by Jack Strain
High-speed supercomputers in Fort Meade were cross-referencing previous intercepts until an operator sang out at her console. “Got him. Colonel Rainey, we got him. Isolating now, locking location, and . . . identified positive voice matches on both Brig General Behrouz Soroush and Samen Khorasani.”
A grin came over the senior Air Force officer who replied, “God bless the Israelis for the original voice prints. Great pick up. Nancy. Get me bullseyes on both of these bastards, especially that son of a bitch Khorasani. Send the complete signals dump over to Cyber Command, they will want to track their phones if they go mobile, and they sure as hell will want to get the targeting details over to the strike force commanders. Now keep at it people, we have quite a few on our list to nail down before the night is done, so stay focused.”
Chapter Eighteen
Thirty Minutes before the President’s Speech
Deep in thought, President Wolfe didn’t hear his wife calling out to him. “Douglas! Douglas, hurry, we are running so late.”
The stunning former supermodel and current first lady knew her husband was suffering and nothing she tried seemed able to break through to him. She had never seen him so distant, so intensely sad. Marija Wolfe felt ashamed to admit that she had always been a bit jealous of Liliana. The bond she and her husband shared was so evident to everyone, even the boys would joke about it, though at times it didn’t seem like they were joking. But now that she was really gone, life seemed to have been sucked out of the family.
Marija was a naturalized citizen and didn’t always understand many of the various political nuances unique to the American political system, but she certainly understood what tonight was all about. She watched the news and knew the American people wanted revenge. She knew her husband was prepared to make them pay for what happened to his daughter and to so many other sons and daughters. He hadn’t spoken many details, but she knew that for all his many failings, once he decided a matter, he would not stop until he believed that he had won.
He needed her right now, even if he didn’t know it. She walked towards him carrying two different ties in her hands and playfully ran her fingers through his thick hair, but he practically leaped out of the chair, exclaiming, “What the hell! Marija! Jesus Christ, you scared the hell out of me.”
“Douglas, I have been calling out to you but . . . nothing. You just kept sitting there . . . staring. I’m worried, my darling.”
Wolfe nodded and reached up with his left hand and held on to his wife’s thin wrist and said, “Sorry, I just can’t stop thinking about her. I go from wanting to just curl up into a ball and cry, or I get so damn angry that I can’t think of anything except getting even with those bastards - making them pay. I feel so . . . so lost.”
Marija leaned down and wrapped her arms around her husband and held him tight and tried to soothe him. He turned towards his wife and held her close and tried to steal at least one moment just for himself before he had to face the nation. He felt his eyes getting moist and started to rub his eyes. Can’t let the American people see me crying, that’s for damn sure.
Smiling down at her husband, Marija said with that hint of sexy Latvian accent that he loved to hear, “That’s it my Douglas, it’s okay.”
He nodded and looked up as she said, “Now, you must pick a tie and get moving so Margarita can put some final touches on you before the speech. They must be going mad now waiting for us. The children are already on the way.”
With a soft smile, Wolfe answered, “I’ll take the black tie and no Margarita. The last time she put so much makeup on I looked like that orange faced orangutan that used to do that stupid TV show and thought he was the king of New York all those years.”
She smiled warmly back at him and said, “No one could mistake you for that silly fat man. I will tell her just a touch this time. Let me handle this. You worry about your speech, I’ll worry about how to make my husband look even handsomer if that is possible.”
Wolfe snuck a quick kiss and then finished getting dressed. Five minutes later he was walking toward the armored convoy set to deliver him and the first lady to the Capitol Building.
◆◆◆
The Russian High Command staged an air defense exercise along its southern tier as cover to enable the American bomber force to cross over Russian territory in the Caucasus Mountains without causing a major international incident after they exited Georgian airspace and continued towards the Caspian Sea. The Russians provided a very narrow air corridor for the Americans and as a precaution scrambled two squadrons of fighters. More than a few senior Russian commanders were less than thrilled at President Putin’s willingness to accede to the Americans requests, but they fully complied and now a powerful force of American strategic bombers was flying towards its objective of the night.
