Chapter 110

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On the evening of December 19.

Six F/A-18E/F fighter jets launched from the aircraft carrier.

Their destination was Damascus, the capital of Syria.

However, although these jets were arranged in a combat formation at this moment,

one could sense from their communications that the pilots seemed to care little about this mission.

"Jack, how about having a drink at my place after the mission? I've got a bottle of whiskey hidden there."

"Oh, that's the best news I've heard all day; that bitch Jennifer cheated on me!"

"That is indeed bad news, Hunter!"

...It seemed that for these pilots,

this raid on Syria was nothing more than a sightseeing trip.

In reality, it was indeed the case.

After all, during the previous two bombings, although the Syrian side had launched counterattacks,

with S-300 air defense systems firing missiles that screamed through the sky,

in the end, not a single one of those missiles managed to hit an F/A-18E/F.

Across the two bombing runs, U.S. military losses were zero.

Meanwhile, the Syrian side had lost quite a few air defense weapons.

This situation left the Russian Bear extremely embarrassed.

It was precisely because of such combat records that the U.S. Air Force naturally looked down even more on Syrian forces.

These F/A-18E/Fs were blatantly announcing to the other side: We have arrived.

Soon, they crossed through Jordanian territory, plunged directly into Syrian airspace, and headed toward the capital.

At this very moment, the Syrian side had already made its preparations.

The Syrian President, whom the United States had long sought to overthrow, was especially focused.

He warned the officers supporting him that this time, the 367 unit must teach those arrogant U.S. soldiers a severe lesson.

"Holy war, for the glory of Syria!"

The President clenched his fist and shouted loudly.

Upon hearing this, those Syrian government military officials also shouted with faces flushed red:

"Holy war!"

"Holy war..."

For a moment, within the secret underground bunker, cries rose up like a tsunami.

Some guarding soldiers raised their weapons and shouted loudly.

In that moment, their eyes were filled with light; it was a kind of faith.

Thinking of the casualties caused when those U.S. troops dropped depleted uranium bombs,

thinking of the parents, relatives, and children among those victims,

they wished they could immediately engage those U.S. soldiers in hand-to-hand combat, tearing at their flesh and blood with their teeth,

and draining their blood dry.

Then, with a single order from the President,

that night, all the soldiers united in hatred against the enemy, preparing to meet the incoming foe.

At this time, however, the F/A-18E/F squadron knew nothing of this.

As they drew closer and closer to the Syrian capital,

The depleted uranium bombs aboard the F/A-18E/F aircraft had their safeties unlocked.

"Die, you Syrian bastards!"

One pilot prepared to press the launch button.

Although it was night, the night-vision imaging system could still help the pilots identify their targets.

However, just as he was about to fire the missiles,

suddenly, an alarm blared.

Pilots familiar with this beeping sound naturally knew they had been locked onto by a missile.

Thus, the pilot immediately deployed chaff and infrared flare countermeasures.

Immediately, a series of bursts of fire appeared around the aircraft.

These countermeasure flares release a certain quantity and pattern of chaff or infrared decoys,

thereby creating a false target or a heat source to induce enemy infrared-guided missiles to deviate from the real target.

Just shortly after the F/A-18E fighter pilot released the countermeasures, a missile brushed past the fuselage,

heading instead toward the decoy flares.

Clearly, this pilot's decisiveness had successfully allowed him to brush past Death itself.

However, not all aircraft were so fortunate.

Some pilots initially believed that the enemy missiles could never hit them,

so after being locked on, their speed in releasing countermeasures was noticeably half a beat too slow.

That half-beat became the boundary between life and death.

Bang! A tremendous explosion erupted high in the sky.

Next, a fireball appeared in the air.

"Oh, my God!"

A hideous military pilot, his face illuminated by the firelight, could not believe that his teammate, who had just been speaking,

was now blown into minced meat.

Only now did he feel terror.

"Hunter, oh God, I've been hit, I've been hit..."

Another aircraft screamed over the comms; although this plane had also deployed flares,

one of its wings was still heavily damaged by the blast wave from the missile explosion.

The entire braking system of the aircraft immediately lost balance.

The pilot could not control the plane at all, and it began to plummet rapidly from the sky.

Boom!

With no other choice, the pilot could only eject and parachute to escape.

Soon after, the aircraft crashed into the distant ground, sending a pillar of fire soaring into the sky.

In an instant, two fighter jets were lost.

This made the flight squadron dare not underestimate the Xuzheng Prefecture air defense system again.

"This is Squadron James, repeat, this is Squadron James... We have come under attack by the Xuzheng Prefecture air defense system,

losing two fighter jets, requesting immediate return to base, requesting immediate return to base..."

However, the aircraft carrier command center had not yet had time to respond.

Only the sound of "beep, beep, beep" was heard as the lock-on tone rang out again.

"FUCK, damn it!" Looking through his helmet, the pilot saw that at least three missiles were flying toward him.

At this moment, he was terrified out of his wits.

Almost without thinking, he launched all the flares carried on the aircraft in one go,

hoping to deceive the opponent's guided weapons.

One missile exploded mid-air due to the flares,

but the remaining two tightly locked onto this pilot's aircraft.

One must know how fast the S-400 missile is: 3,400 m/s, approaching Mach 10.

And how fast is the F/A-18E? At most Mach 1.8, which is 612 meters per second.

The gap between the two is more than fivefold.