Great Power Long Sky

At dawn, aircraft from various combat units began to return to base.

When Li Lu established the landing path over the airfield, he could already see the light in the east, indicating that the long yet short night was about to pass.

Xu Hailiang waited in the flight duty room, listening intently to the occasional roar of engines outside, his expression very serious.

Li Lu and Xue Shuang walked into the flight duty room with flight caps in their hands and filled out the flight log.

After they finished doing that, Xu Hailiang said in a deep voice, "The military region deployed more than seventy fighter jets, but found no targets."

Xue Shuang exclaimed in surprise, "More than seventy aircraft?"

Xu Hailiang nodded slowly, "That's right, almost all the forward stations along the coast have been mobilized, not including those from Hainan Airlines."

Xue Shuang gasped, "I thought only Guanqiao Station had been dispatched in an emergency."

Li Lu said with absolute certainty, "It's an EA-6B, it must be an EA-6B. The two enemy planes that were spotted earlier were providing cover for the EA-6B."

Xu Hailiang said, "The East Command also made the same judgment. An operator at the Yuanling radar station focused on tracking the first target that appeared. Based on the characteristics of the radar reflection signal, it was very similar to the EA-6B."

"But how did the EA-6B manage to do that? This aircraft can interfere with radar and communication devices, but to spread hundreds of false target signals, that's not easy, is it?" Xue Shuang said, frowning.

The EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft entered service as early as 1971 and is the only dedicated carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft.

Li Lu and his classmates had learned about this aircraft when they were in flight school, and they were quite familiar with its performance.

Xue Shuang is right. Interfering with radar is easy, but releasing hundreds of false target signals or creating such an "illusion" for the radar is not simple.

At this moment, Li Lu tried his best to recall and slowly came up with a suspect. He slowly said, "Last year, I read a report in a foreign newspaper about Raytheon's electronic warfare pod entering the testing phase."

"This electronic warfare pod can simulate aircraft signals when it is in operation, but I don't know how it works."

"I suspect that the EA-6B is carrying this pod."

He paused, then said with an extremely serious expression, "They mobilized an entire division of our troops with just one aircraft and one pod. Leaving aside the consequences in wartime, the wear and tear on the aircraft, fuel, and so on, in peacetime alone, would be astronomical!"

This large-scale emergency response, to put it simply, is a waste of money!

Moreover, it dealt a significant blow to the morale of the troops.

It's frustrating to be led by the nose by a single aircraft, with your own coastal air force forces being exposed as they should, and you having no way to counter it!

Xu Hailiang said slowly, "You should thoroughly investigate the situation of this operation. The higher-level leadership may hold a meeting soon to summarize the lessons learned."

……

The Yuanling radar station is under the greatest pressure.

They were the ones who reported the enemy situation, and it's their responsibility that they couldn't distinguish between genuine and fake target signals, no matter how you look at it.

The higher authorities sent an expert team to the Yuanling Radar Station to review the "12.3" operation—the day was December 3, named after the date.

Li Lu and Xue Shuang carried out the expulsion operation prior to "Operation 12.3", which was continuous with the subsequent false signal guidance operation. As the pilots who knew the situation best, they were assigned to the expert group.

Radar experts analyzed all the data from beginning to end and then simulated the entire process of Operation "December 3rd" from beginning to end.

Fang Dong's opinion was taken seriously—he believed that the first radar signal that appeared was the aircraft carrying out the jamming, and based on the analysis of the characteristics of the radar reflection signal, it could be basically determined to be an EA-6B electronic jammer.

The EA-6B approached the coastline by skimming the sea, and then suddenly climbed to a mid-to-high altitude of more than 4,000 meters at a distance of more than 300 kilometers from the coastline.

At this moment, the Yuanling radar station detected the EA-6B, which was also the first radar reflection signal that Fang Dong saw.

Just seconds later, a large area of ​​radar reflection signals appeared.

The outline is very clear, and Fang Dong's evidence is very solid.

The expert team then focused on analyzing the characteristics of the detected target signal. The technical principles involved were outside of Li Lu's knowledge, but this was a good opportunity for him to learn.

Radar can detect aircraft by emitting electromagnetic waves. When these waves hit an object, they are reflected back and received by a receiver. This reflection is displayed on a screen, allowing the radar operator to "see" the target's location.

Different objects reflect different signals.

