As the Imperial Navy began to orbitally bombard the capital of the planet Rabel, the armies of the forces of Chaos began to attack the Astral Army's defenses.

The Hell Demon Dragons in the sky were densely packed with them, and they launched an attack on the Thunderhawk gunships of the Astral Army from the sky.

This profane product of a combination of man, machine, and demon, once a fighter jet piloted by an upright and loyal Space Marine, has become more and more ugly and disgusting since it was corroded and mutated by subspace energy.

These fallen creatures loyal to the Chaos Gods possess a wingspan that even surpasses that of the Storm Eagle gunboat. Their favorite method of attack is to charge down from high altitude directly at unsuspecting enemy air support, then tear them to shreds with claws or cables.

Along with them, the Storm Bird Gunboat and Storm Eagle Gunboat Machines of various Chaos forces were covered by them, as well as a small number of Chaos Thunderhawk Gunboats.

The Stormbird and Stormhawk were gunboats that served heavily in the Astarte Legion during the Great Expedition.

The Stormbird's sheer size allows him to have a large crew, a powerful Void Shield system, and a variety of weapons with incredible firepower, which can adapt to the strategic mobility and firepower needs of larger wars, making it far more favored than Thunderhawk in the Legion.

Although the Storm Eagle is inferior to the Thunder Eagle in terms of transportation space and armor, it is more maneuverable than the Thunder Eagle. The firepower is also very ferocious. The Iron Hand Guerrillas once used a fleet of Falcon gunboats (a specialized version of the Storm Hawk) to ambush three mutinous primordials, nearly annihilating them all.

Most of the Thunderhawks of the Astral Army were sent to evacuate the Astral Army in the city, and now they are transporting those Astral Forces to other places, and it is impossible to come here directly to support.

Otherwise, if a Thunderhawk is shot down, the Astral Army full of Thunder Eagles on it will have no way to survive, and even some of the Thunderhawk's martyrdom may destroy the new Titans under him.

Before those Thunder Eagles had evacuated the Astral Army and rushed here, with only a few Thunder Eagles and a few other types of fighters, the Astral Army's air power here was undoubtedly at a disadvantage compared to Chaos.

But with the powerful air defense of the Astral Army, then the inferior side will become chaos.

"S zone reports the discovery of 330 batches of targets at a bearing of 270 and a distance of * km......"

In the defense zone of the Astral Army on the ground, the vigilance radar operator took the lead in reacting and quickly found and captured the target. Imperial Navy warships in space are also constantly scouting and providing information to enemy air units to the Astral Force.

The Astral Army has established an all-round reconnaissance and early warning system here to search for air conditions in real time. Whether or not we can seize the initiative on the battlefield one step ahead of the enemy is the key to survival and victory in the air defense battlefield.

If it can't be intercepted at the first time, then once the enemy breaks through, the destructive bombs, aerial guns, and lasers will destroy many fortifications and facilities of the Astral Army.

If the enemy has the information of the Astral Army's deployment and destroys the Astral Army's air defense facilities in a targeted manner as soon as it breaks through the air defense zone, then even if the Astral Army can win in the end, the Astral Army will have to pay an extremely painful price.

However, the powerful information network of the Astral Army makes it impossible for this to happen, as early as the moment the Chaos Forces came to the real universe, their every move was under the sight of the Astral Army, and it was impossible for them to catch the Astral Army by surprise.

The Astral Army will not let the other side have any hope of succeeding in the attack, and their air defense operations are as stable as Mount Tai. No matter what kind of air power the enemy is, it can be deployed in advance according to the characteristics of the enemy.

With the help of various information, the Astral Army had already made preparations, arranged air defense combat positions in advance, and waited for the opponent to come to the door.

When the chaotic air units approached, the various firepower detachments quickly prepared to shoot, forming an air defense firepower network that was connected from far and near and complemented by high and low levels.

When the enemy aircraft came into fire range, the first to attack was the Patriot missiles of the Astral Army. The missile detachment quickly tracked and intercepted the enemy aircraft through the information system and carried out precise strikes against enemy aircraft.

Searching, intercepting, and firing were carried out in one go, and through close coordination and cooperation, the various firepower detachments carried out precise interception of enemy planes.

