Chapter 98

Hey, you bastards, I finally see you for who you are.

Chen Fei sat in the cockpit, a bit flustered.

Apart from video games, he had never really taken off on his own!

He saw the turboprop engine of the nearby No. 212 start up, and the short-haired girl in the front seat gestured to him, pointing firmly outside the hangar.

Damn it, he had to tough it out.

Step one, fasten the seatbelt.

Step two, put on the helmet.

Step three, open the communication channel.

"Rookie, are you ready?"

As soon as the connection was made, he heard the voice of Yelena Rukhina.

A jet roared past on the main runway, lifting its nose and piercing the sky.

Chikov the Bear had taken off first, leaving the entire "True Fragrance" squadron behind!

The other A-39B "Big Mouth" light turboprop attack aircraft followed closely, racing onto the runway and taking off one after another, vying for air superiority over the 911 Air Base.

"I'm ready."

Chen Fei started the engine, and the turboprop at the front of the aircraft began to spin rapidly, the vibrations quickly stabilizing.

The PT6A series turboprop engine, which had been continuously optimized over several decades, was a highly mature and reliable general-purpose engine with few weaknesses, fuel-efficient, high output, and stable performance.

The five blades stirred the air at high speed, generating enough thrust to easily move the 3.5-ton fully loaded aircraft.

The control tower's communication had not been restored, but someone was holding a large whiteboard near the turboprop, signaling to the pilot in the cockpit.

Direction 253 (slightly south of west)

Distance 65 kilometers

Altitude 8,800 meters

Quantity 18

Speed 0.4 Mach

Identified as A-39B "Big Mouth"

Friendly identification code: 911-33585#

"Hurry up and catch up, I'll keep an eye on you, be a bit bolder."

With the voice of Deputy Squadron Leader "Devil Pepper" Yelena Rukhina, No. 212 slid out of the hangar, picking up speed.

On the main runway, the turboprop's wingtip beacon lights, one red and one green, flashed as it soared into the night sky.

"Damn it, let's do this!"

Chen Fei gritted his teeth, increased the throttle output, and controlled the "Big Mouth" to slide forward slowly.

Worst case, he would have to make a hard landing again, but at least this time he had a parachute, so it wouldn't be as bad.

Since confirming his invulnerability, his courage had grown significantly, and he was no longer the timid kid he was a month ago.

This place, the 911 Air Base, was toxic!

Fortunately, the ground crew knew he was a true rookie and guided him throughout the process, with whiteboards providing written instructions. No. 211 "Big Mouth" slowly slid into the takeoff area of the main runway, the last one, with no need to worry about other fighters rushing him.

Chen Fei didn't dare to go fast, fearing a slight mistake would send him crashing into the grass, which would be a big problem.

Battle damage and self-inflicted damage were two different things, and he couldn't afford to lose a "Big Mouth."

Especially at this critical moment, damaging one before the fight even started would likely have Manager Hana hanging him up and beating him to death.

Aligning the nose, he slowly pushed the throttle to maximum, the strong pushback pressing him firmly into his seat. The speedometer began to read: 30 km/h, 60 km/h, 80 km/h, 120 km/h, 170 km/h, 230 km/h, 300 km/h... pull the stick!

The level indicator began to tilt, and the altimeter reading climbed rapidly. After a slight sigh of relief, Chen Fei finally caught sight of the other five "Big Mouths" circling above the 911 Air Base, waiting for him.

"Good, rookie, keep climbing, we're following you!"

"Devil Pepper" Yelena Rukhina's voice came through, full of encouragement.

Although the takeoff was a bit sluggish and not as crisp as it should be, it was at least a successful takeoff.

"How high are you? Where's the squadron leader?"

Chen Fei kept the control stick pulled back, maintaining a large-radius, high-angle climb for No. 211 "Big Mouth," prioritizing safety.

He glanced down at the ground, where the few lights in the 911 Air Base dimmed and went dark.

After the combat pilots took off, the entire base entered a blackout, and all ground personnel prepared for air defense.

"First climb to 9,100 meters, don't worry about 'Caviar,' he's going solo!"

Yelena Rukhina responded while controlling her No. 212 to follow closely behind Chen Fei's No. 211.

Except for No. 215, the other four "Big Mouths" followed her No. 212.

Before gaining sufficient altitude advantage, they would not engage the enemy directly.

"This is No. 215, the enemy has split up. The first group is at direction 210, altitude 7,500 meters, distance 40 kilometers. The second group is at direction 290, altitude 8,000 meters, distance 45 kilometers."

