Chapter 335: Air Reconnaissance

The South China Sea Fleet Command left two and a half fighter squadrons and four bomber squadrons because they could not let all the air force attack. In that case, the aircraft carrier would be greatly threatened once an unknown special situation is encountered. For Hawaii, a not-so-large island, three days are enough for the South China Sea Fleet to slowly bomb in turn.*

The focus of the first wave of bombing was on the US military's ammunition depot, headquarters, barracks and other important buildings, and the US military's anti-aircraft artillery positions were also among the key targets.

Since the US military has lost its air power, the sky of Hawaii has become a stage for the performance of the aircraft. In addition to the backward anti-aircraft guns of the US military that can pose a certain threat to the aircraft, the aircraft can conduct air strikes on selected targets at will.

The US Pacific Fleet Command, located in southern central Oahu, became the first target of the bombing. Two bomber squadrons dived directly above the command and carried out fierce bombings on them for twenty minutes. The remaining two bomber squadrons and a fighter squadron cleared the anti-aircraft artillery positions near Oahu and the headquarters.

The US military command was blown into a mess with the rumbling cannons. The main buildings collapsed into ruins, and thick black smoke blew everywhere, rushing straight to the sky. The US military command center, communication rooms, barracks, canteens and other facilities were severely damaged and basically unavailable, achieving the expected bombing effect.

However, since the US military had long expected that the South China Sea Fleet would come to bomb, they had withdrawn some of the supplies in the headquarters, took away some of the communication equipment, hid in nearby mountains and forests, and established a temporary command center to continue to command the US military's operations. The personnel at the US base also carried out a relatively thorough transfer. The soldiers in the main bases and military ports had already moved to the nearby mountains.

At this time, the US military seemed to have become a guerrilla force. From the headquarters to the middle and lower-level officers, they all hid in the mountains on the Hawaiian Islands. Only several artillery positions were left in the base. More than a dozen anti-aircraft artillery positions were destroyed during this bombing, and Zhenzhan also lost two Hong-2 bombers and two pilots.

Since the US military chose to retreat to the mountains, the attack on the US military personnel will not be effective. If we want to eliminate the US ground forces, we still need to send Marines to the island to clear them.

However, after the US military entered the mountains, their supply became more difficult. They had to transport fresh water, food, ammunition and other supplies to the mountains along the small roads in the forest.

During the transportation process, these substances were bombed by the Jinzhan aircraft and lost some of them. However, there are some freshwater resources such as freshwater lakes in Hawaii, and the rainfall is abundant. The US military can receive rainwater for use, but food must be purchased from residents at the foot of the mountain.

The Hawaii region is rich in sugarcane, pineapple and other products, and the animal husbandry industry is developed. These can almost supplement the needs of the island's residents and garrisons. They can basically have enough food and can come in without relying on external supplementary materials when saving and use during wartime.

Therefore, the US Hawaiian land forces have the ability to fight for a long time. They can rely on the island's resources to carry out long-term resistance. Of course, the amount of ammunition on the island is also limited. They must save and use it as much as possible to support more, and wait until external reinforcements arrive.

Several US warships loaded with supplies have passed through the Panama Canal and began to advance towards Hawaii with the US Atlantic Fleet. It is estimated that this area will be reached in three days, which should be similar to the arrival of the Aidel Fleet. This is also the result of coordination between the US military command.

They had to allow the Atlantic Fleet to arrive in Hawaii at the most critical moment when the Aidel Fleet fought against the South China Sea Fleet, so that they could land on the island safely and provide them with ammunition and other supplies that could support longer.

This Atlantic Fleet will also participate in the battle later and cooperate with the Aidel Fleet to encircle the South China Sea Fleet.

The first round of bombing ended soon. After losing two bombers, the planes returned to the South China Sea Fleet, which was only about 100 kilometers away from the Hawaii coastline, at this time, the South China Sea Fleet no longer needed to take off fighter jets from places far away from Hawaii to carry out air strikes. The fleet approached Hawaii and took off fighter jets on the sea ground within 100 kilometers, which saved more aviation fuel. At the same time, it could carry out several more bombings every day to cause greater damage to US military facilities and fortifications, and in a limited three days, it would cause greater damage to the US military.

The second round of bombing began soon. This time, the US anti-aircraft artillery and anti-ship artillery on five major islands became the focus of bombing. The air defense alarms on the five islands of the US military were sounded almost at the same time. Then the Zhen** aircraft cleared out these islands. More than 20 US anti-aircraft positions were used to carry out intensive bombings. After the bombing was over, more than one-third of the US anti-aircraft artillery were destroyed.

The next few rounds of strikes almost lost the US air defense artillery positions. Except for a few positions hidden in the mountains and forests and difficult to attack, the other air defense artillery positions were dismantled, and the US military's threat to the Zhenzhan aircraft was basically lifted. The US military's shore defense artillery bases were distributed in various places in southeast, southwest and northwest of Hawaii. There were one or two shore defense artillery positions on each island. After five or six rounds of bombing, these positions were basically dismantled.

