The two squadrons had 16 fighter jets, divided into four formations, each with two dual-aircraft formations.

In traditional air combat tactics, the dual-aircraft formation is the standard lineup.

However, during the Boei War, the Imperial Air Force discovered that the dual-aircraft formation had many flaws and took the lead in adjusting the air combat tactics.

Among the several formation methods that appeared at that time, the most famous one was the three-machine formation, with one long aircraft carrying two wingmen.

According to statistics made by the Imperial Air Force, 60% of the results achieved in the Bo-Iran War belong to the three-aircraft formation, while the traditional double-click formation only accounts for less than 20%.

The key is that the loss rate of the three-aircraft formation in air combat is less than half of the two-aircraft formation.

The three-aircraft formation was very popular in the Poei War, which was not unrelated to the traditional air combat model that mainly used machine guns, and it was nothing special in itself.

To be said, during the last war, the three-machine formation tactics were widely used.

This shows from one aspect that air combat tactics are determined by technology!

After more than ten years of development, especially the immature medium-range air-to-air missiles during the Boei War, have already had good enough performance and reliability, and have had a huge impact on air combat. The Imperial Air Force has also adjusted its air combat tactics again based on this change.

The dual-air formation is still the basic unit of air combat, but formation cooperation is added to it.

Usually, two dual-machine formations form a tactical unit.

If the battlefield situation is more complicated, such as the opponent has sufficient advanced technical equipment, two tactical units will need to cooperate in combat.

This is also the main reason why the Air Force set the squadron size to 8 aircraft.

But now, the opponent is not strong.

Another "War-11B" tactical unit patrolled the east, near Posa Bay, and was responsible for keeping eye on enemy aircraft deployed on Basra.

This arrangement is actually taking care of Li Tianling.

Don’t forget that Li Tianling had delayed a lot of time when he set up a plane to return to Khalid Military City, so the tactical unit under his command stayed in the west.

The "War-10B" squadron is also divided into two tactical and tactical units, but they both fly at medium and low altitudes, and the position should be slightly forward.

This deployment is related to the performance or defects of "War-10B".

As a medium-sized fighter that mainly controls air, the "War-10" strictly adopts the energy maneuvering theory proposed at that time during the design stage. When a high-performance engine is relied on a sufficiently high thrust-to-weight ratio, the agility should be improved as much as possible, that is, the horizontal maneuverability should be enhanced.

As for other performance, the Air Force did not make excessive demands.

"Zhan-10" itself is the spare tire of "Zhan-11", a low-end product, and the price is also very cheap, so there is no reason to make too many requirements.

As a result, the "War-10" became the first fighter of the Imperial Air Force to adopt a duck-style layout plus a triangular wing, and it gained extremely excellent agility.

To be said, the hovering performance is no match for the third-generation fighter jets.

In addition, in obtaining a high-thrust engine, that is, the "War-10B", the previously less prominent vertical maneuverability has also been greatly improved.

However, the problem is also prominent.

First of all, the internal oil coefficient is relatively low and the combat radius is short. Therefore, in most cases, you need to carry three auxiliary fuel tanks to obtain sufficient range and air stagnation time.

The most direct problem caused by this is the conflict between the secondary fuel tank and ammunition.

The biggest problem with triangular wings is that there is no way to set too many heavy load points, and the number of mount points under the wing is relatively small.

What's even more terrible is that in order to obtain faster speed, the relative thickness of the wings of the "War-10" is only 3%.

The result is that because the structural strength of the wings is not enough, it is impossible to set the wing tip hanging point.

A medium-sized fighter with a maximum take-off weight of more than 22 tons actually has only 9 external plug-ins, and the equipment hanging points are located on both sides of the lip of the air intake duct. It can only carry navigation pods and indicator pods with a mass of less than 150 kilograms, and cannot be used to hang weapons and ammunition.

In other words, "War-10B" only has 7 weapon points.

Usually, the three hanging points on the belly and the inside of the wing are used to mount the secondary fuel tank, and the hanging points on the outside of the wing are used to mount fighting missiles with low mass.

In this way, only the hanging point in the middle of the wing can be used to mount medium-range air-to-air missiles.

Although a composite hanger is used in the B type, theoretically, a hanging point can be hung at most 3 missiles, when used, considering the huge overload caused by maneuvering, up to 2 missiles can be hung. Moreover, many pilots do not like the limitations of the composite hanger on flight envelopes.

In addition, it is related to radar and electronic equipment.

To be said, it is because the mount capability is not strong enough, and the Air Force has never regarded the "War-10" as the main fighter jet that seizes air supremacy. Its highest requirement is that it can fight enemy aircraft, so it seems very conservative in electronic equipment.

"Battle-10B" has not had the ability to use "KK-12A" so far!

Not only is the radar not good enough, but it is also related to the lack of data link equipment.

According to the test done by Li Tianling and others, the "War-10B" can launch "KK-12A", but the "KK-12A" can only be used as a semi-active radar-guided missile. To exert the performance of this new missile, it is necessary to improve the radar and equipment No. 16 data link system.

