Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 06 (32 page)

 
          
The
fourth Wolverine missile used the success of its three brothers to score the
biggest hits. With all of its previous targets already hit and disabled, the
fourth Wolverine had the luxury of expending all of its weapons—three bomb bays
full of cluster bombs, plus a 250-pound penetrating blast warhead—on the
Jiangwei-class frigate alone. McLanahan switched his supercockpit window to the
sensor view of the fourth Wolverine missile; the rest of the crew called up
repeater views of the strike sensor on their multifunction displays and watched
as the last Wolverine dropped its first load of cluster munition directly on
centerline, circled around, dropped again, circled in the opposite direction,
dodged some cannon fire, dropped its last load of cluster bombs in the stern
area of the frigate, executed an impossibly sharp triangular course reversal,
and plowed into the frigate just a few feet above the waterline, directly
amidships on the starboard side.

 
          
“Shit!
Did you see that?” Nancy Cheshire shouted. “That thing was alive! I saw at
least a dozen fires on that ship before the last hit! Excellent!”

 
          
“Oh
. . . my . . . ,” was all Vikram could say.

 
          
“Let’s
get out of here, pilots,” McLanahan said. “We’re supposed to be on our way to
the air refueling track.”

 
          
“High-speed
aircraft climbing rapidly, now at
two o’clock
, twenty- three miles, heading north,” Emil
Vikram reported. Vikram’s threat scope was a duplicate of McLanahan’s God’s-eye
view, but it displayed only air-borne targets—the sudden appearance of two
high-performance fighters less than thirty miles away were the main targets.
“Nav radars fired up on the carrier, bearings locking on the
Kin Men
—I think they might be able to
use their nav radars to target the Taiwanese frigate. That carrier might be
ready to let go with a big salvo. Sun Visor fire-control radars from the second
destroyer locking on the
Kin Men
too.”

 
          
“I’m
going within Scorpion missile range of the frigate,” Brad Elliott said. “We’ll
back up the frigates antiair weapons. Patrick, we’ve got to attack that carrier
now.
There’s no way it’ll get away
unless we attack! And if it launches more fighters, we’ll be sitting ducks! ”

 
          
“Brad,
we are already in deep shit by launching those Wolverines,” McLanahan argued,
looking over the top of his instrument panel to look at Elliott in the pilot’s
seat. “My nose is cold until we get—”

 
          
“Missile
launch! I’ve got two missiles lifting off from the
Mao
. . . going supersonic! ” Vikram shouted. “Two Granit missiles
on the way! ”

           
“Dammit!” McLanahan shouted.
“Emitter, can you get them?”

           
“I’ve got them!” the defensive
systems operator shouted. “I’ve got the missiles! ” He touched the Granit
missile’s symbols, then touched the command trigger on his interphone panel and
said, “Launch commit Scorpions one and two.”

           
WARNING, WARNING, LAUNCH COMMIT
SCORPION MISSILES. Then, after a few seconds: missiles away. At that instant,
one AIM-120 radar-guided missile leapt off a wing pylon from each wing and
streaked toward the Chinese anti-ship missiles.

 
          
“The
Kin Men
is launching missiles!”
McLanahan shouted. “Stand by for a second salvo from the—”

 
          
“I’ve
got a second salvo from the carrier! ” Vikram shouted. “Another two Granit
missiles lifting off... Square Tie radar down, must’ve got hit by a Rainbow
missile . . . looks like the Taiwanese frigate is firing more antiaircraft
missiles . . . Sun Visor radar down ...” Vikram immediately fired another two
Scorpion missiles at the Chinese anti-ship missiles.

 
          
“Range
to the lead destroyer is down to twenty miles,” McLanahan warned. “Let’s do a
left turn to reposition. Left turn heading one-six-zero. We’ll go out two
minutes, then—”

 
          
Suddenly,
Vikram shouted, “Another missile launching from the
Mao
... this one going ballistic! They’re launching an M-11
missile! Missile heading toward the mainland . . . turning east, heading for
Quemoy
. . . another missile lifting off! Two M-11
missiles in the air!”

