Chapter 551 Emergency Repair
"Where is the airport?! We need to land!"
In the re-established temporary command post, Ivan called the radio with a serious expression, and the answer he got almost made him fall into despair.
"There is no airport!"
"All runways have been destroyed, including the Damascus civil airport!"
"There are no landing conditions. Currently, only Latakia has an airport that can be used!"
"There are other fighters in the air waiting to land! Their fuel is about to run out!"
"Our fuel won't last long!"
Ivan spoke in a hurry, because he knew that the fighter formation currently deployed in the air was in a complete dilemma.
In order to carry enough bombs, all fighters did not carry auxiliary fuel tanks, and even some ground attack aircraft did not even have full fuel!
Before the battle officially began, these fighters had been on standby in the air for an hour. After nearly 30 minutes of fighting, in order to avoid possible attacks from enemy fighters, they turned on the afterburner and evacuated in the opposite direction.
Such maneuvers have resulted in a huge amount of fuel consumption. So far, almost all fighters have run out of fuel tanks, and the average time they can stay in the air is less than an hour!
Of course, under normal circumstances, this one-hour flight time is enough for them to find the next suitable airport to complete the forced landing.
But now, all the airports in Syria have been destroyed. If you want to land, you can only line up in Latakia!
The amount of fuel required to fly from here to Latakia can reach 50% of the existing fuel, plus the fuel required during waiting and landing, this is almost a practically impossible task!
What to do?
While waiting for a reply, Ivan quickly unfolded the battle map.
On that map, all possible landing airports have been marked. Ivan first crossed out all the airports in Syria, and then said:
"Now we only have two landing sites to choose from."
"The first one is in Tartus, where we have a temporary naval base under construction, with two runways for fighter jets to take off."
"Although it has not been completed yet, it should be no problem to barely complete the landing."
"The only problem is that the distance from here to Tartus is too far, and the fuel consumption is too high."
"Moreover, the enemy's air combat formation has obviously not evacuated, and even some radar stations are still subject to electromagnetic interference from EA-18G."
"If we fly to Tartus, they will inevitably intercept us while their intentions are exposed."
"They don't even need to take the initiative to attack. As long as they keep harassing us, we can't arrive smoothly, and we can only abandon the plane and parachute."
Hearing Ivan's words, Chen Chen nodded slowly.
Ivan's words were extremely conservative, but Chen Chen also knew that under the current circumstances, their choice space was indeed extremely narrow.
There is no way. According to the original prediction, the United States is simply impossible to launch a full-scale air strike at this time. The threat of air force that the United States may face is at best the ones that France has transferred from Egypt and Turkey!
But the actual situation is that I don’t know what agreement the United States and France reached after a round of communication, which made the United States choose to wade into this muddy water at this time!
Therefore, even the "backup plan in the backup plan" has failed, and the alternate airport has been completely destroyed. Even if Chen Chen is a god, he can’t create a new airport.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen sighed and continued to ask:
"What about the second plan?"
"The second plan is that all fighters will fly to Iraq, and we will find a way to coordinate the alternate landing site."
"However, the uncertainty of this plan is too great. We cannot guarantee the success of coordination, let alone the safety of pilots after landing."
"I don’t recommend this plan, because it not only poses the risk of equipment and personnel loss to us, but also serious political risks."
"I understand."
Chen Chen nodded again.
"So, we actually have no other choice."
"Tartus is not a good place to go. We can only land nearby."
"The airport has been completely destroyed. Let's choose a highway for forced landing."
"Our pilots."
Ivan hesitated, and Chen Chen knew the reason for his hesitation.
In fact, a few weeks ago, the flight school in this air force base had almost been "updated". Most of the people sitting on the planes now were "retired flight instructors" transferred from Russia.
For Ivan, the value of these people is of course far higher than the value of the equipment itself. If he really has to, he would rather choose a relatively safe parachute plan.
