Empire Conquest-Chapter 712 - 30: Battle of the Systems

King Khalid Military City, Joint Force Headquarter.

Busy until after 10 pm, Ding Zhennan had just distributed the last combat plan and finally found time to head to the dining hall to fill his empty stomach.

Isn’t all this complication just the fault of "alliance"?

When drafting the combat plan, the first thing determined was that immediately after launching the second phase of combat operations, maximum effort had to be exerted without delay. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

In modern warfare, there is no such thing as gradual escalation.

The moment you strike, you must strive to knock down the enemy immediately!

According to the plan, the Empire’s Air Force alone would deploy about 300 combat aircraft, the Navy another 300, and in addition, the Alliance Army 200.

The total number of tactical combat aircraft deployed immediately would be up to 800.

Additionally, over 60 bombers stationed at Diego Base and within the Empire’s mainland would participate in the assault, launching attacks with cruise missiles.

However, according to the revised combat plan, the bomber’s assault operation was delayed for a few hours, changed to the Navy initiating the first round of assault with cruise missiles.

The reason was simple, the battlefield was only so large and couldn’t accommodate too many assault forces.

Actually, organizing so many combat aircraft was already quite difficult.

Moreover, several allies were involved.

If only the Empire’s Air Force and Navy were to undertake the initial assault task, the issue would not be significant, as joint exercises are conducted several times every year.

However, when allies are involved, complications arise.

If it were up to Ding Zhennan, he would arrange the Allied Forces’ combat troops in the second wave.

Unfortunately, he was not in charge of this decision.

As Shi Shouliang put it, moving with the Allied Forces and assigning them tasks proved that the Joint Forces were not in vain.

In summary, the Allied Forces had to participate in combat at the earliest opportunity.

The Gaoju Air Force would deploy over 40 attack aircraft in the first round of assault, among which 12 would target Saleh Air Force Base near Baghdad.

Indeed, this was the most valuable contribution among the Allied Forces.

Although the Empire’s Air Force has many specialized attack aircraft, none were suitable for ultra-low altitude penetration, specifically targeting air force bases. Those high wing-load attack aircraft suitable for ultra-low altitude flights in the Empire’s Air Force were gradually phased out after the Boi War.

Afterwards, the Empire’s Air Force changed its approach, no longer emphasizing ultra-low altitude penetration and focusing instead on out-of-area ordnance.

Unfortunately, so far, none of the out-of-area ordnances developed by the Empire’s Air Force had reached a usable level!

Moreover, the Empire’s Air Force’s air-to-ground missiles, mainly used to target point locations, were not suited for hitting areal targets like airfields.

In the Air Force’s tactical system, the task of bombing airfields was previously undertaken by bombers!

Conversely, allies like the Gaoju Kingdom still retained many attack aircraft suitable for ultra-low altitude penetration.

Thus, Ding Zhennan assigned the task of assaulting Iraqi airbases to the Gaoju Air Force and arranged for its participation in the first round of assault operations.

Daiyan Air Force also deployed over 20 combat aircraft, including 16 attack aircraft, which would bomb military camps near Baghdad in the first round of assault.

Assigning this task to the Daiyan Air Force was not because the Empire’s Air Force lacked suitable attack aircraft for the task, but because the risk of assault was too great.

Additionally, among several Allied Forces, only the Daiyan Air Force was equipped with long-range air-to-ground missiles.

This way, Daiyan Air Force attack aircraft could launch ordnance beyond the range of air defense missiles, avoiding entering Baghdad airspace and facing risks.

Bakistan Air Force would also deploy over 30 combat aircraft, primarily to bomb Iraqi military camps near Basra.

This arrangement was mainly because Bakistan’s combat aircraft were stationed in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, far from Iraq, preventing them from penetrating deep into Iraqi territory.

Actually, this was a problem for most of the Allied Forces.

The South Toe Kingdom, Mala, and Nanzhu Country’s participating troops, due to being stationed in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and having a limited operating radius of their aircraft, were sent to the southern areas of Iraq or to bomb Iraqi forces inside Kuwait, avoiding as much as possible adding pressure to logistical support.

To put it bluntly, it was to avoid troubling the Empire Air Force’s refueling planes.

Despite the Empire’s Air Force arranging more than 40 large refueling aircraft and the Navy preparing several buddy refueling planes, relative to the massive deployment of 800 aircraft and the operational intensity of completing the strike tasks within over two hours, these refueling planes might not suffice!

As for the oil-producing country group’s combat forces, they were all assigned to bomb Iraqi forces within Kuwait.

This was also the sole demand of oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia.

Besides air-to-air combat, in terms of ground strikes, they only targeted the Iraqi forces invading Kuwait and not Iraq’s mainland.

According to Saudi Arabian explanation, they simply didn’t want to point guns at innocent Iraqi civilians.

Arranging the first round of assault tasks wasn’t actually troublesome, and many tactical level tasks didn’t require Ding Zhennan to handle personally.

In past "Westward" joint exercises, similar situations had been repeatedly practiced.

Even with the addition of non-allied friendly countries like Saudi Arabia this time, arranging combat operations did not pose significant difficulty.

The real trouble was actually the "Door-Kicking Action."

In each year’s "Westward" exercise, this issue was always brought up and became a hot topic of discussion, and they still hadn’t come up with an ideal solution.