Starfire (2 page)

S-500S
—Russian surface-to-air missile system capable of attacking spacecraft in low Earth orbit

scramjet
—supersonic ramjet, an advanced air-breathing engine that can propel an aircraft beyond three times the speed of sound

Skybolt
—American space-based free electron laser

SL-16
—Russian heavy space launch rocket

Soyuz
—Russian manned space transportation capsule

A
CRONYMS

ACES
—Advanced Crew Escape Suit, a light-duty space suit

CBP
—Customs and Border Protection

CID
—Cybenetic Infantry Device, a manned robot

COIL
—Chlorine-Oxygen-Iodine Laser, an American laser system

DB
—“duck blind,” a known base or site with antispacecraft weapons

DEFCON
—Defense Condition, a gradual escalation in readiness for nuclear war

EEAS
—Electronic Elastomeric Activity Suit

EMP
—Electromagnetic Pulse, a massive discharge of energy from a nuclear explosion that can damage electronics at long distances

ICBM
—Intercontinental Ballstic Missile

JASSM
—Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, an American long-range cruise missile

LCVG
—Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment, worn under a space suit to keep the wearer comfortable

LOX
—liquid oxygen

MC
—Mission Commander, the “copilot” aboard a spacecraft

MHD
—magnetohydrodynamic generator, produces electricity by spinning plasma through a magnetic field

MRE
—Meals Ready to Eat, American field ration

NRL
—Naval Research Laboratory

PAC-3
—Patriot Advanced Capability, an American surface-to-air missile with an antiballistic-missile capability

PLSS
—Primary Life-Support System—the backpack worn by astronauts that provides oxygen, power, and environmental controls

ROS
—Russian Orbital Section, the Russian-built portion of the International Space Station

SAFER
—Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue, an American device worn by astronauts conducting an EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity) to maneuver back to safety if disconnected from a tether

SBIRS
—Space-Based Infrared System, American next-generation missile detection and tracking system

SBR
—Space-Based Radar, American advanced space and Earth surveillance system

UC
—University of California college system

WCS (“wicks”)
—Waste Containment System, a commode used on spacecraft

REAL-WORLD NEWS EXCERPTS

RUSSIA TO REVAMP AIR-SPACE DEFENSES BY 2020—Ria Novosti—Moscow—Russia will create a new generation of air and space defenses to counter any strikes against its territory by 2020 due to a potential foreign threat, the Air Force commander said on Tuesday.

“By 2030 . . . foreign countries, particularly the United States, will be able to deliver coordinated high-precision strikes from air and space against any target on the whole territory of Russia,” Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin said, referring to the potential for new hypersonic and space-based offensive weapons.

“That is why the main goal of the development of the Russian Air Force until 2020 is to create a new branch of the Armed Forces, which would form the core of the country's air and space defenses to provide a reliable deterrent during peacetime, and repel any military aggression with the use of conventional and nuclear arsenals in a time of war,” the general said.

“In line with the new air-space defense concept, we have already formed a number of brigades, which will be armed with S-400 and S-500 air defense systems,” Zelin said at a news conference in Moscow.

The S400 Triumf (SA-21 Growler) is designed to intercept and destroy airborne targets at a distance of up to 400 kilometers (250 miles), twice the range of the U.S. MIM-104 Patriot, and 2 1/2 times that of Russia's S-300PMU-2.

The system is also believed to be able to destroy stealth aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, and is effective at ranges up to 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) and speeds up to 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) per second.

The fifth-generation S-500 air defense system, which is currently in the blueprint stage and is expected to be rolled out by 2012, would outperform the S-400 as well as the U.S. Patriot Advanced Capability-3 system.

“The S-500 system is being developed under a unique design . . . and will be capable of destroying hypersonic and ballistic targets,” the general said.

Meanwhile, the Soviet-era MiG-31 Foxhound supersonic interceptor aircraft will most likely be used as part of the new air-space defense network, as was intended when it was designed.

