Chapter 36 Head-On Interception of Sparrow Missiles

The United States attaches great importance to Belenko's defection. Anne is an intelligence officer arranged by the CIA. In order to operate in the Soviet region, this intelligence officer has been lurking for four years.

It is very difficult to place intelligence personnel in the Soviet Union, where there is little personnel turnover and people are very vigilant. Therefore, unless there is a serious situation, the United States will not use these intelligence personnel.

The Soviet MiG-25 fighter, an advanced fighter capable of achieving double-triple performance, brought heavy pressure to the United States. Coupled with the EP-3's "lost" incident, the Americans were in great need of reversing the passive situation, and instigating a MiG-25 to defect became the CIA's most urgent task.

Anne did a very good job. After investigation, she chose Belenko as the breakthrough point. This guy who was dissatisfied with the Soviet system and had lost his wife and children was the most likely to defect. After a quick love affair, Anne conquered Belenko.

The last step of the entire defection, in which Belenko flew a MiG-25 fighter to Hokkaido, was also the most critical. The United States dispatched two F-4 fighters, which circled over Hokkaido and waited.

But at this final stage, something went wrong.

When they spotted the target flying at an extremely low altitude, F-4 pilot Major Dick Houston and his wingman thought that this was the defecting plane they were waiting for. However, when two F-4 fighters flew westward and approached to greet them, they discovered that it was actually two!

Two MiG-25s? What's going on? Just as the two F-4 fighters roared over, the airborne radar detected one of the MiG-25s and was firing at the other MiG-25! Obviously, the Soviets had discovered Belenko's defection!

Protect this MiG-25! The two F-4 fighters quickly prepared for battle, and the AN/APQ-120 fired a continuous wave to lock onto the attacking MiG-25!

Only by killing the MiG-25 following behind can we protect the defecting fighter in front! At this moment, the two F-4 fighters locked onto the MiG-25 in front. At the same time, they were not afraid that this conflict would escalate into a world war. Flames flashed under the wings, and each F-4 fighter fired two Sparrow missiles!

Unfortunately, it was too late. Just when they locked onto the MiG-25 behind them, the defecting fighter in front had already crashed into the Sea of ​​Japan!

After receiving the order from the rear, Andre, who was planning to return, heard the sharp sound of the radar warning receiver in his earphones, and he was locked!

This place is still a hundred nautical miles away from Hokkaido, and the other side dared to launch missiles at him in this public waters! Andrei was fortunate that he had just executed the order correctly and shot down Belenko. Otherwise, being entangled by these two F-4s, Andrei was afraid that he would really be unable to take care of the defecting Belenko.

How do you feel when you are locked by the enemy's radar and the enemy has already launched a missile? In the future, when air-to-air missiles have reached more than 40 overloads, being locked almost means being shot down. Even if you dodge, it depends entirely on your luck, especially in the future with medium-range interceptor missiles using active radar seekers and close-range combat missiles using infrared focal plane arrays. It is also quite difficult to get rid of them by bait and maneuvering. When being locked, pilots will subconsciously panic in their hearts.

But now, in the seventies, the missile's hit rate was pitifully low!

The AIM-9 Sidewinder missile currently does not have the capability to intercept head-on. Since the opponent is launching a missile head-on at it, it must be an AIM-7 Sparrow missile.

The development of the Sparrow missile can be traced back to the late 1940s, when Douglas Aircraft Corporation began to study anti-aircraft weapons mounted on fighter jets. By 1969, the missile had developed into the AIM-7E-2, but its performance was still not ideal. During the Vietnam War, U.S. Air Force pilots would almost always use up all their missiles at once in an attempt to shoot down enemy planes. By the end of the Vietnam War, the U.S. had calculated the missile hit rate to be only slightly higher than zero percent.

Until this year, the latest modified AIM-7F has stabilized its performance and is usable. However, it was just successfully developed this year and will definitely not be deployed to island countries first. The U.S. military's advanced equipment will be deployed first in Europe. Later, the AIM-7M with a new guidance head has excellent air combat capabilities and has become a powerful weapon of the U.S. Air Force.

Now, facing the missiles flying towards him and listening to the sharp alarm in the radar warning receiver, Andre did not panic at all. He accelerated the fighter plane and continued to fly forward.

Although he had received the order to return, he was now intercepted head-on by two enemy planes. If Andre turned around, he would expose his anus to the enemy. At this time, Andre's altitude and speed would take several minutes to accelerate to Mach 2.4. Therefore, Andre chose to continue flying head-on.

The four Sparrow missiles were also flying towards Andre. In the clear sky, Andre could see the missiles from three kilometers away.

Closer and closer, Andre looked through the visor of his helmet and could see the four missiles coming at him like javelins.

It's time! Andre slammed on the afterburner and pulled back on the lever.

The huge steel fighter plane instantly began to climb upwards like an enraged cobra.

At this time, half of the fuel in the aircraft had been consumed, and the thrust-to-weight ratio of the fighter exceeded 0.8. Although it could not climb vertically effortlessly, compared with the Sparrow missile that had burned out its propellant and relied entirely on inertia to fly, the MiG-25 had extremely high maneuverability.

The two Sparrow missiles did not keep up with Andre's pace and continued to fly forward. The semi-active radar guidance antenna at the front end of the warhead could not receive an echo and lost guidance instantly. After flying for more than ten seconds, they chose to self-destruct.

The other two Sparrow missiles followed Andre's MiG-25 as it climbed upwards, but their speed became slower and slower. When they were still one kilometer away from Andre's fighter, they had lost all their kinetic energy and began to fall downwards.

With a simple climbing maneuver, he shook off four missiles. Although it was not as good as the J-11 with a thrust-to-weight ratio of more than 1 that was flown in later generations, it was already quite good. Andre, who leveled the fighter plane, had a fighting light in his eyes.

If the Americans had not launched missiles at us, we could have gone back to our own homes and looked after our own mothers. Now that the Americans have taken the initiative to provoke us, don't blame us for being rude. It is impolite not to reciprocate!