Chapter 86: A-300 Rocket Launcher, Anchored Elements
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Altitude: Over 20,000 meters.
At this point, it was time to kick things into high gear. Tang Rui narrowed his eyes and pushed the throttle forward with his left hand. He pushed the throttle all the way in, and in an instant, the drone’s engines unleashed a mighty surge of power.
Mach 1.5.
Mach 2.2.
Mach 3.1.
Mach 4.
Once the speed reached Mach 4, the air entering the intake had reached the engine’s required supercharging speed.
The outer bypass doors swung open, and the supercharger turbine ceased spinning. The engine transitioned from subsonic to supersonic combustion, and the acceleration continued.
Mach 4.5.
Mach 5.2.
Mach 6.
As both drones reached a speed of Mach 6, the difference in engines became apparent. The one with system-enhanced control continued to accelerate aggressively, while the other, lacking the enhancement, began to lose acceleration, albeit still gaining speed, but not as rapidly.
Tang Rui glanced at the data on his screen and promptly severed the dual-drone synchronization system. He maintained the ascent and acceleration of the drone with system-enhanced control, while the other drone, after reaching Mach 6.5, maintained that speed and headed toward its destination.
At an altitude of 45,000 meters, the air had become exceedingly thin. However, the drone continued to accelerate, reaching an impressive speed of Mach 7.2.
It was at this moment that the air ahead of the drone seemed to form an impenetrable wall. The shockwave body structure played a pivotal role here. High-pressure air flowed beneath the drone’s nose, creating turbulent shockwaves in the intake, causing the air entering the intake to exceed the speed of sound.
In that very instant, the supercharger, high-speed turbine, and low-speed turbine within the engine came to a halt. Supersonic airflow rushed directly into the combustion chamber, propelling the expanding flames out of the tail nozzle.
Boom!
Instantly, two 7-8 meter-long flames trailed from the tail, signaling the ignition of the hypersonic combustion mode.
The drone went wild with acceleration once more.
Mach 7.5.
Mach 8.1.
Mach 8.8.
Accelerate! Accelerate! Accelerate!
Through the synthetic aperture radar, Tang Rui, looking downward, could now see the curvature of the Earth. Thanks to the drone’s speed, he could actually witness the Earth’s slow rotation, a truly marvelous sensation. However, it wasn’t the time for sightseeing. He cast a glance at the instrument data.
The drone’s speed had now reached a staggering Mach 9.6.
Upon reaching this threshold, Tang Rui dared not push it further. Should the drone’s speed surpass Mach 10, it would enter the blackout zone, which was not a heat shield. Once within the blackout zone, all electronic signals would be severed. Tang Rui couldn’t be certain whether the system-enhanced communication capabilities would bypass the blackout zone. If not, he would lose contact with the drone, which would be problematic. So, caution was the better part of valor.
The current speed was more than sufficient.
Twenty minutes later, Tang Rui began a gradual descent in both flight speed and altitude. He activated the electro-optical system, and instantly, the ground situation appeared before him. The screen was dotted with red indicators.
He started searching for tanks, focusing his targeting efforts on them.
The red indicators diminished in number.
Tang Rui then shifted his gaze to the city blocks. He pinpointed the tank closest to where Feng Yuanxing was located.
“Boss, the tanks have arrived, and 1 can already hear the gunshots from Houthi soldiers. When I die, please help bring my ashes back to my country,” Feng Yuanxing began writing farewell messages once again.
“Old Feng, immediately take control of the vehicle platform at the entrance of the underground parking lot and launch the cruise missiles. After you launch them, you don’t have to worry about anything else—just do it quickly.”
Upon receiving Tang Rui’s message, Feng Yuanxing hesitated for a moment. Could cruise missiles really take out tanks? He doubted it. Five kilograms of explosives wouldn’t even dent a tank’s external armor; at best, it would create some smoke, which would be completely ineffective.
But after some contemplation, Feng Yuanxing decided to follow Tang Rui’s instructions. He hoped that by complying with the boss’s orders, he would receive some compensation for his family.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
Under Feng Yuanxing’s control, the cruise missiles were launched.
“Celia, open the back door and take control of the cruise missile’s control system.”
“Okay.”
The cruise missile, under Tang Rui’s control, rapidly departed from the underground parking lot. This situation also caught the attention of the Houthi armed soldiers about a hundred meters away.
The tank immediately accelerated toward the underground parking lot.
Tang Rui observed this and pressed the button to open the missile bay. A precise surface-to-surface missile was launched.
The missile bay closed a second later.
The radar signal flashed and disappeared again.
A few seconds later.
The missile hit the tank with precision, wiping out the tank and the surrounding Houthi militia. Within a hundred meters, windows shattered simultaneously.
Feng Yuanxing, hidden underground, felt his head buzzing from the explosion.
“Old Feng, I’ve taken care of the tank. Now, lead those soldiers to bring ail the vehicle platforms up to the surface and launch all the cruise missiles.”
“Boss, they won’t come out.”
“Then launch them from the exit of the underground parking lot.”
“They agree to that.”
Tang Rui had Celia take control of all the launched cruise missiles and started scanning the ground. First, he eliminated the Houthis inside the city, and then the ones outside.
With the drone’s scanning capabilities, no one could hide, even if they were in rooms or underground bunkers. Nothing could escape its surveillance.
“Annihilation mode, first group, go.”
Under the guidance of the drone’s data link, 36 cruise missiles rapidly approached the enemy.
As a series of explosions resounded, 213 enemies within the city were eliminated.
At this point, there were only 39 enemies left in the city, but they were spread out, so the first wave of strikes didn’t target them.
With continuous launches of cruise missiles, the number of missiles in the city’s airspace grew.
Tang Rui allocated more than twenty cruise missiles to take care of the remaining 39 enemies before starting to scan and eliminate targets outside the city.
“Boss, all the cruise missiles have been launched.”
“Understood. Relax, all the enemies within the city have been taken care of.”
After sending the message, Tang Rui didn’t pay any more attention to it. He picked up a satellite phone and called Prince Salim.
“Prince Salim, are you ready on your end?”
“Everything is prepared. The launch preheating is complete, but we don’t know the target’s location.”
“Activate the BeiDou navigation, open the data interface, and leave the rest to me.”
“Alright, my friend.”
Prince Salim responded without hesitation, much like a coal mine boss. For professional matters, leave them to the professionals and don’t interfere. Just focus on the results.
After opening the data interface of the
A-300 rocket launcher, Tang Rui connected to its internal system through the integrated combat command platform of his country.
Don’t ask how he connected. When it came to military equipment, if you bought weapons from someone, you couldn’t expect to use those weapons against the seller. If you did, you wouldn’t even be able to launch missiles or start aircraft..”