Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 05 (41 page)

 
          
“Iranian
interceptor, this is Shamu One-One,” the pilot of the KC-10 tanker radioed
back. “We are an unarmed aerial refueling tanker aircraft. We are carrying no
cargo or weapons. We were not in Iranian airspace. We are on a round-robin ICAO
flight plan, destination Diego Garcia. Please maintain your distance. Do not
approach this aircraft. Do you read me?”

 
          
McLanahan
switched off COMBAT mode so he could talk on the UHF radios; as soon as the
electronic masking field around the bomber de-energized, he keyed the mike: “Iranian
interceptor, this is Ghostrider Zero-Five, from the U.S.S.
Abraham
Lincoln
,
United States
Navy.” McLanahan didn’t know the call sign
of the fighter squadrons aboard the
Lincoln
,
nor did he know anything about Navy fighter
tactics—he just hoped this would sound good. “We have you on radar one hundred
twenty miles south of Chah Bahar at angels three-zero. We are rendezvousing
with that American tanker aircraft you are pursuing. Back off immediately or we
will attack from long range. Ghostrider flight, combat spread, arm ’em up.”

 
          
“I
hope the hell you know what you’re doing, McLanahan,” Jamieson said. He quickly
placed the B-2 A back in COMBAT mode as the MiG-29’s attack radar swept the
skies around them. For a brief moment the fighter radar locked onto the
B-2A—the MiG-29 had an excellent and very powerful “look-down, shoot-down”
radar, and it was only five miles away—but as soon as COMBAT mode was
reengaged, the MiG’s radar broke lock. The MiG scanned the skies again, using
long-range scans, then locked back onto the KC-10 tanker.

 
          
McLanahan
deactivated COMBAT mode once again, then keyed the UHF radio mike: “Iranian
interceptor, we are detecting you locking on to our tanker with your attack
radar at our
twelve o’clock
,
eighty miles. I warn you, shut off your radar and return to your base, or we
will attack from long range. Ghostrider flight, lock ’em up, now.”

 
          
That
time, the MiG-29’s radar slaved precisely at the B-2A bomber and locked on, the
Iranian fighter’s radar triangle switching from green to yellow and back to
green as it attempted to maintain a lock on the stealth bomber. While not
engaging COMBAT mode, the B-2A still had a very small radar cross-section, but
not small enough to evade a MiG-29 at close range. McLanahan considered telling
the KC-10 pilot to do evasive maneuvers now while the MiG wasn’t locked on to
him, but it wouldn’t do any good; the MiG-29 could reacquire the big KC-10 with
ease. McLanahan called up the B-2A’s electronic countermeasures control panels,
ready to activate all its defensive systems ...

 
          
.
.. and it was just in time, for as soon as the radar triangle surrounding the
B-2A bomber on the threat scope changed to a solid yellow, it changed to red.
They heard a rapid
deedledeedledeedle!
warning
tone, followed by a computer-synthesized “MISSILE LAUNCH . . . MISSILE LAUNCH .
.. !” McLanahan immediately activated COMBAT mode and all of the
countermeasures equipment. The HAVE GLANCE system promptly locked on to the
incoming missile and fired its laser beam. “Two missiles in the air!” McLanahan
shouted. “Break left! ” Jamieson threw the B-2A bomber into a hard left turn
and jammed the throttles to full military power.

 
          
With
COMBAT mode engaged and the B-2 A bomber’s “cloaking device” reenergized,
absorbing every watt of radar energy striking the bomber’s electrified skin,
the only solid radar-reflective object in the MiG-29’s radar sweep was the
cloud of chaff the B-2A ejected, and that’s what the two radar-guided missiles
struck. The radar triangle changed back to green, then disappeared.

 
          
Jamieson
descended down to 100 feet above the
Gulf
of
Oman
, daring the Iranian MiG to fly down to that
dark expanse of open ocean to pursue. “He might be trying a heater shot,”
McLanahan said, warning Jamieson to get ready to counter a heat-seeking missile
shot. But the MAWS radar showed the fighter still up at 30,000 feet, not yet
pursuing.

