Chapter 726 41’s Victory
Chapter 726: 4:1 Victory
Due to the lack of a unit that can take a general view of the situation, the Indian army spent a full minute and a half to roughly understand the current situation through the chaotic radio-
On their side, there were a total of 8 MiG-29A and 8 Mirage 2000H, divided into 4 formations, generally flying westward in a fan-shaped manner.
The other side took off a total of 4 F16s and 16 unidentified aircraft suspected to be the latest improved J-7, divided into three formations, showing a sandwich situation.
Of course, there are also 2 or 4 unidentified Chinese fighters located on the side, which seem to have no intention of joining the battle, but can still give some pressure.
On the other hand, although Pakistan is also unable to communicate with the Chinese military command in real time, it has known the number, formation and approximate direction of the opponent before taking off, which is already a huge advantage.
In fact, if we look at it from the perspective of hindsight, at the moment when both sides turned on their radars, although the Indian army was not an advantage, it still had a chance to fight.
The four F16s without BVR combat capability can be ignored, so the rest is nothing more than a 16-on-16 medium-range missile random shooting.
In this kind of medium-high altitude and clean background combat environment, the radar of the MiG-29A is powerful enough after all, so it will not suffer any loss.
Even considering the range advantage of the R27 over the PL-11, it may have some advantages.
However, due to the chaotic front-line command and poor situational awareness, they missed the most golden 90 seconds of response time.
Therefore, when the two Indian squadrons completed the communication, the eight J-7Fs of the 5th Squadron coming from the southwest had already fired a round of medium-range missiles at the Black Arrow Squadron rushing in the front.
The entire flight process of the semi-active radar missile requires the carrier to maintain radar tracking, so once the initiative is lost, the impact on the situation is fatal.
Because if the party that launches the missile later does not maneuver to evade, it will inevitably be shot down earlier, and the ammunition they fired will also lose the target and cannot pose a threat at all.
This is completely different from the logic of active radar missile shooting.
Therefore, the eight MiG-29s that were the first to be hit had to disperse and turn to evade.
Colonel Prajan also thought about saving his teammates, but his squadron was being targeted one-on-one by the eight planes in front of him, and he was completely unable to do anything for a while.
As expected, all the medium-range missiles fired at the extreme distance missed the target, but this round of evasion caused the Black Arrow Squadron to fall into disadvantages in both energy and position, and it was impossible to organize an effective counterattack.
Only two planes barely fired two R27s in the form of low-to-high attack, but the opponents with more numbers at high altitudes almost responded at the same time.
If this situation continues, the two sides will soon enter a visual range battle within 10 kilometers.
At that time, the MiG-29 fleet, which had neither altitude nor speed, would probably find it difficult to deal with these opponents.
So after holding on for a while, the Black Arrow Squadron, which had just claimed to help Prajan get revenge, slid to its knees at the speed of light, turned east, and prepared to take advantage of its acceleration performance to escape.
At this time, the 7th Squadron had just completed a round of evenly matched shooting, and was still unclear about the situation on the other side.
It was not until a few minutes later, when the captain of the Black Arrows was shocked on the radio, that they realized that they had been betrayed by their teammates...
Fortunately, the 16 aircraft on both sides had already fired all their medium-range missiles and had not yet entered the visual range combat that was difficult to escape.
So they could still run.
But at this time, the role of those Chinese Air Force fighters was revealed.
"Warning, you are approaching Chinese airspace, please turn and leave immediately, otherwise you will be responsible for all the consequences..."
A slightly stiff English sounded on the public radio channel.
In order to avoid medium-range missiles, both sides had already disbanded their formations, and the few aircraft closest to the border could only make a 270° turn in a very awkward posture in order not to enter Chinese airspace.
Wasting time is still secondary, the key is that such a turn will shorten the distance with the opponent.
But there is no choice.
If you insist on rushing to the other side, the situation is likely to become a mixed doubles.
There was no chance of survival.
In the end, the last plane was shot down by two PL-11 missiles fired from the fifth squadron from another direction.
The Pakistani Air Force was also worried that the MiG-29s that had just escaped would suddenly come back, so they only pursued them with great restraint.
A melee that left countless tails in the air ended with a score of 1:0.
There was no way. When both sides had neither reliable air command capabilities, nor active radar bombs, and were not ready to engage in combat, the efficiency of beyond-visual-range shooting was very low.
However, considering the previous 2:1 result and the fact that this was an ambush by the Indian army.
It was obvious that Pakistan had made a big profit.
However, all this was not over yet.
