Later in the day, near Mansehra, an important town in the southern foothills of the Hindu Kush.

Radar operator Captain Arshad Khan had just completed a changing of the guard with a shift of colleagues in front of him and sat in a chair in front of the radar console.

As almost the closest anti-aircraft missile position to Kashmir, it has been used as one of the most important nodes of Gongwei Ipo since the 90s, equipped with a battalion of Hongqi 2B A surface-to-air missiles imported from China.

This model, which has shot down the U2 many times, is no longer advanced in the mid-90s, and its imitation prototype S75 Dvina River in the Gulf War even forced the Huaxia Air Force to pull out the Type 59 100mm anti-aircraft gun, which is not easy to be jammed, and turn the anti-aircraft missile regiment back into an air defense regiment to deal with the air threat under strong electromagnetic interference.

But in any case, this liquid-fueled, pre-launch and even refueled anti-aircraft missile has a fairly decent height and range on paper, and the warhead is huge, and it does not require very precise hits to the target.

Because the position itself is about 4,000 meters above sea level, this missile once hit an astonishing altitude of 28,000 meters during test launches.

For the Pakistani army, which is unlikely to encounter the high-intensity air threat of the NATO coalition for the time being, this is already the best anti-aircraft weapon they can use.

At the very least, it can provide some practical security to the big guys in Iborg.

However, in the last year or two, the situation in Kashmir has obviously eased a lot, probably because India's main source of weapons has fallen into chaos, and many equipment cannot be repaired and supported smoothly.

Arshad yawned, turned around and turned up the radio on the table behind him slightly.

There's a game of his hometown cricket team on the air.

In the following rounds, the scores of the two teams rose alternately, and the battle was very intense.

"If it goes on like this, I'm afraid the game will fall into a draw."

A fellow in charge of communication next to him was also paying attention to the score on the radio, and his tone was a little regretful:

"We had a big advantage at the beginning."

As two countries with the same roots and origins on the South Asian subcontinent, the discipline of the Pakistani army is basically on par with its old rivals, and slipping out of the line in the course of duty is not a big deal at all.

As soon as the correspondent's words fell, the home teams of the two men made a beautiful pitch and successfully sent one of the opposing batsmen out.

"I think if you say a few more frustrating words, we might win."

Arshad made a joke with his companion while habitually glancing back at the radar screen.

A bright spot that appeared on the screen made him suddenly excited:

"Wait, there's a signal near the eastern border."

"What borders? The next round hasn't started yet. ”

The correspondent was still immersed in the game, and it was not until Arshad turned off the radio that he finally came to his senses:

"Eastern borders? So why are you so nervous? ”

Kashmir's eastern side is the border with China, which is basically in a state of complete stocking, and their focus is on the vicinity of the military demarcation line, which is where the opposing air force most often carries out cross-border provocations.

"But this plane has an altitude of 18000 and a speed of 1100."

Arshad stared at the radar screen and frowned slightly.

This is by no means the altitude and speed that a civilian aircraft can reach, but judging from the trajectory of the other side, it is indeed only flying along the border line in a decent manner.

"Maybe a fighter from the Huaxia Air Force is patrolling......"

The correspondent became quieter and quieter in the middle of his speech, and it was evident that this explanation was difficult even for him to convince.

"We've been here for 6 years, how many times have you seen their fighters in this position?"

Arshad rolled his eyes:

"Anyway, let the launch unit prepare first, refuel in advance, and then go and notify the battalion commander."

An important upgrade of the Red Flag 2B A was the improvement of the fuel bunker, which at least increased the life of the tank, although it was still necessary to refill the fuel before use, so that the permission to refuel was delegated from the battalion commander himself to the officers on duty.

Of course, the launch order still had to be given by the battalion commander.

The operational command room suddenly became busy.

By the time the command and escalation process was completed, the plane had flown close to the Line of Actual Control.

"Hope is just a false alarm......

