CAG Baiwei Leiting Lang

Combat Aviation Group Baiwei Leiting Lang
Emblem
Active	Since January 11, 1989
Country	People's Republic of Zhouran
Allegiance	Zhouranese People & Nation
Branch	Zhouranese People's Army Air Force, Zhouranese People's Army Navy
Type	Combat aviation group, aviation-fighter-dragoon
Role	Air-to-air/air-to-surface combat Covert air operations Clandestine aerial duties
Size	Classified
Headquarters	Classified, simply referred to as Zone 45
Motto(s)	Victory is for the Brave, in this life and the next (Putonghua: 胜利属于勇敢者，今生和来世; Pinyin: Shènglì shǔyú yǒnggǎn zhě, jīnshēng hé láishì)

Combat Aviation Group Baiwei Leiting Lang (Putonghua: 战斗航空集团百尾雷霆狼; Pinyin: Zhàndòu Hángkōng Jítuán Bǎiwěi Léitíng Láng) is a combat aviation group consisting of personnel and fighter aircraft from both the Zhouranese People's Army Air Force and Zhouranese People's Army Naval Aviation. Established on January 11, 1989, CAG Baiwei Leiting Lang differs from a conventional combat aviation group due to the fact that it has pilots and planes from two different service branches, not to mention that CAGs are traditionally temporary units created for certain specific missions. CAG Baiwei Leiting Lang was in fact originally established following the 1989 air battle near Tobruk in which two US Navy F-14A Tomcats and two Libyan MiG-23 Floggers engaged in a dogfight. Following the incident, Combat Aviation Group Baiwei Leiting Lang was established with the objective of conducting non-aligned neutral air-policing just outside Libyan airspace so as to prevent an even-greater air-&-sea war between the US and Libya. The unit originally had up to 48 fighter jets that were assigned to a monthly rotation, starting off with ZPAAF fighter jets stationed in Egypt and ZPAN carrier-borne fighter jets stationed aboard any Zhouranese nuclear-powered supercarriers that were sailing in the Mediterranean Sea, however in 1997, Combat Aviation Group Baiwei Leiting Lang changed its task from non-aligned neutral air-policing off the coast of Libya to various classified air operations across the world. As a result, pilot rosters had changed dramatically and the unit began handpicking highly-experienced battle-hardened exceptional fighter aces from both the ZPAAF and ZPAN. Since the change in 1997, Combat Aviation Group Baiwei Leiting Lang is known for picking 12 extraordinary battle-experienced fighter pilots from the ZPAAF and ZPAN, each batch of 12 fighter aces are assigned to the combat aviation group for six months before returning to the fighter regiments they belong to. Prior to the 1997 change, a batch of 48 ZPAAF and ZPAN fighter pilots would be picked and assigned to the unit for four months before returning to the fighter regiment they come from.

Since its inception, Combat Aviation Group Baiwei Leiting Lang has no standardized aircraft since the unit picks pilots from different fighter regiments in the ZPA Air Force and ZPA Naval Aviation, but all planes will be temporarily decorated with "blood scars" on the tails in the form of red dashes blocking out any unit decals. The number of marks depends on how much tours of duty a pilot has served prior to being assigned to the unit: One dash means ten tours of duty or less; two dashes represent eleven-to-twenty tours of duty; and three dashes denote twenty-one or more tours of duty.

Following the 1997 change, the combat aviation group is assigned to various covert operations of clandestine nature. It is speculated that the unit is mainly tasked with circumventing enemy rear-lines and performing long-range strikes under classified nature. It is also possible that the unit might be tasked with escorting planes carrying high-ranking figures, however this is probably unlikely since the combat aviation group is constantly mobilized for operations. There are also rumors that any batch of 12 ace pilots that are temporarily assigned to the unit are sometimes used for collecting advanced flight combat data for future aerial-warfare combat revision-&-improvement research by conducting mock dogfights against each other.

Ever since its formation, any ace pilots who are temporarily assigned to Combat Aviation Group Baiwei Leiting Lang are commonly nicknamed "Bastard Wolves of Tobruk". Another common nickname for ace pilots in the unit is "Tomcat Seeker", this peculiar nickname roots back to a minor incident on the early morning of April 24, 2003 in the eastern Mediterranean when two ZPAN Type 115-600 carrier-borne fighter jets radar-locked two bogeys with their powerful long-range White Sword PESA radar at a distance of approx. 318 km for almost an entire minute before Zhouranese naval AWAC quickly confirmed the the two unidentified aircraft as a pair of USN F-14D Tomcats. While the Ministry of Defense called the situation a "simple mistake that was professionally de-escalated", a local newspaper from Tanzhou jokingly explained each of the two Zhouranese naval fighters were "simply seeking a mate, specifically of the tomcat variety".