Chapter 286: One Hundred and Fifty Kilometers Sniper

Last time, Andre went specifically to snipe the early warning aircraft. The missile he carried was also equipped with a specially improved anti-radiation seeker. At that time, it was also the Americans' fault for being careless and running right under Andre's nose. If he didn't beat the Americans, it would definitely be a waste of that opportunity.

This time, Andre discovered it by accident. At this time, he could only judge that the other party was an early warning aircraft, but he didn't know that it was the latest treasure of the US Air Force. Although it was not specially prepared, Andre already had better equipment.

The MiG-31 interceptor, with its powerful phased array radar, can detect targets 200 kilometers away. If a large early warning aircraft like the current target is used together with all its beams, it can be found at a distance of 300 kilometers! If it was still the original Tornado radar, Andre would definitely not be able to find anything!

At the same time, the MiG-31 interceptor also has an excellent missile system! The matching R-33 missile has a range of more than 100 kilometers, which is fully capable of attacking early warning aircraft! Moreover, at the beginning of this year, the Pennant Design Bureau, at Andre's suggestion, improved the software of this air-to-air missile and optimized the flight path. Without changing other conditions, when flying in a cruise glide profile, the range has been further extended to 200 kilometers!

In later generations, Russia made improvements in this way. Simple software improvements greatly increased the range of this missile.

Now, let’s use this missile to give the Americans a surprise!

Andre was extremely excited. He followed the instructions of the radar operator in the rear cabin, adjusted the joystick, aligned the heading, and then turned on the engine afterburner to maximum.

Climb, climb again! The carrier aircraft must prepare enough energy for the missile!

Two high-thrust turbofan engines are working frantically, consuming fuel continuously. As the aircraft body becomes lighter, the speed continues to increase!

"Damn, they are definitely coming towards us!" the commander of the E-3 early warning aircraft exclaimed.

The enemy has already aligned with our course, and the radar shows that it is still accelerating and climbing. The situation is very clear; the enemy is definitely here to cause trouble for us!

"After our last analysis, we found that the Soviets already have anti-radiation seekers. Our EC-121 early warning aircraft was hit by the anti-radiation seeker. Their MiG-25 returned home after launching missiles!" A radar operator shouted, "As long as we turn off the radar when they launch missiles, we can avoid being hit!"

Turn off the radar! The eyes of the E-3 early warning aircraft are the radar. If the radar is turned off, then we don’t know anything! We don’t even know when the missile will hit us! The commander’s face was a little pale, and he was hesitant.

"Two hundred kilometers, the target is only two hundred kilometers away from us!" The radar operator looked at the screen and shouted loudly.

At this time, the E-3 early warning aircraft had increased to its maximum speed and was flying southwards. However, their speed was no match for the MiG-31, which was speeding at Mach 2.8. It was only a matter of time before they were caught up!

In recent battles, the Soviet Union's high-altitude, high-speed aircraft have been able to launch missiles from more than 60 kilometers away. If the enemy approaches within 100 kilometers of our side, it will be very dangerous!

Command more fighters to intercept? They are flying too high, so there is no chance for them to intercept!

"One hundred and fifty kilometers away!"

"****! Four bright spots, they launched missiles, four!" The radar operator's voice was filled with horror.

Although the range could reach 200 kilometers, in the case of this kind of tail-chasing attack, the target was also flying, and firing at the maximum range would definitely not reach it in the end. Therefore, Andre cautiously chose to fire all four missiles at an interval of one second at a distance of 150 kilometers!

Four missiles, aiming at one target, must shoot down the American early warning aircraft! In his heart, Andre keenly felt that this was an opportunity to let the Americans know that it was unsafe to fly over the state! Then, the Americans would have no confidence in fighting with their own side in the air!

One hundred and fifty kilometers, snipe the early warning aircraft!

After launching the missiles, Andre turned off the afterburner. The huge MiG-31 interceptor began to slow down due to air resistance. The radar operator in the rear cabin was extremely nervous at this time. He had to control the four missiles!

Last time, four missiles attacked four targets. This time, we will only attack one target. We must not miss!

The R-33 is huge in size, with four more guide vanes than the prototype, in order to maximize lift. Moreover, after the first-stage solid rocket engine at the rear burns out and falls off, the second-stage rocket engine does not ignite immediately, but instead continues to fly forward in a gliding posture.

The R-33 missile had just accelerated to a speed of Mach 5 and an altitude of 30,000 meters. Now, having lost power, it was gliding forward in the thin atmosphere, relying on the lift provided by the guide vanes.

The distance to the target is getting closer and closer, and at the same time, the altitude is also decreasing.

Relying on this gliding method, the R-33 missile has already flown 80 kilometers! At the same time, the altitude has dropped to 20,000 kilometers, and the speed has also dropped to Mach 3.

At this moment, the second-stage rocket engine ignited again! With the appearance of the tail flame, the huge missile began to accelerate again!

However, one missile failed to ignite successfully, and its altitude continued to decrease while its speed rapidly decayed.

"Turn off the radar, turn off the radar, and immediately order the escort fighters to intercept the missiles!" The commander of the E-3 early warning aircraft recovered from his frightened expression and gave orders quickly.

One hundred and fifty kilometers! The Soviets launched missiles from one hundred and fifty kilometers away! This was far beyond their expectations. In the United States, the maximum range of the Phoenix missile was only one hundred and sixty kilometers, and the actual launch range was no more than one hundred kilometers! The Soviets launched an attack from one hundred and fifty kilometers away!

This made them unable to believe it no matter what. They just stared at the radar screen and saw the four bright spots approaching rapidly!

It's already 70 kilometers, and the missiles are still flying! Moreover, they are accelerating!

It seems that the Soviets are not bluffing, they really have this ability! Although one of the missiles fell, there are still three!

So far away, could it really be an anti-radiation seeker? The commander of the early warning aircraft was not calm and ordered the onboard radar to be shut down, hoping to escape.

The continuous radar beam continued to illuminate the large target. The R-33's semi-active radar seeker accurately received the echo. They launched the final sprint towards the target!