Chapter 169
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Chapter 169: Nightmare in the Sky
The supersonic missile only needed a few seconds to hit its target, reaching nearly three times the speed of sound.
That meant Lin Mo had to aim well ahead.
The cannon beneath the aircraft roared as flames erupted, and 23mm bullets formed a barrage that surged forth like a swarm of bees, saturating the trajectory of the 9M311M missile and unleashing a dense storm of metal.
With the Light Mirror Technique in play, the accuracy of the FC-20’s cannon tremendously increased, akin to using a sniper scope; timing was critical—too early or too late would not do.
Boom!
A dazzling fireball erupted in the sky, and white smoke quickly expanded into a massive cotton candy shape.
The FC-20 screamed past above the cotton candy.
Brilliant!
As the bait, Meat Sauce was astonished to see Lin Mo shoot down the air defense missile with the cannon. He felt utterly amazed.
“‘Dragon Knight,’ did you do that?!” It seemed even the radar interference paused for a moment, as Meat Sauce’s voice came through clearly on the channel.
“Just a small thing. I found the radar; it’s a mobile ground radar station, and they have crossed the border.” Lin Mo was about to boast to lighten the tense atmosphere when he suddenly shouted.
“Where—” Meat Sauce could barely utter two words before being drowned out by powerful interference noise.
Lin Mo quickly flew close to Meat Sauce to form a dual-formation and signaled to him. Sometimes, when radio communication fails or is heavily interfered with, such hand gestures between formations become especially crucial.
“You didn’t bring any ground attack missiles!” Inside the cockpit, Meat Sauce controlled the aircraft while Lin Mo gestured.
Lin Mo first made a V-sign, then an OK sign.
What good are ground attack missiles when countered by radar jamming? The missiles would also be affected.
“Let’s see how you perform! Surely, you wouldn’t plan to use an external fuel tank as a bomb.”
Meat Sauce pouted, carefully observing the ground while activating the scanning device. However, due to the severe interference, the radar screen was filled with static, unable to pinpoint the ground radar’s location, making visual identification challenging.
The Indian ground radar station hid too secretly. From several thousand meters above, it was difficult to spot with the naked eye. If the aircraft flew too low, it could be attacked by the surface-to-air defenses near the mobile ground radar station.
With a mobile ground radar station and surface-to-air missiles, the hit accuracy of the missiles increased dramatically, posing a significant threat to fighter jets.
This already fell within the range for authorized attacks, and Lin Mo decided to take them out right then and there. Otherwise, next time, not just one missile would take off, but a volley. Even if the Dragon Knight pulled off a few more miraculous escapes, he couldn’t stop being lit up like a firework in mid-air.
The SAM-22 "Greyhound" surface-to-air system equipped with the 9M311M missile has a maximum altitude of 10,000 meters, achieving an initial speed of 1,300 meters per second within two seconds. Compared to the earlier 9M311 missile, the 9M311M could reach speeds of up to 1,100 meters per second.
If the target fighter jet wasn’t already in supersonic mode from the start and didn’t climb away rapidly from over 4,000 meters, it would have to use terrain maneuvers to escape or rely on intercepting jamming missiles for a counterattack. Failing that, the pilot could only hope to use the cannon to bring them down. If even that didn’t work, the pilot would have no choice but to eject.
Hidden deep in the mountains, a mobile ground radar station and the soldiers operating the SAM-22 system, separated by five kilometers, had confirmed the failure after the first missile launch when they noticed two small black dots in the sky. One of the dots was heading directly toward them.
But the Indian soldiers, trained to face aerial combat threats, peered through their binoculars and saw a single-seat FC-20 (J-10) “Mighty Dragon” approaching from above with no apparent dive or attack movement. Perhaps it was just reconnaissance.
“What are the Pakistanis doing? Showing off?” The operator of the mobile ground radar station spoke over the radio to the soldiers manning the SAM-22 system across the ridge. “I’ve jammed them; their missiles can’t lock onto us. See? They’re not carrying ground attack missiles. We can teach them a lesson so they remember to bring their air-to-ground missiles next time.”
“Alright, let’s wait until they drop a bit lower, and then we’ll teach them a good lesson with our 30mm twin-barrel autocannon.”
The radio’s jamming mode matched with the mobile radar, automatically filtering out harmful interference noise.
Light Mirror Technique activated!
Adjusting altitude to 2,000 meters, Lin Mo poured on the power, and with a bang, it was as if he broke through something. The aircraft sliced through the milky-white sonic boom cloud, entering supersonic mode while executing an S-curve maneuver to evade the ground air defense missile’s lock. Lin Mo exploited the enemy’s critical weakness—being immobile on the ground—to maximize the agility of the FC-20.