Such a choice is completely contradictory to Chen Chen's current interests. The reason is very simple. Even if the pilots are left behind, where can Syria get new aircraft in the short term?
Without the aircraft, this air force base is basically useless.
The tactical level of our side will return to the ground era, and this base that has been laid out with great difficulty will be turned into a bubble in an instant!
Dilemma.
As time passed, Chen Chen took a deep breath and prepared to use his supreme decision-making power as commander-in-chief to force the fighter jets in the air to make an emergency landing. But at this moment, someone pushed the door open and walked into the command room.
Everyone raised their heads subconsciously, and when Chen Chen saw the person's face clearly, he couldn't help but be surprised for a second.
Xia Xing?
What is she here for?
Before he could speak, Xia Xing said first:
"I have basically grasped the situation."
"An engineering team responsible for the early expansion of the airport has arrived at the airport and they are assessing the damage to the runway."
"Give them 30 minutes."
"Within 30 minutes, they can complete the repair of a runway!"
"you sure!?"
Chen Chen's eyes widened in astonishment, and then he suddenly remembered that the expansion of the airport was indeed handled by a company he was familiar with.
Wait, the war has reached this level and they haven’t left yet?
Didn’t they already withdraw after the last French anti-runway missile bombing?
A series of doubts exploded in Chen Chen's mind, but Xia Xing didn't explain too much.
"They are already taking action."
"Mobilize your team, I need you to ensure their absolute safety during the repair period!"
"no problem!"
Chen Chen made the decision immediately, and then, without him needing to say anything more, the orders were quickly passed on by the white dog one by one.
The helicopter that had already started returning after the bombing arrived at the airport with 12 mercenaries from the Dongfeng Corps. After completing the landing, it hovered nearly 100 meters away under high security guard.
All militiamen in training were mobilized to blockade the perimeter of the airport.
At the same time, the armored assault company that ended the battle in Ahashili also began to evacuate and return. It is expected that they will arrive at Tabqa base in one hour.
The iron-barrel-like defense took shape instantly. Under this layer of defense, as long as the enemy did not organize a second round of air strikes, there should be no problem during the 30-minute window!
Chen Chen walked out of the command room, and at this time, the so-called "hot" construction work was already in full swing.
Smoke and dust were billowing, and several large bulldozers and excavators had already entered the site. They first removed all kinds of debris on the runway and cleared out the sections that could still be used.
Immediately afterwards, the experienced project manager quickly divided the responsibilities of the entire runway and subdivided the tasks into all groups. The group leader did not pause for a second and led the team to work non-stop.
Clear earthwork, prepare cement, build foundations, and lift obstacles
Chen Chen was dazzled by the series of actions. At this moment, he suddenly realized that such logistics infrastructure work may not be a battle!
What especially surprised Chen Chen was that during the construction stage, these professional workers even carried out the work of cleaning up unexploded bombs, and the whole process was carried out simultaneously with the maintenance work.
They may not be a real logistics support force, but if you say that they have no relevant training, Chen Chen won't believe it at all.
Looking at the scene in front of him, Chen Chen couldn't help but said:
"Professional matters should be left to professionals."
"But... with cement?"
"The fastest-setting cement now takes four hours to completely harden. The cement in the initial setting state cannot withstand high-intensity impact. Can the plane land within half an hour?"
Hearing Chen Chen's words, Xia Xing smiled slightly, shook his head and said:
"I am not good at fighting; you are really not good at logistics."
"What you are talking about is from many years ago. Not to mention the polymer mortar we use now, even the most common OPC-42.5R cement has enough hardness after initial setting to support the takeoff and landing of a small fighter jet. "
"The fastest repair record in the United States last year was 39 minutes to complete repair and take-off and landing. Our internal record is much faster than theirs."
"How fast?"
"23 minutes."
"23 minutes?!"
"That's right. Ideally, 15 minutes would be enough."
