George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 283

< Episode 282 >

“This is insane.”

Luna 2 gripped the control stick of the Eurofighter, which had been improved to be somewhat usable, perhaps more tightly than necessary. She was repeatedly succeeding in near-miraculous maneuvers.

This wasn’t just to show off skills at some air force parade. If she didn’t do this, she’d either be hit by a missile and instantly turn into fireworks, or become a honeycomb from anti-aircraft fire and machine guns, turning into fireworks anyway. Either way, she was about to die.

“Which moron came up with the idea of deploying a large air force in enemy territory boasting an absolutely impenetrable air defense network?”

-Luna Squadron, maintain formation.

The AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) warned, but in this situation, there were only two things that could maintain formation: overwhelming ground forces that could sweep the ground, or an omnipotent God.

It wasn’t just a typical air defense network. EU member states were openly testing the latest technology, pouring money into it. It would have been better if the EU had authority, but they emphasized joint operations and entrusted the entire system needed for national defense to the Western Iraqi army.

“Impossible. There are too many anti-aircraft guns and SAMs [Surface-to-Air Missiles].”

She had never seen such a dense air defense network. The terrain hadn’t changed since the attack on Iraq a few years ago, but the number of missiles flying in the sky was dozens of times greater, just counting what was marked on the radar.

No, maybe even hundreds. Honestly, it felt like at least a thousand times more.

And it would have been better if only surface-to-air missiles were flying. No matter where she looked in the canopy or on the radar, Su-27s and Su-30s were swarming like flocks of migratory birds, hunting allied aircraft.

However, their skills weren’t particularly outstanding, so they were worth engaging, but whenever she tried to get on an enemy’s tail, missiles from the ground harassed her.

With each evasive maneuver, the already fragile Eurofighter screamed. Of course, it wouldn’t suddenly explode into pieces in the sky, but the Eurofighter had never experienced such a fierce battle before.

In the previous Iraq War, the only mission the air force performed was to pour missiles and bombs at the ground from a clear sky without a single speck of dust.

-Luna 2, you have an enemy on your tail. It’s a Su-27. The pilot is skilled. That Su-27 has already taken down three of our guys.

“I know. Fantastic roll. It would be better if it wasn’t aimed at me.”

-Break! Break! Aaaagh!

-Luna 1 is down. No parachute in sight.

“He’s persistently tailing me. If this continues-”

As expected, an air-to-air missile was launched from the Su-27. Probably an Alamo (R-27).

“Damn it. I’ll use flares.”

Flares burst from the tail, and the missile lost its target and exploded in the air. If her judgment had been even a little slower, she would have been the one exploding there.

-Luna 5! Maintain altitude! If you go too low, you’ll be shot down!

“Huh, the rookie is still alive.”

-…Luna 5 crashed. Damn it. The hound drove him to the ground like herding a duck!

“He’s dead now. Damn it.”

This was, as she had been repeating to herself, insane.

-What the hell are the ground forces doing that the air defense system is still intact!

“Why don’t you open a window and take a look?”

Her words were nonchalant, but her hands moved busily. The Su-27 was still fiercely on her tail, and no matter how hard she tried to shake it off, it wouldn’t budge, like gum stuck to her head.

-Luna 3 has been hit by machine gun fire!

“What a mess. Is there any news from above? Like, an operational retreat.”

-Luna 2! Under no circumstances is withdrawal from the operation permitted!

“Just saying.”

Beyond the canopy, Luna 3 was drawing a black line as it crashed to the ground. It looked as if it had split the sky in two.

It fell and fell, then crashed into a burning building on the ground.

“What the fuck!”

The aviation fuel inside Luna 3’s Eurofighter completely combusted, causing a massive explosion. But it wasn’t particularly noteworthy. Explosions were already happening everywhere in the operation zone.

“What is the air force doing, destroying the buildings we barely captured instead of helping us!”

Desert-colored armored vehicles and old trucks, soldiers responding with guns, the parched desert dust, and the ever-present AK [Avtomat Kalashnikova, a type of assault rifle]. That was the Middle Eastern war she knew, and the symbols of the old Iraqi army.

But now it was different. The Western Iraqi rebels were holding M4s derived to suit the Middle Eastern climate, and they were using equipment completely identical to that of the European integrated forces. Above all, they were a strong army directly fostered by the European integrated forces.

The Western Iraqi Navy wasn’t very large to begin with, so it was easy to deal with, and the army landed through Israel and approached through Jordan, so the direct conflict occurred on the border between Jordan and Western Iraq.

Originally, the goal was to destroy trenches and military bases through shelling and push through with mobile warfare using tanks. However, the enemy’s resistance was unexpectedly fierce. What was the basis of all battles, including infantry warfare as well as tank warfare?

First, you have to win on an individual level to do anything, right? Or at least prepare tactics to cover that, or create an environment where you can win.

