Munitions Empire-Chapter 1181 - 1101 results cannot be confirmed
Two Dragon Bombers trailed long plumes of smoke as they plummeted towards the sea, while in the cockpit of the intercepting Pirate Fighter, Sun Rui frowned deeply.
He had already witnessed such a scene twice today. The enemy knew full well that they couldn’t possibly achieve any results, yet they madly piloted their aircraft, attempting to approach the Tang Army’s landing zone.
Frankly speaking, such actions were utterly foolish. No valuable pilot should be wasted in this manner.
Yet, the Mirage Country’s Air Force was doing just that: repeatedly taking off and trying to approach the landing zone by any means. No one knew what they intended to achieve, but they were utterly persistent in this madness. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"Are they desperately trying to locate our carrier fleet?" Sun Rui asked his wingman as he observed the Dragon Bombers crashing into the sea and gradually sinking.
"No idea." The wingman replied honestly: "They never reveal their intentions... just keep approaching and getting shot down."
Two Pirates circled around the wreckage of the sinking Dragon Bombers on the sea, then climbed back up, feeling rather bored.
These planes seemed to be on a suicide mission! The back and belly of the Dragon Bombers had gun turrets, yet these weapons hadn’t even fired in the skirmish earlier.
This suggested that there probably were no gunners on the downed Dragon Bombers, only pilots! This action, to Sun Rui, could only be explained by a desire for death.
Was the enemy executing their own pilots? A ridiculous thought flashed through Sun Rui’s mind, and he chuckled to himself: It clearly wasn’t a reliable idea.
From morning till now, about 40 aircraft from the Mirage Country attempted to approach the Tang Army’s landing zone from various directions and altitudes.
Regrettably, without exception, they were all shot down. They simply couldn’t compare in quality or quantity to their adversaries.
Typically, the Tang Army used four Pirate Fighters, guided by radar, to intercept two Zero Fighters, leaving the Zero Fighters with no chance to approach the Tang Army fleet.
However, there were instances of success: some Mirage Country pilots managed to break through the layers of Tang Army fighter interceptions due to their exceptional skills and incredible luck.
But these pilots never anticipated the presence of something known as anti-air missiles...
The Tang Army’s anti-air missile destroyers couldn’t handle a massive saturation attack by enemy planes, but they were exceptionally efficient against the occasional straggler.
Modern anti-air missiles are radar guided, boasting an extraordinarily high hit rate in favorable electromagnetic conditions.
Unfortunately, the slow flying speed of Mirage Country’s fighters and bombers was practically a custom-made target for early anti-air missiles, which aimed at speeds between 400 and 500 kilometers per hour.
Coupled with heavy warheads and advanced proximity fuses... the chance of these anti-air missiles intercepting Mirage Country aircraft was almost one hundred percent.
Such a high hit rate was partly due to the Mirage Country pilots’ unwitting cooperation: they had no idea their adversary possessed anti-air missiles, nor were their planes equipped with any countermeasures, thus entering the prearranged zones of Tang Army anti-air missile destroyers completely unaware.
Mirage Country’s planes lacked radar warning systems, so their pilots had no indication they were locked on, and hence, could not perform any evasive maneuvers before being shot down.
Because the hits were so sudden, the Mirage Country pilots who went down couldn’t report their encounters to their comrades. This perfect loop of sacrifice meant Mirage Country’s entire day of suicidal assaults yielded no results.
Amusingly, even the Mirage Country Air Force didn’t know if their suicide attacks had borne any results... they couldn’t verify the effectiveness of the assaults nor confirm the actions had truly failed.
"We still can’t make contact!" In the Great Southern Bay, a Goblin officer sighed, looking at Shengwu Zhong standing beside him.
Since the only counterattack method left was the headquarters-ordered "suicide crash," Shengwu Zhong personally monitored the status of the Mirage Country Air Force’s suicide assault.
Unfortunately, despite standing here for half the day, he had no concrete battle results to cheer him up. Throughout the morning and into the afternoon, the most frequent news heard was of aircraft being shot down.
Just a few minutes ago, two Butcher Bombers flew around the Great Southern Bay, skimming the sea’s surface, and were shot down. To minimize losses, they carried only pilots, without gunners.
