Empire Conquest-Chapter 749 - 47 Air Defense Line

Although he had only been there for a few days, Lian Mingyang did not feel out of place.

Every year in the past, the assault force to which Lian Mingyang belonged would station itself in Changala for half a month to a month under the pretext of training or military exercises. Even though they spent most of their time training, Lian Mingyang and his fellow Land Air Force pilots were not inclined to indulge in leisurely excursions.

In fact, there was nowhere worth visiting in the vicinity.

To the south lay the boundless Rene Desert, and to the north, the Western Siberian Plateau. Aside from the Gobi and the desert, there was nothing else nearby.

It also had to do with the season.

It was only the beginning of September, summer had just passed, and the temperature had not yet fallen. Although Changala was in the heart of the continent, positioning it in a high-latitude area, within the Rene Desert it remained exceedingly hot during the day compared to Boss Bay, save for a slightly cooler temperature at night.

When it came down to it, the critical factor was time.

For the past several decades, the Empire’s Army would conduct a strategic-level war game simulation annually, with a particular focus on the potential outbreak of a Global War, especially a full-scale war with the West Continent Group, and all simulations emphasized one point: The West Continent Group must achieve victory before the onset of winter.

If winter set in, any formidable ground force would have to hibernate.

Technology might have advanced for decades, but in the face of nature, humanity’s power remained quite insignificant.

Of course, the impact of technology was mostly about how much time it would take to secure a decisive victory.

This directly determined the latest time the West Continent Group could launch its strategic offense.

Based on simulations from the recent years, without significant climate change, the West Continent Group’s strategic offensive could not commence any later than mid-September.

Put simply, even if the Eastern Group were completely unprepared, the West Continent Group would need at least two months to secure a decisive strategic victory, and the harsh winter typically arrived in the heartland of the Giant Continent by mid-November, before the Eastern Group had fully mobilized.

From this, one could deduce that the latest time for the West Continent Group to initiate an attack was mid-September.

Any later, and it would be impossible to complete offensive operations before nighttime temperatures plummeted to 30 degrees Celsius below zero, which would also prevent the solidification of defensive lines during winter.

Of course, such simulations were laden with great randomness, or rather, uncertainty.

For example, the West Continent Group’s objective might just be to sweep through the territory of the Luosha Federation Republic on the West Continent side and not actually plan to march into the Giant Continent.

With more limited objectives, it might only take a month for the West Continent Group’s forces.

Nevertheless, the Eastern Group would surely not be entirely unprepared.

The West Continent Group would certainly need to mobilize for an attack and require sufficient time to do so; hence, the Eastern Group would definitely make use of this time to strengthen its defenses.

Theoretically, the West Continent Group simply had no way of launching a strategic surprise attack, or it was impossible to achieve strategic suddenness.

Therefore, even with limited objectives, it would be difficult to accomplish them within the designated time.

Considering these factors, the General Staff Department insisted on the conclusions drawn from previous simulations, marking September as the deadline for the West Continent Group to launch a strategic offensive.

More likely, it would be early September.

Based on this judgment, the General Staff Department also had Shi Shouliang adjust the Joint Forces’ operational actions, extending air strike operations to October.

If necessary, they could be extended further.

Put simply, even if all the preparations needed for launching a ground offensive had been completed, the offensive would not commence in September.

The reason was straightforward: the Army couldn’t commit heavy troops to Boss Bay while at the same time reinforce the defenses of the Northwest War Zone.

The key lay in the role of the Army’s Air Force in modern warfare.

The value of the Army’s Air Force was fully proven in the Boi War.

During this war, the Empire’s Army deployed tens of thousands of helicopters and lost thousands, with helicopters becoming the main protagonists on the battlefield for the first time.

For this reason, many referred to the Boi War as the "War of the Helicopters."

The advent of helicopters and their large-scale application changed the mode of warfare.

After the Boi War, transitioning from strategic expansion to contraction, the Empire’s Army took over a decade to adjust its defense setup on the continental battlefields.

The entire core was essentially about elevating and enhancing the status of the Land Air Force and establishing a modern defense system with the Land Air Force as the absolute core.

The key was that helicopters refined the "Deep Penetration Strategy."

The ability of helicopters to perform rapid maneuvers within a few hundred kilometers maximized the value of strategic depth and fundamentally altered the method of defensive operations.

Of course, this was also closely related to the increasingly expensive technological equipment.

As mentioned earlier, the "ZT-99" series Main Battle Tanks were several times more expensive to produce than the "ZT-80" series, and the Army couldn’t afford a one-to-one replacement.

After ten years of mass production, the total output of "ZT-99" barely exceeded 7,000 units. After accounting for exports, the amount equipped by the Empire’s Army was still less than 5,000 units, averaging a little more than 500 units purchased each year. Based on a 30-year service life, it was simply impossible for "ZT-99" to replace all of the "ZT-80."

Actually, the Empire’s Army never intended to replace all of the "ZT-80" with "ZT-99."

According to the latest plan, some of the "ZT-80" would be retained and modernized using "ZT-99" technology, including adopting the latest thermal imaging systems, adding bi-directional stabilization systems to the turret, using 1200 horsepower turbocharged diesel engines, and installing Reactive Armor.