Chapter 538: Chapter 252: Gruesome Scene_2 Chapter 538: Chapter 252: Gruesome Scene_2 “`
And just at this moment, the wreckage of the armed helicopter destroyed in the first wave of attacks had only just crashed to the ground. These fragments fell from high altitude and exploded upon impact, engulfing some of the American soldiers who were too late to dodge into a sea of flames.
These two waves of attacks had already inflicted heavy casualties on the American Army. However, after the initial shock, the commanders of the American forces finally came to their senses and began to issue combat orders to their troops through the command system. But before his orders could be fully conveyed, the third wave of attack by the drones was already upon them.
Amid the desperate shouts of his deputy, the commander finally realized something was wrong. As he looked up, he saw missiles flying chaotically in the sky. One of those missiles was heading straight for his command vehicle. Under the commander's horrified gaze, an AGM-114 anti-tank missile struck their command vehicle, completely eradicating the command center.
This American Army unit was large, with a strength of 15,000 personnel, and their weaponry was very advanced. Once organized, they posed a significant threat to Yan Fei and the drones. Thus, the third wave of AGM-114 anti-tank missile attacks targeted the command center of the American forces. Eliminating the American command center meant that even if their combat power remained strong, without leadership, they would become disorganized and no longer a threat to Yan Fei.
Before unleashing a furious attack, the drone quantum radar had consumed energy points to scan the American troops below, inputting all the acquired data into the auxiliary brain's database. This included the American forces' defensive positions, fortifications, personnel distribution, weapon placements, command center, and so on, all of which were marked. The threats were ranked based on the degree of danger to Yan Fei and the drones, and attacks were launched in this order. So after the drones took out the armed helicopters in the sky and the anti-aircraft missile positions on the ground, the third wave's focus was on the command center of the troops.
However, the command structure of the American military was very robust. Once the upper-level command center was wiped out, the next level would take over command. Therefore, after Yan Fei eliminated the divisional command staff, the attack objectives extended downward, and all the regimental command centers were destroyed, followed by the battalion command centers. However, after the battalion command centers were entirely annihilated, Yan Fei began to switch attack targets.
The American military's command structure was indeed well-developed, but they had not anticipated a scenario where all commanders above the battalion level would be annihilated. This situation was also related to the reality of the American forces, as they had never encountered a complete elimination of commanders above the battalion level under any circumstance.
This vulnerability became apparent when only the company-level commanders were left, as they no longer had the ability to direct division-level troops. So once the command systems above the battalion level were gone, the American troops were effectively in a headless and chaotic state.
The drones' three attacks had rendered the American forces below incapable of combat, and then launched missile strikes every three seconds, a well-ordered yet swift offensive.
The American soldiers below could only see the flashes of light in the sky followed by violent explosions on the ground, which resulted in a large number of their troops being killed or injured. In just 30 seconds, the drones carried out 10 missile attacks. These 10 waves of missiles left the Americans bereft of any capability to counter the drones, and their command system was obliterated, leaving no one to effectively control the army.
The American soldiers below were in a state of panic, filled with thoughts of defeat. As they looked on in horror, the drones launched another 12 AGM-114 anti-tank missiles, shooting down the large transport helicopters that were trying to escape to a distant location upon realizing something was amiss.
However, with this brief respite, some of the more experienced American soldiers had recovered from their initial panic and spontaneously began to counterattack within a small scope, proving themselves worthy of the elite status of the American forces.
The tanks equipped by this American force were M1A2 main battle tanks, which feature a special equipment: a dedicated thermal imager. When the drone had just launched missiles, the high temperature at the missile exhaust exposed its position, despite the initial success in eliminating the anti-aircraft radars below. However, even though the American tanks had detected the drones, they couldn't attack them. The thermal imager could only determine the AGM-114 anti-tank missiles' positions, and the drones' location was merely a guess, meaning the real position of the drones wasn't truly identified. Additionally, the tanks lacked anti-aircraft missiles and could only use anti-aircraft machine guns to spray at the suspected locations of the drones. Unfortunately, at an altitude of 3000 meters, the tanks' anti-aircraft machine guns were incapable of reaching such a height.