On the morning of November 10, the field airport in the southern suburbs of Barmer.

After watching the last "Yun-9F" take off, Liu Zunshan boarded the military vehicle next to him, waved at the driver, and signaled to return to the command center.

In fact, the command center was running to the military camp on the other side.

If you want to say, the combat operation began 10 days ago.

On November 1, the day after Ding Zhennan returned from Lahe Air Force Base, the Eastern Alliance began preparations before the ground attack as planned.

To be precise, it is the early air strike.

Because the battle has lasted for more than a month and has been bombing military targets in the territory of Fanluo, the requirements for early air strikes are not high, or there is no need to expand the scope of the strike. The only thing that needs attention is to focus on those main forces of the Fan army.

Although they are all southern factional armies, their combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated.

For example, the three main armored divisions in Udaipur each have hundreds of main battle tanks, which pose a significant threat to the coalition's ground forces.

The air strikes in the past few days were blocked on the battlefield, and all the heavy attack aircraft and multi-purpose fighters were dispatched.

The reason is also very simple. Almost all the main forces of the Southern Legion of the Fan Army were deployed in Udaipur, or farther than Udaipur. The straight-line distance from Udaipur to Hydebala is more than 500 kilometers. Because it is necessary to avoid the Fan Army's field air defense system, the actual combat radius of combat aircraft starting from Hydebala is definitely farther, while the combat radius of front-line attack aircraft under normal circumstances is less than 500 kilometers.

In addition, due to the limitation of transportation capacity, even if a field airport was built outside Balmer, there was no way to deploy tactical aviation troops here.

The result is that only heavy attack aircraft and multi-purpose fighters can perform attack missions.

Fortunately, on the second day of the fight, the first air force from the Northwest War Zone arrived in Hydebara and entered the battle that night.

The air fleet has more than 400 combat aircraft, of which 240 are "War-16A".

By November 5, more than 1,000 combat aircraft participated in the battle, and 600 heavy attack aircraft and multi-purpose fighter aircraft.

The high-intensity aerial strike has an immediate effect.

In just five days, thousands of military targets were destroyed, and more than 2,000 armored targets were alone. All three main divisions deployed near Udaipur were severely damaged and basically lost their combat capabilities, greatly alleviating the defensive pressure on Balmer.

If you want to say, stopping the enemy from sending additional combat troops to the front line and attacking the enemy's main forces deployed in the rear is the core task of blocking the battlefield.

The experience of the Fan army in these days is exactly the same as that of the Iraqi army in the Posarwan War.

Simply put, the second-rate troops deployed at the forefront cannot withstand, and the main troops remaining in the rear cannot go up.

In fact, this is the essence of "air-ground joint combat" advocated by the new military theory, and can also be regarded as the core value of "air-ground joint combat".

To put it bluntly, the "air-ground joint cooperation" battle targets defense tactics based on "large-depth strategy".

Leave the main force in the rear, use second-rate troops to defend the front line, and relies on the huge battlefield depth to delay the enemy's advancement speed in the early stages of the war, consume the enemy's troops and combat effectiveness. When the time is ripe, the main force deployed in the rear will launch a counterattack.

Since its birth, this set of defensive tactics has been proven to be successful in the past few decades.

Simply using ground attack to crack, you will have to invest several times, or even dozens of times, of troops.

The key is that the materials consumed by the ground attack and the possible casualties are enough to make the side trying to launch an attack think twice before acting.

According to the relevant theories of the "Great Depth Strategy", the empire needs to do its best to deal with opponents like the Vanluo Kingdom, and even conduct full-scale war mobilization.

It is precisely this that the highly targeted "air-ground joint combat" came into being.

According to the practice of the Imperial Air Force, that is, the tactics adopted in the Posa Bay War, are actually to use powerful air forces to complete battlefield cutting, attack the main enemy forces deployed behind the front line, and prevent them from performing battlefield maneuvers, thereby weakening the enemy's front line of defense.

