Finding that there seemed to be some flaws in the plan, the angry lieutenant colonel had not yet lost his mind, and he knew that the Russian interceptors were already waiting in the northern sky, and once they approached the center line of the Sea of Japan at 40 degrees north latitude, the young men of the 35th Wing would be intercepted by the long-range missiles of the "Foxcatcher" fighters, and the MiGs flying everywhere would probably be very bad.

From this point of view, the sinister Ivan who flew the "flanker", did he not want to fish at all?

Fishing, fishing, all of them are fishing, is this guy treating Japan's airspace as his own pond, he is simply a bastard and a devil!

After weighing the pros and cons, he still ordered the fighters of the 35th Wing to "engage in cheapness", and whether to test the reality of the Russian interceptors or not was up to the front commander, but the operation of chasing and killing the "sickle" could only be eliminated.

As soon as the order was issued, the "Eagles" who flew at supersonic speed and rushed straight towards the PVO interception line were relieved.

The operation to pursue the "Reaper" was canceled, and compared with some young pilots who were secretly glad, the commander who was staring at the radar display screen and seeing the "White Reaper" less than 20 miles ahead refused to give up, and was in the F-15C fighter plane flying at Mach 1.5 and about to catch up with the Russians.

I was going to try my luck by launching four "Slammers" in one go, but the cunning "Scythe" did not even take this risk, and presumably entered the serpentine maneuver "Flanker" and quickly delocked the AN / APG-63 radar.

Although I am unwilling. However, it is necessary to lock onto the target in the same direction at once and launch a tail chase attack during supersonic pursuit. It's a lot more difficult than a head-on interception. The Russians' interceptors were getting closer and closer, and a team of F-15C/Ds that accelerated their sprint could only reluctantly turn around and leave, giving up the seemingly "low-reaching" goal.

Tail chasing and attacking a fighter, even if it has been caught within visual range, this job is not easy at all.

Just like now, in the face of the "flanker" escaping at Mach 1.3 speed, the AIM-120B, which has a considerable range, can only be launched when it is close to more than ten kilometers, and it will have a minimum killing probability. If the target machine does some maneuvering evasion, the hit rate will be even less optimistic; On the other hand, Russian interceptors in the northern skies did not have such concerns, and missiles such as the AA-9 "Amos" were fired head-on at a distance of more than 100 kilometers.

Turning around and detaching from the pursuit course, one gray giant bird after another quickly returned, and Lieutenant Colonel Will Smith in the command center was still angry.

A massive operation yielded no results, and then he would probably be called in by the generals to reprimand.

The futility of the Americans. In other words, it is a misjudgment based on wrong information, which is of course an unexpected good news for Long Yun, who is returning from the plane. But now he didn't bother to investigate in detail the reasons for the return of the "Eagles", but nervously calculated the next fuel consumption and some measures that had to be taken.

As soon as he escaped with afterburner, supersonic flight was of course relatively fast, but the fuel consumption was even more rubbing upward, and now his white No. 20 was almost out of fuel!

The jet engine of a fighter jet, generally speaking, thrust and fuel consumption are not strictly linear, but the lowest fuel consumption per unit thrust at cruising thrust, and when the thrust of the engine is higher or lower than the cruising thrust, the unit fuel consumption will increase; In addition, once the afterburner is turned on, while the thrust is greatly increased, the increase in fuel consumption is even more amazing, take the AL-31F as an example, when the thrust is 12.5 tons and the thrust is 6 tons, the difference in fuel consumption between the front and rear states will reach more than six times.

Because of this, fighter jet engines, unless necessary, generally do not fly with afterburner, like Long Yun's rhythm of departure just now, with a certain range of afterburner flying nearly 300 kilometers, although the landline is already empty, it is still about to burn all the oil in the plane.

Next, if it weren't for the IL-78M tanker on standby in the air, he would probably have to glide all the way and then find a pleasant sea area and make a direct forced landing!

After a fierce battle, the MiG-31M of the Territorial Defense Force was waiting at high altitude, piloting the White 20 to maintain level flight, and the Long Yun quickly joined the two MiG-23MLDs along the line, this process did not require IFF assistance, and PVO pilots could determine friend or foe by visual observation of those approaching on the predetermined route.

Detached from the war-dense and crisis-ridden southern airspace, the tanker was just in front of him, but Long Yun's long-distance raid was not over, and he found that the fuel stock of the landline was already very thin.

Less, how little will it be?

Looking at this, it is very difficult to support the tanker!

