The Americans were the happiest when the Chinese warships and aircraft were attacked. Later that day, the US fleet sent an invitation to the Ma'anshan to conduct Operation Praying Mantis (ratpraIuMatt). Luo Mingguang, Julich and others on the ship Naturally, he could not make such a decision and quickly reported the matter to the country via satellite connection.
After learning that the Ma'anshan was attacked, there were also certain differences in the country.
One opinion is: "This is a war between the United States and Iran. We are just a scourge. Fortunately, we have not suffered much losses. It is better not to continue to struggle with this issue. The interests of the United States are not our interests. Besides, between us and Iran There are still normal economic and trade exchanges between the two countries. Our energy gap will increase in the future. Iranian oil will still be very helpful to us in alleviating future energy tensions. In addition, Iran is also a major importer of weapons for us. If we rashly turn against each other, it will affect our weapons. It¡¯s not good for exporting.¡±
The other side retorted: "Our country has adjusted our diplomatic principles and policies. This time the Iranians clearly saw that we were flying the Chinese flag and attacked us, which shows that they are ready to turn against us." , and our rhetoric and lewdness will make Iran feel that we are easy to bully and can take whatever we ask for. How can we repay evil with kindness and repay kindness with kindness? This is the right way for us in the Indian Ocean and Persia. The grand strategy of the Gulf has just been launched. If we cannot show our strength and stature, we will definitely have difficulties in the future."
Qi Yiming did not participate in this debate. In his opinion, this is just a trivial matter. The scale of Operation Praying Mantis is not very large. The core of the operation is that the United States hopes to teach Iran a lesson. It is better for China to participate or not. The bad ones are not easy to distinguish.
Instead, the top management adopted a compromise approach. The Chinese Embassy in Iran expressed solemn protest and condemnation to Iran and demanded that Iran apologize to China. If there is no response within an hour, China may use drastic measures to retaliate, including adding economic sanctions and military supplies. Embargoes and even military actions, etc.
Although Iran also wants to show toughness, this time they are doing nothing wrong. The people below have acted recklessly and caused a backlash from China. Now Iran¡¯s main supplier of air defense weapons and air force weapons is China. If such nonsense really causes China to The embargo on Iran's military products is really not worth the gain.
So the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly issued a statement, expressing its sincere apology to China and saying that the incident was an accident and that Iran had no active intention to be disrespectful to China.
This is tantamount to giving China a step down. With Iran¡¯s statement, China naturally rejected the United States¡¯ invitation to send troops. There were no casualties in China, but the ship and aircraft were scratched, so they did not even ask for compensation during the diplomatic action. In fact, they did not want to take action rashly because of such an unexpected incident.
" Anyway, China only has one warship here. There is not much difference between her and her. The United States does not expect much help from China's participation. It just likes to drag its younger brothers to build houses together. China is not stupid. Sino-Iranian relations are not as tense as the US-Iranian relations, and Iran can give China at least US$3.5 billion in military product orders every year. Although it is not too large, it is still profitable.
On April 18, the US military officially launched Operation Praying Mantis against Iran. The Chinese fleet did not participate, but served as a nearby observation group to see how the US military fought.
The U.S. military has formed two surface ship battle groups. One is composed of the 1,760-ton dock landing ship USS Trent and two guided missile destroyers, and the other is composed of the 86-ton guided missile cruiser USS Wainwright and two guided missile frigates. The target It is the two Iranian oil drilling platforms Siri and Sasan that are stuck in the Strait of Hormuz.
The two oil drilling platforms are far away from Iran and are located in the middle of the Persian Gulf channel. Although their oil production is not the largest, they can serve as Iran's radar warning center in the Persian Gulf, monitor the sea and air, and can also serve as a command and control center to arrange Mine-laying mission in this sea area. Therefore, the United States has been unhappy with these two oil drilling platforms for a long time and hopes to remove them quickly.
At 9:01 a.m., the second U.S. surface ship battle group began to attack the Sasan platform. They first shouted to ask the people on it to evacuate. After no recovery, the 2m main gun on the destroyer began to bombard the platform, and The unyielding Iranians responded with 2mm cannons mounted on the platform. The disparity in firepower was so great that the Iranians could not withstand it. The 2mm cannon was destroyed. The US military triggered resistance on the Cobra cleaning platform of the carrier-based armed helicopter. In the end, the US Marine Corps successfully captured this place.
Subsequently, the Second Battle Group received new instructions to destroy another drilling platform to the north, and the real larger-scale confrontation with Iran has only now officially begun.
After receiving the news that the US military attacked its oil drilling platform, Iran immediately took off two Fl fighters from the air force base. In another dimension, the Iranians sent two B4s but they returned midway due to technical failures. In this dimension, the Iranian Air Force's utilization of the small but powerful Fl is much stronger than their previous Tomcats.
