Before dawn, a message came from the rear, dispelling Stark's worries.

A remote sensing satellite controlled by the NSA discovered a task force with three large aircraft carriers on the west side of Jotun Island after two orbit maneuvers, which was inferred to be the 41st task force of the Liangxia Navy, and the fleet was sailing eastward at a relatively fast speed.

Unfortunately, the satellite was then attacked over the Nanxi Ocean and lost contact with the ground-based remote control center.

As expected, the satellite has been destroyed. On the Falk Islands, there is the Liangxia air base, with a runway length of more than 3,000 meters, capable of deploying heavy fighters specialized in anti-satellite missions. In the past few days, several military satellites of the Western Continent Group have been destroyed in the South Sunset.

However, the Falk Islands are tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Nuland mainland, and there are no military bases controlled by the Nuland army nearby.

Not to mention fighters, even strategic bombers may not be able to fly over.

Time waits for me.

Before dawn, Stark issued an operational order, still according to the original plan, and launched a combat operation to attack the transit island at 8:30 a.m. on the 6th.

It can be said that I was very particular about choosing this time.

According to Stark's information, the defenders of the Transit Island were on duty between 8:15 and 8:45. Under normal circumstances, officers and men on duty in the morning would get up at 7 a.m., go to the cafeteria for breakfast at 7:30 a.m., and make preparations for their posts before 8 a.m., and then arrive at their posts at 8:15 a.m. to replace the officers and men who were on duty at night. Because the cafeteria can only receive 100 officers and soldiers at the same time, there must be some officers and soldiers who will change the guard a little later, and it will definitely not be concentrated at the same time.

This half-hour is when the defense of the transit island is the most lax.

However, the real key reason is that the combat planes that are dispatched in the early morning will return to the transit island after the change of guard is completed, that is, around 9 o'clock.

Even if everything goes well, it will be after 9 o'clock that the air defense fighter will be able to take off urgently.

It can be seen that in the half hour between 8:30 and 9 o'clock, there were no air defense fighters over the transit island, and even if there were, they were about to run out of fuel.

In addition, the AWACS aircraft, which carried out patrol missions at night, have also returned to the vicinity of the transit island, while the AWACS aircraft that flew during the day have not yet taken off.

This information has long been confirmed and has a high degree of credibility.

Of course, Stark didn't feel like he could rest easy.

According to his arrangement, the Air Force will simultaneously bomb the islands east of the transit island.

As a matter of fact, before dawn on 6 July, the Air Force dispatched hundreds of bombers, divided into several large groups, to bomb the Khowaii Islands indiscriminately.

As expected, the Liangxia fighters of the Khowaii Islands were exhausted all night.

Even if all the airfields were not destroyed and all the military bases were not paralyzed, the high-intensity fighting that lasted for 2 days was enough to exhaust the Liang Xia army.

By the morning of the 6th, the Air Force would still launch simultaneous strikes.

If anything, there is only one chance to attack the transit island.

The reason is this: As long as the action is strictly in accordance with the operational plan, then by the afternoon of 6 June, that is, after the Air Force has completed its last round of strikes, the stockpile of air-launched cruise missiles will be exhausted, and it will not be until the end of the month at the earliest that it will be able to obtain new missiles that have been urgently ordered.

Without air force cover, relying only on the 51st Task Force, it was impossible to hit the transit island.

The key is that the Air Force needs to attract the attention of Liang Xia's army to ensure that when Task Force 51 arrives from the north, the fighters on the transit island have been sent to cover the island to the east, and there is no way to return immediately, and there is no way to intercept the attack aircraft group of the 51st Task Force.

Of course, it is even more impossible to attack Task Force 51.

All Stark needs is a chance!

If they go all out, the three "Nix" class ships will be able to dispatch 120 carrier-based aircraft at a time, and at least 80 will be able to arrange for attack missions.

As long as the hand of a sneak attack, then in the case of the main use of precision-guided munitions, it will definitely be able to paralyze the military bases on the transit island.

Without any worries, Task Force 51 will be able to calmly launch a second round of strikes.

If the information provided by the CIA and other agencies is correct, it will only take one day at most to complete the pre-landing fire preparations.

In fact, in Stark's plan, the amphibious landing fleet arrived only one day later.

In other words, an amphibious landing operation could be launched on the morning of the 7th.

If Task Force 41 had been on the west side of Jotun Island, and had not received definite information until the afternoon of the 6th, and had turned back immediately, it would not have been able to reach the sea area where carrier-based aviation could be dispatched to bomb the transit islands until the night of the 9th, and perhaps it would not have been engaged in battle until the morning of the 10th.

