Patrick McLanahan Collection #1 (168 page)

There was a pause on the channel; then: “Boomer, I'm going to re-task your flight. Stand by.”

A few moments later: “Updates downloading, sir,” Noble reported. “Genesis, are you sure you wouldn't want to send Stud One-One on this one and let me take the Strongbox?”

“I've sent you into enough hot target areas, One-Three,” Patrick replied. “You're going to take out the Shahab-5s. I'll give One-One the Strongbox.” Both XR-A9 spaceplanes were loaded with air-to-ground weapons—a BDU-58 Meteor re-entry carrier, carrying three 1,500-pound U.S. Air Force AGM-170D “SPAW” missiles, or Supersonic Precision Attack Weapon. The SPAW was a two-stage solid-motor and scramjet–powered missile with a range of over one hundred miles and a top sustained cruise speed of over five times the speed of sound. It used GPS and inertial en route navigation which gave it near-precision accuracy, but then its course to impact could be fine-tuned by datalinks from satellites, target designators on the ground, or by other aircraft. These D-model missiles were specially modified by the High Technology Aerospace Weapons Center with thermium nitrate high explosive warheads that gave them an effective explosive yield of ten thousand pounds of TNT.

“It's likely to be pretty hot out there near that launch area,” Boomer said. “Maybe I ought to take it instead of the ‘new guy.'” The “new guy” was Lieutenant Colonel Jack Olray, who was new to Dreamland and the XR-A9 project with just two orbital Black Stallion flights to his credit, but was a combat veteran and experienced test pilot.

“The ‘new guy' will do just fine, One-Three,” Patrick said.

 

“We can handle it, One-Three,” radioed Benneton from the second Black Stallion, then added, “Thanks for your vote of
confidence.” Boomer knew enough not to try to return her snide remark over the command channel—it would only encourage her to keep on giving him grief.

Besides, his countdown seemed to be progressing faster and faster, and soon they'd be underway. His crew mission commander, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Lisette “Frenchy” Moulain, another newcomer to the unit, was impatiently prompting him to acknowledge each countdown hold within seconds of it popping up on their screens. With Frenchy's almost constant urging, it seemed only seconds later when they closed up the cockpit and were moving out. Boomer noticed Olray and Benneton closing their cockpit canopies as they taxied clear of the hangar—they would be airborne shortly afterward.

Boomer and Frenchy made their first refueling over northern Arizona, then requested and were cleared for a supersonic cruise-climb while over southern New Mexico. They cruised at eighty-five thousand feet and Mach three for just an hour, then descended just east of Puerto Rico for their second refueling. Now safely over the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Venezuela, they accelerated to Mach ten, turned slightly northeast, then began their eight-minute orbital insertion burn. By the time they had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached the coast of Africa near Sierra Leone, they were at seventy-seven miles altitude and traveling at twenty-five times the speed of sound.

“Everything OK back there, Frenchy?” Boomer asked after they were established in orbit.

“Of course. If it wasn't, I'd tell you. Why did you ask?”

“That's my way of calling for a station check,” Boomer explained.

“Then why didn't you say that?” Boomer scowled at the rear cockpit monitor but said nothing. “I'm in the green, oxygen and pressurization good, and the payload shows safe with full connectivity and continuity. The ‘Before Release' checklist is underway. Eighty-three seconds until the first countdown hold.”

“Thank you,” Boomer said. Sheesh, he thought, why does Dreamland attract women like these? Aren't there any…?

Suddenly there was a steady “DEEDLE DEEDLE DEEDLE!” warning tone, and the message “EARLY WARNING RADAR DETECTED” flashed on the screen. “One-Three, I'm picking up a very strong long-range early-warning radar at your twelve o'clock position,” Raydon radioed. “It's unidentified—it's not Iran's air defense radar.”

“We'll keep an eye on it for you and analyze it as soon as possible,” Patrick said. “We show you about three minutes to release.”

“That checks,” Boomer said. He checked his position: near the southwest corner of Sudan and Egypt in east Africa, within sight of the Red Sea. There wasn't much he could do about this new threat except perhaps turn right and get away from land, but it was equally possible that this radar was on a warship. Well, early-warning radars were meant to be large and powerful. He forced himself to relax.

