Empire Conquest

Chapter 672 - 13 Blocking Tactics

August 3rd night, inside King Khalid’s Military City, Alliance Headquarter.

Thus far, the fourteen Pan-Continent Group member countries represented by Gaoju Kingdom, Nanzhu Country, Mala, Lion Spring City, Damman Kingdom, and Saiyi Imperial Kingdom had declared their participation in the war. The positions of Boss Bay coastal countries such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, and United Arab Emirates were also clearly defined.

Therefore, the Joint Headquarter had been pre-established.

Although it was called the Joint Headquarter, it was essentially the same personnel as those from the "Westward 150" exercise’s command, with other countries sending liaison officers temporarily, given it was only two days since its formation. Even with personnel sent, their main responsibilities were to assist and relay combat orders.

Of course, for the Empire’s military, much could be accomplished in two days.

Shi Shouliang had arrived the night before last, and the first order he issued was to have the newly established General Staff Department prepare a defensive battle plan.

The catch was, they only had two days.

Luckily, there had been similar contingency plans already in place.

Simply put, the plan entailed deploying the Marine Corps in advance to push forward and establish no-fly zones along the border, creating a barrier impenetrable by the Iraqi forces.

This strategy mainly relied on air power, needing little ground force commitment, making it very suitable for the current situation.

To put it plainly, when the General Staff Department conceived this battle plan, they were envisioning a situation where a war breaks out suddenly.

The key to implementing this strategy was to gain control over airspace.

As long as they had air supremacy, they could use aerial strikes to contain the enemy’s ground offensive and keep them outside Saudi Arabia’s borders.

This technique had been repeatedly practiced in the previous years during the "Westward" joint exercises.

However, the target was not Iraq, but rather the Armored Forces of the West Continent deployed on the western banks of the Volga River, possessing tens of thousands of tanks and armored vehicles.

The value of this strategy was, naturally, needless to say.

Years of exercises had proven that as long as the invested aerial forces were powerful enough, they could buy the Empire’s Army time to mobilize for war.

Indeed, the Empire’s military construction, especially the planning related to the Army, was almost entirely based on this strategy.

The most evident aspect was the equipment development of the Empire’s Army.

The most representative was the focus on creating a low-altitude strike force centered around the "Z-10."

According to the strategic concept of the Empire’s Army, after the outbreak of a war, aside from relying on the Air Force and Sea Air, the main approach was to utilize low-altitude strike forces, led by armed helicopters, to block the armored surge from the West Continent Group between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains, exerting utmost efforts to keep the front within the West Continent area and aiming to buy 15 to 30 days to complete war mobilization.

If there was sufficient time, they could also assemble forces in the rear and launch a strategic reprisal immediately after withstanding the attack from the West Continent Group.

The entire defensive reprisal strategy hinged on controlling the airspace.

As long as they had air supremacy, the several hundred armed helicopters in the Northwest Battle Zone could theoretically destroy tens of thousands of the West Continent Group’s main battle tanks!

However, the situation now was far more complex.

The biggest issue was that the deployed aerial forces consisted of only three Expeditionary Mixed Wings with just over 50 fighters in total, capable of deploying a maximum of two squadrons at once, thus providing cover only in two directions for ground forces tasked with defense.

As for aerial support, don’t count on it.

Even with three mixed bomber squadrons available, without Tactical Air Force cover, it was impossible to effectively execute close-range support missions.

Flying the bulky bombers over the battlefield without absolute air supremacy was akin to a suicide mission.

The lessons from the Boi War remained vivid.

After losing over a hundred strategic bombers during that war, the Empire’s Air Force had realized its awakening and acknowledged that the tactic of intensive bombing was outdated.

Without adequate aerial support, adjustments had to be made regarding the scope of the no-fly zone.

There were mainly two perspectives on how to adjust it, whether to expand or shrink the range of the no-fly zone.

The former perspective mainly came from the Marine Corps, with the forward-deployed combat forces having at most two Armored Battalions and fewer than 70 tanks available, yet they needed to guard a border stretching hundreds of kilometers. Thus, by expanding the width of the no-fly zone, they could obtain greater defensive depth.

More precisely, it was to obtain more time for tactical maneuvers.

By extending the width of the no-fly zone from the usual 100 kilometers to 300 kilometers, the Iraqi forces would take an additional 12 hours just to launch an assault.

For the Marine Corps, the extra 12 hours could allow movement up to 200 kilometers.

This way, on the southern side of the border between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, only two defense points needed to be established, making the two Armored Battalions barely sufficient.

On the other hand, if the no-fly zone was not expanded, more defense points would have to be set, requiring the deployment of more ground forces.

When proposing this tactic, the Marine Corps officers intentionally overlooked an issue.

For this strategy to be effective, one prerequisite must be met: the Empire’s military deployment, especially the aerial forces stationed in Saudi Arabia, must have a strong deterrent effect. Merely relying on forward deployment and readiness patrols should sufficiently discourage the Iraqi Air Force from taking risks.

But could just the three Expeditionary Mixed Wings deter the Iraqi Air Force?