Dogfight over the Sea of Japan

The dogfight over the Sea of Japan was an aerial battle which occurred between Academy City and Russian fighters above the on October 30th during World War III.

Background
When World War III broke out, there were expectations in Russia and elsewhere in the world that it would end with Academy City being turned into a sea of blood and flames once Russia broke through the Sea of Japan, the city's apparent last line of defense, with strategic bombers and assault landing craft, as although Academy City was several decades ahead of the world in terms of scientific technology, Russia was considered one of the world's three greatest military powers and had a numerical advantage being a large nation while Academy City's population of 2.3 million were mostly children. However these expectations were soon proven wrong.

In order to maintain air superiority over the Sea of Japan, Academy City deployed ten HsF-00s, giant supersonic fighters around 80m long and capable of flying at over 7000 kph (as opposed to regular fighters usually 15-20m long and at 2500 kph), supported by a number of smaller, unmanned craft, around the size of a normal fighter. Travelling at over three times the speed of a regular fighter, a single HsF-00 was able to cover a huge area at once. Its speed also meant that it could avoid pursuit by going all-out for a short time, not allowing an enemy to get behind it or even get close enough to be in range, easily moving 100 km away then heading back again in short order.

While the smaller unmanned craft could turn at inhuman angles, the HsF-00s were also capable of extraordinary maneuverability normally not possible for large aircraft, able to move straight forwards while at a 90 degree angle, spin around at high speed like a top and move with the nose not pointing forward. As well as the crafts being engineered to withstand the stresses involved, the pilot's bodies were also hardened by freezing them at -70 degrees, with only the brain's decision-making ability left operating, the organ functions being carried out by a life-support machine, a portion of calculations carried out by computer and weak electrical signals being read from the scalp to fly the plane. Strengthening the bodies in this way allowed the pilots to overcome the old limits set by inertia and perform irregular movements in the larger and faster craft. The fighters also possessed highly accurate weaponry, with missiles capable of turns many times sharper than their Russian counterparts while chasing their target and laser units which could attack an enemy from multiple angles at once at the speed of light. They could also easily crack the enemy's encryption.

The Academy City aircraft could also remain airborne for much longer durations than normal due to measures taken to increase their flight time, making them fully capable of engaging in a marathon battle. The HsF-00s used frictional heat on their armor surface for energy, becoming more efficient at faster speeds and reducing their fuel consumption up to 90%. The smaller craft could also perform aerial resupplying at high speeds, passing missiles and ammunition boxes in mid-air and extending tubes between one another to. The smaller craft constructed a resupply network extending through the sky from the base to the battlefield, allowing the aircraft to remain aloft and not have to return to base, as well as enabling them to head out farther than normally possible.

The pilots of the Russian Air Force used s, which were cutting edge by their standards and considered capable of easily dealing with an American stealth fighter in a dogfight, with several dozen being sent at once during the dogfight on October 30th. Though advanced by the standards of the rest of the world, they were completely outmatched by the HsF-00s.

During aerial battles, the Academy City pilots were trying to be creative and setting missiles to detonate at a distance to allow the Russian pilots to escape with their parachute, which the Russians took as mocking them.

Chronology
On October 30th, Ekalielya A. Pronskaya and several dozen other Russian pilots were engaged in battle with Academy City's HsF-00s and severely outmatched. Thinking about how ridiculous the meaning of 'Hard Science' (the name given to the enemy machines) was when they seemed like something of the occult, she tried to search for a way out of her situation. However, a communication from an enemy pilot and the actions carried out by the enemy craft quickly shot down her options.

As her teammates were shot down, the enemy pilot introduced himself as Kameyama Ryuuta and continued his transmission in a carefree manner, saying how they were making sure that they didn't kill them. Angered at being mocked, Ekalielya yelled back at them, asking why they don't get crushed by the inertial forces. She shuddered when the enemy pilot revealed that they had been frozen and put on life-support in order to withstand the forces involved, with electrical signals from their brains being used to fly the fighter. The enemy then prepared to shoot her down.

Both Ekalielya and the HsF-00 pilot were startled and confused when Fuse Kazakiri suddenly shot past them on her way to Russia. After it emerged that the Russian higherups were planning to use the Kremlin Report regardless of the harm it would do to the Russian people, Ekalielya and her fellow pilots were eventually persuaded to let several craft pass in order to deal with it.

Trivia

 * While this engagement was a proper dogfight (if one-sided), there was an incident in July where Academy City fighters intercepted a group of modified s from a Russian cooperative institution, sent as a decoy during their plot to destroy Academy City with a hydrogen bomb.
 * In the anime, the HsF-00s are excluded from the brief glimpse of the dogfight.
 * The Russians do not seem to be losing the battle as badly in the anime as they were in the novel.