999: Chapter 984 Night Demon Three 999: Chapter 984 Night Demon Three At two in the morning, all four helicopters took off.
Two Mi-24 “Hind” armed helicopters, one Mi-17 transport helicopter, and one ultralight “Little Antelope” helicopter.
The Syrian Air Force had never conducted night bombings or airdrop operations before.
Gao Yang believed their action would achieve maximum surprise, but whether they could accurately strike the right location was something he could not guarantee.
The afternoon reconnaissance yielded some results, with photographs sent back at dusk.
Yake made a judgment based on the photos and selected the most likely building where Badadi might be hiding.
The Syrian civil war had been long-standing, and the Adra District was a contested area with almost no intact buildings.
It was extremely difficult to find a likely command center in a region that was a bit better than just ruins.
It was extremely difficult and time was tight, hence Yake’s criteria for making a judgment were almost ridiculous.
He only spotted a large flag on one building, then he noticed a car nearby, and Yake felt that was most likely where Badadi was hiding.
Consequently, Gao Yang really took the building with just a flag as the only target.
The reasoning was very unrigorous for an intelligence agency of a country.
It was indeed laughable to determine an operational target based on just a flag, but since Yake and Gao Yang both made the same judgment, of course, there were reasons.
According to the patterns Yake found and Gao Yang’s own past experiences, their common conclusion was that ISIS really liked to display their flags prominently.
Generally speaking, wherever a large flag was displayed, it was usually where the highest local official resided.
Actively displaying a large flag and then exposing a critical target was more than foolish; it was insanely stupid.
But the problem was that ISIS liked doing so, and there was nothing much others could do.
Now Gao Yang was gambling, betting on his target being consistently foolish.
If the selected target turned out to be a miss, there was nothing to be done, but if he bet correctly, then it would be a straight success.
The flight performance of the Mi-17 was inferior to the Black Hawk, and the feeling of flying in a Mi-17 was also quite uncomfortable: loud, heavily vibrating, a typical Soviet style.
It was just about getting people to the battlefield; as for comfort, what was that?
At this moment, Gao Yang could no longer feel any comfort; what he was considering wasn’t whether they could strike the right place, but whether he should add another transport helicopter.
The Mi-24 was an armed transport helicopter, but to have the Mi-24 undertake an aerial strike mission, it could no longer carry personnel.
Loading people would require reducing the amount of ammunition, not to mention that disembarking and then ascending again to utilize firepower was too slow.
Gao Yang wanted speed; it wasn’t feasible to maximize the Mi-24’s capability to transport and attack simultaneously.
And the Mi-17 could carry 24 fully armed soldiers.
One helicopter was enough to transport Gao Yang and his team, but one aircraft could only deploy troops at one point, and the assault team would then have to disperse to attack.
If there were two helicopters, they could strike simultaneously at two points.
Gao Yang sat at the position closest to the cabin door.
Satan’s assault team was all there, but Tommy and Jansen hadn’t joined the attack operation.
They weren’t needed this time, and Number Thirteen wasn’t there either.
Although he strongly requested to stay by Gao Yang’s side, Number Thirteen was not suitable for this kind of frontal combat situation, so in the end, Gao Yang left Number Thirteen at the base because they had agreed that Number Thirteen must follow orders.
Some people from Satan didn’t come, but Farouk did.
He not only came but also participated in the attack.
His main role, however, was not to fight but to act as an embedded journalist.
The so-called embedded journalist meant that Farouk wore a night vision camera on his head, which would capture every move of Gao Yang and his team, especially the results of the battle.
Initially, Gao Yang was very reluctant to let Farouk participate, but since he cooperated in every aspect and provided the highly valuable aircraft for Syria to use as they liked, it was only reasonable to let Farouk bring back some battle achievements and coincidentally show off Satan’s combat prowess, which would be beneficial for future collaborations.
As for the possibility of leaks, although it existed, it was small, because Gao Yang and his team wore Syrian military uniforms, their faces either covered with masks or painted with camouflage.
Even if the camera captured them, it was unclear who they were.
Considering the benefits gained and the advantages of having Farouk follow, this little risk was bearable.
The Mi-17 mechanics sent by Jacklan and Polovich were piloting the aircraft.
Polovich’s personnel were not only mechanics but also pilots, sufficient to serve as copilots.
As for the onboard mechanic, it was someone sent from the airfield; Gao Yang never found the dedicated Mi-17 mechanic.
As for Eileen, she had to pilot the little “Antelope,” with Cui Bo as her copilot.
They only had Glolov as a passenger.
This aircraft needed to provide machine gun cover from the air, and the reason Glolov didn’t have an assistant shooter was to leave extra load capacity and space for more ammunition.
The four helicopters swooped toward the designated area in a tight formation.
