At the same time, on the eastern shore of Lake Balkash, in the heart of the Atyrau Desert, an air base.

It is said that it is an air base, and all the carrier-based aircraft parked next to the runway are naval aviation, and the most eye-catching is the "Battle-9B" heavy carrier-based fighter nicknamed "Giant Panda".

Strictly speaking, the "Zhan-9" is the pioneering work of the third-generation fighter.

When the Imperial Air Force was worried about the engines of the "Zhan-11", the Imperial Navy took the lead in eating crabs and procured and installed the "Zhan-9A" equipped with mature engines.

It's not that the Imperial Navy doesn't care about the quality of the engine, but it is forced by the situation.

More than the Air Force, the Navy needs a fighter with advanced performance to deal with the increasingly prominent air threats, especially those bomber groups that can carry several or even a dozen heavy anti-ship missiles, are organized with modern communication systems, and can launch surprise attacks at Mach 2 speeds.

In other words, the Imperial Navy was in dire need of an interceptor with advanced performance.

This requirement is vividly reflected in the aerodynamic layout of the "Zhan-9".

Among the four third-generation fighters of the Empire, only the "Battle-9" is commonly used on second-generation fighters, and now it is seen that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of the variable swept wing layout.

Even if you look at the world, there are only 2 third-generation fighters with a variable swept wing layout.

Interestingly, both are carrier-based fighters.

This also reflects from one side that there is a huge gap between the tactical needs of the Navy and the Air Force, so a fighter suitable for the Air Force may not be suitable for the Navy.

In terms of specific performance, the "Zhan-9" is more like a long-range interceptor.

Although the maximum flight speed is only Mach 2.3, which is lower than the Air Force's "Zhan-11" and even inferior to the "Zhan-10A", after replacing with a high-thrust engine, the "Zhan-9" has limited supersonic cruise capability and can sprint 600 kilometers at a speed of Mach 2.0.

Crucially, the main combat weapon of the "Zhan-9" is a long-range air-to-air missile with a range of 150 kilometers.

Relying on the flat slit fire control radar, the "Zhan-9" can fire at up to six enemy aircraft at the same time.

In addition, relying on the variable sweep wing, the "Zhan-9" has the most outstanding hovering performance among the third-generation heavy fighters, that is, horizontal maneuverability.

If the "Zhan-9A" is limited by the engine and its performance is still flawed, the "Zhan-9B" with a new engine is certainly one of the best heavy fighters today.

In last year's joint confrontation exercise, the "Zhan-9B," which participated in the exercise for the first time, was disgraced, and in the single-plane combat competition with the "Zhan-11," it achieved 19 wins, 1 draw, and 0 losses, and taught the pilots of the Imperial Air Force a hard lesson.

It's just that the "Zhan-9B" is not perfect.

The most prominent problem is poor reliability and maintainability, and the operating costs are ridiculously high.

Even though the Imperial Navy has always vigorously touted the combat effectiveness of the "Zhan-9", it has not denied that the "Zhan-9" is an expensive fighter that the Imperial Navy cannot afford.

In addition, it lacks multi-purpose performance.

Because the Imperial Navy had specialized carrier-based attack aircraft, and there were quite a few of them, there was no need for fighters to carry out strike missions.

If you want to say, the "Zhan-9" is a real "purebred" fighter.

However, the complex structure and excessive weight make it impossible for the "Zhan-9" to obtain ground strike capability by adding special equipment like the "Zhan-10" and "Zhan-11", so as to develop into a multi-role fighter without making too many changes to the airframe.

It was for this reason that the Imperial Navy procured the "Zhan-12" multi-role carrier-based fighter after the "Zhan-9" entered service.

The "Zhan-12" is the fourth and also the last third-generation fighter of the Reich. The project was officially established in the year when the "Battle-10A" was already in large-scale service, that is, in the 134th year of the new calendar, and the naval procurement contract was obtained six years later, and the first batch was delivered in the year 142 of the new calendar.

By the time the "Zhan-12" has formed combat effectiveness, the other three third-generation fighters have already taken the lead.

What forced the Imperial Navy to settle for the next best thing was not that the "Battle-9" was too expensive.

Fundamentally speaking, what gave birth to the "Zhan-12" was actually the new attack tactics and the requirements that the new tactics put forward for combat aircraft.

To put it simply, the "Zhan-12" is not used to fill the gap caused by the insufficient number of "Zhan-9", but to replace the "Attack" series carrier-based aircraft that have lagged behind in performance.

Included in the "War" series because it was easier to get grants.

Before the "Zhan-12", the Imperial Navy had two types of carrier-based attack aircraft, namely the 40-ton "Attack-5" heavy attack aircraft and the 15-ton "Attack-6" light attack aircraft.

