Empire Conquest-Chapter 716 - 31: Overwhelming_2

At dusk, news came from Basra that all diplomatic efforts had failed, and the possibility of the Joint Forces launching a strike at dawn was extremely high.

Therefore, the combat troops had to be in combat readiness on time.

Moving northward would take hours, making it impossible to be in combat readiness by dawn.

Abdullah had made the greatest effort within his capabilities; upon receiving the orders, he rushed to Position 5, a location he had never been to before, at the highest speed.

Based on his judgment, if the Joint Forces were to launch an air strike at dawn, the first thing they would do would be to destroy the air defense radar under his command.

Actually, his judgment was correct.

Unfortunately, Abdullah didn’t know that all his movements were under surveillance.

More than 200 kilometers to the south, at the border with Saudi Arabia, approximately 11,000 meters high, the only "Z-10A" deployed was flying along a route parallel to the border, using its synthetic aperture radar to search the desert northward, and it had already detected the convoy.

However, on the radar-generated image, it was impossible to distinguish whether it was a radar vehicle or a tank.

But, the "Z-10A" didn’t need to make that judgment.

After spotting the convoy, the "Z-10A" had already sent a message, contacting the Special Forces that had secretly entered Iraq two days earlier.

The mission of this force was to locate the mobile air defense radar.

The Army’s several large helicopters had carried the Special Forces and four off-road vehicles into Iraq on the night of August 3rd, by flight relocation.

For secrecy, these helicopters, belonging to the Special Forces headquarter, did not stop within Saudi Arabia and refueled in the air on both legs of the journey. Due to the slow speed of helicopters, the Air Force had also specially deployed four strategic refueling planes to support them.

This was indeed a major operation!

Coincidentally, this Special Forces unit was exactly near the Iraqi radar positions.

Therefore, when the convoy stopped and began to deploy the radar, the Special Forces had already arrived and confirmed the target.

By then, it was already 11:30 p.m. on the 5th.

To the south, Marine Corps’ temporary position number two.

After several days of intense construction, the position had been upgraded to an advanced base, also opening up an area that could simultaneously accommodate more than a dozen helicopters for takeoff and landing.

In the previous days, helicopters were also used to transport equipment and supplies to the frontline.

But now, what was deployed here was an air assault force of the Army Air Force.

Leading this unit was Lian Mingyang.

This time yesterday, he was still in the Empire’s homeland.

After receiving the mission, he had immediately led the troops onto the Air Force’s strategic transporters, arriving at King Khalid Military City in Saudi Arabia this morning.

After completing the preparations, he led his troops directly to the advanced base codenamed "trampoline," which was the Marine Corps’ temporary position number two.

However, it was only after meeting Liu Zunshan that he discovered that the Marine Corps had already fought a battle a few days ago and had achieved a complete victory. Probably feeling that Lian Mingyang would not believe it, Liu Zunshan even took him to visit the "ZT-99AL" that had been hit by an enemy tank in the battle but had been repaired, and showed Lian Mingyang a few personally kept spoils of war, including a dagger picked up on the battlefield.

Of course, Lian Mingyang knew that Liu Zunshan was showing off on purpose.

That evening, he received the combat order from the Joint Force Headquarter.

Just like the tactics adopted in the "Westward" exercise before, right when the action started, Lian Mingyang’s air assault force, with the assistance of the Special Forces, would destroy the enemy’s air defense radar, open a breach in the enemy’s air defense network, and allow other air forces to launch attacks.

Moreover, the combat order only mentioned the general battle zone and did not specify the precise situation of the target.

The reason was simple; it was a mobile air defense radar, and the Special Forces had not found it yet, so they could not inform beforehand about the exact location of the target.

Lian Mingyang’s task, therefore, was to ensure that the tactical assault force was ready, and to set off immediately upon receiving the message.

There were only six helicopters in total, of which four were "Z-10A" armed helicopters and the other two were "Z-13A" reconnaissance helicopters.

Additionally, four armed helicopters needed to be deployed.