           
McLanahan shouted, “Brad!” but
Elliott already had the
EB-52
Megafortress
in a hard right turn. “Lock ’em up, Emitter! You’ve only got a few seconds ...”

 
          
“They’re
out of range!” Vikram shouted. The M-ll missiles were huge 13,000-pound
solid-fuel rockets; they lifted off slowly but accelerated quickly and flew to
much higher altitudes .and speeds than anti-ship cruise missiles. “Dammit, I
missed them!”

 
          
“Get
ready in case they launch a second salvo! ” McLanahan shouted. “We—”

 
          
“Shit,
I’ve got that lead Chinese destroyer
in sight!”
copilot Nancy Cheshire shouted. While they were focusing on the Chinese M-ll
missile launch, they had drifted to within twelve miles of the Chinese
destroyer
Kang
—and there it was,
right in front of them, way out on the horizon but close enough to see its
enormous size. “Continue right turn, let’s get out of here! ”

 
          
“Missile
launch!” Vikram shouted. “Second salvo of M-ll missiles in the air! ” But he
was ready for them this time—within two seconds of detecting the launch, two
Scorpion missiles were in the air chasing them down. But seconds later, they
heard a
dee die dee die dee die!
warning tone in their headsets. “Missile launch!” Vikram shouted. “That
destroyer launched Crotale missiles on
us!"

 
          
“Full
countermeasures!” Elliott shouted. Vikram immediately activated the EB-52’s
AN/ALQ-199 MAWS (Missile Approach and Warning System), which used rear- and
side-looking radars to search for the incoming missiles. Once the radars locked
onto the incoming missiles, the computer system automatically ejected chaff and
flare decoys to try to steer the incoming enemy missiles away. At the same
time, tiny laser emitters popped up from the Megafortress’s fuselage and fired
beams of laser energy at the missiles, attempting to blind the missile’s
sensitive seeker heads.

 
          
The
Chinese destroyer
Kang
had shut down
its tracking radars because of the Tacit Rainbow anti-radar missiles buzzing
around, so the only guidance left for the Crotale missiles was their own
heat-seeking sensors, which were sensitive both to decoys and to the MAWS laser
beams. One by one, the French-built Crotale missiles were diverted safely away
from the Megafortress, and they crashed harmlessly into the sea.

 
          
ABOARD THE CHINESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER
MAO ZEDONG

           
“Kang
reports launching Crotale missiles at extreme range on a large multi-engine
aircraft that closed to within sixteen kilometers of their position,” the
officer of the deck reported to Admiral Yi on the bridge of the carrier
Mao.
“They also reported spotting
anti-missile decoy flares on the horizon. They have lost contact.”

 
          
Admiral
Yi was already on the communications links, taking reports from squadron
leaders in his fleet. “Hit? Hit by what? We detected no missile launches from
the Nationalist frigate.”

 
          
“They
appeared out of nowhere, sir,” the skipper of the Jiangwei-class frigate 542
reported. “Four large high-speed targets, all from different bearings, all
around us. We fired -61s, but they all missed; we tracked them with
fire-control systems, but they evaded our gunners. Patrol boat 1107 destroyed
and lost with all hands. Patrol boats 1209 and 1136 on fire. Minor damage to
patrol boat 1332. We have suffered major damage, one fire on deck three
starboard not yet under control, one hole just above the waterline. We are
being assisted by patrol 1108.”

 
          
“Were
they fighters? Maybe rebel F-16s dropping bombs?”

 
          
“Sir,
I have never seen aircraft move like that,” the skipper replied. “I swear to
you, sir, they seemed to be able to move at
right
angles,
as if they were on
rails
.
They were subsonic, but we could not track them— our antennas could not move
fast enough! ”

 
          
It
had to be some American secret weapon, Yi told himself as he blankly hung up
the phone. Unless the Nationalists were getting help from cosmic sea gods, that
was the only explanation—some kind of high- maneuverability air-launched
missile fired by the American bomber. “Vector the fighters to the last bearing
of those flares,” Admiral Yi ordered.

