Wasteland Commander-Chapter 396 - 87: The Most One-Sided Air Battle

Stealth fighters are typically equipped as fifth-generation jets.

The Dawn Army has acquired stealth technology, so their current fighter jets are rated at four and a half generation level.

The generation gap between fighter jets is nearly an insurmountable chasm.

A fourth-generation jet can easily crush a group of third-generation jets, likewise a fifth-generation jet can easily crush a group of fourth-generation jets.

The gap between four and a half and third-generation jets is like the difference between a professional boxer and kindergarten kids.

Especially in terms of stealth; the gap is already described as appalling.

If these jets from the Mountain River Base continued a guerrilla warfare with the Dawn Army, and slowly entangled in the plains due to their large numbers and stealthiness, it would still give the Dawn Army quite a run for their money, but this time, they’ve delivered themselves.

......

The Dawn Army’s Attack-15 fighters took off from the carrier and had been hovering in this airspace for quite a while.

The enemy fighters were first detected coming in by the Dawn Army’s radar warning aircraft.

The role of this aircraft in air combat is tremendous.

[Air Patrol 500 Early Warning Aircraft: Length 35 meters, wingspan 38 meters, cruising speed 560 kilometers per hour, maximum range 5800 kilometers, equipped with three-sided digital phased array radar, detection range of 480 kilometers, can simultaneously track 100 targets, suitable for electronic warfare, costing two hundred thousand Gold, cannot be Star-Promoted.]

With a detection range of 480 kilometers, these invading enemy aircraft were actually discovered long ago.

However, due to the sheer number of enemy aircraft, rash attacks would inevitably allow some enemy aircraft to turn back and escape, hence the Dawn Army remained cautious.

Only when these enemy aircraft approached within a 50-kilometer range, after ground-based anti-aircraft fire started, did the carrier-based fighters quickly close in.

With a round of air-defense missile launches from the frigates, the carrier-based aircraft immediately followed up.

The early warning aircraft provided location coordinates, and the fighter pilots simply pressed the launch button.

The air-to-air missiles sliced through the night sky like meteors.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh~~~!

Eighty carrier-based jets from two carriers shot off eighty missiles in the first round.

If it were another unit firing, mechanical malfunctions or missile failures might occur, resulting in some dud shots.

But not for the Dawn Army; the systems-produced fighter jets and missiles have flawless quality.

Especially when the enemy is blinded, there is no chance of missing.

Thus, in this first round of missile firing, all eighty missiles hit their marks!

In the night sky, bursts of fireworks blossomed, countless fighter pilots were instantly obliterated, crashing along with their aircraft.

Some planes weren’t hit critically, didn’t break apart instantly, giving the pilots a chance to parachute to safety.

However, a pilot who had lost his fighter jet could at most save his life via parachute; hoping to return to his own side’s base was virtually impossible.

Successive two rounds of attacks from the frigates and fighters bewildered the invading Alliance Army.

In the battlefield, where tensions were high, time waits for no one; before they fully reacted, the radar warning aircraft’s second-round had locked onto another hundred planes.

Indeed, locked onto a hundred; however, the Dawn Army only had eighty carrier-based jets, twenty slots completely wasted.

Coordinates in place, pilots fired the second round!

These Attack-15 carrier-based jets are heavy fighters, each plane can carry 24 missiles at the No-Star level, with each Star promotion adds four more missile mounts.

Both carrier strike groups, for a long time, strictly followed Ye Fan’s orders to exhaust all ammunition daily.

Every carrier-based jet would fly inland for combat daily, and now all were upgraded to Three-Star.

Even the carrier itself was upgraded to One-Star, with its close-in weapon system’s firepower vented mainly on the Ocean Giant Beast.

Especially before the ammunition replenishment, the tempestuous firing was intense.

Therefore, these Three-Star carrier-based jets now have an air-to-air missile capacity of 36, practically an airborne arsenal.

The second missile launched easily blew up another eighty enemy planes!

This efficiency of annihilation may be unprecedented in human history.

In past aerial combats, the skill levels weren’t too far apart, planes were obsessed with dogfights, emphasizing fighter performances and pilot skills.

But this air combat was purely dimensional reduction strike; Alliance Army planes were shot down before even seeing the enemy.

Two rounds of air-to-air missiles coupled with frigate fire, the Alliance Army had lost over two hundred aircraft.

This utterly terrified the pilots at the rear.

They immediately decided to resist superior orders and turn back to flee.

But retreating requires time, and soon the Dawn Army’s third and fourth rounds of missiles attacked.

Numerous missiles flew in like meteors, crushing down like giant hammers.

Eighty!

Eighty!

Eighty planes were falling, eighty at a time, not only end-times warlords couldn’t afford this, but even pre-apocalyptic countries couldn’t afford it.

Their painstakingly accumulated assets over the past year vanished in an instant!

After another two rounds of losses, enemy aircraft finally got a chance to turn back.

