Munitions Empire

"I've been radar-locked! I've been radar-locked!" Before he could report being radar-locked, his headset was already filled with the urgent cries of his companions.

No one knew what radar lock meant because the Dwarf Empire didn't have radar-guided air-to-air missiles.

The radar on their planes only served a singular purpose, to seek targets. Their so-called air-to-air missiles were the first generation infrared guided combat missiles... the kind that, half the time, would turn back to hit their own, and the other half, fly towards the sun...

"We've been discovered!" The Dwarf frontline commander had to admit that his least wanted scenario had become reality. The Tang Army was aware of their approach and had seemingly begun to attack them.

"Ascend! Ascend! Follow the drill procedures to evade the enemy's pursuit!" Despite knowing it might hardly work, he still issued the maneuver orders.

All the fighter jets started climbing upward, their altimeters steadily rising, engines roaring, the fleet quickly reached an altitude of 7,300 meters.

"I see the enemy's missiles! I see the enemy's missiles!" With the clouds far below, the Dwarf fighter pilots had a good view, their eyes scanning past the steel struts supporting the plane's canopy glass, spotting the distant incoming long white-smoke trailing missiles.

"Scatter!" Amidst a hysterical shout, the Dwarf fighter jets frantically evaded, but one sharp-fronted air-to-air missile directly turned, catching up to a Jian Liu Gai that was climbing, exploding near that aircraft.

Prepared in advance and equipped with cockpit armor, the Dwarf pilot pulled the mechanism on the ejection seat at the moment his plane was hit, igniting the rocket booster below his seat.

The canopy lid was blown off with a small amount of explosives, cold air rushed into the cockpit, and before the Dwarf pilot could feel this chill, he was shot out of the plane at terrifying speed.

In an instant, he couldn't see anything, the immense overload halting his blood circulation. For a moment, he thought he was dead, but a few seconds later, he felt the cold air striking his leather jacket, realizing he might have just narrowly escaped death.

When he opened his eyes, looking through his goggles at the sky, he saw his plane had broken into half, drifting down like a falling leaf.

He also noticed another parachute, as well as their fighter jets avoiding in the distance. Everything around him was dazzling, reflections of the sun on the clouds.

It felt like standing amidst endless white snow, he couldn't tell if he was injured as his entire body ached. Strapped securely to the ejection seat, he gently swayed with the parachute deployed above him.

This model of ejection seat was a "humanitarian" device exported by the Tang Army to the countries of the Eastern Continent. According to the manual, it could ensure pilot safety in critical moments.

It now seemed to indeed meet the claims of the advertisement, providing safety assurance to pilots. However... the process was far from comfortable.

This ejection system which shoots both the person and the seat together had been improved by Tang Country, boasting advanced performance, though not as comfortable as those models used by the Tang Army themselves.

After adapting for a dozen seconds, this downed Dwarf pilot finally had the mood to observe the battle: gazing skyward, he saw another Jian Liu Gai hit by a missile, turning into a burning ball of fire.

Though he hadn't counted, he was sure there were more parachutes in the sky than before, with some unlucky Ice Cold Empire pilots failing to eject in time. For unknown reasons, these pilots didn't eject even when their planes turned into fireballs and fell.

The sky at this moment truly resembled doomsday, with exploding fireworks at the path's end of white trails and planes crash one after another, while the enemy's presence remained unseen.

"How can this battle be fought?" This desperate thought flashed through his mind, he closed his eyes, with only the sound of the whistling wind in his ears.

"How can this battle still be fought? Our fighter jet troops barely approached the battlefield and already half were shot down by missiles launched from the Tang Army's planes!" A Dwarf officer in the ground command tower held the communicator, complaining to the liaison officer beside him awaiting news.

They confidently took off with 100 fighter jets and 150 ground attack aircraft. Yet, these planes scarcely completed any mission tasks.

Approximately 50 fighter jets were shot down on the way to the battlefield, and the remaining half didn't fare much better, soon being eliminated, most failing to reach the airspace over the Steel Rampart.

Without fighter protection, the 150 bombers and attack aircraft mostly had to quickly return, uncertain of breaking through the Tang Country fighter jet-formed defense line alone.

"How many losses?" The bearded liaison officer, as in the air force, any bearded Dwarf wasn't a plane-flying pilot.

"At least 70 fighter jets, and 16 Saab bombers, over ten ground attack aircraft." The Air Force commander replied dejectedly.

More than a third of all participating aircraft had no return, a serious failure for any air force.

"The first aerial counterattack failed... If General Moss asks about the second counterattack, how should I respond?" The liaison officer continued questioning.

"We'll organize the second counterattack as quickly as possible, but we'll have to reduce the number of planes; as you can see, the losses are too significant, I can only muster 170 planes for battle." The ground tower commander contemplated, then said.

He had tried his best, even suggesting a number of 170: if he were to be casual, saying a rounded 150 wouldn't be impossible.

For the upper layers of the Dwarven Air Force, there was no lack of good news - soon they would learn the warning systems and ejection seats sold by Tang Country were indeed remarkable, saving over 50 Dwarf pilots' lives at critical moments.

This indeed reduced the losses of pilots, allowing the Dwarf Empire to somewhat save time training new pilots to make up for the losses.

"Alright, I'll report this to General Moss..." The liaison officer nodded, turned, and went to make the call.