Dominate South Asia

Since the speeds of both sides were similar, the MiG-29 could only keep the same distance even if it was chasing, and it could not catch up. Moreover, if it chased, it might just fall into the opponent's ambush.

When the MiG-29 fleet was wondering whether it needed to chase, the MiG-31 sent new news. In the rear, a hundred kilometers away, a four-plane formation was approaching quickly!

In just a few minutes, three groups of enemy planes came to harass one after another. There must be something wrong! The pilot of the MiG-29 was hesitating whether to turn around and chase. If he chased, maybe the opponent would fly away immediately like last time.

At this moment, the MiG-31 issued a warning, and the opponent fired a missile!

The last batch of fighters was the main attack! Facing the surprise attack of the Pakistan Air Force, the MiG-29 fleet did not panic. They began to turn sideways and then eliminate their signals in the echo.

The twin vertical tails of the MiG-29 moved the airflow, and the fuselage turned 90 degrees nimbly. According to the last experience, they could already shake off the opponent's missiles.

However, the news from the MiG-31 surprised them even more. Those missiles were still flying!

The last two batches were all F-16s, and this third batch was four genuine F-14 Tomcat fighters!

Rick drove the fighter and tried the new tactics he came up with. When the opponent began to turn, he followed the turn, and never let the opponent's speed be perpendicular to his nose, so that he could always lock the opponent!

Looking at the signal that still existed on the screen, the radar officer in the rear cabin was excited and continued to track them until the active radar started working!

Time passed by minute by minute, and the Tu-16 electronic jammer had begun to release interference. Unfortunately, the Phoenix's anti-interference ability was very strong, and the Tu-16 electronic jammer that did not dare to get too close to the battlefield did not play any role.

Some MiG-29s began to climb vertically, while others began to dive, trying to shake off the pursuing Phoenix missiles. Unfortunately, only one succeeded.

Four Phoenix missiles killed three MiG-29s. When the heavy warhead exploded, the light MiG-29 had no chance of survival.

The remaining five MiG-29s were all looking at the approaching opponents in surprise. This time, they were no longer confident in the upcoming close combat because their fighters were running out of fuel!

In the Soviet Union, there are two major fighter development organizations. Mikoyan mainly designs fighters, while Sukhoi mainly designs interceptors. In the Soviet Union's combat concept, Mikoyan's fighters are mainly used at front-line airports. Therefore, the range will not be too far. In addition, in order to increase the thrust-to-weight ratio, two engines are used. In order to increase maneuverability, the fuel load coefficient is reduced. In order to adapt to the field front-line airport, auxiliary air intakes are used, which also occupy the space of the fuel tank. All these make the MiG-29's range very small. Without auxiliary fuel tanks, the maximum range is only 1,500 kilometers, and the high-to-high-return combat radius is only 500 kilometers. This is the most fuel-efficient situation. Just now, three batches of targets flew from different directions, causing the MiG-29 to accelerate several times to catch up, and once the afterburner was turned on, the fuel consumption increased sharply.

Because the MiG-29 has short legs, it was once joked by Americans as an airport defender.

In contrast, the Su-27 has a large internal fuel load coefficient, and it is almost impossible to see a Su-27 fighter carrying auxiliary fuel tanks to perform missions.

Muhammad formulated the tactics just now based on this shortcoming of the MiG-29. In the end, in the process of avoiding the Phoenix, the MiG-29 made high-maneuvering movements, further consuming precious fuel.

Now, their remaining fuel is just enough to return to Bagram Air Force Base.

Continue to fight? Not enough fuel, return? Being caught up and attacked by those enemy planes, the consequences are also tragic, what to do?

"The fuel is exhausted, we must return." The MiG-29 leader said.

At this time, the two MiG-31s ​​acting as early warning aircraft in the back flew up and began to fight the Tomcat fighters with the R33 missiles they carried, in order to buy time for the MiG-29 fleet to retreat.

They originally wanted to use their good maneuverability to fight the Tomcat fighters in close combat like last time, and use the R73 with large off-axis launch capability and helmet sights to shoot down the arrogant Tomcat fighters. Unfortunately, before they got close enough to fight at close range, they had already used up their fuel and left in disgrace.

As a heavy interceptor, the MiG-31 still had obvious advantages at this time. Its phased array radar was not afraid of interference at all, and it guided the R33 missiles towards the Tomcat fleet.

