Chapter 588: The Turn of Times

As for ballistic missiles, the United States also has them! Moreover, the performance of the United States' ballistic missiles is far more advanced than these backward Scud missiles! In the Gulf War in history, the Americans did not use their own ballistic missiles, because the American Tomahawk cruise missiles were mature enough. The Tomahawk missile in history was launched by General Dynamics in 1970, developed in 1972, first tested in 1976, and equipped to the troops in 1983. Now, this missile has not been perfected, so the Americans used their ballistic missiles!

Anyway, the range is sufficient, so it is enough to attack directly from the Apennine Peninsula. This is simply a cruel and insane attack!

With the previous tit-for-tat, the possibility of Americans using nuclear warheads is very low, but other warheads are also lethal, especially the American ballistic missiles have a very high hit accuracy!

"Immediately alert our bases in the north and prepare to deal with incoming missiles, especially the H-3 base!" said Andre.

Unconsciously, Andrei's voice in the Iraqi top brass is getting more and more important, because their president Uday completely trusts Andrei, and if Iraq wants to win the current war, it absolutely cannot do without the command of the Soviet Union! What's more, there are now a large number of Soviet advisers in the Iraqi army!

H-3 Air Force Base! This is an important air force base in northern Iraq. There are nearly forty of Iraq's newly improved MiG-23 fighters at this base!

After receiving the news, the H-3 Air Force Base took quick action. The fighter planes on standby on the runway took off urgently, while the other fighter planes were towed into the hangar, and damage control personnel were in place, awaiting the Americans' fierce attack.

The attack came very quickly. Just after the last stranded fighter took off from the runway, the American Pershing missile had already flown over the base! At an altitude of several hundred meters, the warhead exploded violently!

Following the explosion, countless small warheads scattered in all directions, almost covering the entire base!

There were explosions everywhere, and the officers and soldiers of the base hiding in the air-raid shelters looked pale.

This is the submunition that no one wants to see! The entire base is ruined after this attack! It will take at least half a month for the engineers to remove those unexploded small warheads! Although the hangar did not suffer a devastating blow, now those planes can only stay in the hangar and cannot take off!

Five missiles, all hit the target accurately! One of them hit a power plant in the north, and in the explosion, the power supply to the entire north was completely cut off.

The whole of Iraq was groaning that night.

Although there are S-200 missiles, these most powerful missiles are placed around Baghdad to protect Baghdad’s airspace. It is impossible for them to protect every part of Iraq’s territory.

Moreover, the Americans' goal is now very clear. They are concentrating their efforts on destroying Iraq's air bases. Now that the US air force has been crippled, the Iraqi air force will not survive! Since it is impossible to regain air superiority, then simply bring the Iraqi air force to the same level as the United States!

That night, Iraq's main air force bases suffered devastating blows. Airport runways were completely destroyed, a large number of fighter planes were bombed, and the anti-aircraft firepower deployed in the surrounding areas was completely useless!

These anti-aircraft firepower would be very effective against ordinary fighter planes, but they would be helpless against stealth aircraft! The radar could not detect the target at all, and the anti-aircraft guns only fired aimlessly into the air after they found that they were bombed. In this case, it was impossible to achieve any results at all, because the enemy had already flown away.

It was a speechless night. When the sky brightened again, the Iraqi top leaders discovered that they had less than fifty fighter jets available.

Because the airport was bombed, some fighter planes that took off had to make emergency landings on the highway. Some planes even made emergency landings in the desert. The planes landed but were already damaged.

Inside the underground command center, the air was filled with the choking smell of smoke. The final results of last night were still being tallied, but they were definitely not optimistic.

"It is obvious that we can no longer effectively protect our airspace. Our latest news is that the American fleet of three aircraft carriers has gathered in the Mediterranean Sea and is now clearly making final preparations before the attack. Egypt and Jordan have opened their airspace under pressure from the United States, so the American aircraft carrier fleet's carrier-based aircraft may attack us at any time." Air Force Commander Abid said: "By then, there will be more than 200 fighter planes swooping down, and our Iraq will become an undefended city."

Although we still have a large number of ground-based air defense forces, passive air defense is always an unwise choice in modern warfare. Without air power, we cannot win.

Even if the U.S. Air Force was crippled, the Americans still had the Navy! And wanting to do the same thing and attack the American Navy's aircraft carrier formation with Scud missiles was simply a pipe dream.

There is no doubt about the outcome of today's air battle. No matter how tenacious the Iraqi Air Force is, it will be ruthlessly destroyed under the pressure of the US Navy Air Force! Those fighter planes that landed were not adequately maintained, bombed, or refueled. They would die if they took off!

Then, the Americans will use air strikes to blow up various targets in Iraq!

Iraq has always regarded itself as the fourth largest military power in the world, and the military leader in the entire Middle East. Now, when it faces off against the United States, it realizes how terrifying its opponent is!

Some people have already lost hope in their eyes. Things change so fast. We defeated the US Air Force the day before yesterday, but last night, our own air force lost its combat effectiveness!

Looking at these listless guys, Andre couldn't help but despise them in his heart. They were neither arrogant in victory nor discouraged in defeat. These guys looked like this now. Are they going to admit defeat? No wonder the Iraqi Air Force has made no achievements!

"Everyone, although the current situation has changed, we are not without hope of victory." Andre said, "The first thing the Air Force needs to do is to maintain the remaining fighters. Even if it takes a lot of effort, we must be ready to take off and welcome the first round of attacks from the US Navy."

Take off as many as you can, and fight as many as you can!

"Our strength is still too small. If the Americans only send one aircraft carrier formation, maybe we can still cope with it," said Abid.

"Then we can seek external help." Andre's voice was not loud, but it shook everyone's heart.