Each Patriot missile has a total of two missile nests, supported by a rotating base. It can lock onto the target in a short period of time and launch anti-aircraft missiles to attack the target, the missile does not have the large explosion range of the anti-aircraft gun, but it has a high degree of accuracy, and the missile can effectively kill all types of armor without being as difficult to penetrate heavy armor as anti-aircraft shells.

When multiple Patriot missiles are faced with multiple enemies, they will not stupidly concentrate their firepower to attack the same target, but will aim at different targets, so as to avoid the waste of firepower to a large extent and improve the efficiency of air defense. However, the Patriot missile has a slower rate of fire and has the potential to self-destruct because it cannot catch up with the target, making it unsuitable for dealing with a fast, high-volume enemy.

But the Astral Force is not limited to the Patriot missile. They also deployed a number of anti-aircraft guns to compensate for the lack of Patriot missiles.

Anti-aircraft guns are inexpensive, and although they are not as accurate as missiles, they effectively compensate for this with a large killing range.

The rate of fire of the anti-aircraft guns is relatively fast, and multiple anti-aircraft guns can cause a lot of deterrence to the enemy air force, especially for the Storm Hawk, whose chaotic armor defense is not strong, and the black clouds that suddenly explode next to him are undoubtedly hinting at the coming of death.

However, anti-aircraft guns are more powerless against units with incredible defense, such as the Storm Bird with a Void Shield.

But in addition to Patriot missiles and anti-aircraft guns, the Astral Army also deployed a large number of Getter cannons. This air defense facility is also one of the important air defense forces of the Astral Army.

Equipped with two large-caliber multi-barrel cannons, the Getter cannon can continuously rain a large number of shells at the target with a terrifying high rate of fire. Aim at air targets and beat the enemy's air force into a sieve.

The most important feature of the Getter Cannon is that the longer the continuous attack, the faster the rate of fire, and the more damage it causes, which means that units without heavy armor should not linger too long in the range of the Getter Cannon.

In addition to air defense, the Getter cannon can also strike at ground units, although in the face of heavy armor, the attack of the Getter cannon is not a great threat, but for the infantry, the Getter cannon is like a dream demon, almost creepy.

The Getter cannon is also a terrifying killer for lightly armored vehicles, and it is not easy to survive the rain of bullets.

In addition to these, there are a number of weapons systems capable of air defense that are fixed on the weapon platform. The Saber Gun Platform is a fixed heavy weapons platform used by the Astral Force and the Planetary Defense Force, carrying common squad heavy weapons to suppress ground and low-altitude targets.

The weapons on board the Saber platform are usually determined on a case-by-case basis, and the list of weapons available includes a twin-pack heavy blast, a twin-pack laser cannon, a twin-pack auto-cannon, and a quadruple heavy lumberjack, with weapons other than the laser cannon capable of both ground-to-air missions.

The platform is equipped with a built-in stabilizer to counteract the recoil and improve accuracy, while it can also rotate the gun mount 360° horizontally and adjust the weapon's firing angle up and down, which makes the weapon platform have a very wide firing range, and it is only one that can control a very large area.

There are also anti-aircraft vehicles such as the Hydra anti-aircraft cannon, the Manticore rocket launcher, and the Whirlwind missile vehicle, which are supported by the commander's orders.

The Astral Army adopted a mixed group of projectiles and artillery, deployed ground-to-air missiles in the main direction of attack by chaotic air units, intercepted them as far as possible, and deployed close-range missile and antiaircraft artillery detachments in the firepower connection area, making up for the blind spot in firing and effectively expanding the range of anti-aircraft firepower.

The various air defense facilities of the Astral Army set off a storm of anti-aircraft artillery fire, knocking down the Chaos air units from the sky with heavy missile punches.

When numerous anti-aircraft weapons fired together, the blow inflicted on the enemy in the air was spectacular. The wings of the alien monsters were smashed into a pile of flesh and blood, and the small body of the Storm Eagle caught fire from the air fire, and even the heaviest Storm Bird would be burned into debris when the Void Shield was overloaded with just the right missile or shell to hit the fuel tank or engine.

After several rounds of strikes, Chaos forces of warplanes and demons rained down from the sky.

However, the air units of the Chaos Forces once again carried out continuous surprise attacks on the air defense positions of the Astral Army, and their flight speed was several times higher than before.

