What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 583 Login
Looking at his allies, all casting expectant glances his way, Johnson was unusually at a loss for words.

This is the world's only, most advanced and powerful joint air force command center. How could someone like me, the Chief of the Navy who's just here to watch the show, be in charge of command here?

He glanced at Teren instinctively—Teren wasn't there. This minister, who could theoretically succeed Wayne, had too many things to do; his main focus was on coordinating allies, not on the battlefield.

The current bizarre reality is clearly beyond the allies' ability to cope, and everyone is spontaneously convinced that only the Empire can shoulder the burden:

The Prism Building is always saving the world in Hollywood, it's time for it to step up!

Johnson accepted the decision after only a brief period of confusion.

It wasn't that he was confident he could defeat the Third Fleet, but rather that he could finally openly and legitimately command the First Fleet!
Veteran Wayne was sent for treatment, rising star Mark was injured and had to withdraw from the competition, and capable Brigadier General Thomas flew the bomber – it was as if God had chosen him.

Good heavens, ever since the 40s when the Air Force was vying for the top position, driving several Navy generals to their deaths, the first and second classes have been almost sworn enemies, second only in intensity to the Japanese Navy-Land rivalry.

Under Johnson's command, the coalition air force won a great victory—as long as it didn't suffer a major defeat—and from then on, naval officers at Prism Building could always walk with their heads held high, while air force officers would automatically bow their heads in their presence!
After assuming command, Johnson quickly analyzed what could only be described as magical intelligence and immediately issued orders:
The attack plan and the maritime interception plan were abandoned. Instead, ground firepower was used to intercept targets within a depth of 80 to 150 kilometers south of North Sukkot. The central passage of the mainland with fewer key targets was deliberately left open to allow several surrounding airfields time to launch attacks in rotation.

The core of this plan is not to pursue lethality, but to deplete the fuel and ammunition of invading enemy aircraft through depth and harassment, with a probability of more than 95% in eliminating all enemy aircraft north of Edinburgh.

The overall idea wasn't particularly groundbreaking, but it was highly feasible and was immediately and unanimously approved.

However, to avoid any unforeseen circumstances, the command center immediately ordered all aircraft in the entire northern region to take off as soon as possible, while refueling aircraft and other auxiliary aircraft were placed on standby in safe airspace.

Each base also received orders to clear the runways and prepare ammunition, so that fighter jets could be ready to launch again in a short time.

Faced with an attack estimated at over 2000 aircraft, all units that received the order carried it out with all their might, as if they had grasped at a glimmer of hope.

Johnson, exhausted after arranging everything and issuing all the orders, kept reviewing the events in his mind. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he asked:
"Where are the bombers? Where are they?"

Only then did someone quickly contact Thomas, and then they received a reply:

The bomber group had already dropped all its missiles and was withdrawing south as planned, asking the E2 how the battle had gone!
Results?

E2 was of course unaware of the outcome. In fact, at that time, with a Force 18 gale sweeping in, who had the mind to guide the attack? Moreover, the target was in the eye of the storm and could not be guided at all!

The final outcome was predictable: with the severe interference of the storm, the more than 400 harpoons were almost certainly wasted!

The Harpoon Empire purchased each 140 million US dollars worth of ammunition, which is a total of 6.4 million US dollars. All the ammunition that was scoured everywhere and gathered through emergency airlift has evaporated!
This caused Johnson to suddenly feel dizzy. The anti-ship power of the bomber group was unprecedented. He had originally wanted to use this heavy punch to find an opportunity to launch a surprise counterattack.

The relentless spending to save the "Conjugate Filial Piety Empire" has reached a point that even Johnson finds alarming.

At 12:25, the two groups of aircraft that had broken off from the storm were still approaching at a speed of 600 kilometers per hour and were less than 50 kilometers from the coast.

The E2, emboldened, briefly approached from over 100 kilometers away. The radar rotated a little over half a circle, and each received signal indicated that the target count had reached its limit, increasing the target count from 2000 to between 2500 and 3000.

But in addition to stating this alarming number, they also reported some anomalies:

The two large aircraft groups had by this time dispersed considerably, but were still flying at low altitudes of 1000 to 2000 meters.
The Third Fleet's aircraft typically only have three states:
Low-altitude penetration, high-altitude economical endurance, and combat.

Their current altitude is neither concealed nor fuel-efficient, which is... quite unreasonable. Moreover, E2 discovered that most of these targets did not reflect strong signals, even weaker than mosquitoes.

Previously, thousands of "fighter jets" were so close together that they were impossible to spot when the radar scanned them. Now that they are spaced out, they can be distinguished.

