Empire Conquest

Chapter 665 - 9 Missile Pitcher_2

There was a patrol aircraft, which made all the difference.

Indeed, this time the mission was executed solely by Hassan.

His mission was to pilot the "Super Flag" to the attack area in the sea, and upon receiving target information from the patrol aircraft, launch the mounted anti-ship missile.

The key was that missile!

The "Flying Fish" anti-ship missile, also introduced from Locke along with the "Super Flag"!

The Iraq Air Force most desired the "Flying Fish" missile, and the "Mirage" F1 fighter, also imported from Locke, could utilize this missile. However, Locke insisted on bundle sales and was unwilling to sell the missiles separately, forcing the Iraq Air Force to purchase a batch of "Super Flag" attack aircraft.

Of course, the "Super Flag" was not without its uses.

The "Mirage" F1 is a fighter with a low wing load aerodynamic layout, incapable of flying at a high subsonic speed of 0.95 Mach at low altitudes near the sea surface. The "Super Flag," being an attack aircraft, had a much higher wing load than the fighter, thus providing much greater stability in low-altitude flight.

However, the focus was still on the "Flying Fish" missile.

It was the world’s first high subsonic anti-ship missile capable of sea-skimming flight.

Moreover, it was the most successful anti-ship missile in combat to date.

During the Iran-Iraq War, the Iraq Air Force’s "Flying Fish" demonstrated remarkable prowess and achieved numerous world-shocking combat results.

Most of them, however, were not worth boasting about.

Apart from sinking a few small vessels of Boi Country, the most shocking result was the accidental hitting of an escort ship belonging to the Liangxia Navy.

Naturally, the Liangxia Empire was furious and ended up bombing several of Iraq’s oil fields.

Additionally, all the vessels hit by the "Flying Fish" were unarmed oil tankers.

According to previous results, the "Flying Fish" had an 80% single-hit success rate against large ships.

Now, that Liangxia escort ship was a big target!

There was enough reason to believe that once locked on by the "Flying Fish," even a battleship could hardly escape!

Initially, when that Liangxia escort ship was locked on by the "Flying Fish," it had attempted evasive maneuvers and released interference bombs, but was still hit by the missile.

Hassan was also very confident about letting the missile lock onto the escort ship.

The advanced feature of the "Flying Fish" missile was its attack method.

After launch, the missile would fly along a pre-planned route and, upon reaching the predetermined sea area, activate its radar to search for targets and then initiate an attack autonomously.

For big targets like escort ships, the radar detection and locking distance was between 20 to 30 kilometers.

This distance was not much shorter than the detection range of air defense radar for ultra-low-altitude targets.

A key point was that the "Flying Fish" missile was not large, weighing only 670 kilograms, and the intensity of the radar signal it reflected was much lower than that of a fighter.

Theoretically, the detection range of the air defense radar for the "Flying Fish" was also between 20 to 30 kilometers.

Thus, unless detected by an early-warning aircraft, relying solely on its radar, a battleship would definitely not be able to timely detect an approaching "Flying Fish" missile.

However, the "Flying Fish" was not flawless.

Besides having a small warhead, which resulted in less destructive power, its biggest issue was its slightly short range, typically only reaching up to 40 kilometers.

In front of modern air defense systems, a 40-kilometer range was indeed too short.

The Liangxia Navy’s area air defense missile had a range of 120 kilometers!

This was why an experienced Hassan was needed for this attack mission.

While Hassan was thinking about these things, the signal indicator light lit up, indicating that he had received information from the patrol aircraft that the Liangxia escort ship had not moved away.

The "Super Flag" was now less than 50 kilometers away from the Liangxia escort ship.

Hassan didn’t think twice, immediately inputting the received target information into the fire control system, which automatically wrote the data into the missile’s control system.

The key was to see this final round of operation!

Hassan kept his eyes on the navigation screen’s readings, and when the distance read "40," he sharply pulled up the control stick and simultaneously pushed down the throttle.

In fact, this distance was a bit close.

Previously, Hassan would pull up the attack aircraft at a distance of 50 to 45 kilometers from the target, thus launching the missile from outside 40 kilometers.

Hassan shortened the missile launch range by 5 to 10 kilometers, mainly because the target situation was unclear.