??????????????????????????? First of all??The uninterrupted supply of weapons to China allows them to not worry about running out of weapons and not being able to buy them. The simple and efficient Xiaolong is easy to use, and some pilots can immediately carry out more difficult tasks after becoming familiar with it. High-intensity and frequent dispatches also trained the Iranian Air Force's Xiaolong pilots.
Iran not only bought aircraft and air-to-air missiles from China, they also obtained hundreds of air-launched anti-ship missiles from the first transaction. Although China never sold them to them again, these hundreds The missiles can last them several years. At this time, the two Iranian Fls each carried two air-launched 82 anti-ship missiles. Using the low-altitude penetration mode taught by Chinese instructors, they approached the US fleet at high speed and did not notice the danger.
"20 kilometers away from the target, anti-ship missiles were launched." The Iranian pilot with terrifying flames in his eyes dropped two 82 missiles. Although this subsonic missile is not as good as China's own Eagle-B, it still cannot be underestimated.
After the missile was launched, the U.S. warships sounded their alarm bells, "Enemy air attack, enemy air attack
The US warships that were attacked were not those Aegis ships of later generations. In addition to the dock landing ship, they were a Spruance-class destroyer and an Adams-class destroyer. It was the more advanced destroyer that was targeted by the missile. The Adams-class destroyer is lagging behind. Although the Adams-class destroyer USS McCormick has been upgraded from Tatar anti-aircraft missiles to Standard-I, the flight trajectory of her opponent 82 is not so easy to intercept.
Before the McCormick's fire control radar could catch the two anti-ship missiles, the spinning anti-ship missiles hit the more than 4,000-ton destroyer. Two anti-ship missiles were enough to severely damage this small destroyer. The missiles blasted a hole larger than the one hit by the Roberts. The turbulent water immediately poured in and the hull tilted rapidly.
Another Fl also chose to launch anti-ship missiles at this time, and its target was the larger Trent dock landing ship. The U.S. surface ship battle group, which lacked regional air defense capabilities, was unable to intercept the erratic anti-ship missiles. It could only sit back and watch as an anti-ship missile hit the bow of the Trent. I wonder if it was luck, and another missile It didn't hit the target, but flew over the ship's deck.
Although the US military immediately launched a rescue operation for the severely damaged USS McCormick, the USS McCormick did not escape the fate of sinking. More than 200 officers and soldiers on the ship were rescued, but nearly 100 people were killed or missing.
The sinking of the McCormick and the heavy casualties made the Americans angry. The nearby USS Enterprise aircraft carrier immediately dispatched several B14 fighter jets and A-Aggressor carrier-based attack aircraft to launch a counterattack against Iran. Two Fls that completed the raid mission were intercepted by B14s arriving at high speed over the Persian Gulf. However, these two B14s did not carry the iconic weapon Phoenix missiles but adopted configurations such as Sidewinder and Sparrow.
On the other hand, Fl Xiaolong had a self-defense missile configuration of two in two. When B14 was still more than 30 kilometers away from Fl, Xiaolong, knowing that he could not escape, launched two pL-2A air-to-air missiles at a US A6. missile. The US military aircraft A had no power to fight back and was immediately shot down into the sky, becoming the second loss in the US military's Operation Praying Mantis.
Several furious B14s launched a siege on the two Iranian Air Force Xiaolongs. The Xiaolong was eventually shot down due to poor performance and being outnumbered. Subsequently, more A6s from the US military bombed Iranian oil drilling platforms in the Persian Gulf in retaliation.
The U.S. First Surface Ship Battle Group also suffered subsequent losses. After the First Battle Group completed the destruction of the Siri platform, a U.S. helicopter searching 6 kilometers away from the battle group discovered three Iranian patrol boats. , the Iranians raised the Hongying-6 man-portable air defense missile purchased from China and directly bombed the US military helicopter down.
At this point, the battle was actually a bit evenly matched, and the US military even paid a heavy price of a destroyer. What was originally an excuse to vent their anger turned into a real venting of anger.
?Perhaps the sinking of the US destroyer by Xiaolong inspired the Iranians to believe that this battle could be won, and they launched their own counterattacks in various waters of the Persian Gulf. At noon, a logistics support ship flying the American Stars and Stripes was blocked by an Iranian missile frigate, and the logistics ship was bombarded.
Later, Iranian missile boats gathered at the Clara Island base and encountered the USS Wainwright cruiser. At this time, the Iranian missile boat USS Yoshan launched an anti-ship missile. This anti-ship missile was not the Chinese Eagle. was hit, and it happened to be a harpoon from the US military. US military ships have no way to deal with Eagle Strike, but they are extremely familiar with their own anti-ship missiles. While the Wainwright was maneuvering in a snaking manner, it fired chaff at the bomb, and the harpoon was successfully confused and missed.
The Chinese 82 does not have infrared terminal guidance, so it does not eat chaff jammers at all. It has a certain chance of catching FCN, but its anti-jamming ability is not comparable to that of Western seekers at this stage. In addition, its swirling terminal The flight trajectory increases the difficulty of interception and becomes the enemy's ultimate nightmare.