Because he was going to Iborg to take up his post, he had to meet with the senior generals of the Pakistani army to discuss and solve some important details of the formation of the joint command, so on the evening of the same day, to be precise, in the early morning of the 28th, Li Tianling took a special plane to Iborg and did not stay in Karaport.

In fact, Li Tianling did not communicate with Ding Zhennan alone until he left.

As for the problem that Ding Zhennan is worried about, there is no such thing as a problem at all.

After the meeting, when he was actually returning to the front-line headquarters to discuss combat operations, Li Tianling said in front of everyone that the aviation unit is the wings and guardian saint of the ground troops, so throughout the entire combat operation, the aviation unit will unconditionally obey and carry out the orders issued by the command.

The implication is to obey Ding Zhennan's dispatch.

Obviously, the arrangement that Ding Zhennan made before, that is, to let Liu Zunshan find Li Tianling alone, was obviously a redundant move.

The point is that Li Tianling did not come empty-handed.

By Japan, at least 1,500 additional combat aircraft will be deployed to the southern subcontinent, two-thirds of which will be deployed in Pakistan.

These combat aircraft, most of which came from the Northwest Theater, included 3 ace air squadrons.

The title "trump card" is actually unique to wartime. According to the traditional definition, only 5 times the total number of combat aircraft equipped can be awarded the title of "ace". It is only after the expansion to attack aircraft units and the rapid increase in the number of multi-role fighters that the criteria for evaluation are no longer limited to the results of air combat, and the army's main battle equipment and navy's ships are all counted.

What hasn't changed is that the ace troops are certainly the best of the best.

In addition, this is 3 air teams, not air wings.

In fact, the "air force" is also a wartime establishment.

In peacetime, the largest tactical unit of the Imperial Air Force and the Imperial Naval Aviation was the Air Wing, which was the administrative body under the Theater Command and several arms commands under the direct jurisdiction of the Air Command. Only in wartime will aviation units be formed on the basis of aviation wings.

Strictly speaking, the air force is not a unitary operational formation.

If anything, this is also the biggest difference between the air force and the air wing, as for the number of combat aircraft, that is, the scale, it is not very obvious.

After all, in the event of need, the size of the strength of the aviation wing can also be increased by several times, or even more than ten times.

In order to facilitate management and reduce the burden of maintenance, aviation wings are often divided according to combat missions and equipped with the same type of combat aircraft. In the Imperial Air Force, tactical aviation is usually divided into air wings based on fighters, attack aircraft, and special support aircraft.

This establishment system, in turn, had a huge impact on the equipment construction of the Imperial Air Force.

The most representative ones are the "Zhan-10" and "Zhan-11".

As mentioned earlier, the "Battle-11" was developed earlier than the "Battle-10" and was regarded as the main fighter of the Imperial Air Force from the very beginning. According to the well-known version, the "Zhan-10" is a single-engine version of the "Zhan-11", so the main performance is somewhat worse.

This is not the case.

At the beginning of the project, the "Zhan-10" was treated by the Air Force as a substitute for the "Zhan-11", and it can also be regarded as a spare tire for the "Zhan-11".

The point is that at the time of the tender, it was not stipulated that the "Zhan-10" must be a single-engine light fighter.

Of the seven candidates, four are dual-engined, and two of them are heavy fighters and the other two are medium fighters. Of the three single-launch schemes, one is a light fighter with a medium-thrust engine. It is not difficult to see that there are actually only two schemes for single-engine high-thrust engines, and these two schemes were not very popular at first.

The reason is also very simple, the Imperial Air Force has always disliked this kind of medium fighter that cannot be high or low.

As a result, bidders naturally do what they like.

Interestingly, in the end, the Imperial Air Force chose the scheme of a medium fighter equipped with a single high-thrust engine.

The key is that before the selection of the "Zhan-10" is completed, the design plan of the "Zhan-11" has passed the review of the Air Force and entered the stage of project implementation. It was only at this time that the Imperial Air Force suddenly changed its mind and demanded that the "Zhan-10" adopt a high-thrust engine developed for the "Zhan-11".

Obviously, this move is to reduce the difficulty of logistics support.

It is precisely in this way that after the mass production of the "Zhan-10" and "Zhan-11", the fighter wing of the Imperial Air Force officially entered the era of mixed formation.