But it was no use turning around, they had not yet flown out of missile range.

So, the fifth and sixth rounds of missiles came.

Eighty!

Eighty!

Of the six hundred planes, in just ten minutes, fewer than one hundred remained.

The planes in the rear finally managed to turn in time and got out of range, owing to their distance from the battlefield.

But it was still useless because they had not escaped the lock of the early warning aircraft, which even jammed their radar, rendering them blind.

The early warning aircraft provided coordinates of the fleeing enemy planes, accurately relaying them to every pilot’s radar screen. The pilots of the Dawn Army carrier-based aircraft quickly divided the task, each locking onto one and pursuing.

Eighty!

After the successful pursuit and the seventh round of missile fires, these blinded fighter jets were once again turned into fireworks in the night sky.

Six hundred planes attacked, yet against the Dawn Army’s eighty carrier-based jets, not one escaped, and none achieved any result. They didn’t even have the chance to make a counter-move before being completely annihilated.

This is the technology gap, an insurmountable chasm.

Only if they were also equipped with early-warning aircraft and had all fourth-generation aircraft on the field could they possibly contend with the Dawn Army.

To achieve victory, technological advancement is essential, otherwise no matter how many you come with, you’ll just be mercilessly beaten.

Ye Fan knew upon reaching this point in the battle that there was no suspense left on the central front.

Su Qiao had already contacted him and dispatched troops to attack Mountain River Base. With a two-front assault, the Alliance Army, having lost air superiority, would only face defeat.

Despite the large number of troops, sheer numbers were now useless. If one purely wanted to outnumber, Ye Fan could unleash a legion, a hundred gold each, spawning a million-strong army in minutes, but it would be meaningless.

Human wave tactics are long outdated.

After annihilating the Alliance’s air forces, Ye Fan immediately ordered the navy to leave Laizhou Port and advance north along the sea.

The Golden City’s air force stood ready, poised to join naval operations at any time.

Today, Ye Fan aimed to strike while the iron was hot, head straight to Liancheng, and root out Fengtian Base’s headquarters, to see if Zhu Wenming, leading a grand army to expedition, still cared for his homeland.

The Dawn Army’s two aircraft carrier battle groups received Ye Fan’s orders and immediately headed north.

After a day and night of sailing, the fleet approached Liancheng Naval Port.

Fengtian Province had only two large bases, one in Fengtian City and one in Liancheng.

A majority of the garrison in the two base cities were sent to attack Dawn City. Due to the long journey, they were still en route.

Each of the two base cities had only 100,000 troops remaining.

Liancheng also had a portion of the navy, but upon hearing of the Dawn Army’s aircraft carrier battle group’s arrival, this eight-ship naval unit directly abandoned ship and fled.

Joking aside, facing a Dawn Army carrier battle group that includes aircraft carriers and battleships, how could they resist!

As a result, several warships were abandoned at the port, and all troops withdrew into the base city, which in a way strengthened their defenses.

Liancheng was previously a war-ready area with many anti-aircraft weapons.

After the apocalypse, these anti-aircraft weapons were greatly restored.

They were confident, believing even against Dawn Army air raids, they still could put up a fight.

As long as they didn’t fight at sea, they could hold their ground.

Anyway, the fall of Dawn City should be a matter of days. Defend for a week, and Ye Fan would have to go assist Dawn City, surely unable to stay entangled here.

....

Ye Fan had planned various battle strategies, but upon reaching Liancheng Naval Port, found them unnecessary.

The dock landing was swiftly completed without any conflict, as no one was around.

Everyone had withdrawn into the base city, which was fortified like an iron hedgehog, waiting for a showdown.

The generals of the Dawn Army were also holding back frustration; their primary force consisted of air and naval force, and now the enemy had retreated inland, leaving their ground forces behind.

The landing was carried out by naval infantry and some armored units. These forces had no problem attacking the beachhead but assaulting the Liancheng Base, defended by 100,000, would be a significant challenge.

Everyone looked towards Ye Fan, awaiting the Commander-in-Chief’s orders.

Ye Fan, meanwhile, received reports from Dawn City.

Zhu Wenming had led 300,000 troops into Divine Dragon Province, nearing the vicinity of Ice City.

Reaching the vicinity of Dawn City was a matter of three days. Within these three days, he must resolve the issue at Liancheng and then go to aid Dawn City, considering it now had depleted defenses, guarded only by a City Guard, scattered protecting border checkpoints and such.

Ye Fan could also disregard Liancheng and head straight to Dawn City, but he didn’t want to do that, having come all this way he didn’t want to leave empty-handed.

While Ye Fan contemplated how to tackle Liancheng, unexpectedly, Liancheng sent an emissary to meet him.

The emissary arrived by car, bringing only a driver.

Upon arrival, he even arrogantly demanded to see Ye Fan.

After some consideration, Ye Fan chose to meet him.

Unexpectedly, this person handed Ye Fan a treaty upon their meeting.

The general content: ’Live and let live.’