"Yes, boss!"
Liv was about to salute Xia Yu, but her large movement accidentally ripped off the night vision goggles on her helmet.
"I forgot to tell you, our company strictly prohibits saluting during combat."
Xia Yu swiftly grabbed the company asset, then, while speaking, reinserted the night vision goggles into the slot of her helmet and tightened the knob to secure it.
For nighttime operations involving concentrated fire defense, everyone must be equipped with night vision goggles.
In addition, although the Marder K1 is an ambulance, considering the need for nighttime operations, the night combat hunting and observation roles of the gunner and commander have been transferred to the driver's side.
"Okay, boss. I'm a little nervous."
Like Xia Yu, Liv was a little nervous about participating in a real-world exercise for the first time.
"Don't be nervous. These are all subjects that we've practiced countless times. I believe you can do them even with your eyes closed."
Xia Yu smiled and patted Liv's helmet, encouraging her.
"Then I'll go over there."
Go!
As Liv boarded the armored ambulance, two land forces consisting of a Marder S30, a K1, and a Tiger armored vehicle also set off.
Now, only two armed helicopters, one large and one small, remain in the camp, along with Andrei, who is staring blankly at Xia Yu.
Both attack helicopters were fully fueled and armed, but they would only take off once all land, surface, and underwater forces were in place.
Let's check it again for now!
The Gazelle's configuration is relatively simple: four HOT 3 missiles paired with 300 DM81 tracer high-explosive rounds. Basically, once they've fired all their missiles, they're done.
The old Deer-Tiger is no good; the six pylons on both short wings are fully loaded, and the weakest wingtip pylons are both twin HOT-3s.
Back then, China only bought 8 Gazelle missiles, but purchased several hundred HOT anti-tank missiles to accompany them at a price of $30,000 each.
After careful research and considering its own need for lightweight design, the famous and globally best-selling HJ-8 anti-tank missile was developed.
The ability to achieve the same penetration depth while reducing weight by half is remarkable, but it also resulted in later models specializing in anti-tank warfare, rather than being developed into the third-generation HOT missile, which was designed for multiple purposes.
Developing powers and declining former hegemons naturally have different needs for weapons.
Jihuo Defense is still using the HOT3, which is only suitable for miscellaneous tasks because the client's budget allows it.
The AGM-114 Hellfire, which weighs twice as much, has a warhead that weighs only 9 kilograms, with the excess weight allocated to the power unit.
But we're in the Afica region, so high air-to-ground speed isn't that important.
In addition to these four missiles, Xia Yu also installed four-cell HOT3 missile launchers on both stub wing pylons, meaning he has a total of 12 missiles.
This is also the first time in the company's history. Usually, cheap rockets are used to pave the way, but the size of the attack helicopter's short wings is limited, and at most, it can only carry 80mm rockets.
Missiles are different; they can use oversized caliber missiles with large warheads, but they will be much more expensive.
The good news is that the old stuff is cheap.
Currently, in the international secondary arms market, some people are offering 10- to 15-year-old HOT 3 rounds for only $20,000 to $30,000 per round.
Larger quantities will receive an additional discount; it's practically a clearance sale at a loss.
With such a low price, there's naturally no after-sales service included.
Whether the shot is loud or accurate is anyone's guess; it all depends on luck. But it does provide Xia Yu with a reference point for quoting prices to clients.
The white top hat vividly demonstrated the dangers of near-expiry and expired missiles, but those were air-to-air missiles.
If you can't hit others, they can hit you.
Air-to-ground missiles would be much better; stray or misfired missiles would only waste a payload, and the next one that hits would be a bonus.
Xia Yu doesn't gamble on stones or bullets, but he lets clients gamble, the kind where they're guaranteed to win.
It's not that he's a good person, it's just that the material cost of printing a HOT-3 is only a few thousand dollars, which is less expensive than an AT-4.
Afika doesn't have many wealthy men; without this method of "conceding profits" to the client, how else can he maintain his firepower?
No one does business that loses money, but there are many people who are willing to gamble.
Ji Ban chose Xia Yu's plan, which resulted in the current star-studded lineup.
With the two B-8V20 rocket pods removed from the internal racks, the old Deer-Tiger now looks just like a missile truck.
The Ka-52 can only carry a maximum of 12 9M127 Vortex missiles, while the Apache can carry a maximum of 16 AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.
Short wings, long wings, and lots of external hardpoints—that's impressive!
