Sky Masters

by Dale Brown

  Phalanx cannons, one on each side, which were automatic radar-guided

  Gatling guns designed to destroy incoming missiles at close range.

  Ironic that they would be used to engage American missiles. "Sir! Three

  B-52 bombers that were reported turning west and disengaging-they are

  now turning northbound and appear to be re-engaging. They are at

  forty-three nautical miles, at extreme HQ-91 range." Damn them! Jhijun

  cursed to himself. There were just too many of them. Well, the bombers

  were out of range-at least he still had a chance to get the cruise

  missiles before they started attacking the landing ships. "Message to

  all units: at least three, perhaps as many as six B-52s and at least one

  B-2 inbound from the south of Davao Gulf. Destroyer Jinan is unable to

  engage because of Tomahawk cruise missiles coming in from the southeast.

  Request fighter and surface support." He received a reply moments

  later: "Sir, destroyer Hong Lung will provide support. Admiral Yin

  sends his compliments and advises you that the Tomahawk missiles are

  your priority. . . your personal priority." Captain Jhijun swallowed

  hard when he heard the name Hong Lung, but when he got the message from

  Yin himself, his skin turned to ice. Every cruise missile he allowed to

  pass him, he knew, would mean a year in prison or a full reduction in

  grade. His career-more precisely, his lIje-rested on his performance

  now. DESTROYER HONG LUNG, SIXTY MILES WEST OF DESTROYER 1/NAN Aboard the

  flag bridge of the flagship of the South Philippines Task Force, three

  large grease boards were kept constantly updated on the deployment of

  warships in this operation. It was beginning to resemble a child's

  crayon-drawn rendering of a beehive-Mindanao-with swarms of angry bees

  surrounding it. And the bees were getting closer and closer to the hive

  every minute. ... Admiral Yin Po L'un could easily see the American

  tactic now: strike at the Chinese fleet from simultaneous, multiple axes

  of attack. Along with the reported B-2s and B-52s coming in from the

  south and the Tomahawk cruise missiles from the southeast, he had also

  received word of more B-52s from the east and B- Is from the northeast,

  followed by more B-52s and faster bombers, possibly FIlls, accompanying

  them. Jamming was heavy in all areas, so obviously a few of the aircraft

  were not strikers but electronic-countermeasure planes. Captain Sun Ji

  Guoming, Yin's chief of staff, said, "A rough estimate so far is

  twenty-six B-52 bombers, six B-I bombers, four B-2 bombers-one

  reportedly shot down already by ]inan-possibly two EF-I I I

  electronic-countermeasure planes, and perhaps four to six F- I I I

  fighter-bombers involved in this raid. If this is so, the First Air

  Battle Wing has committed at least three-fourths and possibly as much as

  four-fifths of its force on this one escapade." Sun smiled knowingly.

  "We can crush the American Air Force in one night's work."

  "Is that so, Captain?" Yin asked in a low voice. "You say we have shot

  down only one plane so far, yet they have sunk one destroyer and one

  frigate, damaged two other frigates, and sunk or damaged nearly two

  dozen patrol boats. In less than thirty minutes they can be over Davao

  Gulf itself. I see no evidence of anyone being crushed so far."

  "They have suffered a great loss well before striking the target area or

  even coming within range of concentrated firepower, " Sun explained.

  "They will suffer tremendous losses when they come within range of the

  destroyers Yinchuan and Dalian near Davao itself. The American forces

  are undisciplined-they are launching antiradar and other guided weapons

  at every small patrol boat they encounter, without bothering to save

  their weapons for the frigates, destroyers, or landing-craft carriers.

  It was sheer luck that they sunk Huangshi and Kazjeng, and Yingtan is

  still operational..."

  "You failed to adequately take into account the possibility of a

  Tomahawk cruise missile attack, " Admiral Yin said angrily. "They were

  able to overwhelm our outer defenses too easily. And why was I never

  advised of the presence of B-2 stealth bombers on Guam. . .?"

  "Sir, the fleet intelligence center reported that the Ranger's battle

  group was still in Manado and that Indonesia had not given permission

  for offensive operations, " Sun explained. "If those cruisers launched

  their missiles from Indonesian waters, that is an illegal act . Yin

  glared at Sun, not satisfied with that explanation at all. "Admiral,

  Hong Lung is engaging B-52 bombers at extreme range, " the

  communications officer reported. They could feel the distant rumble of

  the destroyer's two big combination diesel-turbine engines spooling up

  to maximum speed, and the ship made a hard turn to starboard briefly

  before settling down. "Antiship missiles launched... jamming

  ineffective at this range, good radar contact, intercept confidence is

  high on all tracks." Yin looked away from Captain Sun, finding it hard

  to fault Sun too much-had he not suggested that Hong Lung travel east to

  assist in the invasion defense, all these aged American bombers might

  well be attacking his Marines by now. "Report on the invasion force, "

  Yin ordered. "Are they ready to land?"

  "All vessels in position, " Captain Sun reported. "The bombardment was

  to commence in two hours, and the invasion was to begin in three..."

  "It can no longer wait, " Yin said. "Order the landing craft to head

  ashore immediately."

