"Battle stations!"
"Target locked!"
"Two intercept missiles, fire!"
As the Iskander was already in the re-entry phase, the 173rd ship Xiangcheng locked onto the terminal warhead at an altitude of 250 kilometers and, a few seconds later, launched two HQ9B surface-to-air missiles.
Without a doubt, this was yet another anti-missile exercise, aimed at the medium-range Iskander. All the surrounding warships were likely doing the exact same thing, having just practiced trying to shoot down their own East Wind 15C.
However, such exercises were doomed to provide little in the way of results; other than being able to estimate the interception probability for their own missiles based on past experience, the greater significance for the other two powers lay in gathering data up close.
But the expressions of the officers and sailors aboard the 173rd were a bit subtle, considering the HQ9B was a copy of Russia's S300, and its use against the Iskander was a bit like crossing swords.
