by Dale Brown
everywhere." The man reached down and hit the button to unlock the
trunk. "Your guard will awaken in ten to fifteen minutes; he will
release you then. Do not attempt to follow r" Please help my people."
The man raised the dividing glass screen, stepped out of the car, and
ran as fast as he could away from the hotel; they saw him throw the gun
into a ditch before he ran out of sight. minutes; he will release you
then. Do not attempt to follow me. Please help my people." The man
raised the dividing glass screen, stepped out of the car, and ran as
fast as he could away from the hotel; they saw him throw the gun into a
ditch before he ran out of sight. ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, GUAM 30
SEPTEMBER 1994, 2331 HOURS LOCAL (29 SEPTEMBER, 0931 WASHINGTON TIME)
hey had kept the landing lights off until seconds before Ttouc~~own. The
only lights on around the entire base were the runway-end identifier
lights and blue taxiway lightsall "ball park" lights on the parking
ramps, exterior lights, and streetlights near the runway were out.
Looking from the cockpit, the entire northern part of the island of Guam
appeared as dark and as deserted as the thousands of miles of ocean they
had just crossed. The aircraft, as black as the tropical night sky from
which it descended, used the runway closest to the parking area and did
not touch down until nearly halfway down the two-milelong runway at
Andersen Air Force Base so it would spend as little time as possible
exposed to view while taxiing. At the end of the runway, it taxied
rapidly across the wide north ramp to a row of large hangars and pulled
straight into the first one. The hangar doors were closed behind it
seconds later as the engines were shut down. Security patrols began an
immediate sweep of the area, using dogs and lightintensifying
night-vision equipment to search for intruders. The interior of the huge
hangar brightly illuminated the M1 ii sleek, bat-shaped outline of the
B-2 Black Knight stealth bomber. Maintenance crews checked the aircraft
and immediately began opening inspection and access panels. A few
moments later the belly hatch swung open and three men climbed down the
access ladder. As Major Henry Cobb, Lieutenant Colonel Patrick
McLanahan, and Brigadier General John Ormack emerged from the huge black
bomber, General Elliott, General Stone, Jon Masters, and Colonel Fusco
were there to greet them. "Good to see you guys, Elliott said, shaking
each of their hands and handing each of them a beer. "We're damned glad
to be here, " Cobb exclaimed. "My butt is wondering if my legs have
been cut off." All three aviators looked completely exhausted and
thoroughly rumpled, but their smiles were genuine as Elliott made
introductions all around. The formalities of every military flight still
had to be accomplished, so Elliott and the others waited patiently as
Cobb and McLanahan completed their postflight walkaround inspection of
the bomber and sat down with several aircraft-maintenance technicians to
explain the few glitches found during flight. Afterward they were taken
to a conference room at the command post, where sandwiches, more beer,
and several other members of Stone's staff were waiting to greet them.
"I must say, this is a pretty impressive showing, " Rat Stone said after
the three crew members were settled down. "Deploying a B-2 from South
Dakota to Guam with only three hours' notice, then flying nonstop all
the way. So what's it like to spend nearly seventeen hours straight in
a stealth bomber?"
"The first ten aren't too bad, sir, " Ormack replied with a tired grin.
"Henry made the takeoff and the first two refuelings, but I was too
wired to sleep. We switched just past Hawaii. When we got out of radio
range of Hawaii, it was absolute murder to stay awake until the next
refueling-near Wake Island, as it so happens. The last four hours were
the worsttoo keyed up to sleep, too tired to concentrate, having to make
those timing orbits so we wouldn't land too early and get our pictures
taken by the Chinese spy satellites. I'm too old for these butt-busting
missions."
"Well, you did good, " Elliott said. "You landed right on time-the
Chinese bird should be passing overhead right about now. Unless there's
a sub out there we haven't found yet, we may have pulled this
off-deploying a stealth bomber seven thousand miles in total secrecy.
How's the bomber look?"
"Everything's in the green, " McLanahan said. "We brought spares for
most of the critical components, and we have the computerized blueprints
on the PACER SKY mod installation." He turned to Jon Masters and said,
"The system was working like a charm, Doctor Masters. We were able to
monitor some of the Ranger battle group clear as day. The NIRTSats
found a few Chinese ships operating in the Celebes, but I don't think
there's going to be a problem with them as long as we stay clear of
them."
"That's exactly what we intend to do, " Stone said. "We got a cryptic
but urgent report from the State Department that the Chinese Navy might
try something against the fleet if we move into the Celebes Sea, so
except for the RC-135 overflight-and he's been instructed to stay at
extreme sensor range from any Chinese vessels-we're staying well away.
