Chapter 157 Protecting the Fleet

The Americans felt very good about themselves, as if they were sure to win. If they really came into conflict with the Soviets, they would be far superior to the Soviets in terms of naval and air force power.

Unfortunately, it is not the 1980s or 1990s yet, and the advanced F-15 fighter jets of the United States have not been equipped in large numbers to their military. The main force of the air force is still the F-4, which is actually the same as the Soviet MiG-21 and MiG-23. The only advantage of the Navy's Tomcat fighter jets has not gained much benefit in the recent battles, especially in front of the Soviet MiG-25 fighter jets. The only advantage is the combination of AWG-9 and Phoenix!

When the order from the United States was issued, it was already night on the island nation, and a large-scale air battle did not break out immediately. Both sides were accumulating strength and waiting for the next day's air battle.

The bad weather did not stop the exchange of fire between the two sides. Just as daybreak came, the fighter planes of the 13th Fighter Squadron took off quickly from Misawa Base.

After the last battle, the 14th Fighter Squadron was badly damaged and stayed at the base for recuperation. It did not participate in this air battle. However, the F-4 fighters of the 13th Fighter Squadron have been modified and upgraded to carry the same AIM-7F and AIM-9J missiles. The technical performance of the missiles has been greatly improved, giving this type of fighter a clear advantage in air combat.

At the same time, as the main combat party, fighter planes from the 201st and 203rd Squadrons of the Chitose Base in Hokkaido all took off. Hokkaido is the territory of the island country, and now, the island country's Hokkaido has been shamefully invaded, and they must drive out the Soviets!

First, seize air superiority, and then a large number of ground-attack aircraft can inflict heavy damage on the Soviet ground forces!

At the same time, the Soviet Union also launched a large number of fighter planes in the direction of Sakhalin Island and Iturup Island. When the early warning aircraft discovered that the United States had taken off a large number of fighter planes, it immediately commanded its own fighter planes to fly over Hokkaido.

A fierce air confrontation thus began.

The first to fly were the MiG-23s from the 41st Regiment, which were entangled with the F-4 fighters from the 201st Squadron that took off from the island country. The fight ranged from beyond-visual-range air combat to close-range dogfighting. The two types of heavy fighters left streaks of white smoke in the sky. Some fighter planes were hit and fell from the sky, trailing smoke.

Strong electromagnetic interference filled the sky over Hokkaido. Both sides launched high-power electronic jammers to interfere with each other's communications and radars.

The Tu-126 early warning aircraft flying over Sakhalin Island was trying hard to direct the battle between the Soviet Air Defense Force and the Air Force. However, as the interference continued to intensify, more and more snowflakes appeared on the screen, and the early warning personnel stared at the screen with extremely nervous expressions.

In addition to paying attention to the airspace of the warring parties, it is more important to prevent sneak attacks by the US Navy!

Throughout yesterday, fleets of transport planes in the air had been transporting personnel and supplies to Kushiro Airport. At sea, after the first transport fleet brought the personnel and equipment of the 5th Tank Division and the 73rd Guards Motorized Infantry Division to Hokkaido, it was urgently transporting the second batch of personnel and supplies.

This time, the 14th Guards Tank Division and the 3rd Guards Motorized Infantry Division were loaded directly from the Port of Korsakov. As long as this batch of troops was transported to the Port of Kushiro, the number of Soviet troops in the Hokkaido area would reach more than 40,000, enough to occupy the entire Hokkaido!

Strategic surprise is no longer necessary. After departing directly from the Port of Korsakov, we can pass through the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Kunashir Channel and quickly reach Kushiro.

There was still a cloud of fog floating on the sea. Several destroyers and frigates of the Pacific Fleet in the port of Korsakov were closely guarding the merchant ship.

Will the Americans attack these ships? If the Americans dare to attack, it will cause great casualties to the Soviet army! This means an escalation of the war!

However, no one will let down their guard. All the officers and soldiers of the escort fleet are looking at the sky nervously. If they are discovered by fighter planes in the sky, they will be attacked from the air!

At the same time, in order to protect this fleet, the Soviet side also spent a lot of money. Just behind the fleet, over Kunashir Island, two heavy interceptors were using powerful radars to scan the distant sky.

The same twin engines and twin vertical tails, the same huge rectangular air intakes, the same majestic appearance, if viewed from a distance, these two fighters are very similar to the Soviet Eagle and MiG-25. However, only when you get close can you see that these two aircraft are two-seaters. There is another cockpit behind the front cockpit. Unlike the large cockpit with smooth lines of the American style, the cockpit at the back is very narrow and has a small glass opening. At this time, the flat antenna at the front of the nose is constantly radiating electromagnetic waves into the airspace.

These two fighter jets are the crystallization of Soviet aviation technology, the powerful MiG-31 interceptors!

The fuselage was strengthened, and a certain proportion of titanium alloy was used to reduce weight, increasing from 8% of the MiG-25 to 16%. In addition, the two Tumansky R-15 turbojet engines were replaced with two Soloviev D-30 turbofan engines with a thrust of 14,886 kg. The advantage of the turbofan engine is its low fuel consumption rate! This aircraft has auxiliary fuel tanks, carries 4 R-33 missiles, and has a cruising range of 3,000 kilometers at Mach 0.8! It almost meets the standards of a bomber.

Although the high-altitude and high-speed characteristics of the turbofan engine are not as good as those of the turbojet, resulting in a lower maximum speed of the MiG-31 than the MiG-25, this choice is worthwhile. In addition, the maneuverability of the MiG-31 has been improved, and it allows supersonic flight at low altitudes.

In addition to these, the biggest change of the MiG-31 lies in the weapon system. The Soviet Union's defects in electronic technology have led to the difficulty of flat-plate slot radar being unable to be overcome. Even the Su-27 is still using the backward inverted antenna. Therefore, the Soviets simply took a different approach and directly installed the passive phased array radar on this interceptor!

At this time, the radar operator in the rear cabin was fiddling with the radar equipment in front of him at his seat, protecting his own transport formation.

"Third Squadron, Third Squadron, attention, direction 090, four targets, altitude 500, speed 1.2, go to intercept." Later, the radar operator gave the order on the radio.