1615. Deadly Swarm
The fleets on both sides were moving extremely fast, and the fighter jets they took off were even faster.
When the battleships on both sides were 1 light minute apart, countless fighter jets were already strangled together!
At this time, the fighter pilots of Galactic Republic saw clearly what enemy they were facing!
It was an overwhelming dark cloud!
Countless small drones swarmed in like a swarm of bees, so densely packed that there was almost no gap! But when the anti-aircraft fire hit them, these drones were able to dodge immediately, as if a hole suddenly appeared in the dark clouds in the direction of the anti-aircraft fire.
Seeing such a scene, everyone from Galactic Republic to Commander at all levels, including Gideon-Tarkin, were speechless. Because actions like this illustrate the outstanding Flight Control System of these drones!
You know, the reason why these drones are able to avoid anti-aircraft fire is because their mother ship provides them with the turret steering data of Republic fleet.
This is a very huge project, because there are thousands of turrets in the entire Republic fleet, and these turrets are constantly rotating, and the warships are also constantly moving. To avoid shooting, you must determine that the steering angle of one of the turrets is a threat to your own drone, and then communicate the shooting angle to the drones along the way, and then start to avoid it.
Even evasion is not a simple matter of evasion. Otherwise, with such a large number of drones and such a dense barrage of anti-aircraft fire, once you evade in the wrong direction, you will undoubtedly end up being blown to pieces.
So before this, almost all drones used artificial intelligence to deal with this problem themselves. To put it bluntly, they turned drones into robots. This is the origin of the category Vulture droid fighter.
However, due to the limited carrying capacity of fighter jets, the artificial intelligence equipped on them is often unable to handle these problems. Therefore, the performance of these robot fighters on the battlefield is very rigid. In contrast, Galactic Republic uses a pilot + navigation robot model, which is the most scientific model. The combination of intelligent creatures' on-the-fly decision-making and artificial intelligence's data processing combines the combat power displayed to crush all robot fighters.
Later improved models including Fourth Civilization and Wraith fighter also referred to this model. It's just that the scientists at Fourth Civilization did not separate the navigation robot, but integrated it into the electronic system of the fighter jet, which is equivalent to giving the fighter jet two sets of control systems.
In this way, Wraith fighter can continue to fight against Galactic Republic's fighters.
War is actually a process in which warring parties learn from each other, understand each other, and then kill each other. Fourth Civilization and Galactic Republic, unknowingly, each other's technological research and development has been influenced by the other.
However, now, what is displayed in front of Galactic Republic Navy Commander is the flexible flying attitude of these tens of thousands of drones, which is not only flexible, but also scientific. This is an avoidance strategy based on unified planning and consideration of tens of thousands of individuals!
A simple evasive action had already thrown away Galactic Republic's own Flight Control System for at least ten years!
And such actions were actually made by countless tiny drones!
The size of these drones is no more than two meters, even smaller than a taller person, and the main body of the drone is the engine installed on both sides. There is a gun barrel in the center which is also the only weapon. This gun barrel is very large compared to the drone. Overall, this drone looks like a telescope.
And they are really small!
Flying in space with such a size, if you don't pay attention, you may not be able to see it even if it flies in front of the fighter pilots.
"Are there any results from the scan? What model of drone is this?" Gideon-Tarkin turned around and asked.
"General! It's been scanned. This is indeed a drone, but from a structural point of view, it is very unscientific... The engine occupies too much space, and the space reserved for the central processor and weapon system is very small. Do such drones really have combat effectiveness?" The radar soldier said doubtfully, "In addition, these drones have shield reactions, indicating that they have shield systems. This is impossible! How can such a small drone fit so many systems?"
"Let the third batch of fighter jets be ready for battle. If the situation goes wrong, take off immediately!" Gideon-Tarkin stared at the holographic screen and said in a deep voice.
