Although he didn't want to give up, Stark did not lose his mind.

The most important thing at the moment is actually to find the 41st special mixed fleet, at least you have to determine the whereabouts of the fleet, even if it is only in its location.

After the 53rd Special Mixed Fleet was wiped out, the 41st Special Mixed Fleet seemed to have evaporated.

A few days ago, the CIA-controlled reconnaissance satellite searched the waters near Yoton Island several times, but no trace of the 41st Special Mixed Fleet was found.

There is no clue at all.

It's been 4 days!

In theory, the 41st Special Mix Fleet can appear in any water where the 51st Special Mix Fleet can attack the 51st Special Mix Fleet at the fastest.

Where did the 41st special fleet go?

There is no problem staying hidden, the commander will definitely keep the fleet hidden.

But the problem is that the battle on the Transit Island has entered a white-hot stage, and it can even be said to be at the most critical moment. Can Bai Huawei ignore it?

This is obviously impossible.

Even if Bai Huawei was worried about insufficient troops and was unwilling to fight the Newland Fleet in decisive battle, he should make adjustments after the 61st Special Mixed Fleet arrived.

What to say is also his characteristic.

The reality is that the 41st Special Mixed Fleet is still hidden, even the 61st Special Mixed Fleet is more than 1,000 kilometers away from the transit island.

Is that the sixty-first special fleet? There is still something to say.

Being so cautious must have something else to do.

This is also what Stark is most worried about.

Even though Bai Huawei's ability is not as powerful as he boasts, he is also an excellent fleet commander and an opponent that cannot be underestimated.

So, where is the 41st special fleet?

Seeing the communications consultant strode towards him, Stark put down the coffee cup in his hand.

"I just received it, it has been confirmed."

After receiving the message handed over by the communications officer, Stark locked his eyebrows in just one glance.

Although sent by the Pentagon has no direct relationship with the Navy and is an operational operation of the Air Force to bomb the Hovay Islands, for Stark, this is an extremely important and decisive telegram. In fact, Stark has been waiting for this telegram.

Since the night of the 10th, the Air Force has not bombed the Hovay Islands at night for three consecutive days.

Starting from the 10th, Liang Xia’s Air Force mobilized hundreds of large strategic transport aircraft and launched a strategic air operation code-named “Night Express”.

It can be seen from the code name that it mainly takes place at night.

On the first night, Liang Xia's Air Force dispatched nearly 500 strategic transport aircraft and airlifted about 40,000 tons of equipment and supplies to the Hovayi Islands, and also picked up tens of thousands of wounded and family members of the army on the return journey. This move greatly encouraged the fighting spirit of the defenders and enhanced the combat effectiveness of the defenders. Just the equipment and materials transported by airlifts can repair hundreds of combat aircraft and restore the combat effectiveness of the aviation force.

On the night of the 11th, the scale of air freight increased by 1,200 transport aircraft were dispatched to transport about 100,000 tons of supplies to the Hovayi Islands. If the quantity of "Yun-10A" was not insufficient, the much smaller "Yun-11" could only be used to replace it, otherwise more supplies could be transported.

Because there are too many transport aircraft dispatched and they cannot all land, some materials are airdropped.

It wasn't until this morning that Stark received the exact news.

Most of these transport aircraft took off from Liangxia, or the North-South Sadou Islands, and carried out aerial refueling near the Nordic Islands and Wei Islands, and conducted a second aerial refueling during the return journey before they could fly directly to the Hovay Islands and then return to Liangxia.

The key is that the preparations made by Liang Xia Air Force in the Northern Horse Islands, Guandao and Wei Island were actually serving strategic air transport.

While marveling, Stark was also angry.

This incident indirectly illustrates a problem. The previous actions of Liang Xia's army, such as sending strategic bombers to the Newland army landed on the transit island, were actually trying to attack the east and the west, forcing the Newland fleet to strengthen its investment in the transit island, thus neglecting the transport fleet that detoured from the south.

Those transport planes flew through the south of the transit island while Stark arranged for fighters to intercept bombers.

Although, even though Stark knew that Liang Xia's Air Force had dispatched hundreds of strategic transport aircraft, he would not lead the fleet south, he would definitely ask the Air Force to take action, such as focusing on bombing airports on the eastern islands of the Hovay Islands at night that could provide large transport aircraft with takeoff and landing.

Those are large aircraft with a weight of more than 200 tons or even more than 350 tons. The landing taxi distance at full load is between 2,000 meters and 2,500 meters, and the take-off taxi distance is also above 2,000 meters, and it is impossible to take off and land at unpaved field airports.

On the islands in the eastern Hovay Islands, only a handful of airports can allow strategic transport aircraft to take off and land.

As long as these airports are destroyed, the strategic air transport of Liang Xia's army can be crushed.

In fact, the Newland Air Force focused on bombing these airports before, but Liang Xia's army had strong support capabilities. It repaired the bombed runway in just a few days, reaching the standard that could barely allow strategic transport aircraft to take off and land, and this round of strategic air transport was achieved.

If action is taken in time, even if there is no time to stop the air movement on the 10th night, Liang Xia’s Air Force will suffer the next night.

Unfortunately, the Newland Air Force did not take any action.

Of course, the responsibility lies with the Air Force.

In order to cover up strategic air operations, Liang Xia Navy's shore-based aviation launched a tactical counterattack on the night of the 10th and sent fighters to intercept all Newland aircraft trying to approach the Hovay Islands.

