With sufficient troops and clever tactical arrangements, such an attack is unlikely to fail.

As long as the air defense fighter jets are suppressed, hundreds of heavy anti-ship missiles projected by 20 B-52Gs will definitely eliminate the 61st special mixed fleet.

However, Stark didn't take it lightly.

After sending out the escort fighter jets, the three aircraft carriers each dispatched two EA-6B electronic attack aircraft.

It is extremely difficult to arrange carrier-based early warning aircraft to command and escort operations, mainly because the range of the early warning aircraft is not enough and the flight speed cannot keep up with the fighter formation. If you take the risk of being shot down by enemy aircraft, it is not that troublesome to send several electronic attack aircraft to provide support for escort fighters. In fact, only these 6 EA-6Bs in the 51st Special Mixed Fleet are in good condition and can be launched to perform combat missions.

Obviously, Stark has placed his hopes on the bomber from the very beginning, and has never thought of relying on carrier-based aviation to eliminate the 61st special mixed fleet.

In fact, this also reflects that the Newland Navy's pre-war preparations were indeed insufficient.

The 51st Special Mixed Fleet's three super aircraft carriers only carry 6 EA-6Bs.

Although this number has increased by 50% compared to usual, the six electronic attack aircraft are definitely overwhelmed by the high-intensity combat operations.

If you want to say something, Liang Xia Navy also had similar problems.

During peacetime, there were usually one team of electronic attack aircraft in a carrier-based aviation corps of Liang Xia Navy, usually four, and a few were six. However, Liang Xia Navy had a total of 15 carrier-based aviation corps, but there were 120 electronic attack aircraft equipped.

That is to say, under standard circumstances, each carrier-based aviation wing has 8 electronic attack aircraft.

The number of deployments is actually reduced because the maintenance of electronic attack aircraft is more troublesome, and in daily combat readiness patrols, there are fewer opportunities to deploy electronic attack aircraft. Carrying fewer aircraft can not only reduce the operating burden of the aviation department, but also save a lot of expenses.

As for the extra ones, they are organized into non-deployed aviation corps.

Because there are several carrier-based aviation corps in a non-deployment state at any time, it is not a big deal to leave dozens of electronic attack aircraft, that is, to be deployed in the naval aviation station. There is no problem that the two houses of discussion are criticized because of their low utilization rate.

In fact, because the combat readiness deployment time is relatively short, the service life of electronic attack aircraft is much longer than that of the same model of carrier-based attack aircraft. For example, Liang Xia's "Ocamp-5CZ" has been in service for almost 30 years, while the "Ocamp-5C" of the same era has long been retired. Even the "Ocamp-5F" that joined the combat sequence nearly 10 years later have been retired, and the "Ocamp-5CZ" will have to serve at least 15 years.

Of course, after entering the state of combat, the wartime organization must be restored.

After the outbreak of the Posa Bay War, Liang Xia's Navy immediately made adjustments to allow the electronic attack aircraft squad of the carrier-based aviation corps that performed combat missions to reach full capacity.

Actual combat proves that 8 aircraft are still far from enough!

Compared with frequent combat operations, especially in the early stages of war, when it is necessary to forcibly break through the enemy's air defense network, each combat operation requires the cover of electronic attack aircraft, and the combat intensity is very high, which makes the electronic attack aircraft troops almost exhausted.

The key is that the Navy's electronic attack aircraft have more comprehensive combat capabilities.

Compared with the Air Force's "Occasion-8FZ", the Navy's "Occasion-6CZ" can not only use electronic jamming pods to suppress the enemy's air defense radar, but also use anti-radiation missiles to directly attack the enemy's air defense radar. It has quite complete independent combat capabilities and can complete the air defense suppression mission alone.

Under normal circumstances, the "Occurrence-6CZ" is dispatched in a two-machine formation, responsible for electronic interference and air defense suppression respectively.

If the Air Force's combat aircraft performs similar interference suppression tasks, it is necessary to dispatch not only two "Occurrence-8FZs", but also several fighter jets or attack aircraft carrying anti-radiation missiles and specialize in air defense suppression tasks. The combat efficiency is obviously not as good as the Navy's "Occurrence-6CZ".

That's why the Navy's electronic attack aircraft were very popular in the Posa Bay War.