The slower, lumbering B-52’s of the 2nd Bomb Wing based out of Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana were about three hundred miles from the Iranian border. With the massive Baku oil fields and refineries about forty miles to their right, the lead bomber from the 96th Bomb Squadron opened its bomb bay doors, and the first of 20 AGM-86 ALCMs (air-launched cruise missiles) began launching, sending bright fiery flashes into the night as each missile engaged its rocket boosters. Each bomber housed eight internal missiles and six additional missiles under each wing, and the sudden release of so much heavy ordnance caused each plane to lift and pick up speed, now free of their heavy loads.
The AGM-86 air-launched cruise missiles were increasingly being supplanted by the newer JASSM-ER stealth cruise missiles, but these reliable Cold War-era weapons were more than capable of doing their job tonight. Each missile was guided by a secure GPS signal and armed with a mix of 2,000-pound and 3,000-pound high-explosive warheads while some packed the 1,200-pound penetrator warheads for bunkers and airfield cratering. It took about fifteen minutes for all thirty-six B-52’s to unleash their war loads, but when they were done more than seven hundred cruise missiles, and dozens of MALD-J long-range jammers were beginning their roughly thirty-minute ride to their targets.
After the B-52’s began their tight turns to exit back through the narrow air corridor, a flight of six stealth bomber B-2 Spirits and two squadrons of B-1B Lancer bombers followed close behind the massive wave of cruise missiles. These strategic bombers were equipped with a combination of 2,000-pound GBU-31 and 500-pound GBU-38 JDAM GPS guided high-explosive bombs, and several packed the heavy 5,000-pound GBU-28 GPS guided bunker busters capable of penetrating one hundred feet of dirt or twenty feet of reinforced concrete before exploding its powerful 3,500-pound warhead. The air-launched Tomahawk missiles would crash the party first, but it was the B1 and B-2 bombers who planned on overstaying their welcome.
Meanwhile, hi-tempo flight operations were taking place on the flight decks of three U.S. Navy carrier battle groups. Carrier Air Wings from the USS George H.W. Bush in the Med, the USS Ronald Reagan in the Arabian Sea, and the Persian Gulf-based USS John Stennis began turning into the wind and started launching squadrons of F/A-18E Super Hornets and EA-18 Growlers. Equipped with a range of weapons that included a mix of land-attack SLAM missiles, anti-ship Harpoons, anti-radar HARM missiles, laser-guided bombs, and a full complement of air-to-air missiles, the experienced American pilots quickly formed up and began moving to their designated targets.
At the same time, air bases from Turkey to Saudi Arabia and throughout the Gulf region became a beehive of activity as American warplanes lifted off and began forming into attack formations. More than four hundred planes had been assembled in a remarkably short time, from F-15E Strike Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons flying out of Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base, A-10’s lifting off from Seeb Air Base in Oman, F-16CJs flying Wild Weasel missions out of Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, to the newest addition to the American arsenal, the controversial 5th generation fighter, the F-35A Lightning II operating out of Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates.
While the Air Force and Naval Carrier Air Wings were putting on
a show in the skies, gray-painted vessels from the Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet began surging towards Iranian Gulf-based naval bases and smaller Revolutionary Guards fast-attack speedboats and hydrofoils bases. Four Burke-class guided missile destroyers from Destroyer Squadron 21, with their powerful complement of anti-air Standard missiles, Harpoons, and Tomahawk missiles, along with two British frigates and one French destroyer, covered the ten fast-moving Cyclone-class U.S. Navy patrol boats now configured for combat against the threat to commercial shipping from Iranian missile boats.
Armed with the MK-60 quadruple BGM-176B Griffin missile launchers, the Cyclone patrol boats looked to quickly close in on the Iranian speedboats and either prevent them from surging into the main sea lanes to either attack cargo and tanker ships or to prevent the expected Iranian attempts to mine commercial shipping lanes. The small American Naval craft had been engaged in a non-shooting competition with the aggressive Revolutionary Guards Naval speed boats for years and relished the opportunity to finally go on the offensive against them. Overhead, American MQ-9 Reaper drones and AH-64 Apache Longbow attack helicopters would provide top cover and strike from distances up to five miles with their AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.
