What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 582 Going Too Far, Sonic Purgatory
Throughout history, the timeliness of information has always been an indispensable factor in wars.

Any intelligence on the battlefield has its own shelf life, which may be a few days, or it may be a few hours or tens of minutes.

It takes time for intelligence to be obtained and transmitted to the front lines, time for the front lines to verify it, and time for it to be organized and sent back. A few hours is considered fast for the whole process.

Senior commanders coordinating operations from the rear are always plagued by time constraints, not only having to receive intelligence several hours late, but also having to make decisions based on limited information in a short period of time.

The revolutionary change lies in the emergence of the C3I system, an information-integrated command system that has attracted worldwide attention and is said to enable the president to issue orders directly to the front line within 3 minutes.

This also explains why the protagonist in the movie frequently receives phone calls from the president, with things like "Listen to the eagle's cry" and so on.

Although constrained by many factors in practice, as the Air Force at the forefront of information technology, the time difference between the WAIN and the first-hand intelligence of the AWACS can indeed be shortened to within 2 or 3 minutes, which is usually no different from on-site command.

But the Third Fleet doesn't follow this pattern, especially when they can spawn more than 200 aircraft in a minute.

When the attack order was issued, Wayne did not expect any surprises and left it to the front lines to do as they pleased, which, while delegating authority, also put great pressure on the front-line commanders.

What if 36 F-15s have flown halfway through the distance and suddenly hundreds of enemy targets appear?
He only had three minutes left, and asking anyone was useless; he had to rely on himself.

Faced with immense uncertainty, most commanders were unable to consider the broader strategic picture; their minds were preoccupied with only two things:

To accomplish the mission and minimize casualties.

When both of these conditions are met simultaneously, they will do them without hesitation.

The 36 F-15s chose to drop their medium-range missiles and run, never considering fighting even when faced with a target flying at a low speed and low altitude of only 600 kilometers.

If this could still be explained by the lessons of the previous day, then Brigadier General Thomas Busier, the commander of the 23 bombers 280 kilometers away and commander of the 2nd Bomber Wing, made his judgment entirely based on the intelligence he possessed and his experience.

As an outstanding commander of all aircraft types, and having just integrated three types of bombers for the "Tricolore Flag" exercise last year, Wayne had great confidence in him.

Upon learning that E2 had discovered thousands of targets, Thomas Busier immediately made his judgments in sequence:
-
The Third Fleet's aircraft launch capability has been pushed to its limit, reaching over 200 aircraft per minute!
The Third Fleet possesses what appears to be black hole hangar technology, making its aircraft capacity impossible to measure by conventional standards.
-
Every minute of delay will put immense pressure on the Air Force.

Thomas takes 3 seconds to think, then 2 seconds to make a decision:

Launch all 456 Harpoon anti-ship missiles as soon as possible to cripple the Third Fleet and stop it from launching more Gnats!

Thomas immediately contacted E2, requesting guidance from an early warning aircraft!

It's unrealistic for bombers to guide hundreds of Harpoons on their own; they need the assistance of early warning aircraft.

此时E3B正在引导F15机群发射的288枚AIM120，E2便也发出回应允许发射！

上午11时55分，15架B1B后掠翼合拢，爬高到11000米后以1.2马赫飞行到距离第三舰队220公里处展开机翼减速，开始通过转轮挂架释放AGM84 Block 1C“鱼叉”导弹。

One ton harpoon after another was released, and then the turbojet engine started up, flying at Mach 0.85, leaving a long white contrail as it followed the B-1B.

Because the B1B was still traveling at high subsonic speeds, even slightly faster than the Harpoon, the Harpoon it dropped was almost moving in sync with the bomber.

Each rotation of the launcher, missile self-check, bomber target lock and signal injection, and launch takes about 11 seconds. It takes a B-1B a full 5 minutes to launch all 24 Harpoons.

During this period, the B1B will fly about 80 kilometers, and will not turn around until it is 140 kilometers away from the Third Fleet.

The 15 B-1B bombers spread out completely and focused on dropping harpoons. At 12:00 noon, all 360 harpoons were dropped, and the bombers immediately began to turn around and retract their swept wings to withdraw at full speed.

At 12:07, the B52H also reached firing range and began launching harpoons from behind.

