Empire Conquest

Chapter 654 - 4 Space Cat Eye_2

Before this, it was essential to keep the Iraqi troops outside the gates of Saudi Arabia.

That is to say, a defensive line needed to be constructed to the north of Saudi Arabia to ensure the safety of oil fields located in the northeast, near Boss Bay.

To put it bluntly, the bottom line for the Empire was that the oil fields in Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing countries in Boss Bay would not be threatened.

Although more than 40 years had passed since the Second Global War had ended, the Empire was still the leading oil-consuming and importing country in the world.

For decades, everything the Empire had done in Boss Bay was, without exception, aimed at ensuring the supply of oil and safeguarding national energy security.

In the words of the outside world, "the Third Global War will commence the day after the Empire is driven out of Boss Bay."

This was also the reason Liu Zunshan was sent to Saudi Arabia.

Because the war had not yet broken out and there was no authorization from the deliberative chambers, the Imperial Chief Minister could only mobilize the Marine Corps at this time.

Given the current situation, it was certain that the deliberative chambers would not grant the Chief Minister wartime authorization.

After discussing for a while, the three of them returned to the command center.

The meeting moved into the operational planning phase, and according to Shi Shouliang, the declaration that the "Westward 150" joint military exercise was proceeding as planned would continue.

The discussion carried on until midnight, when Shi Shouliang finally made the decision, preserving several plans and drafting corresponding documents for each.

As for which plan would ultimately be adopted, it would be determined by the situation on the ground.

Naturally, no one objected to this arrangement which pleased everyone.

In fact, this was customary.

Even though the atmosphere had already become tense, everyone knew there was still some time before the real action would start, so there was no need to set a specific combat plan.

However, the meeting did not end there.

After assigning tasks, Shi Shouliang brought up a new topic.

Preliminary reconnaissance.

Simply put, whether arranging for the Air Force’s stealth attack aircraft, the Navy’s cruise missiles, or the Army’s Armed helicopters to carry out the first strike, commonly known as the "door-kicking" task, it was necessary to conduct reconnaissance to find suitable targets and gather information about them.

None of the operational plans mentioned how preliminary reconnaissance should be executed.

For this reason, Shi Shouliang explicitly requested that the military officers responsible for drafting the plans should first define the early reconnaissance operations.

Then, Shi Shouliang announced the end of today’s meeting.

By then, it was already past 1 a.m.

After Shi Shouliang left, Bai Huawei hurriedly left the command center without even acknowledging Lian Mingyang, who had come specifically to find him.

It had already been agreed that after the meeting, they would send off Liu Zunshan, but Bai Huawei had left on his own.

Actually, when Shi Shouliang mentioned preliminary reconnaissance, Bai Huawei had already thought of something.

...

At this time, on the west coast of Boss Bay, in the southern region of Iraq.

About 20 kilometers southwest of Basra, approximately 40 kilometers from the Ike border in the desert hinterlands, a massive armored force was assembling.

The most noticeable was the Republic Guard’s Hammurabi Armored Division.

Last year, the division had just been re-equipped and received nearly 200 T-72 main battle tanks imported from the Luosha Democratic Republic, greatly enhancing its combat effectiveness.

In fact, it was the only armored division in the southern region equipped with T-72 tanks.

To allow this elite force to secretly reach the forward base near the border, the attack position, without being discovered, considerable effort was made.

In the previous months, both the Iraq Defense Army and the Republic Guard began to frequently move troops, disrupting the military deployment in the southern region to cover the southward movement of the Hammurabi Division. To avoid detection by reconnaissance satellites, the main combat equipment of the Hammurabi Division was transported at night.

Additionally, the soldiers of the division temporarily wore the uniforms of the Defense Army.

In short, it was all for secrecy.

Of course, besides tanks and other main combat equipment, thousands of logistics support vehicles were assembled to ensure they could advance southward for hundreds of kilometers at a stretch.

Kuwait was just a small country with no strategic depth to speak of.

Additionally, Kuwait’s defense forces could be completely disregarded.

More crucially, two years ago, Kuwait’s authorities had destroyed their own barriers, sent away the military advisory group from the Liangxia Empire, and had refused to provide bases for the Liangxia military.

One strike could take them down!