Looking down at the fuel gauge numbers, an indicator pin on the top has been placed in the red area, although there are probably hundreds of kilograms of oil in the fuselage of this Su-27M2, but there are still some "dead oil" that cannot be used, and how much can really be burned, this matter can only be guessed by experience.

Finding that the situation was a little wrong, the young man in control of the M2 aircraft did not panic at all, he called the IL-78M tanker aircraft "exclusive" of the 210th Air Division in front of him in the channel, asked the crew to prepare for refueling in the air, and at the same time specified a lower flight altitude than the normal refueling procedure, and after confirming that the convergence track was correct, he tried to gradually reduce the fuel supply to one side of the engine, and when the engine speed was close to the slow train, he turned off the left engine while stabilizing the control stick.

As the power on one side gradually disappeared, the Su-27M2, which had already dropped to more than five hundred kilometers per hour, immediately showed a yaw trend, which was also expected by Long Yun, and he did not completely rely on the pneumatic control to correct it, but continued to fly along a slightly twisted course.

In this way, he flew all the way until he saw the huge Ilyushin in the sky, who was dragging smoke and releasing the refueling hose, and gradually corrected his track, while approaching the IL-78M with full concentration, preparing for air refueling.

Turning off one side of the engine, that is, flying alone, is an effective means to reduce fuel consumption and let the aircraft stay in the sky for a while longer, of course, how to control it is a science; And like now, piloting a single-engine Su-27M2 fighter to approach the air tanker, complete the docking of the fuel filler and start refueling, it is even more of an acrobatic air show.

Just as Long Yun was concentrating and micro-regulating the flow valve trying to approach the tanker, he saw the Sukhoi fighter in the clear sky dragging a wake and approaching the IL-78M, and in the two MiGs flying next to him, the pilot's eyes were wide in a daze.

Seeing the white No. 20 with only one wake, they thought at first that the landline of the number one ace was out of order, but now this fighter actually has to go to the air for refueling, the Su-27 with a single engine parking, of course, to ensure safe flight, but the air refueling that requires an accurate response is actually OK, Viktor Rezenov, he is actually strong enough to do this?

I didn't say it, since it is the "Grim Reaper" who is driving, maybe a double-engine Sukhoi can get up to refuel!

The idea is probably completely nonsense, but for the super killer of VVS, it can be said that all the pilots of the Red Air Force and the Territorial Defense Force are extremely admired, even if they see this trembling and majestic white giant bird trying to dock, the people present, of course, including the operators on the IL-78M, are not worried at all, and the white No. 20, which is about to run out of fuel, quickly completes the connection and begins to greedily swallow precious aviation kerosene.

A refueling in the air, considering that the left engine could not be restarted at this time, otherwise it would be impossible for the gods to keep the flight stable, Long Yun, who was firmly grasping the joystick with both hands, stared at the fuel gauge while feeling the bumps and tremors of the landline.

If there is too much refueling, the Su-27M2, which now has only one engine output, will become too heavy, and if it continues to raise the angle of attack and increase the thrust of the engine, it will become more and more difficult for the fighter to stabilize its flight attitude, so he only replenished about 3,000 liters of fuel, and then left the tanker and embarked on the return journey.

With the return of the "Scythe", a fierce aerial battle in the central region of Honshu came to an end.

Or rather, this is more like a demonstration by Viktor Rezenov than an air battle; The U.S. military stationed in Japan and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, the two air defense forces, were clumsy in the single-plane penetration of the White 20, and although there were some objective factors, they still disappointed everyone, including the commanders of the two armed forces.

Disappointment is not enough, for some of them, it feels like a kind of "despair".

Later that day, after the "Scythe" was raging on the island of Honshu, where air defense fighters and ground-to-air missiles were densely packed, later that day, Will Smith, who had been disgraced by the incident, went to the headquarters to report and stood in a certain office in the building with a dejected expression.

In the face of his subordinates who were unfavorable in battle, the gray-haired and cold-looking general did not say much to reprimand, but only talked about the pros and cons of the day's battles in general, pointing out how unrealistic his idea of blindly trying to kill "Crazy Ivan" was.

In addition, the general also bluntly reminded Lieutenant Colonel Smith, who was directly responsible for the "Scythe" response and had a high level of secrecy, that what is the US military's combat strategy in Japan, and the most important thing at the moment is not to destroy the Russian front-line fighters and prevent the Ivan from throwing bombs on the Japanese head, but to try to contain and consume the opponent's war potential, and the specific means is to consider how to launch a new offensive against the enemy in the north. (To be continued......)