Because it uses a standard multi-launcher, the B52H is actually more efficient at launching, taking only 60 seconds to launch 12 Harpoons, and its forward range is much shorter, less than 20 kilometers.

After the bomber group, having released a full 500 tons of munitions, turned back, Thomas immediately kept a close eye on his watch and silently started counting down the days:

B1B发射的鱼叉因为和轰炸机同时前进将会近乎同时抵达目标，将会在约12时15分创造战果，而B52H发射的96枚稍晚一些，约12时22分集中抵达目标。

The seven minutes in the middle are enough for E2 to observe the results of the first round of missile strikes and allocate targets for the second round.

A full 456 missiles—that's more than enough to destroy the main force of the Third Fleet!

Thomas was thinking this, unaware of the predicament E2 was facing, and even less aware that the radar's reaction was slightly off, as if the surrounding white noise had increased by one notch.

……

Twelve minutes earlier, just as the bomber group began dropping missiles, 288 AIM-120 missiles crashed into a wall of more than 700 aircraft.

Since chip technology entered practical use in the 70s, it has been advancing by leaps and bounds until the 90s. The AIM-120's active radar seeker has enabled it to identify attack targets in complex environments, rather than rushing towards a target like infrared air-to-air missiles.

However, the guidance of the seeker head requires the missile body to maneuver, and in such a dense array of missiles, the V1 even has a considerable probability of directly colliding with the AIM-120!

Moreover, the radar reflection signals from more than 700 targets are gathered together. The radar of the early warning aircraft can barely handle it, but it is far too difficult for a one-off missile. Scanning it is no different from being attacked by electronic jamming.

Faced with bizarre situations that had never occurred even in the most rigorous tests, the AIM120 could only guarantee hitting the target; whether it was the target it was tracking was another matter entirely, and it naturally collided with the v1.

The V1, which serves as a meat shield and decoy at the forefront, is a cheap product made of wooden planks and sheet metal. Its body is much more fragile than a mosquito gnat, and even a single piece of shrapnel can cause it to lose control and fall.

While the overly dense formation blocked the rain of AIM-120s, the explosive shrapnel also significantly impacted friendly aircraft, a problem that void pilots couldn't solve.

Tang Wen, on the ground, witnessed for the first time an air battle with a density comparable to that of the linear infantry era:
The massive wall of 780 fighter jets collapsed like a tumbleweed. The V1s in front were easily damaged and went out of control or exploded, making it extremely easy for them to hit or affect other V1s and fighter jets. Like an avalanche, the barrier several kilometers ahead shattered, forming an even denser cloud of debris.

Although the fighters and V1s in the rear and center immediately scattered in all directions, many still lost their lives due to collisions with debris.

Tang Wen also broke the record for the most plane crashes in a single battle:

[Our fighter jet has been shot down! *34]

[Our fighter jet has been shot down! *41]

[Our fighter jet has been shot down! *17]

Our fighter jet has been shot down...

……

489 aircraft.

At this time, a light drizzle was falling in the sea area where the Third Fleet was located. The debris of nearly 500 aircraft descended towards the sea like a black cloud, like a disintegrating storm.

288枚AIM120本身就造成了超过100%的战果，更是依靠碎片继续带来杀伤，780架飞行器顿时消失掉了63%！

However… Tang Wen checked the detailed data:
V1 loss: 430 coins;
Mosquito fly losses: 47 units;
Losses of Stealth Swift aircraft: 12;
With the V1 removed, the AIM-120's kill rate against main fighter jets is reduced to 20%!

However, this saturation attack disrupted Tang Wen's judgment once again:
The first wave of attacks was so massive; the total number of aircraft involved must have been as high as 200 or 300 or more. And the subsequent missiles are already on their way!

Thus, the V1, the grubs, and the stealthy swifts were launched continuously.

到了12时，五分钟内第三舰队又弹射了980枚V1、160架蚊蚋和32架隐身雨燕。

截止到12时05分，又弹射了相同数目的飞行器后，此时空中已经有了2698枚V1、477架蚊蚋、以及100架隐身雨燕，共3275架飞行器！

After a near-frenzied 10 minutes of non-stop output, Tang Wen stopped using V1 ricochet before the attack wave could even arrive, but he continued to ricochet the stealth Swift.

He stopped not only because he felt guilty about cheating too much, but also because his senses had been severely affected:
Has anyone ever seen more than 3000 planes crammed together?