According to the real-time sharing of air information, the antiaircraft artillery detachment deployed outside the missile launch range uses fire control radar to capture and arrest targets and carry out fire resistance, the missile system independently completes reconnaissance and judgment, and the commander reasonably distinguishes firepower to carry out three-dimensional counterattack against the enemy.

The air defense equipment roared and swept the sky with an uninterrupted line of fire, forming a net of clear fire. No chaotic warplanes, gunboats, or demons were able to break through the Astral Army's firepower network, and the Astral Army once again succeeded in intercepting the target.

In addition to the threat from the air, the ground power of the forces of chaos is even stronger. It is therefore important to ensure that there are sufficient soldiers and ground defenses to protect anti-aircraft weapons from attacks from the ground, allowing them to focus on the task of clearing the airspace.

The Astral Army deployed a large number of heavy artillery and heavy vehicles in the defense area to ensure its firepower, and in the past, the Astral Army troops were always accompanied by thunderous artillery bombardment when they entered the battlefield.

An artillery battery of dozens of artillery groups fired shells from long range non-stop, attacking the enemy before a full-scale attack. However, before the smoke cleared, the infantry onslaught followed, and the enemy still did not recover from the devastating shelling.

"Sun and Moon"

However, in general, the previous Astral Army was still mainly charged by soldiers, and artillery fire was only used for support. The previous empire was very extreme on this issue, and despite being elite, the Astral Army was still an absolutely cheap mass-produced consumable.

The equipment in the hands of high-value units, such as super heavy tanks or heavy artillery, is difficult to replenish in a short period of time once lost, and it is difficult to produce enough in large quantities in peacetime.

Therefore, the Empire would rather compensate for the low integration of a single corps with a complex chain of command, more troop inputs, and relatively advanced and reliable communication technology, and should retain as much vital equipment and personnel as possible, rather than tolerate them being dispersed among subordinate units.

But again, since Sivir led the empire, the empire now has mastered science and technology on its own, and its productivity has greatly increased. Equipment is produced much faster than it is consumed.

The Astral Force is now able to deploy artillery and vehicles in large numbers across a variety of battlefields. Consumables have been changed from the Astral Army itself to the equipment used by the Astral Army.

In order to make better use of the firepower of various heavy vehicles, the Astral Army has built many tank bunkers in the defense area.

This tank bunker is a simple fortification on which the walls around it rise, revealing the spikes on the walls.

Once inside a Bunker, the tank cannot move, but this does not affect the use of its own weapons in any way, in fact, the range, damage, and rate of fire of the tank are increased to a certain extent after entering the Bunker.

The sturdy walls can protect the vehicles in them from enemy shelling, nerve gas, and even psionic attacks.

But in the face of top-down missiles of air units, tank bunkers do not effectively protect the vehicles in them. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that you have air supremacy in order to better protect these vehicles.

In addition, vehicles without rotating turret structures are generally not allowed to enter due to the inability of the vehicle to turn the body after entering.

These tank bunkers alone naturally could not meet the firepower needs of the Astral Army, so the Astral Army also deployed a large number of artillery pieces on many weapon platforms.

The equipment that destroys the most of Chaos' powerful vehicles is the Empire's new anti-infantry defense structure, the Sentinel Cannon.

These sentry guns are arranged in large numbers in the defense area, using simple camera probe "glasses" and the Astral Army's tactical armor with the identification system of friend or foe, which can quickly distinguish whether the approaching target is friend or foe, and avoid accidental injury.

Equipped with two large-caliber multi-barrel rotating blaster barrels, it can fire shells at a rate of 300 rounds per second, and the bullets fired are Vulcan giant blasters, which are highly effective anti-personnel weapons.

The Vulcan Mega Blaster is a large weapon commonly installed on Imperial Titans and other Super Heavy Tanks, often as an arm weapon for the Wardog Recon Titan or on the shell of the Marauder Titan and Warlord Titans. The Emperor Titan can also have one or more Vulcan Megablasters attached to its shell bearing point.

Vulcan's Giant Blaster is far larger and more powerful than Space Marine's Heavy Blast, and the sustained blast wave can even overturn a Rand Raider from the side.

Originally designed by the Imperial Research Department under the orders of Sivir to deal with infantry, the Sentinel Cannon proved to be effective not only in killing infantry, but also dealing considerable damage to enemy vehicles.