Chapter 253 Rescue Plan
Chapter 253 Rescue Plan
After the call ended, the command room of the Zhoushan ship fell into a brief silence, and the atmosphere seemed a little depressing.
”Captain Hu, let’s set off the Xunlong Commando!” Yu Yong, the captain of the Xunlong Commando, couldn’t help but break the silence first.
”No.” The combat staff immediately rejected it, “This plan is too risky!”
”We are currently 650 kilometers away from the Xindu. The helicopter’s fuel tank can only support you to go there, not to support you to return. Didn’t Captain Cheng just say that the pirates have rockets? If you can’t find a chance to land, you will either be shot down by the pirates or fall into the sea without fuel!”
”But…”
”Report!”
When Yu Yong was about to refute, a soldier suddenly said,
”The reconnaissance satellite is in place, and the real-time picture is coming!”
So everyone quickly turned their attention to the big screen.
From the real-time images sent by the reconnaissance satellite, the position of the Xindu is indeed consistent with the backup locator, and it is precisely this period of time that Cheng Yanfei fought for that allowed them to quickly pass the satellite and lock the position of the Xindu.
This is undoubtedly good news.
Although the waves and moving signals at the stern show that the Xindu has indeed been re-started by the pirates and is now heading southwest at full speed, knowing the opponent’s escape route will not make the plan clueless.
Hu Zhi quickly picked up a pen, marked and measured on the nautical chart, and then patted the table and said: “They should be preparing to dock at Iskuk.”
In this way, the positions of Zhoushan, Xindu and Iskuk formed a triangle.
And the middle of the triangle is Xidaibu Island!
“Immediately adjust the interception direction according to the speed!” Hu Zhi said decisively, “Xunlong Commando immediately board the plane and prepare to provide support!”
”Received!”
After hearing this, Yu Yong saluted excitedly and went out to organize the team members.
The combat staff also understood Hu Zhi’s combat ideas through the lines he drew on the sea chart.
Hu Zhi planned to let the helicopter land on Xidaib Island in case the landing on Xindu failed.
“Captain Hu, I have the responsibility to remind you that if the landing on Xindu fails, the safety of the soldiers will not be guaranteed if they really have to land on Xidaib Island. Not only may we face diplomatic problems, but there may also be another ‘Black Hawk Down’ incident!”
”Staff Officer Wu is too serious.” Hu Zhi immediately explained in a deep voice,
”The nature of the current incident is completely different from the Black Hawk incident. This is just a rescue incident for a pirate attack. And you know the situation in Somalia. Even if we want to greet them in advance, no one can get there. We are right when this matter goes to the international level.”
”As for the safety of the soldiers, Somalia is not full of pirates. Don’t worry, I will take all the responsibilities of the entire plan.”
Seeing that Hu Zhi had made up his mind, Staff Officer Wu stopped trying to stop him. He looked at the satellite image and pondered for a moment before suddenly speaking again:
”In fact, there is another alternative plan, which is to let the Red Eagle merchant ship ahead of the Xindu turn around immediately and be ready to pick up the Xunlong commando at any time. However, according to the distance, the endurance may still be a dozen kilometers short, so the team members have to abandon the plane and jump into the sea in advance and wait for the merchant ship to rescue them…”
”Well, this can also be implemented as a last resort alternative plan.”
As orders were quickly issued, the soldiers on the Zhoushan ship immediately took action. Soon, a Z-20 ship-borne assault helicopter carrying twelve Xunlong commandos slowly took off from the Zhoushan ship and began to fly towards the Xindu.
For the Xunlong commandos on the Z-20, this action was somewhat desperate…—— In response to this sudden situation, a certain command center also quickly established an emergency command team and began to coordinate the rescue operation remotely.
After several years of routine escort operations, there have been no ship hijacking incidents in the Gulf of Aden and its surrounding waters for more than half a year, not to mention that according to current intelligence, the successful hijacking of the Xindu by pirates is almost a fait accompli.
Liang Zhen, the chairman of Tongda Shipping Group, who is also Li Chen’s wealthy mother, happened to be in Tianjing Port that day. After receiving the news that the Xindu had encountered pirates, she immediately rushed to the emergency command center to be ready to cooperate with the possible next sea
However, if money is really needed to redeem the people and the ship, it is actually the insurance company that pays, so the insurance company’s people have also received the notice…
Although Captain Hu’s plan has begun to be implemented, a group of staff in the emergency command center are still evaluating Captain Hu’s plan, and their opinions are very different.
