replacement of guns is the most critical improvement item.

Compared with the 48 times diameter 125 mm smoothbore tank gun that was the first to be equipped with the "ZT-80DG", it was developed for the "ZT-99", but it was not able to catch up with the progress, and the 52 times diameter 125 mm smoothbore tank gun that was officially installed in the "ZT-99B" was not the biggest change, not that the body barrel was longer, but that the whole shell was used, so it could use a larger length-diameter ratio, that is, a more powerful tail to stabilize the shell-piercing shell.

According to the tests done by the Imperial Army, the new tail stabilized armor-piercing projectile developed with the supporting support was used, and the equivalent armor-piercing depth at 2000 meters was as high as 600 mm. Previously developed for the 48 times diameter 125 mm tank gun, the best performance of the armor-piercing projectile has an equivalent penetration depth of 500 mm.

The 20% increase in performance is quite impressive.

That's not the best, though.

The second-generation armor-piercing projectile, which has been developed and is about to begin mass production, has a theoretical armor-piercing depth of 750 mm, while the design index of the third-generation armor-piercing projectile is as high as 850 mm.

In fact, even the first-generation armor-piercing projectile can penetrate the frontal armor of all main battle tanks in service.

With this tank gun, the Marine Corps has an anti-armor force comparable to that of the Army for the first time!

Prior to that, in addition to anti-tank missiles, the sharpest anti-tank weapon possessed by the Marine Corps was the 105-mm rifled run of the "ZTT-69BL".

In a sense, "ZT-99AL" is also Liu Zunshan's greatest confidence.

In last year's "Westward Advance 149" joint exercise, another armored battalion equipped with "ZT-99A" scored the best results in the whole army in the competition part, and the score in the firepower part crushed all the army armored battalions, and the performance was very eye-catching, and it can be said that it gave the Marine Corps a great face.

In addition, during the fire test conducted during the exercise, an armor-piercing projectile fired by a "ZT-99AL" actually penetrated the front and rear armor of the turret of the target "ZT-55" and then drilled into the rear sand wall, and the final test showed a penetration depth of more than 2 meters.

To bring out the power of tank guns, equally advanced sighting equipment is required.

Compared with all previous main battle tanks, the biggest change in the "ZT-99" is actually in the observation and sighting system, or the idea of developing tanks.

After the end of the last war, and especially until the end of the Polish-Iraqi War, the dominant military thinking of the Imperial Army was still to prepare for a global war. Therefore, in terms of the attitude towards the main battle equipment, the Imperial Army has always insisted on focusing on quantity, and it does not matter if the quality is poor.

As a result, from the "ZT-55" to the "ZT-80", the design was as simple as possible.

Of course, it cannot be said that such a line of thinking is wrong.

In the last war, especially in the first three years, the average service life of a tank was less than half a year, and the huge war losses made any advanced technology very pale.

In the later stages of the war, even the Manman Empire, which had always focused on technology, put down the spirit of craftsmanship and began to focus on production.

In addition, the changes brought about by technology are not large enough to change the balance of the battlefield.

After the end of the Polish-Iranian War, that is, the beginning of the second post-war military revolution, this development idea of winning by numbers was challenged.

If anything, the key is still in technology.

To put it simply, a tank armed with new technology has greater mobility, stronger armor protection and more ferocious firepower.

In addition, the accuracy of fire has increased by several orders of magnitude.

Relying on a two-way stabilization system, the main battle tank for the first time has the ability to accurately fire at targets at a distance of 2,000 meters.

According to the tests conducted by the Imperial Army, the "ZT-99A" hit a target at a speed of 35 kilometers per hour at a distance of 2,000 meters, and the first hit rate was not less than 80%. Even if it is moving at the same speed, the "ZT-99A" can reach an astonishing 60% starting shooting rate.

In the past, this would have been unimaginable.

During the entire war, the tank guns hit less than 20 percent of targets at a distance of 1,000 meters, and even one percent of them were lost in the case of movement to movement.

The "ZT-80" of the previous generation did not have the ability to shoot in a real sense of the word, and in the case of static movement, the hit rate was less than 50%.

