by Dale Brown
along a crack in a sidewalk, there was a steady stream of forklift
trucks, tractor-trailers, flatbed trucks, and "mules" carrying supplies
from the aircraft to the inspection and distribution warehouses. Every
few minutes, another cargo plane would arrive on one of the Andersen
AFB's twin parallel runways, taxi off to a waiting area, then be met by
a "Follow-Me" truck which would direct it to another parking spot. Empty
cargo planes that had crews with duty day hours remaining went to a
refueling pit on the south side of the base and were immediately
marshaled to the end of the runway for takeoff; planes that were not due
to take off until later were directed to waiting areas along the
northeast side of the base, at the edge of the steep cliffs of Pati
Point. West of the north ramp, near the north end of the east runway,
were the parking spots for the aerial refueling tankers. These were
perhaps the most important aircraft on Guam. The KC-135 Stratotanker,
KC-10 Extender, and KC-130 Hercules tankers provided the only means for
most of the Air Battle Force's aircraft to conduct strike operations
from Guam-indeed, most of the aircraft there could not have arrived
without the tankers supplying them fuel. Tankers were airborne almost
continually in support of flight operations, and several tankers were on
"strip alert" status to respond to emergency requests of fuel. The
tankers also acted as cargo aircraft themselves-one KC-10 tanker could
deploy all of the support personnel, equipment, and spare parts for six
F-16 fighters from Hawaii to Guam, and refuel those six planes, all on
the same trip. Directly ahead of the hangars were the parking spots for
the air-defense fighters. Only half of the Air Battle Force's twenty F-
155 and fifteen F- 1 6s were parked there, because the rest were either
flying escort missions with the "ferret" bombers or were on air-defense
alert on the south parking apron. Four F-15s and six F-16s were fueled,
armed, and ready to respond should the Chinese attempt an air raid on
Andersen Air Force Base itself. The complement included four F-23
Advance Tactical Fighters, deployed for the first time out of the fifty
states. A few of the F- 145 stranded from the stricken aircraft carrier
USS Ranger were also parked there. Each fighter carried relatively few
weapons, only two radar guided and two heat-seeking missiles total: the
most prominent store on each fighter was the huge seven-hundred-gallon
centerline fuel tank. When flying from Guam, where alternate landing
bases were hundreds of miles apart, fuel was a very precious commodity.
The incredible offensive power of these fighters was severely limited by
fuel availability-if one aerial refueling tanker failed to launch or
could not transfer fuel, it could take dozens of fighters out of the
battle. Cobb and McLanahan waited near a group of soldiers until a
civilian contractor-hired "Guam Bomb" jeepney bus, its body rusting and
its broken leaf springs squeaking with every movement, trundled by, then
stepped on board-the bus was so full it looked as if the fat native
Chamorro driver had to sit sideways to let riders on. The sea of men and
machines on Guam was simply amazing-it seemed every patch of sandy lawn,
every square foot of concrete or asphalt, every empty space was occupied
by a vehicle or aircraft. Lines were everywhere-lines to the chow hall,
lines to maintenance or radio trucks, lines in front of water trucks.
Traffic crisscrossed the streets and access roads, ignoring
security-police whistles and traffic guards-being a pedestrian on the
flight line was a definite health risk. The cloying, stupefying smells
of burning jet fuel, hydraulic fluid, sweat, mildew-and, yes, fear-were
everywhere. The noise was deafening and inescapable-even with earplugs
or ear protectors, the screams of jet engines, auxiliary power carts,
honking horns, yelling men and women, and public address speakers could
not be reduced. The bus had no windows, so those without ear protectors
stuck fingers in their ears to blot out the din of the parking ramp.
McLanahan had never felt so insignificant. He had participated in lots
of aircraft generation exercises, when his unit's fleet of bombers and
tankers was fueled and armed in preparation for a strategic war, but
this was at least twenty times greater in magnitude than he had ever
seen before. Even during Air Battle Force generation exercises at
Ellsworth Air Force Base-which, even in these few days since arriving on
Guam, seemed a billion miles away and years ago-things seemed to go in a
smooth, orderly fashion: here, it was like some kind of controlled riot,
or like the world's largest exhibition hall with thousands of
participants milling around from building to aircraft and back again.
