Although communication is restricted, there is no problem with receiving information, but the speed is a little slower, and there is no way to grasp the situation of the engagement in real time.

At around 2 a.m. on the 13th, that is, after 23:30 p.m. local time on the night of the 12th, the first engagement report forwarded by Guan Dao was received.

The battle began.

The first to engage the enemy was not bombers, but escort fighters from Task Force 61.

About 500 kilometers northeast of the transit island, that is, in the sea area where the patrol planes had previously discovered the Nuland landing fleet, the four "Zhan-9Bs" that were rapidly assaulting were intercepted by Nuland fighters and engaged them. Because the Air Force's large AWACS aircraft provided support in the rear, the four "Battle-9Bs" not only easily avoided the sharp edge of the Nuland fighters, but also forced back the Nuland fighters through counterattacks.

Subsequently, 2 "Battle-9B" spotted dozens of ships heading east, which were confirmed to be landing fleets.

The main evidence is that the speed of these ships is not very fast, about 20 knots, which is far lower than the combat speed of the task force.

Because more Nuland fighters were coming, and there were several air defense warships in the landing fleet, the escort fighters did not continue to close. Besides, before relying on supersonic flight to seize a favorable position, the fuel consumption of these "Zhan-9B" has exceeded half. If the tanker is not allowed to go forward, the fighter must be withdrawn, otherwise it will not be possible to return to the airspace where the tanker is standing.

This, if anything, is also the most serious problem with third-generation fighters.

Even for heavy fighters, fuel consumption will rise sharply because supersonic flight requires the afterburner of the engine to be started, so the time for supersonic flight and combat air combat is severely limited. Take the "Zhan-9B" as an example, if it is performing tasks on the extreme combat radius, the air combat time cannot exceed 5 minutes. As for performing a supersonic volley mission, it is more like a gimmick to boast.

The "Zhan-9" has been in service for more than ten years, and has not performed several supersonic volley missions.

Most of the time, it's dealt with through clever tactical deployment.

Of course, more often than not, it is actually relying on tankers to extend the combat radius of the fighter, so that the fighter can fly at supersonic speed for a longer time.

When the four "Battle-9Bs" turned back, the commander of the Air Force gave the order to attack.

Subsequently, after receiving the target data relayed by the AWACS aircraft, 20 "H-9Ds", which had been hovering in the attack area for half an hour, launched the mounted DK-30B in turn. The so-called "target data" is only the approximate location of the enemy ship.

To say that, this is also a performance characteristic of the DK-30B.

Before the attack, the DK-30B does not need complete target data, or even set a target for it, to be precise, a specific target. After arriving at the attack area set by the carrier aircraft, that is, entering the self-guidance stage, the DK-30B will automatically search for enemy ships operating nearby, distinguish the nature of enemy ships, and give priority to attacking high-value warships such as aircraft carriers and air defense cruisers.

The last-stage attacks are carried out autonomously and do not require the intervention and guidance of the carrier aircraft.

The point is that the DK-30B can identify enemy ships.

This can be achieved by relying on advanced missile-based computers.

To put it simply, before it is used, the ground crew will input the data and intelligence of various warships today, especially the signal characteristics, so that they can compare and analyze the signals of the enemy ships obtained when they launch an attack, so as to determine the model of the enemy ship and judge its value.

In addition, the DK-30B has the ability to communicate with each other.

This performance is actually learned from the opponent.

After proposing a "saturation attack," the Xilu Group took the lead in studying the coordinated combat capability of anti-ship missiles and developed a complete set of technical and tactical systems. One of the most critical is the inter-missile communication technology, which allows dozens, if not hundreds, of anti-ship missiles to attack at the same time. Strictly speaking, it was only after the birth of inter-bullet communication technology that saturation attack tactics became operable.

Up to now, the heavy anti-ship missiles of the Xilu Group have the ability to communicate between bullets.

Unlike the Western Continent anti-ship missiles, the DK-30B's inter-missile communication focuses on screening capabilities, that is, avoiding repeated attacks on the same warship.

In fact, this is the most troublesome problem faced by attacking a fleet with multiple missiles.

If you don't get it right, all the missiles will attack one battleship.

If anything, there is no ideal solution.

The reason is also very simple, anti-ship missiles are to find targets through radar, infrared imagers and other detection equipment, and judge the nature of the target.

