In the South China Sea, a huge fleet was sailing towards the northeast under the blue sky. Major General Scott Glenn, the captain of the USS Ford aircraft carrier, stood in the command module and looked at the quiet sea in front of him, silent. Although he is now commanding the latest generation of aircraft carriers in the US military, with fully digital and networked combat capabilities, and can centrally allocate and automatically strike the entire fleet's main firepower through the network center. Compared with the older generation of aircraft carriers, combat power has improved by leaps and bounds, several times that of the previous generation of "Nimitz" class aircraft carriers.

As the first new Ford-class aircraft carrier to be put into service, the main carrier-based aircraft of Ford is all composed of F-35b advanced stealth fighter jets. Compared with the previous generation of F/A-18 fighter jets, the improvement of air combat power is also very significant. With more than 70 F-35b fighters on board, Major General Glenn is even confident of defeating the air power of most countries in the world.

However, when thinking about the mission on this trip, Major General Glenn was uneasy. According to the information reported by the CIA, the PLA's maritime forces have basically achieved nuclear power in the past few years, especially the submarine force. In addition to the original 093,094,096 nuclear submarines, the PLA has also undergone large-scale transformation of its Song-class and Yuan-class conventional submarine power systems, basically realizing nuclear-powered water jet drive.

This means that the PLA's main submarine has been fully nuclear-powered and has stronger concealment capabilities. The strategic intention of the USS Ford aircraft carrier hybrid fleet is very obvious this time. Glenn believes that with the current military strength of the PLA, they will definitely not sit idly by and do something.

Although he sailed safely from Singapore for more than a thousand kilometers, he did not see a ship of the PLA, and even a plane of the PLA, Major General Glenn was increasingly uneasy about this unusual tranquility. This is definitely not because the PLA does not have this ability. According to the information Glenn has mastered, the PLA has built many air force guard bases on the Nansha Islands and is fully capable of sending a small number of aircraft for reconnaissance and follow.

Even the "Shadow" drone based in Hainan can conduct effective targeted reconnaissance and patrols throughout the South China Sea.

However, the e-2c early warning aircraft and S-3 anti-submarine aircraft that were alternately deployed 200 kilometers ahead found nothing. Despite this, Glenn still did not dare to be careless and formed an intercepting formation in the air with the F-35b fighter and the EA-6c "Prowler" electronic warfare aircraft at any time to deal with aircraft and missile attacks that may come from the air at any time.

The two attack nuclear submarines were deployed in arc shape on the front and flanks of the combat group navigation sequence, maintaining a distance of 100 kilometers to 120 kilometers from the mothership, providing submarine cover for Ford. In addition, the anti-submarine helicopters carried by anti-submarine destroyers and various escort ships consisted of short-range anti-submarine defense lines around Ford, and the entire anti-submarine system is very complete.

According to common sense, such a strict air defense and anti-submarine system, even with the capabilities of US submarines in service, it is definitely not easy to break through. Major General Glen should be relieved. But thinking that the Song-class conventional submarines of the PLA Navy entered the sea about 5 miles from the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier, it was like entering a no-man's land. Major General Glen knew that for the PLA, common sense was unreliable.

Major General Glenn was thinking when a sirens suddenly sounded, "Report to the captain, 250 kilometers ahead, fighter jets of unknown nationality were found, and the technical department is hurrying to confirm." Major General Glenn's intelligence officer Captain Ryan reported loudly.

Without Captain Ryan's report, Major General Glenn had seen the latest information from the radar of the E-2C early warning aircraft from the nearby integrated information terminal. Now it is only shown to be two small black dots. However, soon, the fleet's integrated combat information system determined that this was the PLA's j-11c fighter based on the further radar information sent back from the front.

Seeing the latest information feedback from the carrier-based integrated combat information system and confirming the emergence of the People's Liberation Army aircraft, Major General Glenn was relieved. For these two uninvited guests who had been late for a long time, Major General Glenn had nothing to be afraid of once they appeared on the radar screen. Faced with an aircraft carrier formation that was extremely armed, no matter how powerful the two J-11c fighters were, they would be kept staring at by the radar of the air early warning aircraft after being discovered, and they could not do anything.

The f-35b fighter jets, which were in the air alert mission, immediately divided two formations and leaned on them, and began to maintain a distance from the j-11c dual-plane formation, so that they remained within the range of j-35b's attack.

However, the two J-11cs seemed to turn a blind eye to the US military's actions, and still kept a distance of about 50 kilometers from the opponent's fighter jets and continued to fly towards the aircraft carrier. This was the high seas, and even if the US military was very reluctant, they had no choice. The other party maintained a long distance and did not turn on the fire control radar, which was clearly just coming to follow.

If it weren't for the unfathomable PLA, some other country would have dared to do so, Major General Glenn would have ordered it to be shot down. However, in the South China Sea, Major General Glenn had the Ford aircraft carrier formation, which was powerful enough to destroy most countries in the world, still did not dare to attack the PLA easily.

Seeing the intelligence information sent back from the front, the two PLA fighters seemed to be just here to harass the followers. Major General Glenn ordered the two F-35bs to be alerted. As long as the two J-11c fighters are 100 kilometers away from the aircraft carrier, they don’t have to worry about it. When they try to continue approaching, they will issue a radar lock warning. If the other party continues to ignore it and rush towards the aircraft carrier, they will open fire and shoot it down.

No matter how unfathomable the PLA is, Major General Glenn will never put his aircraft carrier within the attack range of the opponent's anti-ship missiles. Although the PLA's c802 series air-to-ship missiles have a maximum range of 150 kilometers, due to their unfast flight speed, as long as they can prevent the opponent from being one hundred kilometers away, the multiple air defense interception firepower of the Ford aircraft carrier formation is sufficient to ensure the safety of the aircraft carrier.

The opponent seemed to know how to maintain a safe distance. When it approached the Ford aircraft carrier about 100 kilometers, it stopped approaching, but began to follow. The airborne radar system transmitted the accurate position information of each ship on the sea surface of the Ford aircraft carrier formation back to a command information center through satellites. Then, through the command information center, it continuously sent the information to the air and passed it to several new People's Liberation Army submarines that were deep submersible to 450 meters deep under the sea.

(Sorry, there was a social engagement today, it was a bit late.)
Chapter completed!