During operation, radar units record the signal reflection characteristics of detected targets, and after the flight units verify and identify the targets, they record the radar signal characteristics into the corresponding target files.

In this way, the radar operator can immediately know the specific model of the detected target when the same signal appears again.

This is why radar operators can sometimes report the target signal directly.

When a radar is in operation, it obtains information such as the distance, rate of change of distance, azimuth, and altitude from the target to the electromagnetic wave emission point by continuously illuminating and receiving echoes.

This is a three-coordinate radar.

The Yuanling radar station is equipped with a three-coordinate radar.

During Operation "12.3", hundreds of target signals suddenly appeared, far exceeding the maximum processing capacity of the Yuanling Radar Station. This meant that if they were real targets, a considerable number of them would be outside the station's guidance and attack range.

The expert group needs to analyze the target signals that were under continuous scrutiny at the time and understand the characteristics of these target signals, which will be an important basis for distinguishing between true and false signals in the future.

One thing is certain: Operation "12.3" made the Air Force Command realize the huge gap between itself and its powerful adversaries and foresaw the terrible situation it might encounter in the future!

During the investigation, Li Lu wondered if it would be more beneficial to combat if real-time feedback from radar stations could be obtained during flight, and direct communication with radar operators could be achieved.

Before Operation "12.3", when Li Lu and Xue Shuang arrived at the designated airspace following ground guidance, the two rapidly approaching targets suddenly turned around and fled.

Clearly, they had already discovered Li Lu and Xue Shuang.

Li Lu obtained the original flight route and privately approached Fang Dong, presenting his ideas.

At this moment, Fang Dong suddenly said, "Company Commander Li, you're from the 7th Air Regiment, right?"

Lieutenant Deputy Company Commander, it's perfectly acceptable for Fang Dong to address Li Lu as Company Commander Li.

Li Lu nodded and said, "Yes, the 7th Air Regiment, Donghai Station."

"Wait a moment." Fang Dong took a document from the drawer and handed it to Li Lu. "When J-7E No. 03 crashed, I was on duty. The radar detected a weak signal, but it was difficult to determine whether it was an aircraft."

"We have reported it according to procedure. This is the information on the signal characteristics. I don't know if it will be helpful to you."

Li Lu was stunned for a moment, then quickly took the document and opened it. The mysterious black figure reappeared before his eyes.

He believed it was an F-22, but there was no evidence; relying solely on blurry photos taken by a shooting camera was too weak.

Fang Dong said, "The reflective area of ​​this target is only 0.01 square meters, or 100 square centimeters, which is about the same as that of a large bird, well, even smaller than some large birds."

"I have never encountered an aircraft with such a small radar cross-section. Among the world's active-duty fighter jets, only the F-117 has such a small radar cross-section... However, the F-117 does not possess such superior maneuverability."

0.01 square meters, which is roughly the size of a flight helmet.

Li Lu asked, "Could it be an F-22?"

Fang Dong was taken aback and said, "F-22? That plane isn't in service yet, is it?"

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Americans stopped pretending and came out on the scene. Many new weapons and equipment were publicly disclosed early on during the research and development stage, unlike during the Cold War when they were kept hidden.

The Americans' thinking is simple: no matter how hard you try, you can't catch up with me.

Li Lu stated his assessment: "Not being in service doesn't mean it can't be used. According to the development progress announced by Lockheed Martin and Boeing, this aircraft is already in the final test flight stage."

"What if the Americans secretly ship them over for combat testing?"

These words startled Fang Dong. Yes, how could he be sure that the possibility didn't exist?

Li Lu said confidently, "Since the F-117 has been ruled out, it must be the F-22. There is no third option."

Fang Dong pondered for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Your logic is correct."

"However, we do not have the radar reflection signal characteristics of the F-22, so this information loses its corroborating significance."

Li Lu took a deep breath and said, "To be completely certain, we need to conduct a visual verification when this signal reappears."

Clearly, he was well aware of the connection.

Fang Dong replied, "Yes, Company Commander Li, you are a pilot, you should know the verification procedures better than I do."

After a moment's thought, Li Lu said, "Squad Leader Fang, I might need to contact you frequently from now on. Please keep a close eye on things while you're working. This mysterious target is the murderer who killed my master; I have to find him!"

Fang Dong solemnly replied, "I will do my utmost."