Chapter Fifteen: No More Emperor (Part One)
Article 1:
The first ray of sunlight in the morning shines on the colorful Andaman Sea, with few clouds in the sky today. The blue seems to melt into it. Pushing open the goggles on his helmet, Lieutenant Colonel Joashi silently gazes at the gradually brightening sky outside. He suddenly recalls a colleague saying that being able to die in such blue surroundings is a kind of happiness. But at this moment, he has no time to savor that romance.
Apart from the powerful roar of the two AL-31F turbojet engines, the spacious side-by-side cockpit was as quiet as a tomb. Josh fiddled with the radio dials in hopes of picking up transmissions from the A-50I airborne early warning aircraft hundreds of kilometers behind him, but there was nothing, just the monotonous hiss in his earphones.
In the airspace 200 kilometers west of the Andaman Islands, the Indian Navy and Air Force have almost all their elite forces out. In front of Captain Joshi's formation were 12 MiG-29Ks that had just arrived 20 minutes ago from the INS Vikramaditya carrier strike group, who would be responsible for ensuring air security over the battlefield; on their sides and rear was a massive support fleet centered around an A-50I large early warning aircraft, carrying PJ-10 "BrahMos"
Four Tu-142 maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft armed with anti-ship missiles will become a nightmare for ASEAN navies.
As the commanding officer of the newly formed 158th "Sea Snake" attack squadron of Indian Naval Aviation, Commander Joshi's formation was not large. Four sea-blue-painted Su-32FN twin-seat shore-based reconnaissance and strike aircraft soared high in the sky at an altitude of 6,000 meters like giant albatrosses.
Su-32FN is the export version of Su-34 fighter-bomber for Russian Air Force. Unlike Su-34, Su-32FN has some improvements and changes on its onboard radio electronic equipment and weapons to further enhance its reconnaissance and attack capabilities against sea targets. The "Sea Snake" phased array radar equipped on Su-32FN can detect and identify sea targets 150~200 km away. Facing the ASEAN joint fleet hiding in the Danlao Islands, today Colonel Joe's formation will play the role of the eyes of the attacking formation as well as the final doomsday destroyer.
"Ahead, interceptors from the Myanmar Air Force have been spotted, identified as 16 Chinese-made J-7 fighter jets. 'Hawk' squadron, prepare to engage." The warning finally came through the radio. Qiao Xi could clearly sense the disdain and contempt on the other end of the transmission, after all, the J-7 was no match for the MiG-29K. But for some reason, as he gazed at the radar screen where the approaching dots were getting closer, Qiao Xi felt a strange unease."
"He's coming..."
Captain Ling Fei gripped the control stick tightly, he was no longer young. Facing the approaching death, his palms began to sweat. "I won't approve your transfer request because I don't want to let go of a future ace." The icy decision by Base Commander Qian Mu once again made Ling Fei feel a chill. "Then there's the J-7 ace," he muttered under his breath as the fighter slowly ascended.
"Get ready to receive the enemy's first wave of beyond visual range attack." The distance between the vanguard squadron of the Indian Air Force and them was gradually shortened to 50 kilometers, at which point the R-77 "Adder" air-to-air missiles carried by the MiG-29K would take the lead in launching an attack, while the J-7 would be powerless to fight back. As a burst of sharp "beep, beep, beep" warnings from the all-aspect radar warning receiver (RWR) sounded, Lieutenant Colonel Ling Fei drove the fighter plane to roll sharply to the right, while the aluminum foil
Flare launcher fired with all its might, leaving behind a trail of smoke columns in the azure sky...
24 R-77 "Adders" shot down 6 planes from the Ling Fei squadron. The MiG-29K offset the numerical advantage of the Chinese aircraft with its own long-range attack, but both sides quickly closed in and began what is called a "dogfight".
A string of locking, unlocking, flipping, pulling up, and leveling off. Ling Feng felt as if he was in a dream. The agile J-7G danced in the sky between life and death, he should be excited, should be afraid. But Ling Feng's heart was surprisingly calm, in his world the sky seemed like a clear lake, the tail smoke of air-to-air missiles, the white vortex pulled out by the wingtips of the fighter jets, the fireballs hit and the scattered aluminum fragments all seemed so far away to him. After multiple beautiful evasions, he could even feel the urgent noise of the opponent behind him. The MiG-29K began to enter scissors flight, to consume the speed and energy of the MiG fighter. As an attacker, this was already his last resort...
A fierce dogfight is unfolding below his squadron, but Captain Josh has no time to appreciate the beautiful and bloody aerial ballet. The PJ-10 "BrahMos" missiles are loaded
The Tu-142 fleet of anti-ship missiles has entered the attack position. "First wave of attacks begins." As the A-50I early warning aircraft transmitted the attack command. The new small integral turbojet engine developed by India's HAL company began to ignite, and the 9-meter-long, 3-ton PJ-10 "BrahMos" anti-ship missile detached from the Tu-142's body. It was as if a giant had thrown a burning dart towards the Danlao Islands.
"I hope it doesn't come to us taking action."
Joshua looked at the flames rushing away, silently praying in his heart. After all, no one wants to risk their life. The missile will accelerate to a flying speed of 2.5-2.8 Mach, maintain a height of 6,000 meters and fly horizontally for a distance before diving down. In the final stage of flight, it drops to an altitude of 10-15 meters and makes a serpentine maneuver to evade enemy interception until it hits the target. Colonel Joshua had no chance to witness that lethal impact, he could only wait in his fighter jet for the message that the target was destroyed.
"1, 2 targets attacked and lost, 3 targets confirmed destroyed, 4 targets confirmed destroyed..." After a not-so-long wait, the news that came was disappointing. Although the first wave of attacks destroyed two ASEAN naval escort ships on the outskirts of the harbor, it was clear that the most valuable target still existed. "Gray Bear returning. Sea Snake preparing to strike." With the return order for the Tu-142 formation, Colonel Joeshi knew that today would be his moment to write history.
As a defender, scissors flight means you will face danger while also indicating that the attacker made a mistake.
Obviously, MiG-29K also realized this problem and began to try using a series of barrel rolls instead of sharp turns, taking advantage of height.
Speed conversion maintains some energy. In this process, he assisted by the helmet sighted again to implement two off-axis attacks on Lingfeng, but apparently he was too hasty. Lingfei took advantage of the rapid pull-up, each time making it impossible for him to lock onto the R-73 before firing. Although in the second time, the opponent barely shot out the missile, but apparently his luck wasn't good enough to destroy Lingfei without locking on and relying solely on the R-73's navigation capabilities.
The MiG-29K finally chose to execute an immediate break-S turn when the F/A-18F flew past its tail: a 180-degree descending spiral, rolling inverted and pulling the stick back, keeping the force until the aircraft was horizontal and facing in the opposite direction.
But he ignored that, the J-7G is an excellent dogfighter in a guns-only environment. Ling Fei's counterattack was the main attack, biting back at his opponent. The helmet-mounted sight on the J-7G also gave Ling Fei the ability to make off-boresight attacks. When the sight locked onto a MiG-29K, he lightly pressed the firing button with his index finger. In just one or two seconds, the PL-8 missile under the J-7G's wing completed the entire process of ignition, power-on, and safety release. As a fierce flame shot out from the tail of the missile, it left the launch rail and shot straight at the Indian Navy's MiG-29K like an arrow off the string.