This time, the R33 missiles have been improved again. They can be semi-actively guided. When the interference source is found, they can also attack the interference source. The engineers of the pennant are too excellent to successfully transform this batch of missiles in a short time.

After discovering that the other side fired missiles, the Tomcat fleet did not engage in battle and immediately turned and flew away. Since the MiG-31 was originally in the rear, in order to drive away the Tomcat fleet and cover the evacuation of its own MiG-29 fleet, it almost launched missiles at the maximum range of the R33 missiles. Therefore, after the Tomcat fighters retreated, those R33 missiles could not reach them.

The two sides have stopped contact and returned to their respective airspaces.

The MiG-29 fleet returned at the most economical speed at an altitude of 8,000 meters. The pilots were speechless. If there was still fuel, they could have given it a try, but now, they had to withdraw from the battle because of running out of fuel. This was simply a kind of irony!

They didn't know that in the mountains below, four F-16 fighters were flying quickly in the valley. Although this was already considered Afghanistan's airspace, Afghanistan's air defense radar did not find anything because it was in the mountains.

"067, the target has flown over you, you can attack!" The early warning aircraft reported in the headset.

"Received." Kadri said in the radio: "Hunting the fulcrum begins!"

Turn on the afterburner, pull the control stick back, and the F110 engine at the tail spews flames, pushing the fighter to climb quickly.

Hunting the fulcrum!

In the return state, they entered the Afghan airspace again. The vigilance of these four MiG-29s was very poor. At the same time, due to the interference of the jammer, their radio communication signals were very poor.

The F-16 fighter jet that suddenly climbed up from low altitude easily touched behind them. At this time, they had no idea.

"Let's do it!" Kadri said, pressing the launch button, and an AIM-9L missile flew out from the wingtip rack.

Khatak and others also fired a missile one after another. They did not look at their results. After firing the missile, they continued to lower the slope, re-entered low altitude, and returned from the mountainous area.

At this time, the MiG-31 had also entered the Afghan airspace. The huge phased array radar in front had just been turned off. Although this thing is relatively powerful to use, the huge power brings a lot of heat. It relies on hydraulic power to dissipate heat. Even so, long-term work will still make it overwhelmed. Therefore, after entering the Afghan airspace, its radar has been turned off.

The MiG-29 fleet was still flying steadily until a bang came from behind, and then a warning light flashed on the dashboard in front of them.

The left engine failed! What happened?

The pilot turned his head back, hoping to see the situation behind him. Unfortunately, the high hunchback of the MiG-29 made the rear view very small, and the line of sight was blocked, so he couldn't see the situation behind him at all.

At the same time, there was an explosion.

"There is an attack behind!" The leader reacted, pulled up the fighter plane suddenly, turned it upside down, and wanted to see the enemy plane following behind.

Unfortunately, there was nothing in the empty sky, only three MiG-29s that had been hit.

Four AIM-9L missiles, two of which hit a target, because they were all tail-chasing shooting, so they did not miss the target. Because the two engines of the MiG-29 were far away, although one engine was damaged, only the unlucky one who hit two fell, and the other two could barely fly.

The oil was almost exhausted, and there was only one engine left. The pilots of the MiG-29 fleet were full of anger and frustration at this time. This time, they were completely tricked by the opponent!

This battle is much more complicated than before. In the past, we only needed to find the enemy planes and then guide our own fighters to engage in battle. Now, to divert the enemy, we need to appear on the enemy's radar screen in batches. The grasp of the battlefield situation and the command of each batch of fighters must be very precise.

Air combat is also an art!

Especially at the end, although they flew into Afghanistan, Muhammad still did not let them go. A team of F-16s that passed by at ultra-low altitude hunted down three planes without any loss on their side.

Grete also admired Muhammad very much. He was a genius commander!

The Peshawar Air Force Base was filled with joy. The haze of the last fighter plane being shot down had gone away.

Although it was a cross-border attack, the conflict between the two sides has now been completely escalated. The Soviets wanted to attack the Pakistani Air Force several times. This was just a lesson for them. Besides, after the attack, the Pakistani F-16s had already returned to the mountains and returned. The Soviets had no evidence that it was a cross-border attack by the Pakistani Air Force.

Although the MiG-29 has excellent maneuverability, it still has shortcomings. Its short legs, poor field of vision, and backward electronic equipment are all weaknesses that can be exploited.

With the constant harassment by the Soviets, Pakistan's western front became tense. No one expected that at this time, a quiet change occurred on the eastern front.