“We are upgrading this system to be able to accomplish the same air-space defense tasks,” Zelin said.

According to some sources, Russia has over 280 MiG-31 aircraft in active service and about 100 aircraft in reserve.

AEGIS BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE INTERCEPTS TARGET USING SPACE TRACKING AND SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM—U.S. Department of Defense, 13 February 2013—The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and U.S. Navy sailors aboard the USS
Lake Erie
(CG 70) successfully conducted a flight test of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, resulting in the intercept of a medium-range ballistic missile target over the Pacific Ocean by a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IA guided missile.

At 11:10
P
.
M
. HST, (4:10
A
.
M
. EST) a unitary medium-range ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, on Kauai, Hawaii. The target flew northwest toward a broad ocean area of the Pacific Ocean.

The in-orbit Space Tracking and Surveillance System-Demonstrators (STSS-D) detected and tracked the target, and forwarded track data to the USS
Lake Erie
. The ship, equipped with the second-generation Aegis BMD weapon system, used Launch on Remote doctrine to engage the target.

The ship developed a fire control solution from the STSS-D track and launched the SM-3 Block IA guided missile approximately five minutes after target launch. The SM-3 maneuvered to a point in space and released its kinetic warhead. The kinetic warhead acquired the target reentry vehicle, diverted into its path, and, using only the force of a direct impact, engaged and destroyed the target.

Today's event, designated Flight Test Standard Missile-20 (FTM-20), was a demonstration of the ability of space-based assets to provide midcourse fire control quality data to an Aegis BMD ship, extending the battlespace, providing the ability for longer-range intercepts and defense of larger areas . . .

RUSSIAN SUPPLY SHIP DOCKS WITH ORBITING SPACE STATION—Moscow (UPI)—July 28, 2013—An unmanned cargo ship has docked at the International Space Station to deliver nearly 3 tons of supplies, Russia's space agency said.

The Progress 52 spacecraft docked smoothly with the orbiting station Saturday, shortly after being launched from Russia aboard a Soyuz rocket. “The docking was carried out in automated regime as scheduled,” a spokesman for the space agency Roscosmos said.

Russia's RIA Novosti news agency said the mission returned to the short 6-hour course to the space station. The previous supply mission took two days to rendezvous with the station. Before that, three space freighters—Progress M-16M, Progress M-17M and Progress M-18M—also delivered their cargo to the ISS in six hours.

Progress M-20M will bring some 2.4 metric tons of fuel, food, oxygen, scientific and medical equipment to the orbital outpost.

Fragments of Russia's Progress M-18M space freighter sank safely in the Pacific Ocean after reentering the atmosphere on Friday, a spokesman for the Russian mission control center said.

The spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station shortly after midnight Moscow time and started its final journey toward a remote location in the Pacific Ocean known as the “spacecraft cemetery.”

EXPERIMENTAL SPACE PLANE COULD CUT SATELLITE COSTS—Ray Locker, USA Today, 13 November 2013—The Pentagon wants to cut the costs of putting satellites into space by creating a “space plane” that can fly into low Earth orbit and release satellites for about $5 million a launch.

Called the XS-1, the plane to be developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) would be capable of flying 10 times the speed of sound (Mach 10), and carry payloads between 3,000 and 5,000 pounds into orbit, according to documents released this week.

If developed, the plane would be capable of rushing smaller satellites into space and cutting the long lead times necessary to use conventional launchers, such as rockets. “Current space launch vehicles are very expensive, have no surge capability, and must be contracted years in advance (i.e., long call-up times),” DARPA records show . . .

. . . The XS-1 project follows a 10-year effort to build another hypersonic vehicle, called the Falcon HTV-2. According to a 2003 DARPA plan, the Falcon was intended to be capable of taking off “from a conventional military runway and striking targets 9,000 nautical miles distant in less than two hours. It could carry a 12,000-pound payload consisting of Common Aero Vehicles (CAVs), cruise missiles, small diameter bombs, or other munitions . . .”