No. 215, equipped with an electronic reconnaissance pod, took off after refueling and rearming, providing timely battlefield intelligence to the other fighters.

Through the battlefield data link, each "Big Mouth" could confirm the positions, speeds, and altitudes of both friendly and enemy forces.

The EMP that caused widespread communication disruption created a large area of communication failure, allowing the enemy aircraft to remain unaware of the 911 Air Base's air power, which was rapidly gaining altitude.

A bright flash in the distance illuminated half the night sky.

"Devil Pepper" Yelena Rukhina exclaimed, "Caviar has succeeded."

Despite the enemy's overwhelming numerical advantage, three times the strength of the "True Fragrance" squadron, the battle in the sky was not determined by numbers alone. High-speed, high-maneuverability could offset numerical disadvantages, and as long as there were no mistakes, the "Big Mouths" fully loaded with ammunition could teach the enemy a lesson.

Another bright flash, and various sizes of fireballs slowly fell to the ground.

Despite the good high-altitude weather, thin clouds, and bright moonlight, it was still hard to see clearly.

A group of enemy "Big Mouths" heading towards the 911 Air Base was caught off guard by the MiG-28, suffering a significant loss.

Although Chikov the Bear's character was questionable, his professional skills were outstanding, which is why he was a squadron leader respected by every pilot.

Two of the enemy "Big Mouths" were immediately knocked out, and the MiG-28, without lingering, struck and left, the sky echoing with the sound of thunder.

The turboprops could not catch up with the supersonic jets, and the group of "Big Mouths" scattered, losing formation.

The enemy had not expected the 911 Air Base to still be able to organize air power after being attacked by the elite team of the Maiman Brothers United Defense Consortium, catching them off guard.

The 909 Air Base and the military contractors had heard that the Maiman Brothers had sent a mid-level warrior, a low-level mage, and two E-level or higher psychics, along with a team equipped with optical stealth gear, to attack the 911 Air Base, a force that even the 909 Air Base could not resist.

"Now at 9,100 meters, guidance complete, distance 21 kilometers, about to enter visual range, lock on target!"

The temporary early warning aircraft No. 215 fulfilled its tactical duties, with Squadron Leader Chikov handling one group of enemy aircraft, and their six "Big Mouths" handling the other.

Although it was not a true early warning aircraft, with the electronic reconnaissance pod, it gained some relatively simple functions, such as guiding firepower, multiple target locking, and battlefield dynamic trajectory collection, sharing this information through the battlefield data link with other fighters.

"Devil Pepper" Yelena Rukhina shouted over the communication channel, "Aim at your targets, FOX1, three, two, one, launch!"

After completing the climb, Chen Fei, now in the wingman position, pressed the launch button along with the other pilots.

The aircraft shook as two programmable air-to-air missiles detached from their mounting points, their tails spewing intense flames, propelling them forward. The multi-mode guidance head could be set to FOX-1 (semi-automatic radar guidance), FOX-2 (infrared guidance), FOX-3 (fully automatic radar guidance), or FOX-L (laser guidance) before launch.

Squadron Leader Chikov was now a mysterious free agent, and the short-haired deputy squadron leader became the tactical commander for the "True Fragrance" turboprop formation.

"Everyone disengage, heading 360, altitude 7,000!"

With the early warning aircraft No. 215 in place, the tactics became straightforward.

After launching the missiles, they quickly moved to a new position to prepare for the second attack wave.

This kind of battle was all about striking first; the one who struck second would suffer.

Two rounds of air-to-air missiles would take out at least half of the enemy "Big Mouth" formation.

Turboprops couldn't catch up with jets, let alone missiles, so the hit rate of the incoming missiles would be terrifyingly high.

When the enemy detected the missile lock-on signal, the tail flames and trails were already visible, and the nine enemy "Big Mouths" immediately panicked, releasing air-to-air missiles without locking on.

Unfortunately, the "True Fragrance" "Big Mouths" had already taken the opportunity to escape, making this counterattack ineffective.

As for the 215, still guiding with the electronic reconnaissance pod: come at us.

In a sense, the early warning aircraft was like a small EMP, good for nothing but causing trouble.

The incoming missiles quickly became disoriented, flying around aimlessly like headless flies, then running out of fuel and exploding in the high altitude.

As expected, one of the two turboprop formations from the 909 Air Base was hit by the first wave of missiles, losing four aircraft, and the second wave took out two more.

The nine enemy "Big Mouths" were decimated without even seeing their attackers.