What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 571 Fighting
Supporting the Third Fleet, which was fighting against evil, was a consensus within the family. For the pilots who came from different regions, they all seemed to have seen the halo of glory behind them.

Such moments often feel like a savior descending from the heavens in a time of crisis, which usually greatly boosts morale. After all, who wouldn't want to be a hero who saves someone from danger?
The pilots who arrived before departure thought that by the time they arrived, it would be just the time for Mark to order the squadron to attack. The exaggerated 2:160 casualty rate at the front line was even more frustrating, and they wished they could replace the first attack group and go and have a good time.

With numerous battles, low intensity, high rewards, and low risks, it's practically every pilot's dream mission to rack up merits. But what if you're too late and there aren't enough gnats to go around?
Amidst this atmosphere, they all eagerly volunteered to take the lead in the attack. However, the Imperial base commander in charge of coordination was somewhat reluctant, as they all wanted to leave the credit to their own squadron.

However, the bigger reason is that although the coalition forces look huge, apart from the F-16s of the Netherlands and Norway, which are relatively easy to arrange, the bunch of Mirage family fighters of the United States are a headache to look at.

Modern air combat, in particular, emphasizes systemization, and the birds have a strong sense of independence and are unwilling to be commanded. It takes a lot of effort to unleash their full combat power.

Mark's qualifications were far from sufficient, while Teren's were more than enough, yet he had no intention of showing up!

Who are Dai Ying and Fa Ji? They are mortal enemies separated only by a narrow strip of water (the Taiwan Strait)!

Hearing that Dai Ying had met with misfortune, the magistrates outwardly showed great concern and offered words of comfort, but inwardly they were probably overjoyed. The pilots who came to provide support landed with arrogance, looking down on everyone.

They were flying a bunch of outdated Mirage fighters, but they were behaving like they were bigger than F-22s, just to convey one message:
Oh my, so even you, Ying, have to ask me for help sometimes?
The bald-haired Royal Air Force Colonel Patrice Aubrey, who was leading the team, went around showing off to the Royal Air Force personnel, who all looked constipated and avoided him like the plague.

Welcome him, but he'll probably be ridiculed behind his back, and even his future promotions will be marred by this.

If they are not welcome, wouldn't they be accused of sabotaging the coalition forces?
In this situation, Teren and Blair stayed far away, leaving everything to Mark to deal with.

The latter was too busy on the early warning aircraft to manage, so it was left to the officers at the base. However, apart from the lower-ranking officers, none of them had the seniority or experience to command the chickens... so they simply gave up.

After the 32 Mirage fighters arrived, they were haphazardly squeezed into a small area, and only two refueling trucks and a small number of ground crew slowly carried out maintenance.

After all, the Mirage fighters and the British air force bases are completely incompatible. They even bring their own missiles and don't have any to replenish. The ground crew and logistical supplies for the Mirage fighters won't arrive until at least the next day.

Before this, the only thing that could be done at the British Air Force base was to refuel and perform routine maintenance.

What's even more awkward is that the ground crew, who had just sent away nearly a hundred fighter jets, were already exhausted, and the large number of Allied fighter jets only slowed down the process.

Furthermore, from their perspective, the number of fighters in the first and second attack groups is enough to overwhelm the third fleet, and there will be no large-scale mobilization until at least tomorrow.

Exhausted ground crew were secretly slacking off, and Allied pilots needed rest after long transoceanic flights. Everyone thought the day's battle was over.

Therefore, by the time the highest level of combat readiness warning was issued at various air bases, only 20% of the Allied aircraft had completed basic combat readiness.

Meanwhile, Allied pilots learned a startling piece of news:
The second attack group and anti-submarine aircraft group were almost completely wiped out, with only 3 out of 59 aircraft surviving.

The three fighter jets that escaped landed at Lossiemouth Air Force Base in Sugon, where 22 Allied aircraft had already been deployed. They then saw that the three pilots had deathly pale faces after landing, having entered the second stage of collapse. They were clearly so devastated by the huge blow that their faith had been shattered and they were unable to even cry.

Even more frightening is that more than 200 fighter jets will arrive in about 40 minutes, and Lossiemouth Air Base will be the first to undertake the denial mission!
这里包括此前参与出击的8架F15和12架F16，荷栏人的10架F16和挪微的12架F16。

Even including the one F-15 and two Tornadoes that just landed, there are a total of 45 fighter jets on the plane.

