What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 401 General, this is a huge mistake.

"is there any news?"

Despite the communication restrictions, Fern still used satellite communication to contact Guyana and the mainland every now and then.

At this time, satellite communication was also frequently lost, but every response received indicated that there were no problems.

Although he knew there was probably no problem because the radar hadn't detected it, it still reassured Fern somewhat.

As midnight passed, Fern again ordered the entire fleet to increase vigilance and report the situation.

"Mitchell is operating normally"

"Barry is operating normally"

"Valley Forge is operating normally"

"Wattsworth is operating normally"

"..."

The AN/SPY-1D has a maximum normal detection range of over 325 kilometers. Even in bad weather, it still has a detection range of over 200 kilometers for mid-to-high altitudes above 1,000 meters. However, it is hard to say for altitudes below cloud cover, and the range may only be around 100 kilometers.

To maintain secrecy as much as possible, the two Arleigh Burkes and the two Ticonderogas took turns turning on their radars at regular intervals.

In addition, the entire fleet implemented a light control measure. Fern found a flashlight and shone it into the pitch-black night sky, and the raindrops were ridiculously large.

Will not.

He told himself that.

……

0:50.

On the coast 70 kilometers from Georgetown Harbor, where the Clemenceau was docked, radar began to blare loudly in an inconspicuous little harbor.

This isn't a proper air search radar; it's just a small radar used to guide helicopters to land at night.

This is just an inconspicuous little outpost, used only to combat smuggling.

It was clear that it had identified the flying object in the clouds. The radar operator was thinking this and was about to go forward to turn off the power to prevent it from being damaged by lightning when he inadvertently looked up at the sky outside the window.

The gnat swarm did not discover this small port on its chosen route because of the surrounding forests, which is why it chose to set sail from there.

The radar operator watched as a two-hundred-meter-long black shadow flew past, resembling a giant cigar and emitting a faint, eerie glow.

"My God, it's a UFO!"

……

We've been discovered!

Tang Wen wasn't too surprised by this small variable. They were already at sea, and a 20-minute sprint would be enough.

Like a viper, the aircraft swarm fearlessly swooped down to a lower altitude, directly executing the command to fly at a sea level altitude of 3 meters.

The sea level in the eyes of the gnats is the normal height in the South Pacific. At this time, flying at this height is almost like constantly breaking through waves, as if flying in water.

But they were unaffected, and the surrounding waves passed through them without hindrance, like phantoms.

Ten minutes later, Tang Wen saw a magnificent sight at sea through the forced night vision in his mind:

The No. 2 and No. 3 submarines have launched 210 aircraft in 14 batches, which now form a giant "mosquito coil" that hovers close to the sea surface and spins around the almost invisible submarine.

They were like water mosquitoes swarming across the water after rain, more than two hundred of them so densely packed that you couldn't see the end.

When the aircraft from submarine No. 1 arrived, both submarines also launched the 15th and 16th batches of aircraft.

The 285 aircraft began to regroup and form a sharp triangle to reduce their radar illumination area, with the distance between them still controlled between 2 and 3 meters.

The entire triangular formation is only a little over 1 kilometer long, and the widest part of the frontal formation is less than 50 meters, resembling a sharp cone.

From the sky, it looks like a black, extremely narrow triangular arrow moving along the sea surface, flying as smoothly as a sticker in a shadow play.

...“UFO?”

We finally received satellite information from Marcel amidst the torrential rain, but the content was quite surprising.

Marcel explained the reason in the message:

In addition to the comical UFO sighting reported in the small port, two other areas reported suspicious activity via landline.

Although it was difficult to identify them as airplanes, Marcel marked several locations on a map and found that they could be connected by a line—pointing to the Enterprise.

This message was sent 3 minutes ago, but it was only received now because of the weather.

Even including the fastest time to compile the data, nearly 20 minutes had passed since the "UFO" crossed the coast.

A thought flashed through Fern's mind, and he quickly leaned over to draw on the map with a pencil:

Based on the last location of the "UFO," if it really was a gnat, it would be less than 400 kilometers away from them at that time. If they knew the exact location and were flying at full speed at Mach 1.2, it should have been overhead by now!

He subconsciously looked at the night sky outside, where the torrential rain had continued for several hours, and a super lightning bolt that stretched for several kilometers suddenly appeared, briefly illuminating the entire sea surface.

In this awful weather, even God couldn't fly under the clouds!
Arleigh Burke's radar remains on alert; it can detect targets up to 200 kilometers away at low and medium altitudes...

Fern wanted to continue moving the fleet, but did not want to disrupt radio control.

Given the terrible weather and complete darkness, using light signals would likely risk causing a collision.

Fleet, remain stationary!
……

The Gnat formation was almost at the last known location of the Enterprise formation, but no radio signals were detected.

At this point, the grubs that took off from the No. 1 boat only had about 300 kilometers of range left, and with a full-scale attack, they could only penetrate 100 kilometers at most. Tang Wen was a little anxious, so he gritted his teeth and decided to disperse a group of decoy aircraft—by actively attracting radar illumination to determine the target's location.

Fifteen gnats broke away from the formation and quickly climbed to an altitude of 1000 meters in a wide-spaced formation, spreading out in an arc for several kilometers.

There was still no response after 5 minutes, and the ascent reached 2000 meters.

We've been discovered!

A piercing warning suddenly rang out, and the 15 gnats scattered high in the sky were immediately scanned by the radar, triggering the radar alarm to beep.

It's now!

The aircraft on both sides of the decoy swarm easily calculated the radar source coordinates by recording the direction of the incoming beams and then crossing them.

"Direction 290, distance 65 to 80 kilometers!"

The decoy aircraft immediately descended, but before they were even 500 meters above sea level, a barrage of Standard missiles flew over. The 15 aircraft were spread out, and each missile hit its target precisely. In the darkness, a faint patch of flame appeared, and 15 wreckage fragments fell into the sea.

[15 of our aircraft were shot down]

[Commander: Full speed ahead!]

The remaining 270 gnats immediately changed course, with the throttle fully open, and flew over the sea at a speed of 1500 kilometers per hour!
……

"Lift restrictions, full combat readiness!"

When the USS Barry first detected the aircraft and decisively launched missiles, Fern immediately restored communications and issued orders to the fleet.

Although the captain of the Barry opened fire without asking permission, Fern believed he must have been certain it was an aircraft signal.

Sure enough, after connecting to the Barry's data link, 15 very conspicuous gnats appeared at a low altitude of 75 kilometers.

It was still two missiles locking onto one aircraft—Fern had originally considered using one missile to intercept one aircraft, but Calvin later raised a question:
What should you do if gnats carry mushroom eggs?
With that in mind, he didn't dare to be stingy with just a few missiles, and so he launched 30 Standard Missile 1/2 missiles without hesitation.

The fifteen radar targets quickly disappeared from the radar. The radars of the four destroyers scanned the area at maximum power but found no other targets.

At that moment, the Barry suddenly transmitted a message:

"I'm sorry, General, I made a huge mistake. I shouldn't have locked onto them; it exposed our coordinates."

—Max Alvis (Captain of the USS Barry)

(End of this chapter)