Empire Conquest-Chapter 922 - 131: Full of Flaws

This aerial combat result wasn’t unexpected.

What happened next, however, was truly unbelievable.

Under normal circumstances, after setbacks in an aerial assault, the Fanluo Army should adjust its operational deployment, such as strengthening artillery preparations.

In drafting plans, one must account for unexpected situations.

As the saying goes, better safe than sorry.

Evidently, the Fanluo Army had no plans for unexpected situations, or perhaps never even considered that the initial air assault would fail.

The disparity in strength between the two sides was truly vast.

The Fanluo Air Force deployed nearly a thousand combat aircraft, whereas Bakistan’s Air Force had fewer than 600 operational combat aircraft in total.

Bakistan’s Air Force had only 120 "War-10AP" as suitable air superiority fighters, plus about 100 "War-7MP" which had been relegated to secondary roles. The remaining 300 "Attack-6EP" were specialized attack aircraft, lacking the capability for air defense missions.

In the planning stages, perhaps the Fanluo Air Force’s staff believed that even in a one-to-one attritional engagement, they could exhaust Bakistan’s Air Force.

In the initial air assault, the Fanluo Air Force deployed 80 F-15A/Bs and 120 F-16A/Bs, clearly targeting Bakistan’s fighters.

In fact, during the second Southern Subcontinent War, the Fanluo Air Force had indeed suppressed Bakistan’s Air Force through attritional tactics, ultimately securing air superiority.

Unfortunately, over 20 years of development had dramatically changed aerial combat.

For example, in air battles over 20 years ago, the main weapon was the cannon. Medium-range Air-to-Air Missiles weren’t even a consideration, and Combat Missiles were hardly effective. Now, Medium-range Air-to-Air Missiles with active radar seekers are the absolute mainstay; in the Boss Bay War, over 50% of the kills were made by the KK-12A. Combat Missiles have become self-defense weapons, and cannons have essentially exited the stage of air combat.

With changes in combat techniques, the methods of aerial combat, as well as the main factors deciding the outcomes, must inevitably change.

The battles on the Boss Bay side have already proven that air superiority is no longer decided by the number of forces.

Even in high-intensity confrontations, a few new fighters equipped with advanced missiles can shift the balance of power and decide the outcome of the aerial conflict.

Due to the lack of contingency plans and with ground troops assigned to assault missions having already advanced to their attack positions, coupled with the disruption and interference of the radio communication systems, the Fanluo Army did not adjust its deployment after the failed aerial assault, and launched the ground offensive as initially planned.

This was an absolute disaster!

However, that was a disaster for the Fanluo Army.

After 3:30 AM, the Fanluo Army began artillery preparations for their offensive.

It only lasted 30 minutes!

For a strategic offensive already lacking the element of surprise, with aerial strikes unfulfilled, 30 minutes of artillery preparation was far from sufficient.

In addition, the Fanluo Army did not employ tactical ballistic missiles or long-range rocket artillery and other battle zone-level strike weapons.

The reason was simple: long-range strike missions like battlefield interdiction were handled by the Air Force, thus the operational plan did not include elements of the Army.

To be fair, the Fanluo Air Force did indeed make heavy investments.

According to declassified information, in the first wave of assault, the Fanluo Air Force assigned over 100 F-4Es from 8 squadrons and over 50 F-16A/Bs from 4 squadrons to specifically execute battlefield interdiction tasks. Among them, 20 F-16A/Bs from 2 squadrons carried the newly acquired GBU-24B "Gem Road 3" laser-guided bombs from the Newland Republic, assigned to destroy 8 highway and railway bridges over the Satluj River, a tributary of the Fanluo River.

The Fanluo Air Force had a total of only 120 of these 2000-pound laser-guided bombs, and these F-16A/Bs carried over 50 of them!

Furthermore, only these 20 F-16A/Bs had been modified to carry laser designator pods on the frontal equipment hardpoints beneath the intake, capable of independently using "Gem Road" series laser-guided bombs for precise strikes on high-value enemy targets.

Theoretically, one GBU-24B can destroy a bridge!

If successful, the Fanluo Army could capture and control the east bank of the Satluj River within days, thereby gaining strategic initiative.

Unfortunately, these F-16A/Bs did not complete their missions.

Aside from a few shot down, the other F-16A/Bs, after being intercepted by Bakistan fighter jets, hastily dropped their bombs and turned to flee.

As for those F-4Es carrying regular bombs that penetrated from ultra-low altitude, most dropped their bombs indiscriminately after crossing the border line.

Some of them didn’t even cross the border and dropped the bombs within Fanluo Country!

By the time the Fanluo Army launched its offensive, the 8 bridges that were supposed to be destroyed still stood firm over the Satluj River.

Interestingly, in the Fanluo Air Force’s released war report, all 8 bridges were claimed to have been destroyed.

Although a few hours later, photos taken by the Newland reconnaissance satellite exposed the Fanluo Air Force’s lies, the delay of a few hours meant it was too late for everything.

In fact, it was precisely this flawed war report that caused the problem.

In the first wave of assaults, the top priority was to complete the battlefield segregation.

The Air Force hadn’t secured air superiority?

Once the ground combat started, air superiority became a secondary issue, after all, the Bakistan Air Force wasn’t considered strong, and strategically they were on the defensive.

Moreover, the Bakistan Air Force lacked effective strike means, while the Fanluo Army possessed a considerably powerful field air defense system.

In the face of the Fanluo Army’s armored tidal wave, the Bakistan Air Force’s outdated attack aircraft could at most create some trouble, but not turn the tide.