When the European integrated forces dispatched troops, they never imagined they would be outmatched in firepower. In fact, that wasn’t a wrong idea. In fact, in terms of numbers and firepower alone, the European integrated forces were far superior. But the problem was that they couldn’t effectively utilize that firepower.

According to the original plan, if the ground forces paralyzed the air defense system and made full use of their superior air-to-ground capabilities, they could project tremendous firepower onto the battlefield, which was incomparable to the Western Iraqi army, which lacked air force capabilities and artillery.

Of course, they were fully aware of what would happen if they pushed the air force into that insane air defense system, and that was what the ground forces were for. But the ground war went wrong from the start. In a normal war, it would have been right to maintain only indirect checks to secure air supremacy, or not to deploy them at all. But this time, that was impossible.

It was that ‘political’ problem that was the worst in the battlefield.

-The EU-affiliated integrated forces guaranteed that the war with the rebels would be over within a week, or at most two weeks.

From the perspective of each country’s domestic camp, this was entirely a blunder by the EU and the European integrated forces. People who had viewed the EU system negatively from the beginning were busy criticizing the EU system itself, and a few people admitted that they could not plant democracy in the Middle East.

Anyway, to calm the inside, the top brass unconditionally wanted a ‘short-term decisive battle,’ and they were overconfident that they had the power to do so.

In a civilian government, the military had to follow the orders of the commander-in-chief, and in this case, they had to follow the decisions of the European Council.

The operation was perfectly focused on a short-term battle, and the European integrated forces投入 [tōnyū – commit/throw in] all the troops they could currently deploy and projected firepower, and the result is this battlefield.

“Company Commander! The barbed wire in the alley has been destroyed by enemy shelling.”

“The barbed wire doesn’t matter anymore as long as we’re being pushed back! And there’s news that the tracks of the leading Leopard 2 have been cut off! Our company has been assigned the mission to escort it! Move! Move! The escort target is already engaged with the enemy’s Leopard 2!”

“Damn it. It’s already hard to distinguish with the naked eye!”

Thanks to the excellent IFF [Identification Friend or Foe system], armored vehicles didn’t fight each other, and unlike the previous Iraq War, where they shelled each other, they didn’t need to compete to achieve integration by half, so the operation itself proceeded calmly.

Of course, the operation was calm, but the battle wasn’t calm, so thousands of people were dying. And unlike the integrated forces trying to suppress them, the Western Iraqi rebels’ desperate resistance was also tricky.

There was no way they could surrender and survive. Well, not all of them would die, but would the existing government, where even the president was kidnapped and scheduled for execution, trust the current military and employ them as they are?

Moreover, sadly, most of the people were supporting the military. Only a minority of Iraqis were well-off. Well, that was the case no matter which country you went to, but Iraq was a bit special.

The people who were well-off were all either in collusion with the government or pro-European traitors. It was a purely business relationship to be called a traitor, but at least to the common people, it was all the same.

In short, the majority were hostile to the current government. The only reason they had been silent was that they had been silently following the government’s words, ‘This is how Iraq survives!’

However, as the alternative of the military rapidly emerged, the people burst out the anger that had been pent up inside. It was somewhat chaotic, but after the military declared an all-out war, applicants flocked to enlist, and civilian factories turned into munitions factories were stamping out guns for them.

Western Iraq was united as one.

“……Therefore, I sentence him to death for the crime of mocking the state and the people.”

Things were happening in the Constitutional Court in the middle of the capital. Except for a few things, everything was the same as usual. The first was that it was conducted as a public trial, there were jurors who were angry every time the charges were read, and there was no lawyer to defend the defendant.

The second was that even at this moment of delivering the verdict, deafening explosions were heard from all over the place, and the building was shaking. It was difficult to distinguish whether this was due to the angry crowd or the explosions.

-This is the result you created. Former President.

“Commander, preparations for entry are complete. Shall we enter?”

The SAS [Special Air Service] members, who had dealt with all the troops on the roof, tied the cables tightly and finished preparing for entry.

The presidential rescue operation had to go through quite a few difficulties from the start. It was difficult to come here secretly in the midst of the war, but it was also a problem after the rescue. As I said, this was a war zone, and at the same time, the number of security personnel was considerable. The judge was Al Abbas, the center and leader of this coup. Because his nickname in Europe was Colonel Beholder.

“Not yet. Permission has not been granted from above. We cannot escape this place without air support.”

According to the original plan, while the SAS rescued the hostages, the air force would secure air supremacy with a strong air force, deploy troops through transport helicopters during the operation, and seize the court at once.

‘Damn it. The president will die first if this continues. Should I rescue him arbitrarily and try to escape somehow? Or is abandoning the operation as it is also a way.’

It was at that moment. Something that would fatally hinder the mission caught the eye of the SAS, who was in a difficult situation where he could not go back or forth.

“What is that again?”

Suddenly, a huge mushroom cloud rose from the middle of the city far away.