Of course, this has a lot to do with the fact that "KK-12A" is equipped with troops.

To be said, there are only a few "Expedition Mixed Wing" "War-11B" that can use "KK-12A". Other fighter jets, including other troops, do not have this ability. Even if the promotion efforts are increased, it will take a lot of time.

Because the performance of the "KK-6F" is indeed not very good, the "War-10" pilots do not like medium-range air-to-air missiles.

The result was that none of the eight "War-10Bs" carried medium-range air-to-air missiles, each carrying 4 fighting missiles.

According to the tactics arranged by Li Tianling, the mission of these eight fighters is to fight against invading enemy aircraft, to be precise, they are responsible for dealing with the fish that missed the net.

Of course, first, the "War-11B" patrolling at high altitude uses "KK-12A" and "KK-6F" to intercept enemy aircraft from a long distance.

However, the real main force is not the 16 fighter jets that came out.

Behind the fighter, about 150 kilometers, a "Finger-8C" is using radar to detect the airspace in the north and sending information to nearby fighters through data links.

The key is that battlefield information mainly relies on data links to send.

Only when it is particularly necessary, such as the identity of the invading enemy plane is unclear, or the combat order is not confirmed, can you communicate with the pilot through the voice channel.

With the support of the data link, the "Finger-8C" can guide 48 fighter jets from 12 tactical units to conduct air combat at the same time.

Relatively speaking, the previous "Finger-8B" can command up to 12 fighter jets to conduct air combat at the same time.

The reason is that there are 12 tactical podiums and 12 communication channels on the "Finger-8B".

Obviously, this is equivalent to increasing the combat efficiency of the early warning command aircraft by 4 times!

However, this time the protagonist is not "referring to -8C", but the "reconnaissance-29C" electronic reconnaissance aircraft flying with it.

Electronic reconnaissance aircraft is actually a general term, and it is more appropriate to call it "large electronic warfare aircraft" or "electronic jammer".

Simply put, this large support aircraft with the same platform as the early warning command aircraft can not only detect and intercept electromagnetic signals within a radius of hundreds of kilometers, but also use the high-power jammer to interfere with nearby electronic equipment, especially radar.

In addition, large aircraft can patrol the air for more than ten hours, so there is no problem of frequent return and refueling.

Although the interference effect is not as good as that of dedicated electronic warfare aircraft and does not have the ability to destroy hard, it still has great value in the battle for air supremacy.

To put it simply, it can weaken the detection distance of enemy aircraft fire control radar through interference, and even cause enemy aircraft fire control radar to fail.

The radar cannot work, and even advanced fighter jets can only be beaten.

Obviously, that "Detective-29C" is the protagonist.

The battle for air supremacy revolves around the "Detective-29C".

In the words of the pilot, as long as electromagnetic interference takes effect, air combat will become as simple as playing a game.

However, this refers to over-visual air combat.

Not long after, the "game" began.

When the indicator light was on and the pilot was reminded that he had received the new message, Li Tianling glanced at the clock on the navigation screen. It was already 11:15 am.

An enemy situation message sent by the early warning command plane.

A large-scale enemy aircraft formation is flying over from Nasirie and is about to enter the no-fly zone. It is initially speculated that the number of enemy aircraft is more than 40.

Because enemy aircraft are likely to adopt dense formations and are more than 300 kilometers away from early warning aircraft, it is impossible to make an accurate judgment on the number of enemy aircraft.

However, even if there are only 40 aircraft, there are enough!

If you want to say, only the Iraqi Air Force will dispatch so many fighter jets at once.

If it was 40 years ago, it would be reasonable. After all, in that era when machine guns and machine guns decided the outcome, the number of them would definitely take advantage.

But now, quantity is not the number one factor that determines victory or defeat!

In air combat dominated by missiles, large numbers may not necessarily be an advantage.

Relevant tactical information was directly sent to every fighter jet in the formation.

According to the instructions sent by the early warning command plane, another "War-11B" tactical unit in the west has also received the order and will come to participate in the war.

The interception tactic is very simple, and Li Tianling's tactical unit conducts the first interception at 60 kilometers.

After that, another "War-11B" tactical unit conducted a second interception at 40 kilometers.

When the distance is shortened to about 30 kilometers, the two "War-11B" tactical units will use "KK-6F" to jointly conduct the third interception.

Next, we will enter the fighting air combat stage.

Of course, the premise is that the enemy plane is not defeated and is still flying south.

While accelerating the fighter jets, Li Tianling arranged tasks for his pilots through the formation communication channel, mainly to determine the order of fire.

The information sent by the early warning command plane is not detailed enough, so it is not a big problem.

When the distance is shortened, after the fire control radar is activated, the specific situation of the enemy aircraft can be detected, thereby obtaining more accurate fire control information.

If the firing order is arranged in advance, that is, the combat tactics, the preparation time before firing can be greatly shortened.
To be continued...