Important fortifications of the US military were also bombed during the bombing the next day. Some exposed fortresses located on the mountain were destroyed one after another, and obvious targets such as the US military barracks were bombed. At this time, the US military could only camp in the mountains and endure the bites of mosquitoes. The bombing of the aircraft was not effective for killing soldiers.

After two days of bombing, the U.S. military command, barracks and other buildings have basically been destroyed, and important positions and facilities have also been removed, and there are no obvious targets to continue bombing.

Due to the continuous bombing of aircraft, farmers in Hawaii have basically stopped field operations, which has affected partly their food production and animal husbandry production, which will indirectly affect the US military's continuous combat capabilities. If they do not receive external assistance for a long time, the US military can only support it within half a year on the island.

The bombing on the third day seemed relatively easy. At this time, the plane was looking for groups of American soldiers hidden in the mountains and forests, and the transport teams that attacked them, so that the supply lines of American soldiers were damaged to a certain extent. However, shells would be blocked by ground objects in the mountains and their lethality was far less than that of ordinary flat ground. Therefore, when bombing was encountered, American soldiers would hide in the pits they dug and crawl on the ground, using tree trunks, branches, leaves, rocks, etc. to cover them. The shells did not have much effect on them.

After the three-day bombing, the intensive bombing of Hawaii gradually subsided, because the fleet's air defense mission will be greatly increased next. The Edel fleet has appeared in the waters southwest of Hawaii, one thousand kilometers away from the South China Sea Fleet and has not been reconnaissance aircraft yet.

Aidel also chose to change his course, changing from northeastern to suddenly sailing eastward to maximize the avoidance of the South China Sea Fleet, and attempting to go around the east of Hawaii to meet the US Atlantic Fleet that was approaching Hawaii in the eastern waters of Hawaii.

In order to avoid missing the Edel fleet, they were allowed to approach Hawaii from the South Pacific or the North Pacific region, the South China Sea fleet conducted a large-scale search of the surrounding area within 1,000 kilometers with Hawaii as the center.

However, such a large-scale search is difficult to cover all seas, and the probability of missing the other party is also very high. However, as long as the Edel fleet is indeed approaching Hawaii, our army will unremittingly search back and forth in this airspace, sooner or later the opponent's main position will be, and the closer they are to the Hawaii area, the greater the chance of being caught.

Due to the heavy reconnaissance mission, the fleet conducts reconnaissance in two batches. Each batch sends four bomber squadrons and two fighter squadrons to cooperate with reconnaissance aircraft to search. Anti-submarine aircraft and rescue helicopters are also sent to nearby waters to perform search missions. After each team performs reconnaissance mission, the second team of aircraft will be replaced, and the first team of aircraft will return to the flight and rest and replenish supplies.

The two teams of aircraft rotated to conduct reconnaissance to ensure that there was no gap and missed the enemy's fleet so that they could get too close to them.

Then the South China Sea Fleet gradually moved northward, slightly away from the Hawaii area. They did not want to be prepared by the enemy in advance, but launched a sudden attack, allowing the fleet to move on the sea surface and no longer stay in a sea area.

Over the eastern sea area of ​​Hawaii, on the sea surface about 800 kilometers away from Hawaii, two modified reconnaissance aircraft of J-2 aircraft were whizzing through the sky. With the cover of clouds, the two aircraft appeared and disappeared, shuttled across the sea to perform a long reconnaissance mission. The two had been flying on the sea for two hours, slightly tired.

"No. 13, do you have a target?" The No. 15 reconnaissance plane asked another aircraft a few kilometers away through the walkie-talkilometer.

"There is no sea target, let's go back. It's almost here. The one who succeeds us will come soon. Go to the north to scan and get ready to leave." The pilot No. 13 responded while observing the radar screen.

"Okay, I'll fly north first." No. 15 was a little helpless. He had no gains in the flight for several hours, which made him unable to get excited.

"Slow down." When the pilot No. 15 had just made a turn and wanted to fly north, the voice of his teammates suddenly sounded in the intercom again.

"So, is it?" The short and rapid voice made the heart of the pilot No. 15 suddenly jump, and a glimmer flashed in his eyes.

"A highlight appeared on my radar. I want to fly east for a distance to see if there is a target on the water surface?" The pilot No. 13 stared at the target moving from east to west on the radar screen. It was obvious that the opponent's speed was very slow, and it was a target sailing on the sea. He immediately changed his mind and prepared to continue to detect for a while. The appearance of this highlight also made him feel a little excited, thinking that maybe he would gain something today.

"I'll go with you and cover each other. Maybe US aircraft will appear nearby, so be careful." The pilot No. 15 stopped the direction he had just changed, made another sharp turn and returned to the eastward position, and said to No. 13.

"Keep five kilometers away and fly forward in parallel." The pilot No. 13 said lightly, then drove the plane into a cloud layer ahead.

After a few minutes of flight, highlights appeared on the radar screens of aircraft 13 and 15, and as they progressed, the highlights increased.