Strictly speaking, the "Attack-6" is actually a reduced version of the "Attack-5" that is used to supplement the "Attack-5".

The main thing is that the "Attack-5" is too big, and if it is arranged in five squadrons, it will lead to a significant reduction in the number of carrier-based aircraft.

The key is that the "Zhan-9" is also a 40-ton carrier-based aircraft.

It is precisely because of this that on the supercarriers of the Imperial Navy, it is generally carried with 3 heavy attack squadrons and 2 light attack squadrons, and large aircraft carriers are just the opposite.

Even so, it poses a challenge to the system of formation of carrier-based aviation wings.

At full capacity, supercarriers can only carry 3 squadrons, with a total of 24 "Battle-9Bs", while large aircraft carriers need to be reduced by a few.

No matter how it is arranged, as long as these carrier-based aircraft are still these carrier-based aircraft, there will definitely be a shortage of fighters or attack aircraft.

In fact, these two types of attack aircraft are traditional carrier-based aircraft, mainly using unguided munitions to carry out bombing missions in the form of ultra-low-altitude bombs.

Obviously, in the face of a modern air defense system, traditional carrier-based attack aircraft basically have no way to survive.

To do this, a carrier-based attack aircraft capable of using new types of ammunition is needed.

It was on the basis of these needs that the "Battle-12" multi-role fighter was created.

Attached to anti-aircraft ammunition, the "Zhan-12" is a fighter with slightly inferior performance, but it can cooperate with the "Zhan-9" to fill the loopholes in the fleet's air defense network.

Using precision-guided munitions, the "Zhan-12" is a much more advanced attack aircraft than the "Zhuang-6".

In fact, in terms of major performance, the "Zhan-12" has comprehensively surpassed the "Attack-6", and even if the range is criticized, it can be made up for by in-flight refueling.

In addition, in terms of combat flexibility, the "Zhan-12" also far surpasses the "Attack-5".

It is precisely in this way that the "Battle-12" was replaced by the "Attack-6" after it entered service.

In the usual configuration, a carrier-based aviation wing has four or five "Battle-12" squadrons, and only one squadron is a part-time air defense squadron.

It is a pity that the production of "Zhan-12" is seriously insufficient.

It's not that the production capacity is insufficient, but that the funds are insufficient.

So far, only 9 of the 15 carrier-based aircraft air wings of the Imperial Navy have received the "Battle-12", and the refitting rate is less than 50%.

In other words, in all carrier-based aircraft air wings, there are "Attack-6" that are exerting their residual heat.

As for the "Attack-5", it cannot be replaced for the time being.

To be precise, the "Attack X" project to replace the "Attack X" is still advancing, and there is not even a prototype, and mass production is even more far away.

The "Battle-12" did not replace the "Attack-5", not only because of the bomb load, but also because of the combat radius.

From the standpoint of the Imperial Navy, the "Battle-12", which has a combat radius of less than 1,000 kilometers, will certainly not replace the "Attack-5" with a combat radius of less than 2,000 kilometers.

If there is no "Attack-5" and only the "Battle-12" remains, the aircraft carrier battle group of the Imperial Navy will have to risk a huge saturation strike to get close to the enemy's mainland and fight in the coastal waters. For decades, the Imperial Navy had made efforts to stay away from enemy territory.

In fact, this is also the key reason why the Imperial Navy prefers heavy attack aircraft and heavy fighters.

The "Attack-5" not only has a maximum combat radius of 2,000 kilometers, but also has a maximum bomb load of up to 13 tons, which is almost like a small bomber.

The key is that relying on partner aerial refueling, the "Attack-5" can carry out ultra-long-range bombing missions without relying on the air force.

This capability ensures the independent status of naval aviation.

On the airfield, there are several squadrons of "Zhan-12", "Zhuang-5" and "Zhan-6".

The Navy's other carrier-based aircraft, such as the "Cruiser-4B" anti-submarine patrol plane, the "Finger-6C" carrier-based early warning aircraft, the "Y-6B" carrier-based transport plane, and the "Z-8F" anti-submarine helicopter, have not been transferred because they have not been arranged to participate in the upcoming joint exercises.

It's just that it's not just the combat aircraft of the Navy that are deployed at the base.

Near the hangar, more than a dozen helicopter gunships belonging to the Army Air Corps were neatly parked.

The most eye-catching are the four "Z-10" heavy helicopter gunships, which were commissioned only three years ago and formed combat effectiveness last year and participated in military exercises for the first time.

Although not as powerful as the Navy's carrier-based aircraft, these helicopter gunships are definitely the lifeblood of the Army Aviation.

In fact, the only helicopters that the Army Airlines has are helicopters.

According to the "separation agreement" of that year, all equipment that had wings and could fly belonged to the Air Force, and the Army later took advantage of this.

Helicopters use rotors, not wings, so they are not included in the "winged" equipment.