"Well, the RC was still a few hours from on-station, but he should have
the Chinese ships' position from the NIRTSat-he shouldn't have any
problem staying out of the way. I recorded the NIRTSat transmissions,
and we can download it from the memory banks right away." McLanahan
stifled a big yawn, finished the rest of his beer, then added, "Rather,
you can. I've got to get some sleep." ABOARD THE RC-135x RADAR
RECONNAISSANCE PLANE OVER THE CELEBES SEA, SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES
SATURDAY, 1 OCTOBER 1994, 0121 HOURS LOCAL (30 SEPTEMBER, 1221 EASTERN
TIME) From thirty thousand feet, the radar aboard the RC-135X radar
reconnaissance aircraft could pick out the dense clusters of islands,
atolls, and coral reefs of the Sulu Archipelago. At the very tip of the
peninsula was the area that most of the ten radar operators on the RC-
135 reconnaissance aircraft were concentrating on. In the center of the
converted Boeing 707 airliner was the command station, where Colonel
Rachel Blanchard and her deputy, Captain Samuel Fruntz, sat poring over
a stack of four-color charts. "Look at this, " Fruntz remarked,
pointing at the tip of the Zamboanga peninsula. "Not very subtle, are
they? A whole line of vessels stretching from the North Balabac Strait
to Zamboanga." He compared the image to another chart. "Checks right
on with that NIRTSat printout we received from Andersen. That PACER SKY
satellite is far out." Blanchard looked at her younger deputy and rolled
her eyes. Fruntz, Blanchard thought, was another "techie" who believed
that, whatever the newest technology was, it had to be better than any
of the "older" technology, even if the older technology was only a few
years old. Blanchard had been in the reconnaissance business for twelve
years, mostly as pilot or copilot flying EC- and
RC- 135 aircraft for
the Strategic Air Command-this was only her second tour as recce section
commander-and she had been dismayed at the new emphasis on space-based
reconnaissance systems, or "gadgets" as she called them. Even the
latest high-tech satellites had serious limitations that only
well-equipped planes like the RC- 135 or the newer EC-18s could
overcome. Blanchard had flown or seen just about every one of the sixty
different iterations of the C- 135 special mission I
reconnaissance/intelligence-gathering aircraft. The RC-135X, nicknamed
"Rivet Joint, " was the latest and best of the older RCseries aircraft;
the newer series was designated EC- 18 and was a hundred times more
cosmic than even the RC- models. Rivet Joint had been designed to map
out precise locations of coastal enemy air-defense sites for targeting
by Short-Range Attack Missiles or cruise missiles that armored
long-range bomber aircraft. By combining sensitive radiation sensors
with powerful radar and infrared images, one Rivet Joint aircraft could
update three thousand miles of coastal air-defense sites in one day.
Blanchard used to fly reconnaissance missions in conjunction with SR-7 1
Blackbird spy planes-the SR-7 1 would fly "Radar four reports surface
contact, " one of the radar operators suddenly called out. "Slow
velocity... now showing ten knots, heading westbound."
"There's something that NIRTSat thing didn't find, " Blanchard
snickered. "No matter how gee-whiz that satellite is, thirty.minute-old
data is still thirty.minute-old data-and it's garbage to us." She
turned to the radar operator and said, "I need a designation on that
last contact, Radar. Get on it."
"Signal two shows primary search radar on that surface contact, "
another operator called out. "Showing C-band, three-seventy PRF . . .
calling it a Rice Screen air-search radar... "Radar four has an ISAR
probable on that return, calling it a EF4-class destroyer... now picking
up escorts, probably as many as four, within ten miles of EF4." The
ISAR, or Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar, mounted in the two prominent
fairings on the underside of the RC- 135's fuselage, could paint a
nearly three.dimensional picture of a ship and, by combining it with a
computer data base of thousands of such radar images, could usually
match the radar image with a ship in its computer memory. The larger
the ship, the more accurate the match, and a destroyer-class vessel was
a very large radar return. "Jeez, they got some pretty fancy firepower
out here, " Blanchard said. "A destroyer-class boat this far south."
She turned to the forward part of the aircraft. "Comm, code and send
immediately to Andersen and Offutt on separate channels the position of
that last contact. It's the biggest gun the Chinese have this far
south-I want to make sure everybody knows about it." To the radar
operator, she asked, "What's our range to that EF4?"
"Range, four-seven nautical miles, " the operator reported. "That's
close enough, " Blanchard said to Fruntz. Fruntz was already leafing
through pages of computerized text on the EF4 class of Chinese
destroyers. "What's the scouting report on those things?"
"Antiship and antisubmarine missile destroyers, " Fruntz read. "About
ten in the Chinese inventory, possibly with five more in ready reserve
and five more overseas. Helicopter pad, big-time antiship launchers...
holy shit, listen to this gun fit: four 130-millimeter dual purpose,
eight 57-millimeter or 37millimeter antiaircraft guns, and four
25-millimeter antiaircraft guns. Rice Screen three-D long-range
air-defense radar system-they call it a 'mini-Aegis' system-X-band ERF-
1 or X-band Rice Lamp fire-control radar for the guns. Some fitted with
Phalanx self-defense guns, Ku-band radar."