Like a wild card, Lin Mo’s bizarre maneuvers left the Indians baffled, unable to tell whether he was merely passing through or preparing to attack.
He adjusted the aircraft’s attitude, approaching the target at a distance of 1,500 meters. He swiftly altered the aircraft’s angle to 70 degrees, deployed the airbrake, and began to twist the thrust vectoring nozzles, initiating a speed vector rotation.
In the distance, Meat Sauce watched dumbfounded as Lin Mo performed dazzling aerial stunts. He executed a right turn and reached a maximum of 180 degrees. At the moment he reached 170 degrees, the cannon beneath the aircraft unleashed a volley of fire, aimed at the ground with a 20-degree attack angle. The cannon’s range benefitted from gravity, striking far beyond its normal range.
Wasn’t that a Heberston Wall maneuver? No, it was more than that; there were follow-up deadly moves, and it was a combination of ultimate techniques!
Meat Sauce’s eyes nearly popped out.
“What’s he doing, performing acrobatics? Not enough height. I have him locked on; you need to help me confirm the lock. I’m taking him down! His moves are clumsy just like a clown.” The soldier operating the SAM-22 system noticed the enemy’s moves weren’t aimed at ground attack and grinned, “I’ll send him back home for his milk!”
“Oh! No, no! Damn! He’s opening fire, he’s opening fire! Run, ah…” A cacophony of explosions and screams interrupted the radio, and even the radar interference vanished.
On the other side of the ridge, black smoke rose.
The FC-20 continued its barrage momentarily, maintaining the vector rotation before returning to a high angle of attack. The nose of the aircraft pointed skyward like a unicorn’s horn, quickly lowering the angle of attack and re-engaging the afterburners to break through to supersonic speed again. He then executed an Immelmann maneuver, climbing vertically to nearly 8,000 meters, and then twisted the aircraft to dive back down toward the ground. Simultaneously, two external fuel tanks dropped from under the wings.
“What’s happening?!” The Indian soldiers focused through their binoculars, staring at the sky, exchanging worried glances. The enemy’s aircraft was firing in such an attack position, something they had never seen before.
This indicated that the opponent had gained mastery in precision firing without using standard textbook attack positions, completely overturning their understanding.
None of the soldiers nearby the SAM-22 could suppress the chill running down their spines.
“Stop staring; start firing! He’s coming for us!” The driver of the SAM-22 carrier vehicle looked up at the sky and shouted, rushing toward the driver’s cabin to start the engine. Remaining stationary would turn the mobile unit into a large target, and without radar assistance for locking, the precision of their missile attack would be significantly compromised.
“He’s coming! He’s coming! Fire, fire!” Several soldiers manning the SAM-22 screamed, scrambling into position. The surface-to-air missile launch needed preparation, but the 30mm twin-barrel autocannon fired first.
A series of frantic little lights shot into the sky from the ground, like a string of pearls rising. In the sky, below, countless little lights moved from up to down or down to up.
23mm and 30mm shells, both targeting each other under the influence of gravity, met in mid-air.
Despite the FC-20 nosing downward for only two to three seconds, it instantaneously dropped over 1,000 meters in altitude, decreasing engine output while relying on vector inertia to drop vertically. Still, it was at a height well above the effective range of the SAM-22 system’s 30mm twin-barrel autocannon. The nimble FC-20 evaded just as the once-active 30mm bullets fell uselessly from the sky, unaware of where they would land.
The two external fuel tanks fell at high speed, one exploding in the ground fire, releasing fuel like a fiery cloud from above, but the other descended safely.
The SAM-22 system, based on the BAZ-6909 8×8 vehicle chassis, weighing 41.3 tons, was not easy to avoid; its YaMZ-8942.10-033 diesel engine hadn’t even reached full power when a shadow loomed overhead.
Boom!
Moments later, a massive fireball erupted on the ground. They could even see a missile hastily launched, unable to gain altitude before being engulfed by the ensuing explosion, with only its warhead popping out before the rear was violently blasted apart, turning into flames, scattering 30mm bullets everywhere in a deadly chain reaction.
Following that, Lin Mo’s FC-20 circled back to where he had attacked, nose down, and unleashed the 23mm cannon again until empty; this was finishing the job, ensuring there were no survivors.
No mercy, that was the true killing force of the aerial knights. The high-altitude, high-speed maneuvers bestowed an overwhelming offensive power, plunging countless enemies forever into nightmare.