Parked south of the air-defense fighters and on the other side of base
operations were the support aircraft. They had one E-3C Sentry Airborne
Warning and Control System radar plane, one EC- 1 35L radio relay plane,
and one Rc- 1 35X reconnaissance plane parked there; an E-3 and another
EC135 were already airborne, participating in intelligence and "ferret"
flights near the Philippines-obviously Masters' NIRTSats were still
down. There were also three EF-1 11A Raven electronic countermeasure
aircraft, two Navy EA-6 electronic warfare aircraft, another U-2R spy
plane like the one that was shot down near the Philippines, and a Navy
E-2 Hawkeye radar plane from the Ranger. A few small "liaison" jets and
supply helicopters were parked in front of base operations-these were
fast transport jets that flitted all across the Mariana Islands,
carrying urgent supplies or staff officers from base to base. On the
other side of the support planes was the "Christmas tree" parking area
for the alert fighters and tankers, situated so they could quickly and
easily take off in case of emergency. Barely visible across and in
between the runways were the parking areas for the strike aircraft,
surrounded by twelvefoot-high corrugated steel revetments to protect
each other from damage should a bomb go off on one parking area. The
smaller fighter-bombers-the F- 1 5E Strike Eagles, the F-4 Phantoms, and
the F-1 1 1G bombers, along with a few Navy A-6 Intruder bombers, were
in the infield parking spots between the parallel runways, while the
"heavies"-the B-52, B- 1, and B-2 bombers-were on the west parking
areas. Construction crews had built huge shelters for the three B-2
Black Knights to protect them as much as possible, not only from the
elements-with their nonmetallic composite construction, the B-2s were
more resilient to the harsh tropical climate and corroding effects of
salt air than the other planesbut from the prying eyes of spy satellites
and newsmen. Although the B-2 had been operational for some years and
was no longer the oddity it first was when it was unveiled in 1989, it
still attracted a lot of undue attention. Just beyond the aircraft
parking areas to the west, McLanahan could just barely make out the
Patriot air-defense-missile canisters poking just above the treeline,<
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already erected and ready to fire in case of an air attack. Air defense
of Andersen, as well as the Seventh Fleet combat groups, Okinawa, and
the other island bases supporting the Philippines operation, was a very
important consideration. The primary concern was attack from
submarine-launched weapons. The Chinese Navy operated six Wuhan-class
cruisemissile submarines that fired antiship missiles with ranges
varying from twenty to one hundred nautical miles; these missiles were
thought to have a secondary land-attack role by programming the
missile's autopilot to impact a selected set of geographical
coordinates. Navy and Air Force radar planes were used to scan the
skies around Andersen for any low-flying aircraft, while Navy ships and
antisubmarine aircraft patrolled for signs of submarines. The Patriot
missile was somewhat effective against low-flying cruise missiles, and
even the F-16 fighters with their AIM-120C Scorpion missiles were fairly
effective at chasing down subsonic cruise missiles. China also possessed
four sea-launched ballistic nuclear missile submarines, all of which had
been deployed into the Pacific and were thought to be a threat to all
American forces. These submarines were being located and shadowed as
best as could be expected-the diesel-powered submarines were hundreds of
times quieter submerged than their nuclear-powered counterparts-but the
feeling was that if the fight escalated to a nuclear exchange, the
weapons being used in this battle would be quickly supplanted by the
full strategic nuclear might of the United States anyway. The two B-2
crew members edged their way through the crush of bodies off the jeepney
at the headquarters building and stepped inside, feeling the
uncomfortable chill as the building's heavy-duty air conditioning
instantly turned the thin layer of sweat over their bodies to ice.
McLanahan went immediately to the command post, waiting patiently as his
ID was checked by the security guards and a metal detector was swept
over his body-he had to unstrap his survival knife and keep it with the
guards. He went and checked in at the room where the PACER SKY
satellite system had been installed. "Patrick?" a surprised General
Brad Elliott asked as the young navigator-bombardier walked in. Elliott
checked his watch. "You're early-about an hour and a half early." The
veteran aviator looked at McLanahan's hardened, concerned, somewhat
distracted eyes. "Couldn't sleep, eh?" Patrick shook his head. "Henry
either."
"It always happens that way, I think, " Elliott said. "The time you
need sleep the most is when you can't do it." He regarded his younger
colleague with an inquisitive expression; McLanahan seemed to pick up on
the pause right away. "We got the order, didn't we?" Patrick asked.
"Couple hours ago, Elliott said. "They wanted to be sure the three Navy
ships in the Philippine Sea could get into position; we just got the
word that they reported ready. They may wait one more day to see if we
get the NIRTSats back on-line, but the recon photos you got last night
are pretty good quality so we might do it tonight." Strangely, Patrick
felt no fear, no apprehension, not even a trace of nervousness-his
churning stomach and restless mind had kept him from sleep all
afternoon, but now his body was quiet. It was as if he had already been
told they were going to fly, that Elliott had somehow given him
secondhand information. He nodded wordlessly to Elliott; then his eyes
sought out the large high-definition monitor on which the NIRTSat
reconnaissance data was usually displayed. "I can't believe these are
still down..."
