"Can't see the target?"

When he heard the news, West's brain went down for a moment.

So far, the Rear Admiral's experience in the Navy has been varied.

For example, when the Zealous was sunk fifteen years ago, when he was still a lieutenant colonel, he watched two A4 attack planes fly over, drop bombs, and then hit.

This is not an opportunity for every commander.

But in the face of the situation in front of him, he still couldn't make a judgment for a while.

Alert radars have clearly detected flying objects approaching at high speed, but AWACS helicopters, which should have had better visibility, reported finding nothing.

"Could it be that it's not a Huaxia plane, but a UFO?"

The end of the 90s was the time when UFO mania was at its highest, and even West, as an admiral, was not immune to some influences.

Fortunately, the radio operator quickly reported the follow-up and did not let the fleet commander continue to think nonsense:

"Aquaman reports that they are suffering from electromagnetic interference, and all of them are cluttered signals in that direction!"

West didn't know for a moment whether to be happy or worried.

On the one hand, the Chinese are always easier to deal with than the aliens.

But on the other hand, this means that the other side has a fairly powerful electronic jamming capability, at least not weaker than the US military in 1991.

Under the circumstance that both sides clearly have no intention of misfire, electronic warfare is almost the trump card in the confrontation process.

At the same time, this also means that the Sea Javelin anti-aircraft missiles in the fleet will not be able to lock onto the target.

At this point, the target distance displayed on the radar screen was already close to within 150km.

The rear admiral no longer bothered to think about where the Chinese had come from to get such a long-range plane, and where they had obtained the electronic warfare technology that was enough to blind their own early warning aircraft.

He could only use all the strength at hand to survive this wave first.

With West's order, the deck of the USS Excellence went into an unprecedented state of busyness.

It should be said that the Royal Navy showed a level of training in line with the old maritime hegemons.

The aviation department quickly coordinated the four aircraft ready to land into two batches to free up two usable take-off and landing points, while removing the drop fuel tanks for the other two Sea Harriers, which were on standby, to meet the weight requirements for vertical take-off.

Just a few minutes later, the two planes piloted by Major Ian Watson and Captain Randall Brown completed the take-off procedure, switched to level flight mode, and flew towards the location of the target.

The voice of the command staff on board the AWACS helicopter was heard on the radio:

"Clover, the other side may have implemented electromagnetic interference, and our X-band radar can't see the target, but the target is also not found using the radar, you may be able to take advantage of this."

In 1983, when Watson was a rookie, he suffered a radio failure that prevented him from finding the aircraft carrier and landed on a passing cargo ship just as he was about to run out of fuel.

Since then, four-leaf clover has been his call sign.

"Roger."

Watson turned on the radar and tried it, and found that as the AWACS aircraft said, there was a clutter in the direction of the target, which indicated that there must be something, but it caused them to be unable to use the AIM120 air-to-air missile, which was used as a trump card.

In the vertical take-off state, he only has enough fuel on board to fly about 270 kilometers at economic speed, so he doesn't have much time to worry about.

In the end, the major decided to follow the advice of the AWACS, turn off the radar that was not used at all, make a slight circle, and approach the enemy from the side.

He knew that the vast majority of Soviet-made fighters had poor visibility from the cockpit, so it was difficult to detect the presence of targets on the side, especially under the side, without the use of radar.

If you are lucky enough, you can even cut directly into the opponent's back hemisphere and occupy a huge first-mover advantage.

As long as it can be delayed for 8-10 minutes, it will be enough to empty the take-off deck and allow the other planes behind to take off in the normal way.

"Major, remember to judge the model of the opponent's aircraft after engaging the enemy, it is best to leave image data with a photo gun, it may be useful after we return home."

This time the order came directly from West inside the CIC.

The current situation seemed to be back on track, and the two Sea Harriers should be enough to entangle each other, so he began to wonder what model the Huaxia had sent out, which could fly a distance of nearly 1,600 kilometers.