The communicator, who sat back in his chair, muttered as he looked at the bright spots on the radar screen.

Almost as he spoke, the target, which had been flying along the border line, suddenly turned around and plunged straight into the north side of the demarcation line in the southeast direction.

Feeling a little dizzy, Arshad forcibly suppressed the urge to gag the mouth of his fellow countryman, and ordered in a deep voice:

"Quickly notify the Peshawar base and the Kamla base so that they are ready to intercept the target!"

At the same time, Lieutenant Colonel Mukherjee, who was sitting in the cabin of the MiG-25RB, was rejoicing that his little cleverness had just worked.

He did not directly rush into the Pakistani area of actual control from the northernmost part of Kashmir, but disguised himself as a patrolling Huaxia fighter jet, and only suddenly turned the nose of the plane when he was about to reach the line of actual control.

About a minute after he crossed the border, he received a warning that he had been tracked by an S-band fire control radar, and that the RWR (Radar Warning Receiver) showed that the source of the threat was the SNR-75, but Mukherjee knew that it must be the same model that was imitated in China.

It had only been about 30 minutes before another radar with an almost identical signal had scanned him, but it was too far away to lock on.

Obviously, the legendary S300 did not exist, and he went around in a big circle because of an air defense system that could have been just an improved version of the Sam 2, wasting almost half of the fuel and almost an hour of time for this.

"It's good that I deceived them, otherwise it's still a bit dangerous to rush directly to the anti-aircraft missile position......"

The lieutenant colonel muttered to himself in a cheerful mood.

Of course, he could not have known that the slow reaction shown by the other party was only due to the negligence of the radar operator.

In just a few breaths, the MiG-25 climbed to an altitude of 22,000 meters, still maintaining a speed of around 1,100 km/h, and because of fuel constraints, Mukherjee could only turn on the afterburner at the most critical moment.

The Pakistani missile operators on the ground burst out with incredible efficiency, completing the launch preparation in the shortest possible time through various operations that did not comply with the provisions of the manual.

The commander of the air defense battalion was still asking for instructions, but he found that the MiG-25 still had no intention of turning after crossing the entire Kashmir, but continued to rush in the direction of Iburg.

He hesitated for half a second at most before giving the order to launch.

On the hexagonal launch position, two missiles shot into the sky with thunderous sounds and dazzling firelight.

Solid-fuel boosters can give missiles decent acceleration, and highly toxic nitrogen-containing fuel, although inconvenient to use, at least has a relatively long working time.

Inside the MiG-25 cabin, the sound of the RWR instantly turns into a continuous high-frequency buzzer, which often means that the missile has been launched and is on its way to itself.

"So fast?"

Mukherjee was surprised by the speed of his reaction, and he pushed the throttle valve to the end as fast as he could, and it was clearly no time to take care of fuel.

The battalion commander in the command room looked hopefully at the two anti-aircraft missiles on the screen that were getting closer and closer to the target, and for a moment, he was already fantasizing about the scene when he was awarded.

But the good times did not last long, and the radar showed that the target was getting faster and faster, breaking through twice the speed of sound in a short time.

"2.2 times the speed of sound?" A drop of sweat appeared from the forehead of the battalion commander.

This speed and height clearly speaks for itself, and it is not the first time he has battled his wits with the MiG-25, but before that time the opponent had only operated in Pakistani-controlled areas of Kashmir at best, and had never been so rampant.

"If it continues to accelerate, it will be out of our killing range."

Arshad's tone was a little annoyed, and a little afraid:

"It'...... Will it actually fly over Iborg? ”

"No...... Belch...... I mean, I don't know, I hope not. ”

The battalion commander wiped the cold sweat from his head, and the face reflected on the radar screen had turned pale, after all, 2.2 times the speed of sound was really not a number worth mentioning for the MiG-25:

"Has the air force already taken off?"

"I've been informed."

Arshad nodded.

