Empire Conquest-Chapter 793 - 68: Splitting Into Two Groups

"Everyone, listen to the command, pay attention to the front and back hooks."

Beside the helicopter, Jiang Shanggui was issuing orders to several soldiers from the logistics support company of the 04101 Battalion, loading the ’Liannu’ anti-tank missiles onto the launch rack.

To be precise, they were actually hung onto the launch rack.

Because of the large size and the hassle of folding wings, the ’Liannu’ did not use a launch tube and was directly hung underneath the launch rack.

Normally, this kind of work is handled by land air force ground crew, and does not require the crew’s attention.

During field airport resupplies, however, the crew had to take command personally.

It wasn’t inherently difficult, mainly just lacking the necessary tools, such as flatbed forklifts specifically used for transporting and lifting missiles. When having to rely solely on manpower, it’s not impossible to load ammo, but it is much more troublesome, particularly when mounting, as ensuring the data interface connection is a must.

To be safe, the weapons officer took charge personally.

Fortunately, the logistical officers and soldiers of the 04101 Battalion had impressive capabilities.

Even more importantly, the design of all armed helicopters, including the ’Z-10A’, had considered reloading operations in field conditions, thus keeping the relative height of the mounting points under two meters, and the missile rack interfaces facing downwards.

This height allows for ground-level operation.

In addition, weapons operators must master the reloading methods of missiles and other ammunition.

Pilots are responsible for refueling and resupplying hydraulic oil and other fluids, and when necessary, inspecting the engine and transmission systems.

Fortunately, engine failure rates are not high in plains combat.

"Major Lian Mingyang, who is Major Lian Mingyang?"

"I am here!"

Upon hearing the call, Lian Mingyang responded and then stood up.

A soldier ran over. "Major, frontline combat command expects the enemy to launch a re-attack around 3 o’clock, asking if you can deploy."

"Before 3 o’clock?" Lian Mingyang, knowing full well, checked his watch as he asked.

It’s already 2:45 am.

minutes remaining!

Even if they set off now, it would take more than 10 minutes to fly there.

"We’ll try our best." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The soldier nodded, asked no more questions, and ran off.

Lian Mingyang’s response was actually quite courteous.

In previous battles, the low-altitude assault force under his command had lost nearly half its strength, with only 22 armed helicopters withdrawing.

Out of which, 5 were too severely damaged to continue fighting.

By Lian Mingyang’s order, pilots had already dismantled sensitive equipment from these 5 ’Z-10As’ and salvaged usable parts to repair other damaged helicopters.

Lian Mingyang had a total of only 17 ’Z-10As’, 6 of which were damaged.

They could surely still fight, but their combat effectiveness was uncertain.

In fact, retaining half of the combat power was mainly due to luck.

In the early hours, as Lian Mingyang and his team arrived, the enemy was launching an assault.

After establishing contact with the defense forces, commanded by Pavlov of the East Luosha Army, Lian Mingyang and his team engaged in battle first.

Over 30 ’Z-10As’ divided in two batches, attacked enemy tank vehicles 5 kilometers behind the frontline using ’Liannu’.

Due to the great distance, night conditions, and the particularly complex battlefield situation, the attack was guided by ground forces using laser indicators to illuminate the targets.

In fact, this is the usual attack method utilized by the ’Z-10A’.

Because lasers travel in a straight line, when using the onboard laser illuminator, the armed helicopter would enter the enemy’s field of vision and could be subjected to anti-aircraft attacks. However, collaborating with allied forces, using their laser illuminators to guide the attack, allows the armed helicopters to remain hidden.

At least, they can stay out of the danger zone.

With guidance from allied forces, multiple missiles can be launched in one go to hit multiple targets, rather than firing them one by one.

After expending all anti-tank missiles, Lian Mingyang and his team encountered a real adversary.

However, the encounter was different from the expectations.

What arrived first was not the Tiaoman Empire ’Tiger’, but West Luosha’s ’Mi-24’.

Although the type of the enemy aircraft was accurately identified with infrared imaging, on a rapidly changing battlefield, there’s absolutely no room for error.

As a result, when engaging with the ’Mi-24’, Lian Mingyang and his team used up nearly all their TY-1 missiles.

As for the battle achievements, they were not worth mentioning.

To be expected, really.

During acceptance tests, it was found that when helicopters faced air-to-air missile attacks, they stood a good chance of evading the missiles by reducing speed and flight altitude. Even if they couldn’t shake off the missile, deploying interference bombs during maneuver evasions could also achieve the goal.

Moreover, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

While Lian Mingyang and his team were tangled up with the ’Mi-24’, the Tiaoman Army’s ’Tiger’ arrived.

Worried about friendly fire, the ’Tiger’ did not attack with air-to-air missiles from afar, but joined the aerial dogfight after closing in.

The Tiaoman Army had deployed only a small number of ’Tigers’, just over 10 in total.

This was key to why Lian Mingyang and his team could survive.

When those ’Tigers’ arrived, the ’Z-10A’ had already defeated the ’Mi-24’, possessing enough tactical advantage.