 
          
“C’mon,
this guy’s got to be running out of fuel,” Jamieson said. “We’re nearly three
hundred miles away from his base.”

 
          
“With
three external tanks for an air patrol mission, he’s good to go for almost a
thousand miles,” McLanahan said. He deactivated COMBAT mode once again, keeping
the MAWS tracking the fighter. “Iranian interceptor, this is Ghostrider flight
of two, you just committed an act of war,” McLanahan radioed. “Turn back
immediately or we will...”

 
          
But
the ruse didn’t work. The B-2A’s threat scope showed the MiG-29 briefly
transmit with its N-019 pulse-Doppler radar, lock on to the KC-10 tanker once
again, then flick off. The MAWS radar tracked the MiG-29 until it closed within
five miles of the KC-10 .. . “Jesus,
no
/”

 
          
“Mayday,
Mayday, Mayday, Shamu-One-One on GUARD,” the pilot of the KC-10 Extender
shouted on the international emergency frequency. “Position, two hundred miles
south of Chah Bahar airfield. We have been attacked by an Iranian fighter,
repeat, we are under attack! We have been struck by missiles fired at us by. .
. ” And the radio went dead.

 
          
“Good-bye,
Yankee cowards,” the Iranian pilot radioed, and the MiG-29 turned and headed
back toward
Iran
.

           
As Jamieson set up an orbit over the
area, McLanahan sent another message to the National Security Agency and the
Air Intelligence Agency, detailing the events. Using intermittent bursts of the
SAR, they orbited the
Gulf
of
Oman
over the KC-lO’s wreckage for another hour
until no more radar-significant debris could be detected. Silendy, afraid to
speak, frozen and riddled by guilt and anguish, the B-2A crew started to climb
and set a course for Diego Garcia to arrange another refueling for the long
trip home.

The pentagon briefing room
23 APRIL 1997
,
0904 HOURS ET

           
“I just wanted to express my concern
over recent events in the
Middle East
,”
Secretary of Defense Arthur Chastain began. “Apparently, late last night
Iran
time,
Iran
fired several volleys of missiles from air
defense sites in the
Strait
of Hormuz
and from
their aircraft carrier in the
Gulf
of
Oman
.

 
          
“The
President immediately spoke to President Nateq-Nouri of
Iran
, who explained that there has been an air
defense integration problem with the aircraft carrier battle group, and that a
false alert over Bandar Abbas in the
Strait of Hormuz
caused a similar false alert over the aircraft carrier, causing the
missile launches. At last report, no vessels or aircraft were in danger of
being struck by these missiles.

 
          
“The
President conveyed his deep sense of concern over this apparent demonstration
of power, and he said that such demonstrations might affect the proposed summit
of
Middle East
nations and negotiations over
Iran
’s proposal to exclude land-attack warships
from the
Persian
Gulf
region. The
President, as you know, has endorsed President Nateq-Nouri’s proposal and has
even suggested expanding the ban to land-attack aircraft. The President is
awaiting a formal draft treaty before presenting it to the congressional
leadership.

 
          
“To
summarize:
Iran
apparently fired several dozen air defense missiles, anti-ship
missiles, and antiaircraft artillery guns into the sky last night,
Iran
time. No aircraft or ships were struck, and
no countries were in danger. Neither the
United States
nor any of the countries bordering the Gulf
has put its forces on alert in response to this demonstration of power. The
Defense Department speculates that this was either a malfunction, a response to
a false attack alarm, or some kind of demonstration of air defense power that,
frankly, wasted a lot of missiles and bullets for nothing. The President has
said that he is still committed to peace in the
Persian Gulf
region and will not let such blatant demonstrations
sway him from that objective. Thank you. What are your questions?”