然而帝国的20架飞机全部在排队等维保，支援来的22架F16仅有6架完成战备可以起飞，3架才落地的飞机更不用说。

理论上1架F15或F16完成整备起飞的时间只需要12到18分钟，但洛西茅斯基地的地勤和设施最大只能同时整备12架战机，根本没办法在第三舰队机群来之前放飞所有战斗机。

But by this time, the situation was extremely urgent, and the commander of the Lossiemouth base couldn't afford to worry about anything else, decisively issuing the following order:
The workforce was restructured, with pilots joining the maintenance team to replace some less critical roles, ensuring at least 20 aircraft are maintained simultaneously.
All fighter jets were only refueled to half capacity, and missiles were initially loaded with a basic configuration of 4 medium-range and 2 short-range missiles, with the priority being to save time and increase the number of missiles launched.

No one dared to obey orders, especially the allied pilots who had just landed.

Pilots are qualified mechanics by nature, and can easily replace some basic ground crew. When it comes to life and death, they would rather become an octopus than fall behind and be shot down on the ground.

The ground crew, who were already half-dead, ran off in a blur, hurriedly starting up each fighter jet to warm it up, so that even if the preparations weren't complete, they could still take off and escape to the rear.

Lossiemouth doesn't have reinforced concrete hangars for combat readiness. The far more expensive fighter jets than normal have to be crammed into temporary open spaces. One suicide gnat can wipe out an entire squadron!
Other bases that received the intelligence were also in a panic. The Mirage squadron crammed into the Lakenshi base was even more terrified. The pilots who were leisurely chasing after Dai Ying and showing off just a second ago almost ran to their fighters for their lives, preparing to take off at an unprecedented speed.

At the same time, Blair suddenly issued an air raid warning for Sugonan, ordering all citizens to immediately enter civil defense facilities.

……

At 17:35 p.m., Mark's E2B entered the airspace over Sugonan, but did not land. Instead, it received in-flight refueling and continued flying while waiting for the coalition aircraft to be ready.

Because he had no time to land and prepare, according to the convention, the observation station in the Faroe Islands saw a low-flying formation of aircraft heading south, which was predicted to arrive in Sugonan at around 18:10.

A mere 400 kilometers is no longer a matter of life and death, it's a matter of life and death!
However, he also received some good news:

With its defenses breached, Wayne ordered the B1B to briefly maintain supersonic flight, managing to arrive at the mainland 20 minutes ahead of schedule and somewhat stabilizing morale.

But Wayne immediately issued him a new order:

Regardless, at least 40 fighter jets must be assembled by 18 PM to engage the enemy, with at least 30 of them from Rossimao base, to engage the enemy and buy time for the main force to reinforce.

……

Su Ge Nan

"An air raid warning? Should we all hide in underground parking garages, subways, and basements?"

As the apocalyptic sound of bagpipes filled the air, Blair's voice echoed throughout Sugonan.

The people here feel as if they are in a dream when they hear what is being said on the radio and television.

Just a moment ago they were celebrating a great victory, with countless warplanes being deployed, and even BB was confidently broadcasting live the strength of the coalition forces.

Less than half an hour after the broadcast ended, they demanded that the city be evacuated to air-raid shelters?
The citizens felt deceived, but no one protested anymore; they were all focused on avoiding the air raids.

Many of them had experienced the bombing more than 50 years ago, and their elderly bodies were now moving with great agility as they fled to the countryside with their families.

Fortunately, Sugon is sparsely populated, with a population of only a few million, so people in the city still have places to go.

The Blair authorities only announced the evacuation of the Sugonan region and tried to control the news, but it was completely ineffective, as the whole country was focused on the north!
In less than half an hour, news that Hans was about to bomb the north spread throughout the region.

People may still harbor doubts about how victory suddenly turned into a complete rout, but those familiar with the true nature of the British had utterly given up hope, and another massive exodus ensued. The early nights in the North only exacerbated the chaos!

The huge commotion has left even the most vigilant foreign observers in a state of turmoil.
One minute the news is about winning, the next it's about life and death. Why is the official news so unreliable?
In response to the chaos, Blair made another emergency statement, indicating that only a "small number of escapees" had slipped through the net, that the number of coalition warplanes had exceeded 500, that the homeland defenses were impregnable, and that the evacuation of Sugonan was merely an exercise.

He also dragged Terren into it, guaranteeing it on behalf of the Royal Air Force.

The latter was brought out entirely out of necessity, and even under Blair's strong pressure, he only dared to say "the Royal Air Force will do everything possible" without daring to make any substantive guarantees.

This almost had the opposite effect, practically demonstrating that the Royal Air Force was completely unable to stop them!
To make matters worse, a rumor was spreading everywhere at this time:

The royal family has already boarded a plane to revitalize the empire, abandoning everyone else!
Similar rumors have existed since the beginning, but they have only reached their peak at this point.

In principle, the royal family shouldn't and wouldn't run away, but the current situation is rather delicate:
The Third Fleet is behaving completely unlike any normal force; who knows what it might do?

They firmly believed that even if the Sea Lion Project had succeeded half a century ago, Rao Xi would not have done anything to the royal family; on the contrary, he would likely have treated them with the utmost favor.