"Maybe they're not ready to fly back at all?"

Lieutenant General Boise, who had just been made a little nervous by the tension in the CIC, finally found another opportunity to speak, and in his opinion, the situation should be under control.

But the joke that he thought was funny did not get any response, and even the captain who had been on his side before did not look at him.

"The three planes changed direction and headed towards our two Sea Harriers."

Colonel Dennis looked at the radar interface and said with a shocked expression,

"But Clover, didn't they turn off the radar?"

In the case that neither side uses radar, it should be a black eye, but the response made by the other side is obviously targeted.

"Who knows what kind of witchcraft they used......"

West, who was a little exhausted, shook his head,

"In any case, at least they didn't continue to rush in our direction, and the Huaxia planes should not have much fuel, and they will return after being entangled for too long."

Speaking of this, the major general finally breathed a sigh of relief, and leaned his upper body back on the backrest.

……

A few minutes later, Watson, who had just received the warning, had made visual contact with the target at a distance of about 30 kilometers from the fleet.

However, the three-plane formation of the Huaxia Air Force occupied a favorable position with their backs to the setting sun, which made it difficult for the British pilots to look directly at the target.

But despite this, the major vaguely saw that there was a slender fuselage model among them, which looked very much like an old acquaintance Su-15 only from the silhouette.

Of course, Huaxia does not have such aircraft, so it should be their own J-8B.

After judging the target information, Watson relaxed slightly.

Under normal circumstances, the interceptor has the worst comprehensive flight performance at the current flight altitude of about 8,000 meters, and if it really falls into a circle, then with good nose directivity, as well as high stability performance brought by high thrust-to-weight ratio, the Sea Harrier should not fall into the downwind.

Everything went as he expected.

The three planes of the other side did not seem to have any intention of continuing to fly towards the fleet, but entered into a dogfight with him in a hurry.

"Come on, monkeys......"

The moment the planes staggered, Watson muttered to himself.

However, just as he was about to pull out a large-angle disc at 90°, Yu Guang suddenly saw three other long wakes at a lower altitude than himself, streaking across the sea, extending in the direction of the fleet......

"No, they don't just have three planes!"

The major shouted into the radio:

"Fleet, there are three other planes passing in your direction, pay attention to interception!"

On the other side, Rear Admiral West, who suddenly received this report on the aircraft carrier, bounced straight out of his chair.

He grabbed the microphone as fast as he could, and asked the entire fleet to prepare close defense weapons.

Intellectually, he believed that the other party would not really fire at him.

But the memories of the past allowed him to complete a series of instructions almost uncontrollably.

However, it was too late.

In mid-air, Wang Wei in the cockpit had already seen the masts rising from the sea level in the distance.

He knew that was the goal this time.

In the mission briefing, there is no further explanation of the "flyover" action.

Theoretically, the reconnaissance pod he carries can take pictures at a range of 65° to the side, and as long as the image of the target fleet can be recorded in the camera, the mission should be completed.

But Wang Wei has some higher requirements for himself.

He wanted to be able to pass directly above the opposing aircraft carrier Excellence and take a picture of the situation on the opponent's flight deck.

That must be a very precious image.

The altitude of the flight formation dropped to an astonishing 30 meters, but fortunately, the sea was calm and calm, so that a big wave would not suddenly hit.

In order to guarantee the imaging, the three aircraft reduced their speed at the last moment of approaching the target.

If he still flies the old J-8B, then it will be difficult for him to maintain level flight at a speed of less than 400km/h.

But this amazing aircraft managed to maintain a speed of about 300 km/h at ultra-low altitudes and flew steadily.

Wang Wei finally adjusted the course and aimed the nose at the deck of the aircraft carrier in the center of the fleet.

He could even see two Sea Harrier fighters on the flight deck preparing to take off, and look up at his crew in shock or horror.

(End of chapter)