TFA1 3.17 - Dogfight

  As Vex was on Earth, General O'Neil had to carry command duty in Operational Control Room twice in a row. From morning until noon, everything was calm and peaceful. However, just before the lunch Lt. Colonel Julius came over to General O'Neil with a hurried step.

  "Sir, six Cloud Hawks are approaching from east, flying straight here, and they have just crossed the 600 km aerial protection radius."

  General O'Neil slightly nodded before asking, "How is our Super Hornet’s status?"

  "Two are undergoing routine maintenance, two are on standby and ready to take-off, while the last two are conducting combat air patrol and their current position is 200 km in front of our guest."

  "Connect me to CAP flight leader."

  "Sir."

  Lt. Colonel Julius immediately grabbed the receiver on General O'Neil's desk. After entering some frequency codes and making sure the connection was online, he then handed the receiver to General O'Neil.

  "General, Major Duran is on the line."

  General O'Neil accepted the receiver and then he said, "Major, this is General O'Neil and I have a specific order for your CAP."

  [We are listening, Sir.]

  "I heard you were a remarkable basketball player at the academy."

  [Yes Sir, ace player for three years in row.]

  "Then, you must know the main role of an ace player?"

  [Destroying opposing team's confidence by slaughtering their ace.]

  “Now, I want you to make sure whoever sent six Cloud Hawks from the east will lose their confidence as long as possible. Gather the data we need for future aerial combat and then pass on my message."

  [Consider it's done, Sir.]

  "Thank you, Major." General O'Neil then calmly put down the receiver.

  Currently, TF Amethyst had received only a small fraction of major military equipment from the total amount they should have. Therefore, General O'Neil decided to play the tactic of appearing strong when weak. He hoped it would make the opposing side took over precaution and gave TF Amethyst more time to prepare themself.

  'Hopefully everything goes as expected,' General O'Neil muttered under his breath.

  ---

  Airspace 400 km east of Harley Quinn.

  Two F/A-18E Super Hornets fly side by side at 10,000 feet above sea level. Both Super Hornets had white, gray, and a bit of black winter splinter camouflage and on its vertical tail there was a picture of a cute winged puppy embracing a pair of AIM-120C and AIM-9X as if he was hugging a baguette.

  Inside the Super Hornet’s cockpit on the left, Major Duran turned his gaze to his wingman before opening communication. "Dagger Two, how is your puppy?"

  [Belly is full, claw and fang are sharp, eyes and noses are good, ready for the hunt without additional drink.]

  "Good, let's gain altitude and welcome our guests."

  [Randu]

  Before joining ACG, Major Duran and most of his colleagues were former F-15 or F-16 drivers in USAF. So, when TF Amethyst canceled the acquisition for Eagle and Falcon and replaced them with Super Hornet they were very disappointed.

  In terms of radar, speed, range, altitude, fuel capacity, and weapon load the F-18 was far below F-15. Therefore, in air superiority scenario F-15 would prey on F-18 as a snack, while in a dogfight an F-16 would give it a bloodbath if the pilot didn’t put enough pre caution.

  So, was F-18 a design flaw? The answer was no.

  From the beginning, F-18 was being designed as a multi-role fighter. In short, it was a fighter jet that good at everything but not great at anything.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  TF Amethyst chose F-18 because they need its multirole nature, along with its innate capability to operate from aircraft carrier. Therefore, if one day TF Amethyst had to launch an intercontinental operation, the preliminary operations such as establishing a forward airbase or providing a large convoy of aerial tankers could be skipped.

  Simply by sending a carrier strike group with 24 F-18s and a serious bite deep into enemy territory could be launched in an instant, followed by a lightning retreat to avoid retaliation.

  Fortunately, fighter pilots from ACG slowly fell in love with F-18. During the pre-duty training in earth, they wholeheartedly tried to understand F-18’s capabilities to a level beyond its limit on paper. It was as if they were following the phrase, 'New girlfriend is new adventure and discovery, so forget the old one.'

  One of those discoveries was that Major Duran and his wingman could use Super Hornet for an inverted race at an altitude just 40 meters above the ground.

  When Colonel Patricia called the two and questioned their race, Major Duran who was a Lieutenant Colonel at that time replied proudly, "Ma'am, this is Super Hornet data when carry out inverted flight 40 meters above the ground, and the pilot is under pressure of losing a bet of two month worth salary."