This answer made Chen Chen take a breath of cold air. When he turned to look at the runway full of bomb craters again, he found that in the few minutes he had been talking to Xia Xing, the condition of the runway had deteriorated. A sea change has taken place.
All obstacles have been removed and all craters filled.
Now, workers are pouring mortar into the crater, and the poured mortar has begun to solidify rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The mortar in the center of the crater is still flowing, but the cement around the crater has turned gray.
At this time, only 10 minutes had passed since the "30 minutes" Xia Xing said.
Five minutes later, all the mortar was poured. Chen Chen thought that all they had to do next was to wait, but he did not expect that these workers had no intention of taking any time off.
Large engineering equipment began to withdraw from the runway, and workers brought various portable equipment to start repairing and improving the runway in advance.
All uneven areas have been dealt with in advance, and some people even used steam spray guns to heat up and coagulate the craters that are deep and slow to solidify!
Breathtaking.
This is the only adjective Chen Chen can think of.
Ten minutes later, the runway was completely repaired. After a simple inspection, the project manager sent an "acceptance passed" signal to Xia Xing.
"It's time to land."
Xia Xing turned to look at Chen Chen, while Chen Chen turned to look at Ivan.
"You can start landing."
Ivan, who was also standing aside and watching the whole process, was completely dumbfounded. He could not imagine that the problem that seemed almost unsolvable to him could be solved in this way!
Broken? Bombed?
Isn't it enough to fix it? !
It only takes 30 minutes for one runway, which does not mean that 10 runways will take 5 hours.
In fact, the larger the scale of the airport, the larger the team responsible for maintenance and repair.
Under higher-level coordination and unified command, their speed can be even faster!
You bomb faster, I repair faster.
If you don't accept it, then bomb me every 20 minutes!
Not to mention my own country, even the Americans can't organize such an air strike.
This is the real strength.
What's more terrifying is that the one who demonstrated this strength is just an ordinary engineering infrastructure team from "that country".
Ivan shook his head, turned back to the command room and began to guide the fighter jets in the air to land one by one.
It took less than 20 minutes for all the fighters to land safely.
This is definitely a miracle.
——
At least for the pilots.
Because many of them even thought that this runway was lucky to escape the bombing.
Ivan had no way to explain to them, so he simply chose to keep silent.
When he walked out of the command room again, the workers who had completed the repairs had all evacuated, as if they had never been there.
Xia Xing and Chen Chen were still standing by the runway. Ivan walked up and said with a heartfelt sigh:
"You always surprise everyone in all kinds of unexpected places - of course, maybe some kind of shock."
"If the Americans knew about this airport repair capability, they might have to upgrade their weapons again."
"The next bombing, they might use tactical nuclear bombs."
Hearing his words, Chen Chen couldn't help but laugh.
"Tactical nuclear bombs are impossible. Maybe some kind of submunitions will be used."
"But it's meaningless. With this level of infrastructure capabilities, even if you want to build an airport from scratch, it won't take much time."
"Indeed."
Ivan sighed deeply, and then said:
"Anyway, you saved our victory."
"This time, if we are really forced to give up all the fighters, then even if we annihilate the JD elements, we can't really win."
"It's not necessarily a win now."
Chen Chen shook his head with a heavy face and replied:
"The Syrian government's air force has almost been wiped out. ", their advantage becomes smaller when facing the Free Army."
"The front battlefield will be more difficult, and the situation is not optimistic with the US breaking the ceasefire agreement and intervening."
"Similarly, the pressure we face will be greater."
"Some of the military aircraft at Tabqa Air Force Base will inevitably be transferred away, and our strength will be weakened."
"Those JD elements will not miss this opportunity, and they will continue to attack in a big way."
"But. This is not what we need to consider now."
"ISIS's team in Ahashiri has been completely disbanded, and Raqqa is ours."
"Now, we have to find a way to get the fruits of victory first!"