What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 568 Submerged (200 monthly votes in July)

The clock hands were turned back to more than half an hour ago.

Off the coast of Iceland.

On the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, located in the center of the convoy, stealth Swifts took off amidst the roar of their jet engines, then immediately dropped to an extremely low altitude, almost touching the sea surface, to evade radar detection.

This tactic is tried and tested repeatedly and always works. Even an E-3 would have to be at around 200 kilometers away to detect the target, and it would be even more difficult for ordinary fighter jets to search for it with their downward-looking radar.

Based on the sheer number and achievements of the allied forces in this operation, Tang Wen could easily discern that the enemy had adopted maximum weapon loadouts, further demonstrating the considerable caution of their commander.

After careful consideration, Tang Wen deduced that the first attack group had run out of ammunition and should have already left the field. He should seize the opportunity to eliminate the second attack group, otherwise they would likely lose the window of opportunity.

Therefore, he also split the attacking formation into two groups: after the 8th round of stealth Swifts took off, they joined 144 Gnats to form a super formation of 208 fighters for the attack.

The remaining fighter jets will wait to regroup until they number around 400 before launching a second wave of attacks.

As a result, the first echelon of 208 fighter jets had only flown less than 200 kilometers from the fleet when they ran head-on into the second attack group, which was marching north with high morale!
Tang Wen never expected that the other side would dare to attack with only 20 planes, and the latter was terrified!
The second attack group originally intended to harass the perimeter, seize an opportunity to fire off a few destroyers until they ran out of ammunition, and then immediately return to port, achieving both safety and a victory.

As a result, when they rushed over, the radar detected an unusual signal at a distance of about 40 kilometers.

At first, it was just a single point of light, but the pilot soon discovered that the point of light was jumping around and was getting bigger—not because the target was big, but because too many targets had gathered together!
The APG70 is a pulse-Doppler radar that can only identify a maximum of 24 targets. The targets below far exceed the processing capacity limit and can only flash continuously on the screen!
In order to ensure that the Third Fleet did not have enough reaction time, the 20 aircraft of the Second Attack Group were moving very fast. The E-2B that followed was still 270 kilometers away and did not see these ultra-low-altitude targets at all.

However, as their radar scanned the area, the stealthy swifts that were skimming across the sea naturally became aware of it. Upon discovering that there were only 20 enemy targets, they decisively increased their altitude and launched an attack.

As 208 fighter jets climbed, the E3B's air situation control center screen froze instantly—handling so many suddenly appearing targets at the same time was an enormous test for the electronic systems of this era. It took a full half minute to recover, and the screen displayed a dense array of countless fighter jets, among which the relatively rare Super ME262 was also identified!

The latter is equipped with solid thrusters, and with two engines, it can generate nearly 10 tons of thrust instantly, allowing the thrust-to-weight ratio of the less than 4-ton airframe to reach close to 2.5.

The terrifying thrust-to-weight ratio allows the Super ME262 to perform devilish maneuvers and reach a top speed of Mach 2.5 in a short period of time, posing a huge threat to friendly aircraft. The Imperial Air Force is extremely wary of it.

Without even needing Mark's orders, the 12 F-15s and 8 Tornadoes immediately turned around and went all out, not even caring whether they had enough fuel to return. They figured it was better to jump into the sea and be pulled out than to be overwhelmed by this ridiculous sea of ​​planes!

This tactic worked well against gnats with a top speed of only Mach 1.3, but immediately 40 Super 262s activated their solid rocket motors without hesitation. The fighter jets, which were slowly crawling on the sea surface at a speed of about 600 kilometers per hour, broke the speed of sound in a few seconds and approached the radar like venomous snakes.

The F-15 and Tornado can theoretically escape at speeds of Mach 2.5 and 2.2 respectively. However, they are carrying heavy missiles and can only fly at Mach 1.2 to 1.5, otherwise there is a risk of the pylons breaking apart!
They have two options:
Drop the missiles and flee at full speed, or engage the swifts in a few rounds, taking down some of them before running away.

