21st century Goguryeo

Chapter 342

November 1st, 2023, 19:40 (Iran Standard Time 14:10)

Iran, Hamadan, the Hamadan Air Force Base

Wooosh~ Boooooooom!

An air-piercing sound rang across the sky and a black object fell on top of the Shahrokhi Air Force Base. The object used its velocity alone to pierce through the concrete of the runway and blew up after digging dozens of meters below the surface. The explosion destroyed everything within a 100m radius and created a shockwave that matched a 10-magnitude earthquake.

The explosion engulfed every building on the surface. Flames that looked like magma started flowing from the cracks and danced around the area.

The Hamadan Air Force that operated the 20 F-14 Tomcat bombers, 15 F-4D Phantom II jets, 29 F-4E Phantom II jets, and 3 RF-4E patrol planes a few minutes ago and placed second in the Iranian Air Force, was now disappearing into history.

A large explosion at the Hatami Air Force Base 164km southwest of Kermanshah started as well. The Hatami base which operated Mi-171Sh attack choppers became covered in seemingly undying flames.

These two air force bases were near the Khatam Al-Anbia anti-air base that had successfully tested and deployed Bavar-373 anti-air missiles in 2018. The joint chief of staff ordered the CS-AD Zeus 4 strategic strike satellites to target these bases with the Zinog-II missiles to minimize damages that could be done to the allied forces.

The C-SH Zinog-II missiles started to fall at a speed of Mach 45 that could not be intercepted by any nation across the globe except Corea.

Two years ago, the U.S, which had completed its MD (Missile Defense) system, was only able to detect the missiles at the final second and could not even attempt an interception. Iran’s anti-air system, which was not even a 10th of America’s, did not even manage to detect the missiles.

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November 1st, 2023, 19:41 (Iran Standard Time 14:11)

Iran, Hormozgan Province, the Hormuz Naval Base

While four air force bases located at Northwestern Iran were being bombed by the CUF/A-29NP Phoenix bombers and became annihilated, missiles started to fall on the Hormuz Naval Base that was built in 2000 to block off the Persian Gulf.

Since the Hormuz Naval Base was close to Corea’s 12th carrier strike group, it was hit by 16 rounds of Skydragon A cruise missiles within 11 minutes and most of its destroyers and high-speed vessels docked there were blown up.

Sixteen explosions occurred within a few seconds and the base turned into a glowing red furnace with black smoke covering the sky.

The Hormuz Naval Base was tasked with closing off the seas at the Persian Gulf and it was equipped with high-powered radars, surface-to-ship missiles with a range of 300km, and six Mowj-1 class 1,400ton destroyers. The Mowj-1 class destroyers would be considered escorting ships in the west, but for Iran with its weak naval power, these were considered as such. All six of them had been destroyed in the blast.

The radar bases were struck by the Skydragon A cruise missiles as well and a large flame 20m high rose from the area. Dozens of bomblets from three Skydragon A cruise missiles also exploded on top of the surface-to-ship missile forces and rained down on the launch vehicles. In an instant, an area five times the size of a soccer field was covered with flames and explosions.

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November 1st, 2023, 19:52 (Iran Standard Time 14:22)

The Shahid Air Force Base, Isfahan, Iran

The Skydragon A cruise missiles equipped with plasma engines started using its TERCOM (terrain contour matching) guidance system which would program a map of the area near the target within the missile and used it to change its trajectory whenever it encountered an obstacle and flew towards their targets at a hyper-speed of Mach 3.5. They closed a distance of 1,400km within 20m and popped back up once they reached near the target.

Three Skydragon A missiles from the total of eight fired landed on the Shahid Air Force Base. They struck the runway directly only one meter away from their original target. The remaining five exploded in the air and started dropping their bomblets on the area.

Boom! Bag! Boooom! Bang! Booooom!

An ear-piercing explosion rang across the base and swept the entire area. Soon, smaller secondary and tertiary explosions rang out as well. The shrapnel from the explosion caused everything within the base to be littered with holes.

A few minutes later, the explosion died down. The Shahid Air Force Base seemed as if it was covered by a dirt cloud. Once the dust settled, the base emerged, but the scenery was horrifying. Black and red flames were burning around the entire base and not a single jet or igloo was intact. The buildings had all collapsed as well. The lucky survivors were all rolling on the floor screaming in pain from having their limbs torn off.

There was a time gap, but the Khak Naval Base, Ghonabad Air Force Base, and Chabahar Air Force, and Navy Bases were all hit by the Skydragon A missiles and lost 80% of their power.

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November 1st, 2023, 20:30

The South State, Seoul, Yongsan-ku, B2 bunker (ROK military joint command center)

The commanders at the joint chief of staff were watching the progress of the attacks on Iran’s major military facilities. When the attacks went smoothly and as planned, they finally relaxed a bit and started to speak to each other.