Six wingtips are already quite good; any more would affect the helicopter's maneuverability. Many attack helicopters will jettison empty rocket pods before dodging missiles, partly for this reason.
Andrei, who had already finished his inspection, stood aside and watched enviously as his boss touched and examined everything.
Their company has really upgraded this old female Hound so much! They've even added a new type of sight on top. Except for the fact that it can only fire HOT3 missiles, it's just as good as the Mi-28 Havoc in every way!
When Andrei was young, he went to Russia for exchanges. He certainly didn't encounter the Ka-52, but he did fly the Mi-28 a few times, which is why he came up with this idea.
Unfortunately, he was just an experienced pilot, not a war genius like his boss. Without a gunner to cooperate with him, he could only unleash 60-70% of the ultimate Hind's combat power.
In past internal conflicts, Andrei, a person who was quite proud of his professional field, finally admitted after being hit hard by reality that experience can never compare to talent (cheating).
If you were the boss, you might be able to unleash 120% of this ferocious beast's performance.
Xia Yu said, "You've got good taste."
"Calling the boss, calling the boss, the Echidna team is in position."
Tom's voice came through the radio.
Although the distance was greater, the defenses of the Por ethnic group's national salvation armed forces branch were clearly not as tight as those of the headquarters. He led the second group to avoid all the visible and hidden sentries, successfully sneaked ashore, and infiltrated every corner of the village before reporting to Xia Yu.
"Very good, remain silent and wait for the second phase."
Xia Yu replied immediately.
The first phase naturally began with a fight breaking out at headquarters, but Mariano and his two companions, who were lurking in the water, were still waiting for their chance.
Although Siyat did not expect that Jihuo Defense would send frogmen to infiltrate, by sheer luck, the searchlight in the center of the village would sweep across the water every fifteen minutes.
Every half hour, a patrol team of about 10 people will patrol the entire village on foot.
After Mariano and his team figured out the patterns underwater, they took off their diving gear and sank to the bottom of the water along with the underwater propulsion device.
Then they quietly surfaced and quickly ran towards a parking spot where their vehicles were parked.
Although their main force consists of armed fishing boats, they also have a considerable number of armed pickup trucks. Perhaps because he learned something from military school before dropping out, Šate didn't put all his eggs in one basket, and the same goes for the armed fishing boats.
This also led to the theme of this operation: to alert the enemy by luring the vehicles parked next to the villagers' shacks out.
Soon, the three men, moving like ghosts, found their target on the outermost side: a dilapidated Toyota pickup truck with a gun mount welded to its rear bed, supporting a 12.7mm heavy machine gun that looked very much like the Type 85 heavy machine gun.
Compared to the W85, which was designed for export, the old Type 85 did not appear frequently abroad. Judging from many details, the one in front of us is not the original old Type 85, but a replica.
Good heavens! I've already sold them at rock-bottom prices, how come the counterfeit arms market is in such a mess?
Perhaps it's better to make than to buy, and coupled with a lack of good design ideas, Yilang mass-produced foreign star-level 12.7mm heavy sniper rifles and heavy machine guns, not only for their own use but also for export in large quantities.
The Type 63 107mm rocket launcher is also a victim, a wildly popular product copied by more than a dozen countries, and it's unclear whether copyright fees were ever paid.
This replica of the old Type 85 rifle is sitting in the open, but it has no bullets, just like this pickup truck has no lock but no key in the ignition.
For armed groups, weapon maintenance is irrelevant, but basic preventative measures are still necessary.
If a villager drives off with a car, it can be chased back, but a burst of bullets from a heavy machine gun would be the end of it.
Lawrence quickly found the spare key to the pickup truck in the glove box, saving them the trouble of starting it themselves.
Daniel then unzipped the waterproof backpack, took out a bunch of 12.7x108mm bullets, and loaded them directly onto the gun.
These are bullets that Xia Yu bought. The aerial photos taken by the French are very clear. They never put away the machine guns on their vehicles, they just don't load them with bullets.
Then they don't need to bring any heavy firepower; just bring bullets.
"Calling the boss, calling the boss, the Otter Squad is in position and ready to begin Phase One."
After waiting and waiting, Xia Yu finally received news from Mariano.
During this time, Hans and Old K were all in position, waiting for the Otter Squad to fire the first shot and launch the formal attack.
"Then let's fight! Good luck!"
