To combat the PD detection mode of the AN/APY-1, it is not enough to rely on the radar stealth capabilities of the MiG-29N.

On this issue, Long Yun has calculated and tested many times before, and he estimates that the maximum distance at which the MiG-29N piloted by himself and his partner is about 100 kilometers when it is discovered by the "watchtower", which is still a bit far for the MiGs carrying the R-27EP to launch a surprise attack: if they are discovered by the AWACS aircraft and keep rushing forward, they will become very conspicuous on the radar display screen of the "watchtower".

Once the enemy is aware of this, takes countermeasures, and uses two MiGs with worrying combat power to deal with the swarming NATO interceptor fighters, there will be no possibility of accomplishing the task at all.

So now, in the cockpit of a stealth fighter with a good field of vision, Long Yun has to complete a math problem with the help of the number jù analysis function of the radio detection system, and he needs to judge the trajectory and flight status of the target before deciding whether to continue to approach and launch a missile sneak attack.

According to the primitive triangulation method, combined with the E-3A "watchtower" air patrol area provided by the KGB, Long Yun used the limited detection system of the automated program to demarcate the target bearing, and determined that the US early warning plane hovering in the airspace of western Turkey at this time was about 130 kilometers away from him. Moreover, judging by the trend of changes in the position of the target, this "watchtower" is flying along a predetermined route in the east-west direction, and the angle between it and the course of their group of MiGs is about 70 degrees, which is a fairly good tactical condition.

As we all know, when the Doppler filter mode is turned on to complete the target search, the radar's interception ability of the fighter is not only affected by the target RCS, but also by the relative velocity between the two.

Theoretically. Radar detects head-on targets at the farthest distance. The detection capability of a target that maintains the same velocity vector flight is almost zero; This principle also applies roughly to the AN/APY-1 carried by the E-3A "watchtower". And now the Longyun twin aircraft is equivalent to approaching from the front side of the AWACS aircraft, which is a situation that neither suffers nor stains light, and it should be possible to allow the MiG-

29N approached within 100 km undetected.

But even so, in the face of the "watchtower" early warning aircraft dozens of kilometers away, can it directly launch the R-27EP to carry out an attack?

Long Yun wished that this was the case, but now under the integrated hatch and watching the sky around him vigilantly, he thought that he and his partner had good luck so far, but as a normal pilot, not a suicide kamikaze. He had to keep the sneak attack as unknown as possible, from the target to the convoy.

To do this, he must act cautiously and make more decisive decisions, because now that the two MiG-29N's are out of the Soviet GCI guidance system, there is no one to make decisions for him; Continuing to pilot the fighter plane to approach the prey, Long Yun kept the plane flying smoothly without any additional movements, and he still needed to get a little closer now while waiting for the upcoming opportunity.

If we can encounter such a situation as "early warning aircraft turning around," although we may not be able to do what we want in terms of time and place, it is also good to try to make use of it.

If you want to stay in the air over the theater of operations all the time, it is impossible for the E-3A "watchtower" to keep sailing in a straight line all the time. The U.S. Air Force has a set of standard tactical procedures for which it must fly laterally and then fly back and forth. For example, it is very common to simply turn back directly at the navigation point.

With a detailed understanding of these strategies, Long Yun is waiting for such an opportunity.

In the short period of time after the AWACS aircraft turned around and returned home, the An/APY-1 radar on the "watchtower" would still remain in working condition, but it would basically lose its search capability due to the change of coordinate system and the interference of the velocity vector of the PD mode.

Such a small amount of time for the system to fail will not become a loophole in conventional warfare at all, and Long Yun does not expect to rely solely on this gap to succeed in a sneak attack; However, at the moment, the MiG twin aircraft must wait patiently for this moment to come, because the launched R-27EP missile can not frequently correct the trajectory, otherwise the range will be greatly reduced, so they must wait for the E-3A to complete the U-turn, and be sure that the track will not be adjusted for a period of time, so that they can safely set the parameters and launch the missile to deliver a fatal blow.

But looking at the actions of the Americans, when exactly will they start turning around?

Piloting the MiG-29N, which has a lot of internal fuel and an even more alarming fuel consumption rate, the Longyun twin aircraft have already flown about 400 kilometers away from the Bugas base, and their next actions must always pay attention to fuel consumption, otherwise they will not be able to reserve the necessary fuel for the return flight; This kind of combat experience of pinching his fingers and waiting for the enemy to hit the muzzle of the gun was a difficult torment for the pilot, but fortunately, Long Yun's psychological element was quite good, and he kept an eye on the changes in the number of signal interception systems, from which he deduced whether the E-3A "watchtower" had entered the switchback route.