It is such a high hit rate that has fundamentally changed the armored warfare dominated by tanks.

In addition, for the first time, the powerful night combat capability given by the thermal imaging night vision device also gives the armored unit the ability to launch a surprise attack at night.

To be precise, it is to raise the threshold of night battles, making the night the home of the side that masters advanced technology.

All in all, it was the advancement of technology that led to the rapid improvement of tank performance and, as a result, the fundamental change in armor tactics.

It was only after the advent of the "ZT-99" that the Imperial Armored Forces began to transform from multi-dimensional to refined.

Against this background, the Army has paid more attention to aviation led by helicopter gunships.

In the words of the army generals, in the past, it relied on a large number of tanks to deal with the enemy's torrent of steel, and when the tanks were insufficient, one could only count on anti-tank helicopter gunships, that is, relying on the strike power provided by aviation to make up for the lack of armored forces.

Of course, a more critical issue is overlooked by many people.

The root cause of the transformation of the army's armored forces from multi-dimensional to refined is in cost, which can also be said to be a problem of money.

The ex-factory price of the "ZT-99A" is almost twice that of the "ZT-80DG", the daily maintenance cost is also 50% higher, and the life-cycle cost is ridiculously expensive.

The unit price is expensive, so naturally you can only buy a little less.

In addition, tanks have become more expensive, so that helicopter gunships, which the Army finds very expensive, are more approachable and more acceptable.

Although the number of purchases of the "ZT-99" series has exceeded 7,000 units, which seems like a lot, it has been 13 years since it was officially installed, and in the same 13 years, the production of "ZT-80" exceeded 20,000 units, and the "ZT-55" reached more than 30,000 units.

It can be seen that the relative output of "ZT-99" is actually not much.

If anything, it is precisely because the purchase price is too expensive that the Marine Corps made up its mind to purchase the "ZT-99AL" after waiting for more than 10 years.

The last thing to worry about is the combat effectiveness of the "ZT-99A", and the most important thing to worry about is that the 2 battalions have a total of only 68 vehicles.

In fact, this is also where the value of the "Finger-10A" is reflected.

Without the battlefield information provided by the Finger-10A, more armored units must be deployed, which will definitely require the use of more main battle tanks.

With the information provided by the joint command aircraft, it is possible to reduce the number of defensive forces, or to guard a longer front with the same number of troops.

To put it simply, it is to change from the defensive tactics of holding positions to the tactics of mobile defense.

Having reached the front, the troops began to move north.

According to battlefield information provided by the Finger-10A, an Iraqi armored unit is moving towards the border, and it is from Nasiriyah, south of Baghdad, so there is reason to believe that it is an elite unit of the Republican Guard, most likely equipped with the latest T-72 tanks.

In addition, the size of this armored unit is very large, with at least 100 tanks at all.

It was at this time that Ding Zhennan received a message from Shi Zhiliang from the Joint Forces Command.

Shousuke has already approved the immediate deployment of the "Sharpshooter" long-range air defense system to King Khalid Military City, and will also deploy a long-range strike force mainly "Zhan-16A" in advance.

For this reason, Shi Zhiliang asked Ding Zhennan to go back as soon as possible.

Ding Zhennan does not need to worry about the deployment of air defense systems, but the operation of striking Iraqi missile launchers will definitely require Ding Zhennan to draw up a combat plan.

According to Shi Zhiliang's intentions, after the arrival of the "Zhan-16A" group, it is necessary to consider launching an air strike against the ballistic missile units in advance.

That is, adjustments to the operational deployment are required.

It's only been a few days before and after, and there is no delay at all.

"Sir, we're here."

Hearing the commander's reminder, Ding Zhennan noticed that the command vehicle had stopped, and several officers and men accompanying him had already gotten out of the car and were busy moving the communications equipment down.

This is the front line!

About 2,000 meters to the north is the border between Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

It is said that it is a border, but in fact there is nothing to recognize, that is, a boundary monument carved out of rock every 1 kilometer.

After getting out of the car, Ding Zhennan, led by a battalion staff officer, climbed the sand dunes in front.