“Aren’t those missiles super precise as if they were computers? Ha ha ha,” General Youn Gi-youn, the deputy chairman of the joint chief of staff, glanced at the footage of the Iranian bases on the split-screen with a contented look on his face.

“The 12th carrier strike group must have performed without any issues,” Deputy Chairman Shin Sung-yong must have been satisfied by the outcome as well and answered him.

Lieutenant General Yang Min-choon, the operations director, then interrupted the conversation the deputy chairmen were having, “Sir! It seems the damages done to the civilian facilities near the Tehran Air Force Base were greater than expected.”

“By how much?”

“Approximately 30 buildings were destroyed and 100 civilians were killed in the blast, sir,” Lieutenant General Yang Min-choon reported the summarized information from the analysis team.

“Hmm, I guess despite using cluster rounds only, we still caused damages.”

“Yes, that’s right, sir. However, the civilian buildings were too close to the base...”

“Hey! There will always be civilian casualties in war. We wouldn’t be able to continue if we keep being concerned with that, would we? Don’t worry too much, lieutenant general,” General Youn Gi-youn waved his hands and answered him.

“That’s right, sir. But it could cause more issues later down the line...”

“Lieutenant General Yang, you commanded the battlefield fiercely in Manchuria and Japan as the corps’ commander. Has joining the joint chief of staff made you soft?”

“Haha, of course not, sir,” Lieutenant General Yang Min-choon laughed while answering General Youn Gi-youn’s question.

“If that’s not the case, don’t overthink it.”

“Yes, Deputy Chairman Youn’s right! Everything can’t be perfect during a war! Don’t concern yourself too much about the civilian casualties! Shouldn’t we focus on reducing casualties on our end? There could be more civilian casualties down the line.”

“Yes, I understand, sir.”

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November 2nd, 2023, 15:30 (Iranian Standard Time 10:00)

The Sa’dabad Complex, Tehran, Iran (the cabinet meeting room)

The Iranian government called for an urgent meeting after being attacked by the Corean Navy’s 12th carrier strike group at 14:00.

The three branches of the Iranian military including the revolutionary guard were all on emergency alert round the clock, but the major military facilities were being hit simultaneously after the government detected the initial missile strikes.

From Corea’s perspective, the initial attack was like a light jab. However, to Iran, it was as if they were hit by a powerful right hook.

It was too early to determine whether it was luck or Corea’s hidden intent to exclude the revolutionary guard and the Iranian army from the attack. Regardless, the Iranian government ordered the military to move into temporary encampments and prepare for war.

The 450,000 Iranian soldiers under the army and the revolutionary guard started to move into their encampments, and the anti-air forces and radar forces mobilized every single force they had to set up an impenetrable radar net.

President Avolhassan Rajahi who had received command of the military from Supreme Leader Mustafa Hosseini Hamanei attended the meeting with numerous other government officials and they were being briefed by Ashukan Hajsafi, the chairman of Iran’s joint chief of staff.

Once the briefing was over, President Avolhassan Rajahi and the other government officials’ faces were full of despair.

“Minister Ansari! What have you been preparing for this whole time?” President Avolhassan Rajahi scolded the minister of defense when the briefing was over. Minister Ansari had made a guarantee to the president that the military was prepared for every possible attack the Corean military could make and would be able to retaliate.

However, the outcome from an hour ago was tragic. Despite the military’s preparations, they didn’t even get a chance to retaliate but instead became nearly annihilated. Minister Ansari could not raise his head.

“This is all my fault, sir.” Chairman Ashukan Hajsafi, who had briefed everyone instead of the minister of defense, returned to his seat and apologized instead of the minister who was silent with his head down.

“You and the minister are equally to blame!” President Avolhassan Rajahi said coldly.

General Mohammad Raku, the military’s chief of staff, spoke to the president with his arms crossed, “Mr. President! We have sustained damages from the Corean military’s attack, but we can make up for it. Please give us the order to attack the Republic of Kurdistan. Our 150,000 revolutionary guard will lead the charge and wipe out the nation and the Corean military.”

General Mohammad Raku, who had distributed all of the latest equipment from Russia to the revolutionary guard, did not foresee what was to come and was full of confidence.

President Avolhassan Rajahi, who had the supreme leader’s faith and wielded near-absolute power, waved his hand as if to tell him to do as he pleased. “Great! Do as you see fit, commander.”

“Yes, I will consider the attack on the Republic of Kurdistan as officially approved and begin, sir.”

“As you will.”

“Yes, sir. Also, I would like our government to request cooperation from the Iraqi government as well.”

“All right. Minister Haghighi!”

Minister Alireza Haghighi answered the president, “Yes, Mr. President!”

“Request for military aid from the Iraqi government for the attack on Kurdistan.”

“Yes, sir. I will contact them right away.”

After a few hours, Commander Mohammad Raku reported the results of the meeting to the supreme leader and ordered for the attack on the Republic of Kurdistan to begin.

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