The terrifying "Caucasian Grim Reaper", in the eyes of Major General Cooper, is not yet the most intractable threat for the time being.

Regarding the appearance of the Russian ace, he does not think that Ivan sent Viktor Rezenov to grab the head and brush up the battle in the decisive battle of the sea and air, since this guy can chase and kill all the way and cut down an E-2C, it means that he has the ability to penetrate the air defense circle of the US fleet with a single aircraft; And now, a Russian super-ace pilot, strong enough to crush any opponent, is entangled with a couple of heavy and clumsy F-14s, which is suspicious in itself.

Hmph, as for the reason for this......

Thinking of the terrifying combat power of the "White Reaper", the meditative Stanley Cooper quickly came up with a plausible explanation, it was clear that the "Scythe" from the Far East was opening a way for the Russian bomber forces.

As long as this hateful Russian trump card drags down the F-14 fighters of the United States and forces these powerful sky interceptors to prevent them from launching a salvo of "immortal birds", what can stop those hideous-looking fire-breathing monsters on the way from the distant sky to the top of the fleet?

F/A-18E/F, maybe, but with the AIM-120B, which barely reaches a range of 70 kilometers, when this kind of thin javelin pierces the Russian swept wing aircraft, those feared guys will probably throw off their arms and throw out all the "kingfish" or "return pistols", and then, no matter what kind of attitude they fall into the choppy Pacific Ocean, or even whether they will encounter this kind of shark that is rare in this season, I am afraid it is not a question that Ivan will consider.

Yes, a group of barbarians who have been brainwashed by evil and centralized power, and even risk their lives to attack. You can't play cards against this kind of guy according to common sense!

The brain is racing. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that my inference was very reasonable. Stanley Cooper, not believing that Vice Admiral Pratt could not see this, looked up and looked at the general, only to find that the vice admiral was clearly on the verge of an outburst of anger, perhaps because his fleet of the United States did not achieve its intended goal, but was surrounded by Russian bombers, which was the source of the vice admiral's anger?

However, it doesn't seem to be all ......

"William, give the order quickly, we must immediately reinforce the western airspace!"

Oh, yes. Anyway, even if the idiots in Washington single-handedly directed this qiē, the glorious U.S. Navy would have to do it all, even if only to save his own fate, wouldn't he-

"- Reinforcements to the western airspace?"

To the surprise of Major General Cooper, William Pratt, who was in a bit of a trance, did not agree with this obvious tactical arrangement, and his eyes were taken away from the staff officer's face, and his eyes that turned to stare at the display of the air situation were almost on fire, and the anger of His Excellency Lieutenant General now came entirely from the "Grim Reaper". In comparison, even the dozens of Russian bombers on their way are nothing:

"Nope! Stanley. You've fallen for the scythe's trick! ”

“……？”

Ruse? What a ruse, now we are racing against time-

"Of course it's a ruse, bullshit Russian, who thinks that trick can fool my eyes?

Stanley, we shouldn't be reinforcing the western airspace right now! Those damned Russians, their 'backfire' has flown 3,300 kilometers so far," to the surprise of the Major General, after the initial rage, William Pratt did not lash out, but grabbed a bright light pen and gestured on the monitor, "He thought that if I got into a mess with the boys' 'Tomcats' here, I, William Pratt, would be fooled?" Ha! The ghosts will be fooled, Ivan's bombers will be running out of fuel, they can't penetrate at supersonic speeds, so they will no longer be a threat! ”

"Yes, is that so......"

Listening to the impassioned exclamation of His Excellency the Lieutenant General, Stanley Cooper pondered nervously for a moment, although he did not consider the range of the Russian bombers, and therefore did not come to the same conclusion as Pratt, but now that he thought about it, the situation was really as the lieutenant general said.

Yes, the Russians' "Backfire", the so-called M3 modification, should have a maximum range of about 7,000 kilometers, and now it will have to be discounted if it is hung with air-to-ship missiles; And since these long-range bombers that have traveled long distances to the depths of the ocean, since they are coming from the western sea, according to the top-secret information urgently transmitted from the direction of Hawaii, they should have flown from the direction of Sakhalin Island in the Far East.

From Sakhalin Island to the operational sea, the distance is more than 3,000 kilometers.