  "But sir, we have not had time to prepare the beachhead for our forces,

  " Sun argued. "There could be anything waiting for them. We should

  proceed with the bombardment first and shell the beachhead for at least

  an hour before-"

  "We may not have an hour before those bombers and cruise missiles are on

  top of them, " Yin said. "Issue the orders and get those Marines on the

  beach."

  "There is no need for haste, sir, " Sun tried one last time. "We should

  wait to see if any of the American bombers go overhead-perhaps the

  American bombers will even bomb the beach for us. In any case, our

  forces should not be on the beach when the bombers come in. "Neither

  should they be in the landing craft on Davao Gulf, " Yin said, his voice

  louder and sharper this time. Sun knew enough to hold his tongue then.

  The uncomfortable silence in the flag staff was broken by the

  combat-alert horn as the destroyer began prosecuting its attack on the

  B-52s swarming around them. ... FORTY MILES EAST OF THE CHINESE

  DESTROYER HONG LUNG The six B-52 G-model Stratofortress bombers in the

  southern strike group were threading the needle here in the worst

  possible sense-trapped between two Chinese destroyers, with no place to

  hide except for an electronic curtain of jammers. Their only hope:

  throttles to military power, altitude pegged at one hundred feet, and

  hope to make landfall at Balut Island or Sarangani Island, twenty miles

  ahead, before the crush of Chinese antiair missiles found them. Although

  they were not receiving any missile fire-control signals from the

  eastern destroyer, it had still someho
w shot down the B-2 with a

  missilethey were going to give both destroyers as much space as

  possible. "Trick Zero-Two, this is One, " the lead B-52 pilot called out

  on the tactical frequency. "We've got a radar fix on those ships to the

  west. I've got four Harpoons left. We're going for it." As soon as the

  navigators plotted the position of the ships, they commanded a climb to

  three hundred feet and launched their last four AGM-84 Harpoon missiles

  at the ships. The first two Harpoons were the original air-launched

  model, which flew directly toward the ships at five hundred and fifty

  miles per hour; the second two missiles were the advanced AGM-84E SLAM

  missile, which was far more flexible in selecting an evasive course and

  attacking from multiple directions and altitudes. While the first two

  Harpoons sped directly for Hong Lung, the second two split north and

  south of the destroyer, so in effect the Hong Lung was attacked from

  three sides simultaneously. The engagement worked-the southerly missile,

  being steered by the first B-52's radar navigator, impacted just above

  the waterline on the starboard side of the escort frigate Change De,

  putting it out of action immediately, and one minesweeper]patrol boat

  riding point for the Hong Lung was hit by a Harpoon missile. The other

  Harpoon and SLAM missiles were destroyed by gunfire from Hong Lung and

  its surviving escorts. But the counterattack by Hong Lung was

  devastating-the sky filled with antiair missiles as soon as the B-52

  attacked. Releasing all four of its remaining Harpoon missiles on the

  Hong Lung battle group created a big, bright "arrow" to point the way

  for the Chinese fire-control operators, and Hong Lung released four HQ-9

  I air-to-air missiles at the B-52 within a few seconds, followed by a

  volley of four more. "Time to get the hell out of here, " the pilot of

  the first B-52 shouted-for his own benefit more than for his copilot or

  the rest of the crew. "Get rid of those mines and let's split!" The

  last of the conventional B-52's weapons were four Mk 60 CAPTOR torpedoes

  on clip racks in the forward part of the bomb bay. CAPTOR, which stood

  for Encapsulated Torpedo, was a large canister containing an Mk 46

  torpedo and complex sensor gear. As the B-52 began a tight right turn

  away from the western destroyer, it began sowing the CAPTOR mines in the

  eastern Celebes Sea. After activation, the canisters would lie on the

  seabed or hang suspended in the water until a warship passed by. When

  the sound, pressure, and magnetic parameters matched its pre-programmed

  settings, the mine would track the target and launch the torpedo. The

  torpedo had a range of six miles, and one CAPTOR by itself could sink

  all but the largest class of Chinese surface ships or submarines. In two

  minutes, all four CAPTOR mines were released, and the airspeed of the

  B-52 increased dramatically. Now weaponless, it dropped a cloud of

  radar-decoying chaff and continued its right turn to a safe southerly

  heading. But at its high speed the tightest turn the bomber could make

  was still twenty-five miles-directly in the path of two of the stricken

  destroyer Jinan 's patrol-boat escorts. Guided byjinan 's one remaining

  air-search radar and using infrared sights, the patrol boats opened fire

  on the bomber with 57-millimeter, 37-millimeter, and 25-millimeter

  gunfire, rattling every inch of the big jet with shells. The B-52's

  cockpit windows shattered, decapitating the two pilots and sending the

  stricken aircraft crashing into the sea. The crash of the B-52 not more

  than three kilometers away was the most incredible sight any of the

  seventy-man crew of the Haijui-class patrol boat Yingkou had ever seen.