However, the Lost Empire can only be suspected to be Hans, and it is still difficult to draw a conclusion. Coupled with its excellent style of disregarding human life, it is really possible that it has gone mad!
Faced with such an opponent whose next move is completely unpredictable, the royal family has now retreated to the airport and is in a passive position in terms of public opinion!

……

"Commander, tonight's dinner is cod sashimi, fried fish skin, grilled cod strips, black pepper beef short ribs, mushroom soup..."

Tang Wen sat at the long table in the officers' mess hall, looking at the endless array of dishes, and couldn't help but tap the table:

"The situation at the front is critical. Isn't this a bad thing to do? It's going too far."

"It's alright, the others don't need to eat."

"Oh…"

Tang Wen exchanged a few polite words, but what he was really thinking was whether he could throw all the magical sailors he had conjured into an electronics factory, where they would work around the clock, one of them being equivalent to five ordinary workers, without any cost.

However, he quickly dismissed the thought that he might be owing streetlights, and instead started eating the fish:
Cod has a high fat content, and the sashimi is lightly frozen and freshly caught from the sea, making it quite delicious.

Fried fish skin and grilled cod strips are also common preparations, which Tang Wen enjoyed very much.

"No wonder Iceland is so determined to fight the British; this fish is indeed very good."

"I know 135 other ways to do it. Shall we try them all?"

Jean Bart recounted the horror story at breakneck speed, instantly reminding Tang Wen of the fear of being dominated by his mother:
He only mentioned that stir-fried beef was delicious once by chance, and then he was forced to eat stir-fried beef for the entire summer vacation, which directly led to beef PTSD.

"No, thanks."

Tang Wen quickly changed the subject:

"Cough, we'll be engaged in battle in about 15 minutes, we need to finish this quickly."

"of course."

As the ship girl spoke, she half-sat on the table, and Tang Wen involuntarily looked down at her ankles under her uniform—it was underwear.

And judging from the style, the proper white uniform is likely to be that outrageously extravagant Christmas outfit underneath.

The restaurant cabin door was tightly closed, and the ship girl's pupils seemed to have a slightly reddish tinge—a scarlet red.

Tang Wen picked up a sea cucumber with his fork without changing his expression, but inwardly he was cursing.

He was no longer keen on opening the Christmas supply crates he had obtained; if he were to open another collaboration captain, his life might be in danger.

Jeanbart is somewhat normal, but if it were Akagi or Taihou... well...

He'd rather have a big, imposing captain from the Emperor's crew; at least he'd be quite intimidating to take out as a bodyguard.

……

The E-3B continued to circle over the northern landmass, and with each rotation of its mechanically scanned radar, it could see the massive formation of aircraft approaching one minute closer.

Mark paced back and forth in the cabin with a somber expression, occasionally closing his eyes in deep thought.

At 17:49 p.m., a barrage of telegrams arrived in quick succession, and he immediately stopped and began reading them one by one.

He and Wayne gave a firm order that fighter jets must begin taking off by 17:50 PM, and at the same time, each base began reporting the number of fighter jets that had taken off:
-
At the forward operating base of Rossimouth, 22 F-16s (fully supported, half fuel, light load) and 5 F-15s (half fuel, light load) have taken off;
Aldgrove Air Base: 12 F-15s (half fuel, light load), 8 Tornadoes (half fuel, full load);
The F-16s sent in as aid were given priority because they were already in better condition, while all 20 F-15s had only been back at base for less than an hour. Many of them hadn't even had their engines shut down and completed their maintenance before being sent in again, which was a last resort.

Needless to say, the strong winds brought by the British army were the fastest to prepare, thanks to their home advantage.

The southern region received less support.

拉肯希斯基地离北方足足600多公里远，在15分钟前也是拼了命放飞6架幻影2000C，和皇家空军8架狂风一起以1.5马赫速度赶往战区，另外还有两处基地提供了4架F16，也能赶上18点战斗。

The two main northern bases above have almost exhausted all their resources to assemble 47 fighter jets. With the addition of fighter jets that arrived temporarily, the total number of aircraft has reached 65. It is expected that they will be able to arrive in the combat zone at 18:00 to prepare for the first round of combat, which has exceeded Huaien's requirements.

There are still 38 fighter jets that will not be able to reach the battlefield until 18:20. The 54 reinforcement aircraft that took off from Hans and Norway will also arrive at about the same time.

Just as Tang Wen was leisurely enjoying his dinner, Huai En made a voice call to Mark:

"Commander-in-Chief General Mark Wales III, you only need to hold off the enemy for 15 minutes! As long as no aircraft break through your lines before 18:20 PM, the Joint Chiefs of Staff will not hesitate to give you an extra star!"

Mark answered firmly without hesitation:
"Your Excellency, I will fight to the very last moment!"

(End of this chapter)