Chapter 141 Diverting Attention

"President, come out!"

"Carter, come out!" People outside the White House kept shouting. At this time, there were already thousands of people gathered outside.

"My daughter is only 16 years old. She was traveling to South Korea. Who would have known?" In a corner, facing the camera of the reporter, a mother cried and said, "I really didn't expect that all this was instigated by the government. The government could use our civil airliners as a tool for reconnaissance, deviate from the course, and challenge the bottom line of the Soviets!"

The mother cried out in agony: "My little Elena, you died unjustly!"

Originally, people thought that the Soviets had shot down the plane, which made the whole world hate the Soviet Union. But now, all the facts point to the US government. It turned out that the government was using a civilian airliner for reconnaissance! It flew over the Soviets' heads to conduct reconnaissance, but was shot down by them!

They died unjustly, more than 200 innocent souls, and even their bodies haven’t been found yet!

The evidence is conclusive. First, reporters photographed reconnaissance equipment in the wreckage of the passenger plane, and then the Soviet government released the recording in the black box of the passenger plane. What else does the government have to say?

In the past few days, they have been holding demonstrations outside the White House, hoping that the government can come forward to explain. However, the President Carter, who was so charming during the election, has been acting like a coward and has not come out at all.

"The people were deceived by the Soviets," said Brzezinski, the national security adviser. "It's ironic that our people didn't believe our propaganda, but believed the Soviets' deception."

It was a fact that no one paid attention to Brzezinski's words, and now, dragging it out was no longer a solution.

"Christopher, what do you think?" Carter asked Secretary of State Warren Miner Christopher.

In history, President Carter is considered the most unsuccessful American president. Many things happened during his term, such as Iran detaining Americans and the failed rescue operation. For example, he wanted to implement economic reforms, but they were blocked by Congress and could not be passed. When he left the White House indifferently, Americans did not have any love for him at all.

And now, when Carter just became the President of the United States, trouble came. It had nothing to do with him, but he had to clean up the mess left by his predecessor.

"I think we should divert our people's attention." Christophe said, "Now, aren't we having friction with the Soviets on the island? Why don't we expand the friction and let our people know that the Soviet Union is our enemy of the Western world and we should unite to fight against the Soviet Union."

Expand friction! For some time, the United States has been humiliated by the Soviet MiG-25. Now, relying on the advanced F-15 fighter jets, it has finally achieved an overwhelming victory over the Soviet Union. It is better to take this opportunity to expand friction and let the country know that it has defeated the evil Soviet Union and knows how powerful it is!

Carter frowned. The last air contact was already very risky. If it led to a direct confrontation between the two sides, it might even trigger a world war. Now, do they have to continue playing with fire?

Carter was a president who was very aware of the times. During his term, relations with China were normalized and the Soviet Union was completely encircled in the east. Although the Cold War mentality was deeply rooted, the country did not enter a state of war.

Now, Carter is a little worried about continuing to play with fire.

"Yes, I agree. If we have a small conflict with the Soviet Union, this civilian airliner incident will be over and will not attract intervention from Congress. Moreover, we will only use air power and should not be involved in a large-scale conflict. After all, this is not Western Europe." said Secretary of Defense General Harold Brown.

If it were in Western Europe, once the two sides confronted each other, there might be a ground war, and the Soviet Union's rolling armored torrent would be waiting to advance westward. There are islands there, and at most there would be some air conflicts, and it would be difficult to start a ground war.

Although intelligence reports indicated that there had been some movements of Soviet troops in the Far East, after careful evaluation, the intelligence agencies did not believe that the Soviets would actually launch a large-scale attack.

Our F-15 fighter jets performed their mission extremely well in this air battle, absolutely crushing any type of Soviet fighter jet!

"Okay, I agree, but we must pay attention to the scale and not ignite a full-scale war." President Carter finally agreed. In order to divert the attention of the domestic people, he had to start an external conflict. Carter felt that he was being too despicable, just like the politicians he hated the most.

After receiving orders from their superiors, the 14th Squadron was dispatched again.

Last time, they flew over the center line of the La Perouse Strait, which is the border between Hokkaido and Sakhalin Island. Some air battles even broke out over Aniva Bay. Thinking of shooting down Soviet planes at that time made them extremely excited.

Originally, they thought that day was just a one-day trip to Sakhalin Island, and the pilots who did not shoot down any targets were disappointed. But now, the order has finally come, and they can continue to fly north, and even fly over Sakhalin Island!

This is awesome! We can take on the Soviets again!

After making sufficient tactical arrangements, the 14th Squadron took off twenty-one F-15 fighter jets, ready to once again leverage their advantages.

They still need a reputation. At the same time they took off, four F-4 fighter jets of the PLASTER FLAG took off from the Chitose base in Hokkaido, preparing to provoke them over Sakhalin Island in advance.

At the same time, the naval aviation force was also notified. Just like last time, they would ambush in a certain airspace and wait for the arrival of prey.

The battle has entered the countdown again!

They didn't know that their actions had been clearly understood by Sakhalin Island.

A large four-engine aircraft was flying over northern Sakhalin Island, carrying a large plate on its back.

The Soviet Union did not have many large four-engine aircraft. The main ones were the Tu-95 bomber and the Tu-114 passenger aircraft modified on the basis of the Tu-95 bomber. This aircraft with a large plate was an early warning aircraft modified on the basis of the Tu-114 passenger aircraft, the Tu-126!

Compared with the Tu-114, the fuselage of this aircraft is almost the same, except that an aerial refueling pipe is installed on the nose, there is a ventral fin at the tail, and a rotating radar antenna cover with a diameter of 11 meters is installed on the upper fuselage.

The appearance is a bit strange, so NATO gave this aircraft the nickname "Moss" based on its appearance.