In addition to covering carrier-based attack aircraft, they are often summoned to cover Air Force combat aircraft, and even fight with bombers.

At any time, several "Occurrence-6CZ" will hover over the battlefield, and "Occurrence-6CZ" has thus become the carrier-based aircraft with the highest frequency of dispatch.

According to the experience of the Posa Bay War, a carrier-based aviation gang requires at least 12 electronic attack aircraft.

Unfortunately, in the short term, not only will there not be so many electronic attack aircraft available, but there is no more space on aircraft carriers to support additional electronic attack aircraft.

It’s not that it cannot be parked, but that it cannot provide necessary maintenance and guarantees.

As mentioned earlier, electronic attack machines have relatively high requirements for maintenance, especially those complex electronic equipment that require frequent maintenance.

Because electronic equipment is susceptible to environmental impact, maintenance must be carried out in the hangar.

Not to mention large aircraft carriers, even super aircraft carriers only have a maintenance workshop in front and behind the hangar, which can maintain and repair precision equipment.

Obviously, it is not only electronic attack machines that need to be maintained in the workshop.

Most of the time, the repair workshop is used to repair and maintain radar, engine, data link and other equipment.

Not to mention anything else, just maintaining the engines of dozens of carrier-based aircraft will take a lot of time, and to be precise, it will take up a lot of workshop time.

Then, there will not be too much time to maintain electronic attack machines.

That's right, one aircraft carrier is already the limit if it carries 8 electronic attack aircraft.

In fact, Liang Xia Haijun has long recognized the problem caused by insufficient electronic attack aircraft.

However, it is really not easy to solve this problem.

The key is actually technology.

According to the plan made by Liang Xia Haijun, or the solution came up with, it is actually to make the electronic attack aircraft less special through technical means.

The reason is also very simple. All electronic attack aircraft use attack aircraft as a platform. They only obtain strong electronic warfare performance by equipping and mounting special electronic warfare equipment and arranging electronic warfare officers to operate. They are essentially still an attack aircraft.

The key to the complexity of electronic attack machines is that the technology is not advanced enough.

If the technology is advanced enough, there is no need for special electronic warfare equipment, nor is it necessary, or reduce the number of electronic warfare officers.

In fact, related advanced technologies have been applied.

For example, the active phased array radar developed by Liang Xia Air Force for the "War-20" showed strong electronic warfare capabilities during testing. In addition to imitating electronic reconnaissance equipment in a passive way, it can also suppress the enemy's radar through phase control.

In addition, the emergence of automation technology, especially intelligent technology, and its wide application in the military field, have made operating electronic devices less complicated, and one electronic warfare officer can use one electronic warfare officer to complete the operations that were required to be completed in the past by 2 or even 3 electronic warfare officers.

That's why Liang Xia Navy's next-generation electronic attack aircraft is no longer significantly different from carrier-based attack aircraft.

Simply put, by replacing a few necessary airborne equipment, using relevant fire control software, and mounting and using special electronic warfare pods, the "Attack-12" two-seater type can perform electronic attack tasks. If necessary, anti-radiation missiles can also be carried in the internal bomb bay.

In this way, at least half of a brigade of attack aircraft, that is, 12 attack aircraft can be used to perform electronic warfare tasks. Because the types of carriers are reduced, the scale of attack aircraft can be expanded. For example, carrying an additional brigade will be added to 12 electronic attack aircraft.

Unfortunately, before joining the war, the Newland Navy had no clear understanding of the value of electronic attack aircraft.

Even if we know that electronic attack aircraft is important, the Newland Navy did not realize that the 4 to 6 aircraft that were usually organized were simply unavailable.

As a result, in the battle to attack the transit island, the dispatch intensity of the EA-6B of the two special mixed fleets reached more than twice the maximum design standard.

In some cases, 5 times of EA-6B are required to be dispatched within one day, which is 2.5 times the design standard.

According to statistics, the EA-6B of the 51st Special Mixed Fleet has an average daily flight time of more than 10 hours, while the 52nd Special Mixed Fleet has a maximum of 12 hours.

Such a high dispatch intensity will inevitably lead to a sharp reduction in the completeness rate of electronic attack machines.

Before this, the 51st Special Mixed Fleet lost three EA-6Bs, and all of them were flight accidents caused by high-intensity dispatch. Even the remaining 15 aircraft were only 6 in good condition to be dispatched, and the other 9 aircraft were unable to be dispatched due to one or another.

