From a time perspective, when Mu Haoyang reported the situation to Huang Hanlin, at around 10 o'clock in the night in Beijing time, the US early warning aircraft that took off from Digo Garcia discovered the carrier-based early warning aircraft of the West Indian Ocean Fleet, and then detected the air defense fighter jets above the fleet.

According to the US military's war report, the battlefield time was 7:30 at night, which was about an hour after Zhang Yuting decided to return in the early morning of the 23rd, the commander of the US Fourth Fleet made an attack decision, dispatching 216 carrier-based fighters on three aircraft carriers and 48 fighters from Digo Garcia to defeat the Western Indian Ocean Fleet in one fell swoop, and he left only more than 100 air defense fighters.

It can be said that the US military has come out in full swing.

According to the US military's combat plan, after completing the first round of strikes, the Third Fleet will dispatch 192 carrier-based fighters, and with the support of twenty-four large tankers, thirty-six fighters sent by Digo Garcia to carry out a second round of strikes on the Western Indian Ocean Fleet.

Two rounds of high-intensity strikes are enough to ensure the killing of the West Indian Ocean Fleet.

If necessary, the U.S. military can also use strategic bombers deployed in Australia to launch a third strike against the Western Indian Ocean Fleet.

The purpose of the US military's combat is very clear: to kill this fish that misses the net.

Unfortunately, until this time, Zhang Yuting was still in the dark and did not know that the danger was approaching.

This cannot be blamed on Zhang Yuting, because without knowing that the fleet has been exposed, he cannot allow early warning aircraft to search for the surrounding airspace in an active mode.

If someone needs to be responsible, it should be Mother Qi Tie, not Zhang Yuting.

The reason is simple. The Air Force should send eight large early warning aircraft to India on the morning of the 22nd and arrange four of them to take turns to provide air defense cover for the West Indian Ocean Fleet. However, by that night, there were only two large early warning aircraft arriving in India, and all were in the direction of the Bay of Bengal. According to the deployment of the mother Qi Tie, these two large early warning aircraft will fly to Yuelong Airport to monitor the northwest region of Australia. The six early warning aircraft that should have been deployed more than ten hours ago are still at home at this time.

In fact, we can't blame our mother Qi Tie for this.

The Air Force's primary task was to ensure local security, and there were enough reasons to believe that the United States would bomb China's strategic goal. Therefore, when deploying early warning aircraft, the mother Qi Tie first strengthened the local peripheral defense line and then considered other directions.

In terms of importance, the Indian Ocean is definitely ranked last.

It can be said that if the Air Force was deployed in place, Zhang Yuting could at least detect the approaching threat, and it would be very likely that the fleet would turn in the evening of that day and at the same time strengthen the air defense force.

It was not until after eight o'clock that Mu Haoyang sent a message that aroused Zhang Yuting's vigilance.

After the war, many people believed that Zhang Yuting should bear the main responsibility for the losses suffered by the Western Indian Ocean Fleet, mainly because on the evening of the 22nd, Mu Haoyang had issued a warning that the Fourth Fleet of the US military had entered the Indian Ocean and was likely to rush to the Arabian Sea at full speed. In this case, as a rational fleet commander, the first thing to do is to avoid contact with the US military. The correct measure is to move the fleet northward in a timely manner and enhance the fleet's air defense. If Zhang Yuting makes an accurate judgment, he should even break the radio silence and let the early warning aircraft work actively. In fact, the intelligence provided by Mu Haoyang has shown that the Western Indian Ocean Fleet may be attacked at any time.

The problem is that Zhang Yuting did not do that at that time.

Perhaps, in Zhang Yuting's opinion, the possibility of being discovered by the US military is not very high, or the Fourth Fleet is unlikely to go deep into the Arabian Sea alone. After the Third Fleet arrives, it will enter the Arabian Sea and then enter the Arabian Sea to find the Western Indian Ocean Fleet to fight the decisive battle. The Third Fleet will not reach near Digo Garcia until the afternoon of the 23rd to meet with the Fourth Fleet. Therefore, Zhang Yuting believes that there will be no great danger before this.

In fact, this was also the main reason why he decided to turn in the early morning of the 23rd.

If his judgment is correct, then on the afternoon of the 23rd, the West Indian Ocean Fleet had reached about 400 kilometers from Gwadar Port, and the Air Force was able to provide at least eighty air defense fighters, plus the fleet's fighter jets, with sufficient ability to deal with any degree of air strike.

The view that Zhang Yuting should bear the main responsibility also includes that after receiving Mu Haoyang's warning, he only sent 12 air defense fighters and two carrier-based early warning aircraft, and did not expand the air defense patrol scope, and still allowed the fighters to move within an area of ​​250 kilometers from the fleet.

Judging from the situation at that time, Zhang Yuting must be worried that expanding the air defense patrol scope would expose the fleet's whereabouts.

You should know that the patrol range of air defense fighter jets has been expanded to 600 kilometers, and the patrol range of early warning aircraft is only 450 kilometers, and the probability of fleet exposure will be increased by more than four times.

At this time, the fighter jets of the US Fourth Fleet had already begun to take off.

