On the other side, on the Pacific Ocean.

On the splint of the USS Reagan, Jalen Jackson had just landed on deck in his FA-18, and after greeting the crew, he went straight to the bar in the living quarters inside the cabin.

At this moment, he craved a cold Coke more than ever, because the intensity of the flight training he had just experienced was so amazing.

Large overload maneuver, over-the-horizon attack, low-altitude penetration, efficient take-off, and ship-touching go-around.

Under normal circumstances, it is absolutely impossible to normalize the training subjects, and on today's day, almost all of them have been walked.

In fact, this is not the first day he has trained like this.

Since two weeks ago, since they entered the Eastern Pacific region, such high-intensity training has not stopped, and even he, who claims to love flying, feels miserable.

But even so, he did not dare to complain.

Because he knows that the situation he is facing is not trivial.

What we are about to face is probably the largest conflict in human history – and once it happens, even the "World War II" that has been told countless times in the stories of our parents and grandparents may not be able to compare with it.

You know, this is a direct collision between two hegemon-level countries in the real sense, and once the meat grinder is turned on, there are only two reasons left to stop it:

Either the energy that keeps it running is depleted, or it's . The meat ran out.

Jay Lun doesn't want to be the meat in the meat grinder, so he can only cooperate with the commander's orders, squeeze his potential through high-intensity training, and try his best to fight for more chances of survival for himself.

But even so, Jay still has no confidence in his heart.

He'd seen reports of those ghost fighters, and as an experienced pilot, he knew better than anyone how terrifying it was to have an undetectable fighter plane that wasn't just over-the-horizon, and could even attack from outside the range of its own radar.

I am afraid that on the day of a head-on confrontation, the only chance for our side is to rely on its numerical superiority, under the cover of electronic warfare planes and early warning planes, to penetrate the defense at high speed to a close range, and exchange the tragic battle losses of three or even four planes for one in exchange for a chance of victory.

——

However, when you think about it, the situation does not seem so pessimistic.

He once saw a joke about two people who were being chased by a bear desperately trying to escape, not to run faster than the bear, but to run faster than the other.

Obviously, I must be the fastest runner.

Thinking of this, Jay's mood finally relaxed a little.

He walked into the bar and sat down at the bar and ordered himself an iced Coke, but his heart couldn't be warmed by the cold liquid.

The soldier on the side, who was also wearing a flight suit, leaned over and said to him:

"How's it going, Jay, how are you doing today?"

Jaylen spat and replied:

"Very good, very bad."

"My girl is old, and every time I do a maneuver, I feel her wings creaking, and maybe one day it will fall apart."

"Take it easy, bro, that's just your delusion."

Hearing his words, Jay Lun couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Patrick, you're flying an E2C, of course you don't have to feel it, you don't have to do a roll maneuver at Mach 1.6"

"Mach 1.6? Are you crazy? ”

Patrick was shocked, before turning into an AWACS pilot, he had also divided F-16 and EA-18, but like the operation in Jaylen's mouth, he was really unheard of.

At such high speeds, even a sharp turn can cause the plane to lose control.

Roll?

That's a real life.

"yes, I think the Commander is crazy, too. But you have to admit that if you want to survive at the hands of our enemies, you have to be crazier than them. ”

"You have probably seen the previous examples, our fighters do not have any advantage in front of them, once targeted, if they can't quickly counterattack, there are only two results: they are shot down, or captured."

Hearing his words, Patrick nodded with a heavy face.

But then, he said with some relief:

"It's okay, our destroyers will protect us."

"You've heard, right? The Burke class has been equipped with the latest L-band radar, and its anti-stealth capability is much stronger than the SPY-1D we use today. ”

"At least within two hundred kilometers, their recognition rate of stealth units can reach more than 60%."

Two hundred kilometers. Patrick, you know what? The range of their latest air-to-air missiles has reached 200 kilometers, and the range of air-to-ship missiles can reach an astonishing 1,000 kilometers. ”

"You say, under such an attack range, what is the radar identification range of 200 kilometers?"

"But at least their air-to-ship missiles can't be carried by stealth fighters."

Well, maybe that's our only chance."

Jay Lun shook his head helplessly and continued:

"But you know, those missiles were fired from the H-20."

“.”

Patrick was completely speechless, and he looked left and right, as if trying to find someone to stand up and speak for him.

But in the end, he chose to skip the topic and spoke instead:

"Alright, Jay, don't think too much."

"Since the commander has decided to participate in this fight, it means that they must be ready."

"Instead of blindly worrying here, it's better to do your own thing."

"A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier."

Jalen shook his head again, but he also saw Patrick's helplessness.

After all, as an AWACS pilot, the problems that you are actually worried about should be solved by them.

But isn't the problem unsolvable?

Jalen didn't want to spread his pressure on Patrick again, so he turned to ask:

"I heard that you have been looking for the location of the 001 aircraft carrier formation, has there been any progress recently?"

"We didn't, but there was progress on the NRO's side, and they took satellite images of the 001 carrier twice, but unfortunately, each time it happened to be at the edge of the clouds."

"So, they didn't track it either."

"Is it far away from us?"

Jaylen continued.

"I don't know now, but according to the information from the last time, they are at least more than 2,000 kilometers away from us, which is beyond our warning range."

"That is, at least for now, we're safe — no, my fault, I should say, they're still safe."

The two looked at each other and smiled, each raising their glasses.

However, just as they took the last sip of their glass, a man rushed into the bar.

Then he walked briskly over to Patrick and said:

"Emergency, we need to take off immediately."

Patrick didn't say a word, but followed the man straight out of the bar, leaving Jalen alone in a daze.

