TFA3 6.3 – Multiple Perfect Hits
Even if TF Amethyst heavily adopted major military equipment from US Military, they actually didn’t use their top line equipment. To enable rapid and covert procurement, they had to settle with the second or even third line equipment.
No doubt it was the best equipment from its era. Unfortunately, as time went on, it was no longer enough to meet the US Military mandatory job to maintain its position as the undisputed apex predator on the planet.
Even so, TF Amethyst personnel were more than happy to use that second or third line equipment. They knew for sure their equipment could still enable them to defeat strong country on earth like Russia or China on a one-on-one fight. It would take a week when they had some more important thing to do, and two or three weeks when they were not in the mood to fight.
Not to mention, TF Amethyst had carried out some customization so the equipment they picked perfectly matched their doctrine, that had to rely on a relatively small number of fighting force.
The TF Amethyst personnel in Sommer Island were no exception. They didn’t complain when they knew they would use only medium-multirole Tomahawk instead of the real Big Daddy Tomahawk. They also didn’t complain when they had to use Harpoon ER until they received the medium-multirole Tomahawk. And finally, those personnel received the order to fire a salvo of Harpoon.
In an open field near the beach on the north side of Sommer Island, with calm gaze Major Hannesson looked at the array of Harpoon battery. In total the battery consisted of 24 unit 4-tube Mk.141 Launching System and 12 firing console. This battery would have maximum rate of fire 12 Harpoon every 22 seconds.
It was equivalent to firepower of 12 light frigates. It was not as impressive as Arleigh Burke-class where a single ship could launch a salvo of 12 Tomahawk every four seconds, but it was adequate enough to spook a navy without modern air defense.
After a small smile Major Hannesson turned his gaze to Lieutenant Cornell, “LT, have you run the last check?”
“I have, Sir,” Lieutenant Cornell firmly replied. “Double check on each launcher and firing console. Everything is good to spit.”
Major Hannesson happily replied, “Good.”
“But, who is our target, Sir?” Lieutenant Cornell curiously asked.
“A small Buriek fleet that carry new command element for Battle Group B,” Major Hannesson casually replied. “For some reason, they sail close enough to us, and at some point their position will be no more than 120 km away for 20 minutes. It’s more than enough to serve them a few Harpoons.”
“I see.”
A moment later, Major Hannesson received the greenlight to launch the Harpoon salvo. Wasting no time, he launched 12 Harpoons in one go.
While being accompanied by a loud hiss, each Harpoon smoothly left its canister, made a gentle climb before lowering its altitude until it was 20 meters above the sea surface, and flew straight to north in subsonic speed.
Then, once it reached a distance of 40 km from the target, the flight of Harpoon lowered its altitude once more, until it was only 2 meters above the sea surface.
---
An hour before sunlight, four frigates from Buriek Navy and a pair of Seagull-class guided missile patrol boat casually left Yellow Tail Naval Station. Their mission was to ambush a group of Rider from Storm-01, in case they continued their journey by flying after Storm-01 was sank.
Inside the PG-08’s bridge, Colonel Pearson was calmly observing the radar screen. In this mission, both boats received support from a Growler that to be happened on the schedule to conduct silent patrol in the area. With this support, they didn’t need to fly their own MQ-8C Fire Scout to expand their situational awareness.
Most of all, as they could keep the Fire Scout in the hangar, then each boat could use the helipad to station a pair of 15-tube multi-mission launcher. Normally, a piece of multi-mission launcher was being mounted on a 5-ton MTV Truck, but it didn’t mean it couldn’t be stationed on the ground or a ship.
Not to mention, the multi-mission launcher could communicate with Seagull-class without the need of additional touch. And so, the Fire Control System in the boat could control the launcher and all guided-ammunition that compatible with it.
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In this mission, the MML was loaded with Longbow Hellfire. Just two days ago, Yellow Tail received four units multi-mission launcher along with 60 pieces Longbow Hellfire, and today they have to deploy them all in a single interception.
Then, as the sun starting to rise in the east, Captain Rockie walked over to Colonel Pearson and handed over a burrito fully wrapped by aluminum foil.
“Sir,” Captain Rockie calmly said. “Your breakfast.”
“Thank you, Captain.” Without delay Colonel Pearson took the burrito, opened it, and took a bit. Then, he turned his gaze to the monitor that displayed the pair of MML in the helipad. “War is truly a business that burn money.”
“Well, it’s not us who starts it,” Captain Rockie said. “And we have no choice other than using the firepower we have, even if it means burning lot of money.”
“Yeah.”
A moment later, multiple blips appeared in the radar screen and the radar operator immediately shouted a warning, “We have bogeys, 54 in total, fly towards our position from west.”
“Well, flank and engage them.”
