Chapter 570 Cruising E-3

It is still night, and attacking at night is always a very difficult task, especially for our most advantageous air attack force, which cannot exert its combat effectiveness at night.

Instead of launching an attack at night, it is better to wait and see until daybreak before taking action! At that time, the armed helicopters of the air assault division will bring a fatal blow to the Iraqi army, and the A-10 attack aircraft are special anti-tank weapons!

After a night of running, the Soviet tanks were also exhausted. They had limited fuel and needed to refuel in the desert. When their attack aircraft appeared, it would bring a rain of death to the enemy! Moreover, the Iraqi Air Force was out of reach and could not take care of the deep desert of Saudi Arabia. Yesterday's battle had shown that their air force was still stronger than the enemy!

After hearing what Powell said, Little William frowned, but still nodded: "Okay, then we will deploy according to this tactic, but our ground forces must also be prepared to set up a line of defense in the desert east of Riyadh. If the Iraqi armored cluster attacks, we must destroy them in the desert and protect the safety of our ally's capital!

Saudi Arabia has no strategic location to defend, with deserts everywhere. Tanks racing through the desert can easily penetrate the defense line and attack Riyadh. But when the United States sent troops, it patted its chest and promised to protect Saudi Arabia's security!

"Report, our F-117A Nighthawk formation has returned and is refueling in the designated airspace. All the bombs they dropped hit the targets. It is suspected that President Saddam, who was delivering a national speech in the Baghdad TV building, has been killed. This is now being confirmed." At this moment, another good news came, which made little William extremely excited.

The deployment of stealth aircraft has a very good effect! During the day, so many aircraft were deployed, but Baghdad was not bombed. Now, a few stealth aircraft have solved the problem!

"That's right. After they return, they should continue to prepare for the bombing tomorrow night." Little William said, "If they adjust the time well, they should be able to go out twice in one night."

Today's bombing was just an experimental one, which confirmed the combat capability of this aircraft. If it were deployed after dark, it would definitely be able to bomb twice in one night!

Time passed by little by little, and the eastern sky gradually turned white.

In the Prince Sultan Air Force Base, a large number of aircraft have begun to prepare for takeoff. The attack effect of the Nighthawk attack aircraft last night has given them great encouragement. In addition, the Nighthawk destroyed Iraq’s air defense hub last night, so today’s bombing will be more successful!

Three hundred kilometers north of Riyadh, an E-3 early warning aircraft was flying at a cruising altitude, escorted by four Saudi Air Force F-15 fighter jets.

The plane took off yesterday afternoon and has been on duty for more than ten hours. The entire crew is in a state of extreme fatigue. The next early warning aircraft will take off in half an hour to take on the task of commanding another attack.

Although there was still half an hour left, the crew members still cheered up and carefully observed their radar screens. For them, they could not relax at all at this moment!

Yesterday at midnight, the Iraqi armored battle group crossed the border and headed towards Riyadh. Although warning messages came one after another, the Middle East Command did not mobilize troops to intercept them.

That Iraqi army marched about 300 kilometers and then disappeared.

Yes, it just disappeared! The AN/APY-1 S-band pulse Doppler radar used by the E-3 early warning aircraft was originally designed to detect aerial targets. It uses a flat-plate slot radar, which can eliminate the influence of ground clutter and detect ultra-low-flying aircraft. At the same time, it can also detect moving vehicles on the ground.

Yes, it is a moving vehicle! The inherent disadvantage of radars that detect based on the Doppler principle is that they will filter out aircraft without radial velocity as clutter. This is also a way to unlock in air combat. Now, once a vehicle on the ground stops, it will be filtered out as ground clutter and cannot be displayed!

This is also very simple, indicating that the Iraqi army is stopping to refuel! The target coordinates are sent to the Prince Sultan Air Force Base in the rear, allowing the air force there to launch an attack!

Because of this defect of the E-3 early warning aircraft, the Americans later developed the E-8 "Joint Star" joint surveillance target attack radar system aircraft after the E-3 entered service. This aircraft has a 12-meter-long radar cabin under the fuselage, which contains a powerful AN/APY-3 multi-mode side-looking phased array I-band electronic scanning synthetic aperture radar. Using the synthetic aperture function, it can locate, detect and track ground static or active targets around the clock for combat management, command and control. In the later Gulf War, this E-8 aircraft played a good role.

The Iraqi Air Force obviously does not have the ability to fight at night. Last night was calm and nothing happened. Only the Nighthawk attack aircraft were dispatched, but they did not disturb the Iraqi air defense system at all.

Now, it's getting light. Will the fighter jets in the Iraqi air force base take off?

On the radar screen, the air was clear and there was nothing.

The radar antenna was still rotating at a speed of 6 revolutions per minute, and in this boredom, a radar operator suddenly scanned a corner of the screen and saw four targets!

High altitude and high speed! The speed of these four targets exceeded Mach 2, and the altitude exceeded 20,000 meters!

"Iraqi MiG-25 spotted, distance 400, direction 030, intercept immediately!" The radar operator's order was quickly delivered to the escorting Saudi Air Force fighter formation.

"Blue Shark Squadron received." Driving an F-15 fighter, Squadron Leader Mohammed Shayid pushed the joystick and flew towards the east with his wingman!

The Iraqis have MiG-25 fighters imported from the Soviet Union! If this kind of fighter flies to high altitude, the Iraqi side will have no way to deal with it. However, as an escort fighter, the Iraqi side must move forward courageously.

Moreover, the Iraqis are still 400 kilometers away, and our biggest goal is to drive them out!

"The distance is four hundred kilometers. Keep climbing. The direction is correct. Prepare the missile launch procedure." And over here, the MiG-25 fighter jets were also making preparations before the final attack!