"How can it be a 'waste of time' to fight the Russians?

Don't think I'm old and confused, in the current situation, the Ivan have blocked the Turkish Straits like an iron barrel, and our amphibious fleet will not attack the Balkans, can we fly directly into the Black Sea to attack Crimea and Sevastopol?

I know what the Pentagon means better than you guess, and I can't see the slightest bit of the situation - let's say, so forward-looking, you don't have some Italian ancestry! ”

"W-What?"

Baffled by the old general's words, General Clark looked at the angry vice admiral with a suspicious expression, and he was now finally sure that there was something wrong with this guy's brain, and the problem was quite serious.

Thinking back to his previous experience as a conductor, seeing off Lieutenant General Mark Mitchell, a hard-liner veteran, and working with Lawrence for a few months was quite pleasant, Clark now ran into such an unreasonable old fellow; Now, when he heard the inexplicable "Italian blood", he only felt greatly offended, so he stared at the vice admiral with a furrow on his face, as if he was about to go crazy.

But at this moment, the deep voice of the chief of staff finally sounded again:

"Alright, alright!

Excellencies, do not look forward to the future of war: in fact, this is one of the important items on the agenda of my visit, which is to convey to you the next package of action plans.

General Ford, the 'Rainstorm' operation that you questioned was, regrettably, a smokescreen released by the intelligence services. The next move on the Naval Amphibious Assault Fleet. Attacking the Balkans is an unrealistic and unwise move that lacks both campaign and strategic value; Instructions from the Pentagon and His Excellency the President. It was the 'Typhoon' operation that came to an end. After advancing to the predetermined 45th parallel, the coalition forces suspended military operations in the Caucasus and concentrated the amphibious assault forces of the Navy and elite forces on the ground to attack and completely occupy the Islamic Republic of Iran. ”

"Attack, attack Iran?"

Hearing what the chief of staff said, Clark and Ford, as well as the army generals present, were all surprised, but before they could come to their senses, more bizarre combat arrangements echoed in the conference room:

"Having toppled the extremist regime of Islam in Iran and seized control of the strategic springboard to the north, the coalition will immediately launch a military operation on an unprecedented scale. Codenamed 'Titan', the operation was designed to attack and occupy the Central Asian region of the Evil Empire. -- Yes, gentlemen, this is the Pentagon's outline, and I think each and every one of us should be aware of the current war situation. ”

“……？！”

After listening to the words of the chief of staff, Gray Chang immediately fell silent, and everyone present was stunned on the spot, and no one spoke for a while.

yes, this guy just said that. What are they?

If it is said that the "attack on Iran" just now has made the generals find it difficult to understand. Then, when the chief of staff said the plan of action for "attacking Central Asia," they could only be stunned for a while, and they really could not understand the thinking of the decision-making level -- what exactly did it mean to "attack Central Asia" and what was the strategic value of the inland hinterland of Central Asia, which had no important territory, and could it be that by laying down this piece of desert and the barren land next door, the hateful Russians would be able to bow down and admit defeat?

Well, if you think about it from another angle, this is probably also a kind of strategic layout above, and it is not unreasonable to attack Iran for this purpose, for example, to occupy Central Asia to cut off the strategic ties between the Soviet Union and China - this is also a good option.

However, the core problem now is that the current situation on the front line of Western Europe is far from stable, and the fierce fighting over the English Channel has not stopped for a moment; In today's multi-front war in the free world and the arduous struggle in the face of the evil empire, it is necessary to plan a long-range force projection operation that consumes so much in order to accomplish such a slow result and may cause war with all the countries of the Eastern Bloc?

With deep doubts, after a brief period of surprise, the participants were either looking at the map or whispering to their colleagues next to them, but after a period of confusion, everyone basically reached a consensus that no matter what the battle was going on, the current battle in the Caucasus must be resolved quickly.

Deciding this, General Clark got up and left the meeting hall after the adjournment, and gave a slight "hum" in his nose when he glanced at Lieutenant General John Ford, who was still puffed up at the conference table.

Damn, this confused old fellow, how could Washington send such a person to command a fleet!

This hateful old Minneapolis thief, he really thinks that the navy is going to attack the Balkans, is he also a little self-righteous, is it really that the Warsaw Pact group is a soft persimmon like Saddam?

