256: Chapter 356 Drone Attack on the USS Ford Aircraft Carrier

The Anti-Israel Coalition Joint Command, upon seeing the USA warplanes successively withdraw from Israel's airspace, immediately ordered various anti-aircraft missile positions to prepare to launch anti-aircraft missiles with sufficient range for an anti-ship attack.

Under the search of the Tianlei Missile Defense System, the two USA aircraft carrier groups also successively entered the coverage area of the anti-aircraft missiles, but the existing Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missiles were not very abundant.

Furthermore, attacking USA warships required more than a dozen, or even twenty to thirty anti-aircraft missiles in a single volley to completely sink a warship. Considering the anti-aircraft weapons equipped on the warships, even more anti-aircraft missiles were needed for the attack.

In order to achieve results, the Anti-Judea Coalition directly chose to prioritize attacking the USA destroyers and frigates, while also launching attacks on transport ships.

After some preparations, dozens of anti-aircraft missile positions across four frontline command centers simultaneously launched a batch of Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missiles, heading straight for the USA warships and transport ships that were departing.

When the commanders of the "USS Gerald R. Ford" and "USS David" carrier groups saw their returning carrier-based aircraft and discovered that more than thirty had been lost, they were in the midst of feeling distressed when they heard the alarm of incoming missiles. They immediately became tense and ordered all anti-aircraft weapons on the aircraft carrier groups to be activated to launch interceptions against the incoming missiles.

The anti-aircraft guns equipped on each warship began firing frantically, and anti-aircraft missiles were also launched to intercept. After a round of engagement, many of the incoming missiles were hit and exploded, but quite a few still hit their targets.

Over 30 incoming missiles successfully landed on one destroyer and two frigates, and two transport ships were also attacked.

This directly led to the destroyer losing half of its power and being forced to sail at low speed, one frigate being destroyed and sinking into the Mediterranean Sea, and another frigate also being destroyed, becoming a vessel drifting with the wind at sea.

Of the two transport ships, one was sunk, and the other lost its power and was unable to sail.

The aircraft carrier group commander, seeing such losses, felt somewhat relieved that the two aircraft carriers had not been directly attacked, but also felt some dissatisfaction that the anti-aircraft weapons of so many warships had failed to intercept all the incoming missiles.

Just as he thought the Anti-Judea Coalition would not launch any more missiles for an attack, a dense swarm of drones appeared on the monitoring radar.

It turned out that the Anti-Judea Coalition felt it was truly unjustifiable to just let the USA aircraft carriers leave like this. After some discussion, they decided to use 200 Tianlong Series UAVs, fully loaded with missiles and bombs, to launch a direct suicide attack on the aircraft carriers.

The aircraft carrier group commander became anxious at this moment and immediately ordered all anti-aircraft weapons to fire with full power, determined to intercept all the incoming drones. After all, such a large number of incoming drones was indeed terrifying.

Although the Tianlong Series UAVs did not fly particularly fast, they still exceeded 280 kilometers per hour, which was much faster than the speed of the aircraft carriers, and they soon caught up to the carrier groups.

After selecting the "USS Gerald R. Ford" as their target, they all swarmed over at once, focusing on using a dense formation to break through the anti-aircraft missile interception network. As long as there were enough of them, they could render the anti-aircraft missiles carried by the aircraft carrier ineffective.

Although they lost over 100 Tianlong Series UAVs in the layers of breakthroughs, they successfully entered the range to attack the "USS Gerald R. Ford". After launching some of the missiles they were carrying to cause interference, they immediately accelerated and dove straight toward the aircraft carrier.

In an instant, more than 50 drones broke through the anti-aircraft interception and exploded on the "USS Gerald R. Ford", the missiles and bombs they carried greatly increasing the power of the explosions.

Because they were attacking the "USS Gerald R. Ford" from multiple directions, the flight deck, island-style bridge, hangar, equipment rooms, and more were successively covered by explosions, and the entire aircraft carrier was engulfed in various blasts.

Not only did the carrier-based aircraft parked in the standby area become fragments, but even the carrier-based aircraft parked in the hangar became "turkeys" in the explosions because some drones passed through the blown-open flight deck and crashed into the hangar to explode.

The captain of the "USS Gerald R. Ford", seeing this situation, had no way to deal with it, not to mention that his own situation was critical; soon, raging flames spread to the combat command center, and scrambling to save his life became the priority.

As 50 Tianlong Series UAVs successively exploded on the "USS Gerald R. Ford", they not only destroyed the flight deck, the island-style bridge, and the hangar, but also destroyed the defensive weapons, and even the propulsion system was hit, causing it to lose the ability to sail.

Although the "USS Gerald R. Ford" was not sunk, it was essentially totaled. Now, the USA officers and soldiers on the "USS Gerald R. Ford" were anxiously looking for various life-saving equipment, wanting to escape from this burning aircraft carrier.

After all, no one knew if the ammunition depot on the aircraft carrier would be detonated, in which case no one on the entire aircraft carrier would have a chance to survive.

While 50 Tianlong Series UAVs were attacking the "USS Gerald R. Ford", more than 30 other drones rushed toward the other escort warships, aiming to consume their anti-aircraft weapons to prevent those 50 Tianlong UAVs from being shot down.

But this choice naturally did not destroy the attacked escort warships; under the interception of anti-aircraft weapons, of the 30-plus drones, fewer than 5 successfully hit their targets, and they did not cause any major losses to these warships.

However, the purpose of these drones was indeed achieved, as it prevented more anti-aircraft weapons from being deployed to intercept the Tianlong Series UAVs rushing toward the "USS Gerald R. Ford", which was why such a great result was achieved.

The aircraft carrier group commander was stunned for a moment as he looked at the raging "USS Gerald R. Ford", not expecting that the Anti-Judea Coalition would use so many drones just to destroy the "USS Gerald R. Ford".

Moreover, they had achieved the Anti-Judea Coalition's goal. After the round of attacks and explosions, although the "USS Gerald R. Ford" had not yet sunk, its propulsion system had lost much of its function, and it could not continue to sail, only relying on tugboats to be towed.

Furthermore, most of the various equipment and carrier-based aircraft on the "USS Gerald R. Ford" had already been lost; the funds needed to repair and restore its combat capability would be enormous, perhaps no less than rebuilding an entire aircraft carrier.

Such losses had far exceeded expectations, causing the United States Department of Defense's current escort operation and the plan to support Israel to completely collapse.