He felt that his battalion commander seemed to be overreacting, and at the same time secretly made up his mind that if the people above checked it, he would truthfully admit his mistakes, and he would definitely not affect others no matter what.

In reality, however, he underestimated the gravity of the situation.

In the entire unit, only the battalion commander himself knew what his anti-aircraft missile position was protecting.

It's not Iborg, as everyone thinks, but a nearby top-secret nuclear industrial facility that is currently producing high-purity weapons-grade enriched uranium.

If something goes wrong there, a thousand deaths won't be enough for him to atone for his sins.

But at the same time, Mukherjee in the MiG-25 cabin was not comfortable.

The electronic reconnaissance pod under the belly of the plane had a greater impact on flight performance at high altitude than he expected, and the plane not only failed to accelerate to more than 3 times the speed of sound, but even took some time to break through the speed of 2.3 times.

The RWR can only provide a radar signal, and in fact the pilot has no way of knowing where the missile fired at him is already in.

After a few seconds of celestial and human battles, the huge psychological pressure still made Mukherjee make several consecutive sets of small left-right maneuvers.

At extremely high speeds, even such an action instantly pulls the overload of the aircraft to more than 3.5g, but fortunately, the aircraft is strong enough, and Mach 2.3 is far from the point where the performance of the fuselage material is degraded due to heating.

The booster rocket engine of the missile works only for a short time, after which it can continue to fly to the target only by inertia.

The situation of Hongqi 2 is slightly better, but it is only relatively speaking, the main engine of liquid fuel is really not enough, and the top speed is not even much faster than that of the MiG-25.

Mukherjee's maneuver forced the two missiles to change course in succession, causing them to quickly run out of energy as they had lost power and had to climb.

The commander of the air defense battalion in front of the radar screen watched as the two missiles began to fall high one after another, and the nearest one was also more than two kilometers away from the target.

But there's hope—

He didn't know why the MiG-25 didn't use the easiest way to accelerate away, but the few maneuvers just now were not without cost, in addition to briefly dropping the target's speed below Mach 2.0, it also caused a yaw in the direction of flight.

Now the opponent needs to make a small radius turn that must lose altitude and speed in order to re-aim at Ipo, and this leaves a theoretical interception window for the aviation units.

Communicators are continuously reporting to Peshawar and Kamla to assist them in directing fighter jets to intercept.

Two Mirage 3EPs of the 7th Squadron and two J-7Ps of the 14th Squadron were lifted into the air as soon as they received the report just now and were approaching the target from two directions.

A little farther away, two F16As of the 9th Squadron had also taken off, ready to rush to help.

The MiG-25 had a set of camera equipment in the nose, no radar, and no contact with the base at such a distance, so Mukherjee did not know how many planes were intercepting him, but he responded with experience after reorienting.

Climb, not accelerate.

Including the F16A BLOCK15, no aircraft of the Pakistani Air Force can launch radar-guided medium-range air-to-air bombs, nor can any aircraft fly more than 21,000 meters, and they are destined to be helpless against real high-altitude targets.

But if you blindly increase your speed, on the one hand, you may run out of fuel, and on the other hand, in the case of a complete blindness, you may even hit the plane head-on in the face of the aircraft that came to intercept it.

At that time, it was difficult for the gods to be saved.

"What a sophisticated bastard......"

Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Sammy, who was piloting the Mirage 3 plane, heard the other party's movements on the radio and cursed indignantly.

He relied on his rich experience to completely guess the other party's route, so he took the wingman and made a special circle after takeoff, and now he is almost in front of the opponent's flight direction.

If the opponent is a superstitious daredevil, then he will probably enter the range of the missile in 3 minutes, and the temperature of the skin in the high-speed flight state of the MiG-25 is amazing, even the older infrared-guided combat projectiles can capture the heat source on the skin, and there is no need to cut into the six o'clock before firing like facing a normal target.