In general, the more massive the warship, the more pronounced the signal signature.

Well, anti-ship missiles tend to attack warships with the most pronounced signal signatures.

But the problem is that the signal characteristics of the battleship that have been attacked and have been damaged are also very prominent, especially the reflected electromagnetic waves, which are several orders of magnitude higher than in the normal state.

That is, it is possible for an anti-ship missile to take a damaged battleship as the main one!

It wasn't until the advent of bullet-to-bullet communication technology that this problem was solved.

The solution is also very simple, the anti-ship missiles that attack at the same time will divide the attack targets through brief communication, so as to avoid allowing all, or most of the anti-ship missiles, to attack a single target. Only if the intended target has been destroyed, the anti-ship missile will search for and attack other targets.

It is with these powerful properties that the DK-30B has become the most advanced anti-ship missile available today.

Of course, the power should not be underestimated.

Because the range of 1500 kilometers is no longer pursued, the DK-30B is equipped with a 500-kilogram semi-armor-piercing warhead, the actual mass is actually only more than 400 kilograms, but the charge is as high as 120 kilograms, and the high-energy explosives used in the past are still used only on torpedo battle heads.

Theoretically, 1 DK-30B can sink a 5,000-ton warship, or severely damage 1 10,000-ton warship. Only 3 to 5 can sink 1 10,000-ton cruiser, and 5 to 8 hits can disable 1 supercarrier.

Not to mention against landing ships with much worse structural strength.

In fact, the landing ship is structurally closer to civilian ships than to battleships.

The main thing is that the landing fleet needs to carry a large number of combat troops and heavy equipment, and can only use a large compartment structure, and its strength will definitely be a problem. The key here is the dock used to carry the landing craft and hovercraft. Because it is below the waterline, it is easier to cause the landing ship to sink after damage.

In response to this problem, the Imperial Navy proposed a few years ago to eliminate the dock compartment on amphibious assault ships that mainly use helicopters and vertical take-off and landing attack aircraft, and no longer carry landing craft and hovercraft, which can not only improve survival capabilities, but also expand the hangar area. It's a pity that after repeated arguments, because of the resolute opposition of the Marine Corps, the matter of canceling the dock was not resolved, and there has been no follow-up since then.

As for the key points, the main thing is that helicopters cannot deliver heavy equipment, and for marines who have to fight on the beach after landing, armored forces have irreplaceable value. Compared with the more powerful air assault capability, the delivery capability given by landing craft and hovercraft is obviously more important. Besides, the landing ships belong to the Navy and are not directly related to the Marine Corps.

It can be seen that it is a waste to use hundreds of anti-ship missiles against the Nuland landing fleet!

According to the information sent from the island, the reliability of the DK-30B is more than 90%, and about 440 of the 480 missiles carried by 20 bombers were successfully launched.

On average, even if you count the escort ships, each Nuland ship is attacked by 10 missiles.

Not to mention a landing ship, even a genuine battleship can't carry it!

If anything, the reliability of the DK-30B in real combat is obviously much better than the test results, but it is also related to adequate pre-war preparation.

This round of attacks went very smoothly.

Before 3 o'clock in the morning, the first exact battle report came from Guan Island.

The Nuland landing fleet has been completely annihilated, and eight escort warships, including four Kidd-class air defense destroyers, and 38 landing ships, large and small, have all been sunk or are about to be sunk. According to the reports of the front-line troops, there is no need to launch a second round of attacks, at least not for the time being.

The screening report was provided by a "H-9D" that came forward, that is, the leader of the first formation.

In any bomber unit, there will be several bombers that have been specially modified to install simple reconnaissance equipment such as cameras, or ground and sea search radars with mapping functions, so that the results of the attack can be screened after the strike has been completed.

Usually the leader of the plane.

This time, in Formation A, there are four "H-9D" equipped with sea search radars, which are responsible for screening after completing the attack.

Using the sea search radar, the bomber does not have to fly too close.

In addition, it is not possible to use the camera at night.

As a matter of fact, there are also electronic reconnaissance planes that have been accompanying the activities of the early warning planes in carrying out the screening tasks, that is, judging the state of the enemy ships by monitoring the radio activities of the enemy ships.

In combat, no warship will remain radio-silent.

In this way, it is possible to make a relatively accurate judgment on the state of the enemy ship just by using the electromagnetic radiation generated by the enemy's air defense radar.

