There is another big flaw in the Dolphin-6 interception radar equipped with the "Eagle" type, that is, the shortcomings of the "downward view" function.

For targets above the heads-up angle, the search ability is unmatched. The search distance of almost a hundred kilometers is definitely the top in this era.

But for scanning low-altitude targets, the Dolphin-6, like other radars of its time, could not accurately identify the chaotic echo signal.

This is a common problem, when the radar "looks down", because the ground or the surface reflects a lot of electromagnetic waves, the radar's ability to identify useful targets in many clutter decreases.

No one knows if Ingersoll was also proficient in radar, or perhaps he had only inadvertently opened the door to modern air force low-altitude assault tactics.

After receiving the news that the Sea Javelin formation had been shot down by a Han missile from beyond visual range, Ingersoll, commander of the Atlantic Fleet, immediately ordered the other carrier-based fighters that had already risen into the air to lower their altitude and rush towards the attack group at a low altitude of about 500 meters.

For subsonic aircraft such as the F-2 Banshee and the F-3 Devil with a speed of about 1,000 kilometers per hour, a low altitude of 500 meters is definitely the edge of the forbidden area.

It has to be said that Ingersoll is a genius.

The Banshee and Devil fighters on the escort aircraft carrier took advantage of this method to quickly approach the attack aircraft group. The "Eagle" group, which has become accustomed to the radar's super search capability, did not notice that dozens of US fighters were approaching at all.

Until 22 banshees and 17 devils suddenly emerged from the clouds in their sight and climbed rapidly.

The air battle began suddenly. At such a close distance, dozens of fighters flew up and down, and sometimes even the facial expressions of the opposing pilots could be seen clearly. The battle instantly returned to the days before the invention of air-to-air missiles, chasing, rollover, climbing, overloading, stalling...... The fighter's melee performance began to be tested to the fullest, with empty cannon shells weaving a beautiful but brutal web in the air with tracer.

"What the hell is careless!" Gao Jian did not rush to join the battle, but asked the aircraft (base) friends behind him to quickly issue an order, so that the Brute Dragon attack aircraft and Wing Loong bombers equipped with anti-ship missiles and torpedoes could bypass the battlefield and directly attack the US warships.

"Where are the AWACS aircraft, what are they eating?"

The two-engine, two-seater "Eagle" type does not have the upper hand in such a dogfight with specific speed and agility. Fortunately, the protection of the important parts of the eagle is quite good. However, he didn't use the missiles that could easily shoot down the opponent, but was forced into a "dog fight", which made Colonel Gao very angry.

"Two Aeolian Pterodactyls, one returned early due to mechanical problems shortly after starting, and the other ...... It seems to be a radar failure. In a two-seater, the pilot in the back seat is not only the "co-pilot", but also responsible for radar control and communications, and of course, he can also take over the piloting of the aircraft if necessary.

"Nima, it's not reliable at a critical time."

What else can you say, the radar soldiers on the AWACS planes who usually do nothing have dropped the chain at this critical time, and they can only rely on themselves!

"The brothers of the 31 Eagle Squadron are ready to climb ten thousand meters out of battle. The 32 Eagle Squadron locks on to the target and takes down these American devils! ”

Fortunately, Gao Jian left a hand when arranging the formation, and did not break forward with all the J-15s, but arranged the 32 Eagle Squadron on the Zijing aircraft carrier on the two wings of the aircraft group.

"31 Eagle Squadron, speed climb, get rid of them!"

Surrounded by US carrier-based aircraft, the 31st Eagle Squadron of the Gongjin, under the command of Captain Gao, suddenly shook off the entangled enemy planes and quickly climbed up using the strong power of the J-15.

The 32nd Eagle Squadron on the periphery opened fire quickly, firing Sparrow-3 short-range missiles at the targets that had been locked in advance.

All the pilots of the 31st Eagle Squadron did not doubt the J-15's climb and acceleration performance, and they were worried that the "Eagle" identification system would not drop the chain at this time.

Although in the skies over the Mediterranean, because of the melee between many countries, there are frequent incidents of accidental hits on friendly planes, but no one wants to be the unlucky ghost who was shot down by his own people. The sacrifice is not terrible, the terrible thing is to be shot down by a friendly plane, and the sacrifice is still laughed at.

The radar friend or foe identifier was originally invented by the British at the beginning of the war, and the Imperial War Laboratory successfully developed an identification system named "Firefox" a year ago, and uniformly equipped all ships, warplanes, tanks and radar stations on the ground of the Imperial Army.

Different from the electronic password question-and-answer recognizers in the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries, the "Firefox" friend or foe identification system adopts a non-cooperative target recognition system, that is, the electromagnetic characteristics of the target are used to directly identify friend and foe. According to the experts who developed Firefox, this identification system can improve the reliability, confidentiality and anti-jamming performance of the identified target.

During their usual training, carrier-based aircraft pilots often irradiate each other's radars and even lock on to fire control, and the response to the accurate recognition capability of the "Firefox" system is quite good.

That's training, though! Even if there are some minor problems, it's fine. But on the battlefield, it's all real guns. When the sparrows hit the enemy planes before, everyone was watching, which one was accurate, and that one was ...... Ruthless, if you don't distinguish between the enemy and me, come to yourself, "boom", everything will be over.

