170: Delivered J-10 "Raptor" fighter jets to Ilek!

Night shrouded the Siberian wilderness, and biting cold winds carried the roar of diesel engines.

Dozens of An-22 “Cock” and Il-76 “Frank” strategic transport aircraft were lined up on the runway, ready for departure. The turboprop and jet engines beneath their wings spewed out hot exhaust flames, melting the accumulated snow into black asphalt.

Ground crew, dressed in heavy winter clothing, bustled like ants under the searchlights.

The tracks of T-72 tanks rumbled over the loading ramps, their steel monster barrels glinting coldly under the moonlight.

The transport capsules for Scud missiles were slowly pushed into the gigantic cargo hold of an An-22 by a hydraulic platform; the red letters “CCCP” on the missile bodies were as stark as blood.

The rotors of Mi-24 “Hind” attack helicopters were folded and secured, and the 12.7mm machine gun barrels under their noses still carried the scent of gunpowder from the Caucasian battlefield.

“24-hour rotation! No stopping!”

The roar of the Soviet Union's airborne forces commander was drowned out by the engines’ thunder.

His leather boots crunched over scattered ammunition boxes for SPG-9 recoilless rifles, making a rattling, clanging sound.

All of these were weapons and equipment provided by the Soviet Union to Iran, an incredibly vast quantity, enough to arm over a hundred thousand modern armored troops!

To gather such a massive and diverse array of advanced weapons and equipment in a short time, many armored vehicles had even been pulled directly from the Mammoth Bear Army just days before!

Next, these weapons and equipment would be transported to Iran's capital via both air and rail.

Above the Caspian Sea, at an altitude of ten thousand meters.

Inside the Il-76 cabin, the guidance components of Tochka tactical missiles were wrapped in anti-vibration foam.

On the cargo floor, the launch tubes of “Smerch” 300mm rocket launchers were stacked like a hive of death, each tube wall scrawled with the crude Mammoth Bear language graffiti: “Destroy Iraq.”

This was the message the Mammoth Bear Army had inscribed on these pieces of equipment when they were pulled from the Soviet Union Army.

Iran’s capital airport, at dawn.

Amidst a sandstorm, the cargo door of the first An-22 strategic transport aircraft to arrive in Iran roared open.

The steel wheels of a Hurricane rocket launcher slammed onto the runway, and the fervent faces of Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers emerged from the rising dust.

“For Allah!”

They rushed towards the crates of Sagger anti-tank missiles and began the busy work of transport.

Immediately following, TM-62M anti-tank mines were transported by Iranian military “Chinook” heavy transport helicopters to the front lines, ready to be buried in the sands along the Shatt al-Arab!

The Soviet Union’s transport fleet was like a hypodermic needle, injecting a steel torrent capable of arming five divisions into Iran’s veins!

...Several hours later, all the weapons and equipment had been unloaded from the transport planes.

The An-22 transport aircraft’s turboprop engines roared in reverse at Tehran Airport; the cargo holds, now empty of military supplies, were filled with another kind of “strategic material”!

Three hundred Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers, tightly wrapped in olive-green greatcoats, were squeezed like sardines onto temporarily welded metal benches.

The flickering explosion-proof lights on the cabin ceiling cast dancing shadows in their pupils; some had a Mammoth Bear language version of “Armored Group Assault Tactics” spread open on their laps!

They would travel to a Soviet Union military base to receive the most advanced army tactical command training, to counter Iraq's combined arms army units!

On the cargo floor of the Il-76, forty future pilots sat cross-legged.

MiG-25 cockpit blueprints were spread on their knees, their rough fingers repeatedly tracing the contours of the instrument panel.

In the corner of the cabin, two young pilots were quietly arguing in Persian about the performance of the Su-25 and MiG-25, their voices torn to shreds by the engine’s roar.

And on the hooks of the cabin wall, swaying oxygen masks hung in abundance!

...When the fleet landed at Ryazan Air Base, a minus 30-degree blizzard instantly froze everyone’s eyelashes.

The Iranian officers walked through ankle-deep snow towards the barracks, the roar of a Mammoth Bear instructor coming from behind them:

“Remember! What you need to learn is not how to operate a T-72, but how to use an armored division to tear through a combined arms brigade’s defenses!”

In the dead of night at the Pskov Army Academy, the lights of the sand table simulation room burned all night.

The Iranian officers stared at the flashing red arrows on the electronic map, which represented the attack route of Iraq’s heavy combined arms brigade.

At this moment, the Mammoth Bear instructor suddenly pointed sharply at the sand table:

“Right here, cover this area with three times the artillery density!”

“The tactics the Dragon Country taught Saddam should be repaid with a storm of steel!”

...Including Iran’s pilots, who were also undergoing devilish training at the Gagarin Air Force Academy, the cradle of Soviet Union ace pilots, to quickly learn and operate Su-25 attack aircraft and MiG-25 interceptors!

The Soviet Union aimed to enhance Iran’s ability to counter Iraq in the short term through a massive transfusion of equipment, while simultaneously curbing the Dragon Country’s expansion of influence in the Middle East!

The Soviet Union directly responded to the Dragon Country’s deep cooperation with Iraq through military action!

The Middle East has always been the main “battlefield” for the Soviet Union and USA to contend for supremacy, and now the Dragon Country actually wants to extend its hand into the Middle East, which is absolutely unacceptable to the Soviet Union!

Moreover, the Soviet Union was incredibly eager to fight a proxy war with the Dragon Country to cripple the Dragon Country’s economic development!

To curb the Dragon Country’s rise!

At the same time, the Soviet Union also hoped to use this proxy war to prevent the Dragon Country from continuing its military aid to the Afghan battlefield, allowing the Soviet Union itself to extricate itself from the quagmire of the Afghan war!

Furthermore, the Soviet Union itself is one of the world's most important oil exporters, earning money in the international market by selling oil and other energy sources!

If Iran and Iraq could be kept fighting, and the Middle East remained unstable, it would only reduce the oil production of these two countries and simultaneously cause international oil prices to skyrocket!

So, regardless of which interests were considered, the Soviet Union was determined to win this proxy war!

...At the same time.

The Dragon Country’s Ministry of National Defense also became extremely tense.

The war was coming faster and more fiercely than the Dragon Country military had anticipated!

Moreover, the current Iraq was no longer the Iraq of the past; the Dragon Country not only had a huge automobile market there but also possessed even more important oil development rights!

Therefore, in this battle, the Dragon Country military had to stand behind Iraq!

“Fortunately, when we chose to reach a cooperation agreement with Iraq, we had already foreseen this day!”

Marshal Xu Yong'an presided over the meeting in the fifth-floor conference room of the Ministry of National Defense and said to everyone.

As the Dragon Country expanded its influence into the Middle East and sought enormous benefits, it would inevitably have to bear corresponding risks!

Otherwise, how could Iraq and Saddam willingly concede 50% of the profits from newly developed oil fields to the Dragon Country?

“A new round of large-scale warfare could break out at any time!”

“Our first priority is to ensure the safety of Iraq’s air defense and oil fields, and we must absolutely not allow the flames of war to extend from Iran to Iraq!”

“So, it’s time to deliver the first batch of J-10 “Vigorous Dragon” fighter jets to Iraq!”

Peng Lin suggested.