“Aye Sir.”
In a calm mood, the small fleet from Yellow Tail flanked the incoming Rider. A moment later, tens of black dots appeared in the horizon. Wasting no time, target acquisition was being carried out. Then, they calmly waited until the incoming Riders reached a position 7 km on their left.
Judging from their flight path, it was easy to tell that the Riders had no intention to engage the small fleet from Yellow Tail. Even so, without second thought Colonel Pearson ordered the launching of Longbow Hellfire salvo.
Some may asked, can you really use Longbow Hellfire to kill aerial target?
The answer was you could, as long as you had the correct condition. The target had to be flew low and slow enough, couldn’t perform high-g maneuver, or didn’t equipped with radar warning receiver so it couldn’t perform evasive maneuver to break the radar lock in the right time and right place. And so, Cloud Hawk and rotary wing aircraft were a perfect aerial target for Longbow Hellfire.
Bo-bo-bobooooommm!!!
A series of loud boom filled the sky as 54 four Longbow Hellfire hit its intended target and turned it into a big explosion.
“We have multiple perfect hit, Sir,” Captain Rockie calmly said.
“Yeah.” Colonel Pearson calmly said before taking another bite of his burrito. “Let’s check if there is surviving Rider before saying hello their main fleet.”
“Aye Sir.”
---
As the fleet reached the closest distance to Sommer Island, the atmosphere inside the Rampant-01’s bridge instantly became tense. All officer and sailor in the bridge already knew that TF Amethyst had giant fire spear that could kill a carrier ship from a considerably long distance. They were sure that TF Amethyst deployed some of those fire spears in Sommer Island, and would not hesitate to use it when they had the chance.
After taking a deep breath, Officer Parrak braced himself to express his worry. “Admiral, now that we know our current route is also not safe from the unknown mishap, maybe we should return to our regular route and gain a healthy distance from Sommer Island.”
“Parrak,” Admiral Shoel calmly said. “Are you worry Sommer Island will hit us with their giant fire spear?”
“Yes, Admiral. We can’t underestimate its destruction power and insanely long effective range.”
“I received solid intel from Grand Commander Migal. TF Amethyst aerial and naval assets are patrolling Guise Sea 24/7. Even if we avoid Sommer Island, they will still have a huge chance to find and destroy us.”
“But at least we don’t help them making their hunt easier by sailing right in front of their nose.”
“On the contrary.” After letting out a sigh Admiral Shoel continued, “By sailing near Sommer Island, we give TF Amethyst and Buriek Navy a delicious temptation to capture me alive.
I believe they won’t use their fire spear on us. They will send their men to board our ship and seize me instead. In such scenario, we will have a chance to win the fight, secure some hostages, and then escape, as we have prepared a special welcome party for any boarding attempt.”
After recalling that Admiral Shoel had ordered the admiral in other cruisers to bring more combatants and prepare lot of deathly trap in their ship, Officer Parrak immediately nodded and said, “Understood, Admiral. Please forgive my ignorance.”
“No problem, I deliberately keep it as a secret until the last moment for operational security. It’s not your fault if you don’t get it all this time.”
“Aye Sir.”
Then, operator crystal sensor suddenly shouted out a warning, “Sir, we just lost all contact with our Riders.”
“Huh?” In an instant Admiral Shoel creased his brows. “How can we lose all contact with them?”
Before the operator crystal sensor could reply, one of observer in the bridge suddenly shouted a warning, “We have incoming, 12 fire spears, approaching fast from our right.”
Wasting no time, Admiral Shoel went to the right side of the bridge and fixed his gaze on the horizon. He couldn’t help but gulping hard as 12 giant fire spears flew just slightly above the sea surface, straight to his fleet.
“Damn, my calculation is wrong,” Admiral Shoel helplessly said.
And Officer Parrak could only nod while weakly said, “We are so dead, Admiral.”
With ease, the flight of giant fire spears, or to be precise the Harpoon, made their approached unchallenged. When it reached a distance of 4 km from the first ship, six Harpoons suddenly spiked to the sky before performing a sharp dive.
It was a maneuver to throw off the tracking and locking from opposing air defense and close-in weapon system. Even if the targeted cruiser didn’t possess such system, the crew who was responsible for target acquisition and firing solution still programmed half of the Harpoon salvo to perform it.
Bo-Bo-Bo-Boooomm!!!
Almost at the same time, Harpoons that performed evasive maneuver and the Harpoons that stayed in its flight path hit their intended target on the side of the hull and exploded. The 221 kg semi-armor piercing warhead was overkill for a cruiser made mostly of wood. With ease, the explosion cut the cruiser into two big chunks and sank it in no time.
In short, it was multiple perfect hits.
*****