As a result, the Marines have 3 days to occupy the Transit Island.

In order to conquer the transit island within three days, the Marine Corps sent a whole division, and it was the 1st Marine Division with the best quality of officers and men and the best equipment.

The division has more than 20,000 officers and soldiers at full strength!

Even if the mobilization is not completed, there are more than 16,000 officers and soldiers.

If you want to say it, arranging for the 1st Marine Division to attack the projectile island is simply smashing eggs with an iron hammer, and there is no suspense at all.

Making such an arrangement is actually related to follow-up actions.

To put it simply, after taking the transit island, attack and occupy the other islands from west to east, and finally attack Honu Island.

But that's for later.

Because Stark did not adjust the battle plan, in the early morning of the 6th, the officers and men of Task Force 51 began to prepare for the attack.

The main thing is the aviation crews of the 3 "Nix" class aircraft carriers.

It was precisely because of this that by the time Stark gave the order, the flight deck of the "Nix" was already full of carrier-based aircraft, a total of 45 aircraft.

In addition to the 40 that flew the first round of assault missions, there were 4 anti-aircraft fighters and 1 AWACS aircraft.

In fact, first of all, it is necessary to let the air defense fighters and AWACS aircraft rise into the air in order to free up the take-off area at the front of the flight deck so that all four catapults can work. Only by using four catapults at the same time can all 40 carrier-based aircraft on attack missions be lifted into the air within 25 minutes.

As for the additional F-14Bs, they flew away last night.

The situation is the same with the other 2 aircraft carriers, only with a slight difference in the operational arrangement. Since the No. 2 ship, the "Spu," dispatched four F-14Bs to carry out air defense patrols before dawn, it will first dispatch a group of carrier-based attack planes in order to clear the flight deck in time for the returning fighters to land. The third ship, the Hair, will send out air defense fighters after 10 a.m. before the attack group returns, so it will be the last to make the attack group and delay the group's return time by 15 minutes to allow enough time to adjust the deck deployment.

These are actually basic aviation tactics, and they don't have to be bothered by the fleet commander.

In fact, when it comes to the stage of tactical operation, especially after the order to start combat operations is given, there is basically nothing to do with Stark.

After dawn, Stark received the most critical information.

After a comparative analysis of the information obtained from different sources, the Pentagon has determined that the Liangxia Navy's Task Force 41 is in the waters west of Yotun Island and is sailing eastward, that is, according to Stark's prediction, to intercept the 53rd Task Force in charge of the feint.

Critically, the Pentagon gave the order.

In other words, even if an accident occurs during a combat operation, it is the Pentagon that bears the blame, not the front-line commanders.

In addition, the Air Force has already begun bombing important military facilities in the east of the archipelago as planned.

Although there were some problems, such as some bombers failed to take off due to mechanical problems, and a small number of bombers did not reach the converging airspace within the specified time, the impact was not great, or there was no reason to abandon the combat operation of attacking the transit island because the air force dropped the chain.

In this battle, the Air Force did not lose the chain!

Stark had already taken these into account when arranging the mission.

It is precisely because of this that in his plan, the bombing campaign of the Air Force on the 6th was only to attract firepower, and there were no specific provisions for it.

After questioning the combat units, in particular, the 3 carrier-based aviation wings, Stark gave the order for the start of combat operations.

At this time, it was already half past six.

Prior to that, the anti-aircraft fighter, as well as the E-2C, which carried out patrol missions, was already in the air.

About 5 minutes later, the first carrier-based aircraft rose into the air from the "Niz".

Not an F-14B fighter, nor an A-6E attack aircraft, but 1 E-2C.

The AWACS aircraft will fly 500 nautical miles to the south, providing guidance to the attack group after it arrives and directing the escort fighters to fight.

Because the flight speed is the slowest, the E-2C has to be the first to take off.

In addition, the E-2C also occupies the largest deck area, usually parked behind Catapult No. 4 on the port side, blocking the fighters and attack aircraft lined up behind.

The E-2C was followed by 4 A-6E "Intruders".

However, none of these 4 attack aircraft carried bombs, but 4 large fuel tanks were hung under the wings, and under the belly were partner refueling pods.

True, these 4 attack aircraft were responsible for air refueling of other attack aircraft that carried out attack missions.

Although the sortie distance is less than 1500 kilometers, which is within the maximum combat radius of the A-6E, the 16 A-6E's are all full of bombs, and there is no way to fill the fuel tank, so after takeoff, it is necessary to carry out an air refueling to obtain a sufficient combat radius.

In fact, this is also the value of partner refueling.