Since the V1's flight altitude is only 2000 meters, 10 minutes is simply not enough to disperse it. The entire airspace below the cloud layer is almost entirely filled with countless aircraft!
At this time, the sun was at its strongest, but the barrier formed by more than 3000 aircraft created shadows, even blocking out most of the sunlight from the massive Third Fleet.

The sky was filled with countless planes, creating a visual and auditory spectacle!
The rhythmic rumble of 2698 gasoline pulse engines mingled with the roar of jet engines from nearly 600 fighter jets, causing even the sturdy steel battleship to tremble.

Tang Wen, who was focused on preparing for battle, did not notice when he took off. At this moment, he felt as if his ears were deaf, his internal organs were vibrating from the inside out, and he felt extremely nauseous. His brain was dizzy like never before, and he almost lost consciousness!
The strange sensation was so intense that it almost instantly disrupted the balance within his body.

Before his body collapsed, Tang Wen pulled the ship girl and vanished from the bridge in an instant, leaving Lütjens standing there, completely bewildered and unresponsive. Lütjens had no idea what was happening:
The simultaneous activation of 2698 V1 engines at low altitudes within a few square kilometers created layers of noise that generated regular detonation waves with a period of about 0.5 seconds from the inside out. It was an unprecedented sonic attack weapon!
Furthermore, the peak of the noise superposition was not in the center, but at a certain distance after it spread outwards. At this time, the decibel level in the high-altitude group of aircraft reached 180 decibels, and after spreading to the sea surface, it exceeded 210 decibels!

Even close-up measurements of the noise during the launch of the Saturn V rocket showed a noise level of only 200 decibels! 210 decibels is the peak value of a nuclear explosion overpressure!

Previously, when hundreds of fighter jets launched their sorties, they had at least 30 minutes to react and disperse, and by the time they regrouped, they had long since left the sea.

More importantly, the V1's pulse engine operates by igniting multiple times at a certain frequency to intermittently output thrust, vibrating like a pulse, which makes it easier to induce acoustic resonance.

This time, the release of more than 3000 aircraft in 10 minutes was a qualitative change caused by quantitative change; the rapid increase in density led to disastrous consequences.

Humans can withstand the sheer volume of decibels, but don't forget to ignore resonance! Sound waves that cover almost the entire mid-to-low frequency range are enough to cause complete internal organ dysfunction, and ordinary people will faint or even go into shock within minutes.

For warships and fighter jets, the power of resonance is even more terrifying:
In a test conducted in Hans in 44, a 170-decibel sound wave lasting for 120 seconds was enough to cause the rivets of a torpedo boat to fly off and fall off, thereby inducing cracks in welding defects and weak points, and short-term metal fatigue fracture.

In 45, during a suicide boat attack on an Imperial destroyer organized by the Japanese, the noise generated caused sonar monitors to collectively faint.

Aircraft, on the other hand, would disintegrate much faster and more easily in a short period of time—fortunately, the fleet in battle was unaffected by this and withstood the terrible resonance almost impossible.

But the impact goes far beyond that:

For the ocean, at depths of 0 to 5 meters:
Such a large amount of sound waves directly caused a large amount of air to surge into the surface water within a range of nearly 10 kilometers, creating countless bubbles. The water surface, which was originally just a light drizzle, visibly began to turn white as if a huge amount of soap had been poured in, all due to the countless bubbles!
Massive cavitation is tantamount to severe corrosion to warship propellers and hulls, but fortunately, warships are also immune to it;

5 to 50 meters deep:
When the sound waves travel to this point, the low-frequency infrasound waves of 5 to 10 Hz begin to show their power, first causing standing waves to rise and fall on the water surface, with heights almost all exceeding 3 meters.

Torpedoes within a 10-kilometer radius are directly shattered by the sound pressure and infrasound, and the spreading sound streams scrape through plankton like a sickle, silently tearing them apart and destroying them.

But that was just the beginning; the real destruction began shortly afterward.

The sound waves, which have reached a strategic level, caused violent air oscillations and, according to the Schumann resonance principle, induced a large amount of plasma to be generated and resonate in the surrounding airspace. Blue lightning began to gather in the air from time to time, and the surrounding airspace of more than ten square kilometers was used as an antenna to emit low-frequency turbulent radio waves of 7 to 8 Hz, with a total power of nearly 4000 megawatts.