Actually, the opposite can be said.

Prior to this, the fighter wings of the Imperial Air Force had always been divided into "light and heavy", that is, the light fighter wing and the heavy fighter wing. The fundamental reason for adopting this system is that the light fighters and heavy fighters equipped in the same period have almost no points in common, there is no possibility of sharing support materials and equipment, and ground crews also have to master two different sets of support systems.

Influenced by this, the Imperial Air Force also vigorously developed front-line aviation mainly light fighters for a period of time.

It can be seen that the grouping of two almost completely different fighters together will not only fail to reduce the burden of logistical support, but will also cause huge troubles.

Even if it is necessary to mix, the brigade is formed according to the type of aircraft, so that the logistics support is separated.

That is, the emergence of "Battle-10" and "Battle-11" made it possible to mix fighters.

Of course, actual combat has also proved that without making too many adjustments to logistical support, the integration of light fighters and heavy fighters according to operational needs can indeed greatly improve combat efficiency and bring the two different combat platforms into full play.

However, in actual combat, the establishment system based on the aviation wing also reflects many problems.

The most prominent is that the combat use is relatively simple, lacks tactical flexibility, and needs to arrange more combat units when encountering complex mission requirements.

This problem is very prominent on the battlefield on the mainland.

In many directions, it was originally necessary to put in only one wing of more than 100 combat aircraft, but due to the limitation of staffing, two wings or even three wings had to be arranged.

In fact, it was in response to this problem that the Imperial Air Force formed an air force on the basis of the air wing.

Generally speaking, in one air force, a different number of task detachments will be assigned according to operational needs, and a group will be set up under the task detachment. Although most of the time, there are only two brigades or even one brigade in one detachment, the number of task detachments is generally not strictly limited, so the aviation fleet is actually very flexible in terms of the scale and specific composition of the establishment.

Crucially, this "flexibility" can be adapted to the location of deployment and the nature of the mission.

For example, when one air force was operating in Posha Bay, it was equipped with 500 combat aircraft and 400 attack aircraft, but when it was transferred to the Northwest Theater and participated in battles in the direction of the continental theater, the number of combat aircraft increased to 1,000, but the number of attack aircraft decreased to 200.

To make such an adjustment, it is only a regrouping of the task detachments.

Of course, in this set of establishment system, the core is no longer combat aircraft, but a ground support and support system headed by the command organization.

In addition, in any aviation corps, there is an independent support team.

The task of the team is not to provide services for combat aircraft, but to provide services for personnel, such as deploying bases in advance to build infrastructure, and providing livelihood support for other personnel during the mission, and even taking on the safety and security of the aviation team.

Obviously, the establishment of the air force is based on logistical support.

To put it figuratively, the combat effectiveness of the air force will be as strong as the logistical support capability is.

If anything, logistics-oriented is also the hallmark of modern warfare.

In fact, the flexible establishment system of the air force is the same as that of the "expeditionary mixed wing", with the only difference being that it is larger.

When the Imperial Air Force first formed the "Expeditionary Mixed Wing", it was to explore a new combat system.

Although strategic bombers have been incorporated into the "expeditionary mixed wing," and in the air force, tactical aircraft and support aircraft are still the mainstay, and strategic bombers have not been incorporated into the air force for the time being, as far as the entire system is concerned, it is not difficult to integrate strategic bombers into the air force.

Previously, the Imperial Air Force lacked a reason to integrate bombers into the air force.

On the mainland battlefield, strategic bombing is mainly aimed at high-value military targets between 1,000 and 1,500 kilometers behind the battle line, and bombers mainly use cruise missiles, and there is no need to break through the enemy's air defense network.

It's just that when it comes to the Southern Subcontinent, the situation is different.

The strategic bombing of Van Luo Guo, especially in the early stage of the war, was mostly aimed at shallow and deep targets, especially high-value military targets.

The key point is that the Air Force's cruise missiles have always been insufficient, so when dealing with shallow-deep targets, short-range air-to-surface missiles or precision-guided bombs are mainly used, and bombers have to drop bombs at a relatively close distance, so they need to provide tighter protection.

Specifically, of course, it is to improve the efficiency of coordinated operations.