But now, he knew that this interception should have failed.

Soon, the two J-7Ps that tried to pursue the target were the first to abandon the attack due to lack of fuel.

Although the F16 in the distance had already captured the target signal with radar, the AN/APG66 radar could not guide the over-the-horizon attack, so it had to give up.

Only Sami and his wingman approached a height of about 2500 meters below the target with a single jump and fired a salvo of Magic air-to-air missiles.

But close-range combat munitions weren't designed to be fired in such awkward positions.

The muzzle velocity was insufficient and the missile had to climb, and the four missiles lost their stability almost the moment the rocket engine stopped working, and the only gain was to capture the trace of the MiG-25 with a camera gun, which was considered to save some face for the Air Force.

……

A few hours later, several pilots involved in the interception, as well as the commander of the anti-aircraft missile battalion, were brought together to the Air Force General Staff for a high-level briefing.

Thanks to the desperate launch unit recovering a lot of time, no one knew that Arshad almost missed the target due to a hemisphere match, so although the atmosphere was a bit heavy, the attitude above was generally positive.

After all, the equipment gap does exist objectively, and it is not easy to see the other party within the visual distance.

A short time before the meeting, Colonel Bhadra Islam, the leader of the 9th Squadron, who was also involved in the interception, approached the somewhat lost Sammy.

"Well done, honey badger."

The two had served in the same unit for a long time, and the honey badger was Sammy's code name at that time.

But his superiors obviously prefer Islam, who obeys orders, so his official luck is much better than that of Sammy, and he can stay in the F16 unit all the time.

"Don't mention it, it's not like letting the family run away." Sammy was clearly not content with just taking pictures of the target with a camera gun.

"I don't think that's a bad thing."

Islam whispered into Sammy's ear and said:

"Especially at this time."

"How?"

Sammy looked up at his old friend next to him.

He was a fairly pure pilot, or more bluntly, a battle maniac, but far less sensitive than Islam in other matters.

"The last time you went to China to participate in the air show, did you see their new fighter?"

The Xiangzhou Air Show has been over for a few days, and the air show at the opening ceremony has already been spread everywhere.

"Of course, but what we are looking at is actually another deeply improved version of the J-7, I should have shown you a photo of its model?"

Islam nodded:

"Indeed, in the past, we have always regarded the equipment of the Chinese people as an alternative, or a cheap replacement, and the main force of the Air Force has always been the Mirage 3EP, as well as the F16."

"But this time, do you think the big guys in Iborg still have a choice?"

An old friend's words made Sammy think.

He's just insensitive, not stupid.

"Hmm...... Are you saying that we may buy a higher-grade Huaxia fighter, such as the J-8C? ”

"But on the one hand, Huaxia itself does not have radar-guided medium-range air-to-air missiles, and its interception capability may not be stronger. On the other hand, even to counter the threat of the MiG-25, the introduction of a high-altitude and high-speed interceptor does not seem to be a good option for us. ”

"You're right, but it's all technical."

Islam's tone was a bit hateful:

"But for our country, the choice of the main fighter is not only about technology, the Chinese are much more reliable allies than the United States and France."

"That's true."

Sammy agreed.

"Look, big changes are going to happen soon."

Islam said and patted Sammy on the shoulder:

"General Pervez may be going to inspect the Kamla base in a while, you remember to behave in front of him, don't be too deliberate, it's enough for him to remember you as a person."

"Pervez?"

Sammy was stunned for a moment when she heard the name:

"Isn't he from the Army?"

"Leave this alone, anyway, you must remember this incident, I have never cheated you before...... At least not on the ground. ”

Islam was not a very good pilot, and teaming up with him in air combat was almost the same as fighting alone.

However, in areas other than flying, he did quite well, and he didn't have anything to say about his subordinates and friends.

"Well, that's true, listen to you."

Plus more in the afternoon as usual, thank you for your help on the recommendation

(End of chapter)