Chapter 787 - 745 Black Conflict

"Misunderstanding resolved, misunderstanding resolved!"

No one knew how much agony McMaster was in; it had only been 28 minutes since he was dragged out of his office.

But those 28 minutes felt longer than a lifetime. As the intelligence officer shouted out the reports, he just stared blankly at the serene sky outside the window.

There was no bright meteor, no MIRVs splitting off at the terminal phase—28 minutes would have been enough for them to arrive overhead.

Yet the occasional glimpse of an F22 still told him that what just happened was not an illusion; at that moment, humanity came unprecedentedly close to war, just a hair’s breadth away.

Deputy Director Jim collapsed to the floor, covering his face and weeping.

Just now, the Aerospace Development Committee had informed them that Artemis was out of control and had sought verification from them, to which NACA immediately confirmed its validity.

They had started explaining to the whole world a few minutes earlier, both through official and unofficial channels, with apology letters about Artemis and statements hoping not to cause misjudgments by all parties, but it was not until now, when the Aerospace Development Committee agreed to endorse NACA and issue a joint announcement to the world, that everyone could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Such a joint announcement both clarified the misunderstanding and had the power to persuade other forces to lay down their arms.

As for how to deal with Artemis itself and what followed, it had now become a trivial matter of no great consequence.

McMaster, feeling like a weight had been lifted, sat on the ground and ordered his assistant to immediately contact the Chinese People to gradually clear up the misunderstanding, but a message from the other side made him jump up and shout without regard for his image,

"Those pieces of shit in the Far East, they’ve gone mad, I will have them all dismissed!"

Ten minutes earlier, the East Sea.

When the forward-line radar station saw the dense group of aircraft taking off from the opposite coast, the operator at the time didn’t even go to maximum alert, thinking it was improbable for the other side to launch hundreds of planes and most likely it was electronic interference. He only requested that their own air force quickly go and intercept.

It’s worth noting that the Pacific Fleet headquarters had already detected the signal from the mainland’s long-wave radio station, but the alert had to be passed down in stages and had not yet reached the forward-line radar station.

By coincidence, an EP3E electronic warfare aircraft that had just completed its harassment mission and was preparing to return took the assignment, flying expertly towards the incident area to check whether the opposing side was the same old foe they often confronted.

The EP3E indeed saw the dense fleet of aircraft taking off from various coastal airfields and without much thought, went full throttle into electronic countermeasures.

However, for the Chinese air force, the situation looked completely different. The pilots, who practically tumbled into their fighters upon receiving the command order, were highly tense. The base commander kept repeating "this is not a drill," and the scale of deployment was unprecedentedly large, clearly not some routine emergency drill.

Even the returning flight crews were ordered not to land but to wait for refueling or potential crash-landing orders, not allowed to return to the base to meet their demise.

As the EP3E jammed their signals, the first squadrons to take off and start forming up instantly realized in that tense atmosphere that the despicable Yankees had torn off their masks and were executing a tactical strike against the border!

The electronic warfare aircraft was definitely providing cover for F22 and F35 fleets, and there might even be B1Bs executing a supersonic penetration—because at that time, the Far East Air Force had not launched planes on a large scale, and it was naturally assumed that stealth aircraft must have been deployed.

In that situation, the commander who had also boarded a fighter thought of the brightly lit city behind him and immediately ordered the downing of the EP3E and to fully intercept the enemy’s stealth attack fleet.

Under unprecedented pressure, each of the three J-16s fired two PL-12 missiles and began stealth evasion maneuvers, aiming to buy time for the subsequent J-20s.

The crew of the EP-3E had just started their engines when they realized they were locked by fire-control radars from multiple sources, leaving the crew members dumbstruck.

Even if past confrontations had been intense, there was an unspoken understanding of "wizard combat." Why had it escalated to a do-or-die eviction stance right from the start?

Indeed, they merely thought it was an eviction signal, executed slight maneuvers, and sent a distress signal to their allies for support.

Instantly, two F-15s following a DDG destroyer and several frigates on a nighttime exercise received the distress call, turned on their afterburners, and prepared to head out for the rescue.

However, as they were about to reach the designated airspace, the signal from the EP-3E blinked and disappeared.

Chased down by six medium-range missiles, this subsonic turboprop aircraft stood no chance of survival. It had been shot down before reinforcements could arrive, and the crew, who had only realized the threat of the missiles seconds before death, had no chance to bail out and sank into the sea.

The responding flight team witnessed the entire process of their allies being shot down and also heard a few cries of despair over the radio.

While they were still in shock, the highest combat alert order from the Pacific Fleet came through, warning them that war might break out.

What else is there to say? Let’s do it!

Even if they couldn’t believe it, the two F-15s couldn’t deny what they saw, and right after, they spotted the aggressively low-flying J-16 squadron.

The outnumbered F-15 squadron didn’t try to show off. They fired off all their missiles except for two close combat ones, jettisoned their drop tanks, turned around, and ran, desperately updating the fleet on the situation.

Their communications exposed the undetected fleet, and the J-16 squadron quickly located them, especially identifying the lead ship of the Arleigh Burke class, which posed a significant anti-air threat and also had ground-attack capabilities.

The air commander, who was already deeply engaged, had no reservations and reported the strike targets to the navy through the joint command system.

A 052D destroyer already on patrol hardened its resolve upon receiving the air force intelligence. With the air force’s assistance, it locked onto the small fleet over 300 kilometers away while the anti-ship missiles began powering up, ready to open the launch well covers.

If not for the high-level command from the General Staff intervening in time, four YJ-12 missiles would have already been launched.

But this was merely a delay in the launch process, as the instructions from the Pacific Fleet had not yet arrived!

Facing four incoming AIM-120Cs, the J-16 squadron ordered a counterattack besides evasive maneuvers, and that Arleigh Burke-class small fleet also went into combat readiness, preparing to launch missiles!

Luckily, it was only a stroke of luck.

In the final moments, the Pentagon also contacted the officers at the front line, decisively stopping their action, and demanded they publicly report their position, destination, and status while forbidding all actions that might cause misunderstanding.

However, the frontline military personnel were not prone to easily trust, or dare to trust, and still more and more warships and aircraft continued to arrive.

By the time the news reached McMaster, a standoff at sea and in the air was still underway at the front lines!