In the face of the overwhelming number of Russian fighters, feeling that his own strength was weak, the major couldn't help but regret it while piloting the fighters, knowing that he shouldn't have brought so many useless "sparrows"; Then he was very worried and thought that if the group of twin planes that went out to meet the enemy according to his orders, if they encountered that terrible "Grim Reaper", would they also be in trouble?

“Postal-three，Postal-three！ - Postal-four, can you hear it now? ”

Intuitively feeling that the situation was not good, Harris called the "postman" No. 3 and 4 who had turned to the direction of two o'clock before, but received no response, he guessed that most of them had turned in a big circle to approach the Russians from the north, and had now flown out of the contact range, so he had to grit his teeth with a wry smile, push the throttle valve forward into a high-strength maneuver, and prepare to fight the "whippers" who had turned in a circle and killed back.

Yes, since he is on a cover mission, the soldier's sense of honor does not allow him to flinch in the slightest!

In the cluttered radio, the "counter" informed him that a large number of F-16Cs of the Turks were already on their way to reinforcements, but the so-called "reinforcements" a hundred miles away, these "Fighting Falcons" that could only use AIM-7F, how could they help in the face of the Russian fighter sea?

Harris's mood was completely occupied by a bad premonition, and he began to intuitively realize that his 42nd Squadron was about to suffer the heaviest loss since the start of the battle today.

Damn, this is the latest "attack eagle", a war plane with 40 million green votes!

Think of the F-15E in the wing that could have made a big difference on the battlefield and swept the opponent with precise air strikes. Now they have to suffer huge losses in the fierce aerial tug-of-war. Harris's eyes were bloodshot. He decided to lead his subordinates to fight to the death with the Russian fighter in front of him at all costs, even if he was beaten into the sea, he would have to pull a few more pads.

And what about the "Caucasian Grim Reaper", anyway, he can only die at most once!

……

In the blood-colored sky filled with wolf smoke, the "Attack Eagles" led by Harris are still struggling to support.

This terrible sight of fighter planes fighting to the death and missiles flying everywhere should be a complete nightmare from the perspective of any air force pilot.

However, at this moment, in the NATO Joint Command Center, which is located in the rear, the information from all sides is comprehensively analyzed. The theater commander who discovered the traces of the "Caucasian Grim Reaper" did not panic much, but instead fell into calm thought.

Just a few days ago, after the US Central Command operational meeting ended, the NATO air forces stationed in Turkey and Iraq made a comprehensive adjustment of their operational deployments, changing their previous rough and even somewhat careless tactical tactics and began to seriously consider how to accomplish the air strike missions delivered above while the battle situation was stalemate and the opponent's air force was still strong in combat capability.

After General Clarke's several orders were issued, the U.S. Air Force, which was originally inclined to solve problems independently, became pragmatic, not only increased coordination with the Navy, but also re-examined the huge role of the Strategic Air Force in the Caucasian theater of operations; So in recent days, more B-1B "Lancer" strategic bombers have joined the ranks of air strikes. These long-range bombers, which are dark gray in all their bodies, are hiding behind the battle line with the B-52H strategic bombers, which have already joined the operation, and frequently use AGM-86C air-launched cruise missiles. Deliver pinpoint strikes on stationary targets along the Black Sea.

In the main direction of attack of these heavy bombers, the air shape on the western side of the Black Sea is different from that on the eastern side, not only because there is no terrible "Grim Reaper" in the sky here, but also because in the operational area that seems to be surrounded on three sides and can be amplely deployed by air forces, the Warsaw Pact's front-line air force is divided into three air forces: the Soviet Union, Romania, and Bulgaria, and the defensive posture is not as tight as a simple paper map.

Although in peacetime, the air forces of the three countries under the unified command structure of the Warsaw Pact have also conducted many coordinated exercises, but in a real war in which the situation is changing rapidly, coordination between them will inevitably go wrong.

In this case, in recent times, NATO's B-52H strategic bombers have basically completed their tasks smoothly; Reports sent back by reconnaissance satellites and intelligence systems show that with the gradually increasing fire support of the Air Force, the hit rate of both the Navy's BGM-109 Tomahawks and the Air Force's AGM-86C "Alcam" missiles has been rising.

Of course, in the face of a powerful and thick-skinned polar bear, a forward strike that lasted only for a period of time was not enough to create sufficient favorable battlefield conditions for the ground offensive that was about to be launched.

Unlike the sea-based "Tomahawk" missile platform, which was limited by water control and could not enter the Black Sea to launch an attack on the deep hinterland of the Soviet Union, the command was ready to use the B-1B "Lancer", which had a fairly good radar stealth capability, to fly over Turkey and close to the southern front to launch a large-scale surprise attack to carry out surprise cruise missile strikes on several targets in the Dnieper River basin of the Soviet Ukrainian republic!

The precision strike of long-range cruise missiles has always been regarded by NATO as a magic weapon for "capturing the thief and capturing the king and hitting the snake with seven inches", but now the shape of the Caucasus seems to have changed in its favor, and this set of tactics that was tried and tested repeatedly during the Gulf War has been put on the table again.

So even today, the storm over the Black Sea is still raging, but the "Lancer" bombers that have come from afar are already waiting for an opportunity on the periphery of the theater of operations; But just now all the personnel of the command were still a little hesitant, they were struggling with a thorny question, that is, the terrible "Caucasian Death", where is this elusive and terrible threat now, and will it pose a threat to the operation?

This question would have been answered by intelligence agencies; But the large-scale air battles that are now taking place in the eastern part of the Black Sea and the air reports sent by front-line combatants have suddenly given commanders great confidence.

"Morris, can you now be sure that the 'Scythe' has appeared in the eastern part of the Black Sea? - Where is the Yellowstone squadron now, they are still going around in circles in the Mediterranean? ”

"Yes. -- As for the 'sickle', it is almost clear from the reports from the front that it appeared in the field. ”

In the face of the commander's inquiry, Major Morris, whose face was a little gloomy, responded hoarsely, in fact, he still had a subtext that he did not say: just a few minutes ago, the battlefield situation transmitted back by the E-3A showed that the two "Strike Eagles" of the 15th Wing lost contact with the Russian "Flanker" twin planes that were killed head-on, and there was a high suspicion that they had been shot down. (To be continued......)