There was not much to say about the condition of the helicopters; after arriving at the "trampoline" base, Lian Xusheng and his team hurried to inspect and maintain the four armed helicopters.

The real issue was actually the attacking distance.

It was over 250 kilometers, and it might reach up to 300 kilometers!

This was about the maximum operational radius of the "Z-10A."

If any accidents occurred during the operation, it would likely be impossible to return to base, so it was crucial to minimize the likelihood of accidents.

Additionally, it was necessary to increase the operating radius of the helicopter.

As per Lian Xusheng’s plan, he replaced two rocket launchers with auxiliary fuel tanks to extend the range by 150 kilometers.

Moreover, he arranged for the Marine Corps to set up emergency rendezvous points near the border.

Simply put, if returning to the "trampoline" base was not possible after completing the mission, they were to land after crossing the border and wait for the Marine Corps to meet them.

Liu Zunshan had already agreed and guaranteed to personally undertake the rendezvous.

As for the attack tactics, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Lian Mingyang and his team were tasked to pilot their helicopters to a location 8 kilometers from the target, establish contact with the forward-deployed Special Forces, and then, under the guidance of the Special Forces, to launch the laser-guided anti-tank missiles, and return.

As for the rest, it was all the responsibility of the Special Forces.

Simply put, the Special Forces were in charge of marking the targets with laser indicators, assessing the impact of the attack, and determining if a second round was necessary.

Of course, this was the crucial part.

If a second round was necessary, two reserve helicopters would need to be deployed into combat.

For this reason, Lian Mingyang had arranged for four helicopters to be divided into two squads, maintaining a 15-minute interval, ensuring that the second squadron could engage if the first squadron missed.

Only in extreme situations would all four helicopters move in to complete the mission using the 30-millimeter machine gun installed under the nose of the aircraft.

Even though armed helicopters were nicknamed "flying tanks" and had strong armor and high battlefield survivability, no pilot wanted to take the risk. As long as they could destroy the targets outside of the enemy’s air defense fire range using missiles, there was no need to utilize the machine gun.

Past training mainly focused on how to use anti-tank missiles.

Regarding the propaganda that the 30-millimeter machine guns firing tungsten core armor-piercing bullets could penetrate the top armor of tanks, that was just promotion and more of a gimmick.

Since they did not need to advance, the operation of providing support to the Special Forces wasn’t very relevant to Lian Mingyang and his team.

What troubled Lian Mingyang the most was the wait before departure.

Although it was already known that the predicted start time for the second round of the strike was at 00:00 on the 6th, the Joint Forces Headquarters had not confirmed this. They had also ordered all combat troops to be ready for battle before 22:00 on the 5th.

As a result, Lian Mingyang was seated in the cockpit of the "Z-10A" before 22:00.

He was the commander of the Air Assault Force, also the captain and lead pilot of the "Z-10A" tactical squadron.

In the hour before that, he had patiently reviewed the digital maps provided by the Air Force.

There was no way around it, it had become a habit over the years.

On dark nights, piloting a helicopter at speeds over 250 kilometers per hour at an altitude less than 20 meters above the ground required the pilot to not only have eyes like an owl but also an accurate and utterly reliable high-precision digital map.

In fact, it was the digital map that made it operable for armed helicopters to carry out assault missions at "tree-top height" under complex terrain conditions.

There had been nothing to worry about in previous drills.

As for navigating the training area, they knew it like the back of their hand.

But in actual combat, extra caution was certainly required because the digital maps provided by the Air Force might not be entirely accurate.

At a quarter past eleven, Liu Zunshan personally sent a message that the Joint Forces Headquarters had relayed information that the Special Forces had confirmed the target.

The assault operation codenamed "Pole Vault" officially began!

Afterward, Lian Mingyang confirmed the combat order issued by the airborne warning and command aircraft.

Five minutes later, the "Z-10A" piloted by Lian Mingyang took off.

By 11:50, all four armed helicopters had taken off.

At that moment, at the King Khalid Military City in the rear, four "Attack-11" also began refueling and arming, preparing to take off in half an hour.

The second phase of the operation, codenamed "Blanket the Sky," was about to commence.