Normally, all the sound sources (i.e., the aircraft itself) would be destroyed before this resonant system is formed, but it was forcibly combined under a rigid mechanism to create an almost impossible theoretical model.

This caused the temperature in the airspace where the aircraft was located to rise sharply, forming strong convection within a range of more than ten kilometers and quickly reaching 100 meters per second, far exceeding the level of a category 17 typhoon.

For this sea area, it is equivalent to the formation of a Category 18 storm, the only one of its kind in human history!
The large amount of plasma released by the storm already severely interferes with radar; coupled with low-frequency signals, it caused all radar receivers within a 70-kilometer radius to burn out, submarine sonar to overload and rupture, all shortwave communications to be completely blocked, and GPS to become inoperable.

However, its impact was sufficient to cover a range of 200 kilometers, including two early warning aircraft monitoring the Third Fleet.

However... it's not over yet.

This model, which theoretically cannot possibly exist indefinitely or would self-destruct after at most 0.1 seconds of fulfilling the conditions, is still operating. After one minute, its influence has spread to the seabed, enough to induce earthquakes of magnitude 1 to 3, causing a significant impact on the seabed ecosystem!

After all of this happened simultaneously, E2 received the following feedback:

At 11:55, everything went as expected; the AIM-120 destroyed a large number of aircraft, which was good.

At 11:57, the attack ended, but the radar targets of the Third Fleet were still emerging. In just 2 minutes, another 500 aircraft were added, directly making up for the losses!
此时的E2空情中心完全崩溃，在11点58分立即呼叫剩余的40架F16和4架狂风，要求他们立即返航，此时战机数量又多了200多架；

By 12:03, the radar of the early warning aircraft had already exceeded its identification limit. The radar officer could only rely on experience and skills, as well as comparison with the E-3B, to estimate that the number had exceeded 2000.
The 44 air superiority fighters and 48 anti-ship fighters had long since fled for their lives like stray dogs. Wynne's orders had changed from attacking to "preserving our strength and preparing for the arrival of the Imperial main force to launch a counterattack."
At 12:06, the already numb early warning aircraft discovered that the number of targets had stopped increasing, but the existing radar points had condensed into a near-physical entity occupying a huge airspace, which was simply a moving locust plague!

At 12:07, the radar suddenly became extremely unstable, and the automatic system displayed a series of warnings, including: -
Extreme and severe storm weather warning;
-
EMP (Electromagnetic Interference Warning) for Large Scale Intrusion.
-
Storm warning exceeding level 17;
Receiver antenna overload warning;

Almost all the extreme warnings popped up at the same time. Before the radar officer could figure it out, he glanced out the window and saw a flash of lightning in the far distance, its color visibly deepening.

In reality, it was an "impossible" acoustic hell that caused a super tornado that created extreme weather. Ordinary storm clouds that had left the Third Fleet were attracted by a massive amount of electrical charge and, under the convergence of the tornado, generated an ultimate storm at an astonishing speed, which is rarely seen even in the Atlantic Ocean.

Within two minutes, the Third Fleet, covered by the storm, was experiencing waves seven or eight meters high, and hundreds of poorly constructed wooden ironclad ships were almost lifted off the surface, colliding one after another.

Unaware of what was happening, Lütjens, at the eye of the storm, remained inexplicably rooted to the floor, continuing to execute Tang Wen's plan:
Advance south!

More than 3000 aircraft maintained a dense formation and moved south at a speed of 600 kilometers per hour, naturally bringing the storm with them and moving south at an exaggerated speed. However, even with gale-force winds of 18 levels and speeds of over 100 meters per second, the storm was only 360 kilometers per hour. It was immediately torn apart and gradually dissipated, but then a new storm formed ahead.

For the E2, at this moment, thousands of radar targets were blocked from view by the unprecedented storm, and it could only watch helplessly as a 18-level gale moved toward it at a speed of 600 kilometers per hour!

At this point, it was no longer a combat issue, but a natural disaster that was redefining human understanding; if a plane got caught in it, even the pilot would be thrown out!

In this terrible weather, what's the point of fighting? Let's run!

The two early warning aircraft frantically flew across the Atlantic, while simultaneously reporting the situation to the Oldgrove Air Base.

For the latter's coalition command center, it was equivalent to experiencing the entire E2 mental process again:
First, thousands of aircraft were created from scratch, and then the remaining aircraft turned around and fled.