With a feeling of irritability that came out of nowhere, the general who walked out of the conference room strode down the corridor, and it was true that after several previous sordid cooperations, he no longer had any good feelings for the admirals. Turning the corner of the corridor in disdignation, the general suddenly saw the intelligence officer who had come to report the situation:

"Your Excellency, General, we have the latest analysis of the air power of the Russians."

"Oh,—say it."

It seems that he is still immersed in the previous unhappiness, and the general only intends to listen to the information provided by his subordinates mechanically.

"Yes, there is still no further definite information on what was previously suspected to be a new Russian missile; But assuming from the information returned by the informant, combined with some information obtained in terms of the training of troops and the characteristics of weapons, the technical department concluded that the Russians had most likely developed an active-radar guided missile of the real combat level.

In this regard, the person in charge of intelligence gathering in the Pennant Design Bureau also reported that the missile test project, codenamed R-77, had been completed, and although it was uncertain when the model would be put into production, but—"

"And what about the conclusion, Major? I want conclusions, not technical generalities. ”

"Uh, the conclusion is ......"

Faced with General Clark, who had an unkind face and seemed to be angry about something, the Major Intelligence Officer considered it for a moment, a little fearfully, before giving the research team's inference, although he himself was not entirely sure whether this inference was reliable:

"In short, the Russians may soon put the R-77, that is, the active radar-guided missile, into operation; Such a scenario would lead to a serious change in the air situation, and we must attach great importance to this possibility. ”

"Well, well, I see; Then send a secret message as you say, but there's nothing to fuss about this kind of thing. ”

The general was not surprised that he had heard some vague information about the R-77 in previous intelligence reports, and combined with his own expertise in electronics, he always doubted that the drunken Russians would develop an air combat weapon comparable to the AIM-120 "Slammer".

But...... Now think about it from another angle, it is entirely possible that after the defection of the French, the Ivan could have received some help from them.

Thinking of this, Clark raised his hand and patted the intelligence officer on the shoulder, instructed him some precautions for sending secret messages, and then returned to the office on the second basement floor by himself. Sitting down in a soft swivel chair and lighting a Havana cigar to relax for a moment, the general thought of the so-called "new missile" mentioned by his subordinates, and to be honest, he felt that the threat of this thing was not as tricky as the terrible "Caucasian Reaper".

After all, compared with the Russian with amazing combat effectiveness, new weapons always have to be tested and perfected for a period of time before they can play a certain role on the battlefield; Now that the battle in the Caucasus has reached the point of burning eyebrows, what can the Russians do even if they have any new missiles?

So this kind of thing is not to worry about, the technological superiority is still on the side of the United States!

As for that hateful "Grim Reaper" -- the intelligence department actually gave him the code name "Scythe", how mentally retarded do these idiots have to be to come up with such a code name -- although it is still a big problem for NATO's tactical air force, but think about the battle reports of the last few days, this guy has not appeared very often, and he has also run to a low altitude to deal with the attack planes of the boys?

Even if this single-handedly "Grim Reaper" has given up the struggle for air supremacy and ran to a low altitude to hunt down NATO attack planes, what impact can it have on the war situation in the entire southern theater?

As the commander who gave the dispatch order a few days ago, Clark couldn't help but think of the previous ultra-low-altitude battle, where the "Fighting Falcons" were twisted and shattered in the flames of the explosion, as if they were floating in front of him; Those Turks who were transferred to the past not only failed to solve the "Grim Reaper", but suffered heavy casualties in the battle with that guy.

But isn't such a tragic end exactly what he, or the U.S. Air Force, needs right now?

Yes, that's it!

In the face of the grim threat of the "Grim Reaper", even if he temporarily uses some cannon fodder to deal with things, as long as he stops hindering the implementation of the battle plan, then what can't he do?

In the fierce battle that followed, it is conceivable that the Russians at the end of the crossbow were on the verge of collapse, and when the boys of the Air Force cleaned up all the MiGs of the Russians, they became a lonely "Grim Reaper", a "flanker" piloted by one person, even if they were powerful, what would be the use......

Oh, and besides that, aren't there reinforcements sent by Washington!

Remembering Harold Fisher, who had not attacked in recent days and seemed to be temporarily dormant, and the aerial "shark" piloting the F-15S/MTD "Agile Hawk", General Clark suddenly came to his senses, grabbed the phone on the table, and gave an order to his subordinates on the other end of the microphone:

"Oh, yes; Go and ascertain the condition of the 'Shark,' and tell him that the United States needs him to be ready for battle, and to take to the skies early tomorrow morning. (To be continued......)