"Good guy, this must be a ship of the Atlantic Fleet?" The pilot No. 15 sighed, his heartbeat began to accelerate, and a look of joy appeared between his eyebrows.

"Maybe it's just an ordinary merchant fleet. In order to avoid being harassed by pirates or belligerent aircraft, the current fleet is rushing in groups. It's time to fly closer and look, so don't be too happy too early." Although the pilot No. 13 was also a little excited, he was even more calm.

"I have a premonition that this must be an American fleet. It's been a long time since I saw such a large group of guys appear at the same time. The distance they kept was very similar to the marching formation of a fleet, not like the formation of an ordinary merchant ship." No. 15 still insisted on his own opinion and retorted.

"Okay, I hope what you said is true. Be careful not to be hidden, don't be too close to the target, and return immediately if you can make a judgment, so as not to alarm the snake." No. 13 reminded him again.

After passing through a large cloud, the two planes gradually appeared more than ten kilometers away from the highlights on the screen. They did not dare to get too close to the target to avoid being observed by the other party's telescope. Instead, they flew to a favorable observation area under the cover of the clouds and began to observe with the telescope.

"There are nearly fifty ships in total. I saw the American flag on the mast. This must be the American fleet, but it seems that there are some civilian ships mixed in it. It seems that they are ships requisitioned to transport supplies." No. 13 has seen some of the targets clearly and maintained the flight altitude.

"When I saw the muzzle, I was sure it was a fleet, it must be the American Atlantic fleet, so I'll tell you to hurry up." The excitement in No. 15's eyes became stronger and stronger, and he said to the microphone.

Due to the limited communication distance between aircraft, the communication distance between J-2 and H-2 combat aircraft is within five kilometers, which is comparable to that of US aircraft. However, the sound quality of the jing** intercom is much better. The US intercom is easily disturbed by various kinds of noise and has a heavy noise, so they prefer to communicate with each other with gestures.

Moreover, the US military fighter jets are slow, so they can see the expressions and movements of their teammates, which is convenient for communication. The speed of the aircraft is fast, and relying on intercom communication is the main method. Sometimes when they are very close, they can directly shout, make gestures, shake their heads, and shake their heads to express some basic meanings.

However, the communication distance of the Zhen** reconnaissance aircraft is relatively long and can communicate with each other more than 100 kilometers away. Among them, four reconnaissance aircraft are equipped with high-power radio stations, which can upload messages to the command ship one thousand kilometers away.

Therefore, after the general aircraft situation, nearby reconnaissance aircraft will be notified, and then the reconnaissance aircraft will use relay forwarding to notify the four reconnaissance aircraft with high-power radio stations to transmit the message back to the aircraft carrier command center, so that the South China Sea Fleet will achieve communication and command capabilities thousands of kilometers away.

After the US military aircraft was sent to perform missions, they basically lost contact with their command center. Only after completing the mission and returning to the vicinity of the command center can they contact the command center again. This was determined by the technical conditions at that time. At this time, the world army was still very far away from information warfare and had not formed the so-called instant messaging command network at all.

The so-called integrated air-sea combat in later generations is actually a concept that integrates all ships, aircraft, and ground command center communication systems of the air-sea military, and instantly and quickly transmits information to each other. This is the real optimization of information transmission. All combat units can be contacted in real time and understand the combat situation in other places and the specific location, number of people, equipment and other information of the enemy. If this integration of air-sea is really done, it will be a combat mode with very high combat efficiency. In the 21st century, only the United States has the possibility of forming this combat mode, because only they have the hardware and software foundation to establish this combat mode. It is still difficult for other countries to involve this field.

In this century, Zhen** has undoubtedly reached the forefront of information warfare. Although the concept of information warfare has not yet been formed worldwide, Li Tiancheng has obviously already mastered it. Building a highly informative force in the future has also become the direction and goal of his efforts. At this time, Zhen** Air Force has initially achieved the prototype of informatization and is gradually moving forward. The so-called air-sea integration will also become Zhen**’s future development goal, but it must be mentioned until various software and hardware equipment reaches the level of perfection. It is estimated that this goal will not be achieved within the ten years that it can be encountered.

"Fifteen, let's go back. You fly northwest and I fly southwest. We forward the message as soon as possible, let our teammates inform the fleet of the specific location of the US military, integrate air forces, and intercept the US fleet." After seeing the target clearly, the pilot of the 13th gave them a group photo, took an image of the US fleet with a high-definition reconnaissance camera, and then said to No. 15.

"Okay, I met my teammates along the way and called a few brothers to stare at them." No. 15 added.

The two aircraft began to slowly accelerate and turn, concealed into the clouds, and flew separately in two directions. Soon, the nearby J-2 and H-2 aircraft first received this important message and began to forward it to nearby fighter jets until they arrived on the reconnaissance aircraft equipped with high-power radio stations. In about twenty minutes, the message soon reached the combat center of the South China Sea Fleet.

Chapter 335: Air Reconnaissance
Chapter completed!