Doomsday: I Build a Space Fleet

Chapter 138 Pre-Battle Preparations - 3

When the transport team took the equipment away, their rest period came to an end. They boarded the trucks and drove out of the base one by one to their battle stations.

After the last truck disappeared from Lorraine's sight, he returned to the flagship, contacted the Sea Knight, and confirmed their preparations.

Once all preparations were complete, Lorraine steered the flagship away from the naval base.

After an hour's flight, Lorraine arrived at the high-tech industrial base and met up with the two.

During the process of unmanned combat units unloading the aerial smoke screen deployment system from the flagship, Lorraine and Platinum exchanged views on the current situation.

"Platinum, the operational plan has changed. Most of the ground attack munitions loaded at the base are equipped with radio guidance capabilities. The unmanned combat group needs to provide guidance and cover for the ground attack munitions."

Platinum frowned, thought for a moment, and replied.

"However, we lack long-range air search radars capable of locating missiles in real time."

"This is not a big problem. I found the relevant information in the Cleveland database. The good news is that the radio guidance system of this missile can set up a radio beacon."

"Once the missile reaches its designated location, the data link will issue the attack command to complete the strike."

"But the trade-off is that the accuracy of these ground-attack missiles will be much lower than before."

At this point, Lorraine pointed out the biggest drawback of using missile strikes.

"The heavy bunker-buster missiles stockpiled at the base only travel at Mach 2 when making terminal attacks, and the enemy could still intercept them."

The heavy bunker-buster missiles stored at the base have a charge of 1.5 tons of high explosives, which can penetrate a 25-meter-thick cliff or a 32-meter-thick reinforced concrete.

By programming the fuse, the missile can be detonated at the optimal detonation point to penetrate the warhead and achieve maximum damage.

Due to the special design of its warhead, it does not have a strong area-of-effect killing effect.

However, in response to this, Lorraine is prepared to use multiple heavy bunker-buster missiles for a blanket strike.

However, in order to successfully strike large enemy units, Lorraine still needs unmanned combat swarms to eliminate the remaining enemy units as much as possible.

"By the way, the base has a considerable stockpile of both types of large loitering munitions, but their range is relatively limited, so they can be mixed in with anti-tank loitering munitions for strikes."

Subsequently, the two carefully adjusted the combat plan for the unmanned combat swarm on the flagship.

Before long, all the smoke screen deployment systems had arrived at the factory and were undergoing final assembly.

After receiving the message, the two rode their motorcycles to the main road in front of the warehouse.

At this moment, the Hongyan-type unmanned transport aircraft was being towed out of the warehouse by the logistics unit, waiting to be loaded with unmanned combat units.

Subsequently, a series of somewhat bulky airdropped unmanned combat units arrived near Warehouse No. 6 and entered the cargo hold through the tail hatch of the Hongyan-type unmanned transport aircraft.

Meanwhile, the reconnaissance cormorant drones on the flagship are ready for takeoff, preparing to scout the drop locations of the unmanned combat swarm.

The Cormorant UAV took off first, flying at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour to the airdrop location 450 kilometers away to carry out a reconnaissance mission.

Following closely behind was a transport fleet of 11 Hsinchu unmanned transport aircraft, which began to taxi slowly onto the main road in preparation for takeoff.

Due to the increased weight, each unmanned transport aircraft is lifted 200 meters before the end of the road.

Compared to turboprop engines, electric motor-driven propellers are quieter and less noisy, and Lorraine did not feel any discomfort during the entire takeoff process.

After a period of flight, the unmanned transport fleet arrived at the drop point. The first three drones to arrive began to descend, open their tail doors, and airdrop the unmanned combat group.

White parachutes unfurled in the air. Under favorable weather conditions, the first unmanned combat group successfully rendezvoused and began its journey to the target location to prepare for combat.

The remaining unmanned combat groups also successfully reached their target locations and entered the pre-battle preparation phase.

After recharging, the Hongyan unmanned transport aircraft, which had just landed, took off again to airdrop the remaining unmanned combat swarm and smoke screen deployment system to the designated location.

After the last Hongyan UAV landed, Lorraine waited for an hour before receiving a message from the unmanned combat swarm.

"One airdrop is ready."

"Airdrop team two is ready."

"Three airdrop groups are ready."

"Airdrop of four groups is ready."

"Five airdrops are ready."

After receiving the message, Lorraine opened the data panel and looked at the five red dots that had lit up on the map.

These five red dots are arranged in a triangle. The pre-set positions of the first and third groups of airdrops are the closest to the mine and are the first batch of blocking units.

To the diagonal rear of these two groups are the pre-arranged positions of the second and fourth airdrop groups, who are responsible for supporting the withdrawal of the first and third groups and launching a second strike against enemy combat units.

Behind the second and fourth airdrop groups is the fifth airdrop group, which is the reserve force of the airdrop combat group, ready to fill any gaps at any time.

After confirming that the unmanned combat group was in place, the three had the logistics unit pull out the experimental aircraft, which had already been equipped with the search pod.

"The drone data is normal, the airframe is intact, and it is ready for takeoff."

The test aircraft, now heavier with two pods attached, took off smoothly and flew to the mine 500 kilometers away. However, for safety reasons, the test aircraft spent some time climbing to an altitude of 1 meters before flying towards the mine.

After leaving behind some unmanned logistics units and a small number of unmanned combat units, the three boarded a ship and left, returning to the naval base.

When Lorraine and Platinum returned to the naval base and entered the command center inside the bunker, the entire unmanned combat group was already in place, and the transport convoy had arrived at its designated location.

The test aircraft at an altitude of 1 meters has also been integrated into the command link and has taken on the task of being an airborne command node.

On the flagship, two Cormorant UAVs, each carrying 36 anti-tank loitering munitions, were ready for takeoff and were slowly leaving the deck under the propulsion of ducted fans on both sides of the fuselage.

Two Shadow III large loitering munitions have already left the vertical launch unit and are expected to arrive in half an hour.

"Pre-battle preparations are complete, Commander. Please issue the battle orders."

Lorraine let out a long breath, activated the directional antenna on the naval base's equipment, and sent the order to engage the unmanned combat group.

At the positions of the first and third groups of airdrops, CH-2 improved light drones were launched into the air by electromagnetic catapults, and the propellers at their tails began to spin as they headed to the vicinity of the mine to conduct reconnaissance.

Ironically, after detecting the high-power radio signal, the other side only sent out two medium-sized individuals, along with six medium-sized individuals and 60 small individuals, to scout ahead.