Although the reconnaissance team members were hiding in a concealed location several kilometers away, the joint patrol of Gna and government forces still noticed the anomaly, and AK bullets were fired directly at them.
"Da da da"
A battle was about to break out, and the leader of the reconnaissance team immediately opened fire.
Both sides had seven or eight men, and each thought they could win. However, in this kind of light infantry confrontation, the side with higher individual combat skills clearly had the advantage.
"Bang"
On the patrol side, a Gna marksman raised his SVDS semi-automatic sniper rifle (SVD folding stock version) and fired a shot. The officer in charge, who was still firing, fell to the ground and fell into a deep, infantile sleep.
"Bang"
He smoothly adjusted the muzzle of his gun, aimed at the second target, and fired another shot.
The counterattack suddenly became much stronger, and the two assault soldiers charged forward while fighting, preventing the enemy from showing their faces.
"Leave one alive!"
Seeing that the armed men had been completely subdued, the patrol captain shouted to everyone.
"Bang"
Because of his words, the marksman who had locked onto the third target, with his gun slightly pointed to the left, fired a shot that hit the opponent's right hand as he pulled the trigger.
The old gun has performed reliably. As for the SVCH semi-automatic sniper rifle released by the Kalashnikov Group last year, it is unknown how many more years of modifications and testing will be needed before it is finally finalized.
Similarly, the marksman who retired last year had only ever used, and only knew how to use, SVD.
As a soldier, it's enough to use one good gun for a lifetime. However, after making money in Gna, he used his salary to upgrade the scope of his gun.
The original PSO-1 scope had a magnification of only 4x, which was sufficient for that era, but now it has been surpassed by assault rifles.
If we don't change, the battlefield will teach us a lesson.
He purchased aluminum alloy kits from the Czech Sureshot Equipment Group, as well as a 5-20x56pmii compact scope from the German company Schmidtbender.
Aside from not replacing the barrel with a heavy one, this modified sniper rifle's performance rivals that of the official modernized SVDM.
It's a pity that even if you can hit exactly where you aim within range, it doesn't guarantee you'll capture them alive.
"boom"
The grenade exploded, symbolizing the end of the battle.
"The last one who wasn't wounded shot and killed all the wounded, then pulled the pin on a grenade and committed suicide."
Back at the outpost, Old Yev stood in front of the corpse and explained the details to Xia Yu.
"No survivors, not even our own people. Typical Ace-Ace style. The enemy noticed you and came to the camp to gather intelligence."
As he spoke, he picked up a Think Tank 2.
"This is a drone that automatically returns to base when its battery is depleted. Your Chinese products are quite popular, not just in Syria, but all over the world."
"The flight control software must have been hacked. There are also no-fly zones here, which should be no-fly zones."
Xia Yu took the battle-damaged drone, examined it thoroughly, and then spoke.
Xinjiang has always had a strong will to survive. Seeing that consumer drones are gradually being developed for military purposes, it immediately launched a no-fly zone package.
But it's useless; it's easy to circumvent it because it's itself a way to shirk responsibility.
The drones that these black army obtained were hacked as soon as they got their hands on them. As for FPV racing drones that don't require high-quality aerial footage, they were basically assembled by themselves and had no restrictions whatsoever.
Xia Yu is optimistic about the development prospects of loitering munitions, and naturally he also sees the potential for FPV racing drones to be used in the military and become a low-end version of loitering munitions.
This is why he didn't use it first, in order to avoid, or rather, delay, opening Pandora's box.
Given the financial situation of Jihuo Defense, they don't need to save these few thousand dollars. On the contrary, it's a heavy asset for the company, and they need to be vigilant in preventing targets from using this new weapon.
Xia Yu spent a lot of money to bring in the red cheetahs, precisely for this purpose.
Moreover, one car is enough for the next two years. If the situation continues to deteriorate in a few years, a second or third car will be needed.
After all, the company always needs to expand, and each fleet needs to have one vehicle.
"There are no no-fly zones for self-assembled drones. They're only good for intelligence gathering because of their superior image quality. Ace used a different kind of drone to drop the badminton shuttlecock bomb."
Old Yev had been bombed before, so while he was stationed at the camp, he would send out many patrol teams to keep an eye out for any suspicious persons in the surrounding area.
Only military-grade loitering munitions have an extremely long attack range, while civilian-grade ones generally do not exceed 10 kilometers, making them relatively easy to defend in a fan-shaped area of engagement.
"Using badminton shuttlecocks as tail fins to stabilize the bomb's trajectory is a brilliant idea. But given how much crude oil they've stolen and sold, why don't they buy a few 3D printers?"