The staff officer also had a low-light night vision device with him.

It is a model used by special forces, and it has a laser ranging function, but it is very cumbersome and cumbersome to operate.

The night sky was clear, and it was half a moon, and the visibility was not too bad.

Tanks and fighting vehicles are all deployed in place and concealed in place.

All tanks and vehicles have an inverted "V" pattern painted in fluorescent powder on the sides and sides of the turret.

With low-light night vision, you can see from thousands of meters away.

It's actually a friend or foe mark.

Friendly forces on the flanks and behind can be seen, but enemies in front of them cannot.

The Iraqi armored forces are about 20 kilometers away, and several commanders, including Liu Zunshan, are giving battle orders to other commanders.

Although you can contact you through the radio, if you really fight, I'm afraid no one can care about anything else.

As in the tactics used in the exercises, only a few cavalry combat vehicles rushed to the front, and moreover, on the sides of the tank line of fire, so as not to be accidentally injured.

True, these cavalry fighting vehicles performed reconnaissance missions.

Other cavalry fighting vehicles, in platoon units, were concentrated behind tanks. In addition to supporting tanks with better infrared imaging night vision devices, it is also possible to attack enemy tanks with heavy anti-tank missiles with a range of up to 8 kilometers in battle.

The 34 tanks that served as the main force were all deployed along the border line, from north to south.

This time, a battle group was formed for every four tanks in a platoon, and the identification mark of the platoon leader was two overlapping inverted "V" symbols, which could be seen at a glance.

The tactics were also simple, Iraqi tanks opened fire as soon as they crossed the border.

To put it simply, it's about destroying the enemy as far as you can!

As such, 32 tanks in eight platoons, as well as the tanks of the battalion commander and deputy battalion commander, were located in an area between 2,000 and 2,500 meters south of the border.

At this distance, the "ZT-99AL" has a starting hit rate of up to 85% against stationary targets in a stationary state.

Actually, it's still a little bit of a taste.

During last year's exercise, before the tank unit exchanged fire with the "enemy," attack planes of the Air Force and helicopter gunships of the Army Air Force launched two rounds of air strikes.

Unfortunately, it can't be done now.

Army helicopters are still being loaded in Imperial Harbor, while the Air Force's attack aircraft unit is also on the mainland, and it is expected that it will be a week before they can be deployed.

If the "Zhan-16A" group were to be deployed ahead of schedule and to launch an operation to search for and strike ballistic missile launchers ahead of schedule, the deployment of the attack planes would probably have to be delayed by several days.

Now the only thing that can be relied on is the tanks of the Marine Corps.

"Sir, here it is!"

After being reminded by the battalion headquarters staff officer next to him, Ding Zhennan raised the shimmer telescope and looked north.

There was some movement on the horizon, but I couldn't see it clearly, and I could only know that there must be a lot of tanks and combat vehicles over there, and the sand and dust raised were very obvious.

Visually, it's about 10 kilometers away.

Being able to see is not the same as being able to fire.

Shi Zhiliang had already given an order that unless the Iraqi army crossed the border and entered the territory of the Saudis, that is, invaded the Saudis, they were not allowed to fire first.

Fighting on the ground and setting up a no-fly zone are two different things.

To put it simply, the imposition of the no-flight zone is a defensive military operation aimed at protecting the Saudis, and there is no possibility of invasion of Iraq. Firing on the ground at the troops in Iraq, and initiating an attack on its own initiative, is no different from a military invasion.

The empire sent troops to Posha Bay under the banner of counter-aggression and helping Kuwait recover, and it could not take the initiative to invade other countries.

It was in this way that the military actions taken by the empire were supported by a large number of countries.

In fact, it is impossible to aim at such a distance.

After about ten minutes, Iraqi armored forces advanced near the border line.

At a distance of about 5 kilometers, Iraqi tanks and combat vehicles can already be clearly seen, but the Iraqi army has also stopped advancing.

Before crossing the border, all tank fighting vehicles stopped.

Could it be that the Iraqi army has spotted the marines south of the border!?