You can come whatever you want, "boom...... Boom ......" sounded several times in succession, and the gray sky suddenly became much brighter. Gao Jian leveled the fighter plane, turned his head to look down at the altitude of 10,000 meters, and more than a dozen large fireballs were gradually dissipating after releasing the last light and heat in the air, turning into a streamer like fireworks and disappearing between the sea and the sky.

"You didn't get hit by mistake, did you?" Gao Jian asked casually, the continuous explosion sound just now made him also have a cold tail vertebrae, in the situation just now, once he was locked by mistake, he couldn't escape if he wanted to.

"No...... Just 17 and 21 were shot down! ”

"What?" The sound coming from the headphones startled Captain Gao.

"When I was climbing, I was chased by a rattlesnake."

Gao Jian was silent, the American carrier-based aircraft pilots also have masters! Perhaps, it was a problem of their own tactics, climbing rapidly, using the strong power of the "Hawk" to throw off the enemy aircraft, but it also happened to expose the engine nozzle under the tail to the enemy aircraft, which happened to be the most suitable attack direction for the Sidewinder.

"Keep accelerating, prepare to attack!"

True, with the performance of the "Hawk", if not careless, it will not give the enemy aircraft a chance to approach at all; If the tactics are right, the "Rattlesnake" will not be given a chance to play at all. Gao Jian knew that it was his own mistake that cost the lives of those four comrades.

But even if it is to review and accept punishment, it is only after the battle, as a commander, having too much emotion in an air battle will not only put yourself in danger, but also be irresponsible to other comrades.

Captain Gao shook his head vigorously, as if doing so could throw negative emotions out of his brain.

In the first round of strikes after the 32nd Eagle Squadron joined the battle, twelve American banshees and demons were hit. The "Firefox" friend or foe identification system accurately identified enemy planes and successfully locked them in the complex air combat in which we mixed the enemy and the enemy, greatly enhancing the combat effectiveness of the Royal Air Force, and also enabling the 31 Eagle Squadron, which was mired in the quagmire of close combat, to get out in time and launch the radar-guided attack that the "Eagle" type is best at.

Like the D-4 Phantom, because of the backwardness of the avionics system, the F-2 Banshee and F-3 Devil carrier-based fighters were quickly shot down after being pulled back into the orbit of radar locks and missile attacks in air combat.

The Sparrow-3's good short-range combat performance has been fully developed, while the US military's Sidewinder's inadaptability in large-scale air combat has once again been exposed. After launch, many AIM-9Cs will even chase the direction of the sun after making a rapid turn in the "Eagle Style", getting rid of it with a sharp turn with high overload, and some will look for the target again after losing the target - looking for a traceable heat source regardless of friend or foe.

With the birth of one big fireball after another, there are fewer and fewer banshees and devils in the sky, and the F-7 Sea Javelin fighters in the task force have never appeared again.

Gao Jian knew that that meant that the brute dragons and pterodactyls had already begun to attack. The carrier-based aircraft of the U.S. fleet had no time to care about the battle here, but this situation made Captain Gao even more anxious.

All the escort "Eagle" fighters are here, so wouldn't they let the Sea Javelins run wild in the bomber group? And for the entire attack aircraft group, there is another crisis looming.

The amount of oil! Because of the early attack, the attack aircraft group of the Northern Fleet, except for the fact that it can carry more burning Pterodactyls, has no restrictions in this regard, and neither the J-15 nor the G-41 can stay in the theater of operations for too long.

Of course, it is cool to shoot down an American carrier-based aircraft, but wasting too much fuel here will cause the "Eagle" to be unable to escort attack aircraft and bombers.

Gao Jian secretly scolded himself, "Pig brain!" ”

"Here is handed over to the brothers of the 32nd Eagle Squadron, pay attention to the amount of fuel, and after destroying the enemy aircraft, you can return freely. The 31st Eagle Squadron followed me out of the battlefield to escort the brothers of the brute dragon. ”

……

In the eyes of later generations of brick scholars who studied World War II, Gao Jian, the commander of the first wave of attack aircraft group, made many mistakes in his command in the Battle of Malta, but his most correct thing was to transfer the 31st Eagle Squadron out of the combat airspace in time, return to the attack aircraft group, and destroy the 16 Sea Javelins that the US army brought heavy casualties to the attack aircraft group.

On each of the U.S. Essex-class aircraft carriers, sixteen Sea Javelins are deployed, which is also the standard equipment of the U.S. Navy's carrier-based aircraft squadrons.

While 72 G-41C Brupt attack planes and 26 HH-6 Pterodactyl torpedo bombers rounded the airspace and approached the U.S. task force, the remaining 16 Sea Javelins aboard the USS Essex and Yorktown also completed their ejection.

Don't look at the F-7 under the "Eagle" type of over-the-horizon attack, it seems to be vulnerable, but for other fighters, especially the slightly bulky HH-6 Pterodactyl, this first carrier-based bomber of the Imperial Royal Navy immediately suffered a catastrophe.

In the face of the AIM-9C fired by the Sea Javelin, the Pterodactyl had no countermeasures other than to release aluminum-magnesium incendiary bombs to interfere with the Rattlesnake's thermal pursuit. The bulky body is unable to make high overload movements such as "rapid turning" like the brute dragon, leading the rattlesnake in the direction of the sun.

Fourteen Pterodactyls were shot down by the "Rattlesnakes", which seriously affected the strike capabilities of the attack aircraft group.