When the Task Force stationed in the Philippines was cruising in the waters 150 kilometers northeast of the Nansha Islands, Rear Admiral Bridge received a request from the Philippine army.

"General, the People's Liberation Army has launched an attack on Thitu Island, which is occupied by the Philippine army." Major White, who was in charge of intelligence information, reported. "Philippine Defense Minister Santos asked our army to assist in defense and rescue Thitu Island."

"Leave them alone," Bridge said disapprehantly, "just get the information, Jeremy, did the submarine squadron spot the PLA submarine?" Bridge turned and asked Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy, the Fleet Officer.

"General, the submarine squadron has approached the exercise area demarcated by the PLA, but there is still no news about the PLA submarine." Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy reports back.

"The seabed terrain in the Nansha waters is complex, there are many seabeds hundreds of meters deep, if the PLA submarine turns off the engine and sinks to the bottom, our submarine relies on the passive sonar system to find almost no chance of detection, but if the active sonar system is turned on, the target will be exposed, so that the submarine has the danger of becoming a target of the PLA."

"What about our anti-submarine helicopters and P-3C anti-submarine patrol aircraft, have you found them?" Bridge then asked. The search speed of 4 Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarines alone is very slow and the scope is limited, and if the PLA submarines really shut down and lurk, there is really no good way for the Ohio-class submarines to find the PLA submarines in such a vast area, because it is not much easier than finding a needle in a haystack.

"The anti-submarine aerial reconnaissance team also found nothing within 50 kilometers of the fleet, but there were PLA J-11C fighters patrolling over the exercise area demarcated by the PLA, and the air anti-submarine squadron failed to enter the area to search." Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy continued to report.

Hearing this news, Bridge frowned, for him, the PLA Air Force wandering over Nansha has nothing to fear at all, because at this moment, the information transmitted by the air early warning aircraft and reconnaissance satellites shows that the PLA's air power in the Nansha waters is limited, far from the limit of the task force's air power.

At present, the Super Hornet on the two aircraft carriers "John Stennis and Ronald Reagan" are the ultimate improved models of the quasi-stealth fighter F-18E/F that have undergone stealth design and transformation, with excellent combat performance and fighting alone, and the performance of the PLA's J-15 Flying Shark fighter is even inferior, and there is only a gap between it and the J-11C in terms of range.

After the Diaoyutai naval and air battle, the US Air Force basically figured out that the tactic of the PLA Air Force is to concentrate on launching an attack, and the US military has a way to deal with this tactic, that is, to open the distance and use the advantages of fighters and air early warning aircraft to fight at a long distance as much as possible, so at this moment, the Super Hornet of Bridge's aircraft carrier fleet is mainly equipped with medium-range AIM-120 missiles.

Each Super Hornet can carry six of these advanced medium-range missiles, which is already the same number as the F-22 fighter jet. Together with the use of an improved AESA radar APG-73, the air combat performance is not inferior to the APG-35 of the F-81 fighter. So Bridge has nothing to worry about the air combat power in his hands.

He is only worried about PLA submarines under the seabed. In the absence of the opponent's submarine, no matter how great the air superiority is, Bridge will not rashly attack. The encounter of the USS Ford aircraft carrier formation is a nightmare for almost every US aircraft carrier captain, and in the face of the powerful anti-submarine strength of the USS Ford aircraft carrier formation, the PLA submarines can successfully enter the attack range, and Bridge does not dare to think that his aircraft carrier formation is stronger than the Ford, and can ignore the existence of PLA submarines.

Therefore, before deciding to launch an air attack, Rear Admiral Bridge must prove that there are no PLA submarines within 50 nautical miles of the carrier group. At present, the 50-kilometer area around the aircraft carrier fleet on the high seas has basically been searched by air anti-submarine aircraft and helicopters, as well as nuclear attack submarines on the bottom of the sea, and it can be somewhat reassured, but for the exercise sea area demarcated by the PLA 50 kilometers ahead, Bridge's people have not entered it.

Both the PLA's Kilo-class submarines and the newest 041-class submarines can be equipped with the Club-S anti-ship missile system, which can launch 3M-54E or 3M-54E1 submarine-based missiles, both of which have a range of more than 200 km.

Among them, the 3M-54E is the last stage can also fly supersonic anti-ship missiles at a speed of Mach 2.9, and when it is 20 kilometers away from the target, it drops to an altitude of 3-5 meters and rushes to the target at lightning speed, this altitude is basically a blind spot for the Aegis air defense missile system, and it is difficult to prevent the attack of this supersonic anti-ship missile by relying on the phalanx defense system alone, especially if the PLA submarine dives within 50 kilometers to launch, leaving the reaction time of the defense system is even more insufficient.

At the time of departure, Rear Admiral Bridge, who was originally full of ambition, suddenly discovered that the elusive submarine of the People's Liberation Army was the biggest enemy of the aircraft carrier fleet.

If he does not enter this area, he will not be able to rule out whether there are PLA submarines in front of him, and this time he can really only stand in the distance to see the PLA's island-grabbing tactics; However, if he entered this area, it would be tantamount to entering a state of combat with the PLA without declaring war, and Bridge was not sure to control the trend of the entire campaign.

To enter, or not to enter, it was a really difficult choice for Bridge.

When the PLA warships and landing craft arrived at these islands, the soldiers stationed in the Philippine army surrendered when they heard the news, and Thitu Island, as the island with the strongest military strength, had no strength to resist, and there was no reason for these islands with weaker defensive strength to be sent to death.

After the PLA seized these islands, its first task was to install wireless communications and radar systems on them, so as to realize a complete air defense early warning radar system in the northeast of the Nansha Islands, and the first batch of radar systems was a simplified version of the multi-base radar used to counter US stealth fighters.

The air defense of the island, for the time being, is dominated by the FLV-1 vehicle-mounted short-range light air defense missile system, which is a single-vehicle integrated air defense system, and the chassis uses a 4×4 high-mobility multi-purpose wheeled armored vehicle, on which a search, tracking, launch and positioning system is integrated, the launcher is equipped with 8 missiles ready to launch, and there are 8 spare missiles in the car, which can launch two types of missiles with passive infrared homing guidance or laser semi-active homing, which is enough for short-range air defense within 10 km.

This air defense system is flexible and maneuverable, which is completely easy for targets such as helicopters and anti-submarine aircraft, and can also pose a lethal threat to fighters attacking below 5 kilometers. With such a thing, there is a preliminary air defense of the radar system on the island.