In the U.S. Central Theater Command in Georgia, the U.S. mainland, the Central Theater at this time integrated the African Theater Command, and all operational orders for the Somalia war were issued from here.

AFRICOM is a very young command, and the war against Somalia was by no means the Gulf War, nor the Iraq War or the Afghanistan War. As the Central Theater Command, which has made great achievements, the Ministry of Defense authorized the Central Theater Command to be the main force in this war against Somalia, supplemented by the African Theater Command, to direct the war.

Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Staff Council, is the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, and this No. 3 figure in the US military, who was born in the Central Theater Command, has the greatest authority except for the president and the secretary of defense. However, what should have been a command like going home, the four-star general of Dempsey couldn't be happier.

If this war was commanded by the Minister of Defense, then Dempsey would be very happy to fight, but reluctantly, he still held this hot potato.

The Iraq War made US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in the limelight, but General Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who assumes military command and coordination in accordance with the law, was unknown. This is a world away from the Gulf War. At that time, Defense Secretary Cheney did not command the army, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell became famous for directing military operations and defeating the Iraqi army quickly with a quick knife. In the past 22 years, the roles of the directors and leading actors of the two wars -- the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- have taken a 180-degree turn.

The command structure of the US military has determined the glory of many people, but it has also brought about the gloomy end of many people.

Dempsey was not very much in favor of the war. In his thinking, the commander of this war should be the Minister of Defense Hagel, who called for the war. However. The officials and universities crushed people to death, and the defense minister's eyes were naturally very vicious. The war was likely to be the toughest battle the United States had faced since the Vietnam War.

It is likely to be another Vietnam War, and Somalia is now showing a smaller military power than the gap between the U.S. military and Vietnam. Now that the terrorist attacks in China have led to a lot of public indignation, the war machine has shifted this sentiment, but once the war is lost, then these diverted public anger will really be out of control.

A war with a bomb on his head, Hagel naturally will not touch it. Naturally. As the military's supreme staff body, the military's strategic and tactical leader, and the president's chief military think tank, Dempsey's chief military adviser was awarded the title of commander-in-chief of the war.

So, how can Dempsey be happy, under the propaganda machine, maybe there will be very little negative news about the war in the country, and this is also a very important opportunity. But for him, he would rather not have such an opportunity. He doesn't need to be famous. I just want to be able to make my reputation decent before I retire.

When the matter came, he had no reason to refuse, so he could only bite the bullet. Dominate this war as perfectly as possible. Perhaps, it will continue to show a beautiful war like surgery.

Sitting in the chair of the commander-in-chief of CENTCOM, Dempsey still thinks about it. If Hagel is like Rumsfeld, who served as defense secretary for the second time and took charge of the US military commander's seal, he is known as a "hawkish" core figure. In the Iraq War, he commanded the army almost alone, and people simply did not see what kind of role General Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, played. The war in Iraq has almost become a war controlled by Rumsfeld and President Bush.

He wished it was the same now. He was so happy that he didn't touch anything.

"Report, the ninth round of missile strikes has been completed, and the tenth round of missile strikes will be in a minute."

The sound of the report interrupted Dempsey's thoughts, and he said in his heart: In this case, it can only avoid the explosion of thunder overhead.

"Immediately report the results of the first eight rounds of strikes."

Soon, Dempsey had a sketchy report on the battle, many of which were images from the Tomahawk's own camera, some of which were from satellites.

After quickly skimming through the results of the battle, Dempsey frowned, the results presented in this battle report were the most direct reason why he did not want to be the commander-in-chief.

Somalia's missile interception capability made him very uneasy.

In the first nine rounds of missile strikes, more than 1,200 missiles have been launched, and the cost of this missile is extremely not cheap; if it were not for the large reserves in the heyday of the US economy, these missiles alone would have been enough to give him the title of luxury.

Of course, the United States is not alone in sending these missiles, Italy and France have also dispatched their own cruise missiles, and since Japanese warships do not have the ability to launch cruise missiles, the Japanese side will bear part of the military expenses.

Of course, Dempsey's frown is not the waste of these missiles, but that these missiles can destroy Somalia several times, but as a result, Bagua City is still unharmed, and the city of Bossaso has not been affected much.

