Chapter 124: Su 24 Crosses the Border

  The border between Afghanistan and northern Pakistan is marked by high mountain ranges, which are intersected by roads that are difficult to traverse.

  The only passageway is the Wakhan Corridor.

  A group of people are walking along the Wakhan Corridor, leading small donkeys with boxes loaded on their backs.

  "The weather today is really nice." The guerrillas chatted as they walked.

  Fahim walked at the front of the team, gazing into the distant sky, not particularly excited. Such days were too monotonous. It had been half a month since Mohammad Sahib left Afghanistan and hadn't returned, only sending a few pieces of intelligence that Soviet air activity had increased recently, not just from Bagram Air Base but also from bases in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, where Soviet planes frequently flew over Afghan airspace.

  The two corps in the Jalalabad and Panjshir Valley fronts reduced their activities, wary of Soviet air strikes while craving more weapons and ammunition.

  Fahim knew that although he couldn't go to fight the Soviets himself, his work was more important, transporting ammunition into the hands of frontline fighters so they could better strike at the Soviets.

  Suddenly, Fakhim stopped in his tracks, a strange rumbling sound came from afar, he perked up his ears, and in just one second, he made out the Soviet planes!

  "Quick, the fake net!" Fahim shouted loudly: "Control the donkey well!"

  The warriors of the three troops skillfully patted the donkey's back, making it bend its four legs and crouch on the ground. Then they quickly took out a camouflage net from their backpacks, covering themselves and the donkey, looking like a large stone covered with moss from the sky.

  The donkey's ears were plugged with cotton balls by the warriors. To prevent being frightened by the roar of the plane.

  Four Su-24s flew in from the distant valley, following the direction of the Vahon Pass, flying quickly with shiny bombs hanging under their wings.

  Is it coming towards us? Fahim's hand grasped the poisonous thorn that had just been placed on the ground. Waiting quietly, not attacking unless absolutely necessary, this was a transport unit, not a combat unit. Once attacked, as long as they didn't manage to beat all of them down, the other side would launch a fierce counterattack. Even if his men managed to escape, these weapons and ammunition would be destroyed by the Soviets.

  For high-speed fighter jets, flying through mountain valleys is extremely dangerous, but these four Su-24s were flying with ease.

  Major Byelov looked out through the visor of his helmet, everywhere were mountains, flying between them. Very dangerous, if Mig-23s or something like that flew around. They wouldn't dare to fly so low and fast.

  But for the Su-24, this flight is very easy, as it was the first Soviet warplane to be equipped with a terrain-following system, using terrain-following radar to ensure that the plane can fly at 200 meters low altitude at a speed of 1320 kilometers per hour. When developing this aircraft, the main method used was low-altitude high-speed penetration to break through NATO's air defense circle, and it could also carry nuclear bombs for attack.

  Accordingly, this fighter adopted the popular variable sweep wing design, and like the MiG-23, the variable sweep wing can be manually controlled at several angles.

  Now. The F-117s were at 45 degrees, the most suitable angle for cruising, risking being shot down by the guerrilla forces on the ground, they flew at such a low altitude just for this mission.

  Pakistan is openly supporting Afghanistan, and now the counter-revolutionary forces in northern Afghanistan are seriously threatening the Soviet troops stationed in Afghanistan. In order to maintain stability in Afghanistan, it is necessary to strike at important targets within Pakistan that support Afghanistan!

  Colonel Belov looked down at the photographs tied to his knee, these were the targets he was going to attack, those white tents, the people inside, who could cross the border into Afghanistan and become rebels at any time.

  The two A1-21F twin-spool afterburning turbofans at the rear were burning fiercely, with hot gases shooting out and the fighter roaring through the mountains.

  Damn the Soviets! Fahim cursed. The roar of the warplane above their heads startled the two mules, which sprang out from under the camouflage net and galloped up the mountain to one side, braying loudly. Luckily, the plane had already flown away; otherwise they would have been exposed for sure.

  Two warriors ran after a donkey and one of them sprained his foot, a non-combat casualty.

  Watching those fighter jets fly away, Fahim stood up and put away the camouflage net. When Instructor Muhammad helped them modify this camouflage net, Fahim was still a bit skeptical about its effectiveness. But when it was done, he found that it worked too well.

  The instructor said that this is similar to the principle of camouflage clothing, and if such things are made into clothes, snipers wear them most suitably. Fahim expressed deep approval, and in this Wahan corridor, his troops had used this method more than once to deceive the Soviet warplanes overhead.

  "Keep moving," Fahim shouted, pulling on the donkey's halter. Fahim took two more steps and suddenly felt something was off. Those two planes were flying east along the Wakhan Corridor - what was the point of that? There were no targets ahead, and they weren't flying at a normal patrol altitude either...