  Colonel Patricia truly didn't know how to respond to Major Duran’s smug report. In the end she could only demote him one rank below and stripped him from his position as CO of Flying Puppies Squadron. Meanwhile, the data recorded by Major Duran was sent to US Navy along with other Super Hornet’s flight data for internal studies.

  As for Major Duran, he didn’t give a damn about his punishment. Two days later, in an exercise against an USAF F-16 squadron, he managed to slaughter two F-16s in a 1 vs 2 dogfight scenario. After that he always cheerfully recited the phrase, 'It's not the truck, but the driver.'

  And now, while occasionally glancing at the radar screen Major Duran vigilantly surveyed the vast and cloudless sky before him. Until finally, six black dots appeared in the distance.

  "Tally ho! Six bogeys up ahead. Dagger Two, do you see them?"

  [I do.]

  "Good! Prepare your recorder."

  [Randu.]

  Slowly and smoothly Major Duran then lowered F-18's altitude and shifted its flight course to confront the six incoming Riders. He also didn't bother whether the Riders before him identified him as hostile or not. Only one thing was matter for him, he had to execute his order as best as he could. Therefore, he calmly placed M61 Vulcan’s crosshair towards the leading Rider, and at exactly 1 km away he opened a short burst.

  B-Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt!!

  The M61 Vulcan's short burst tore apart the leading Rider and the Rider behind him precisely. The two then fell straight to the ground. At the same time, Major Duran took his Super Hornet to dive into mountain ranges below, and as expected the remaining Riders chased after him furiously.

  "Good, they have some balls," Major Duran muttered as he glanced at four Riders behind him through the rearview mirror.

  The chase between the cliff gaps was intense because the Super Hornet couldn't fly at its top speed, while the chasing Cloud Hawks could fly with all their might and nimbly avoided crashing to the cliff.

  As the gap between the cliffs drew close to a wide and deep valley, Major Duran made a small climb before rolling over the Super Hornet, and then made a sharp inverted dive into the valley.

  Super Hornet had a fairly high climb rate. Therefore, if it dived in inverted position the dive rate would spike. In short, the inverted dive was not just a mere showing off. It was an absolute must if Major Duran wanted to prevent the Cloud Hawk's claws from tearing apart his lovely Super Hornet.

  At the same time, Cloud Hawk could sense airflow and adjust the shape of its wings to reduce air resistance, and it would give them the ability to significantly boost their speed in a nose dive maneuver.

  Noticing that the leading Cloud Hawk was rapidly approaching him, Major Duran bank hard to the left, but the Cloud Hawks easily followed him. The four Cloud Hawks deftly spread their wings while turning their head and upper body, the combination of these movements resulted in a sharp turn without reducing the flight speed.

  It looked like the leading Cloud Hawk had almost cut the trajectory of Super Hornet. But just before the collision took place, Major Duran suddenly took his Super Hornet to sharply climb to the sky.

  High climb rate was one of Super Hornet's specialties. This was also a good opportunity for Major Duran to demonstrate the superiority of man-made machines over muscles. No matter how hard the Cloud Hawk flapped its wing, the giant bird would never beat a pair of engine that could push a 21 tons airframe at 1900 km/h.

  From the rearview mirror, Major Duran observed as the four Cloud Hawks were getting left behind rapidly. Wasting no time, he then made a big clockwise turn, and when the four Cloud Hawks were at his 3 o'clock he launched two AIM-9X Sidewinders.

  The Advanced Super Hornet Block 4 was equipped with joint helmet mounted cueing system. It would enable the pilot to acquire a solid lock-on without the need to point the aircraft’s nose towards the target. This feature was super useful in a within visual range aerial combat.

  At the same time, as two fire spears flew towards their position the four Riders immediately dispersed into four different directions. However, two of them were still fatally got hit by Sidewinder. Swiftly, Major Duran then approached the third Rider from behind and finished him off using M61 Vulcan.

  'Please relay the message from General O'Neil,' Major Duran muttered as he looked at the fourth Rider who flew away as fast as he could.

  Then, as if the air combat he had just done was only a breeze Major Duran radioed his wingman, "Dagger Two, do you get the data?"

  [Top speed, agility, nose dive, turn rate, climb rate, Rider mentality, we got it all.]

  "Good, let's Read The Book then."

  [Randu.]

  The two Super Hornets then changed their flight course and flew towards Harley Quinn side by side.

  *****

  Footnote:

  Randu: Received AND Understood