At Xia Yu's command, Daniel in the back of the pickup truck immediately loaded a bullet.
"Knock knock knock knock"
The muffled gunfire of the heavy machine gun ripped through the quiet night, sending a shiver down the spine of Šate, who was habitually insomniac.
Damn it, despite all the precautions, they still managed to break in.
But now that the shoe has finally dropped, he'll have some fun with the other party.
"Splash splash"
The little antelope started the engine first, and the propeller began to spin faster from a standstill, while the base commander extinguished his cigarette and contacted the air force deployed in Gabon.
"Yes, their helicopters have been deployed."
An hour ago, he had already made a phone call to inform his superiors of the movements of the concentrated fire defense.
That's the advantage of living together; the movements of the concentrated fire defense force can't be hidden from the French, nor is it necessary to hide them from the French.
In Central Africa, the only one that needs constant vigilance is Jiban, because there are too many traitors among them, and Xia Yu has to be on guard.
The other three parties are basically out in the open; if they want to observe the battlefield, they can simply send drones.
"The Snowy Owl drone took off twenty minutes ago and will arrive on the battlefield in three minutes."
Gabon responded.
After hanging up the phone, the person in charge felt very excited. The last time he felt this excited was when he was attacked by concentrated fire defenses.
The scene was truly spectacular; almost all the helicopters with white top hats were shot down, and the defenses were powerless against concentrated fire.
But these are all just small antelopes to them. Will they be able to play a stronger role in the hands of concentrated fire defense?
The major was very curious about this. In the Army Aviation Corps, the Tiger helicopter was the absolute mainstay, while the Gazelle had long been relegated to the second line, at most escorting transport helicopters and rarely participating in direct strike missions.
Well, the same weapons and equipment can have different effects in the hands of different forces and armies.
Compared to the heavily armed old deer and tiger, the less heavily armed and poorly protected antelope is just one part of a three-dimensional integrated system, and concentrated fire defense is attempting to form a systematic combat operation.
Xia Yu also found it very exciting. After watching Andrei leave, he also got into the cockpit of the Mi-24V.
Unlike most attack helicopters where the gunner sits in the front and the pilot in the back, the Tiger helicopter has the opposite cockpit layout.
Does having the gunner sit behind the pilot save on cabling between the observation and aiming equipment and the gunner's compartment?
Surely not. The Tiger's avionics system uses dual backups, and the old, large platform like the Hind has plenty of space. After renovation (modification), it can fit backup avionics, ensuring consistency between the two cabins.
Shaking his head, Xia Yu started the engine.
He's just warming things up now; the main character always appears last. When he takes off depends on when the news comes back.
"Knock knock knock knock"
The pickup truck drove recklessly through the village, and Daniel dodged the shacks where the villagers lived, pouring bullets at the small houses where they used to live.
Not counting those he couldn't see, with the help of night vision goggles, he took down six or seven patrol members, while Mariano followed up with shots, and the two of them worked together to finish off the group.
That's about it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw several boats with people on them. If I were to be hit by a burst of 23mm anti-aircraft gun fire, the agonizing feeling would be unforgettable for a lifetime.
"Platypus, we're preparing to retreat!"
"yes!"
Lawrence made two quick turns and charged toward the village's main gate before most people could react.
"Bang"
The pickup truck accelerated and smashed into the stainless steel gate that the other side had stolen from somewhere. The armed men who rushed out with guns in hand could only see its taillights.
"Chase them! They're not familiar with this area, they can't run fast!"
Under Xia Yu's mental suggestion, Šate treated it as just a game and sent out his entire convoy without much thought.
This is like luring the snake out of its hole after stirring up the grass; it's a game, after all, who wouldn't get frustrated after losing a few rounds in a row?
The remaining seven pickup trucks were started one by one, each carrying four or five people, and sped out of the village, quickly catching up with Mariano and his group who had deliberately slowed down.
"Da da da"
They opened fire from a distance of three to five hundred meters, and since it was nighttime, their bullets were completely inaccurate.
The heavy machine gun in the back of the truck would be more effective, but due to the angle, the heavy machine gun cannot fire directly forward, so a rifle has to be used instead.
If their junior commanders had any common sense, they might have realized that they could have simply stopped the vehicle and fired, since even if the enemy ran another 500 meters, it didn't seem to be beyond the range of a heavy machine gun.
Unfortunately, no one noticed; they just kept chasing after them, and there was really nothing they could do.
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