nycdaug Chapter 479: The ANAPG-81's Gaze: The Sakura Suicide Plane Locking onto the Kamikaze
Chapter 479: The ANAPG-81's Gaze: The Sakura Suicide Plane Locking onto the Kamikaze
Deep in the birch forests outside Changchun, in a snow-covered underground hangar by Japanese engineers, twelve miniature Zero fighters were undergoing a frantic transformation. Mechanics had removed the cockpit ejection system and replaced it with a one-ton Type 97 armor-piercing bomb. Fuel tanks had been expanded to their maximum capacity. Under the wings hung cherry blossom flags with the inscription "Long-lasting Military Fortune"—this was the Kwantung Army's newly formed "Kamikaze Sakura Kai" special attack team, each fighter a controllable human missile.
"Gentlemen, you are the last hope of the empire." Captain Aoki, the squadron leader, stroked the portrait of the Emperor in the cockpit, his voice filled with morbid fanaticism, "The Phantom fighter is good at electronic warfare, but facing the desperate souls of warriors, its radar and missiles will be ineffective!" The twelve pilots saluted in unison, their flight suits containing potassium cyanide capsules and "Seven Lives to Serve the Country" written in blood on their left chests.
At 3:20 a.m., the hangar doors slowly rose. Moonlight shone on the fighter's wings, reflecting a cool metallic sheen. Aoki gave the bomb's fuse one last check and looked up at the night sky. Based on the coordinates transmitted by the Frost Falcon 1 radar team five minutes before it vanished, the Phantom fighter's next target was most likely the chemical weapons laboratory in Harbin. Their mission was to intercept it en route and destroy it along with the enemy aircraft.
Before Lei Tao's F-35B left Changchun's airspace, the AN/APG-81 radar picked up an unusual signal. On the holographic screen, twelve fighter jets were approaching in a dense formation, their flight paths unnaturally straight, like twelve arrows shot toward the moon.
"System, analyzing target type." His pupils shrank slightly, noticing that the fighters didn't take evasive action. "Wait... did they turn off their radar reflectors?"
"The scan results show that the target is a modified version of the Zero fighter, carrying ultra-high-yield explosives. It is speculated to be a suicide attack." The calmness of the electronic voice formed a cruel contrast with the urgency of the situation.
Lei Tao immediately activated his AN/ALQ-239 electronic warfare pod, attempting to jam the enemy's communication channel. But a clear roar in Japanese rang out from his headset: "May Amaterasu protect us! The Empire will triumph—" It was Captain Aoki's radio signal, deliberately exposed. He knew that under electronic warfare suppression, only the most primitive sonic communication could convey a desperate will.
"Release the 'Phantom Bat' drones, electromagnetic pulses covering all frequency bands!" Lei Tao's command was immediate, and thirty-six drones surged out like a black wave. But this time, the Japanese were well prepared. At Captain Aoki's command, twelve special attack aircraft simultaneously released chaff jammers, instantly filling the air with silvery debris that disrupted the drones' optical sensors.
"Damn it! They are simulating civil aircraft signals!" Lei Tao looked at the sudden increase in false targets on the radar screen and quickly switched tactics, "Start the millimeter-wave radar and use AI to identify the real trajectory!" The F-35B's radar waves penetrated the chaff cloud and accurately locked onto the heat source of the twelve special attack aircraft.
Aoki saw the missile lock alarm on the dashboard and instead smiled grimly. He pulled the control stick, accelerating the formation in a wedge formation, the cherry blossom flags beneath his wings fluttering in the air currents. In his final three minutes, his mind flashed through his mother's kimono, the cherry blossoms at Yasukuni Shrine, and the imperial wine cup bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor—all of which would be transformed into imperial glory in the explosion.
"Sorry, modern ghost," Lei Tao murmured softly, pressing the missile launch button. Twenty-four AIM-120D missiles roared out, divided into three groups of eight missiles each, forming an interception net under the command of the AI. When the first missile hit Aoki's plane, he could even see the reflection of the missile's seeker—not the cold gleam of metal, but the reflection of a sky full of cherry blossoms.
Violent explosions echoed one after another, and twelve enormous fireballs blossomed in the night sky, like twelve fleeting cherry blossoms. Lei Tao piloted his fighter plane through the blast wave, watching the threat signal disappear on the holographic screen. He suddenly remembered the record in history books: the Kamikaze Special Attack Force first participated in the war in 1944, but in this time and space changed by the butterfly effect, they appeared six years earlier.