Piloting a radar stealth fighter, approaching the side of the prey and waiting for the opportunity, while also taking care to avoid becoming a target for nearby NATO fighters, driving the MiG-29N through the gloomy sky, Long Yun could feel the sweat in the palm of his hand.

Compared with the previous high-spirited and exhilarating air battles, he now acts more like an assassin sneaking in the dark, peeking out the window, waiting for the most suitable opportunity; Not only that, but the fuel stock of the landline is also decreasing, and once the fuel stock alerts them, they must give up the operation and return home, although there is still a chance later, but this also shows that the feasibility of the raid operation is not high, which is not an exciting good news for the design bureau.

So now he's desperate to open the scoring and win, but will the Americans play with it?

As if in response to Long Yun's expectations, just as he was meditating out of thin air, the display of the radio detection system changed, and the bright line representing the S-band radiation signal drifted on the screen, and there was some deviation from the previously detected target direction; At this time, although he didn't know the specific distance number, Long Yun could immediately conclude that the "watchtower" in the sky ahead had entered a U-turn route and would soon turn into a reverse flight.

Without further ado, the opportunity is now!

Sensing that the enemy plane was about to turn around and return home, Long Yun immediately began to calculate the target distance, this kind of thing, it is not easy to do it with passive signal interception equipment, but now he is going to use the R-27EP, an over-the-horizon missile with a theoretical range of 75 kilometers, but the target is at a loss, so as long as the target is within the missile attack envelope, there can be a considerable probability of killing.

Carrying out assassination missions deep in the sky above enemy countries, even the MiG-29N, which was driving radar stealth, had to be afraid, and RWR alarms sounded in the cockpit from time to time, but they did not interfere with Long Yun's judgment at all.

After some rough estimates, now that the E-3A should have completed the U-turn, but it is far from flying for enough time in the air, then the next "watchtower" must maintain its course and fly in the opposite direction and continue to be on duty on the side of the theater; The target trajectory of triangulation positioning is also basically determined, and the distance between friend and foe is about 80 kilometers, which exceeds the tail pursuit range of the R-27EP too much!

Yes, since the target turned to the east, it was far out of the attack envelope of the R-27EP missile, but at the same time it also weakened the radar's detection capability of the two MiG-29N, because now the velocity vector synthesis results of the enemy and us have changed; After confirming that the "prey" had turned around, Long Yun immediately shook his wings and signaled the wingman to pay attention to his movements, and the two MiGs one in front of the other turned sideways with a slight slope and entered the outflanking route of chasing the AWACS aircraft.

In the sky, the MiG-29N, with full thrust and afterburner, overcame atmospheric drag and accelerated forward, the auxiliary air intake was greedily swallowing air, and the two RD-33 engines struggled to exert the maximum thrust under unfavorable working conditions, so that the light gray stealth fighter gradually accelerated to Mach 0.7, and at the same time climbed all the way into the pursuit route.

In the face of the E-3A "watchtower" whose cruising speed has been maintained at hundreds of knots, it is not easy for the MiG-29N, which has closed the main air intake, to catch up, but it is naturally impossible for the Longyun twin aircraft to keep an eye on the target position and fly like a hunting dog chasing a rabbit, and draw an involute track in the air that seeks near and far, but to plan a track intersection point in advance, and take a 45-degree pursuit angle to catch up, so as to ensure that the trajectory of the R-27EP missile after launch is basically a straight line, so as to obtain the largest possible tail pursuit range.

As the fighter plane penetrated the clouds and accelerated forward, a large area of continuous clouds was thrown away from the distance, and the MiG plane that rushed out of the gray sky gradually shortened the distance from the target, and the dragon cloud in the cockpit looked at it in a blink of an eye, and almost found the outline of the "watchtower" in the sky: in the cloudless and clear sky at an altitude of thousands of meters, the Boeing 707 fuselage with a black radar disk looked quite obvious, and from the analysis of the "clearly visible" article, he knew that his rough calculation was basically reliable, and now the distance of the enemy plane had reached within 30 kilometers. And in the nearby sky, too-

Sure enough, it is impossible for the AWACS aircraft to be surrounded by no guards!

Just as the two gray gradient camouflage MiG-29N were gradually approaching the target, looking at the sky through the slightly black monolithic cockpit canopy, Long Yun immediately spotted several black dots around the white AWACS aircraft, which were obviously NATO fighters on guard duty near the "watchtower". (To be continued......)