Chapter 164 Tanks Shoot Down Planes

"Quick, shoot down these helicopters!" The guard, First Class Army Officer Cao Dongcun, shouted and quickly shook the helicopter.

Originally, these anti-aircraft guns were aimed at targets that might attack from the sky, and the guns were at an elevation angle of 45 degrees. But now, the target was flying close to the treetops! The guns had to be adjusted to an elevation angle of almost 5 degrees! This was already the lower limit.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Just as he was struggling to turn the steering gear, the Gazelle helicopter on the opposite side had already fired a barrage of rockets at the anti-aircraft artillery positions here!

"Swish, swish, swish." As rockets were fired from the rocket launcher, trailing thick smoke, they rushed towards the opposite position.

"Boom, boom, boom!" In an instant, countless explosions sounded on the anti-aircraft artillery positions, and the Japanese were instantly blown to pieces.

The battle begins!

At dusk on that day, the powerful 5th Tank Division, accompanied by forty Hinds, suddenly appeared next to the Chitose Base. Faced with this powerful armored force, the defenders of the Chitose Base immediately panicked.

Nonsense, the Air Force and the Army have their own responsibilities. For the Air Self-Defense Force here, close combat is not their strong point at all. They take off and drop bombs on the enemy's heads. They are the flying eagles and the weak chickens on the ground.

Originally, Chitose City had a large number of Ground Self-Defense Force garrisons, so there was no need to worry about ground threats here. However, the battle broke out suddenly.

Under the first round of attack by the Hind, the fortifications near the base were destroyed one after another. Then, T-64 tanks rumbled onto the outskirts of the base.

"Boom!" A 125mm grenade flew out, and a bunker in front flew into the sky.

"Boom!" Another high-explosive grenade, and a ground support vehicle at the base was instantly blown away.

"Be careful, don't detonate the underground oil depot!" Nikolai Hleb, commander of the 42nd Tank Regiment, shouted loudly on the radio.

Before the attack, the order Nikola received was to occupy the air force base here. If necessary, he could destroy the runway and other facilities here, but the underground oil depot must not be destroyed!

Just after he finished shouting, he heard a cry on the radio: "The Japanese plane has returned!"

At the end of the runway in the distance, an F-4 aircraft has entered the landing route, with its nose raised and the landing gear lowered, which is the standard landing posture.

The fuselage and the wings were completely empty; all the missiles had been used up.

Behind this plane, there were four or five F-4 planes preparing to land. They must have been too tired and extremely nervous that they did not notice any abnormalities at the Chitose base.

The ZSU-23-4 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun accompanying the tank division, a low-altitude killer with four 23mm anti-aircraft guns, was still in the rear and had not arrived at the airport. Seeing the F-4 about to land, the commander of the T-64 tank that discovered it shouted, "Quick, missiles!"

"Bang." The gun door closed, and the gunner had skillfully stuffed the 9M112 Cobra missile into the barrel through the automatic loader.

"Fire!" As the gunner pressed the button, a cylindrical object with a tail fin flew out of the tank's muzzle with a loud bang.

A Soviet masterpiece, a new weapon for the Army's tank troops, the gun-launched missile!

After a tank shell flies out, it can only fly according to the trajectory. Once the target moves, the attack will fail. Missiles, on the other hand, can change direction midway, but they are propelled by rocket engines and have low speed. Combining the advantages of both, using artillery to launch missiles gives the missiles an initial velocity and enables mid-range guidance, increasing the hit rate.

The Americans spent a huge amount of money to develop the Oak Stick missile, but unfortunately its performance was not high and it became a useless weapon. Until it was retired, it only fired a few rounds and destroyed a few ground fortifications. At this time, the Soviets were also developing the same artillery-launched missile, and they were very successful.

The 9M112 gun-launched missile launched from a 125mm tank gun does not require the development of a specially developed dual-purpose tank gun and is easy to use. Moreover, it has a maximum range of 4,000 meters and a theoretical hit rate of 80%. Its vertical static armor-piercing power is 600 mm, which is enough to kill any of the most advanced Western tanks at a long distance!

What even the developers of this missile did not expect was that the first actual combat use of this missile would be to shoot down airplanes, and not helicopters, but fighter jets!

Fire! As the 9M112 missile came out of the muzzle, the gunner's task was still heavy. He had to keep his eyes on the target through the sight and operate the joystick to make the missile press against the crosshairs.

This missile, like the first generation of anti-tank missiles, uses radio command guidance, and its performance is outdated. Later generations at least use semi-active laser guidance. The launcher needs to adjust the joystick from time to time, just like controlling a model airplane.

If it was a fighter plane flying in the sky, there was no doubt that the tanks on the ground would be the appetizer. But now, the F-4 fighter plane that was in the process of landing was the weakest.

The pilots were exhausted. The air battle was over. Of the two squadrons that took off in the morning, there were more than 40 planes, but only a few could fly back! Thinking of the tragic air battle, Airman 3rd Class Ishikawa felt that he had no strength left in his body.

This is war, a cruel war!

There was a buzzing sound in my ears, and the scene of the missile launch seemed to appear in front of my eyes, my wingman was blown up, and white parachute flowers appeared...

Ishikawa shook his head vigorously to wake himself up. Although landing is a common subject, problems may still occur if one does not pay attention.

There seems to be some sound in the earphones? Ishikawa couldn't hear anything in his ears just now, but now, the tinnitus seems to be better.

Wait, what? Something's happening on the ground? Ishikawa finally heard clearly that it was the voice of the ground controller in the headset, asking him to pull up immediately, pull up!

Bullshit, the fuel on my plane is not even enough for one go-around, and I still want to take off?

What? Are the Soviets attacking? Damn it! Just then, Ishikawa saw thick smoke in the distance. It was the hangar that was hit!

Pull up! Ishikawa pulled the control stick back. Falling down like this would be courting death. A fighter plane can only dominate in the sky! At this moment, the fuselage suddenly shook, and the main landing gear had already touched the runway!

"Boom!" Unfortunately, at this moment, a roar was heard from the rear fuselage.

The landing wheels touched the ground at a speed of only about 100 to 200 kilometers per hour. The 9M112 accurately caught up with the F-4 and immediately launched a strong attack with the kiss of death!