As he spoke, he saw those swarm-like drones suddenly starting to accelerate. Their speed had not reached the limit just now! These drones accelerated again in a short period of time and have already reached the center of Republic fighter squadron!
Then, it's a nightmare!
I only saw countless Swarm Droness passing by at extremely fast speeds. Such speed and flexibility made the Galactic Republic fighter pilots completely unable to react! Then, at the moment when the two sides were separated, a plasma ray was instantly fired from the barrel of Swarm Drones.
This beam of plasma rays directly caused violent ripples on the fighter's shield, and the pilot's cockpit immediately started to alarm! Before he could react, the second and third drones attacked, hitting him directly with three consecutive plasma rays!
The V-wing fighter's shield was suddenly overloaded, and the pilot woke up from a dream and hurriedly turned to evacuate. However, the V-Wing, which is known for its flexibility, was unable to get rid of these drones. The three drones had already completed the turn and flew over again. They were still swaying and evading during the flight, making it impossible for Fire Control Radar of other fighter jets to aim.
Three plasma rays directly penetrated the cockpit of this V-wing fighter!
More than 20,000 Swarm Drones ruthlessly tore apart Republic fighter squadron's formation, and then relied on their absolute numerical advantage to strangle them!
These Swarm Droness are surprisingly fast, their firepower is unexpectedly ferocious, and under the control of the very advanced Flight Control Systems, their combat operations are also surprisingly flexible.
Almost as soon as the battle began, hundreds of Galactic Republic fighter jets were shot down!
"Retreat quickly! Retreat! Ah..."
"Can't aim! I can't aim! They're everywhere!!"
"This is Firestrike Three, I can't catch them! The target is lost!"
"Firestrike Three! Behind you! Behind you!"
"They have shields! They can't be defeated! They can't be defeated!"
The pilots' communications were filled with all kinds of desperate noises. Facing this opponent they had never seen or experienced before, the elite pilots of Galactic Republic were at a loss what to do.
Swarm Drones are extremely numerous, and despite their small size, they possess extremely strong firepower. The cannon barrel installed on the drone is even a bit uncoordinated. The plasma rays fired from it can destroy V-wing fighter's shield in just two or three rounds, and it only takes one round to penetrate their fighter armor!
Moreover, these drones have their own shield system. Although the shield is not very powerful, it can almost withstand a single shot from V-wing fighter. But V-wing fighter often doesn't get a second chance to fire. Either it is destroyed or Swarm Drones runs away directly.
The most terrifying thing about these Swarm Drones is their speed!
Just by looking at the engines on both sides of these drones, which occupy almost two-thirds of the volume, you can tell that they are designed primarily for speed. When these drones are flying at full speed, the acceleration can even be close to 400G! This is a terrifying speed that the Galactic Republic pilot cannot achieve even with the most advanced Decompression Protection Device!
At this speed, V-wing fighter simply couldn't catch up with the opponent. Fight or run, everything is controlled by Swarm Drones! Even if Concussion Missile is launched, the drone locked by the missile can escape quickly, creating opportunities for other drones to intercept the missile!
Such a result would be a nightmare!
"No! Our fighter jets are no match at all! Retreat! Let them withdraw!" On the bridge of the Galactic Republic flagship, the adjutant saw the fierce battle and no longer cared about the relationship between superiors and subordinates. He directly overstepped his authority and began to issue orders.
Gideon-Tarkin stood there with a livid face. He did not stop his adjutant's action, which could be directly sent to a military court. He acquiesced.
Because of the massacre that happened in front of him, he himself was a little frightened. But as Fleet's Highest Commander, he can't show it.
"All fighter formations retreat! Return to the inner air defense network of the fleet and do not attack rashly! The third wave of fighter jets will take off immediately to cover their retreat!" Gideon-Tarkin finally issued the order.
More V-wing fighter took off and began to cover the fighter formations that had suffered a complete defeat in the previous battle.