For example, when bombers carry out bombing missions, it is not only necessary to arrange fighter escorts, but also to send electronic attack planes to suppress the enemy's warning radar, and even dispatch air defense suppression fighters to deal with the enemy's air defense system, so as to minimize the bomber's battle loss rate.

If bombers are frequently used to carry out shallow-deep strike missions, it is necessary to integrate bombers into the air force.

If I want to say, this is also a task for Li Tianling to come to the Southern Subcontinent, that is, to conduct experiments here and explore the possibility of allowing strategic aviation and tactical aviation to cooperate in operations.

Although Li Tianling didn't say it, Ding Zhennan knew that there must be other reasons why he was so active.

To put it bluntly, it is actually the internal contradiction of the Air Force.

Since Li Yunxiang, the Imperial Air Force has always been dominated by strategic aviation, and has always regarded "strategic strike capability" as its number one selling point. In fact, this is also the main bargaining chip to the Imperial Navy, that is, the Imperial Air Force is the only military force outside the Imperial Navy that can carry out strategic strikes against enemy countries.

That is, adhering to the development line of strategic aviation, the Imperial Air Force has its current scale.

In addition, with the development of technology, especially the improvement of bomber performance, the strategic strike capability of the Air Force has become more and more powerful, and it has surpassed the Navy in an all-round way.

But the problem is that strategic aviation is not a panacea.

In the new military doctrine advocated by Ding Zhennan, the shortcomings of the strategic air force have also been magnified. That is, in a large-scale war, or even a global war, which lasts for an extremely short time, strategic bombing cannot keep up with the pace of war, and its effects are difficult to show during the war.

To put it simply, strategic bombing needs to last long enough to have an effect, such as making the enemy incapacitated to continue fighting because of the collapse of the socio-economic system.

Obviously, none of the future wars, predicted by the new military doctrine, will last long.

As a result, it is necessary to focus on the development of tactical aviation.

Li Tianling is the main supporter of the tactical air force, and the trouble he encountered in the northwest theater mainly came from those generals of the strategic air force.

Even with Shi Zhiliang's support, Li Tianling may not be able to make the senior generals of the Air Force bow their heads.

After all, focusing on strategic aviation is the strategy established by Li Yunxiang for building the military, and even Li Yunxiang's grandson cannot go the other way.

Obviously, on the Southern Subcontinent side, it is not so complicated.

The Imperial Air Force Command has always paid little attention to the Southern Subcontinent theater, after all, in the Southern Theater of Operations, it has always been the Navy that dominates.

It can be seen that Li Tianling's active participation in combat operations in the southern subcontinent is to prove that through the battles here, the integration of bombers into the air force can greatly improve combat efficiency, so that bombers can play a greater value and enhance the air force's ability to dominate the battlefield.

If anything, whether in Posha Bay or in the hinterland of the mainland, the Air Force's ability to dominate the battlefield has long been proven.

Even if the ground forces can still influence the development of the war, especially the armored forces, most of the time, it is the air power that determines the victory or defeat.

The most representative is the just-concluded Battle of Astrakhan.

At the beginning of the battle, the Eastern Coalition army was simply in a complete rout, and soon lost half of the city. Next, it was the full investment of the Imperial Air Force that stabilized the position, and then smashed three large-scale attacks launched by the Western Army Regiment in a row to hold the defense line of the estuary delta. In the ensuing fierce battle, the Imperial Air Force remained the mainstay, not only assisting the ground forces in holding the remaining half of the city, but also halting the enemy's offensive momentum. Without the huge input of the Imperial Air Force, Astrakhan would have fallen by the end of September.

It's just that in Li Tianling's eyes, the Air Force's ability to dominate the battlefield is still not strong enough.

This is also understandable.

An air force officer like Li Tianling of the Young Zhuang faction believed in the "theory of absolute air supremacy" and was able to defeat the enemy and win the war through air strikes. As for the value of the ground forces, it is nothing more than to occupy the battlefield that has become a ruin after the battle.

In the words of the Air Force, the Army's position in future wars is nothing more than a security force to maintain order.

The key is that if the Air Force wants to surpass the Navy and the Army and sit on the top spot of the first service, it must develop in this direction.

Of course, as things stand, that's not a bad thing.

As long as the Imperial Air Force is willing to invest, let alone launch an attack in advance, even if the feint attack is used as the main attack, there will not be much of a problem.