Empire Conquest-Chapter 925 - 132: Force Realignment

No one can deny the importance of the Imperial Air Force’s timely participation in the war.

Fundamentally, Bakistan and Fanluo Country are not in the same weight class as opponents.

Even if Bakistan gives it their all, they can only maintain a standing military force equivalent to 40% of Fanluo Country’s, and strategically they can only be in a defensive posture.

The most representative example is the Second Southern Subcontinent War.

In this regional war that almost triggered a third Global War, during the initial stage, the Bakistan Air Force practically held the line alone, taking the lead in reprisals after the ground defenses were breached, winning crucial time for the ground forces to regain momentum. However, by the later stages of the war, the Fanluo Air Force wore down the Bakistan Air Force through sheer attrition, seizing the initiative on the battlefield and achieving their strategic goal of dismembering Bakistan.

At that time, if Bakistan had not shattered completely, the Liangxia Empire would surely have intervened in the war, potentially igniting the third Global War.

From this war, the Bakistan Authority understood that when there is a large disparity in force size, improving quality alone might not reverse the disadvantage.

Unfortunately, Bakistan cannot compete with Fanluo Country in terms of force size.

Although Bakistan’s industry is more developed, its total population is only 200 million, while Fanluo Country’s official statistics exceed 700 million, and their actual population may approach 1 billion. Even if only 10% of their citizens participate in social production, Fanluo Country’s industrial population far surpasses that of Bakistan.

A large non-industrial population means more troops can be mobilized during wartime.

In addition, Fanluo Country’s territory is about four times that of Bakistan!

The two are fundamentally not on the same level.

As such, after the Second Southern Subcontinent War, Bakistan strengthened its relationship with the Liangxia Empire, completely basing national security on an alliance with the Liangxia Empire. Simply put, Bakistan’s standing forces are responsible only for the strategic defense of the homeland.

Any offensive operations, even strategic reprisals, highly depend on the Liangxia Empire.

This characteristic is most apparent in the Air Force.

The Bakistan Air Force is equipped solely with medium and light combat aircraft, without a single heavy tactical aircraft, even having to use somewhat inconvenient navy ship-borne aircraft.

For example, the "Attack-6EP" derived from the Imperial Navy.

In the second generation of attack aircraft, the Imperial Air Force has no light aircraft. The "Attack-7" is a 30-ton heavy attack aircraft, and the "Attack-8" even surpasses 50 tons. Within the Imperial Army’s equipment system, the only light attack aircraft is the Navy’s "Attack-6." To persuade Bakistan to procure this light attack aircraft, and because the Air Force indeed needed light attack aircraft to perform low-intensity strike tasks to replace the decades-old "Attack-2," a small batch of "Attack-6E" was procured. The "Attack-6EP" exported to Bakistan is an improvement based on the Air Force version.

In terms of Bakistan Air Force’s tactical needs, the "Attack-6EP" can be considered an ideal choice.

The key point is that the Bakistan Air Force mainly undertakes tactical strike tasks, with the operating radius of attack aircraft often within 500 km.

Due to the lack of strategic depth, they still prioritize strategic defense, so the Bakistan Air Force doesn’t need heavy attack aircraft with operational radiuses exceeding 1500 km. Even medium attack aircraft with a radius of around 1000 km and weighing 20 tons seem somewhat excessive.

Moreover, expensive large aircraft also exceed Bakistan’s affordability.

From a strategic perspective, once the Bakistan Army stabilizes the front lines, whether they can launch a strategic reprisal and when it occurs will depend on the Imperial Air Force.

In the Southern Subcontinent, the Imperial Air Force’s primary task is the actual strategic strike against Fanluo Country.

The reason is simple: Fanluo Country is an enemy too enormous to be destroyed with a lightning war!

With a land area approaching 3 million square kilometers and nearly a billion people, even superpowers like the Liangxia Empire are daunted.

If it cannot be destroyed in a single battle, long-term considerations must be made.

It is precisely because of this that the Empire’s overall policy towards Fanluo Country has always been strategic suppression.

Specifically, it involves deploying a sufficient number of strategic bombers around Fanluo Country to ensure that once war breaks out, the war foundations of Fanluo Country can be swiftly destroyed.

In the past few decades, the Empire has been actively building the Diego Base.

This base, located in the middle of the Fan Flame Ocean, was originally a colony of the Bulan Kingdom. Before the last war ended, the Empire deployed troops to control this island, which possesses the largest and most advanced air base in the Fan Flame Ocean region, theoretically capable of stationing hundreds of strategic bombers.

During the Boi War, the Imperial Air Force once deployed 450 strategic bombers here!

In addition, several large air force bases in Bakistan can also station about 500 strategic bombers.

Including the air force bases in the Southwest and Northwest regions of the Empire, theoretically, up to 2000 strategic bombers can be deployed around Fanluo Country!

Let alone Fanluo Country, even the more powerful Tiaoman Empire might not withstand 2000 strategic bombers. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Of course, the actual deployment is certainly not that many, nor is it necessary.

If using long-range cruise missiles for precise bombing, a maximum of 1000 "Hong-9" would be able to completely dismantle Fanluo Country. If absolute air supremacy could be secured, allowing bombers to carry out aerial bombing, 500 "Hong-9" could send Fanluo Country back to the Stone Age.

Furthermore, the Imperial Air Force has long devised a battle plan against Fanluo Country.

The first wave of assault will involve hundreds of strategic bombers launching thousands of cruise missiles to attack over a thousand military targets within Fanluo Country that have great strategic value, aiming to paralyze the Fanluo Army’s command system all at once, and to seize battlefield initiative.