At this time, under the command of Matt-Hona, Duchy of Dawn's fleet did not give the opponent a chance to breathe. They began to continue to close the distance. At a distance of about 1 light minute, the hit rate of Calamity-class battlecruiser's Particle Beam Lance had reached a terrifying level!
Republic warship was constantly hit by Particle Beam Lance, and they could only keep moving quickly. As a result, the fleet's formation was constantly disrupted, and the tight defensive formation previously deployed by Gideon-Tarkin was quickly pulled apart!
After Republic fighter squadron suffered a loss of more than 700 aircraft, it finally returned to Air Defense Circle in its own fleet. But it's not over yet, Swarm Drones keeps chasing and is already swarming! Tens of thousands of Swarm Drones began to attack Republic fleet!
I only saw one Hunter Class Battlecruiser being targeted by thousands of drones. The battleship was almost completely enveloped by the light emitted by countless plasma rays. If you look at it with the naked eye, even the battleship itself cannot be seen clearly under the glare of the rays!
The close-in defense artillery fire on Hunter Class Battlecruiser continued to fire, but with little effect.
As soon as these Swarm Drones are hit, they will immediately start to withdraw with full power, and more drones will immediately come to fill the vacancy, giving Galactic Republic's anti-aircraft firepower no chance to effectively destroy it!
In fact, except for being hit by heavier firepower or missiles, ordinary close-range firepower cannot destroy Swarm Drones in one blow!
Almost at the beginning of the battle, Gideon-Tarkin was in a desperate situation!
He never thought that his fighter formation would be defeated so quickly! In this way, all his strategic and tactical arrangements were broken!
Galactic Republic has always been proud of that large and extremely elite fighter group. Countless flight academies throughout Inner Rim of the galaxy and Core Worlds provided the military with countless outstanding pilots. After Rusan Reforms, the construction and research and development of large warships were restricted. On the contrary, the field of fighter pilots became a branch of arms that maintained a high level during that period.
Therefore, Willix-Blythex, who were still working at Kuat Drive Yards at the time, fully considered this advantage of Galactic Republic when designing Hunter Class Battlecruiser, so they made Hunter Class into an aviation battleship, which could actually fit 400 carrier-based aircraft!
So after Hunter Class became the most important battleship of Galactic Republic Navy, it was accompanied by tens of thousands of outstanding pilots almost every time it was dispatched.
These pilots take off in groups to fight. In many cases, their number can even be compared with Vulture droid fighter of Confederacy of Independent Systems.
These large and elite fighter groups have always been the magic weapon for Galactic Republic to win. Even in every previous battle between Fourth Civilization and Galactic Republic, even though the combat performance of Wraith fighter with a stealth system was much higher than Galactic Republic's V-19 Torrent light fighter at that time, it basically could not gain air superiority.
It is because the number of pilots on both sides is at least ten times different in every battle!
Fourth Civilization will bring a large amount of Garda Flak Frigate with him in every battle, and Shriken Class/Stilat Class frigate, who just retired from the front-line combat troops, are also full-time To fight against Galactic Republic's fighter jets, Kohl-class Battlecruiser installed a large number of anti-aircraft artillery batteries. The reason why so many means were used was precisely because of Galactic Republic's powerful fighter force.
Now, with the entry of V-wing fighter into service, Galactic Republic originally planned to further expand its advantages through this excellent-performance fighter.
But no one could have imagined the result like this!!
Gideon-Tarkin took off two waves of fighter jets, more than 2,600 fighter jets, and more than 1,500 of them were the most advanced V-wing fighter. Such power can easily destroy tens of thousands of Vulture droid fighter!
However, the result was the defeat of Galaxy Republic fighter squadron!
In front of that tiny Swarm Drones, the proud fighter formation of Galactic Republic was almost helpless. Less than half an hour after the battle began, it suffered heavy losses and had to retreat.
In this way, the Gideon-Tarkin fleet can only directly face the tens of thousands of Swarm Drones!