 
          
“
... No, we are in direct and constant communication with President Nateq-Nouri
and Foreign Minister Velayati of Iran, and they assure us that Iran is not
gearing up or mobilizing for war in the Persian Gulf or Gulf of Oman, or
anywhere else for that matter,” Chastain replied. “He did admit that there are
very pro-military persons in the Iranian government that see the
Persian Gulf
demilitarization treaty as a sign of weakness
and as undercutting
Iran
’s sovereignty and national defense.
Privately, some analysts have speculated—and this is
only
speculation—that these hawkish military leaders staged this
air defense demonstration not only to threaten the Gulf Cooperative Council
states and others sailing the Persian Gulf, but members of their own government
as well. Yes?”

 
          
“
. . . Yes, we’ve heard that other Iranian military bases reacted as well, and
that Iranian fighter planes were flying around on full alert, but they are farther
away from international waters and from routine monitoring by Gulf Cooperative
Council forces, so we don’t know much about those reports. ...”

 
          
“
... Yes,
Iran
’s chief of staff General Buzhazi is claiming that the
United States
is flying stealth bombers over his country
and is threatening to attack. The idea is ridiculous. The
United States
has a grand total of ten B-2A bombers in
the inventory, and all ten of them are still at Whiteman Air Force Base in
Missouri
, and they’ve never left. In addition, the
bomb wing there is not scheduled to be operational until October first.

 
          
“Let
me make this point very clear, ladies and gentlemen:
Iran
is not threatening war with anybody, so why
should we fly any aircraft over their country? In fact, President Nateq-Nouri
has gone a long way toward promoting peace for the
Middle East
, and the President of the
United States
will do nothing to hinder that. What the
rightwing fanatical military leaders or the fundamentalist clerical leaders of
Iran
will do, and whether or not President
Nateq-Nouri can control them or gain their support, is a question I just can’t
answer.”

Tehran
,
Iran

LATER THAT MORNING

 
          
“You
arrogant, incompetent
fool!”
Islamic
Republic
of
Iran
President Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri shouted
angrily. He and his Cabinet ministers were meeting with military chief of staff
and Pasdaran commander Buzhazi in Nateq-Nouri’s office—the meeting had been
bombastic, angry, and threatening to go out of control right from the start.
“How dare you march into my office, deliver a report like
this
to me, and have the unmitigated gall to tell me that
I
am preventing you from doing your job!
I should court-martial you for dereliction of duty—no, I should have you sent
to prison for the rest of your life for insubordination
as well
as dereliction of duty! But this will wait for a better
time—the Supreme Defense Council is waiting.”

 
          
The
Iranian Supreme Defense Council was the approving authority for all military
matters in
Iran
. Along with its president, the Defense Minister, it consisted of the
Prime Minister, Hasan Ebrihim Habibi; Buzhazi’s friend, protege, and confidant
and commander of Iran’s air forces, Brigadier General Mansour Sattari; ground
forces commander General Abdollah Najafi; commander of the navy Rear Admiral
Ali Shamkhani; chairman of the Majlis’s Armed Services Committee, Qolam Adeli;
and Hamid Mirzadeh, director of the Islamic Republic News Agency and the chief
of war propaganda.

 
          
“What
in the name of God . . . ?” Nateq-Nouri exclaimed under his breath, as he
entered the cabinet room. Buzhazi noticed with delight that Nateq-Nouri had
just realized that both Imams representing the Leadership Council were present
for this meeting. The religious leaders of the Council, together with the
Faqih, His Eminence the Ayatollah Khamenei, exercised ultimate political power
in the government and ultimate spiritual power in most of the Twelver Shi’ite
Muslim world. It was unusual to have anyone representing the mullahs here at a
Supreme Defense Council meeting—everyone was here but His Holiness, the Leader
of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Hoseini Khamenei himself.

 
          
“Is
this a trial or an execution, Mr. President?” Buzhazi asked sotto voce to
Nateq-Nouri.

 
          
“I
advise you to shut your insolent mouth, General,” the President said as they
took their seats at the cabinet table.