To put it simply, it is to cut out the enemy troops deployed on the front line of defense and then encircle and annihilate them.

During the entire combat operation, the aviation force, or to be precise, the heavy attack aircraft of the tactical aviation force, undertakes campaign-level assault operations originally carried out by armored clusters.

Obviously, this is also the key to the success of "air-ground joint combat".

Compared with armored clusters, aviation forces are not only faster, but also stronger in strike capabilities. These two points are the main factors that determine the success or failure of a campaign assault operation.

This is not something to be happy for the enemies opposite the front line.

After the battle started, the commander of the Fan army soon discovered that dispatching the main force deployed in the rear was basically equivalent to killing him.

The reason is also very simple. As long as these troops leave the hidden positions, they will be hit by air after being exposed.

Without air supremacy, even if field air defense forces are accompanying you, you cannot travel to the battlefield hundreds of kilometers away with fierce air strikes.

In fact, even if you stay in a hidden position, you may not be spared.

After all, the party that controls air rights also controls information rights, and some ways to find hidden enemies and give devastating blows.

As for the field air defense system that was highly anticipated by the Fan army, it has basically become a decoration in the face of electromagnetic suppression and air strikes of the Imperial Air Force.

Take the "Saturday" air defense system purchased from Rock State for example. Because the range is only above 10 kilometers and the shooting height is only a few kilometers, during the high-intensity battle that lasted for 5 days, several "Saturday" air defense systems deployed near Udaipur not only failed to shoot down a coalition fighter jet, but were targeted by the coalition's air defense suppression fighter jets. At least dozens of launch vehicles were destroyed by anti-radiation missiles.

Because the losses were too heavy, the Fan air defense forces later gave up their resistance.

The high-intensity bombing that lasted for 5 days also destroyed the fighting will of the Fan army.

According to statistics from the Frontline Command, within these five days, the coalition tactical aviation troops dispatched tens of thousands of aircraft, threw more than 15,000 tons of ammunition, and were mainly precisely guided bombs. The consumption of just 250 kilogram-level laser-guided bombs exceeded 30,000.

Of course, such high intensity usage is also related to the climate.

Compared with Poshawan, the climate in the southern subcontinent is not harsh, especially during the dry season, which is basically sunny, making it very suitable for the use of precise ammunition such as laser guided bombs.

The key is that small diameter precision ammunition is very suitable for dealing with armored targets.

To be honest, the 250 kilogram bomb is still a little larger, used to deal with targets in cities, especially military targets hidden in residential areas, which can easily cause collateral casualties. Even during the war, serious collateral casualties will have an impact on the officers planning the strike operations. For example, during these five days of battle, the coalition forces did not attack military targets near civilian facilities such as schools, hospitals, etc. As a result, after discovering this rule, the Fan army deliberately deployed a large number of important equipment near schools and hospitals.

In response to this issue, Ding Zhennan once again reported the issue to the military department in charge of equipment.

Simply put, it is urgently needed for ammunition with a slightly smaller power.

Even if other indicators are a little worse, such as not being far enough to throw distance or being able to use a single guidance method, it is not a problem.

The military supplies department also responded actively, saying that it would provide two small-power ammunition to combat troops at the end of the year.

One is a 100 kilogram-level laser-guided bomb, and the other is a short-range air-to-ground missile evolved from a heavy anti-tank missile replacement warhead.

Of course, the battlefield blocking is just foreplay.

Starting from the early morning of November 6, the aerial strike entered the second stage, that is, battlefield suppression.

If the battlefield is blocked and attacked, then the battlefield suppression is to carry out targeted air strikes.

Of course, the target is to attack the target, that is, Barmel.

Previously, the vanguard of the Fifth Marine Division only surrounded Balmer, to be precise, controlled external traffic and blocked the city closest to the border.

Because of insufficient troops, the vanguard never attacked Barmel.

As for the Fan army retreating to the city, it was impossible to pose a threat to the Marines outside the city because of the lack of heavy weapons.