If we rule out the possibility of stealth aircraft, then the answer must be an ultralight aircraft smaller than a gnat?
……

When this question reached the rear, it also puzzled the coalition command center:
"Even a gnat weighs only 2 tons, which is lighter than most piston-engine fighter jets."

"This is the first time that small aircraft have been detected by early warning aircraft, and they account for 90% of the total!"

"So it's a secret weapon?"

"More likely a consumable product even cheaper than mosquito gnats... Good heavens, I can't even imagine it."

"..."

The Gnatant (Lost Empire Edition) was already extremely cheaply made; flight experts who studied it believed it was practically a torture device for pilots, almost a jet fighter that pushed the limits.

A fighter jet much smaller than a gnat, that...

"Damn it, could it be a cruise missile?!"

Suddenly someone voiced their guess, silencing the surrounding crowd.

Even Johnson was taken aback for a moment, then his eyes widened:

A speed of 500 to 600 kilometers per hour, low-altitude flight...aren't these the typical characteristics of a cruise missile?
At this point, Norway submitted an urgent report, which was then confirmed and forwarded to Oldgrove:

Traces of V1 have been found!
Johnson picked up the still-warm telegram, which showed that a Norwegian anti-submarine aircraft had heard a wide range of rhythmic fluctuations in the air when it activated its sonar, and found it strange, so it reported it to headquarters on shore.

The older veterans on the shore examined it closely and found that it looked very similar to a pulse jet engine!

The sound of that old-fashioned motorcycle exhaust pipe was very unique. This veteran happened to have experienced the V1 bombing in Luang Phor Tun when he was a child, and he would never forget that sound!

At 12:30, the intelligence was completely confirmed:
Observation posts and ports in the north have seen countless small black dots. Through features such as straight wings and pulse engines, it has been completely confirmed that at least 90% of those "thousands of fighter jets" are V1s!

The command center was in an extremely awkward situation upon receiving the news. No one expected that the culprit that had scared them half to death was the V1, the progenitor of the world's cruise missiles!

As a consumable product that made extensive use of wooden structures in its original design, how could its radar cross-section be anything but small!
This thing has terrible maneuverability; only the tail rudder can control its deflection.

Let alone the Stinger, even a skilled machine gunner could shoot it down!

Furthermore, everything makes sense if it's V1:

These junk items are nothing, let alone 2000 or even 20000. The Third Fleet can easily carry several thousand with its many ships!
After confirming that it was not a fighter jet, everyone felt a great relief from the pressure, but they were immediately faced with new problems.
More than 2000 V1 missiles! If they landed in a city, that would be quite a feat!
Although the difficulty has been reduced, interception is still necessary, so the pressure is not small.

However, the pressure on the allied forces suddenly decreased, and even Johnson seemed to see a glimmer of hope for a counterattack, asking:

"Most cities in the north should have been evacuated by now, so a few V1s shouldn't cause much damage."

This immediately drew angry glares from the British officers, but at this point they could only grit their teeth and reply:
“They’ve basically all evacuated…and in the north, only Eagle Vernes can be considered a major city; the rest are suburbs and nature reserves.” Johnson nodded in agreement.

"That's good news, but it's still a tough war. Don't forget they still have at least a few hundred fighter jets!"

Especially now that the Third Fleet has gained another respite, it will likely launch even more fighter jets!

……

"Oops, that was a miscalculation."

Inside the Dawang Shipyard, Tang Wen gripped his arm with lingering fear, as if he could still feel the oppressive pressure that threatened to shake his internal organs out.

He was in good health, but he had just endured a great deal of pain for more than ten minutes and was only now recovering.

As a commander, Tang Wen is in a very special state when he is on a warship or in a fighter jet:
It's more like mental control than physical manipulation, so many situations that would theoretically cause physical harm won't occur. Otherwise, he would have already injured his cervical spine from overloads exceeding 10G when practicing flying skills in Antarctica.

Even if a warship or aircraft is damaged by artillery shells, it generally has little impact unless it is sunk/destroyed and forced to return to base, in which case it will remain intact.

But what just happened was clearly an exception; the acoustic resonance system appeared in a very unusual way.

Given the distance Tang Wen was at, he should have died from internal bleeding within the first minute. However, as a wartime commander, his body was unharmed, so he endured the agonizing torment until he was teleported over, and the torment lingered for several minutes before being completely eliminated.

The phantom pain from the sound waves was almost as sharp as being cut by a knife, and Tang Wen was very reluctant to recall that feeling.

Before his transmigration, he had learned about sound waves and infrasound while researching various bizarre weapons, so he had a basic understanding of them and roughly grasped what was happening without much thought.

However, Tang Wen's understanding at this time was only about the damage caused by sound waves, and he was unaware of the storms, earthquakes and other chaos that would follow.