Some people think that given the current situation, the rescue is too difficult, and if the problem can be solved through negotiation and payment, try not to do it.
Especially the alternative plan of abandoning the plane and jumping into the sea to wait for the rescue of the Red Eagle merchant ship, not only is it risking the lives of the soldiers, but also means giving up a Z-20 worth hundreds of millions.
After the Somali pirates successfully hijacked the ship, the ransom they asked for was usually only one or two million US dollars, and in very rare cases, they would ask for tens of millions.
Therefore, whether from the perspective of risk considerations or from the perspective of interests, it is more cost-effective to negotiate and pay.
In previous pirate hijacking incidents, if the other party has successfully hijacked the ship and has hostages, unless they are very sure, the military usually focuses on the safety of the hostages and tries to avoid direct fire with the pirates.
The Russians are at the other extreme. In rescue operations, they basically focus on fighting pirates, and as for hostages, they just hope for the best…
Therefore, most pirates are actually afraid of robbing Russian merchant ships.
Although the Russians’ approach is indeed simple, crude and effective, they pay more attention to the personal safety of citizens, so it is difficult to say which of the two approaches is better.
Just as the staff were still discussing whether to terminate Captain Hu’s plan, Chief Shen, who was in charge of commanding this emergency, suddenly said: “Well, since the Xunlong Commando has set off, the arrow is on the string and has to be fired. Moreover, the pirates are well-equipped this time. All signs show that this is a planned and premeditated targeted attack!”
”If we give in so easily, it will undoubtedly further encourage the pirates’ arrogance. So now it is not a matter of calculating the gains and losses of a single incident, but whether we can show the momentum of our navy!”
”What’s more, at least for now, the crew is relatively safe, and the situation is not completely unfavorable to us. If the lives of the crew are really threatened, it will not be too late to respond to the situation.”
After hearing what Chief Shen said, the discussion in the command room finally ended, and then they began to really follow Captain Hu’s plan and began to discuss in detail the possible changes and problems in order to further improve the rescue plan.
Chief Shen then turned to his deputy and asked, “Has the destroyer Remiji of Country M replied?” “Just replied, saying that their ship had a malfunction and even the aircraft carrier formation could not catch up, so they could not launch a rescue operation…”
Shen sneered and asked, “What about John Country?”
“They also said they were carrying out an escort mission.”
“Haha, what a good way to watch the fire from the other side of the shore.” Chief Shen rubbed his forehead, “And maybe they set the fire…”
The deputy’s face changed slightly.
In fact, everyone had the same suspicion as Chief Shen, but no one would say it before there was evidence. This was also the tacit understanding between the two sides.
“By the way, where is the Yuzhang ship?”
“Yuzhang ship?”
The deputy was stunned for a moment, and then immediately asked the soldier who was operating the central console of the command room to enlarge the sea chart, and soon understood what Chief Shen meant.
The three ships, including the Yuzhang, were the 48th escort formation that had just set out some time ago. They were also about to replace the 47th escort formation including the Zhoushan. They had just left Sri Lanka yesterday and officially entered the Arab Sea.
At this time, the 48th escort formation was about 800 nautical miles, or more than 1,500 kilometers, away from the Xindu.
At such a long distance, everyone subconsciously ignored the possibility of their participation in the rescue operation.
But Captain Hu of the Zhoushan ship had some risky plans, which just happened to remind Chief Shen.
Since the Zhoushan ship could ignore the helicopter return issue and directly send out the Xunlong Commando, why couldn’t the Yuzhang ship do the same?
Although the secret weapons on their ship have not been tested in actual combat, judging from the one-way cruising range alone, they are actually completely likely to participate in this rescue operation.
The deputy immediately took out the nautical chart, and through further measurements and calculations, he and the staff quickly formulated a new plan: Let the three heavy silver cranes on the Yuzhang ship set off immediately,First land on the Red Eagle merchant ship, which is currently 182 kilometers south of Xindu.
Even if the Red Eagle merchant ship has turned around and headed west to cooperate with this rescue operation, the distance between the two sides is getting farther and farther, and the entire voyage can be controlled within 1,400 kilometers, while the cruising speed of the Silver Crane is 1,600 kilometers.
If we don’t consider how much endurance is left after arriving at the Red Eagle merchant ship, the Silver Crane can completely increase the cruising speed, and the time to arrive at the Red Eagle merchant ship may be controlled in more than two hours.
This is only about half an hour later than the time when the Xunlong Commando arrived at Xindu.