“Stud One-One is safely in orbit and on track,” Raydon reported. “Three minutes to release point, reporting everything in the green.” Boomer knew that Olray's mission took him on a much more highly inclined track, zooming over the Baltic states and Belarus before launching their Meteor payload. The track was designed to keep them as far away from Russian airspace as possible. Fortunately the desired orbit was perfectly aligned with the optimal track for the Meteor re-entry vehicle, so it wouldn't waste too much energy having to maneuver to get into position before releasing the JSOW missiles.

“Last countdown hold,” Moulain announced. “MC's release consent switch to ‘CONSENT.'”

“Roger.” Boomer reached for a red switch guard, broke the thin safety wire, lifted the guard, and hit the switch. “AC's consent switch to ‘CONSENT.'” It was one of the high-tech Air Force's nods to the old two-person crew concept of having two mechanical safety-wired switches physically separated from one
another that had to be actuated manually before any weapons could be released.

“Roger. Crew consent entered, everything's in the green, countdown is…”

“It's the laser fire control radar!” Patrick radioed. “The Russians installed a Kavaznya laser in southern Iran?”

“We've had the area under satellite surveillance for days, Genesis,” Raydon said, “and we haven't seen a thing. There's been normal truck traffic going in and out of the missile site at Kermān. They couldn't possibly have gotten a laser set up out there in such a short time!”

The radar threat warning receiver sounded again, this time with the warning, “HEIGHT-FINDER ACTIVE. They've got a pretty good lock on One-Three,” Raydon said. “He's forty seconds to the launch point. What do you want to do, Genesis? If he releases the Meteor, I think that's when they'll fire the laser. Do you want him to withhold?”

“It's a bluff, Genesis,” Boomer said. “Like Odin said, they couldn't have gotten a big laser out here quick enough. They want us to withhold.”

“Zevitin warned us that Russia would act if we attacked Iran,” Patrick said. “This could have been what he was talking about.”

“I'm ready to withdraw consent, Cap…” Moulain said.

“Keep your hands away from that switch unless I tell you otherwise, Lieutenant!” Boomer shouted over the intercom. “It's a bluff, Genesis,” Boomer repeated over the command channel. “Let's do this thing.”

There was a long pause on the channel, going almost all the way to the end of the countdown; then, Patrick radioed: “Continue, One-Three.”

“Good choice, sir,” Boomer muttered. “Final release check, MC.”

Moulain verbally ran through the eight steps of the checklist, then verified that the computer had already configured the system for release. “Checklist complete. Stand by on the bay doors…doors
coming open…payload away…doors coming…” At that instant the threat warning receiver blared again, this time with a fast-paced “DEEDLEDEEDLEDEEDLE!” tone, and the monitor warning read “MISSILE WARNING” and “LASER ILLUM,” meaning they were being hit by a laser. “They got us!” Moulain cried out. “They're firing the laser!”

“Relax, Frenchy, relax,” Boomer said. He was fixated on just one readout—the exterior skin temperature. “It must be a targeting or rangefinder laser—hull temperature hasn't moved.” He checked the rear cockpit monitor and saw Moulain frantically scanning her own readouts, looking for confirmation. “Just keep your protective visor down. We'll be over their horizon in a minute or two.”

The Meteor re-entry vehicle fired its small retro-rocket to slow itself down, then assumed a nose-high attitude as it started to descend through the atmosphere. As it slowed to below Mach ten, the mission-adaptive systems on board activated, and the craft began to do a series of S-turns to slow itself down even more. As the atmosphere got denser the mission-adaptive flight controls became more and more active, and the Meteor was able to fully maneuver.

“Meteor passing through one hundred thousand feet, range two hundred,” Moulain reported. “Still in the green. Threat warning receiver has identified the target illuminator as an SA-12 ‘High Screen' sector scanner…passing through seventy-five thousand, range one-fifty…coming within SA-12 lethal range…now.” The SA-12 “Giant” surface-to-air missile system was one of the most advanced anti-aircraft systems in the world. Purchased from Russia and widely publicized, the SA-12 was designed to protect Iran's most valuable nuclear weapons production facilities from stealth bomber and cruise missile launches as well as from attack aircraft.