After leaving the airfield, the helicopters turned off all navigation lights and flew in the pitch black.
Without the night vision device attachments, the helicopters wouldn’t have been able to conduct night operations.
Although Gao Yang equipped all pilots with helmet-mounted night vision devices, the small devices’ visual range, whether photonic or thermal imaging, was too limited.
After installing night vision kits with detection ranges up to seven kilometers, the three old helicopters immediately gained the capability to operate at night.
Of course, it was a makeshift solution.
To use Eileen’s words, even the wiring was exposed during this modification, which was too rough.
But according to the Russian viewpoint, what did it matter if it was rough?
Being refined couldn’t be eaten; as long as it could fight, that was enough.
Finally, the weapon operator and observer in Helicopter One spoke into the intercom, “Arrived over the combat zone, target building sighted, decreasing altitude, beginning close observation.”
Gao Yang looked out of the side window.
All he could see was a green glow; the ground was still indiscernible.
But as the altitude decreased, although still unclear, he could make out the situation on the ground.
After a brief wait, the observer in Helicopter One softly said, “Night Demon Two, take the west side of the target building.
Night Demon Three, go to the airborne field.
Night Demon Four, free to act.”
When it came time to land, the sound of gun mechanisms being pulled rang through the cabin.
After a rustling series of noises, Gao Yang spoke into the intercom, “This is Black Demon, ready to proceed.”
Jacklan shouted, “Night Demon Three, reached the designated airspace.”
After announcing, the observer in Helicopter One spoke solemnly, “The heat source on the left side of the target building is noticeable, there is activity at the heat source, fewer heat sources on the right, consistent with intelligence analysis, it can be assumed that the left side is the entrance, Night Demon One is ready, request permission to attack.”
“Night Demon Two, ready, requesting to begin the attack.”
Gao Yang took a deep breath and yelled, “Attack!”
Advanced attack helicopters, such as the AH-64 Longbow Apache, are equipped with night vision and feature an integrated reconnaissance and attack system.
What does integrated reconnaissance and attack entail?
It means to find and destroy simultaneously.
As soon as the helicopter detects a target, an aimer appears on the fire control display pointing at the target, meaning both the cannon and missiles are aligned with the target.
Even more advanced is the helmet targeting system.
Once a target is spotted, the pilot pulls down the lenses on the helmet, and the image appears directly in front of his eyes.
The lenses display an aimer, and the pilot simply needs to align it with the target and open fire.
Moreover, as the pilot turns his head, the cannon also rotates.
In essence, wherever the pilot looks, the cannon points.
Regrettably, Syria’s helicopters were old models.
The aircraft Gao Yang had at his disposal were not that advanced.
Even after incorporating a night vision system, it only allowed for visibility and wasn’t linked to the weapon system.
Spotting a target did not guarantee hitting it; the effectiveness of the firepower depended on the skill level of both the pilot and the weapons operator.
Fortunately, Gao Yang had found veteran pilots.
Back when these veterans conducted night operations, they didn’t have such advanced and convenient tools—not even reliable night vision devices.
So, choosing veteran pilots was the right decision since they had plenty of experience working with less advanced weapon systems.
Gao Yang wasn’t sure what effect the firepower preparation would achieve.
If they couldn’t clean up the enemies outside directly with the armed helicopters, their attack operation would face greater risks.
After an order was given, Night Demon One fired off a few rounds.
The 23mm twin-linked autocannon at the nose let loose a barrage, followed immediately by a similar barrage from Night Demon Two.
Through the night-vision device, a streak of bright lights fell like a slow meteor to the position below Gao Yang, then bounced off the ground, causing several rounds to rebound, tracing a slower flash of light before disappearing.
Though it appeared slow, the actual speed of the rounds was certainly not as slow as it felt.
After the first test of trajectory, Night Demon One seemed to have found the right trajectory and then unleashed a continual barrage of rockets.
Helicopters launch rockets over a large scattered area; to achieve an optimal effect in the first round of attack, the two helicopters started off by firing eighty-millimeter rockets.
A few seconds later, sixteen rockets landed on the ground.
From the looks of it, the effect was quite good, the impacts were concentrated.
After pausing for a few seconds and observing, Night Demon One fired an additional six 57mm rockets, while Night Demon Two didn’t use rockets but supplemented with autocannon fire.
Night Demon One then surged forward, slightly circling before firing the remaining 80mm rockets at a nearby building, after which Night Demon Two followed up with another round of autocannon fire.
When Night Demon One and Two ceased their attacks again, the observer on Night Demon One slowly stated, “Night Demon Three, conditions for landing achieved, you may land, repeat, you may land.”
Gao Yang took a deep breath and said, “Night Demon Four, provide low-altitude cover.
Night Demon Three, proceed to land, guys, it’s our turn now.” (To be continued.
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