"Yeah, well, nothing is ever guaranteed, as you know. Even the best
stuff." Patrick stepped over to a large chart on which was drawn the
positions of the known Chinese warships that he, Cobb, and the dead U-2
pilot had photographed a few nights earlier. A second board had the
intelligence section's best guess as to how the ships were going to be
deployed when the strike aircraft were set to go over the target.
Elliott was amazed by the flyers he encountered in all his years of
flying, but Patrick McLanahan had to be the most... admirable. His
expression, his demeanor, his attitude were constant-distant,
unshakable, almost detached. It was the same whether he was meeting the
President of the United States or when getting promoted-unflappable
coolness. Was it an act or was it real? Was McLanahan really such a
cool character or was he destined for some huge heart attack or ulcer
down the road for keeping all those emotions locked inside? He didn't
want to guess. He was just glad McLanahan was on their team. Elliott
noticed Patrick's eyes on the briefing board behind him. "Can't wait to
see what you're up against either, eh? We have one more NIRTSat pass
before the mass briefing, so this won't be the final picture-and
hopefully PACER SKY will be working by then-but the pictures you got us
are spectacular and very useful." They stepped toward the screen. "The
Chinese are not only continuing on with their invasion plans, but
they've set up a pretty sophisticated naval defense network around
eastern Mindanao. It's all being controlled from the radar installation
here. "Don't tell me, " McLanahan said wearily. "The Chinese got Mount
Apo."
"Took it yesterday and set up shop immediately. They've got big-picture
coverage of all Mindanao now-almost unlimited fighter-intercept
coverage, early-warning, maritime, even ground and fire control. Samar's
boys held out for days against a huge Chinese task force-the word is, it
took five thousand Chinese and New People's Army troops to take Samar's
two-hundred-man garrison. Samar's men were wiped out completely."
McLanahan felt his throat go instantly dry. "Here's the easternmost
ship-it's a destroyer, extensive airsearch radar, early-warning
capability, long-range HQ-91 SAM coverage, " Elliott continued. "There's
a line of six frigates two hundred miles offshore, giving them
four-hundred-mile early warning-a good thirty- to forty-five-minute
warning at least. Nothing sophisticated but still effective. "One
hundred and twenty miles offshore is the real gauntlet-three destroyers,
six frigates, twelve patrol boats, in a three-hundred-mile-wide band
around eastern Mindanao. The destroyers are spaced so that their anti
air-missile lethal ranges don't quite overlap, but they put a frigate
with massed triple-A guns on it in the gaps. That's how the U-2 was
hit-they used one destroyer with an air-search radar to herd the U-2
into missile range of another destroyer that wasn't transmitting. A few
of these southern ships are in Indonesian waters, but there's not a darn
thing Indonesia can do about it. Between the missiles and guns, it's
overlapping, layered antiair coverage over all altitudes. "Inside that
first band is another layer of frigates and patrol boats-no destroyers,
thank God, but the frigates are bad enough. They stay in basically a
semicircular band around the mouth of Davao Gulf. There's one destroyer
to oppose the two Navy cruisers we got moving up from Indonesia. "The
main body is already in Davao Gulf itself, and it's a real mess-the
Chinese have one major warship for every ten square miles. That means
they can theoretically shoot a shell or launch a missile and hit every
part of Davao Gulf and every spot three miles above it." Despite the
ominous information, Patrick had to smile-it was very much like Elliott
to describe such firepower, even the enemy's, in such weird terms.
"We've counted twelve minesweepers, ten frigates, two destroyers, about
thirty fast guided-missile patrol boats, twenty amphibious-assault
ships, tank-landing ships, dock ships, amphibious-landing craft
everywhere-over a hundred vessels, " Elliott continued. "To make
matters worse, a battalion-sized airborne unit may have landed at one of
the small airfields north of Davao and are making their way south. We
don't think the airfield is big enough to land fighters or transports,
but if they can air-drop armor and artillery pieces there, Davao has had
it. "To cap it all off, they also may be sending another destroyer
surface-action group from Zamboanga to reinforce this armada-the Hong
Lung battle group this time. It's their most powerful warship. It's
escorted by three frigates and six patrol boats. Hong Lung was also the
vessel that reportedly fired the nuclear-tipped antiship missile near
Palawan, and of course the staff feels the Chinese task force commander
might just do it again. "Their fighter coverage is pretty good, "
Elliott continued, "good enough that the Joint Task Force commander,
General Stone, has decided not to risk sending the AWACS or tankers
within two hundred miles of Mindanao.z." "That means no combat air
patrol for the strike packages?" McLanahan asked. "So far it looks
unlikely, Patrick, " Elliott replied. "We may be able to send up a few
F- 155 to cover the withdrawal, but we can't send a tanker close enough
to cover the strikers going into the target area. The Megafortresses
will have to take on the fighters." Patrick felt his throat go dry-the
Megafortresses were well equipped for air-to-air combat, but not against
