106: Overpressure triple defense system, Jedi counterattack!

On the electronic sandbox, the Southern Cover Group's tactical rocket brigade suddenly activated. Dozens of "Tochka" tactical missiles launched from positions near Ulan-Ude, their orange-red contrails cutting through the Siberian morning mist.

The ballistic trajectories drew dazzling red arcs on the 3D tactical map. The warheads, simulated with nuclear yield, headed straight for the exposed Blue Army armoredCluster.

The first strike covered all the coniferous forest areas where the Blue Army's main force was located!

The warheads simulated detonation at an altitude of 200 meters, and the projected epicenter instantly expanded into a scorching white sphere with a diameter of 1.5 kilometers!

The shockwave propagated outwards at Mach 3. Type 79 infantry fighting vehicles and unsealed vehicles within an 800-meter radius were engulfed by the shockwave, and their crew members were "killed" by the overpressure!

On the large screen's 3D simulated map, everything within a 2-kilometer radius was marked as a heavily radiated area, forming a clear damage fan!

"The 'Red Army' forces used tactical nuclear warheads!"

Inside the General Command Center, everyone was shocked.

At this moment, no one could remain calm!

The White House's National Security Advisor and many NATO military observers all looked at the Mammoth Bear Empire's Minister of Defense with horrified expressions.

Although the Warsaw Pact and NATO had always been engaged in a nuclear arms race, they had never applied tactical nuclear warheads in actual combat!

If one were to trace the last time nuclear weapons were used in actual combat, it was during World War II when the Pretty Country dropped the "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" nuclear bombs on the island nation!

But now, to everyone's utter surprise, in a "Red-Blue Confrontation Exercise," the Mammoth Bear Empire actually simulated a "nuclear strike" against the Dragon Country's forces directly in front of military observers from hundreds of countries worldwide!

One must know, this was a confrontation exercise incredibly close to actual combat!

If the Mammoth Bear Empire could use nuclear weapons to simulate a strike against the other side even in a two-country exercise, wouldn't that mean that in a real war, the Mammoth Bear Empire could also use nuclear weapons at any time?

At this moment, countries around the globe felt a deep sense of panic and unease!

Especially many NATO countries, who were trembling uncontrollably!

The Mammoth Bear Empire possessed nearly 40,000 nuclear warheads, with nearly 600 tactical nuclear weapon bases deployed in Eastern Europe alone, covering the NATO front lines!

These nuclear missiles could wipe out major Western cities and paralyze NATO ports within 10 minutes!

The Mammoth Bear Empire's "nuclear forward deployment" strategy kept Europe under the long-term shadow of "nuclear winter"!

All along, the only way European countries could comfort themselves was to believe that the Mammoth Bear Empire would not easily use nuclear weapons!

But now, this exercise completely shattered their illusions!

General Ivanovitch, the Mammoth Bear Empire's Minister of Defense, noticed the terrified expressions of military observers from many countries around the world, and a smile involuntarily appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Perhaps the Kremlin should have adopted General Petrov, the Army Chief of Staff's tactics long ago!"

"Only nuclear weapons can generate sufficient deterrence for countries worldwide!"

The Mammoth Bear Empire's Minister of Defense thought silently.

He knew very well whose brainchild this tactic of directly using tactical nuclear warheads to cover large-scale armored forces was!

Although he was in the General Command Center of the military exercise, he couldn't leave to avoid suspicion of cheating!

But the Mammoth Bear Empire's Minister of Defense had already guessed that General Petrov, the Army Chief of Staff, had likely arrived at the "Red Army" Operations Command and taken over command of the Red Army forces!

On the electronic sandbox, the damage caused by dozens of "Tochka" tactical nuclear missiles was incredibly terrifying!

Each simulated nuclear warhead of the "Tochka" tactical nuclear missile had an explosive yield of approximately 10,000 tons of TNT!

The total explosive yield was dozens of times that of "Little Boy" and "Fat Man"!