The position information of the target battleship provided by the patrol aircraft had a time lag of about 10 minutes, and that Liangxia escort ship definitely wouldn’t remain anchored.

If it was sailing in a southeast direction, it could cover a few thousand meters in 10 minutes.

"It was supposed to be a climb," actually it was just a slight increase in altitude.

As soon as the altitude readings reappeared, namely when the altitude indicator flickered a few times, Hassan pressed the missile launch button.

In fact, this was a small technique taught by Instructor Locke.

The minimum launch altitude for the "Flying Fish" missile was 50 meters, and the minimum reading on the "Super Flag" altimeter was also 50 meters.

In the face of severe threats, this method could be used to determine the launch altitude, instead of waiting for the altimeter to return to normal operation.

In the instructor’s words, by the time the altimeter returned to normal, the flight altitude would definitely exceed 50 meters.

The attack aircraft shuddered slightly, then surged sharply upward.

Fortunately, Hassan’s experience was very rich, and the moment he felt the tremor, he throttled back slightly, then controlled the attack aircraft’s turn.

He didn’t immediately lower the flight altitude because turning would certainly result in a loss of altitude.

If there wasn’t enough altitude, the attack aircraft would crash into the sea.

After confirming that the attack aircraft was in a horizontal flight state, Hassan glanced back.

The missile had launched, travelling almost at sea level towards the east.

minutes later, or perhaps only 2 minutes and 30 seconds, this "Flying Fish" missile equipped with a 165 kg semi-armor-piercing warhead would hit the escort ship.

But, that no longer concerned Hassan.

Before departure, the commander of the base clearly told Hassan that if his fighter was shot down and unfortunately fell into enemy hands, he must insist that he was attacking a Kuwaiti cargo ship carrying dangerous goods, not targeting that Liangxia escort ship.

Hassan had already figured out that even if the attack succeeded, the Baghdad authorities would not recognize his merit.

Perhaps years later, he would be awarded a medal symbolizing honor.

Of course, if this led to a war with the Liangxia Empire, he would immediately become an Iraqi national hero!

Turning back, Hassan was stunned for a moment, actually just a fraction of a second, then immediately looked back towards the eastern sky.

He thought he was seeing things, or that it was an illusion caused by nervousness.

Unfortunately, he was neither seeing things nor experiencing an illusion.

High above, two straight trails of white smoke dived down, targeting the "Super Flag" that Hassan piloted.

It was over!

Having battled the Boi Air Force for years, and having engaged with F-14As multiple times and been shot down twice, Hassan knew exactly what those two trails of smoke meant.

Hassan didn’t think twice; he immediately grabbed and yanked the ejection handle between his legs forcefully.

This was his third and final time using the fighter’s ejection seat.

...

West Bossa Bay, the "Panzhihua" missile escort ship.

About 5 minutes earlier, when that "Super Flag" entered the airspace above Bossa Bay and flew towards them, Wei Shaolong had ordered the battle alarm to be sounded.

Actually, the early warning aircraft that arrived in the morning had already detected the Iraqi attack aircraft.

As to why the early warning aircraft had moved forward more than 400 kilometers and reduced its flight altitude to below 5000 meters, Wei Shaolong didn’t know.

Of course, even at an altitude of 4500 meters, the "Zhi-6C" had a detection distance of 120 kilometers for sea-skimming enemy aircraft.

This detection capability was sufficient to promptly identify approaching threats.

It was only after receiving the message from the early warning aircraft that Wei Shaolong issued the battle alarm, directing the entire ship’s 300+ officers and soldiers to action stations.

However, whether there was a threat or not, no one knew.

The early warning aircraft had only detected the attack aircraft, not the missile it launched, and the attack aircraft had already begun turning away.

But Wei Shaolong was not complacent.

More than four years ago, in this same sea area, when the "Zhaotong" was hit by an anti-ship missile, Wei Shaolong was the ship’s navigator.

Then, he had seen the missile coming with his own eyes, hitting the ship’s hull!

Although, after that incident, the Imperial Navy launched a continuous 24-hour bombardment on Iraq, it did not bring the more than 30 martyrs back to life.

It was that time that Wei Shaolong truly realized.

On the battlefield, any negligence must be compensated for with blood and life!

Therefore, he vowed, he would never make such a mistake in his life!