Among the 216 fighter jets carrying anti-ship missiles, 120 are responsible for consuming the air defense power of the West Indian Ocean Fleet, and the other ninety-six are carrying anti-ship guided bombs, responsible for attacking the West Indian Ocean Fleet. Because the attack distance is less than 1,500 kilometers, there is no need for US fighter jets to take off with full oil, and can carry a small amount of air-to-air ammunition while carrying attack ammunition.

Of course, as a tactical attack, you must first obtain tactical intelligence.

To this end, forty-eight F-44cs that took off from Digo Garcia Air Force Base have been flying forward, while the early warning aircraft that had previously detected the West Indian Ocean Fleet were accompanied by escort fighter activities. In addition to commanding escort fighter operations, they are also responsible for determining the accurate position of the West Indian Ocean Fleet.

At 8:35, the carrier-based early warning aircraft sent by Zhang Yuting finally discovered the approaching US military aircraft fleet.

The first thing the early warning aircraft detected was the US military's large early warning aircraft. Although the aviation combat commander did not immediately issue an order, the captain of the early warning aircraft still adjusted the radar's working mode very promptly, accurately measured the flight data of the US military early warning aircraft, and then determined that the US military early warning aircraft was approaching.

However, at this time, the early warning aircraft did not detect US fighter jets.

After receiving the news, Zhang Yuting hesitated for a few minutes before ordering the on-site fighter plane to be launched.

Based on the situation at that time, Zhang Yuting must have known that the fleet had been exposed. However, in his opinion, the US early warning aircraft should have just discovered the fleet for a while, so the US military needs at least one hour to complete the attack preparations, so he has enough time to enhance the fleet's air defense power.

More importantly, at this time, Zhang Yuting still did not break the radio silence.

That is to say, he did not ask for help from the air force deployed in India.

Perhaps, in Zhang Yuting's view, the Western Indian Ocean Fleet has enough ability to withstand the attacks from the Fourth Fleet.

In fact, the West Indian Ocean Fleet did it.

At 8:40, the US early warning aircraft detected the Western Indian Ocean fleet 450 kilometers away. However, the accompanying US fighter jets did not immediately come forward, and were not discovered by the carrier-based early warning aircraft. According to the US military's tactics, the escort fighter jets would enter before the fleet responsible for close-range attacks, rather than covering the fleet carrying anti-ship missiles. This shows that the US commander is very confident.

Of course, this is also related to the failure of the Western Indian Ocean Fleet to expand its air defense scope in time.

If in the evening, Zhang Yuting expanded the fleet's air defense range to 600 kilometers, exceeding the maximum range of US light anti-ship missiles, then the US military must use escort fighter jets in advance, which may expose its tactical intentions, and the US military aircraft group that performs peripheral attack missions will also be obstructed.

Unfortunately, Zhang Yuting did not do so.

At 8:50, 120 US fighter jets launched anti-ship missiles within an area of ​​500 to 550 kilometers from the West Indian Ocean Fleet.

One hundred and twenty fighter jets fired a total of 480 anti-ship missiles.

Although such an attack is not enough to kill the West Indian Ocean Fleet and will not even pose a serious threat, it is enough to consume the air defense firepower of the West Indian Ocean Fleet.

You should know that both fighter jets and warships have very limited air ammunition.

At this time, forty-eight F-44cs increased their flight speed and began to open the way for the ninety-six carrier-based fighters following behind. At the same time, they also drove away air defense fighters over the Western Indian Ocean Fleet, preventing air defense fighters from intercepting approaching anti-ship missiles.

Three minutes later, the carrier-based early warning aircraft detected the approaching anti-ship missile.

However, the carrier-based early warning aircraft also detected the approaching US fighter jets.

The air defense operation was launched immediately, and more than 40 J-32s that had already taken off the air all faced the approaching US fighter jets, and the task of intercepting anti-ship missiles was handed over to the air defense warships.

This tactical arrangement is not a big problem, because when the carrier-based early warning aircraft detects the target, the anti-ship missile group is less than 200 kilometers away from the fleet, and the maximum interception range of the fleet's regional air defense system exceeds 250 kilometers. Using fighters to intercept anti-ship missiles will only interfere with anti-missile and air defense operations. More importantly, no one knew at that time that the more than 40 US fighters were escort fighters. If these fighters carried anti-ship guided bombs, then they had to use air defense fighters to intercept them.

Fortunately, the light anti-ship missile used by the US military flew at subsonic speed during the cruise phase.

As a result, the anti-missile operation did not start immediately, but was delayed by five minutes. During this period, the two aircraft carriers each sent twelve j-32s.

It was not until 8:58 that the anti-missile operations began.

The interception operation was very smooth. The single shot hit rate of regional air defense missiles was nearly 100%. Even if there were fish that leaked the net, they would be intercepted by medium-range air defense missiles, and a very small number of anti-ship missiles that could approach warships had no chance to break through the last interception system.

It must be admitted that the Chinese fleet's air defense capabilities are extraordinary, especially the terminal anti-missile interception capabilities.

In less than two minutes of battle, all 480 anti-ship missiles were shot down.

But, this is by no means a real threat.
Chapter completed!