by Andrew Watts
Until now.
It was a huge game of cat and mouse. Thousands of square miles of ocean. Hundreds of ships headed to and from the Panama Canal Zone at any given time. Both the Chinese and the Americans had their radars off, likely trying to remain hidden from the other until the last minute.
It was a sound strategy. If the ships kept their military surface search radars turned off, the adversary ships would not likely be able to use their passive electronic surveillance equipment to identify them.
Once those military radars were flipped on, however, one could cross-reference the radar track with the knowledge that the military radar had originated from it, then the cat would have found the mouse.
As soon as the JSTARS aircraft had gotten into range, it began operating on the same encrypted datalink network that the E-2 connected to the USS Farragut with.
JSTARS, however, had certain highly classified sensors on board that went well beyond normal electronic surveillance measures.
The NSA man said, “Alright, move your ISAR to check out this group here.”
The Air Force man did as requested. Sure enough, the screen showed a pattern of pixels that resembled a group of warships.
“That them?”
“Certainly looks like it to me.”
“Major, recommend you vector in one of those F-18s to take a look.”
A few minutes later, one of the F-18G Growlers flew near the group of suspected Chinese ships, using its onboard camera to take pictures and then transmit them back to both the JSTARS aircraft and the E-2D.
The CIA man on board JSTARS said, “Yup. Those are Chinese warships.”
The major in the JSTARS aircraft began typing.
JSTARS: FARRAGUT, we have located the four Chinese surface vessels—transmitting their position now.
FARRAGUT TAO: Roger JSTARS, copy tracks.
The major made a call to the pilots flying the aircraft. “Gents, how are we on fuel?”
“About another hour on station, sir, then we’re going to have to return to base.”
The major typed.
JSTARS: FARRAGUT, JSTARS has 1+00 on-station time remaining. Interrogative intentions, over?
Victoria sat in the captain’s chair in the Combat Information Center of the USS Farragut. She could read the chat messages between the JSTARS aircraft and OPS, who was again standing TAO. The man had barely slept in the past few days. None of them had. They can rest when this is over.
“What’s the range between us and the four Chinese ships?”
One of the sailors standing surface watch replied with the bearing and range.
OPS said, “That’s within missile range.”
Victoria had to make her choice. Normal rules of engagement would prescribe that she not attack, unless in self-defense. And while war had not been declared, the ROE had changed. That much was clear.
The Chinese submarine had attacked them, and sunk three friendly ships. It was a hostile environment. And they now had intelligence that these four Chinese warships were on orders to intercept and attack the USS Farragut. Until further notice, all Chinese warships, submarines, and aircraft in this geographic area should be considered hostile.
“OPS, what weapon do you recommend?”
“We’re outside of the SM-2 range. But we have eight SM-6s that are set up for surface-to-surface. They’re new. We could launch them at this range. But unless you want to illuminate the Chinese ships with our radar, we’re going to need help from the JSTARS in making sure that we hit the right target. I’d hate to attack some merchant ship by accident.”
Victoria nodded. “I agree. We’ve got one more hour with the JSTARS on station. How long until we’re close enough to Panama City to launch the helo?”
“Based on the three-hundred-nautical-mile range, we’ve got another three hours at this speed.”
Victoria stood and looked at the charts. This was now about how much risk she wanted to take. If they could make it another three hours, she could launch the helicopter and they might get lucky.
If the Chinese kept their radar off, they might never know that the helicopter had taken off, and might never know where the Farragut was. Even if they did turn on their radar, the Chinese might confuse the Farragut’s radar signature for the numerous other ships that were approaching Panama.
Unless the Chinese had some other means of locating the Farragut. If they somehow located the destroyer, they could begin their attack right now.
The Chinese could also fire on the Farragut’s helicopter after it took off. Again, that would require them turning on their radars. But if Victoria didn’t fire on the Chinese now, that was exactly the risk she faced.
She thought about that for a moment—the Chinese ships turning on their air search radar, and firing God knows how many surface-to-air missiles at their helicopter. It would be a sitting duck.
It was her move. Keep hiding, or attack with the advantage. Kill or risk being killed.
“TAO, aft lookout reports a helicopter off the port beam! It’s not one of ours, sir. Lookout says it’s got a red star on the side.”
“Shit,” Victoria said. That forced her move. “OPS, get an updated location of the tracks from JSTARS, and fire the SM-6s at will.” She had to remind herself to remain calm in front of the men. “Make sure our air defense is ready to go if we get any ESM hits that their missiles are coming.”
“Everything is ready, boss.”
That helicopter was from one of their ships. It had to be. The Farragut had just been located. Now it was a race between the Chinese ships and the Farragut to see who could get off their missiles first. Her heart started beating faster as she thought about a slew of Chinese anti-ship missiles heading towards them.
The combat information center was a flurry of activity. Tense officers and crew sprang around the room, going through checklists and double-checking settings.
Then the entire ship quaked as the SM-6s roared out of the vertical launch system, one after the other.
Chinese Destroyer Lanzhou
The Farragut launched eight missiles in all, columns of bright white smoke shooting up and arcing away into the distance.