Although he did not suffer any physical harm, he was covered in cold sweat and his mental state was not much different from that of someone who had just recovered from a serious illness; he didn't even want to speak.

After comforting the tearful ship girl via the panel message, Tang Wen finally had time to check the 99+ message notification.

The vast majority were combat messages, but there was also a system message marked with a red dot:

Dear Commander:
我们已注意到您在97/12/25日12时04分到06分（UTC时间）期间遇到的异常情况，并以记录在案将在下个版本中修复。

As a token of our apology, you will receive a Y-series gift pack as compensation, which includes:

British Tier X carrier "Malta", British Tier X battleship "Broken", and British Tier X cruiser "St. Vincent"

The aircraft carrier "HMS Malta": A large aircraft carrier proposed by the British Navy in the 40s to surpass the "Essex-class", but construction was cancelled due to insufficient funds.

It is 271 meters long, 35.3 meters wide, has a standard displacement of 46900 tons, a full load displacement of 57700 tons, and a maximum speed of 33 knots.

The battlecruiser "HMS Incomparable": A wild idea of ​​Field Marshal Fisher during World War I, equipped with three twin-mounted 508mm guns, it existed only on paper.

It is 301.86 meters long, 31.85 meters wide, has a standard displacement of 38900 tons, a full load displacement of 49936 tons, and a maximum speed of 33 knots.

The battlecruiser "St. Vincent": a further development based on the "G3" cruiser, equipped with three triple 419mm guns, existed only in the concept.

It is 280 meters long, 32.25 meters wide, has a standard displacement of 48500 tons, a full load displacement of 57893 tons, and a maximum speed of 33 knots.

It's rare to see three X-level items as compensation, so Tang Wen reluctantly accepted it.

However, these three warships are not very useful to him at the moment. Battleships are not very meaningful, and the Malta aircraft carrier can basically be regarded as the same level as the Midway. After the United States was acquired, he didn't care much about it anymore.

He had a more suitable arrangement for these ships.

Only then did he finally have the mind to check on the battle situation in Daiying, but at this point he did not intend to descend in person, but instead closed his eyes and controlled it remotely.

When his gaze fell upon the Bismarck, the flagship of the Third Fleet, Lütjens seemed to sense something and immediately sent a greeting to the sky:
"Commander, welcome back! I have launched a counterattack as you ordered before you left!"

"Well done...and still releasing swifts?"

Tang Wen noticed the Zeppelin, which was still launching stealth swifts, and also saw the storm over the fleet.

It had only been half an hour since he left, but the sky had completely changed color, and he still thought it was just the rapidly changing bad weather in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Stealth Swifts have assembled 160 aircraft and are flying south, skimming the crests of the waves.

However, Lütjens reported:
"The storm seems to have appeared alongside the aircraft, which I find unusual. Please check the playback video."

"let me see……"

Tang Wen silently recalled the replay in his mind, and his expression quickly became extremely interesting:

How did a super tornado suddenly form out of nowhere? Why was there a tsunami, and why did those wooden ironclad ships fly up?!

Fortunately, when he looked back, the more than 100 camouflaged ships were still bobbing in the wind and rain, indicating that they had not yet triggered friendly fire.

Tang Wen breathed a sigh of relief, but he already had a vague guess in his mind. He just put it aside for the time being and continued watching the replay.

When he saw Lütjens separate the aircraft, causing the storm to dissipate instantly, his judgment was finally confirmed—by sheer coincidence, a weather weapon had been created!
Although it was incredibly tough on me, this thing is far superior to the AIM120!

Looking at the current battle situation... it's extremely intense:
The V1 missile group is under heavy fire from ground-based air defense forces, but the damage is not significant.

The V1 itself has almost no maneuverability, but by exploiting a bug to set it as an aircraft, it can still achieve extremely low-altitude flight, which is its only means of penetration.

Several hundred gnats and swifts were mixed in among them, forcibly breaking through ground fire before the arrival of coalition warplanes. Although they suffered some losses, they were completely acceptable. At this time, the total number was still over 2800.

Lütjens was clearly not very good at commanding air combat; he practically just sent out a long, straight line and pushed forward.

Tang Wen immediately changed the instructions after taking over:
The aircraft were divided into four groups and launched a concentrated attack on the Lossiemouth base around Eagle Vernis and three large airfields that had been requisitioned.
-
160 stealth Swift aircraft that have already been launched have been put into combat and are on standby at the Furniture Falcon to seize air superiority.

At the same time, the Zeppelin and the fast fleet were ordered to maneuver southeast, making it appear as if they were crossing the strait to land at Inverness!
(End of this chapter)