What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 506 Swarm Collision
The Sulinan air raid caused great distress to both the Empire and the Caucasus:

Mobilizing 300 jet fighters for an attack at once is no easy feat, even with simple early jet aircraft. It represents the capability of at least a medium-sized industrial power, such as small but industrialized countries like Czechoslovakia or Poland.

Defending against mosquitoes is easy; a shoulder-mounted stinger can easily deal with them, and other currently deployed surface-to-air missiles can also intercept them completely.

Especially on land, with the help of early warning aircraft patrols and ground radar stations, even if the penetration is low-altitude, it will be exposed when it gets close to the border, leaving at least 40 minutes of reaction time for fighter jets to take off.

The only problem is money:
It takes at least two anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down one Gnat. Even if one Air Force fighter jet shoots down three Gnats, it would only be a kill of 100. The remaining 200 would require the air defense forces to play a role.

Considering the need for redundant defense against 200 gnats, at least 500 surface-to-air missiles are required, including low-altitude, low-speed Avenger and Patriot systems.

The Stinger missile used by the Avengers costs the Empire $9 per missile, while the more powerful Patriot 2 costs $110 million per missile.

If we prepare 300 Stinger missiles and 200 Patriot missiles, the cost of ammunition alone would be $2.5 million.

Taking into account manpower, other costs, and the fact that Air Force fighter jets need to carry at least 180 air-to-air missiles, the cost of stockpiling munitions alone exceeds $3 million.

Even if Parliament approves the money, how can the Empire prepare at least 75 Avenger and 50 Patriot air defense systems in a short period of time?
Fortunately, someone from Prism Building raised an opinion at this time:

The outdated equipment that had already been retired was transferred to Nanmei.

In particular, the ground-based air defense equipment produced in the 60s and 70s, although somewhat outdated, was absolutely effective against mosquitoes and gnats.

Upon inventorying the Prism Building, it was found that there were indeed such items, including the MIM72 "Little Oak" short-range air defense missile launcher, the MIM-23 "Hawk" medium-range air defense missile, and even the M163A "Vulcan" and the M167 towed Gatling gun vehicle.

These pieces of equipment are either retired from active service or are already sitting on the sidelines, with efforts underway to clear them out and give them to allies; some are still serving in the National Guard.

Moreover, as equipment from the Iron Curtain era, they were produced in large quantities. The Empire easily mobilized more than 100 sets of various old equipment, and then paired them with 12 "Avenger" sets and 8 "Patriot" sets, stationing them in the border region of Guyana as the first line of air defense.

If it weren't for the manpower shortage and the dissatisfaction of the guerrillas, collecting 500 sets of these old equipment would be no problem at all. They could even be repaired and used to produce 2000 sets without much impact on deployment in other areas. They are cheap and easy to use.

Not to be outdone, the Germans, after all, Guyana was an extremely important overseas territory. Even though their martial prowess was far inferior to that of the Empire, they still managed to gather a total of 70 anti-aircraft launchers, self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, and other equipment.

Nearly 200 air defense systems were deployed, with one-third of them located at key targets such as ports and airports, while the rest were piled up at the border to form an air defense network.

When 120 Gnat and Super Swift aircraft advanced northeastward, they were first met with a 30-kilometer-long ground-based air defense array consisting of more than 60 self-propelled artillery pieces and more than 70 air defense missile systems.

As soon as the Second Fleet's attack aircraft arrived at the border, flames rose continuously across the vast area, hundreds of missiles were launched in succession, and various self-propelled artillery also frantically spat fire into the sky.

Faced with such dense firepower, the attack aircraft group could not climb up in time. They could only lower their flight altitude to 5 meters again and disperse at full speed while skimming the ground. The 120 fighter jets dispersed immediately after gathering, and the radar screens of every air defense unit were immediately filled!

At this moment, the air defense forces of the Empire and the Allied Forces realized that there were actually hundreds of aircraft, and they desperately opened fire to intercept them. These old equipment, which were already on the verge of being phased out, seemed to have been given a second life, and Gnats and Super Swifts were constantly being hit and crashed.

Within a border area of ​​over 1 square kilometers, the sky was completely filled with the sounds of missiles cutting through the air, dense machine gun fire, and the night sky caused by attack aircraft groups making ultra-low-altitude supersonic breakthroughs.

As locals stepped out of their houses, they were greeted by a deafening roar. The white trails of over 200 missiles of various types streaked across the sky, while the ammunition belts of nearly a hundred anti-aircraft guns shone like endless red stars, illuminating the entire night sky.

Occasionally, a bright fireball could be seen suddenly rise and then accelerate its descent, turning a fighter jet into a fleeting flame.

There are also super swifts emerging from purgatory, flashing past at a height only the same as the roof of a flat-roofed house, tearing off the roof of a cowshed while making the dogs tuck their tails and whimper.

After all, Guyana's territory is too small, and the terrain in the inland area is complex and difficult to deploy. Even with a strong air defense network, the attacking aircraft eventually broke through the air defense network at the cost of 13 Super Swifts and 22 Gnats, and continued their crazy advance towards the Guyana base, with sonic booms waking up countless people from their sleep.

The remaining 85 fighter jets, accompanied by rolling thunderbolts, struck head-on with the intercepting aircraft.

加上空中巡航的战机以及第一批紧急起飞的联军战机，6架F16、6架幻影2000和4架F15加入战斗。

Faced with these epoch-making adversaries, 24 Gnats and 8 Super Swifts broke away, employing the saturation tactics summarized by Tang Wen.
The early versions of the AIM-9B were so poor in performance, with poor mobility and low sensitivity that it was better to use numbers to achieve results. Seize the opportunity to swarm in and overwhelm the enemy with an overwhelming numerical advantage.

In order to make full use of Hans's super maneuverability, the first eight Super Swifts activated their rocket boosters before launching the attack, using a thrust-to-weight ratio of more than 2 for a brief period of time to penetrate under the coalition fighters at an astonishing speed. The other Gnat fighters then split into three groups to encircle the enemy, achieving a double-strength encirclement.

96枚AIM9B对16架敌机，每一架联军飞机都分到了6枚AIM9B。

Various heat decoys were immediately and relentlessly deployed, while advanced third-generation fighter jets used their superior maneuverability to evade the outdated but deadly missiles.

However, they had already launched their own missiles long before that.

Sparks flew continuously in the night sky, and fighter jets from both sides were frequently hit and crashed to the ground, turning into fireballs.

第一次交错后，32架蚊蚋和超级雨燕只剩下10架，2架幻影2000被导弹击落，1架F16被灵活的超级雨燕击中尾翼失控坠毁。

The 2:1 numerical advantage only held them off for a short while. The remaining 53 attack aircraft took the opportunity to rush to the outskirts of the airport. After eight of them were shot down by ground fire from nearby areas, they finally saw the lights on the runway.

At this time, there were still 10 fighter jets waiting to take off at the Guyana Air Base. Other fighter jets that took off urgently had no fuel concerns and pushed their throttle valves to the maximum. The 30 coalition fighter jets and the remaining 45 Han aircraft instantly merged together and became entangled above the low-altitude airport.

Ground fire was unable to engage for fear of friendly fire, while 75 fighter jets circled the attacking (defending) airfield, engaging in a chaotic and intense air battle. Both sides' aircraft were mixed together in the airspace. Allies were above, below, and to the sides, and enemies were everywhere!

(End of this chapter)