19: Chapter 19 Accelerating the Delivery of Anti-Aircraft Missiles

Ramstein Air Base.

The USA's air base in Germany, it is also the largest air base in Europe.

A transport plane has already taken off, carrying various fighter jet crash processing equipment and the investigation team for this incident.

After Lieutenant Colonel David reported the Global Hawk crash to the USA Air Forces in Europe Command, Major General Hunter, the command's commander, gave him a harsh dressing-down. His words sprayed out like a firing machine gun, the heat reaching a hundred meters outside the commander's office.

"Now, immediately, get the cleanup work done. Form the investigation team and set off at once to find out whether there was a problem with your response operations or if you were negligent and failed to detect the enemy's anti-aircraft missiles in time."

After venting his anger, Major General Hunter had to clean up the mess for Lieutenant Colonel David.

The incident had already occurred; he hoped the Air Staff wouldn't give him a dressing-down as well.

This wasn't the first Global Hawk crash; if it wasn't a command and operation issue this time, his own secondary responsibility would be minimal.

Organizing personnel from the relevant departments of the Air Forces in Europe Command for an emergency meeting, Major General Hunter finalized the investigation team, which included personnel from the Command, Aviano Air Base, and inspectors dispatched from the Secretariat of the Air Force.

This transport plane was carrying the investigation team to the crash site in Israel to conduct a full investigation, while personnel from Aviano Air Base would head directly to Israel to meet them. The main force of the investigation consisted of personnel from the Command, with Aviano Air Base personnel primarily providing support.

Following the Global Hawk crash, Major General Hunter ordered the subordinate Air Wings, Air Groups, and Air Squadrons of the Air Forces in Europe Command to heighten their vigilance and conduct thorough reconnaissance during missions to avoid another crash incident.

If another crash occurred, Major General Hunter would be held accountable even without direct responsibility, which would significantly impact his future career in the USA military.

Lieutenant Colonel David naturally executed Major General Hunter's arrangements with full effort. He dispatched a Rescue Squadron from Turkey to Israel and had the investigation personnel fly from Aviano Air Base to Israel.

Once the investigation team arrived and began their comprehensive investigation of the Global Hawk crash site, the full truth would gradually be revealed.

Although Lieutenant Colonel David believed he hadn't been negligent while commanding the Global Hawk's ISR mission, the fact that it crashed would still implicate him, depending on the final investigation results.

After learning about the Global Hawk crash from Lieutenant Colonel David, Major General Hunter immediately reported to the USA Air Staff.

As for when the United States Department of Defense would announce the Global Hawk crash, that was of no concern to Major General Hunter.

...

After receiving reports from the officers and soldiers in Haibai and agents in the Golan Heights, Lieutenant Colonel Haidari immediately contacted Major General Rahim and said over the phone.

"Major General, it has been confirmed that a fighter jet was shot down. The Israel military has sent troops to guard the crash site. We only brought back a small fragment of aluminum alloy, which is awaiting analysis for final confirmation."

"Finally, a fighter jet has been shot down. Whether it belongs to Israel or the USA, it's good news."

Major General Rahim said with relief. He had been very angry seeing Israel's previous brazen attacks on Iran's military bases. Any crash of an enemy aircraft was good news.

"The Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile launcher vehicles have also safely arrived at the Glass House and should have completed the handover by now. I will have our experts look at the equipment then to test its operational performance."

"Make the arrangements. If it's confirmed that the anti-aircraft missiles provided by Chaos Company indeed have excellent performance, we can place additional arms orders."

"In that case, should we have Chaos Company complete the delivery for this arms deal as soon as possible?"

"Yes. The deposit amount isn't large; pay it off first. If they want gold, they can collect it from the Glass House. If they want oil, see how they want to receive it—whether by tanker to the Persian Gulf for loading in Iran, or loading from the Syria side."

"Yes. I will communicate with Chaos Company to pay the deposit as soon as possible and get the first batch of anti-aircraft missiles."

"When you talk to the arms dealer, see if you can speed up the delivery of the anti-aircraft missiles. If they can deliver all the missiles ahead of schedule, we can give them more oil. We have plenty of oil anyway, so paying a bit more won't matter."

"Understood. I will press Chaos Company and try to get them to prioritize delivery to us."

After hanging up, Major General Rahim thought for a moment and felt he should report this intelligence to the Ministry of Defense of Iran.

After all, this was a significant matter; if the Ministry of Defense remained unaware, they would be at a disadvantage in their subsequent responses.

The Ministry of Defense of Iran had actually noticed an unusual increase in communication between Israel and Europe, but they didn't know exactly what had happened and were still analyzing the situation.

Lacking effective monitoring equipment and methods, it was difficult to determine whether something had happened in Israel or if the USA had sent new deployments to Israel.

Major General Rahim's report immediately clarified the reason for the abnormal communications to the Ministry of Defense of Iran. After inquiring about the specific details from Major General Rahim, they were equally pleased.

Having suffered attacks from Israel within their borders, Iran had been harboring a lot of anger. Hearing that an enemy fighter jet had crashed was truly fantastic news.

Furthermore, since the Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile was purchased by Iran, it could be considered that Iran had shot down the enemy's aircraft.

This made one want to roast an extra camel to share the joy.

Regarding Major General Rahim's decision to purchase the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile, the Ministry of Defense had no objections, gave high praise, and suggested that if the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile's operational performance was excellent, the Ministry would consider procuring a batch of them.

Although Iran also produced the Bavar Series Missile Defense System as its most important localized missile defense system, paired with Sayyad anti-aircraft missiles, there were still significant issues with its operational performance; otherwise, they wouldn't have allowed Israel to conduct direct air strikes within their borders.

Now that a new type of anti-aircraft missile had appeared and was available for sale to Iran, it was exactly what the Ministry of Defense urgently needed.

However, it hadn't been battle-tested yet; the Ministry of Defense would wait for Major General Rahim to test the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile before placing an arms order.

Major General Rahim was naturally happy for the Ministry of Defense of Iran to procure the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile. This way, his own purchases could be added to the Ministry's arms order, and the Glass House would have to pay less.