234: Chapter 234: Fighter jets from the United States and Judah fled in disarray.

Yet another batch of aircraft turned into beautiful fireworks in the sky, eventually falling into the territorial waters of Israel and becoming drifting garbage at sea.

The remaining fighter jets that managed to escape flew desperately toward their aircraft carriers, while the remnants of Israel's fighter jets simply flew directly to the USA airbase in Italy, not daring to return to land at any airport in Israel.

The commanders of the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS David were shocked to see that fewer than 10 carrier-based fighter jets had returned. They had previously deployed twenty-two F/A-18 fighter jets, and this single attack had resulted in the loss of 12 of them.

Such a massive loss left the commanders feeling dizzy. Combined with the two aircraft lost earlier, the USA had lost 14 aircraft in a short period. How could they possibly accept this?

Should they continue to launch bombings against the Anti-Judea Coalition? Although the commanders were eager to retaliate, the thought of the 14 aircraft already shot down caused such ideas to dissipate instantly.

After all, no one could guarantee that the Anti-Judea Coalition did not possess even more anti-aircraft missiles that would allow USA fighter jets to bomb with impunity.

The anti-aircraft missiles now possessed by the Anti-Judea Coalition were capable of shooting down USA fighter jets. This was not like their previous invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, Serbia, and other countries, where they could clearly know there were no anti-aircraft missiles capable of posing a threat.

The commanders ultimately abandoned the idea of continuing to dispatch fighter jets and immediately reported to the United States Department of Defense, providing a detailed account of the battle.

At the same time, since the aircraft carriers had already lost so many F/A-18 fighter jets, they also needed to request timely replacements from the United States Department of Defense. Otherwise, the combat effectiveness of the aircraft carriers would be compromised.

Post-battle operations were also underway; the commanders dispatched a destroyer to rescue the pilots who had fallen into the sea, while the pilots who had crashed within the territory of Israel would be searched for and rescued by personnel sent by the Israeli military.

As for what orders the United States Department of Defense would ultimately issue, the commanders did not intend to dwell on it. The one-time loss of so many fighter jets was already giving the commanders enough of a headache. Whether this would affect the morale of the other pilots on the aircraft carriers was difficult to say.

The losses for Israel were equally significant. The military saw that the final result of the aerial engagement over Israel was that the fighter jets of the USA and Israel had fled in panic. This was somewhat difficult for the Israeli military to accept.

The USA was currently the nation with the most powerful military strength in the world, and its fighter jets had excellent combat performance. Yet, unexpectedly, a large number of fighter jets had crashed during this aerial engagement.

Only three of their own fighter jets had eventually reached the airbase in Italy; the remaining nine were all missing, and it was highly probable that they had crashed.

The Israeli military did not want to admit this failure, nor were they willing to. But this glaring reality forced the Israeli military to swallow bitter tears.

With the loss of another nine fighter jets this time, the number of aircraft in the Israeli Air Force had decreased even further. They had previously lost many fighter jets and drones in multiple engagements with the Anti-Judea Coalition. Even earlier, during conflicts with Syria, Jordan, and others, they had also lost some fighter jets and drones.

It could be said that every remaining fighter jet was now the apple of the eye for the Israeli Air Force. Yet, the sudden loss of nine fighter jets this time had essentially broken the backbone of the Israeli Air Force. The number of remaining fighter jets was simply insufficient to support the territorial defense of Israel.

After receiving the news, General Gadi was equally distressed. The losses this time were too great; the Israeli military could not afford such massive losses.

Due to a shortage of raw materials and core components, Israel was no longer able to produce fighter jets on its own and could only perform maintenance on existing ones.

Besides continuing to request aid in the form of fighter jets from the USA, Israel had no other channels to obtain them. And after the Anti-Judea Coalition issued an aviation warning order, it was hard to feel at ease about whether they could continue to obtain fighter jets through this channel.

If even the USA could not get aid fighter jets into Israel, then after a few more engagements, the Israeli Air Force would become an empty military force with no fighter jets capable of taking off, existing in name only.

General Gadi was unwilling to see such a situation occur. However, the changing situation caught him off guard, and he could only try his best to lobby through Israeli capital in the USA, urging the USA to transport more fighter jets to Israel, or to transport fighter jet components to allow Israel to resume production.

There was another matter that gave General Gadi a headache. Now that the USA had lost so many fighter jets, would it cause the USA to increase the number of troops deployed to Israel, or would it cause the USA to retreat, fearing to send troops into Israel?

General Gadi hoped to drag the USA into the fray, but this was not a decision that General Gadi could make, nor could he even influence it.

After all, although the USA would strongly support Israel, if it were predicted that entering the Israeli battlefield would cause the USA to suffer losses far exceeding expectations, the possibility of the USA retreating was extremely high.

It seemed that the Israeli military needed to launch a large-scale offensive against the Anti-Judea Coalition, at least to achieve some results to solidify the confidence of the USA.

The two frontline command posts of the Anti-Judea Coalition had successively launched nearly two hundred "Tianlei" Series Anti-Aircraft Missile units, valued at at least nearly 3 billion USD. Although the cost expenditure was high, the results were equally astonishing.

Judging from the monitored losses of enemy fighter jets, at least 18 fighter jets from the USA and Israel had been shot down, with a value reaching 1.7 billion USD. Coupled with the lost pilots and the various missiles carried by the fighter jets, this was entirely a profitable deal.

Moreover, after the Anti-Judea Coalition fully utilized the "Tianlei" Missile Defense System, the military facilities and troops at the frontline command posts were spared from being bombed and suffered no losses. This was a tremendous encouragement for the Anti-Judea Coalition.

As long as the "Tianlei" Missile Defense System could perform this well every time, the Anti-Judea Coalition would not fear being bombed by Israel. With no worries behind them, their combat enthusiasm would be greatly increased.

After recently purchasing a large quantity of "Tianlei" Series Anti-Aircraft Missile units, their stockpile of anti-aircraft missiles was even greater, and the Anti-Judea Coalition no longer feared enemy air raids.

This was unlike the previous several wars between countries in the Persian Gulf region and Israel, where they were bombed by Israeli fighter jets every time, destroying various tanks and armored vehicles, bombing military personnel, and bombing various military facilities. This time, they no longer needed to worry about air raids launched by Israel from the sky.

The Anti-Israel Coalition Joint Command did not lower its guard. Although they had achieved victory this time, they were somewhat worried about whether the USA would launch retaliation.