Major General Ali was fully confident in this.

In his view, they didn’t even need to utilize other combat troops; as long as the Hammurabi Division had sufficient support, they could sweep through the entirety of Kuwait.

Moreover, if the logistics could keep up, he even had the confidence to push all the way to the outskirts of Riyadh.

If there was anything worrisome, it was revealing the strategic intention too early.

In this relatively small desert area, besides the Hammurabi Division, there were also the Nebuchadnezzar Mechanized Division and six Infantry Divisions of the Defense Army, all part of the Republic Guard.

Nearly 100,000 officers and soldiers, all gathered together!

If the Liangxia Empire had been prepared and decided to take the initiative, it was feared that the three carriers roaming Boss Bay and Mua Sea had already dispatched their ship-borne aircraft.

Thinking of this, Ali couldn’t help but look up at the glittering stars in the night sky.

The night was the best cover.

While formulating the operational plans, Ali had repeatedly asked the Tiaoman military advisor whether they could ensure the concealment of nighttime movements and assembly.

In other words, did the Liangxia Empire have strategic reconnaissance satellites capable of taking photographs at night?

The Tiaoman military advisor had given a clear response.

Optical reconnaissance satellites could only operate during the day, and radar reconnaissance satellites weren’t omnipotent, capable of being deceived by means such as camouflage.

For this, the Republic Guard had specifically purchased a batch of camouflage tools, such as inflatable tanks with metallic film surfaces.

Crucially, the leading assault force, Hammurabi Division, had all their heavy equipment like main battle tanks buried on-site for concealment.

All of the tank vehicles, upon reaching forward positions, were covered with sand and mud.

Moreover, the Tiaoman military advisor had provided a piece of key intelligence: the orbital parameters of the Liangxia reconnaissance satellite, the so-called "star chart."

According to the star chart, from 2 AM to 6 AM, during those four hours, it was the blind spot of the Liangxia reconnaissance satellite.

Fully leveraging these four hours would allow the completion of the initial assault.

Essentially, it was about getting the leading Hammurabi assault forces deployed.

Once the armored forces launched the charge, there was nothing to worry about.

In the night sky, apart from the densely packed stars, there was nothing.

It wasn’t that there was nothing, but rather that it couldn’t be seen with the naked eye.

Ali didn’t know that as he looked up at the stars, about 500 kilometers above the ground, an infrared imaging reconnaissance satellite nicknamed "Cat’s Eye" had just passed directly above him, taking thousands of photos in succession, and about half an hour later, when it reached the airspace over the Luosha Federation Republic, it ejected the film-containing reentry capsule back into the atmosphere.

This reconnaissance satellite, designated "HZ-5031C," captured not only the troops deployed outside of Basra but also the entire southern region of Iraq.

In fact, it was also the first reconnaissance satellite of the Liangxia Empire to be equipped with an infrared imaging camera.

If it weren’t for the sudden tension in Boss Bay, this satellite was originally scheduled to be officially commissioned next year because its infrared CCD chips still had several unresolved issues that hadn’t met the military’s resolution requirements, hence the military value of its photos was in doubt.

However, it could definitely capture the infrared radiation emitted when a tank engine was operating.

For secrecy, this satellite was temporarily listed in the "Eagle Eye" visible light photographic reconnaissance satellite sequence, initially operating in a sun-synchronous orbit. After a few days in orbit, the Imperial military announced that the satellite’s attitude control engine had malfunctioned, and to avoid disaster, it was deliberately deorbited to burn up in the atmosphere.

What was actually deorbited was a weather satellite about to be scrapped.

Through several changes in orbit, the "Cat’s Eye" was then transferred to a near-Earth orbit.

It was precisely because of this that the intelligence agencies of the Tiaoman Empire and Newland Republic failed to recognize it as an infrared imaging satellite but treated it as a military communications satellite.

This type of strategic deception was hardly surprising.

Of course, the intelligence provided by this satellite had unparalleled value.

By the time the Military Intelligence Bureau received the photo capsule recovered by the Air Force Special Forces, and had decoded several key photos, it was already 7 AM on August 1st, Imperial Capital time.

By then, less than six hours remained until the deadline set by Iraq, 8 AM on August 1st, Baghdad time.