At this time, he didn't know what was happening, but a few minutes later, he received the same order.

The order for an emergency lift-off.

The fleet has not yet entered a state of emergency, but Jaylen knows that it will be sooner or later.

"According to the report, the position of the ship has been found, 600 nautical miles away, and the intention is not clear."

"AWACS feedback, according to radar signals, there are two E2-C, four EA-18 lifted into the air."

"It is speculated that the other party has discovered our position, whether it will be intercepted in the air, please instruct!"

Inside the bridge, the editor Luan Yijun listened to the captain's report with a calm face, and his fingers rhythmically tapped the cup in his hand.

At this moment, he fell into a long test like a game, and the question he pondered was:

At such a sensitive moment, what is the intention of the other party?

——

Of course, they must have done it for reconnaissance, there is no doubt about that.

But what about after the scout?

Is it to be deployed for enemy combat, or is it just to be used as a reference for routine activities?

The difference between the two will determine the difference in your own response.

It is true that from a purely "military" point of view, the Chinese side could have taken the most radical approach and immediately lifted into the air to intercept the enemy after it entered the air defense identification zone, or even turned on the fire control radar to force the other side to react.

But such a move does not meet the requirements of the overall strategy of the moment, because the risk of conflict is too great.

In the process, no matter which side it is, as long as there is a slight miscalculation, then the final result must be fire.

Pulling the trigger and degassing is only for a moment, but the trouble it can bring is immeasurable.

Thinking of this, Luan Yijun opened his mouth and asked:

"Did you get the satellite images? Did the opposing fleet make a turning move? ”

"I got it, I haven't found any other actions so far, and I'm still moving forward according to the scheduled route."

Speaking of this, Captain Cao Gangchuan paused for a moment, and then continued:

"I don't feel like they're going to do it."

"The maximum combat radius of the EA-18 is less than 800 kilometers, and now the distance between our two sides is still close to 1,100 kilometers.

"Their purpose should be to send the EC2 within a radar scanning range of 360 kilometers to detect and identify the configuration of our fleet."

"It's a pure provocation, but the intensity of the provocation. Well, it's not too big. ”

"My suggestion is that there is no need to have a head-on confrontation with them, and there is no need to carry out an eviction."

"Our training mission has ended, and we are about to return to Hong Kong to replenish supplies, at this time, there is no need for extraneous branches-—— it is better to just leave."

Hearing Cao Gangchuan's words, Luan Yijun first nodded, and then shook his head.

He opened his mouth and said:

"Judgments that cannot completely rule out risks are invalid judgments."

"It's true that we are not within the opponent's combat radius, but their first take-off was not intended to launch an attack, it was just a pure reconnaissance operation."

"What I'm worried about now is that after the other side has the specific location and ship configuration information of our side, it will cooperate with other aircraft carrier formations that we have not yet discovered to encircle us."

"You know, now they have three aircraft carrier fleets in the waters of the western Pacific, but we have only found one."

"Where are the other two? Can you tell? What if it's just that coincidental, right behind us? ”

Cao Gangchuan on the side frowned, he originally wanted to say that the possibility of this situation is too low, after all, the sea surface range swept by the Air Police-500 is much larger than the sea surface area that 001 actually sailed.

But on second thought, such an idea is indeed too hasty.

Moreover, it is not without the experience of being surrounded by the other side that your own ships have been surrounded by the other side.

If this kind of thing happens a second time in this era, no matter who it is, it can't be forgiven.

So, after a moment of silence, he asked:

"Then carry out the eviction? But in order to completely break the tracking chain of the other party, based on the current distance, we need to implement uninterrupted electromagnetic interference on them for at least four hours. ”

"This is very risky for us, and the current maximum combat radius of the J-10D is only 900 kilometers, and we also need the Air Police-500 and Rainbow-9 to cooperate, and if friction occurs in the process, we will not have time to support at all."

"First carry out an emergency maneuver and get out of the reconnaissance range of the other party."

Luan Yijun put down the teacup and replied decisively.

"Like us, they rely on satellites for positioning, and neither early warning nor reconnaissance aircraft have yet to intervene, so they are so eager to go forward, and they even do not hesitate to reveal their exact location."

"In this case, there is still a high probability that we will be able to get out smoothly."

"It doesn't take four hours, it only takes one hour for us to get out of each other's maximum warning range."

"The EA-18 has such a big range, unless they really don't want to die, and send the E2C to touch us without escort."

"But this strategy of exchanging lives for information, I don't think they can do it."

"Give the order, order, two J-20Bs, with J-10D, immediately take off into the air and drive away the approaching opposing military aircraft."

"Be sure to ensure that within 1 hour, the other party will not arrive within 400 kilometers of our side, and return quickly after completing the drive, and the early warning aircraft will be recovered and landed!"

"Understood!"

Cao Gangchuan replied loudly.

In just five minutes, the J-20 and J-10D took off one after another, and under the guidance of the Air Police-500, the four fighters quickly approached the opponent's active airspace, and completed the interception and electronic jamming before the E2C approached the sea radar scanning range.

The stalemate between the two sides lasted for more than an hour, and at this moment, the 001 aircraft carrier group after the emergency turn had left the exposed area.

With a speed of nearly 40 knots, 001 drilled under the clouds at the fastest speed, completely blocking the opponent's satellite tracking route.

Luan Yijun breathed a sigh of relief, in his opinion, this potential crisis seemed to have been resolved in the best way.

Little did he know that just a few hours later, a piece of news began to spread explosively in major global media outlets:

"The formations of the two sides met in the Pacific Ocean, and the other side made a sharp turn and fled!"

(End of chapter)