After Xia Yu finished expressing his feelings, a new question arose in his mind.
If rifles can be printed directly, simple plastic parts are even easier to make.
As Hussein tossed the badminton shuttlecock in his hand, the overseer of the bomb-making crew also had this question in his mind.
Easy accessibility is one reason, and another is that the specifications of bomb warheads are not standardized.
The weapons were purchased from the black market and seized from government forces and hostile armed groups. The sources were diverse, resulting in a variety of calibers. The grenades alone came in three calibers: 30mm, 35mm, and 40mm.
Of course, there are also old tricks repurposed as glass bombs.
Insert the grenade with the pin pulled out into a suitably sized glass and secure the clip. This will prevent it from exploding prematurely in the air when dropped from a height. Moreover, the grenade contains more explosives than a regular grenade, making it more suitable for bombing vehicles.
To blow up a tank, you'd need mortar shells; a quadcopter can barely carry a single 60mm shell.
Large-caliber bombs require multi-rotor plant protection drones, but those things are noisy, and if they are lowered to a suitable distance for dropping bombs, they will be detected by the target.
Once spotted, it's game over. Agricultural drones are easier to shoot down with machine guns than quadcopters, and their infrared signature is more obvious.
Newer models of portable anti-aircraft missiles can lock onto targets and are equipped with proximity fuses, allowing them to destroy drones without even hitting them.
In the battle where Panaka destroyed the White Hat branch, the enemy took down Xia Yu's mg-1s with a single Needle-S. Meanwhile, in Syria and Yila, the old magnesium, terrified by the bombing, quickly upgraded their Stingers.
Not only has the impact fuse been upgraded to a proximity fuse, but the new guidance head also features a more sensitive infrared thermal radiation sensor, enabling it to lock onto low, slow, and small drones weighing between 2 and 20 kilograms.
But how much does a single shot of the poison stinger cost?
Trading this thing for a helicopter would be a huge profit, but trading it for a consumer-grade drone that costs a few hundred dollars would be a huge loss.
Xia Yu did not integrate portable anti-aircraft missiles onto the Red Cheetah for this reason, since the modern Cheetah 1A2 has two Stinger missiles integrated on its left side.
In the combined arms system, he would rather equip the attack helicopters hunting near the convoy with two Mistral missiles.
Portable anti-aircraft missiles can be fired from the air, and their range and altitude could be even better!
Launching from the ground would only extend the range by one or two kilometers compared to a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, which is really unnecessary.
Extremist groups like Ace Ace only managed to seize one MiG-21 and two MiG-23s from the government forces at the beginning of the war. Two of them were shot down while they were training at the Jalar Air Base, and the third one was rendered unusable.
Xia Yu estimated that this was the maximum extent that extremist organizations could reach.
If we encounter something even more formidable in the future, taking them out in air combat is more practical than using portable anti-aircraft missiles.
Now, these hand-made badminton shuttlecock bombs are the type of air attack that concentrated fire defenses are most likely to encounter.
On the workbench, a 40mm grenade was disassembled into eight pieces by the organization's engineers. With the help of pins and screwdrivers, they modified the safety mechanism to be purely mechanical, so that the safety could not be disengaged until the propellant propelled the warhead more than ten meters away from the barrel, as was the case in the past.
Once assembled, it becomes a badminton shuttlecock bomb that explodes upon impact, effectively killing personnel and other soft targets.
Hussein was very pleased with it; he liked this new gadget.
Even two years ago, a Chinese couple caused them some losses by using drones.
Back then, drones could only guide and correct artillery fire and bombing reports; they couldn't possibly drop bombs like they can now.
"Commander, we have completely lost contact with the reconnaissance team."
His deputy, Osamah, opened the door and came in to report.
They were Pearl's most loyal warriors. Losing contact meant certain death, and the vigilant Oslothians and government troops wiped out the entire squad.
"Are they unwilling to let us see their hand and make targeted defenses?"
Hussein stroked his beard, muttering to himself.
This proves that the other side will take action soon. The sacrifice of those seven warriors was not meaningless; at least it strengthened his determination to fully prepare for war.
"Tell Jamil to keep a close eye on any activity in the south."
Hussein gave the order to Usamah.
Jamil was a low-ranking leader of the Black Army stationed at Barmira Castle. They were the first to know if there was any movement by the Ossians or the government forces.
"yes!"
The deputy accepted the order and left, while at the other outpost camp, a shipment of supplies arrived with the transport convoy, and the Red Cheetah's driver also arrived.