 
          
Buzhazi
saw with interest that a political crony of the Defense Minister, an old
lingham
-sucker named General Hosein
Esmail Akhundi, was sitting behind Defense Minister Foruzandeh. So apparently
they had already picked his replacement, Buzhazi thought with interest. Akhundi
had no military education, no experience— nothing but money and political
contacts, and had been awarded a commission and instant promotion to general
with seniority by presidential decree. He represented Nateq-Nouri’s slant away
from the powerful, hard-line expeditionary military that Buzhazi was trying to build,
and a clear movement toward a toothless dragon used merely to bully other
Muslim nations.

 
          
Just
before he took his seat, Buzhazi turned to his aide and said, “Bring him here
and wait for my command.” The aide hurried off to do as he was ordered—this
demonstration had been arranged in advance.

 
          
Nateq-Nouri
nodded to the two Imams present. “We are honored to have the representatives of
the Leadership Council in our presence today. We are here to receive the report
from General Buzhazi on the attacks against the Islamic Republic that occurred
earlier this morning. As you all know, there were three separate incidents: an
unknown air attack against Bandar Abbas; the mishaps aboard the aircraft
carrier
Khomeini
that caused
considerable damage to that vessel; and the assault on the security complex at
Chah Bahar Naval Base.”

 
          
The
Iranian President turned to Buzhazi. “General, we shall surely get to the
matter of the
Khomeini
soon, and your
theories about what happened to that ship and the Chinese destroyer. But I wish
to query you on the attack at Chah Bahar first, since this was obviously an
assault made by GCC and American forces. Your report states that our radar
planes and grourid radar stations detected the intruder almost
two hundred kilometers
from Chah Bahar,
and yet
not one
fighter launched? How
is that possible, General?”

 
          
“The
intruder aircraft was flying less than three hundred twenty knots, it was a
single aircraft, and it was flying on an established airway,” General Buzhazi
explained. “Night intercepts are dangerous, and several fighters from Chah
Bahar were on patrol searching for the attackers overflying Bandar Abbas, so no
additional fighters were launched against this lone, non-threatening target.
When the intruder did not answer any of our challenges, it was engaged by
ground-based air defenses at maximum range.”

 
          
“And
it evaded all of them?”

 
          
“The
aircraft was equipped with very sophisticated defensive equipment, including
chaff dispensers and threat warning receivers,” Buzhazi noted. “The aircraft was
shot down over the base ...”

           
“After shooting up more of our
armored vehicles, even
after
dropping
five paratroopers right on our security facility!”

           
“. . . and we have examined the
wreckage of the aircraft,” Buzhazi struggled on. “It was the personal aircraft
of Sheikh Muhammad ibn Rashid al-Maktum himself, the son of the Emir of Dubai—a
sentence of death should be placed on this infidel immediately. The aircraft
was fully armed and was also equipped for low-altitude flight and precision
navigation.

 
          
“But
the main factor was the state of the air defenses around Chah Bahar. As I said
in my report, sir, the Hawks placed there were some of our poorest-maintained
units. I have ordered SA-10 units and more Rapier air defense units, but my
requests have been constantly overridden ...”

 
          
“There
was no use in putting a cosdy SA-10 air defense site at a naval base that is
still uncompleted after five years in construction and an oil pipeline terminal
that is still uncompleted after ten years,” Minister of Defense Muhammad
Foruzandeh interjected. “Chah Bahar is nothing but random piles of concrete
buildings, mostly vacant or in partial stages of completion, surrounding an
obsolete air base and a shallow-water port facility that cannot accommodate
anything larger than a tugboat, let alone a major warship or a supertanker.
Your budget has been increased every year for the past three years to complete
that base, and yet the projected completion date is moved back every year.
Where is all that money going, General? To your private offshore bank accounts,
your homes in
Indonesia
and
South America
, your private jets?”

 
          
“How
dare you insinuate that I have embezzled government funds!” Buzhazi retorted.
“I demand an apology!”

 
          
“Enough,
enough!”
Nateq-Nouri shouted. “The
general will have his opportunity to answer all of these charges very soon, I
guarantee it.” He got to his feet and paced behind his desk. “So then a single
aircraft shoots up the base, destroys the power plant and all base
communications, then drops five”—he shook his head as if scarcely believing
what he was saying—. . five paratroopers into a security compound with
thirty-two armed Pasdaran guards
on
duty, kills or wounds each and every one of them, rescues all the American
prisoners, then holds off an entire infantry
company
of Pasdaran shock troops until they are extracted by
another
single
American aircraft? I
cannot believe this, Buzhazi. The Islamic Republic will be the worlds
laughingstock by the end of the day.”

