Chapter 46: 041 Whirlwind (7)
Diane piloted the Banshee Fighter, along with three other companions, skimming over the Anderson US Air Force Base in Guam at extremely high speeds.
During the San Francisco incident, Diane had held back, but now, on a military operation mission directly ordered by the Chancellor, not a single pilot from the aviation soldiers of the United Empire Universe Army dared to be careless, bringing their best flying state to complete the task.
Despite the fact that their enemies were laughably weak.
"According to the mission directives, we need to crush all resisting enemies, protect the engineering vessels during their operations," said Diane, who had been promoted to the squadron leader. The organizational structure of the Iridium Star aviation soldiers was not quite the same as the air forces of Earth's nations.
There were still wingmen and lead aircraft assignments, but typically, a flight squadron was made up of eight fighters. A flight squadron consisted of two flight squads, which meant 16 fighters in total. The composition of larger flight units like flight groups and wings was determined according to specific needs.
Generally, 2-4 flight squadrons would form a flight group, and 2-4 flight groups would make up a flight wing. A main battle ship like the Sacred Falcon carried a full flight wing's complement of aviation soldiers, totaling 96 enlisted fighter jets.
The assault on Anderson Air Force Base required only four fighters, and they were the relatively lightweight Banshee Fighters at that. Yet, even these light interstellar fighters were beyond the capabilities of any weapon on Earth.
Diane strictly followed the combat procedures, and together with the other three fighters, commenced the electronic suppression of the US forces.
The electronic warfare capabilities of the Banshee Fighter, let alone those of an EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft, were no match for the strategic-level electromagnetic countermeasure weapon of an entire electronic countermeasure brigade, let alone the Banshee's.
Immediately, the Anderson Air Force Base turned chaotic, with officers roaring and screaming. All electronic signals were jammed, communications with the outside were disrupted, and the radar screens showed nothing but static, rendering all electronic equipment inoperative.
The soft-kill capabilities of the Banshee Fighter alone had already crippled more than half of Anderson Base's defense forces, preventing planes from taking off normally and anti-air missiles from launching. This allowed the already stealthy four Banshee Fighters to brazenly circle above Anderson Base.
On Diane's V2 flight helmet display, potential threats within Anderson Base were marked, primarily anti-air guns and M6 anti-air vehicles.
Since fixed anti-air guns could operate independently from the fire control system, they were still able to fight when all of the US military's electronic devices were offline; while the M2 Bradley IFV modified M6 also had a 25mm cannon, which was better than nothing at this moment.
These anti-air weapons posed no threat to the Banshee Fighters, which were equipped with shield systems, a fact that had been proven in the aerial battle over San Francisco. However, the engineering vessels that would soon be warping into the battlefield did not have shield systems installed, although they did have a certain active defense system function.
To ensure their safety, it was necessary for Diane and the others to clear out the threats inside the base first.
In fact, even if an unmanned engineering vessel was hit, it wasn't a big deal; its robust hull couldn't be penetrated by Earth's small and medium-caliber artillery. Furthermore, even if they were lost, Bai Zhongqi wouldn't care at all.
Although each unmanned engineering vessel was actually an atomic substance construction device capable of flight and was expensive to produce, the Iridium Star Fleet, with its vast resources and advanced technology, was able to build an engineering vessel every day. In Bai Zhongqi's fleet, there were a total of 88 unmanned engineering vessels.
Now, Bai Zhongqi brought about twenty of them to Earth to act as a forceful demolition team.
Diane piloted the Banshee Fighter, firing two electromagnetic cannon rounds in succession, destroying an anti-aircraft gun. Although the caliber of the electromagnetic cannons mounted on the Banshee Fighters was only 30mm, the high kinetic energy generated by electromagnetic acceleration meant that even a simple collision could produce tremendous force.
The Iridium Star people would even pack plasma bombs or high-explosive chemical warheads inside electromagnetic cannon shells. Thus, the impact of a single 30mm electromagnetic cannon shell could be more devastating than the explosion of a Tomahawk cruise missile.
Diane quickly realized that his attacks were too powerful. After all, the Banshee Fighter was designed to deal with enemies in space with strong defensive capabilities and maneuverability, not to bully weak ground targets. Firing upon mosquitoes with a cannon felt very uncomfortable. He immediately switched weapons, employing a lightweight laser to pierce through an anti-aircraft armored vehicle.
This time, fortunately, he didn't cause a large area of collateral damage that would hinder the subsequent operations of the engineering ships.
This slaughter did not last long before the Anderson Base was battered beyond recognition, completely bereft of any weapons capable of resistance. By this point, more American soldiers were either shivering in hiding places or fleeing in all directions.
Three engineering ships descended from the sky at this time, equipped with anti-gravity systems just like the landing craft, which enabled them to perform tasks on the planet.
The engineering ships ignored other aircraft and facilities at Anderson Base, including fighter and logistics planes, and positioned themselves above the climate-controlled hangars housing the three B-2 bombers, which had only just been stationed in the Asia-Pacific region.
As before, they sprayed the character for "dismantle" and the enormous, forceful mechanical arms tore open the hangar, which was practically defenseless, revealing three B-2 stealth bombers inside, each valued at 2.4 billion US dollars.
Like the fate of the Ohio Class strategic nuclear submarines before them, the engineering ships seized the three B-2 bombers, ascended into the sky, and flew towards space.
The trembling U.S. Air Force ground personnel watched in panic as the huge alien ships took away their bombers, with an urge to cry but no tears to shed. However, after the three engineering ships departed, the four Banshee Fighters in the sky also flew straight into space, disappearing from the sight of the residents of Guam.
Similar actions were taking place at every U.S. Air Force base housing B-2 stealth bombers. Utterly unprepared to resist, the United States Air Force was robbed of all its B-2 bombers. This time Bai Zhongqi considered it a hassle and did not bother to remove the nuclear warheads stored at these bases.
However, considering the complete destruction of the Ohio Class submarines, America had already lost half of its nuclear warheads. Along with earlier space interception operations, the United States' nuclear arsenal had already severely dwindled at this point.
A total of 21 B-2 bombers were built, with one having already crashed. Bai Zhongqi once again displayed 19 B-2s in Earth's orbit, just like the Ohio Class submarines, one B-2 was missing.
Meanwhile, two engineering ships had not returned to the Fleet. They were finalizing the last step of this whirlwind military operation.