The SM-6, or RIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile (ERAM), was very new to the US Navy’s surface-to-surface arsenal. A semiactive missile, it was originally designed for extended range anti-air warfare. It was used to shoot down fixed wing, helicopter, unmanned aerial vehicle, and anti-ship cruise missiles. But the Navy needed a more modern, farther-reaching anti-ship missile. And the SM-6 was it.
The Chinese surface fleet was made up of one Luyang II–class destroyer, the Lanzhou, one Luda-class destroyer, and two Jiangkai II–class frigates. All four were controlled by Admiral Song’s South Sea Fleet.
The helicopter that spotted the USS Farragut was attached to the Lanzhou.
Victoria was right. As soon as the helicopter got a visual on the Farragut, the aircrew immediately passed that information back to the Lanzhou. The captain of the Lanzhou then passed the coordinates on to his ships, with orders to open fire.
As soon as that order was given, he received the first indication that the Farragut had beaten him to the punch.
“Captain, we have a missile warning!”
“Battle stations!” the captain shouted. Alarm bells rang and men began running throughout the ship.
“Enemy acquisition radar bearing one-five-zero.”
The captain said, “Bring all radars online, and activate our air defense missiles.”
The powerful air search radar took a full minute to warm up. When it did, the men in the Lanzhou’s control center were horrified at what they saw.
The naval flight officer in the rear seat of the F-18G Growler had been communicating with the JSTARS aircraft as they flew towards the Chinese ships at just under four hundred knots. It had been only a few minutes since they had passed on the imagery of the Chinese vessels, confirming their identity.
His screen lit up as he saw indications
of the USS Farragut’s starting their attack.
“Farragut just launched missiles.”
The pilot said, “Roger.”
The NFO’s hands raced over his tactical controls, as he anticipated what the Chinese ships would do next. Their best bet would be to try and shoot down the American anti-ship missiles. To do that, they would need to turn on their air search radars, identify and track the incoming missiles, and use their own surface to air missiles to shoot them down.
The Growler crew wasn’t about to let that happen.
“Activating the ALQ-99s.”
“Roger.”
The AN/ALQ-99 was the airborne integrated jamming system. Upon activation, the NFO began jamming the Chinese warships’ air search radar. With any luck, they would be helpless in defending themselves from the incoming missiles.
“Captain, we have four…six…no, eight missiles inbound!”
“Shoot them down!”
“Air search radars are still trying to track them…there seems to be interference.”
The captain walked over to his air defense station. “Well?”
“Sir, something is wrong. I think we are being jammed.”
No one else had time to speak.
Through its datalink, the JSTARS had provided the USS Farragut with precise coordinates on the four Chinese ships. The Farragut’s crew had done the rest. They fed in the exact coordinates of each ship, dividing up the ships so that each one would get two missiles a piece.
The anti-ship missiles traveled at over three times the speed of sound. As the SM-6s got close to their targets, they switched on their semiactive radar homing, finding their targets and “pinging” them to ensure they each got a precise hit.
Making them even more deadly, the eight missiles used their networking capability to communicate with each other, making sure that each missile had the most precise targeting information possible, and that the targets remained evenly divided up among them.
While the warhead on each missile was only one hundred and forty pounds, the kinetic energy of such a high-speed missile did enormous damage. Two blasts fragmented throughout the center of each ship, one after another. The entire event took a little over forty seconds.
One of the missiles struck the weapons hold on board the Lanzhou. It triggered a chain reaction that caused a massive explosion to rip the destroyer apart. The backbone of the ship rose thirty feet from the sea in a surge of white water and then plummeted back down. The Lanzhou sank within minutes.
The other three ships were “mission kills.” Many of their crew survived, but the weapons systems and power plants were out of commission.
26
USS Farragut
Victoria walked back into the hangar. Behind the closed hangar doors, the helicopter spun on deck, waiting for its lone passenger.
“You alright, sister?” Chase said quietly.
She was a mix of energized and numb from the action. She tried not to think of the lives lost, but of the potential lives saved.
“I’m good. I hope this is all going to be worth it.”
He patted her on the shoulder, careful not to embarrass her in front of her men. “I think it will be.”
“Be safe. Good luck.”
Chase grabbed his pack, which contained the Chinese crypto key, and walked over to the helicopter’s aircrewman.
The two of them opened up the small hangar door and walked into the rear of the helicopter.
Victoria watched them take off through the hangar door’s small porthole. As the MH-60 Seahawk flew into the air, she said a silent prayer that they would land without incident.
“Captain.”
One of the ship’s ensigns stood behind her.
“Please don’t call me that.”
“Sorry, ma’am. Um, Air Boss, OPS asked me to tell you that the USS Ford will be within helicopter range of us by tomorrow afternoon. They’re asking that we close their position, and provide status updates.”
“Alright, thanks. I’ll be right there.”
27
CIA Safe House, Panama
Chase sat in the kitchen as NSA and CIA team members worked on their computers in the next room. They had a lot of sophisticated gear. Big servers. Lots of wires. When Chase arrived, they immediately hooked up the crypto key and got to work.
