Engaging the Enemy

Click. The optical sensor of a military satellite in space zoomed in, watching this battle in the Western Pacific that no one had planned for.

Inside the Great East's intelligence integration center, the commander stared grimly at the battlefield situation. Officers below were busy gathering intelligence from the mission area, with the War Support department assisting in coordination.

"Reporting, Commander. The latest intelligence from WJ7 shows the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group is attempting to disengage from contact with the unidentified aircraft. Analysis of optical images indicates severe damage to the flight deck, which has lost carrier aircraft launch and recovery capability."

"Electromagnetic interference in the mission area is severe, forming a zone of suppression jamming. Both our side and the US have lost electromagnetic control. WJ7 has switched to electro-optical systems to track the target."

Listening to the technician's report, the commander felt the difficulty of the situation. Losing electromagnetic control meant passivity.

"How's the 815A?"

"Contact was lost a few minutes ago. Satellite reconnaissance shows the 815 hasn't lost power and is still trying to withdraw from the combat zone. Inferred damage to the laser communication system."

"Where are our Flying Sharks?" the commander asked in a low voice.

"They've entered the mission area."

The commander's gaze fell on four bright points on the battlefield situation map, marked with the Flying Shark's model, serial numbers, and pilot call signs. Under his watch, the Flying Sharks slowly flew into the mission area.

[Time: 40 minutes after the 815A was attacked.] [Location: Western Pacific] [Four J-15S aircraft have arrived in the mission area (100,000 square kilometers).]

Four J-15S in radio silence jettisoned their external fuel tanks. Internal fuel began feeding the engines. Zhang Peng glanced at the fuel gauge, then focused on maneuvering his fighter to seize an advantageous firing position.

Even with the WJ7 ahead acting as an AWACS, the jamming from onboard radars made the battlefield complex.

Beep, beep, beep!

The phased array radar searched for the three aircraft that had attacked the 815A in Track-While-Scan (TWS) mode. However, severe clutter interference in the battlefield made the radar returns unstable, preventing effective target tracking.

[Increase main lobe gain.]

Liu Jun, serving as both weapon systems officer and radar officer, manipulated the avionics to boost the main lobe gain. The radar could only vaguely lock onto three targets.

"Master, the radar can't lock the target or establish stable tracking." Liu Jun adjusted the radar repeatedly, still suppressed by the jamming. "Can we get the 815A to relay guidance?"

"No. The 815A has dropped the data link, and the communication channel is jammed. Can't reach them." Zhang Peng briefly explained the battlefield situation.

Even if they launched PL12s, the missiles would need relay or the carrier aircraft's radar guidance until the active radar seeker's activation range, after which the missile could find and hit the target on its own.

Now, with severe radar interference preventing guidance and the enemy at low altitude, the PL12's hit probability would be very low under these conditions.

"Xiao Jun, prepare to launch two PL12s."

Zhang Peng looked at the command sent through the data link. Obviously, they couldn't just not fire because they might miss.

"Understood!"

The seeker powered up and preheated. Data (firing parameters) was input into the missile, "telling" it the target's speed, heading, and other information.

The weapon safety was disengaged. The fighter's flight and fire control system automatically maneuvered the J-15S into the optimal firing attitude.

[Launch 3 (Active Radar Missiles)!]

Pressing the button on the control stick, the solid rocket engines of the two PL12s on the wing pylons ignited. A thunderous roar echoed through the air, propelling the PL12s forward. They connected to the J-15S via data link, guiding them toward the sea area where the 815A was located.

The other three J-15S also launched their PL12s simultaneously, but only aircraft [139] had its radar active, guiding the multiple missiles.

After launch, the data link showed the flight path of all eight PL12s. Attacking from high altitude against low-altitude targets, they held an absolute energy advantage. Accelerated by gravity, the missiles grew faster and faster. Soon, after leaving the powered phase, they entered the inertial phase at Mach 3, and their speed continued to increase.

Liu Jun stared intently at the LCD screen in front of him, feeling a bit nervous. He was now guiding eight PL12s! It felt like a fresh college graduate commanding an entire division's artillery.

However, as the eight PL12s gradually approached the area with the densest electromagnetic clutter in the battlefield, the missile seekers began to suffer interference. With unstable returns, the missiles entered inertial flight, heading toward the predicted intercept point based on the radar's last captured target position, without altering their flight path.

This feeling of being electromagnetically suppressed put pressure on the pilots. They understood clearly how passive it was to fight under such conditions. Fortunately, the enemy didn't seem to have missiles.

On the J-15S's LCD screen, the data link connection with the eight PL12s was lost. Liu Jun frowned.

In modern warfare, both the spear and the shield constantly evolve.

Since the AIM-9B appeared on the battlefield, countermeasures like flares—creating heat sources to deceive missile seekers—emerged. In response to flares, seeker anti-jamming capabilities were developed.

The two sides spiraled upward, from blinding mechanisms to narrowing fields of view, or both. Missiles became sharper. After planar imaging technology emerged, flares could no longer deceive missile seekers. The problem then became how to prevent enemy infrared missiles from entering range. The safest way to deal with missiles was to stay outside their range.

The development of radar-guided missiles followed the same pattern. If you could jam the enemy's missile seeker so it couldn't find its target, you could successfully evade their missiles. Electronic jamming was designed precisely to interfere with radar missile seekers.

At this moment, the eight PL12s diving toward the low-altitude targets entered their own seeker activation range. However, compared to the carrier aircraft's powerful phased array radar, the PL12's seeker had a smaller search range and lower power.

Power affects signal strength. As the missiles came crashing down from high altitude like the Buddha's palm onto the three unidentified aircraft, their seekers entered the zone of highest electromagnetic interference intensity.

Instantly, the seeker returns became chaotic. Where there were only three targets, the electromagnetic interference multiplied them. At the same time, because the enemy was flying almost flush against the sea surface, the seekers suffered from multipath clutter interference. Unable to accurately identify the target, the missile seekers commanded the missiles into inertial flight.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The explosions of the PL12 warheads erupted continuously around the 815A, but none hit any of the unidentified aircraft attacking it. Several missiles plunged into the sea. Their self-destruct systems activated, sending water columns blasting up from the surface.

Soon, damage assessment was sent back to the combat command center via the WJ7. Seeing the PL12 missiles had no effect, the commander was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice:

"Order the four-aircraft formation to descend altitude and engage the enemy at close range!"