Interestingly, the Newland Air Force did not alert!

At that time, even Stark didn't think there was anything to care about.

In his opinion, Liang Xia's Air Force's move was actually a desperate struggle, trying to attract the Newland fleet through counterattacks in the eastern part of the archipelago, so that the Air Force bombers can launch an assault at night, bomb the Newland army on the transit island, and give the troops guarding the transit island a chance to breathe.

The key point is that no one knew at that time that Liang Xia’s Air Force’s true intention was to carry out strategic air transport.

In addition, after the battle to attack the transit island began, the Newland Air Force rarely dispatched bombers at night to strike islands in the eastern part of the archipelago with cruise missiles.

The reason is also very simple, the cruise missiles are about to run out!

The only remaining inventory must be used in the direction of the transit island or to bomb military bases on nearby islands.

As far as Stark knows, there are about 1,000 air-launched cruise missiles left in the Air Force's warehouse, which cannot even guarantee a battle-level attack.

The result is that starting from the 7th, the islands in the eastern part of the archipelago were bombed, mainly using medium- and short-range air-to-ground missiles.

In some cases, iron shell bombs were used, such as bombing the northwest of Honu Island. The beach campground suspected to be the Liangxia Marine Corps barracks was a 40 B-52H dropping 1,000 tons of 500-pound high-explosive bombs, and carpet-type bombing turned the entire beach into a sea of ​​fire. Afterwards, I found out that it was indeed a beach campground, and it had been closed long ago, and the 1,000 tons of bombs were thrown in vain.

Using short-range missiles or iron shell bombs, bombing operations are usually arranged during the day.

This is why, after being intercepted by Liang Xia fighter jets, the Newland Air Force canceled the night operation of the 10th day and even retreated the reconnaissance planes.

On the night of the 11th, Liang Xia Navy did the same.

Because there is really no need to take risks, the Newland Air Force did not dispatch for three consecutive nights, and even called it a good night's sleep for the front line troops.

The problem is here.

During these three nights, the Newland Air Force did not dispatch reconnaissance planes!

That is to say, there are about 10 hours of windows every day.

In these 10 hours, the fleet can sail more than 500 kilometers, and even according to the speed of 25 knots that a slower ship, that is, a fast combat support ship, can sail 400 kilometers. If the cover of the shore-based aviation force and other methods can be used, the fleet can sail about 1,000 kilometers in two nights, and this is the width of the Newland Air Force patrol and alert waters!

To put it simply, with Honu Island as the center, the 1,000 kilometers to the east and 500 kilometers to the north and south, the sea area is the focus.

The setting is 1,000 kilometers because the fleet sails for a day and night is so far.

In the telegram sent by the communications officer, it has been mentioned that during the day on the 11th, affected by various factors, the Air Force did not strictly perform reconnaissance and surveillance tasks in accordance with the plan, that is, it did not send reconnaissance planes to search for this sea area, let alone the offshore of adjacent islands.

In addition, the Air Force focused on bombing the airports and air bases on Honu Island during the day on the 11th.

This arrangement is just to weaken the combat effectiveness of Liangxia's naval shore-based aviation force and ensure that the bombing mission can continue to be carried out at night.

Unfortunately, the Air Force did not resume bombing that night.

It was not until the morning of the 12th that the Air Force sent reconnaissance planes to search for key surveillance areas as planned.

In other words, there was an almost 34-hour window before this.

Using this time, the 41st Special Mixed Fleet can sail 1,400 kilometers!

In other words, as long as you avoid the daytime reconnaissance on the 11th, the 41st Special Mixed Fleet will be able to enter the Northeast Ocean from the east of the Hovay Islands before dawn on the 12th.

Will Bai Huawei do this?

If you want to say something, Stark never doubts Bai Huawei's courage.

In his understanding, none of the young officers of the Liang Xia Navy were cowards, and this was a fine tradition passed down by Chen Bingxun and Bai Zhizhan.

As long as you see the opportunity, Bai Huawei will definitely take risks.

In fact, this is what Stark is most worried about.

The key is that from the strategic air transport that started on the night of the 10th, the Liangxia Navy's shore-based aviation team launched a counterattack at the same time, as well as the previous bombing of the transit island, and even focusing on guarding the airport and air base of Honu Island during the day on the 11th, is it just a coincidence?

This series of events seemed to have been arranged long ago.

It looks so natural that Stark feels that something is strange.

Take strategic air freight as an example, is it really necessary?

The key to defending the Hovayi Islands is actually on the transfer island. Throwing the transfer islands will not help you no matter how much equipment and materials are airlifted to the islands to the east. The key is that this round of strategic air transport did not provide any positive help to guarding the transfer islands.

Restore air force combat capabilities?

What the defenders lack is not only equipment and supplies, but also more important things, such as experienced fighter pilots and fuel that cannot be transported by air. Besides, when regular airports are basically paralyzed and can only rely on field airports, even if there is enough fuel, the aviation force's continuous combat capability is very limited, and it is impossible to extend it through air transport.

On the contrary, this round of strategic air freight has worsened the situation on the transit island.

Because of the need to counterattack the Newland Air Force, the Liangxia Navy's shore-based air force did not harass the landing troops again since the night of the 10th.

Every night before, Liang Xia Navy's shore-based aviation fighter jets and attack aircraft would arrive.

Although this kind of small-scale action has basically no results, the officers and soldiers who have landed in the army will not have a good night's sleep after going back and forth a few times.
To be continued...