Another threat warning tone sounded, this time with the text warning “MISSILE LAUNCH. SA-12 in the air,” she reported. “SPAW missiles powering up, and data transfer in progress…thirty seconds to separation…second SA-12 is up…another
SA-12 in the air…SPAW missile data transfer complete, missiles ready to go…now we have an SA-10 target acquisition radar up…coming up on separation point…now.”

The Meteor vehicle split apart and ejected its three weapons. The AGM-170D SPAW missiles stabilized themselves in the slipstream, took their initial GPS satellite position and velocity updates, did a fast self-check, then fired its first-stage solid-motor rocket engine. In less than twenty seconds the SPAW missiles had accelerated to Mach three and streaked across the sky toward their assigned targets. A few seconds later, the first two SA-12 missiles plowed into the empty Meteor vehicle, blowing it to bits.

When the SPAW missiles' motor casings were empty, small air intakes on the SPAW missiles' bodies extended. The interior shape of the motor casing compressed the incoming supersonic air. Fuel and a spark were introduced, and the missiles' scramjet engine flared to life. Seconds later the missiles passed Mach five. The SA-10 anti-aircraft missiles had a max speed of Mach six, but their solid-fuel rocket motors had already burned out so they were simply coasting toward a spot in space where their targeting computers predicted their quarry would be. The more they turned to chase down the SPAW missiles the slower they flew, until seconds before intercept they could no longer maintain altitude and simply fell to Earth.

The SA-12 battery had fired two more missiles at the incoming AGM-170D attack missiles, and the SA-10 battery fired two more as well. The SA-12s destroyed the first incoming SPAW missile. But by this time the SPAWs were just seconds from impact, and their speed had increased in the descent to well over Mach six, and the SA-10s missed the other two incoming attackers. Patrick's “Need-It-Right-This-Second” micro-satellites orbiting over the target area provided the final precision steering signals to the SPAW missiles, and both of the surviving missiles made direct hits on their assigned Shahab-5 launch silos. The resulting thermium-nitrate explosions, and the massive secondary explosions caused by thousands of gallons of rocket fuel and oxidizer blowing up
in their silos, were bright enough to be seen for a hundred miles away.

“Direct hits, guys and gals!” Patrick announced. “Excellent job!”

“But we still have one silo remaining,” Kai Raydon said. “They'll launch the third one, sir, I know it—now that we've attacked their other babies, they know we're gunning for them.”

“We'll deal with them then,” Patrick said. “Right now we've got Stud One-One ready to release.”

“Meteor on course and on glidepath,” Benneton said, announcing her payload readouts aloud. “Carrier temps normal. Thirty seconds to weapon release.”

Olray and Benneton's targets were different than Noble's and Moulain's: they only carried three AGM-170D SPAW missiles, like Stud One-Three, but they knew there were going to be many more Shahab-2 and -3s in the field than there were Shahab-5 silos, and only three SPAWs wouldn't take them all out. Someone else was going to do that job. They also knew, like Zarand, that the Strongbox would be defended by Iran's most sophisticated high-altitude, anti-missile-capable air defense weapons.

But instead of evading the SA-10 and SA-12 surface-to-air missile sites, Stud One-One's job was to attack and destroy them.

Each SA-10 and SA-12 brigade consisted of six transporter-erector-launchers (TELs) surrounding the pre-surveyed launch points in the area of the Strongbox. Each TEL had four vertically launched missiles, connected to the command post by microwave datalinks backed up by armored fiber-optic cables. The surveillance, target tracking, and missile guidance radars were also similarly linked to the command post vehicles, and each brigade's command posts were linked to each other so they could share radar data. As with the Shahab-5 launch silos near Zarand, there were two SA-10 brigades and one SA-12 brigade in the Strongbox area, with a total of seventy-two anti-aircraft missiles ready to fire, plus another ninety-six reloads that could be made ready to launch in under thirty minutes.

There was no way one Black Stallion attacker could destroy
all one hundred and sixty-eight missiles—that would take an entire squadron of heavy bombers loaded with precision-guided munitions, which didn't exist any more in the United States Air Force. But there were only three command posts coordinating the surface-to-air missile defenses of the Strongbox…and that was precisely how many AGM-170D SPAW missiles Olray and Benneton had just launched.