PROLOGUE

Revenge is a kind of wild justice.

—S
IR
F
RANCIS
B
ACON

S
ACRAMENTO
, C
ALIFORNIA

A
PRIL
2016

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the flight attendant said over the airliner's public-address system, “let me be the first to welcome you to Sacramento's Patrick S. McLanahan International Airport, where the local time is eight-oh-five
P
.
M
.” She continued with the usual warnings about staying seated with seat belts fastened and watching for loose articles in the overhead bins as the airliner taxied to its assigned gate.

One of the first-class passengers, wearing a business suit and white oxford shirt with no tie, looked up from his magazine in surprise. “They named Sacramento International after General Patrick McLanahan?” he said to his companion seated beside him. He spoke with a very slight European accent, hard to pinpoint from which country he was from to the other passengers seated around them. He was tall, bald but with a dark well-groomed goatee, and ruggedly handsome, like a recently retired professional athlete.

The woman looked at him with amusement. “You did not know that?” she asked. She had the same accent—definitely European, but hard for the other passengers within earshot to pin down. Like her companion, she was tall, beautiful without being sexy, with pinned-up, long blond hair, an athletic figure, and high cheekbones. She wore a business suit that had been made to look unbusinesslike for travel. They most definitely looked like a power couple.

“No. You made the reservations, remember. Besides, the airport code on the ticket still says ‘SMF,' back when it was Sacramento Metropolitan Field.”

“Well, it is Sacramento-McLanahan Field now,” the woman said. “Fits perfectly, if you ask me. I think it is a great honor. Patrick McLanahan was a real hero.” The passengers across the aisle from the couple, although pretending not to eavesdrop, nodded in agreement.

“I think we do not know of half the stuff that guy did during his career—it will all be classified for the next fifty years at least,” the man said.

“Well, what we
do
know is more than enough to get his name on the airport in the city he was born in,” the woman said. “He deserves his own memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.” More nods of agreement from those around the couple.

The tributes to Patrick McLanahan in the terminal building continued after they left the plane. The center of the main terminal had a ten-foot-tall bronze statue of Patrick on a six-foot tall pedestal, carrying a high-tech flight helmet under one arm and a handheld computer in the other hand—the toe of the statue's right boot was shiny from passersbys rubbing it for good luck. The walls were lined with photographs of Patrick depicting events throughout his entire military and industrial career. On display panels, children had drawn and painted pictures of EB-52 Megafortress and EB-1C Vampire bombers, with words like
BOMBS
AWAY
,
GENERAL
! and
THANK
YOU
FOR
KEEPING
US
SAFE
,
PATRICK
!

While waiting at the baggage carousel for their luggage, the man nodded toward an electronic billboard. “There is the ad for that tour of the McLanahan family bar and home, and his columbarium,” he remarked. “I would like to see that before we leave.”

“We do not have time,” the woman pointed out. “The only flight from New York to Sacramento was late, and we have to be in San Francisco by ten
A
.
M
. The gravesite does not open until nine, and the bar does not open until eleven.”

“Rats,” the man said. “Maybe we go early and see if someone can open it for us.” The woman shrugged noncommitally and nodded.

They retrieved their luggage a short time later and headed for the rental-car counters beside the baggage carousels. On the way, the man stopped at a gift shop and emerged a few minutes later with a large shopping bag. “What did you get?” the woman asked him.

“Airplane models,” the man replied. “One of the EB-52 Megafortress, the one that General McLanahan used when he first attacked Russia, and another of the EB-1C Vampire, one of the bombers he used against the Russian president's bunker after the American Holocaust.” The massive subatomic cruise-missile attack against American air defense, intercontinental-ballistic-missile, and long-range-bomber bases was known worldwide as the American Holocaust, during which over fifteen thousand Americans were killed. Patrick McLanahan had led a counterattack against Russian mobile intercontinental-ballistic-missile sites and eventually against Russian president Anatoliy Gryzlov's underground command bunker, killing Gryzlov and putting an end to the conflict.