Chapter 122 Target Discovered

Large aircraft! In fact, an hour and a half ago, the air defense base on the Kamchatka Peninsula had discovered a large target, but it disappeared a little later and they did not report it.

And now, this target is flying towards Sakhalin Island!

If the enemy doesn't change its course, it will be able to fly over our territory in half an hour! This is the Soviet Union's Far East strategic missile launch site!

Emergency! Intelligence was quickly reported through the telephone line. At the same time, the 592nd Air Defense Regiment, which had just been stationed at the Kamene-Iruchii base, received an attack order.

Emergency interception!

Two Su-15 fighter jets, which looked like slender seabirds, started their engines on the tarmac. Their tail flames illuminated the eyes of the ground crew. Attacking at this time would be a severe test.

The runway had been cleared once before dark, and now the snow is several centimeters thick. However, even so, we must defend the motherland's airspace!

Captain Osipovich was sitting in the cockpit. It was his turn to be on combat duty today. The order to attack made him extremely sober. At this moment, it must be an emergency!

With the afterburner turned on, the two P-13Ф-300 turbojet engines at the tail burst out with a thrust of 70 kilonewtons, pushing the fighter to slide quickly on the snow-covered runway, and soon it pulled up.

Compared with the MiG-25, the thrust of this engine is far inferior. However, at that time, especially in the era when Khrushchev was very disgusted with airplanes and was only keen on missiles, being able to develop the Su-15 and put it into production was already quite good. When the thrust was insufficient, only this slender fuselage solution could be adopted to achieve a faster flight speed by reducing flight resistance. China's J-8 has almost the same idea. Although its combat capability is very poor, its combat target is originally the invading bombers, and being able to take off quickly to intercept is the most important thing.

Under the wings are mounted two R-98 missiles and two R-60 missiles, which are standard interception mounts.

The Su-15 interceptors quickly disappeared into the dark night sky, and the ground crew soon could not even see the tail flames. However, in the automated air defense interception system, the two interceptors were heading for the scheduled route.

"467.467, heading 260, distance 200." The clear voice of the ground radar controller came from the headset. Captain Osipovich put on his oxygen mask: "467 received, immediately change the heading to 260, distance 200, prepare for interception."

Pushing the joystick, the fighter began to turn to the right.

In the pitch-black night sky, nothing can be seen. Flying at night is much more difficult than flying during the day. Especially now, flying completely depends on instruments, which tests the pilot's skills even more.

He glanced to the right and saw the wingman following him. Both planes had navigation lights on to prevent accidental collision.

Turning his head, Captain Osipovich turned on several switches on the side. Now it was time to preheat the Typhoon-M radar in front of him. He hoped that in this dark night sky, his radar could detect the target as early as possible, instead of relying solely on the guidance of ground personnel.

Soon, the radar responded. The target should be a large aircraft. Our own airborne radar captured it from fifty kilometers away!

"468, 468, prepare to intercept." Captain Osipovich called his wingman, and at the same time, corrected the course and flew towards the target.

The night was still dark, and it was difficult to visually spot the target, but Captain Osipovich had to do it. Only after visual confirmation could he attack. This was an unwritten rule during the Cold War that was not agreed upon.

Fortunately, a bright spot soon appeared in Captain Osipovich's field of vision. The other party was turning on the navigation lights!

He pulled the throttle lever back slightly and the fighter began to slow down. At this time, he looked down at the radar screen and saw that it could be spotted visually at a distance of eight kilometers!

Two slender Su-15s flew towards the target, and at three kilometers, Captain Osipovich could clearly see that it was a large aircraft with lights on from head to tail.

After crossing each other, the two Su-15s turned in the airspace behind and then chased forward.

Captain Osipovich was wondering what was going on. If it was an American reconnaissance plane, it would have turned off all its navigation lights. But now it was on. From the looks of it, it looked like a transport plane. Could it be that the top brass was testing their reaction speed?

American intelligence planes usually only flew along the Soviet border, and Western commercial aircraft could not carry passengers to Soviet military strongholds hundreds of miles away from their scheduled routes.

The 592nd Regiment has been deployed to Sakhalin Island for half a month. It recently participated in combat readiness duty and encountered this incident. It seems that it was sent by the headquarters in Vladivostok in the Far East to test their reaction speed?

Thinking of this, Captain Osipovich was no longer as nervous as before. He pushed the operating lever and approached carefully.

Just now they were flying head-on and passed by each other in a flash, but now, approaching from behind, they can see the plane more clearly. Captain Osipovich and his wingman approached the plane from the left and right. They could see that there were two rows of windows on both sides of the cabin, and all the lights were on.

No, it's a civilian aircraft! And, based on the lights inside and the shape of the windows, you can see that it's a Boeing aircraft!

"Sakhalin, Sakhalin, 467 report, 467 report, visual observation, this is an American Boeing passenger plane, this is an American Boeing passenger plane."

"Can you see the people inside the plane?" The voice came from the headset again.

"The report is totally unclear."

Although there was light on the windows, the curtains from the inside had been drawn, so it was impossible to see if there was anyone inside, nor could one see clearly who was in the cockpit.

The shape of the passenger plane is certain, but this does not mean that it is a passenger plane! You know, some reconnaissance planes in the US Air Force, such as the common RC-135, are modified from passenger planes. Now, this must be a conspiracy against the Soviet Union!

It was absolutely impossible to pretend to be a passenger plane, a lost passenger plane, to conduct reconnaissance in the Soviet Far East! In the absence of any orders from his superiors, Captain Osipovich kept a close track.

The Far East Air Defense Force was facing a serious enemy and information was reported at a rapid pace.