Among the Dragon Country's "Blue Army" heavy combined arms brigade, only the 79A tank cluster equipped with a collective overpressure NBC protection system survived outside the 1-kilometer radius of the blast. The vehicle's NBC system completed sealing within 0.3 seconds, ensuring the safety of the crew!

In the air, the WZ-10 helicopter fleet evaded the ground shockwave due to its altitude advantage!

However, according to real nuclear blast tests, helicopter rotors would still be violently shaken by electromagnetic pulse interference!

Therefore, seven or eight WZ-10s were also deemed to have "crashed"!

As for the Mengshi light combined arms brigade, it was directly declared "annihilated"!

The remaining Blue Army forces on the sandbox plummeted to less than 20%!

They appeared as isolated blue dots scattered at the edge of the simulated radiation contamination zone!

But at the same time, the Mammoth Bear Empire's Northern Assault Group's elite 7th Airborne Division had long been ready!

In the sky, 12 An-22 strategic transport aircraft arrived over the simulated nuclear blast zone.

Inside the cabin, the paratroopers quickly checked their PBC-9 parachute systems and the radiation-proof sealed bags of their AK assault rifles.

As the green light came on, the transport aircraft's tail ramp opened, and a cold current, carrying simulated radioactive dust, poured into the cabin.

Paratroopers jumped out at a rate of 120 people per minute, white parachutes blooming in the simulated contaminated area remaining after the nuclear blast.

They accurately landed behind the Blue Army positions, which had been paralyzed by the nuclear strike, and quickly assembled into company-level combat groups.

Advance detachments equipped with tracked all-terrain vehicles immediately began radiation monitoring, while subsequent forces fanned out to occupy key road junctions.

At this point, the electronic sandbox showed that the airborne forces had cut off the Blue Army's southern retreat route, forming a pincer movement with the remnants of the Central Assault Group.

And the two forces had successfully established communication, completely encircling the nuclear blast center from all directions, forming a cordon!

Through the tactical display screen, one could see the surviving soldiers inside the Dragon Country's 74A infantry fighting vehicles, wearing NBC protective suits and filtered gas masks, rapidly evacuating and maneuvering outwards!

However, these soldiers had barely escaped the nuclear blast center when they encountered ambushes and heavy fire from the "Red Army" Mammoth Bear forces!

Helplessly, they had to retreat, continuing to withdraw to the area closer to the nuclear blast center!

Clearly, the "Red Army" Mammoth Bear forces' tactic was to annihilate all of the "Blue Army" personnel, absolutely not letting a single one escape!

If the surviving "Blue Army" forces did not come out, they would be long-term exposed to "death" in the nuclear blast center!

If they came out, they would be covered by their firepower!

...Inside the General Command Center.

Peng Lin looked at the scene on the tactical display screen, his eyes reddening involuntarily.

The "Red Army" clearly intended to "annihilate" the Dragon Country's forces through tactical nuclear weapon attacks and airborne encirclement, to wash away the shame of the previous complete rout of the Central Assault Group!

Peng Lin was extraordinarily shocked by the Mammoth Bear Empire's bold application of nuclear weapons!

He suddenly realized that this was the Cold War era, not the later period!

In later times, all nuclear-armed countries treated nuclear weapons with extreme caution, absolutely not daring to make any rash moves unless it was a matter of life and death!

Because any country that dared to set a precedent for using nuclear weapons would surely face isolation and blockade from all countries worldwide in later times!

But now, this was the Cold War era!

Nuclear weapons were made to be used!

Especially the Mammoth Bear Empire, which was completely uninhibited in its use of nuclear weapons!

For example, Peng Lin remembered that the Mammoth Bear Empire had once used nuclear bombs to create craters 400 meters in diameter and hundreds of meters deep, building reservoirs with a capacity of 17 million cubic meters.

In addition, the Mammoth Bear Empire also used nuclear bombs to extinguish natural gas well fires, extract coal, and detect earthquakes!

They even detonated nuclear bombs at an altitude of 290 kilometers, exploring sending nuclear bombs into space orbit to achieve orbital bombardment systems and so on!