It is precisely in this way that during the Polish-Iraqi War, the Imperial Army formed the Army Aviation Corps based on helicopters, and took advantage of the needs of the war to develop and expand the Army Aviation.

In that war, the Imperial Army invested tens of thousands of helicopters and suffered extremely heavy losses, more than 5,000 helicopters!

It is for this reason that the Polish-Iranian War is also known as the "war of helicopters".

It was in this war that the helicopter gunships, which were born to strike at ground targets, appeared on the scene and showed extremely strong combat effectiveness.

In addition, with the advent of airborne anti-tank missiles, the Imperial Army Aviation found that helicopter gunships were the most ideal anti-armor platform.

In previous years of joint exercises, the army aviation's helicopter gunships played the role of tank killers.

According to the statistics made by the Army Air Force, one special helicopter gunship can offset more than 20 main battle tanks, and the combat effectiveness ratio is extremely amazing.

Of course, there must be a lot of moisture in this data.

In order to obtain funding for the development and procurement of helicopter gunships, the Army Aviation would certainly have to exaggerate the value of helicopter gunships, especially the effectiveness of anti-armor operations, which was of paramount concern to the Empire's top brass.

The approximately 50,000 main battle tanks deployed by the Xilu Group in the Luosha Democratic Republic have always been the top of the empire and a lingering nightmare for the 800 million emperors!

It was against this background that the Imperial Army, after the end of the Polish-Iraqi War, launched the development project of the Z-10.

Strictly speaking, the "Z-10" is the first special armed helicopter of the Imperial Army, and the "Z-7" jointly developed with the Marine Corps is actually a partially improved armed helicopter on the basis of the "Z-4" general-purpose helicopter, which retains the basic structure of the general-purpose helicopter.

Compared with the Z-7, the most striking feature of the Z-10 is that it comprehensively strengthens its attack capability and survivability in anti-tank operations.

For this reason, the "Z-10" was called a "flying tank" by the army.

Of course, its official name is "Black Whirlwind".

The nickname "Flying Tank" is by no means for nothing.

In the cockpit, engine compartment and rear fuselage fuel tank area, all wrapped in ceramic composite armor, capable of resisting 30 mm high-explosive shells and 20 mm armor-piercing shells, and the cockpit windshield is 20 mm thick, capable of blocking 15 mm anti-aircraft machine gun bullets.

In addition, the five-bladed main rotor adopts a damage-resistant structure, which can continue to fly for 15 minutes after any blade is shot.

All 5 main fuel tanks with a self-enclosing structure.

The dry reducer can continue to work for more than 30 minutes when it is broken down and the lubricating oil is completely lost.

The two main landing gears of the rear three-point landing gear are high-stroke impact-resistant structures, which can still provide the pilot with a survival probability of no less than 50% when the fall speed reaches 15 meters per second.

Of course, compared to the amazing survivability, the striking capabilities of the "Z-10" are much more powerful.

It is not that the "Z-10" can carry more or more advanced weapons than the "Z-7", but that it relies on a variety of advanced equipment to obtain more powerful penetration performance.

Relying on the photoelectric detection equipment mounted on the nose of the aircraft, the third-generation thermal imager, the "Z-10" is capable of using anti-tank missiles at night and in complex meteorological conditions, at an altitude of less than 20 meters above the ground, to carry out precise strikes on ground targets within 10 kilometers.

In addition, thanks to advanced electronics, the Z-10 can fly at a speed of 250 kilometers per hour at treetop altitudes.

This altitude allows the "Z-10" to avoid almost all air defense radars, and the low speed makes it impossible to be targeted by AWACS aircraft.

In previous years' joint exercises, the Army's helicopter gunships have demonstrated strong assault capabilities.

However, due to the limitations of its own performance, it has always been only an idea for armed helicopters to carry out penetration missions.

It was not until the arrival of the "Z-10" that this idea had the possibility of becoming a reality.

How to achieve this still needs to be explored and summarized in the exercise.

At this time, in the command center of the base, relevant discussions had been going on for several hours. The main point of contention is which unit, or which combat platform, is more suitable for the first shot penetration mission, that is, to knock out the enemy's air defense nodes after the start of the battle.

It is usually the least relevant anti-aircraft search warning radar in the entire air defense system.

At the tactical level, as long as a breakthrough can be opened in the enemy's air defense network, fighters and bombers can drive straight in and carry out precision strikes against targets in the enemy's rear, such as air bases and command centers, as well as high-value targets such as air defense positions and communication agencies.

As long as the enemy's air defense and command system can be paralyzed, seizing air supremacy will achieve twice the result with half the effort!

However, the problem is that this set of tactics is still in the imagination, and it has never been verified in actual combat except for limited military exercises.

Obviously, what works in theory may not work in practice.