17: Chapter 17: No anti-aircraft missile sites were found.

Major Nokin heard Captain Haruz and Captain Ezer's discussion, but he did not join in.

He looked at the flight path displayed on the reconnaissance aircraft; it would take 22 minutes to reach the Golan Heights, which wasn't a short amount of time.

"It's been almost half an hour. By the time we arrive, could the anti-aircraft missile positions have already been moved?"

Major Nokin frowned, thinking with some concern.

"Besides, the reconnaissance area assigned to us is quite large and situated in mountainous terrain, making it very difficult to spot anti-aircraft missile positions."

While Major Nokin was heading toward the Golan Heights, Israel's Ministry of Defense issued an order through the Northern Command Headquarters to an army unit at a military base in northern Israel.

The order was received by a mechanized infantry brigade. The brigade commander immediately ordered four battalions to rush to the Global Hawk crash site in armored reconnaissance vehicles and armored transport vehicles, while also ordering the remaining battalions to prepare for combat and be ready for reinforcements at any time.

After all, the Global Hawk crash site was not actually Israeli territory; it was merely occupied by Israel. There were many local resistance armed groups, and conducting a large-scale recovery of the Global Hawk's wreckage could lead to attacks by these local forces.

Israel's Northern Command Headquarters also received orders to cooperate with the USA on a series of follow-up tasks regarding the Global Hawk crash, such as allowing US fighter jets to land at local airbases, hosting arriving investigation teams, and deploying security forces to ensure the safety of US personnel.

The Northern Command Headquarters was more than happy to comply. After all, as a loyal subordinate of the USA, they had to cooperate unconditionally whenever the USA had a need; this was their standard practice.

Upon reaching the Golan Heights, Major Nokin immediately began his reconnaissance flight, while Captain Haruz and Captain Ezer flew ahead and behind him to provide security.

However, to Major Nokin's surprise, after more than ten minutes of reconnaissance, no trace of any anti-aircraft missile positions was found; the radar showed no information about them at all.

Not giving up, Major Nokin conducted two more reconnaissance flights around the Golan Heights, but ultimately came up empty-handed and had no choice but to report the situation to Colonel Benny.

"Colonel, our reconnaissance aircraft has completed three consecutive laps over the Golan Heights, and we haven't found any enemy anti-aircraft missile positions. Please confirm if the intelligence is reliable."

Upon receiving Major Nokin's report, Colonel Benny, despite doubting the authenticity of the intelligence provided by the USA, spoke to Major Nokin out of trust for the Americans.

"The intelligence should be reliable. Expand your reconnaissance immediately to see if jamming signals are shielding the radar. If you still find nothing, you may perform low-altitude reconnaissance. You must find those anti-aircraft missile positions."

Colonel Benny knew that since the US Air Force Command Center in Italy had issued a request for assistance, it couldn't be without reason. They must have discovered anti-aircraft missile positions in the Golan Heights to request fighter reconnaissance of the area.

Major Nokin could only nod and say, "Yes, sir! I will carefully scout every inch of the Golan Heights and strive to find the anti-aircraft missile positions."

Subsequently, Major Nokin reduced the reconnaissance aircraft's speed. Although such a maneuver was extremely dangerous in contested territory, he had to take the risk to find the anti-aircraft missile positions.

Watching the radar screen refresh the monitoring images over and over again without any alarm sounding meant the radar had detected no anti-aircraft missile positions at all.

This situation left Major Nokin very frustrated. Moving anti-aircraft missile positions wasn't something that could be done in an instant. He had arrived promptly and expanded the search area, yet he still found nothing.

"Could it really be that the anti-aircraft missile positions are emitting jamming signals that interfere with the radar?"

Major Nokin had high confidence in the radar installed on this reconnaissance aircraft, but this time, he was beginning to have doubts.

It seemed low-altitude reconnaissance was necessary after all, but the danger was much higher. Flying below 500 meters would make him a sitting duck for Man-portable air-defense systems.

After considering for a moment, Major Nokin immediately lowered his altitude. Every peak and tree beneath the fighter jet became clearly visible.

Captain Haruz then reminded Major Nokin, "Major, your altitude is extremely low. Local armed forces have Man-portable air-defense systems. I suggest you return to a normal flight altitude immediately."

Major Nokin explained, "We still haven't found the enemy anti-aircraft missile positions, and Colonel Benny has authorized low-altitude reconnaissance. Stay alert. If you spot any missile launches, report to me immediately so I can respond."

As the altitude dropped, Major Nokin's nerves were on edge. He stopped looking at the radar interface and instead scanned every inch of the ground with his naked eyes and infrared equipment, searching for any anomalies.

But even at the aircraft's minimum speed, everything remained a blur to Major Nokin. Dark peaks, rocks, trees, and the occasional house flashed by, but he saw nothing reflecting light, and the infrared equipment showed no thermal hotspots of gathered people.

Fortunately, everything remained safe. After completing a lap around the Golan Heights, no missiles suddenly appeared, but neither did any anti-aircraft missile positions.

Not willing to give up, Major Nokin performed another low-altitude reconnaissance lap around the Golan Heights, but the result was the same.

"It seems there really aren't any anti-aircraft missile positions. Otherwise, after several consecutive sweeps, we should have found them. It's impossible for them to have evaded all these passes."

Major Nokin reached a conclusion and contacted Colonel Benny again, saying, "Colonel, I've just completed two low-altitude sweeps, and I found no anomalies or anti-aircraft missile positions."

Colonel Benny asked, "Did none of the reconnaissance equipment detect any anti-aircraft missile targets?"

"Correct. None of the equipment triggered an alarm. I believe either there are no anti-aircraft missile positions in the Golan Heights at all, or they have already been relocated elsewhere."

The Golan Heights covers a significant area; leaving it would take at least forty minutes.

Yet Major Nokin had arrived within half an hour to begin aerial reconnaissance and still found nothing.

There was only one possibility: no anti-aircraft missile positions had been deployed in the Golan Heights to begin with.

But for the USA to issue such a confident request for assistance, it couldn't have been out of thin air. Could they have done it just to assert their presence?