  The mushroom cloud of fire had to be a kilometer high, and flames were

  so big and so hot that the captain could swear he felt the heat from

  inside the bridge. The fireball skipped across the water, rolling and

  rushing along like a huge orange-and-red tidal wave. It was utterly

  spectacular. After a few minutes of awe, the bridge crew broke out into

  wild cheers as the flames began to die away-and then the crew ran for

  cover as bits of flying metal and thick clouds of smoke rolled across

  the water. "Radar contact, second and third B-52 bombers, " came the

  report from his fire-control officer. "I have a good track on both

  planes-they should be turning this way just like the first. Five

  minutes before the next one passes close enough." This was going to be

  incredible, the captain thought-he might easily kill a second, and

  perhaps even a third B-52 with his 57-millimeter gun tonight. He would

  certainly get his own frigate after tonight... "Move farther west, " he

  ordered his helmsman. "I want to be as close as possible to these last

  twO bombers." The helmsman went to flank speed in order to get a few

  meters closer to the bomber's track-every hundred meters closer was

  another dozen rounds on target. "Second bomber turning east, range

  decreasing . . . he's coming this way, sir... I'm getting jamming on

  my fire-control radar . . . forward 57 switching to electro-optical

  sights with data link from Jinan. . . target reacquired, forward 57-

  and port 30-millimeter report ready." This was perfect, really perfect.

  The other patrol boat escorting the destroyer Jinan had no data link

  with the destroyer $ air-search radar, so all he could do was follow

  Yingkou 's tracers. He would never be credited with a kill... "Thirty

  seconds... twenty seconds... all gun mounts report ready. . . fifteen

  seconds. . . all guns stand. He never finished the sentence. The

  first CAPTOR torpedo mine had armed immediately upon hitting the water

  and, despite the incredible sounds of destruction from the B-52 crash,

  had locked onto the engine sounds of the Haijui-class patrol boat as

  soon as he gunned his engine, and ejected its deadly torpedo. The

  torpedo switched on its active sonar, acquired and locked onto the

  patrol boat, accelerated to nearly fifty miles per hour, and hit the

  patrol boat near the engine compartment one foot below the waterline. A

  shaped charge rammed a titanium nosecap through the patrol boat's hull,

  and the torpedo actually swam three feet inside the port engine room

  before its eight-hundred-pound warhead exploded. With most of its stern

  blown apart, Yingkou slipped under the surface in less than two

  minutes-about as long as it took the last of the burning debris of Trick

  Zero-One to hit the water. The other two B-52s in the first south

  attack group avenged their leader's death with a flurry of Harpoon

  missile launches, and within minutes three more of Jinan 's patrol boats

  had been destroyed. Jinan itself, overwhelmed by Harpoon missiles from

  the south as well as the flight of Tomahawk cruise missiles from the

  southeast, was hit by both a Tomahawk and a Harpoon and was put out of

  action. ABOARD THE EB-52C MEGAFORTRESS DIAMOND ONE-ONE It was a surprise

  for Major Kelvin Carter to see the COLA (Computer Generated Lowest

  Altitude) computer command a climb after so many hours at one relatively

  stable altitude, but as the Megafortress approached the tall, rock
y

  peaks of the Nenusa Archipelago islands, the EB-52 wanted to climb six

  hundred feet to clear the tallest peak. Carter edged his Megafortress

  slightly south of the tiny radar dots, and, after the computer realized

  it would safely clear all the terrain, the Megafortress sank back to one

  hundred feet above the eastern Celebes Sea. Alicia Kellerman was busily

  plotting the positions of the other planes in the strike team as she

  heard position reports come over the radio. "All right!" she said.

  "All six BUFFS in the number-two east group and Diamond One-Two made it

  through. They're two minutes ahead of us."

  "What about the others?" Carter asked. "The south group got hit real

  bad, " Kellerman summarized. "One of the B-2s and a B-52 from Castle

  got shot down..." "Our B-2? Cobb and McLanahan?"

  "Cobb and McLanahan made it through OK. It was a Whiteman bird. One

  other 509th Black Knight from the north group aborted when they lost an

  engine; all the other planes from the north group made it. "The other

  five B-52s from the south group look like they took out that destroyer

  to their east and a few patrol boats, so they might make it through.

  There's another destroyer battle group coming in from the west-that

  might be a problem when the strike package egresses to the south. No

  other reports: everyone else appears to be heading in on schedule. Kane

  on the EB-52 escorting the east number-two strike group got two Chinese

  fighters."

  "Search radar at eleven o'clock, " Atkins reported. "Golfband search .

  . . Sea Eagle 3-D air-search radar, Luda-class destroyer. GCI signals,

  possibly more fighters coming in from the northwest."

  "That destroyer's at forty miles, and he's got five escorts with him, "

  Kellerman added, checking her updated ISAR radar display. "We'll be

  going in about sixty seconds ahead of the south B-52s. We're within

  TACIT RAINBOW range, EW. Line em up and let's get those suckers."

  BANGOY STRAIT, NEAR DAVAO, MINDANAO, THE PHILIPPINES SAME TIME It was

  the largest assembly of Chinese warships since the Korean Conflict, all

  concentrated within ten miles of the city of Davao-and they were ready