In reality, they had no choice. When they were first discovered, the two sides were 40 kilometers apart and flying head-on. By the time the second attack group turned around, they were already very close. The Swift accelerated and entered the range of the AIM-9L. If they didn't fight, they would be sitting ducks for missiles. They had to fight!
好在AIM9M拥有一定的全向攻击能力，在还没有完全调转方向之前，12架F15E不要钱的一般倾泻出了48枚AIM9M，完全发挥了F15E最大锁定4个目标的能力。    而狂风还是经典的四中两近配置，将全部16枚AIM9发射助阵。

However, compared to their meticulously calculated attacks, the stealthy ME262 is much easier to operate.

每一架雨燕都携带了6枚AIM9L，40架战机各自发射6枚，一口气就是240枚导弹飞出！
The AIM-9L and AIM-9M of both sides are products of the same level and were launched almost simultaneously, making it a veritable rattlesnake brawl!
The AIM9 series are all active infrared guided, and their hit rate is not significantly affected by the platform.

Both sides used close-range bullets to attack, which was essentially a brutal game of exchanging bullets to see who could withstand more casualties!
在这种情况下占据数量劣势的第二攻击群显然下场不会好，他们对汉斯的导弹印象还停留在空中烧火棍AIM9B，所以连使用AIM9M都是抠搜的1发对1架，而雨燕可是12发导弹锁定1架！
Even with the addition of infrared decoy flares, which the stealth Swift lacks, the AIM-9L still boasts a hit rate of over 40%.

According to probability theory, the probability of at least one of the two AIM-9L missiles hitting the target is 64%, which still poses a huge threat.

而隐身雨燕一共发射了160枚导弹，一架F15或狂风至少受到12枚AIM9L锁定，至少有1枚导弹命中的概率就达到了99.8%！

In this brutal mathematical game, only a lucky few manage to escape unscathed.

This is not because they were lucky, but because the AIM-9 series infrared air-to-air missiles are more likely to lose targets than active radar missiles, especially when the second attack group is already densely packed.

In fact, the worst-hit F-15 suffered nearly 30 AIM-9L attacks. Even if it desperately threw decoy flares and used afterburner maneuvers, it was all in vain. It was reduced to scattered fragments in the crazy explosions.

The power of the 240 missiles exploding overwhelmed everything else, yet the second attack group couldn't even confirm the results!
Only a few peripheral fighter jets managed to evade the attack, and then, without hesitation, jettisoned all remaining missiles and fled at full speed.

The 16 friendly aircraft that were killed in the attack by more than 200 missiles bought them enough time to finally widen the gap by speed.

而40架用光了固体推进器的隐身雨燕在遭受攻击后也还只剩7架，不甘心的继续追击又用机炮干掉了1架受伤的F15后，才由着最后2架狂风和1架F15狼狈逃窜。

But while they were fighting in the air, the remaining 24 stealth Swifts and 144 Gnats were relentlessly rushing towards the anti-submarine squadron!

The anti-submarine squadron, having received the information, was still indiscriminately harvesting submarines and could only speed up their efforts to finish them off before preparing to escape.

但它们毕竟快不过超音速战机，剩下的168架飞机不计燃油消耗全速飞行，并且4架隐身雨燕前出探路追寻目标方位，并在16时40分发现护航反潜机群的20架海鹞以及4架EF111A。

Faced with an overwhelming number of enemy aircraft, the Harriers fought back fearlessly, while the EF111A attempted electronic jamming and escorting the anti-submarine fleet, but this only delayed them for half a minute before failing.

Knowing their speed disadvantage, the anti-submarine squadron attempted to disperse and escape, but at 15:54, the last Nimbus was shot down by machine guns and crashed into the sea. Thus, apart from 3 aircraft that escaped, all 56 aircraft in the second and third attack groups were lost!
The first echelon of fighter jets had 11 stealth Swifts and 103 Gnats left, but they all ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea before they could reach the British mainland.

However, in the E3B's view, hundreds of fighter jets in the second echelon were already approaching!
(End of this chapter)