"Anything about antiair missiles?" "Yes . . . helicopter pad removed
from some vessels and replaced with various stern-mounted missile
systems, ' Fruntz replied. "Some fitted possibly with HQ-6 1 missiles,
one twin mount, Fog Lamp H- or I-band fire control, max range of
missile, six nautical miles-pretty small missile. Others possibly with
French naval Crotale, max range eight nautical miles, X-band fire
control. Some with HQ-9 1 French Masurca dualrail mount . . . shit,
max range thirty nautical miles, 5-band pulse-Doppler tracker."
"As far as we're concerned, we'll assume the worst case, Blanchard said.
"Forty miles out from that EF4 is perfect for now. She paused for a
moment, then added, "But that Rice Screen radar has me worried. That's a
no-shit early warning and fighter intercept radar system. Why have a
boat with that kind of radar on board way out here unless "Flashlight,
Flashlight, Flashlight, this is Basket, " the radio report interrupted.
Basket was the call sign of the E-3C Sentry Airborne Warning and Control
System radar plane that had accompanied the RC- 135 on this mission. The
AWACS plane could scan for hundreds of miles in all directions, locating
aircraft at all altitudes and vector friendly fighters in to intercept.
Emergency reports from an AWACS controller were always prefaced by
calling out a sortie's call sign three timesthe RC-135 was under attack.
"Bandits at your twelve o'clock, Blue plus five-five, flight level
zero-niner-zero, speed five hundred." Range calls were always given in
color codes in case the enemy fighters somehow were able to eavesdrop on
the encrypted radio messages between aircraft; Blue meant fifty miles,
Yellow meant twenty miles, Red meant zero miles, and Green meant
subtract twenty miles. When a dogfight started, the controller would
drop the color codes and issue warnings as fast as he could. All radar
targets were being called "bandits, " or hostile targets, in this area
with Chinese troops nearby-of course, anytime a target began flying over
five hundred knots, it was automatically considered an enemy fighter
until proven otherwise. "Showing four targets now, Blue plus forty,
speed passing five-zero-zero. Bullet flight, take spacing and stand
by." The AWACS plane not only issued warnings to Flashlight, the RC-135X
plane, but also to Shamu Three-One, the KC-10 aerial refueling tanker
that was supporting both the Navy and Air Force planes on this mission;
two KA-6 Navy tankers to use as tactical spare refueling aircraft; and
four Navy F-14A Tomcat fighters of VF-2 Bullets from the USS Ranger,
which was steaming about one hundred miles east of Talaud Island just
outside Indonesian waters. The Tomcats were armed with four
medium-range Sparrow radar-guided missiles and four shorter-range
Sidewinder heat-seeking missiles; since they were along only as escorts
and, according to the Rules of Engagement, not authorized to attack from
long range, none of the escorts carried the long-range AIM-54 Phoenix
missile. Two of the F- 145, Bullet Four and Five, were with the RC135
acting as primary escorts, and the other two, Bullet Two and Three, were
shuttling to the KC-10 tanker for refueling. Four more F-14 fighters
were ready aboard Ranger, loaded with long-range Phoenix missiles as
>
well as Sparrows and Sidewinders, to assist the Air Force recon planes
and defend the battle group in case of trouble. ... And it sounded like
there was going to be trouble. With unknown aircraft heading their way,
this was no place to be for one of the U.S. Air Force's most
sophisticated spy planes. The data was important, but not important
enough to risk the manpower or the hardware. "Time to leave,
Grasshopper. We're calling it a night, " Blanchard said. Being
flippant about a possible fighter attack usually wasn't her style, but
she had found after pushing a crew for so long that the initial wave of
excitement that hit a crewman who suddenly found himself or herself
under attack sometimes caused costly mistakes; if you could relax a
person during that initial fear-heavy period, he performed better.
"Pilot, this is Recce One, execute egress now, " Blanchard continued.
"Crew, this is Recce One, terminate all emissions, secure your stations
and queue your data for transmission. Report by station when complete."
She watched her status board light up with coded intelligence-data
packets waiting for transmission; Blanchard and Fruntz could pick out
the most important ones for immediate transmission, or send them in all
in one quick burst, or send them one by one in ordered, errorchecked
bundles. They preferred the last method until the bandits got closer
and posed a more serious threat. Then Blanchard and Fruntz would use
the faster 57, 000-kilobit-per second routines, shoveling the data out
as fast as the RC-135's computers could handle it. "Flashlight, turn
left heading one-four-zero, " the AWACS controller called out. "Manado
airfield will be at your twelve o'clock position, two-five-zero miles."
Manado, a good-sized city on the Minahasa Peninsula of northern
Indonesia, was the first emergency landing site; on a southeast heading,
they were also flying away from the Philippines and toward their tanker
and the USS Ranger, which was stationed in the northern Molucca Sea
about five hundred miles farther east. "Flashlight copies, " Blanchard's
pilot replied. He unconsciously pushed the throttles up to near
military power, trying to claw every bit of distance between himself and
