What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 569 Support from All Sides
Before the second attack group and anti-submarine squadron were destroyed, the second echelon of 428 fighter jets took off again.

This included 128 stealth Swifts and a full 300 Gnats, so many that Tang Wen had to decide to adopt a more special method to reduce radar cross-section:
The 428 fighter jets still flew at extremely low altitudes over the sea, but they flew close to each other by stacking two identical aircraft together. The radar of the early warning aircraft could only detect one target at most when looking down from above.

So by the time they came into E3B's view, there were only about 200 of them.

For Mark aboard the other E3B, this was undoubtedly a horror story:
An hour earlier, under his orders, 20 fighter jets went to conduct a fire test;
Forty minutes earlier, these 20 fighter jets encountered more than 200 fighter jets that were completely unprepared for the attack.
35 minutes ago, three fighter jets fled in disarray;

Ten minutes ago, all 20 Harriers and 4 EF111As were shot down;
Five minutes ago, the last Nimbus crashed into the water, and quite coincidentally, it landed in the area where anti-submarine depth charges had been dropped earlier.
One minute earlier, another E3B told him that there were more than 200 fighter jets on their way to attack.

The only saving grace was that the remaining hundred or so fighters in the first wave sank themselves. Analysis suggests that their range was insufficient to reach the British mainland or return, and this was not surprising for the lost empire.

Mark counted them up and realized that the Third Fleet had launched more than 700 aircraft in just 6 hours!

Even decades ago on the Western Front, this number would have been considered a major battle, but it sent chills down his spine.

According to the warning from that E3B, because the Third Fleet's fighters are outdated, they can only cruise at a low speed of about 500 kilometers per hour to reach the UK, which means they will arrive in a little over an hour.

Based on the time difference, the public is probably only just now celebrating their big win.
Mark felt an overwhelming bitterness, and he didn't even know whether he should be glad that he had sent out the second attack group early, otherwise he might have had to wait until the enemy was right under his nose to find them.

The enormous change nearly crushed the newly promoted officer, but maintaining his military discipline, Mark immediately issued orders after writing an urgent reply to Prism Building:

"The other E-3B will remain on the surveillance. We'll return to base first and calculate how many more aircraft we can deploy. We must stop them!"

……

Aldgrove Air Base
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reporters have set up their equipment and are conducting a live broadcast across the country.

The purpose of the live broadcast was to showcase the massive military strength to the public, and to show the scene of fighter jets flying by to prove the authenticity of the victory. It almost immediately achieved a viewership rate of over 90%.

They even know that many other countries are also watching this program to gain a deeper understanding, making it a potentially record-breaking military show.

On-site reporter Melina didn't want to miss the opportunity and gave it her all. By this time, all the fighter jets of the first attack group had returned to base, and the camera was pointed at the huge tarmac.

Thirty-odd aircraft may not sound like much, but in the frame, they almost exceed the limits of the frame. The towering tails cluster together, creating a spectacular sight.

Melina was talking to a Royal Air Force major who was receiving her about the return time of the second strike group. The latter gave an exaggerated smile to the camera and said that a full 40 fighter jets were about to enter the airfield, enough to keep air traffic control and ground crew busy.

Just then, a soldier from the base hurried over and made a gesture to the major from outside the camera's view.

Melina immediately knew it was a military secret, and smiled jokingly at the camera:

“Wow, our major obviously has more important work to do. It looks like the camera is on me now.”

It took the major several minutes to talk to the soldier, and when he turned around, Melina noticed that he was still smiling, but it looked forced, and he was gesturing to her directly off-camera.

"The supplies at the Aldgrove base are running low, so the second attack group has been moved to another base. Sorry."

His words immediately disappointed Melina, who pressed on, unwilling to give up:

"What about the anti-submarine aircraft squadron?"

"Well, they went to other bases too."

"Can I go there to film too?"

Melina adopted a pitiful expression, inadvertently revealing her impressive cleavage. However, the other woman remained unmoved, and her forced smile vanished.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I must also tell you that the live stream must be stopped. The base is about to conduct a more important military movement, which is classified."

Melina knew that nothing could be changed and could only leave with great regret.

The show, which became a huge hit less than half an hour after its hasty premiere, had to be shut down. While this surprised viewers, they were convinced by the "confidential" reason given. Only some observers from other countries sensed something unusual:

The Third Fleet is still far away, and Aldgrov base is not a frontline base, so even if the troop movements are broadcast live, nothing will be revealed.

So... what happened?
……

"I want to confirm to you again that the latest detection figure for the E3B is between 200 and 240 aircraft."

Because neither the Swift nor the Gnat has any decent radar, it is not easy for them to detect AWACS aircraft, allowing the E-3B to monitor the formation from a distance, but not to get too close.

Even the vague numbers made Terren's voice tremble, and silenced Blair, who had finally put on his pants.

After a long while, he finally asked:

How big of a counterattack can we organize?

"There are still 6 Tornado F3 interceptors on standby in the mainland, making a total of 16 Tornadoes including the 10 that returned."

Blair rubbed his ears, despair settling in as he heard the number.

However, Teren smiled wryly:
"We only have 32 Tornado aircraft on standby. We squeezed out 18 before, which was almost all of our combat capability. The remaining 6 were all squeezed out."

"How can there be so few? Does the mighty United Kingdom only have 16 combat-ready interceptors?"

Upon hearing this, Teren immediately looked up at him: "Fix the air conditioner, turn around."
Isn't it like the thief crying "stop thief!" when the labor leaders ask this question? It's you who cut down the original 6 squadrons of 72 Tornado aircraft to 3 squadrons!

Blair regretted his words immediately afterward, and shamelessly continued to ask:

"Where is the Empire? Where are our allies?"

“具体还在统计……现在我知道的该有髪鸡的12架幻影2000C和20架幻影F1都到了，荷栏人派来了18架F16，挪微14架，还有剩下的25架F15。

In addition, Switzerland can deploy 24 Gripen fighters, and the Empire has already decided to transfer 28 F-15s from the Hans.

"Hans? Aren't they afraid... That makes sense, the Empire can't worry about that now, Hans probably won't do anything reckless."

Blair did some mental calculations and found that he had 157 interceptors available... 1.5 against 2, which seemed pretty good? He could almost say that victory was in his grasp.

After all, the first attack group of more than 40 fighters took down 160 gnats, so there shouldn't be any major problems, right?
But Teren immediately understood his thoughts and added:

"But because time was too tight, these fighter jets could neither adjust their loadouts nor concentrate their attacks, especially the F-15s from the Hans and the Gripen from the Swiss. They had to take off immediately, and most of the time they could only catch up with the battle at the northern border by flying at supersonic speeds."

This means they have very few missiles and fuel, and their combat effectiveness is far inferior to that of the afternoon.

Furthermore, most of the local aircraft participated in the fierce fighting that afternoon, and they must be sortieing again within an hour... It's very difficult."

(End of this chapter)