American Detective: Starting as a Rookie Cop in an American TV Show

Chapter 1497 Chaos in the Special Zone (Part 3)

Since the White House was burned down by the Allied forces of the neighboring United Kingdom and Britain in 1814, the country's capital, Washington, D.C., has never experienced the ravages of war.

The Federation's advantageous geographical location allowed it to reap significant benefits in both World Wars.

However, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Although the Union established the North American Air Defense Network (NADN) with everyone as early as the 1950s, with the collapse of the Red Empire and the replacement of long-range bombers by intercontinental ballistic missiles as the key to nuclear bomb delivery, the importance attached to the so-called North American Air Defense Network has declined again and again.

After 9/11, the federal government began to pay more attention to the management of aircraft, especially foreign aircraft, but the actual situation remained largely unchanged.

After all, this is a country with private airports everywhere, and countless aircraft fly in high, medium and low airspaces every day, making management extremely difficult.

Moreover, the federal army has always relied on air support and has not paid much attention to ground-based low- and medium-altitude defense. A Stinger missile carried on the shoulder is a man-portable air defense system, and when mounted on a vehicle, it becomes a dual quadruple-launch Avenger air defense missile system.

As for the renowned Patriot medium- and long-range surface-to-air defense system, although it is also deployed around Washington, D.C., it is clearly helpless against gunships flying at low altitudes at this time.

Jack still doesn't understand which force has the power to acquire a retired AC130U, but that's no longer important.

Regardless of which "White House Has Fallen" plot has interfered, the other side is clearly after the White House, and the most urgent task is to rescue Zoe.

至于为何可以确认那是一架已经退役的AC130U“幽灵”而不是最新型号的AC130J（幽灵骑士），那是因为最新服役的AC130J取消了原本的25毫米和40毫米机炮，取而代之的是一门30毫米机炮。

At this point, the gunships in the sky had circled the field counterclockwise for about half a circle, and their altitude had increased from less than 500 meters when they entered the field, but their firing range had also expanded.

At this time, two Avenger missile launchers had been raised on the top of the white house, but they did not fire for a long time. It was unclear what the problem was. Judging from the air force paint scheme of the gunship, it was highly likely that the IFF system had prevented the launchers from locking on.

At this point, only five minutes had passed since the gunships appeared over Washington, D.C., but the entire city had already descended into chaos.

As the federal capital, it is far less bustling than New York, but it attracts a constant stream of tourists throughout the year, with more than 2500 million visitors annually, which is quite impressive among European and American cities.

When Jack's "Mammoth," guided by Kate, bypassed the congested roads and circled around to Constitution Avenue next to Constitution Park, the desolate scene before him was almost unbearable to look at.

Constitution Park, which houses the Lincoln Memorial and a reflecting pool, is located next to the Potomac River and is a must-visit destination for every tourist coming to the District of Columbia.

A row of tour buses parked on the roadside and several police cars from the Special Administrative Region Police Department were swept from head to tail. The 25mm and 40mm autocannons, capable of easily tearing through light armor, turned almost all of these vehicles into burning scrap metal.

While most tourists were shivering in the park, one group of tourists who had just stopped in their vehicle and hadn't yet gotten off suffered a terrible accident.

The sight of limbs flying everywhere was horrific. Some people were trying to help the wounded who were screaming in agony in the fire, while others stood by the roadside, covered in blood, bewildered and helpless. Compared to the dead, these people were undoubtedly lucky, because the blood on their bodies was almost entirely not their own.

No carbon-based life form could survive a direct hit from a large-caliber machine gun. Even if a shell landed nearby, the resulting shrapnel and flames would be enough to take the lives of those around it.

A 12.7mm heavy machine gun bullet hitting the human torso can create a wound the size of a large bowl at the point of impact. Repeated hits can easily cut a person in two. As for 25mm or even 40mm artillery shells, their targets are never the vulnerable human body.

Jack forcibly looked away, not letting his attention linger on the incredibly tragic scene before him; he had more important things to do.

In 1899, the federal Congress passed the Washington, D.C. Building Height Restriction Act, which stipulated that buildings in the District of Columbia could not exceed 160 feet, or 49 meters. Therefore, the tallest building here is the Washington Monument, which stands on the National Mall at a height of 169 meters.

The low-rise buildings provided the gunship with excellent firing visibility. As it tilted its fuselage again, two tongues of fire swept mercilessly across the oval lawn south of the white house, leaving a series of craters before extending all the way to the top of the main building.

Several Secret Service sniper teams that had just taken their positions on the roof according to the emergency plan were instantly turned into a bloody mist, with one "Avenger" air defense missile system also being destroyed.

Only then did the people controlling the control system seem to have finally found a way to manually bypass the friend-or-foe identification system. Before the flames approached the second Avenger launcher, white smoke rose into the air, and four Stinger missiles rushed toward the gunship that was right next to them.

The next second, the second anti-aircraft missile launcher was also destroyed. Everyone who noticed this scene, including Jack who was watching through the car's screen, looked towards the enemy in the air, following the direction of the four plumes of white smoke.

However, almost at the same time as the missile was launched, a series of hot-barreled bombs mixed with aluminum foil were fired from the left and right sides and the tail of the gunship, creating a long wall of flames like the wings of an angel.

Almost all four Stingers were tricked by the hot-barreled grenades, crashing headlong into the wall of flames and detonating their warheads. The closest one exploded almost touching the tail of the aircraft, but the shrapnel only added a few minor, insignificant holes to the skin.

The AC130 is a gunship converted from a transport aircraft. Although it may seem flimsy, its survivability may not be as good as the thick-skinned A-10 "Warthog" attack aircraft, but it is not easily destroyed by a single Stinger bomb that explodes at close range.

Jack had already turned the corner and arrived at 17th Street on the west side of the national park, but he had to slam on the brakes.

The white house is a couple hundred meters ahead to the right, but even though the "Mammoth" was fitted with bulletproof steel plates, it couldn't withstand a single shot from a 25mm cannon.

It's worth noting that the M242 "Bushmaster" autocannon, with the same caliber, crippled a T-90 tank on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield.

Having evaded a round of anti-aircraft missiles, the AC130 had circled the white house for more than half a turn, now heading directly towards Jack's direction of travel. The tilted fuselage was slowly leveling and climbing again.

"What are the Air Force doing?" Jack cursed inwardly, though he knew he was somewhat wrong to blame them.

(End of this chapter)