DEFCON Year One

Chapter 7

On November 20th 2024, the United States were deeply involved into World War III. The country was now producing billions of ammunition, millions of vehicle parts, millions of plane and helicopter parts as well as thousands of military vehicles, thousands of military planes, thousands military helicopters, hundreds of military support ships, dozens of military combat ships and millions of infantry firearms firing 5.56mm, 7.62mm, 9mm and .50 caliber cartridges. The US factories also made tens of thousands of mounted weapons capable of firing 25mm, 20mm, 30mm and 40mm ammunition. Millions of 120mm, 105mm and 155mm as well as millions of pieces of individual gear were now made in US factories. The US garment industry also now made millions of uniforms for both the US Military and their allies. This was largely enough to provide every ally and even the US Military itself with years of military equipment to sustain continuous fighting.

On the European front, Lisa Hadley and the other US forces there were now involved in the battle for the Kaliningrad oblast. This meant securing the whole Baltic Sea before going towards Ukraine and Poland to secure Ukraine and Belarus, which would allow the US and its allies to invade Russia from the West. But for this to succeed, Lisa knew the US needed to attack China and Iran before invading Russia from all directions.

But for now, Lisa and the rest of her crew were busy preparing their Blackhawk for a large-scale air assault operation. And the heliborne troops were to be linked up with by armored and mechanized forces, including Amy Pollard and the rest of her Abrams tank. Lisa then boarded her Blackhawk alongside her crew before starting the engines. Looking around her, she saw everyone getting ready for this operation. American, British, Romanian, Polish, German, French, British, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese and Czech troops were going to participate in the operation. Lisa then saw several US soldiers boarding her Blackhawk.

Lisa then took off alongside the other helicopters before flying past the armored forces, which were ready to roll in a wedge formation, giving them the advantage of being able to concentrate their firepower towards the enemy while being less vulnerable then a column. This operation was the perfect example of a combined arms operation since HIMARS and M109A6 Paladin self-propelled artillery, as well as the brand new M109A7 howitzers, were firing their ammunition in continuous salvos to force Russian troops to stay put while the helicopters were to drop troops behind Russian lines.

Lisa and the helicopters were flying past the border between Poland and the Kaliningrad oblast when she saw missiles flying for the helicopters.

"Smoke in the air. Everyone pop flares." The lead helicopter said.

Lisa popped flares, soon followed by other helicopter pilots before banking left, narrowly avoiding the heat-seaking missiles. Suddenly, a British Wildcat was hit and began spinning uncontrollably. Lisa was worried for the crew. But her left gunner saw the AW159 Wildcat crash-landing in range of dismounted infantry, since the armored infantry force had crossed the border and annihilated any Russian soldier there. Lisa then spotted the landing zone and dexterously stabilized her Blackhawk before slowly approaching it alongside the other transport helicopters. Lisa then saw the US Army AH-64E Apache gunships providing cover fire with their autocannon while troops swiftly jumped out of the Blackhawk.

Lisa then took off before flying towards the crashed Wildcat, whose crew had been extracted by US Army medics after the main force crossed into the border. Lisa then saw multiple casualties, including many injured soldiers. She carefully landed near the crashed helicopter before the US medics loaded the injured Brits into her Blackhawk. Looking left and right, Lisa saw more American and Polish Blackhawks landing near hers before loading the wounded. Lisa then took off before flying to a nearby field hospital, where the wounded would be treated while the dead would be sorted since many of the returning Blackhawks would alas be loaded with dead bodies.