Shengwu Zhong himself had heard the radio dialogue between the pilots inside the two aircraft. They were ambushed by two enemy planes, which shattered their wings with cannon fire. Both planes crash-landed on the sea, and communication was then lost.
Soon after, a formation of two Zero Fighters approached the enemy-controlled area. After sacrificing a wingman, the experienced lead pilot luckily breached Tang Army’s outer interception and reached the landing zone’s core area.
Regrettably, right after this pilot reported seeing the enemy’s "sea airport," there was suddenly no response.
"Calling Victory 31! Calling Victory 31!" A nearby radio operator tirelessly called out to the aircraft, but received no response at all.
"He reported nothing but said he broke through the enemy fighter intercepts, and his surroundings were full of enemy warships... then we couldn’t contact him anymore." An Air Force officer explained to the newly arrived staffer what had transpired earlier.
"Victory 31! Calling Victory 31! Please respond! Please respond!" The nearby radio operator continued his relentless attempts, gripping the transmitter.
Being extremely irritated, Shengwu Zhong turned to the Air Force Commander explaining the situation and asked with a frown, "Did he crash into it or not?"
The Air Force officer quickly answered his superior’s question, "Your Excellency General, we can’t confirm it yet! Though it’s clear he flew further than the other pilots, we saw his trajectory on radar..."
The Great Southern Bay hosts a radar station, which remained operational due to its concealed setup and unintentional bombardment from the Tang Army, giving Mirage Country a certain degree of aerial reconnaissance capability.
Regrettably, their radar’s performance was quite poor, being old Tang Country technology, prone to interference, and occasionally malfunctioning.
The equipment was originally sold to Mirage Country as civilian navigation radar equipment, but Mirage Country found some so-called experts to modify it into warning radars.
Due to the radar’s poor performance, the Mirage Country’s Air Force officer could only report what he knew to Shengwu Zhong, "Victory 31 indeed evaded the enemy’s fighter jets... but the place where the signal was lost had too much interference, making it impossible for our radar to see clearly."
"Please respond! Please respond! Calling Victory 31! Calling Victory 31! If you can hear this, please respond, please respond!" While the two conversed, the radio operator continued his tireless calling.
Everyone present harbored the fantasy that perhaps the next second, an uplifting message would emerge on the channel. However, as time ticked by, this expectation became increasingly unrealistic.
The faint hope lingered because earlier in the morning, a pilot, before losing contact, reported an exhilarating message: he had shouted "Long live the Shen Emperor, I’ve charged towards the enemy ship!"
That single shout of "Long live the Shen Emperor, I’m charging the enemy ship!" gave the Mirage Country from top to bottom hope. Although they didn’t know the results, they believed they had achieved something, or at least... possibly had results.
"So, there’s no way to confirm whether he crashed into the enemy ship?" After hearing the explanation, Shengwu Zhong’s frustration grew uncontrollable.
However, he was somewhat better off than the previous day, as he had finally managed to catch some sleep when he fainted.
"We can’t confirm, General." The Goblin Air Force Commander shook his head, responding to Shengwu Zhong. He truly couldn’t confirm, and fudging the results would cost him dearly...
Ultimately, Shengwu Zhong was infuriated by his subordinates’ cluelessness, cursing loudly, "Damn it, how can we be fighting like this? We’ve lost over 50 pilots, yet we aren’t even sure if they completed any tasks!"
The room fell silent, with only the radio operator, still absorbed in his calls, oblivious to it all, continuing with emotion, "Victory 31! Calling Victory 31! Please respond! Please respond!"
"Stop calling already!" Shengwu Zhong snapped, wrenching off the operator’s headset and slamming it onto the table. The startled operator stood up quickly, moving aside and lowering his head.
"Useless! Completely useless!" Remembering how the situation became so dire due to the Air Force’s initial loss of air superiority, Shengwu Zhong’s fury burned even hotter.
He pointed at the dejected Air Force Commanders, momentarily at a loss for words to express his anger.
"Dispatch more aircraft! Launch more flights! No matter what, crash the enemy’s warships for certain, and confirm the results! We must confirm the results!" Shengwu Zhong slammed his palm on the desk forcefully.
The repeated loud bangs echoed across the command center, lingering for a long time.