At that time, the Silver Crane can completely recharge on the Red Eagle merchant ship first, or directly let all the load of one Silver Crane be used to carry batteries, and immediately replace the batteries of the other two Silver Cranes to restore full endurance after arriving at the Red Eagle merchant ship, and finally decide whether to go to Xindu to support the Xunlong Commando according to the situation.
Moreover, with the Silver Crane on standby for energy replenishment on the Red Eagle merchant ship, if the Swift Dragon Commando fails to board the ship and really has to abandon the plane and jump into the sea, the Silver Crane can also launch a rescue response more quickly than the Red Eagle merchant ship, greatly reducing the risk of the Swift Dragon Commando jumping into the sea.
After presenting this plan, the deputy summarized to Chief Shen: ”This plan is very feasible, but the premise of all this is based on the performance of the Silver Crane. After all, the Silver Crane is a new type of aircraft that has not been tested for a long time, so this plan also has certain risks.”
After a moment of silence, Chief Shen nodded decisively and said: “There is no perfect plan in the world. Compared with this risk, it can bring us greater possibilities, so…”
”Immediately notify the 48th escort formation and let their three heavy Silver Cranes take the commandos and Swift Dragon Commando to the sea. Rush to the Red Eagle merchant ship! At the same time, keep in touch with the Red Eagle merchant ship to prevent any changes! ”
”Received!”
”Also, contact Dr. Kang immediately and tell him that the Silver Crane was designed by him. This is the first battle of the Silver Crane, and the difficulty and risk are very high. I hope he can spare time to provide full technical support for this operation!”
”Received!”
As the emergency command center replanned and improved the entire rescue plan, one command after another began to be issued. After receiving the news, the 48th escort formation quickly began to organize the Panlong Commando to carry out pre-operation preparations.
Only five minutes later, three Silver Cranes took off from the missile destroyer Yuzhang, the missile frigate Qianhu, and the comprehensive supply ship Songcheng.
Among them, Silver Crane No. 01 is mainly responsible for transporting 24 Panlong commandos, and Silver Crane No. 02 is mainly equipped with heavy weapons to provide air fire support.
Silver Crane No. 03 is equipped with two 3.3-ton small backup batteries. Although the capacity of these two battery packs is only half of that of conventional batteries, they are very convenient to carry and replace. The 800km range they provide can fully support Silver Cranes No. 01 and No. 02 to participate in operations at any time after arriving at the Red Eagle merchant ship.
Just as the Silver Crane flight formation took off, Kang Chi suddenly received a call from the emergency command center.
During this period, he was in seclusion at the Pangu Base, responsible for organizing the normal intelligent manufacturing of Silver Cranes, and also studying the technology of high bypass ratio turbofan engines.
The call only said that there was an emergency incident of pirate attack, and Kang Chi was not clear about the specific content until he came to the Pingfeng Mountain garrison command room and figured out the whole incident and plan through the remote video directly connected to the emergency command center.
“Mr. Kang, in terms of the performance of the Silver Crane, do you think there is anything missing in our plan?”
”No.” Kang Chi shook his head, “This plan makes good use of the characteristics of the Silver Crane, so there is basically no big problem, but… I personally think that you are still a little conservative.”
”My parameter standards for the Silver Crane are all full-load conditions, so its actual maximum range is actually far more than 1,600km. In the extreme range test a few days ago, the heavy Silver Crane with only two crew members flew as far as 2,113km, and today your highest-loaded Silver Crane does not exceed 7 tons. At the same time, according to the current wind direction…”
Kang Chi picked up a pen and quickly calculated on the draft paper, then looked up and said: “If you don’t consider the range problem after reaching the Red Eagle merchant ship, you can completely increase the cruising speed to 587KM/h, which can arrive 25.2 minutes earlier than your current plan.”
”587KM/h? ! ”
The staff officers in the emergency command room were shocked.
”Are you sure you can reach the Red Eagle merchant ship at this speed? You should know that if you can’t reach it… their fate is to fall into the sea!”
”Don’t worry.” Kang Chi said with a firm face, “I have left room for this speed. You can’t use the previous conservative thinking to look at this high-end solid-state lithium battery. It not only improves the energy density, but also solves the problems of battery degradation and reduced battery life. ”
”Therefore, I can guarantee that at a speed of 587KM, it will definitely fly to the Red Eagle, and I will be there all the time. I can help you calculate and adjust in real time according to the situation. ”
Seeing that Kang Chi said so, the staff officers no longer hesitated and immediately asked the Silver Crane formation to speed up, and at the same time transmitted their data to Kang Chi for analysis in real time.
(End of this chapter)