While American surface forces were moving into an attack posture, under the warm shallow waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, four Improved Los Angeles-class and Virginia-class attack submarines were hunting for Iran’s three deadly Kilo-class diesel subs. The Tareq 901 submarine was tied up undergoing a major overhaul of its batteries and sensor suite, but the Noor 902 and Yunes 903 were both flushed by the Iranian naval Command when signs of American and Gulf forces seemed to be mobilizing. The Tareq was operating in the Strait of Hormuz, tasked with protecting the entrance to Iran’s largest and most important naval base at Bandar Abbas while the Yunes was sent into the Gulf of Oman trying to make contact with the Reagan carrier battle group.
Russian designed and built, Kilo-class subs are considered one the quietest diesel subs in the world, perfect for the type of warfare Iranian naval planners intended to employ. Threats to close the Strait of Hormuz to shipping relied heavily on this class of subs, but it was the sudden appearance seven years ago of Ghadir and Nahang-class midget subs that kept American Naval strategists up at night. Small and quiet, they were perfect for shallow depth littoral operations in the Gulf and Straits. Each sub carried two 533 mm torpedoes and was extremely difficult to detect when moving with the current or lying in wait of potential targets.
Significant ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) assets were being deployed to track and neutralize the threat. Seahawk and Sea Sprite ASW helicopters and the new P-8 Poseidon ASW planes were scouring the Gulf dropping a mix of passive and active sonobuoys; air-dropped sensors that either passively listened for underwater threats or directed powerful sonar pulses into the sea looking for an echo return to identify potential Iranian sub contacts and then attempt to isolate them and direct American attack subs and torpedo armed helicopters to prosecute and sink. Few aspects of modern warfare are as tedious or as necessary as ASW, but if these Iranian subs couldn’t be found, then the Straits would be closed, and world oil markets would be disrupted.
Across the globe, American military forces were effectively cocked and locked and ready for the final green light to unleash Operation Avenging Angel.
Chapter Nineteen
Fifteen Minutes before the President’s Speech
Fifteen miles inside the Turkey/Iranian border, an American RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft, call sign: X-Ray Seven was one of three electronic warfare planes tasked with neutralizing Iran’s northern and western border air defense network. The main target along the Turkey border was centered on the three fixed Iranian air defense radar sites and multi-layered air defenses in and around the Tabriz ballistic missile base and airfield.
The converted Boeing 737-9000 airliner was packed with tens of millions of dollars of the most advanced multi-faceted sensor suite and electronic warfare equipment in the U.S. inventory. Thirty technicians worked in the darkened interior of the former airliner and were glued to their illuminated electronic instruments and waited for confirmation that they had penetrated the command net of the local air defense command. The overall mission commander was Air Force Brigadier General Mitch Daniels who had to make the final call.
“Status update, Tabriz air defense command.”
A senior enlisted Electronic Warfare technician responded promptly, “Sir, we have begun the Puppeteer program and now have complete control of all comms and all fixed radar sites. However, two mobile S-300 batteries remain outside positive control . . . recommend initiate jamming on your mark.”
Puppeteer was a software package - one of a dozen separate cyber attack initiatives under the Brainiac program. Puppeteer allowed U.S. electronic warfare operators to effectively take over aspects of the Iranian air defense network and feed false signals of all-clear, overload it with false targeting data, or initiate missile launches without arming the warhead - really whatever the mission required. The older U.S. supplied IHAWK surface-to-air batteries and 1980’s vintage Soviet systems like the SA-6 or SA-8 and even the newer Iranian-developed Bavar-373 were vulnerable to Puppeteer, but recent Russian software upgrades to their powerful S-300 system made it more difficult to compromise.