 
          
“Bridge,
Combat,” the intercom blared. “Fighters have made visual contact! They report
contact with an American B-52 bomber! ”

 
          
Yi
s mouth dropped open in surprise. A B-52, a nearly forty-year-old plane—and it
had wreaked havoc throughout his battle group. “Shoot it down! ” Yi shouted.
“Tell those pilots to engage! I want to pick up that plane’s wreckage and show
it for all the world to see! ” He then concentrated on his watch. “Missile
flight time?” he shouted.

 
          
“Forty
seconds to first detonation, sir,” the quartermaster responded.

           
“Sound collision,” Yi ordered.
“Signal the battle group to sound collision.” The alarm bells began ringing all
across the ship; down below, men put the final clamps and cables on the
helicopters up on deck and began clearing the flight decks.

ABOARD THE EB-52 MEGAFORTRESS

           
“Got ’em!” Vikram shouted. “Crotales
no factor . . . Scorpions closing in on the M-11s!” He watched in fascination
as the AIM-120 Scorpion missile’s icons quickly and smoothly merged with the
Chinese M-ll ballistic missile icons. What incredible power! Vikram thought
gleefully. We’re shooting down ballistic missiles, shutting down radars,
turning away antiaircraft missiles, and getting ready to blow a carrier out—”

 
          
“Fighters!”
Nancy Cheshire suddenly
shouted out on interphone. “Two fighters at
eleven o’clock
high! They’ve got us in sight! ” Just then,
the threat receiver came to life with a fast, high-pitched
deedledee- dledeedle!
and a female aural “Missile launch . . .
missile launch . .. missile launch! ” warning. At the same time, streams of
radar-decoying chaff and heat-seeking missile decoy flares began automatically
ejecting from both internal tail ejectors. At the same time, Elliott grabbed
the control stick and hauled it over hard left with his left hand, then jammed
the throttles on the center throttle console to full military power.

 
          
Emil
Vikram’s fingers were flying over his defensive weapon controls, immediately
activating the ALQ-199 HAVE GLANCE active countermeasures system. On the
Megafortress’s raised dorsal pod, tiny radar emitters popped up, slaved
themselves to the enemy aircraft bearing from the threat receiver, and began
tracking first the larger fighters and then the smaller, faster-moving Pen
Lung-9 air-to-air missiles fired by the People’s Republic of China People’s
Liberation Army Air Force Su-33 carrier- based fighters. As the missiles closed
to within a mile, the ALQ-199 MAWS active countermeasures pods began firing
laser beams at the missiles, blinding the sensitive radar sensors in the
missile’s nosecap. Any PL- 9 missiles not decoyed by the chaff bundles or
flares were hit by the lasers.

 
          
“Get
on the horn, get some help up here!” Elliott shouted. “Clear on all weapons!”

 
          
Ignoring
secure communications procedures,
Cheshire
activated the satellite transceiver and
called, “Buster, this is Headbanger, we’re under attack, two Sukhoi-33s!”

           
“Copy, Headbanger,” Samson replied.
“We’re trying to contact the ROC Air Force for assistance. Use everything you
got to get out of there. Stand by.” The Megafortress crew got very quiet—they
knew that help was very far away, and they were on their own.

 
          
“Stand
by for AMRAAM launch!” Vikram shouted on interphone. The Sukhoi-33 s began a
lazy right turn right in front of the Megafortress— they were obviously not
expecting a counterattack by such a large, lumbering target. Vikram quickly
locked up both Su-33s on the EB-52’s modified APG-73 attack radar from less
than five miles away. “Roll wings level... birds leaving the rails,
now. ”
In two-second intervals, the last
two AIM-120 Scorpion AMRAAMs streaked off the left and right weapon pod
launchers, and at less than six miles the medium-range active- guidance
missiles were almost unstoppable. “Splash two!” Vikram shouted.