It is no exaggeration to say that this country's use of nuclear weapons had reached its peak, without the slightest reverence!

"But fundamentally, the Dragon Country's national strength is too weak!"

"If the Dragon Country were a world superpower like the Pretty Country, even in a confrontation exercise, the Mammoth Bear Empire would absolutely not dare to use nuclear weapons to simulate bombing the Dragon Country's forces!"

"The Mammoth Bear Empire is taking advantage of the Dragon Country's lack of countermeasures, being able to suppress and intimidate at will, which is why they dare to bully like this..."

Peng Lin clenched his fists, his expression exceptionally grim!

Out of a total of 12,000 soldiers from the heavy combined arms brigade, light combined arms brigade, and army aviation brigade, less than 2,000 now survived the nuclear blast on the tactical display screen!

And this number was still constantly decreasing!

At this moment, military observers from various countries around the world were all intently watching the real-time footage on the tactical display screen!

The simulated battlefield scene on the electronic sandbox had now lost its meaning!

Everyone just wanted to know how the Dragon Country's army would respond to such a "nuclear blast" scenario?

Would human soldiers truly still have the confidence to fight after facing a nuclear strike?

Would they surrender?

In the live real-time footage, simulated radioactive dust, like gray snow, drifted down after the nuclear blast!

Within the shrinking encirclement of the "Red Army" paratroopers, the tracks of the 79A tanks still rolled over the scorched earth, carving grim ruts in the desolate radiation zone!

Inside the vehicles, the Dragon Country's tank commanders roared out coordinate commands. Each roar of the 125mm smoothbore cannon tore open the "Red Army" paratroopers' encirclement, clearing a path for the stumbling infantry retreating behind them!

The soldiers in their protective suits breathed heavily, their gas mask visors blurred by sweat, yet they still gripped their rifles tightly, filling the dead zones of the tank's firepower with their flesh and blood!

The 79A tank cluster might have had the possibility of breaking through independently!

But at this moment, they chose to cover all their surviving infantry comrades in their retreat!

"Never abandon! Never give up!"

The hoarse shouts over the radio became the final battle song!

A 79A tank was hit by an anti-tank missile and declared "paralyzed"!

The crew pushed open the tank's top hatch, rushed out in their protective suits, and sprayed approaching enemy forces with submachine guns until their ammunition ran out!

The infantry platoon leader dragged a comrade, declared "radiation weakened" by the General Director's Department, crawling forward, using his body to smother a smoking grenade amidst the hail of bullets!

Fear spread, but no one retreated!

The 79A tanks formed a "wall of sighs" that made the enemy tremble, covering the extremely weakened infantry as they continuously broke through!

To accommodate the pace of the remaining infantry, their retreat speed was extremely slow, but they nevertheless carved out a bloody path!

To "annihilate" the Blue Army forces, the "Red Army" paratroopers and the remnants of the Central Assault Group surged from all directions, engaging the breaking-through Blue Army despite casualties!

When the last 79A tank was "defeated" in a concentrated fire, the remaining infantry launched a bayonet charge!

The smoke engulfed their figures!

The two sides fought from dawn till dusk, with only the military insignia glinting in the radiation dust amidst the smoke!

"This is not a rout, but an epic of human courage!"

Prince Khalid watched the electronic display screen, saying with solemn respect.

"If fear is an instinct of life, then courage is a hymn to humanity!"

The White House National Security Advisor sighed and said softly.

Even though they were in different camps, the performance of the Dragon Country's soldiers and military still deeply shocked him!

Now, he finally understood a little why, with millet and rifles, the Dragon Country's soldiers were able to defeat the Pretty Country's planes and cannons back then!

"No, look at the Dragon Country's WZ-10 helicopter fleet!"

"They had already successfully broken through and were launching a surprise attack towards the Red Army's General Operations Command!"

"The ground forces' charge and breakthrough were just creating opportunities for the WZ-10s!"

Just as everyone was wondering why the exercise hadn't ended yet, someone exclaimed loudly!