How can this satisfy him, a tactical Tomahawk missile is 300,000 US dollars, while a normal Tomahawk missile costs as much as 800,000 US dollars, especially those submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles, the cost is already as high as a million US dollars.

This time, the United States took the lead, and in the first nine rounds of attacks, more than 800 Tomahawk missiles were launched, with a total value of more than $600 million. That's more than the total number of cruise missiles used in the initial attack on Iraq.

If such a effort can achieve a most basic strategic effect, it will not be a loss. But as a result, Somalia's air defense in these two cities has caused most of these Tomahawk missiles to fail.

The Tomahawk missile, originally a low-altitude cruise missile, is inherently difficult to be detected by radar, and the shape itself has a lot of stealth design, and the radar cross-sectional area is very small. As a very good long-range strategic strike weapon, the Tomahawk missile has always been pinned on high hopes by the US military.

However, after this war, the US military was helpless, and the nine waves of missile strikes in a row still did not achieve the strategic effect, and the tenth round of missile strikes could only continue to be prepared. This strike will not stop unless a strategic effect has been achieved, or the missiles have been exhausted.

"Continue to prepare for the thirteenth and fourteenth waves of missile strikes, no matter how many missiles I use, in short, I must let the other side have no room for backhand, and all the set targets must be killed." Dempsey has little patience, although the Ministry of Defense has a deep criticism of the F-22's radar and anti-missile capabilities in Somalia, but the current Somalia's long-lasting anti-missile capability is still unbearable, "Let the F-22 immediately dispatch to destroy the opponent's radar and anti-missile system." Don't tell me, too many can't. ”

Although the other side has a record of intercepting and shooting down stealth fighters, it also led to the fact that the Raptor fighters were not taken into account when formulating early attack tactics, but the result is that the penetration of low-altitude cruise missiles is not easy to use. As a result, we can only return to normal tactics of warfare, using the stealth performance of the Raptor and using anti-radiation missiles to attack the radar and anti-missile forces in the city of Somalia.

This is a no-brainer option, and if these damned anti-missile systems and radars are not broken through as soon as possible, no matter how many waves of missile strikes there are, they will never be able to achieve their strategic goals.

Dempsey is now helpless to set his eyes on the birds of prey, and the last few words of the order are to block everyone's persuasion. At the same time as granting the war, the Ministry of Defense also issued a verbal order not to use the Raptor unless the missile strike had an effect.

The fact is obviously very helpless, the first round of tactical offensive must have a predetermined ideal result, and if the strategic effect is not achieved, then there will be no way to carry out the next stage of military action.

After thinking about it, the birds of prey can only go to the battlefield.

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Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia. The base is located deep in the desert about 80 kilometers south of the Saudi capital Riyadh.

The base is about 64 kilometers long and 40 kilometers wide, with a runway of more than 4,500 meters long and well-established aircraft take-off and landing and storage facilities. The US Joint Air Warfare Center, the Southwest Asia Joint Task Force Command, the Joint Intelligence Center, and other units are stationed there, and are equipped with various types of combat aircraft and command and control facilities. The Air Force Command of the US Central Command is also located here, which is responsible for directing and dispatching all US air forces in the Gulf region, and is also responsible for leading the patrol of the Joint Task Force for Southwest Asia in the no-fly zone in southern Iraq.

In addition, the US military has also deployed units such as the 320th Air Force Expeditionary Group, the 4409th Air Force Base Group, the 54th Communications Battalion, the "Patriot" Task Force Missile Company, the 831st Transport Battalion Detachment, and the US Military Training Corps at bases such as the Eskandervilich and Dhahran air bases about 20 kilometers south of Riyadh Air Base.

Today's Prince Sultan Air Base is home to a number of powerful fighter units, including 24 F-22 fighters, which are the airport's most important expeditionary combat strength.

After the start of the war, the airbase also came into combat readiness, and when the order from the General Headquarters arrived, the airbase also began to get busy.

Six Raptors were towed out of the hangar, maintenance technicians began the most pre-war inspections, and the pilots all came to the planes and took their places.

Twenty minutes later, after the maintenance technician gave the signal that there was no problem, under the control of the control of the conning tower, two groups took off at the same time, and soon, after six Raptor fighters rose into the air, they flew in an ultra-low-altitude attitude and headed in a southeasterly direction. (To be continued......)