Chapter 594 Know Yourself and Know Your Enemy

The battlefield is the best place to test weapons. The Soviet Union's new fighter jets were designed to confront American fighter jets and defeat the opponent's third-generation aircraft. Now, these Su-27 fighter jets, which belong to the Soviet Turkestan Air Defense Force, have the Iranian People's Air Force logo hastily painted on their wings and vertical tails and are participating in this air battle.

The duties of the National Air Defense Force and the Air Force are different, and the original role of the Su-27 was to replace the Su-15 and use it as an interceptor. Therefore, the regular tactics of the Su-27 should be to launch R-27 missiles at a long distance, then retreat to a safe airspace, and then launch a second round of R-27 missiles. This is the combat method of an interceptor. The Air Defense Force stationed in East Germany operated in this way.

However, the Turkestan Military District's Su-27 fleet, influenced by Andrei, is not limited to long-range missile projection. This large, advanced fighter has unparalleled maneuverability. If this fighter is only used as a launch platform for medium-range missiles, just like the MiG-31, it will not be able to bring its full potential into play!

Therefore, in addition to launching medium-range missiles, Su-27 pilots are more trained in close-range combat, which is also the pilots' favorite tactic. Only in close-range combat, where bayonets draw blood, can a pilot's true combat level be displayed!

After dodging the missiles fired by the Americans at a long distance and launching a hail of bullets from both sides at a medium distance, close combat began.

Captain Nikolayev, flying his Su-27 fighter, encountered a Tomcat fighter head-on. Just three kilometers away, both sides fired a close-range combat missile.

Captain Nikolayev flew towards the combat missile, and just when he was about to encounter it, he quickly rolled to the side and released a set of infrared decoy bombs, forming a fireworks smoke screen at the tail of the plane every second. The Sidewinder missile followed the infrared decoy bombs and flew away.

Successfully got rid of it!

In this era, the performance of infrared seekers was still limited. As long as infrared decoy bombs were used and the correct actions were taken, the chances of getting away with it were very high. It was not until later generations, when infrared focal plane guidance was developed, that the missile saw not an infrared light source, but the entire shape of the aircraft. At that time, it was almost impossible to deceive the missile.

The Tomcat fighter on the opposite side was obviously also a veteran and also got rid of the missiles.

The two sides flew past each other head-on, and then began to turn.

The wings of the Tomcat fighter automatically spread forward. When the sweep angle is the smallest, the Tomcat fighter has excellent turning performance and a small turning radius. This is an unmatched advantage! As long as you turn, you can get behind the opponent and attack with missiles from behind. It will not be so easy to get rid of it!

When Michael, the pilot of the Tomcat fighter, recovered from the high overload, he was stunned.

Because the opponent was not circling on the horizontal plane, but was climbing up while circling! Therefore, even if his circling radius was better than the opponent's, he could not launch an attack now! At the same time, seeing the opponent's tail nozzle, Michael almost subconsciously turned on the afterburner and climbed with the opponent.

The two fighter planes were circling and climbing in a spiral. Michael, who was behind them, couldn't help but feel anxious.

From his point of view, it seemed that he could catch up with the enemy plane at any time, get behind the enemy and launch his missiles. However, it was always just a little bit short and the missiles could not lock onto the enemy!

Unconsciously, the altitude had risen to one thousand meters, and at this moment, it was about to catch up. The fighter plane in front had already changed from the spiral climb state, and the opponent's horizontal tail movement, the entire fighter plane raised its nose, and climbed upward at a large angle of attack.

Oops, I fell into a trap!

Of course Michael knew that the opponent's large-looking MiG-29 must be a Soviet-made third-generation fighter, which was developed based on the F-15. Although in horizontal combat, his Tomcat fighter could gain the upper hand with the aerodynamic advantage brought by the variable swept wings, but it could not compete in vertical maneuvers!

The engine of this fighter jet, which was developed more than ten years ago, is an absolute shortcoming. The thrust-to-weight ratio is less than 1, and it is simply impossible to climb upward without losing energy, while the opponent will definitely have no pressure at all.

In this way, if I climb up with the other party, I will fall into the trap, and if I don’t climb up with the other party, the other party will definitely swoop down and attack me!

What to do? Looking at the opponent's handsome appearance, turning on the afterburner and climbing quickly, Michael pressed the engine nose, turned in the opposite direction, and withdrew from the battle!

The wings were swept back, huddled together, and sprinted at full speed!

After all, when the opponent is pulling up and climbing, he cannot see the situation behind him. By the time he thinks it is almost time and dives down, he can no longer find himself in this airspace!

Air combat is all about speed, so losing the target is very common.

Unfortunately, Michael miscalculated this time, because although the opponent could not see the situation below when he was pulling up, he still had the advantage of the early warning aircraft!

"035, the target is escaping in the opposite direction of 340." While climbing, Captain Nikolayev heard the voice in the headset and immediately replied: "035 received."

At the same time, he pulled the control lever, the fighter plane ended its climb, flew backwards, and turned over. He looked down and saw the opponent's escape trajectory! Turning over, the Su-27 dived down. At the same time, Nikolayev stared at the Tomcat leaving the battlefield. At this time, he had arrived at the rear hemisphere of the opponent, with a vertical axis angle of 35 degrees, and fired!

Flames flickered under the wing, and an R-73 missile flew over. A few seconds later, an explosion occurred at the tail of the opponent's plane, and thick smoke rose in the flames.

Michael was shot in the ass without any warning while fleeing.

Looking at the opponent's crooked appearance, Nikolayev adjusted his weapon to the machine gun and decided to go up and fire additional shots.

Only by knowing both yourself and your enemy can you win every battle. American pilots are not familiar with the Su-27 fighter, while Su-27 pilots often fight against the Tomcat fighters of the Iranian People's Air Force and are well aware of the performance of the Tomcat fighter. The disadvantage of the Tomcat is its two engines with insufficient thrust!

At the same time, the current Su-27 is different from the original Su-27 in history. The solution to electronic technology has ensured that this fighter is not born with any rickets, and it is also first-class in close combat!