The victorious pilots of the Tail Knife Squadron soon discovered a problem.
"Has anyone seen the squadron leader?"
During the joyous return flight, someone suddenly asked on the radio.
The channel suddenly became quiet.
The melee just now had turned into a mess, so naturally no one had the time to pay attention to the three lonely planes.
"Perhaps they have landed in Punjab?"
Someone speculated.
But soon, the base commander gave a negative answer:
"No, we didn't see Lieutenant Colonel Sami and his wingmen from the 9th Squadron. However, the attack aircraft from the Panther Squadron has landed."
"..."
At this time, Sami and his wingmen had returned to the battlefield and quietly walked around to both sides of another Mirage 2000 that had dispersed and returned before it could regroup.
He did not chase the MiG-29s that he had left before, because the opponent still had more than a dozen medium-range rounds in his hand that had not been fired.
These are not available on the Phantom 2000.
She is completely a soft persimmon at his disposal.
According to the plan, the wingman approaching from the other direction turned on the radar first.
Although the two missiles on the wingman had already been fired in the initial 2-on-2 air battle, the frightened Mirage 2000 obviously did not know this, and was still frightened into turning around and coming closer to Sami.
Everything is within the latter's calculation.
And when the RWR of the unlucky Indian aircraft rang for the second time, it was already too late.
The pilot turned around and saw two missiles hitting him one after another, which had not even completed the power stage.
He barely dodged the first shot with the help of a powerful turn, but the second missile launched one second apart adjusted its direction in time and detonated under the left wing of the Mirage 2000.
The rapidly expanding continuous rod warhead ripped apart almost the entire wing, and because the altitude was too low, the pilot did not even have time to parachute...
"Squadron Commander, my fuel is running low, what should I do next?"
After rejoining one place, the wingman pilot asked in a trembling voice.
With the fuel he has left, let alone returning to his base, it is unrealistic to even fly to the Griffin Squadron's base.
However, since Sami dared to catch up, it meant that everything had been planned:
"Turn to direction 290. I know there is a civilian airport in Batilstan with a runway length of 3,700 meters. We will land there."
…
On the other side, after the 7th Squadron regrouped, Colonel Sumit Prajan realized that he had just lost more than one of his men.
"***'s Black Archer Squadron..."
Prajan punched the cabin wall in annoyance.
If Black Archer hadn't retreated without giving up, they would have even had a slight advantage in the situation.
However……
He had just witnessed a wingman crashing on a ridge. The pilot ejected from the cabin, but the parachute would most likely not open in time.
Now it is discovered that another four-machine formation is also missing one aircraft.
Just a few minutes ago, they were still thinking about using the stealth mode without turning on the radar to break the opponent's concealment.
However, in the end they themselves became the ones whose concealment was broken.
and lost a quarter of the formation in the dark minutes that followed.
The lieutenant colonel endured the pain and replayed everything that had just happened over and over in his mind.
The failure of the initial two-plane formation sneak attack can also be explained as bad luck or a calculation by the oriole behind.
But no matter how you think about the ensuing air battle between the two large formations, it should be an evenly matched or slightly dominant situation.
How come...
The other party acted as if they knew their direction in advance.
But the other party does not have a long-range air defense system or early warning radar near the border... Even if it does, it is impossible to see it so clearly due to the terrain...
"hiss……"
Prayan suddenly figured out something.
He raised his head and looked at the vague snow line on the left side of the cabin.
"Tomahawk Squadron, you transfer to Chandigarh and land. Pay attention to descending altitude in time."
In the pain and anger of losing his teammates, Prayan suddenly heard an elderly voice coming from the radio.
That was Lieutenant General Bhadauriya, chief of staff of the Western Air Command, who was responsible for the front-line command of this mission.
"chief of staff……"
Prayan's voice was a little choked when he heard this voice:
"We lost four planes today, and three of our brothers failed to parachute..."
"I know, Lieutenant Colonel, I know..."
Bhadauliya's tone was also very low:
"The captain of the Black Arrow just told me, he said he was sorry..."
"..."
Prayan has calmed down a little now. He knows that in the final analysis, this matter cannot be entirely blamed on the other party.
In the case of losing the first mover, even if the Black Archer informed him in advance as soon as possible during the retreat, the 7th Squadron, which had already been trapped in a mid-range missile exchange, would not be able to retreat before both sides ran out of ammunition.
This is a technical gap.
"Chief of Staff, we can't go on like this."
The lieutenant colonel suppressed his grief and said on the radio:
"We must have our own early warning aircraft, otherwise we will always be overwhelmed by the radar on the mountain..."