For example, four Kidd-class anti-aircraft search radars worked before and after the bombing began, and fire control irradiation radars were used thereafter. By the end of the attack, the radars of the four destroyers were "off", and all the electromagnetic radiation emitted came from the radio station.

Most of the landing ships are equipped with short-range anti-aircraft weapons for self-defense, and they must be equipped with corresponding fire control systems, which are generally simple fire control radars.

However, dozens of landing ships are concentrated together, so even if a large number of signals are intercepted, it is difficult to determine which landing ship these signals are coming from.

Combining this intelligence, there is reason to believe that the landing fleet of the Nuland Navy is finished.

However, what Bai Huawei and the others were most concerned about was not these battle reports, but the news they received before, one of the things mentioned in the first battle report.

The four "Battle-9Bs" that came out of the front were intercepted by Nuland fighters when they were about to catch up with the landing fleet!

To be precise, it was actually the Air Force's early warning aircraft that detected the approaching Nuland fighter in time, and then guided the "Zhan-9B" into an air combat state.

But the problem is that there is no specific situation mentioned in the war report.

The only concrete thing is that the duration of the air engagement is less than 15 minutes. After the "Battle-9B" took a favorable position, those Nuland fighters turned to withdraw. Next, two "Battle-9Bs" accelerated the pursuit, and in the process of pursuit, the landing fleet was discovered.

As for how it was discovered, it is also not mentioned in the war report.

However, Bai Huawei can think of it.

Although the fire control radar of the "Zhan-9B" has a strong downward view capability and has been optimized for sea surface mirror interference, in air combat, the fire control radar must work in anti-air mode, and basically does not have the ability to detect the sea, and it will certainly not be able to detect warships on the sea surface in time.

Well, there is only one possibility.

The "Battle-9B" was irradiated by an air defense radar during the pursuit, that is, it was discovered by an air defense destroyer covering the landing fleet.

But the question is, it must be an air defense destroyer covering the landing fleet?

Why can't it be an air defense cruiser covering an aircraft carrier !?

The point is, where did those Nuland fighters come from?

Apparently it will not be an amphibious assault ship.

In this way, it can only come from a certain aircraft carrier.

Well, there must be a task force in the immediate vicinity of the landing fleet, providing cover for the landing fleet.

It's just that it's hard to say how close this "neighborhood" really is.

It could be 100 kilometers away, it could be 500 kilometers away, and it was even more likely to be 1500 kilometers away.

The point is that with the support of tankers, the combat radius of the F-14B can be expanded to 1500 kilometers.

Actually, there is a hidden message in the war report.

Those Nuland fighters were not able to detect the oncoming "Zhan-9B" in time, and it was not until the "Zhan-9B" took an advantageous position, that is, after activating the fire control radar, that they found that they had been locked, and then they made an emergency turn and accelerated to escape from the missile's attack range.

It's not that the F-14B isn't advanced enough.

This engagement actually proved that those F-14Bs did not have the support of the E-2C, otherwise they would not have been so embarrassed.

Since the F-14B was dispatched to cover the landing fleet, then why not send 1 AWACS aircraft over?

Even the 52nd task force has 2 large aircraft carriers of the "Nuland" class and at least 8 E-2Cs, and there is no problem of no AWACS aircraft available.

Obviously, this only shows that the landing fleet is too far away for the E-2C to fly at all.

Even if you can fly over, it becomes meaningless because the patrol time is too short.

So, how far is it, exactly?

According to the performance of the E-2C, it is not impossible that the distance between the Nuland Mixed Fleet and the landing fleet will exceed 1,000 kilometers and reach 1,500 kilometers.

Now, the problem is serious.

The distance is so far away that it shows that the Nuland Navy has retreated.

Then, the first thing that needs to be preserved must be the 51st Task Force, so the only one left behind is the relatively weak Task Force 52.

Task Force 52 is more than 1,000 kilometers away from the landing fleet, so how far is Task Force 51?

In other words, how far is Task Force 51 from Task Force 52?

Is it also more than 1000 km?

If so, then Task Force 51 would be at the eastern end of the Dark Zone, north of Honu Island, and the distance from Task Force 41 would not exceed 1,000 kilometers.

For two powerful task forces, the distance was simply within reach.

Crucially, who can guarantee that Task Force 51 is fleeing in a panic, and not prepared for it, that is, coming for Task Force 41?

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