But what do you mean by the Third Fleet turning into a moving Category 18 gale and chasing after us in just 5 minutes?!
If Wayne believed the appearance of thousands of fighter jets and was willing to retreat, then what happened next is too far-fetched. Is this still modern air combat?

Before this major air battle was planned, top meteorologists from Britain and the Empire collaborated and used the most advanced computers to make predictions. It was certain that the predictions could be made within at least 24 hours. How could they possibly overlook a super typhoon of category 18?
Wayne wanted satellite intelligence to confirm, since cloud images can't be faked, so he immediately made a direct call to Prism Building requesting immediate verification via reconnaissance satellites.

Without needing to print accurate drawings, it only takes 3 to 5 minutes to identify the information by the duty officer and notify them by phone.

At 12:12, a trembling voice came from the phone at the Prism Building:
"It's confirmed. An unprecedented typhoon is making landfall in Sukonam. Its speed even exceeds that of the strongest storm known to humankind. The drag it is creating on the sea surface is visible to the naked eye. This is not a Category 18 typhoon, it might not even be a Category 19 typhoon!"

At this moment, the telephone line was connected to the entire command center, and not only Wayne but also many people in the coalition forces heard it!

Wayne immediately questioned:
"How can you prove it? Who are you?"

"Sir, I am Cedric, the director of the Weather Bureau's Data Simulation Center. I saw it, it's like a dream... There shouldn't be such a thing, I don't understand, but it really exists!"
If I'm not mistaken, weather radars throughout Northern Europe should be able to detect a very clear signal right now; you can confirm that with a phone call!

The moment Cedric spoke, the officer from Norway was suddenly pulled up by his attendant and told something. His expression then became extremely interesting as he shouted:
"My local weather bureau just issued a warning that there is extremely severe weather and we are required to cancel the attack!"

This seemed to be the beginning, as representatives of the coalition forces continued to receive warnings from local weather forecasts, as if it were the end of the world.

Huai En stood at the forefront, looking at the chaos around him. He remained bewildered for a while before contacting the early warning aircraft again to inquire:
"Where is the Third Fleet and their aircraft?"

"It can't be detected, it must be engulfed by a storm, but... we can't be sure if it's been destroyed."

At this moment, he keenly noticed that the call quality had clearly declined.

At 12:15, Terren brought even more explosive news:

Earthquake monitoring stations detected a series of low-magnitude earthquakes 300 kilometers north of the coast. The magnitudes were only around 2.3, but they could not possibly be waveforms from natural earthquakes.

It's either natural or man-made.

Huaien looked up in horror, as if he could see the approaching hell hundreds of kilometers away through the command center.

For the first time, he thought that it might be more appropriate to send the guys from the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation.

"I order the operation... canceled! All aircraft to retreat south immediately!"

After painfully issuing the order, Wayne collapsed backward, exhausted. Nearly 30 hours of sleeplessness, coupled with the mental shock that felt like a fall from a cliff, made his eyelids incredibly heavy, and he was about to fall asleep without a care in the world.

But fate seemed to be playing a cruel joke, and the voice of the E2 radar officer rang out from the uninterrupted audio:

"Hey, the storm is gone! It suddenly disappeared! The radar is back up, I'm not kidding, the storm really is gone, and the stormy weather is getting better!"

Then E3B transmitted the same message, causing Wayne, who had been helped up, to open his eyes wide and shout:
"Quickly, quickly, retract my order and give me amphetamines!"

The servant happened to have some stimulants on him, and perhaps he wasn't thinking straight, he took out a few pills and fed them to Huai En.

The absurd turn of events brought the command center to a standstill.
They no longer knew what to do.

But then the devilish voice from the E-2 early warning aircraft rang out again:
"The storm is over, but the planes are still here... My God, they've split into two groups, I estimate there are over a thousand of them in each group, the radar can't possibly detect them all!"

Huai En finally couldn't hold on any longer. Under the intense stimulation, his stomach spasmed and he vomited uncontrollably. Those with some experience present knew that this was a sign of excessive emotional shock and physical exhaustion. Finally, they forced Huai En to be taken to the infirmary.

Johnson, who was also stunned, was in a better position and was immediately appointed as the acting commander to take charge of the next deployment!
(End of this chapter)