In fact, even these six aircraft can be dispatched, there are some minor problems.

6 electronic attack aircraft are only enough to perform one attack mission.

It is precisely because Stark did not use these electronic attack machines in the first round of attacks.

According to the arrangement, these six electronic attack aircraft were all launched after the fighter aircraft.

Obviously, this is not much the same as the usual order of dispatch.

In the past, if an electronic attack aircraft was required to perform attack tasks, or to escort the attack aircraft group, the electronic attack aircraft had to take off first.

The reason is also very simple, electronic attack aircraft flies the slowest.

After hanging 4 electronic interference pods and a large secondary fuel tank, the EA-6B's cruising flight speed is less than 800 kilometers per hour, while the F-14B's cruising flight speed is more than 1,000 kilometers per hour. Even the A-6D is more than 800 kilometers per hour.

To this end, it is necessary to let the electronic attack aircraft take off first, and then during flight, usually before entering the war zone, meet with the attack aircraft group.

If you want to say it, this is also the main defect of the navy's carrier-based electronic attack aircraft.

The same is true for Liang Xia Navy.

Because the flight speed of electronic attack aircraft is too slow, each attack operation requires careful planning and arrangement, and it is impossible to ensure that it can be carried out in place every time. During the Posa Bay War, about 17% of Liang Xia's naval carrier-based aviation missions were not able to be carried out, of which more than 60% were caused by the failure of electronic attack aircraft to be deployed in place, or the attack aircraft group did not merge with the electronic attack aircraft.

Obviously, if the electronic attack aircraft flew fast enough to operate with the attack aircraft group throughout the whole process, this problem would not have occurred.

From another perspective, this is also the key reason why Liang Xia Air Force insists on using heavy fighters to develop electronic attack aircraft for the platform, and makes electronic equipment built-in as much as possible, and even cancels the ability of plug-in weapons. Only in this way can the electronic attack aircraft be guaranteed to have a fast enough flight speed.

Liang Xia’s Air Force’s “Occurrence-8FZ” has a cruise flight speed of more than 1,000 kilometers per hour, and can even fly at supersonic speeds!

That's why the "Occurrence-8FZ" is the only electronic attack aircraft that can cooperate with fighter jets to perform offensive missions.

Of course, during this operation, the Newland Navy's electronic attack aircraft did not need to fly too fast, because the target of its cover was a slower bomber. To be precise, it was actually an escort fighter, and it would be fine to launch an assault before the bomber arrived.

In any case, the six EA-6Bs can at least help the F-14B aircraft group to gain air supremacy.

In fact, Stark knew very well that he had done his best to eliminate the 61st Special Mixed Fleet, whether he could destroy the 61st Special Mixed Fleet depends on his luck.

If Major Smith's speculation is correct, then there may be 40 fighters over the Sixty-first Special Mixed Fleet!

In addition, there are several carrier-based early warning aircraft, as well as electronic attack aircraft that can also play a role in defense operations.

If so, the 61st Special Mixed Fleet may be able to withstand this round of attacks.

However, this also means that the Sixty-first Special Mixed Fleet must use most of the fighter jets for fleet air defense, rather than sending bombers to cover and launch counterattacks.

In other words, if Liang Xia's Navy had already inferred the approximate position of the 51st Special Mix Fleet and planned to launch a counterattack to eliminate the 51st Special Mix Fleet, in addition to relying on the Air Force bombers, the 61st Special Mix Fleet must also arrange fighter jets to escort the bombers.

That's right, what Stark is worried about now is actually fleet air defense.

After the electronic attack aircraft was launched, the air service personnel of the three Niz-class aircraft carriers did not stop, but immediately allowed the F/A-18 fighter jets that had been on the flight deck and had previously been hung with air-to-air missiles to take off to strengthen the fleet's air defense.

Then, each dispatched one E-2C.

In addition to the three aircraft that were launched before, there are a total of 6 carrier-based early warning aircraft over the 51st Special Mixed Fleet!

So many early warning aircraft were arranged to reduce the burden on air defense cruisers and allow air defense cruisers to concentrate on performing fleet air defense missions.

To put it simply, without using an air defense cruiser, early warning aircraft can command peripheral air defense fighters to intercept incoming enemy aircraft.
To be continued...