341: Chapter 341 Let them blow it up

"Next, we watch. Let them continue. Once they are mired in the quagmire of the Persian Plateau, that will be our next move." He turned around to face Old K, who had been waiting at the door for several minutes. "Speak."

"Sovereign, Marshal Sinwar has sent the latest situation report: all seven occupied settlements in northern Gaza have been recovered, and the 2nd Brigade is currently reinforcing the defensive lines. President Houssa reports that the Republic of Yemen has completely controlled both the east and west banks of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The YJ-18 anti-ship missile positions cover the narrowest part of the strait, and all passing merchant ships are allowed through after reporting. Additionally, Persia's Tehran has transferred an 'Emergency Military Cooperation Memorandum' to gender own through secret channels, involving the transfer of the full set of Gallium Nitride active phased array radar seeker technology for the Meteor-3 medium-range ballistic missile."

Northern waters of the Persian Gulf, 3:40 AM local time.

On the flight deck of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the steam catapult's pistons launched fully armed F/A-18E Super Hornets into the night sky at a frequency of one every two minutes. The ground crew on deck wore vests of different colors—red for ordnance loaders, green for catapult operators, and purple for fuel handlers—performing a silent ballet with hand signals and lights amidst the deafening roar of engines and the hiss of steam. Each time a carrier-based aircraft left the deck, the entire carrier would sink slightly before being buoyed back by the seawater, like a steel beast catching its breath.

Inside the island's combat command center, Admiral James Harris, Commander of the Fifth Fleet, leaned his hands on the edge of the tactical table, staring at the dense cluster of cursors on the large screen. These cursors represented the fleet assembled in this sea area at the moment: two carrier strike groups—the Ford and the carl vinson, which had passed through the Strait of Hormuz three days ago—totaling seventeen surface combatants, four nuclear attack submarines, and the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, which was cutting in from the direction of the Arabian Sea at a speed of twenty-two knots after being redeployed from the Pacific Third Fleet. The three carrier strike groups formed a steel noose with a radius of over six hundred nautical miles in the Persian Gulf, with the tightening direction pointing straight at the Persian mainland.

"All aircraft for the first strike wave are airborne," the voice of the air combat coordinator came through the overhead speakers. "The Ford contributed twenty-four aircraft, the Vinson twenty, and the Lincoln sixteen—a total of sixty attack aircraft, divided into three waves. The first wave of twelve F-35C stealth fighters has entered Persian airspace to suppress air defense systems; the second wave of thirty-six F/A-18E/Fs is responsible for precision ground strikes; the third wave of twelve EA-18G Growlers provides electronic warfare cover. The target list includes: the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Headquarters on the outskirts of Tehran, air defense positions around the Isfahan uranium conversion facility, military facilities around the Bushehr nuclear power plant, the Revolutionary Guard's missile storage depots in Shiraz, and the naval vessel docking area at the Port of Bandar Abbas."

Harris did not respond, simply staring at the green triangles representing the first wave of F-35Cs on the screen. They had already crossed the Persian coastline and were penetrating deep inland. The stealth performance of the F-35C was crucial in this tactical situation—they had to use Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) to precisely destroy the Tombstone phased array radars of the S-300PMU2 air defense missile battalions deployed around Tehran, Isfahan, and Bushehr before the Persian air defense systems could react. As long as these radars were silenced, the subsequent F/A-18 squadrons could complete their bombing of fixed targets in relatively safe airspace.

"First wave has entered the target area. Receiving Tombstone radar signals—they are scanning, but have not locked onto us yet," an intelligence staff officer reported.

Harris tapped his fingers twice on the edge of the tactical table. These S-300s were Russian-made systems and theoretically possessed a certain level of anti-stealth capability. If the Persians were lucky enough—or if their operators were alert enough—they might briefly capture the F-35's signal at a specific angle. But even if captured, the entire process from detection to stable tracking and then launching interceptor missiles would take at least ninety seconds. And the F-35 pilots would not give them ninety seconds.

"First wave, weapons released. All twelve JASSMs hit their targets. All Tombstone radar signals have disappeared."

Harris nodded slightly. The first step was complete.

"Second wave entering. Air defense fire in the target area—scattered anti-aircraft guns, no radar guidance." A hint of tense excitement crept into the coordinator's voice. "The second group is dropping bombs. Precision-guided munitions are being released."

Meanwhile, 1,200 kilometers deep within the Persian interior, inside a mountain about forty kilometers northwest of Shiraz.

This was the underground command center of the Revolutionary Guard's Aerospace Force. The entrance was hidden beneath a cliff behind a quarry, with a tunnel eighty meters deep, topped by the entire granite mountain. A massive LED screen hung from the ceiling of the command hall, currently displaying the air defense situation map of all of Persia in real-time. Red light points on the screen were going out one by one—each extinguished point meant a radar station, an air defense missile battalion, or a command node had been destroyed.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Revolutionary Guard's Aerospace Force, stood before the screen with his hands behind his back, watching it all expressionlessly. Standing beside him was a middle-aged man in civilian clothes, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and holding a folder. This man was the chief engineer of the missile project for the Persian Defense Industries Organization and the chief designer of the "Persian Gulf-3" hypersonic anti-ship ballistic missile.

"They are bombing our S-300s," a lieutenant staff officer said in a low voice, his tone tinged with suppressed anger.

"Let them bomb," Brigadier General Hajizadeh's voice was unusually calm. "Those S-300s were meant to draw their first wave of fire in the first place."

He turned and looked at the engineer. "Are the launch positions ready?"

"All ready. Three mobile launch batteries, six launch vehicles, each carrying one 'Persian Gulf-3'. The hidden positions are in pre-set sites in the northern mountainous region of Hormozgan Province; camouflage facilities and electronic signal control have been completed."

Hajizadeh walked to another screen. It displayed a set of real-time updated satellite reconnaissance images, with the formation of the carl vinson carrier strike group at the center—captured by synthetic aperture radar from an orbit eight hundred kilometers high. Although the image was not clear enough, it was sufficient to identify the carrier's deck outline and the relative positions of the surrounding destroyers and cruisers. The data link for this image came from a civilian remote sensing satellite—the Persians had purchased commercial imagery from China's Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd., at a price of less than 20,000 RMB per scene. But in Hajizadeh's hands, combined with the signals from the US military fleet intercepted by ground electronic reconnaissance stations, it constituted an extremely low-cost carrier positioning solution.