Chapter 45: Leapfrog Promotion

The headquarters of the Far Eastern Military District is in Khabarovsk, the capital of the Khabarovsk Krai, hundreds of kilometers away from Sokolovka. Even Andrei did not expect that the commander of the military district would come directly to their own field airport.

What were they doing here? It must be about the wreckage of the MiG-25, right? Andrei certainly knew how serious Belenko's defection was. Now even Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev might know about it.

"The person in front of us is the hero of our Far East Military Region." Lieutenant General Constantine said. He had big eyes and stared at Andrei with bright eyes. He was obviously proud that he had such a brave general under his command.

"Lieutenant Colonel Andrei, you shot down Belenko personally and prevented the secrets of our advanced fighter jets from being leaked to the Americans. On behalf of the entire military region, I would like to commend your wit and bravery throughout the army!" said General Trechiyanko.

Lieutenant Colonel? Andre was stunned. His military rank was captain, and he was promoted recently. How come he became a lieutenant colonel now?

"Andrei, in view of your heroic performance, your superiors have promoted your military rank to lieutenant colonel as an exception, and your position has also been promoted to captain of the third squadron of the 513th Aviation Regiment and deputy commander of the aviation regiment." Kozhidub said on the side.

Deputy head? Captain? Andrei felt like he was dreaming. He was arrested by the KGB in the middle of the night yesterday and was almost accused of treason and taken to Moscow for trial. Now, he was promoted twice to lieutenant colonel!

Although Andrei was very capable and shot down an American fighter plane, during the Cold War, Andrei could be said to be the only pilot in the entire aviation force who shot down an American fighter plane. From this perspective, as long as Moscow was not afraid of getting into trouble, it was time to improve itself. However, Andrei always felt uneasy.

Andrei felt that a small person like him was in a huge whirlpool. There was only one possibility for this situation: a power struggle among the top leaders! The KGB wanted to deal with him, while the military wanted to protect him, and they regarded him as a stage for political struggle.

Thinking of this, Andre felt overwhelmed. He was just a small character and anyone could bully him at will!

"Andrei, Andrei." Just then, he heard kind words in his ears. Andrei came back to his senses and looked at Kozhedub, who was looking at him with a big smile on his face. "Recount to the commander the situation of shooting down Belenko."

"Yes." Andre repeated in detail.

The two commanders came together, obviously not only to bring Andre the news of promotion, but also mainly to understand what happened at that time and determine the follow-up handling of the incident. After all, this is related to the strategic operations of the entire military region. If the incident is not handled well, either the secret of the MiG-25 fighter will be leaked, or war will break out with the United States, and the Cold War will turn into a hot war.

No matter which one it is, it is not something the two military district commanders can bear. The pressure is too great, so they came to the front line to understand the situation in detail.

After listening to Andre's report, the two frowned: "So, the MiG-25 did not explode before it fell into the sea?"

"Yes, I wanted to fire another missile at that time, but unfortunately the Americans came very quickly and I was caught in a fight with American fighter planes," Andre replied.

"Now, the Americans will definitely try to salvage the fighter. It is only 100 nautical miles away from Hokkaido. We are in a passive position." Lieutenant General Constantine said: "The MiG-25 is our most advanced interceptor. We must not let the Americans get our fighter, even the wreckage!"

"Report, the photos taken by the reconnaissance aircraft have been developed." Just then, a military district staff officer walked in and said to the two of them.

After the MiG-25RB returned, the film in the camera was developed. Now, the developed photos were placed in front of the two commanders.

"It seems that the Americans are indeed going to salvage the vessels." Looking at the salvage ships and survey ships clearly shown in the photos, Admiral Trechiyanko frowned.

"We have also observed the movements of the U.S. Navy. The Seventh Fleet stationed in Yokosuka Port has dispatched two warships." The staff officer continued, saying that this was a situation that had just been discovered via satellite and transmitted to the Far East Military Region.

Obviously, the reconnaissance of the two MiG-25s just now made the Americans even more anxious. In order to prevent Soviet interference, they even dispatched the fleet.

"Has the aircraft carrier been dispatched?" Andre asked suddenly.

Although Andre's interruption made the staff officer very unhappy, the staff officer looked at Andre's rank and saw that he was only a captain. In such a place, how could he interrupt? However, the commanders were all there, so the staff officer could only answer: "No, the Seventh Fleet has not yet sent out an aircraft carrier. They should have sent out a Gearing-class destroyer and an unidentified frigate."

For Andre, the only enemy of the MiG-25 is the carrier-based F-14 Tomcat. This variable-sweep wing fighter of the US Navy has very strong maneuverability. Due to the use of computer-controlled variable-sweep wings, this fighter has excellent performance in all airspaces, high, medium and low altitudes, unlike the MiG-25, which only focuses on high-altitude and high-speed performance. Moreover, this fighter can also carry Phoenix missiles, which are long-range heavy missiles that can climb to 28,000 meters after launch, and have the ability to shoot down MiG-25.

Hearing the other party say this, Andre remembered that the aircraft carrier of the Seventh Fleet was the Midway. This aircraft carrier almost never stayed in its home port all year round. The Vietnam War in the United States in recent years involved too much of the US military strength. The Midway had been carrying out military strikes against Vietnam until the end of the Vietnam War last year, when it was considered to have completed its mission.

This aircraft carrier, which was commissioned in 1945, is a typical aircraft carrier of the World War II era. It uses a rectangular right-angle flight deck similar to the Essex class and an open bow. At that time, it could carry more than 100 aircraft, including F-6F-5N Hellcat fighters, F-4U-B Corsair fighter-attack aircraft, and AD-1 Skyraider attack aircraft launched after World War II.

Later, although it underwent several modernizations and had an angled deck and a modern appearance, the ship still had a foundation and was difficult to operate, especially the F-14A Tomcat large carrier fighter that appeared in the late 1970s, which could not be operated on the Midway class. Fortunately, this class of ships could still use the A-6 attack aircraft and the F/A-18 Hornet fighter-attack aircraft that appeared in the 1980s, otherwise, they would have been shelved long ago.

Unless the Americans send a new aircraft carrier, the MiG-25 will no longer face the threat of the Tomcat fighter.

In fact, for the not-so-wide Sea of ​​Japan, land-based fighter jets can easily fly into the enemy's airspace, and if an aircraft carrier operates in the Sea of ​​Japan, it will be threatened by land-based bombers. Therefore, the aircraft carriers deployed by the United States here are not intended to be used to deter the Soviets on the opposite side.

Since there are only two surface ships, the situation has not deteriorated to the point where it cannot be handled. We still have hope, Andre thought to himself.