Any kind of combat aircraft, especially attack aircraft such as the A-6E, will certainly not be able to achieve the maximum bomb load and maximum fuel load at the same time when it takes off at its maximum take-off weight. At some point, for example, if you want to carry large ammunition, you will definitely have to reduce the fuel load. This requires a companion in-flight refueling immediately after take-off to obtain the extra fuel necessary to complete the combat mission.

Heavy attack aircraft are usually used to carry out partner refueling tasks.

Take the A-6E as an example, after carrying four large auxiliary fuel tanks, it can provide 12 tons of fuel for other carrier-based aircraft at a distance of 250 kilometers from the aircraft carrier.

This refueling capacity is enough for 4 A-6Es with full ammunition to take off!

That is, 4 tankers can serve just 16 attack aircraft.

In fact, the Nuland Navy has dozens of KA-6Ds that are designed for refueling missions and do not have attack capabilities, and there are usually four in each carrier-based aviation wing. Only this time, in order to increase the attack power, Stark replaced these KA-6Ds with A-6E.

According to Stark's arrangement, the first in-flight refueling was just after liftoff.

After that, the four A-6E's on the partner refueling mission will return to the aircraft carrier, to be precise, they will be on standby over the fleet, and then return to the aircraft carrier after the fleet is dispatched, and be ready to take off again as soon as possible to ensure that the returning carrier-based aircraft can be serviced after 2 hours.

The key is the sortie distance.

Although it is not 1,500 kilometers, it is not much different, and the maximum combat radius of the F-14B when performing escort missions is only 1,500 kilometers.

If all goes well, that's fine.

If it doesn't go well, for example, if you encounter an enemy plane near the transit island and fight the enemy plane, you will consume more fuel.

As a result, the escort fighters had to carry out an in-flight refueling on the way back.

The 16 A-6E's that used cluster bombs to bomb the airway of the airfield were also likely to run into trouble, such as by maneuvering violently while evading anti-aircraft missiles, thus burning more fuel.

Obviously, refueling in the air will also be required at that time.

Fortunately, when returning home, the carrier-based aircraft flew lightly, and the attack aircraft also dropped their bombs, and the fuel consumption rate was much lower than in the sortie stage.

That is, 1 A-6E can provide refueling services for more carrier-based aircraft.

The tankers were followed by 16 A-6Es with cluster bombs, followed by A-6E, but all with long-range air-to-surface missiles, and only 10.

The mission of these attack aircraft is to deal with anti-aircraft positions, fuel depots, ammunition depots, command centers and barracks.

Because there was no guarantee that the airport on the transit island would be paralyzed in the first round of assault, let alone gain absolute air supremacy, a large number of long-range air-to-surface missiles had to be used. After the first round of strikes is over, and after gaining absolute air supremacy, let the attack planes launch a second round of strikes with precision-guided bombs.

In fact, the long-range air-to-surface missiles used in the second batch of A-6E are modified from existing anti-ship missiles, and no one can say for sure what the ability to attack the ground is.

There is no way to do this, that is, there are no air-to-surface missiles with a range of more than 120 kilometers in the Navy's ammunition depot.

If Stark hadn't insisted and the manufacturers actively cooperated, I'm afraid that these A-6E's would have been hung up with the "Mavericks" with a range of less than 50 kilometers to bomb the air defense positions on the transit island.

This was followed by 4 EA-6Bs.

This is an electronic attack aircraft of the Nuland Navy, an indispensable and important role!

Don't look at the fact that there are only 4 of them, their value should definitely not be underestimated.

One sentence can explain how important the EA-6B is.

The Nuland Navy made a provision that electronic attack aircraft must be sent to escort the fleet during the attack mission, and if there are no electronic attack aircraft, the commander may consider abandoning the attack operation.

The implication is that if an attack is launched without the accompaniment of an electronic attack aircraft, the commander will be fully responsible!

If we want to say that whether the first round of assault can be successful, it depends on whether the four EA-6Bs can suppress the air defense radar on the island and allow the attack aircraft group to drop bombs smoothly.

Finally, there were 6 F-14Bs on escort missions.

Although the "Niz" carries 20 F-14Bs, even if the 4 air defense aircraft are removed, there are still 16 available, but due to the limitation of sortie capacity, that is, the number of carrier-based aircraft that can be placed on the flight deck, after removing other combat aircraft, it can only dispatch 6 F-14Bs.

Fortunately, for escort missions, 6 F-14Bs can cover 3 fleets, which is enough.

Besides, no one expects to rely on escort fighters to seize air supremacy on the battlefield.

Less than 7 o'clock, the last F-14B took to the air.

The arrow is off the string!

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