The other party was fully armed, wearing a baseball cap, and carrying an HK416 that showed signs of use. He had sharp eyes and a well-proportioned build.
The first impression he gives is that he served in the military, but you can hardly associate him with the anti-aircraft artillery.
Lu Xianglin served in the army for 12 years, working with anti-aircraft guns for all 12 years. After his discharge, he was assigned to the meteorological bureau, but the benefits within the system in inland provinces were far inferior to those in coastal areas.
So Lao Lu didn't choose stability and took the PSC route to Yilaoke. Until recently, after handing over his work, he came to the neighboring Suliya and switched jobs to become an employee of Jihuo Defense.
The job still involves handling guns, but most of the time I'm dealing with my old buddies.
Xia Yu led him to the tent, where he saw a red cheetah that looked similar in every way, yet was different in every way.
"Old Lu, you should have a clearer understanding of the increasingly serious drone attacks in Yilaoke than I do."
He planned to take this opportunity to have a good chat with the other party and get to know this new employee as soon as possible.
"Yes, boss. Just last month, the commander of an M1A1 tank of the Yilaq government forces was hit by a badminton shuttlecock bomb while he was only up in the hatch."
This is what happens when you're targeted by a drone. If you act professionally enough, you can hold out until the battery runs out. After all, a few dozen grams of explosive charge is nothing to a tank.
But if you're not a professional and can't effectively use the commander's panoramic sight to hunt targets or detect threats, leaning out to get a better view will only make you a sitting duck.
"They haven't improved in decades. Maybe the poorer they are in the Middle East, the more combat-ready they are!"
Xia Yu was speechless.
Such a basic mistake would never happen if it were placed in a concentrated fire defense unit.
"However, this also proves what I said: the intensity of the Middle East battlefield is higher than that of Afika. I need you to get familiar with this Cheetah A9 as soon as possible."
He continued speaking to Lu Xianglin.
Cheetah A9 is the official designation of the red cheetah in the company.
"It shouldn't be too difficult for you. The operation is the same, except that the chassis is the Leopard 1 chassis and the ammunition capacity is also larger. I will assign you a driver, but he will also be responsible for an armored recovery vehicle."
Xia Yu was referring to the 06. Armored recovery vehicles are usually left at the camp and only deployed when needed.
Therefore, it would be more appropriate to assign the Type 06 to self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.
Furthermore, to avoid saturation attacks, the Cheetah A9 only requires a two-person crew.
Xia Yu could hardly imagine that more than 100 drones would launch a deadly attack on their convoy.
Only a legitimate major power's military could possess such organizational capabilities and technical personnel reserves; it's impossible for any extremist organization to achieve this level of competence.
"Yes, boss!"
He climbed into the car and took a look, finding it indeed familiar, and Lao Lu responded.
As a professional air defense officer, he also has the most freedom among the tank commanders in the team. He only needs to manage his professional matters, so it is not too important that he did not participate in the joint training.
The pilot, 06, was more likely to follow Kuhn's orders.
In the ground forces of concentrated fire defense, self-propelled anti-aircraft guns are assigned to two infantry fighting vehicles, rather than two tanks.
If the battle intensity is too high, and the Marder S30 and S3 run out of ammunition, the Cheetah A9 can also, like the one facing north, lower its muzzle and fire at ground targets.
During the most intense phase of combat, the focus is not on cost-effectiveness, but on using every available weapon to annihilate the enemy.
Next, the two talked about weapons and life, and Xia Yu asked him to come up with a code name.
Old Lu originally wanted to get the cheetah, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that the snow leopard seemed better.
“Indeed, the snow leopard is better. It eats birds in the air and hunts beasts on the ground.
Xia Yu nodded in agreement.
“Kuroyu, this is the commander of our self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, Snow Leopard. You should take him and let him get acquainted with his colleagues.”
Xia Yu called Lao Liu over and put him in charge of the matter, saying he was more suitable than Huang Jingxiu.
"Yes, boss!"
Old Liu led the man away, and Xia Yu returned to his barracks.
Today's schedule was very full, but it's not over yet.
As darkness falls and the city lights begin to twinkle in a normal city.
"Buzz"
Once the propeller reaches the standard rotation speed, the power-accumulating launcher will launch the Sparrowhawk A into the air.
The drone flew straight north to Balmira.
Due to years of war, the power supply facilities here have long been destroyed, and the surviving civilians have long been accustomed to life without electricity.
The only places in the city that still have lights on at night are Ace members equipped with diesel generators.
They initially maintained blackout rules, but the government forces' repeated probing attacks, which resulted in them surrounding the group without attacking, lowered their guard.
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