Although this figure is within the capabilities of the "Backfire", on the other hand, it also means that Lieutenant General Pratt's analysis is completely correct - considering the return fuel that must be set aside, after a long run, this batch of whizzing variable-swept wing monsters should not be able to enter the supersonic penetration state, then it will not become a threat to the U.S. Navy, which is still strong in air defense.

That's right, that's the case, how could I not have thought of it just now!

At first, there was a bit of self-denial, and Stanley Cooper quickly thought that his staff officer, who was busy commanding in the line of fire, did not have time to deal with the complicated intelligence, since he had not seen a single telegram from USPACOM and learned that "the NATO Sea and Air Monitoring System in Hokkaido reported that two batches of large targets had crossed the Sea of Okhotsk", then it was normal to make previous inferences based on this.

But now, now that the wise and martial lieutenant general has seen through it, it is time for the Russians to be unlucky!

Just now, they were nervous because of the bombers painted with red stars, but now that they knew that the "sickles" in the western sky and the "backfires" that had disappeared for the time being were all bluffing, everyone in the command center of the "Theodore Roosevelt" immediately got busy, and under the spiritual power of "maybe we can crush the Russians this time," they commanded the U.S. Navy fighters in the sky to advance to meet the enemy.

Unlike just a minute or two ago, since Lieutenant General William Pratt has concluded that the only spearhead of the Russian attack is a batch of "backfires" in the northwest sea, the US Navy fighter jets in the air, especially the F-14D "Super Cat", can go forward to intercept without any scruples.

As for the vacancies left behind, they were plugged by a batch of F-14A+ that was urgently lifted off on the CVN-73.

As long as the bombers who penetrate the defense are blocked, next, a wave of air strikes can be launched immediately, it has only been more than an hour since the start of the war, and Ivan's fleet has definitely not run far, as long as they seize the opportunity, they can blow up those Maozi battleships painted with ugly deck colors into scrap metal, and a victory is simply within reach!

In the operational command center, the atmosphere turned from chaos and tension to excitement, and William Pratt's assertion made everyone full of confidence, and the Russian bombers, which they thought were hideous and terrifying when they thought about it, seemed to have turned into a few flies buzzing in their ears, and the gray-and-white "Tomcats" with exaggerated paint were flying in a high-spirited formation, and the radar beams of AN/AWG-9 swept back and forth in the sky.

A two-second air refresh is enough to deal with a sluggish and clumsy bomber, and then, just wait for the fire control system to complete the calculation and set the parameters for each AIM-54C on the pylon, and the sky elites of the United States can immediately open fire and blow these reckless guys rushing to smithereens!

In the southern sky, about 200 kilometers away from the 68th Bomber Aviation Regiment, 23 Tu-22M3s of the 317th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment flew at an altitude of 150 meters above the sea surface.

After a long-distance run of 3,300 kilometers, the fuel consumption in the plane was close to 50 percent, the Soviet hammers with their wings swept back to 45 degrees and their heads held high did not hesitate at all, and on the revolver rotating pylons of the fuselage magazine, the Kh-15 anti-ship missiles with stubby wings and sharp heads were also ready to start the first and last supersonic journey of their lives.

The Tu-22M3, the facelifted Tu-22M bomber, and the anti-ship missile platform with the NK-25 engine have a longer range than their predecessors, but in the face of the enemy in the depths of the ocean, the figure of 7,000 kilometers is still not at all.

In this battle at dawn today, if the afterburner is turned on in the process of penetrating the defense and reaches a top speed of Mach 2, the bombers with strict internal fuel consumption will be in a desperate situation, not only will it be impossible to fly back to Komsomolsk, but they will not even be able to go to the nearest base on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

But......

Even if the last guy all falls into the sea, as long as they can complete the missile salvo and send the Americans to the bottom of the sea to sleep, what are the two dozen bombers?

They are really so naïve, speculating on the opponent according to the bomber's internal fuel range and penetration mode, thinking that the Red Navy is just bluffing, but they do not consider other possibilities at all, that is, in the face of the enemy's aircraft carrier battle group, if a batch of bombers can be used to "exchange" the opponent's aircraft carrier, then no Red Navy general will frown. None of the Soviet warriors who rode the sky beast and charged bravely did not hold back.

Nonsense, a direct suicide attack, the style may be a little too strong, but driving a plane to break through the defense, throwing anti-ship missiles wildly, and then returning to the last moment and then ejecting out to wait for rescue, is this kind of thing, does it take any courage to do it? (To be continued......)