diskusbooks Chapter 405 Electronic Clashes in the Early Stages of the War
Chapter 405 Electronic Clashes in the Early Stages of the War
"I have made the following deployment: according to the pre-arranged plan, my fleet will be divided into two squadrons. The battlecruisers Glory, Spearhead, and Golden Eagle, and the electronic warfare ship Mist will form the first guerrilla squadron, while the remaining warships will follow my ships to form the main squadron."
The Supreme Human Empire and the United Nations of Earth have both entered the information age, and the first clashes in this era's wars occurred earlier than in traditional warfare.
"Electronic countermeasures system activated, General."
In space warfare, the battle of electronic deception and electronic jamming is even more ruthless—both sides are constantly vying for information in electromagnetic waves, visible light, and other forms of communication.
"Radar detected 244 fast-moving small targets!"
"Enemy electronic jamming! Counterattack immediately!"
In the space age, space warships are often equipped with a bridge that is higher than the hull. This bridge not only serves as the primary command bridge for the entire ship, but also often houses various space exploration equipment.
"Optical channel reconnaissance has detected a suspected enemy fleet."
"Counter-jamming successful! 238 of the radar signatures have been identified as false targets!"
General Saint-Ger scoffed – the success or failure of electronic warfare often determines the success or failure of the war. On a galactic scale, enemy information is more time-sensitive than information gathered in atmospheric warfare.
"General, we are conducting electronic jamming against enemy forces—more enemy targets have been detected!"
From the radar, apart from directly in front of the fleet main force, there are many more targets with extremely large radar cross-sections moving along the orbits of Amerlane VII and Amerlane V.
"So they had more than just those warships before? Hmph, First Guerrilla Fleet, I order you to proceed to the Amelan West V orbit to conduct fire reconnaissance of the enemy."
Amelansi V has an asteroid belt orbiting the entire gas giant. Within this asteroid belt, four objects trailing long plasma beams are traversing it.
The First Flying Fleet obeyed orders and set off, its ships carrying the "Icarus" capital ship thrusters drawing plasma beams several times the length of the ships in the silent space—flying toward their targets.
“They took the bait.”
To the Imperial Fleet's surprise, there were indeed four flying objects in the orbit of Amerlane V, but the United Nations had not deployed any fleet there.
When the First Flying Fleet arrived, following the Imperial Fleet's standard operational procedures, they launched an air squadron with drones as the vanguard and heavy carrier-based aircraft as the main force. These 36 aircraft plunged into the asteroid belt and quickly locked onto the four "suspected warships".
No, rather than flying objects, they were more like four flying frames. These four "warship-like" objects were wrapped in a vintage propellant rocket booster with tiny metal supports and highly reflective material. They were deployed here and connected to a starport command center in orbit around Amelansi IV via a base station buried inside the asteroid.
They are nothing but bait.
"This is a trap! Destroy those things!"
The heavy starship fighter launched a heavy anti-ship missile carried under its fuselage—this supersonic anti-ship missile was enormous, and although its destructive power had been proven to be increasingly weak in years of interstellar warfare, it was still stable.
Dozens of missiles were launched simultaneously—this unarmored decoy device, which could not even be called a ship, was quickly destroyed and turned into debris in the asteroid belt.
"Target destroyed, all personnel return!"
Of course, when Squadron Leader Victor destroyed those strange targets, his sense of foreboding did not disappear—in fact, it intensified. The asteroid belt was not an ideal battlefield, and navigating through these giant rocks that moved along Brownian motion was extremely dangerous. Even so, the squadron suffered losses—they lost two drones.
Immediately, his ominous feeling came true—a burst of fire suddenly appeared between them—a fighter jet was hit and destroyed without warning—half of its engines propelled the remaining half of the fuselage into the asteroid.
"what happened?!"
In Alice's plan, there were not only four decoys hidden in the asteroid. The reason they were called decoys was because there were hunters waiting for them.
Two small planetary destroyers appeared in the asteroid belt at some unknown time, and destroyers of this size are veritable butchers for starfighters.
"Thank you to the United Nations Office for Military Affairs, comrades, for ensuring that the anti-gravity module is in repulsion mode."
The small planetary-class destroyer quickly emptied its 244 vertical launch cells on its hull. Due to the nature of space warfare and the ship's role, it primarily carries the UN Office for Military-Industrial Complex's HQ-99 supersonic air defense missiles, as well as twin-mounted electromagnetic air defense guns commanded by an active phased array radar.
"Missiles are everywhere!"
"Interference foil!"
"My wingman has been hit!"
"Glory! Glory! What on earth is going on? The enemy has launched an attack on us in the asteroid belt!"
The two destroyers quickly launched all their anti-aircraft missiles, and at that moment, the first guerrilla fleet's air squadron finally reacted—under the saturation attack, the squadron lost more than half of its aircraft in an instant.
"Damn it! Received, Captain Gold, return to base now, let the fleet handle them!"
The First Guerrilla Fleet finally reacted, locking onto two "Asteroid"-class interstellar destroyers hidden between the asteroids, and began electronic jamming and combat preparations in accordance with the Imperial Navy's operational manual.
"Why are they able to remain stable in the asteroid belt?!"
An Imperial pilot, dodging several missiles behind him, was surprised to see the two warships, which were quietly stationary, occasionally using their electromagnetic cannons to lock onto and shoot down Imperial aircraft.
"I don't know! Gold 6, there are two missiles behind you!"
"Take them down! First Guerrilla Fleet!"
The Glorious cast a shadow over the asteroid belt. The ship's weapons were already warmed up, and several anti-ship guns and vertical launch units were ready. Rear Admiral Katin, the captain, stared intently at the two UN warships through the monitor.
"Hyperspace Drive cold start complete!"
"Initiate the leap!"
A muffled rumble resounded—the officers of the entire First Flying Fleet gaped—as they watched the two warships vanish from their sight in a mysterious manner.
"what happened?!"
The hyperspace drive, controlled by the United Nations, is different from that of the Empire. It is a hyperspace means developed by the United Nations at the end of the disaster. In essence, it is an advanced space mobility technology that uses the folding of spacetime to enable ships to reach faster than the speed of light.