Brigadier General Daniels said, “Damn, those S-300’s are a bitch. Fine, begin jamming on my mark: one . . . two . . . three . . . now! Mark! Mark! Keep trying to push through the S-300 firewalls.”
The Air Force mission commander added, “How much longer on those Tomahawks and JASSMs?”
“JASSMs configured for anti-radar targets are two minutes out. Package one seekers are locked onto S-300 emissions. Tomahawks an estimated five minutes before touchdown.”
The Air Force Brigadier anxiously waited for confirmation and sixty seconds later got it, and then he opened a secure channel and said, “Talon Strike engage, repeat: all Talon birds engage . . . NOW.”
The Talon Strike commander quickly answered, “Talon strike engaging.”
With those words, six Air Force F-22 Raptors armed with “fire and forget” AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles immediately darted into Iranian airspace and lit up their air-search radars, quickly identified four Iranian MiG-29 Fulcrums flying over the Tabriz ballistic missile complex and, before the Fulcrums could burn through the American jamming efforts, were blotted out of the night skies.
Thirty seconds later, a dozen F-16CJ Falcons configured for SEAD (suppression of enemy air defense) operations began picking up dozens of search radars from locations all around Tabriz. The nervous American pilots began firing off dozens of AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missiles striking a mix of fixed and mobile radar sites. Moments later, extended range JASSM’s began striking the S-300 batteries, the powerful one thousand-pound warheads knocked out four mobile radars and six missile launchers.
Brig General Daniels intently watched as one target after the other went off the grid and when it was time, ordered, “Thunder Three, Thunder Six: this is X-Ray Seven. Weapons free. Repeat: weapons free. Target’s profile remains Bravo Mike Alpha Charlie one niner. Good hunting people.”
A flight of four B-1B Lancers each loaded with 24 heavy GBU-31 2000-pound JDAMs crossed into Iranian airspace at 10,000 feet and traveling at 700 mph. Followed close behind were two squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagles armed with a mix of GBU-32 1000-pound JDAMs and JSOW AGM-154C with Broach warheads for anti-runway penetrating missions.
More than forty American aircraft darted into Iranian airspace, the B-1 bombers were targeting the massive Tabriz Ballistic Missile site with dozens of hardened silos poised to fire deadly Shahab 3 medium-range ballistic missiles, along with missile storage bunkers, liquid fueling networks, and advanced infrastructure to support the missile program. The swept wing bombers staggered their approach from three different angles and began dropping their GPS guided heavy ordnance in a deluge of highly orchestrated deadly precision.
A series of colos
sal explosions lit up the night as nearly 200,000 pounds of guided bombs landed within ten minutes creating an effect that could be described as nothing less than pure horror and utter devastation. Hardened silos were struck multiple times, missile assembly facilities packed with technicians hard at work trying to get as many missiles armed as possible were struck. More than forty armed missiles were destroyed, dozens more waiting to be deployed were also hit, hundreds were dead, many hundreds left wounded, and the rest were left helpless as the American bombers streaked back towards their bases in Turkey.
Meanwhile, one squadron of Strike Eagles went to work attacking Tabriz International Airport, home to forward deployed MiG 29 Fulcrums and Mirages. Standoff JSOW missiles flew in carefully planned patterns ejecting their special Broach warheads to crater the runways which allowed the larger high-explosive warheads to burrow into the debris causing massive explosions sending dirt and concrete into the air. Next, F-15Es dropped their 1000-pound JDAMs at selected base facilities, weapons and fueling bunkers, airplane hangars, and even took out the civilian control towers and twelve airliners. The next F-15 squadron was waved off by the mission commander and directed to attack the Bakhtaran Ballistic Missile Base one hundred miles to the south; a flight of two B-1s was already beginning its own attack profile.
The residents of the nearby city of Tabriz were already anxious since the power went out but now began to wonder if an earthquake had struck them as the ground rumbled and loud, piercing explosions shook windows and rattled rooftops. But it wasn’t an act of God, it was the work of a vengeful superpower intending to send a message to the entire world.