As a result, it was not until the end of October that the vanguard began to build a field airport in the southern suburbs of Barmel.

If you want to say it, it is only after being affected by this that you have to spend 5 days on the battlefield to block the attack.

After the field airport in the southern suburb of Barmer was put into use, the combat operation to attack Barmer officially began.

The protagonist is still a tactical aviation team, but it is replaced by a front-line aviation team mainly composed of dedicated attack aircraft.

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as "frontline aviation" in the Imperial Air Force.

The Imperial Air Force evolved from the Army Aviation Army, and initially there were only two types of troops, strategic aviation and tactical aviation. After the Boei War, before the third military change, the support aviation army was established, and this organizational system has been maintained until now.

As for the so-called "frontline aviation" it is actually organized under the name of tactical aviation.

More importantly, the Imperial Air Force did not attach much importance to the frontline aviation, or did not regard the frontline aviation as the main combat force.

The reason is also very simple. According to the defensive strategy pursued by the empire, the value of front-line aviation is actually very small.

Whether it is the theory of depth pursued in the past or the joint air-ground operations developed from the new military theory, on the side of strategic defense, the main force needs to be deployed behind the defense line, rather than at the forefront of the defense line, which is even more so for the aviation force.

Obviously, the side leading the attack relies more on the frontline aviation force, that is, during the offensive operation, the frontline aviation force needs to open the way for the assault armored forces.

However, it does not mean that the Imperial Air Force does not pay attention to it and does not require special front-line attack aircraft.

The key is that the Imperial Air Force has higher requirements for the performance of dedicated attack aircraft.

Simply put, it is necessary to have a longer range, and even if it is deployed in a rear airport, it can provide air support to frontier combat forces.

It just so happens that this creates a very serious problem.

The front-line attack aircraft developed by the Imperial Air Force was launched in 131 of the New Calendar and was put into production not long ago after more than ten years of hard work.

This is the "Occurrence-9" that has already shown its mighty performance on the mainland battlefield.

Strictly speaking, the "Ocamp-9" is a pure front-line attack aircraft. It is not much different from the same type of attack aircraft developed by the Western Continental Group and the Republic of Newland in various aspects. It has clear mission targeting, such as anti-armor as the main focus, and special emphasis is placed on low-altitude flight performance and survivability.

Obviously, under technical limitations, the Imperial Air Force can only reduce some performance indicators.

In addition, "Ocamp-9A" is not considered advanced at all. Because it is not equipped with a laser irradiator, "Ocamp-9A" cannot use laser guided bombs alone. Even if it is an external laser indicator pod, two aircraft are required to cooperate, that is, one is dropped, and the other one is used to irradiate the target with the indicator pod.

To be said, during the design stage, the Imperial Air Force did not think of making front-line attack aircraft use precision-guided munitions.

The reason is very simple. The main weapon of the "Attack-9" is actually a 40mm 6-barrel Gatling machine cannon installed at the head of the aircraft. It can even be said that the entire attack aircraft is designed around this cannon with a total ammunition weight of more than 2 tons, which is even larger than a small truck.

In the words of the designer, this attack aircraft is a flying machine gun!

According to the Imperial Air Force's idea, relying on this machine gun and the thousands of armor-piercing bombs carried, the "Attack-9" can destroy more than 20 main battle tanks equivalent to an armored battalion by one order. Therefore, even if there are no other weapons, the attack ability cannot be underestimated.

The key is that when designing the "Attack-9", precision-guided munitions are still very expensive, and it is not the turn of the front-line attack aircraft that "draw the ground".

Fortunately, after the outbreak of the Posa Bay War, the Imperial Air Force immediately made adjustments.

The biggest improvement of "Occasion-9B" is that it adds laser illuminators and supporting fire control equipment, which can use various tactical precision-guided munitions, including laser-guided bombs, and also greatly increases the number of ammunitions carried by using parallel composite mounts.
To be continued...