 
          
“Mr.
President, we were unprepared for the arrival of those prisoners from the
Khomeini,
” Buzhazi said. “The security
facility had a normal complement of troops for the number of inmates already
present, which were all low-risk disciplinary cases. The base commander already
had orders to double the guards at the facility when he learned of the transfer
of the prisoners.”

 
          
“That
seems to be the reason for
all
that
has happened in the past few hours, General—you were unprepared,” Nateq-Nouri
said. “You were unprepared for the assaults on Bandar Abbas or on the
Khomeini
carrier group, unprepared for
the attack and assault on Chah Bahar. . . So, you have a theory as to how all
these attacks made it through your vaunted defenses, General?”

 
          
“The
same as the mysterious unidentified aircraft that ‘attacked’ Bandar Abbas,
sir—they were cruise missiles, decoys, launched by American stealth bombers,”
Buzhazi said. He could see Nateq- Nouri, Foruzandeh, and most of the others
roll their eyes in exasperation. “Yes, stealth bombers, gentlemen. The same as
was reported by the MiG-29 pilot over the
Gulf
of
Oman
with the American KC-10 aerial refueling
tanker. The Americans are conducting illegal, warlike reconnaissance flights
over our country with stealth bombers, launching sophisticated decoy missiles
over our forces that fool our air defenses into thinking we are under massive
attack so we quickly expend all our weapons.”

 
          
“I
see, I see,” Defense Minister Foruzandeh said scornfully, clearly unimpressed
by Buzhazi’s explanation. “We are all going to blame this on shadows of steel,
on bombers loaded with intelligent cruise missiles that fly with complete
impunity over our radars and missile fields. General, you have said yourself
that the American stealth program is a sham, a program foisted on the American
people to benefit the aircraft manufacturers and to bankrupt the former
Soviet Union
by forcing them to spend billions on
weapons to defeat them.”

 
          
“The
American stealth bombers and their new generation cruise missiles are
real
, Minister,” Buzhazi said. “That is
what I have been trying to prepare our country to defend itself against! ”

 
          
“This
testimony will make fascinating reading at your court-martial, General.”

 
          
“Do
not threaten me, sir!” Buzhazi shouted. “If you wish to relieve me of my
office—if you have the
stomach
to try
to remove me— you may do it at any time.” Nateq-Nouri looked as if he were
ready to kill his military chief of staff with his bare hands. “But you may not
threaten me with punishment for trying to do my duty! ”

 
          
“It
has been how you have tried to ‘do your duty’ that has bankrupted our country
and forced us to the brink of war with the Americans,” Nateq-Nouri said
angrily. “It will continue no more. Dr. Velayati.”

 
          
Ali
Akbar Velayati, the Foreign Minister, held up a communique, nestled in a blue
diplomatic folder. “A message from the American Secretary of State,” Velayati
said to Buzhazi and the rest of the Defense Council, “received late last night.
The
United States
accepts in principle the Islamic Republics
proposal to ban all land- attack warships from the
Persian Gulf
, including aircraft carriers, and to allow
the Islamic Republic to maintain an equal number of warships in the
Persian Gulf
as Gulf Cooperation Council warships.”

           
“How dare they issue a statement
like that, after wantonly attacking our air defense forces as they did last night?”
Buzhazi retorted.

 
          
“Silence,
General Buzhazi,” President Nateq-Nouri ordered. “Continue, Dr. Velayati.”

 
          
“The
United
States
wishes to schedule a summit of all interested nations for this
September, where a treaty will be signed,” the Foreign Minister went on.
“Secretary of State Hartman further recommends that this proposal be extended
to the boundaries of the
Gulf
of
Oman
and the
Gulf of Aden
west of the sixtieth meridian ... ”