One of the CIA guys walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table across from Chase. He had a slight smile on his face.
Chase said, “So? What’s the verdict? Have you guys been able to get anything from it?”
He nodded. “Oh yes. They’re sending it all up to D.C. now.”
“What’s the story?”
The guy looked behind him and then back at Chase. He leaned in. “The short of it is that it looks like our rogue theory was right on. They’ve got Chinese military assets from the south region that are a part of this thing, but that’s it. It’s limited to them. So we can deduce from that information that, aside from Jinshan, the only other bigwig who is involved is this Admiral Song.”
“So that’s good, right? So now what?”
“I’m afraid that’s above our pay grade, buddy. For you and me, we sit and wait.”
Chase took a swig from his plastic water bottle. He got up and walked over to the window, looking at a small patch of Pacific Ocean.
Director Buckingham stood in the Oval Office. The president, the national security advisor, and the chairman of the joint chiefs were each there.
Sheppard was fuming, pointing his finger at the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the CIA director. “That ship should have requested permission to fire before attacking those Chinese naval vessels. This is outrageous. Only the president can authorize something like this. Now you people have opened up a real can of worms.”
The chairman of the joint chiefs said, “I would remind the national security advisor that the USS Farragut was attacked first, and that several friendly naval vessels were lost in that attack. The Farragut acted in self-defense, which is her right.”
The NSA said, “How do we know that the Chinese ships weren’t there for peaceful reasons? And you don’t know that the Chinese submarine was the one that attacked. That’s speculation.”
Director Buckingham said, “Charlie…”
“Don’t start, Sam. You’ve wanted this to be about the Chinese this whole time. Mr. President, this is outrageous. It’s Iran that we should be worried about. This nonsense about China has gotten out of hand. And now they’ve finally gone too far and started a shooting war. With no proof of Chinese wrongdoing.”
Director Buckingham said, “That’s where you’re wrong. The SILVERSMITH team was able to recover one of the crypto keys from Manta, Ecuador.” He handed the president a folder. “Sir, we now have hard evidence that proves that two Chinese nationals are responsible for this, and several other hostile acts over the past few weeks. Cheng Jinshan and the Chinese South Sea Fleet commander, Admiral Song. Together, they’ve organized a rogue military and intelligence operation that included the Red Cell, instigated Iranian-US hostilities, and attacked the US in multiple instances.”
The NSA’s mouth dropped. “When did you get a crypto key? Why wasn’t I told about this?”
The director shot the NSA an icy gaze. “It was determined that you didn’t need to know.”
Sheppard nearly exploded. “What? How dare you? Mr. President, I demand that—”
The president held up his hand. “That’ll be enough, Charlie.”
The NSA said, “Sir, this just doesn’t feel right. I don’t think you should trust this information. The director…”
The president stood and the NSA grew quiet. “Charlie, what do you mean when you say it doesn’t feel right?”
“Uh. Sir. It just…the Chinese wouldn’t do this. It just doesn’t seem like they would—”
The president said, “Charlie, first of all, you aren’t listening. Director Buckingham just said that this wasn’t the work of Chinese leadership. This was the wo
rk of two rogue individuals. And secondly, I have no use for people that come to me and tell me that intelligence doesn’t seem right or feel right. I want facts. Not feelings.”
“Mr. President, it’s just that—”
“Charlie, let me give you some facts. I’ve just read the most interesting report from the FBI. It seems that prior to accepting this post, you’ve done extensive work for companies with ties to Mr. Cheng Jinshan. Were you aware of that?”
The NSA went white. Director Buckingham had been wondering when the president would do this.
“Who told you that? Mr. President, did the CIA tell you that?” The NSA glared at the CIA director. “Mr. President, you can’t believe everything you hear. There are people here who would like nothing more than to see you go down in flames. But I’m one of the loyal ones. You can’t listen to them—”
“Charlie, we’re done. You’ve been moving forward your own agenda and ignoring the professional intelligence services for too long. At the very least, you’ve been giving me advice that’s less than stellar. At worst…well, I’ll let the Department of Justice handle that. But either way, your services are no longer required. Please vacate the White House.”
The NSA’s mouth was open. It took him a moment, but he finally got up and walked out the door.
The president read through the rest of the report on Jinshan. He looked up at the CIA director and said, “You’re sure about all this? There’s no way that this could be wrong?”
The CIA director nodded. “Sir, we have excellent intelligence. This was all the work of two people: Cheng Jinshan and Admiral Song. The Chinese president, and Politburo leadership as far as we can tell, were all left in the dark. The crypto key that our Special Forces team recovered shows historic data for all of Admiral Song’s rogue military units. That includes communication signals from a Chinese submarine in the Persian Gulf, right at the time of the attacks there. We’ve corroborated this with other signals intelligence, and it looks like the rogue Chinese elements have been trying to push us into a war with Iran. They’ve been building up troops in Ecuador. All these factors together point to the veracity of David Manning’s testimony about the Red Cell.”