  Fahim turned to a wireless operator with a radio set on his back and said, "Quickly, contact Mr. Muhammad, the Soviet planes are going to cross the border!"

  The wireless operator ran up a nearby mountain peak and quickly pulled out his wireless set, Fahim followed behind him, pulling out the microphone.

  Macau.

  Here is a big mountain, on which a radar base was built. It's extremely difficult. In the absence of large helicopters, many components of the radar were carried up by people with great difficulty.

  Even so, this radar station was built and stood guard near Peshawar, its radar constantly monitoring the situation in Afghanistan to the west.

  After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Pakistan felt tremendous pressure. The Soviets' planes would often fly across the border, flaunting their military might in Pakistani airspace until they flew away. Pakistan's air defense network didn't even detect them!

  To make up for the loss, Pakistan set up two early warning radar stations #4084 and #4102 in the Rann of Kutch area and Alwar area respectively. Both were large radars with the task of detecting Soviet aircraft at first light.

  The mountainous terrain has resulted in a very large blind spot for radar, so Pakistan has established many filling radar stations in Swat and Malakand etc. These radars form an air defense network, vigilantly guarding the skies of Pakistan.

  And here at the Makrakos radar station, in addition to being used to detect Soviet aircraft, it also undertakes the task of guiding the 15th squadron of the Peshawar Military Region for interception missions, which is very important.

  Although the rugged mountain road made supplies very inconvenient, the officers and soldiers in the radar station still stuck to their position.

  But today they were even more excited, each one carefully shaving their beards. They put on the formal attire that was only worn for parades and waited at the entrance of the radar station.

  Senior Lieutenant Hamis gazed at the standing column, then looked at the mountain road ahead. Panjshir's Lion, the new Chief of Staff of the Balkh Military Zone, was coming to inspect!

  Several figures appeared on the mountain road, and Harris immediately said to his subordinates: "Stand up straight, the Chief of Staff is coming!"

  "Major Muhammad. The mountain roads are rugged, you must be tired." said Lieutenant-Colonel Krimi, commander of the air defense radar unit in Peshawar Military Region to Muhammad.

  "Here is entrusted with the task of finding Soviet aircraft. I must come and see." Muhamed said.

  When he became the Chief of Staff of the White Swan Military Region, Muhammad knew that he had to do his job conscientiously. The first thing he had to do was to familiarize himself with the various troops in the military region, especially the air force.

  Yesterday, he had just inspected the air force base in Baishanwa and the squadron of interceptors stationed there was the 15th Squadron of the Pakistan Air Force. Although morale was high, looking at the row of old J-6 fighters on the apron, Muhammad felt a sense of inexplicable anxiety. Compared to Soviet aircraft, these were already very outdated.

  In fact, since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, there have been constant instances of Soviet warplanes crossing the border, but to avoid provoking the Soviets, the Pakistan Air Force deliberately avoided engaging them in combat, at most chasing them away after detection.

  However, Mohammad knew that as the internal resistance forces in Afghanistan grew stronger, the warlike nation that had always advocated violence would not only be limited to cross-border flights but also began to carry out cross-border bombings, even if it was only limited to Afghan refugee camps and training camps as well as channels for weapons support. This is also a thorough invasion of Pakistan's airspace, and air battles between the Soviet Union and Pakistan will be inevitable.

  Historically, the aerial confrontation between Pakistan and the Soviet Union took place in '86, when Afghan internal resistance forces were growing stronger. The Soviets, getting desperate, started taking action against Pakistan.

  Now, Mohammad has spent more than a year integrating the forces in northern Afghanistan and forming the Afghan Liberation Army, posing a serious threat to the Soviets. Although Mohammad no longer specifically commands the Afghan Liberation Army, the three major legions are still expanding and fighting continuously, and Mohammad is still the only person who can control the Afghan Liberation Army.

  He was concerned about the fighting of the Afghan Freedom Army, and also began to work for the western frontier of Pakistan.

  Today, Muhammad came to the radar unit again. Radar is the eye that discovers enemy planes. The tactical level of the radar unit directly affects the aerial combat against the Soviets.

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  It's really unbearable, these days, Huadong Zhuyong has been updating every day, as a person who still needs to work during the day, two updates a day is actually the limit, but now, Huadong Zhuyong is at least four updates a day. Everyone knows that Huadong Zhuyong's articles are all 3,000 words, four updates is equivalent to six updates of a 2,000-word person. Today is the second day of the college entrance examination, yesterday was too tired, feeling unwell all over, and still had to go invigilate, so today there won't be any more, just three updates!