by Dale Brown
got the uplink shut down!" The Megafortress's powerful jam-
Mers shut down the fighters' attack radar and the steering sig-
nal between the missile and the launch aircraft; when the
missiles' own terminal homing radar activated, the jammers
shut them down too. At the same time, the HAVE GLANCE
active counten-neasures system destroyed the missiles' seekers
with laser beam blasts. But the Megafortress's own attack ra-
dar automatically shut down so the enemy missiles couldn't
home in on it, so they were temporarily blind again. "You see
them out there, pilot?"
"Negative ... wait, I got them!" Cheshire shouted.
"They're headed right for us! Twelve o'clock, about five
miles, coming down fast! Ready to break!"
"Go nose to nose with them, pilot!" Atkins shouted. "Nose
to nose! Pylon launch!" Atkins powered up two AIM-120
Scorpion missiles and uncaged their infrared seekers instead
of launching on radar guidance. Both missiles locked onto the
red-hot superheated fuselages of the enemy fighters immedi-
ately, and seconds later, both missiles streaked out of the
weapons pods on the wings right at their quarries. But by the
time the Scorpions launched, the two Foxbat fighters had flown
right over the Megafortress, missing it by just a few hundred
yards. The incredible blast of the supersonic shock wave pass-
ing over the EB-52 felt like another nuclear explosion. Elliott
and Cheshire looked on with amazement as the front cockpit
windscreen buckled and wavered as if it was ready to implode
again.
The Scorpion missiles switched from infrared to radar guid-
ance, picked up steering signals from the side- and rear-
looking radars, and streaked up and backward to pursue the
fighters. They almost did not have enough energy to tail-chase
the fighters-the Foxbats were flying three hundred miles per
hourfaster than the most sophisticated air-to-air missile in the
world!-until both Chinese superfighters came out of full af:_
terburner and began a hard turn back to the west to pursue the
Megafortress. The sharp turn quickly sapped the big fighters
of all their energy, enough for the Scorpion missiles to catch
up to them, activate their own onboard terminal homing radars,
and lock onto the fighters. One Scorpion missile failed to fuze
properly and misse'd; the other made a direct hit, shelling out
one engine and causing a massive fire. The pilot ejected sec-
onds, before his superfighter exploded in a terrific orange fire-
ball.
"Attack radar up-I've -got a lock on the last fighter,"
Bruno said. "Stand by for--
"Better save it," Atkins intedected. "We've got only two
Scorpions remaining, and it looks like the last fighter is bug-
ging out. They were both going full blower on the attack, and
if they do that they only have enough fuel for thirty minutes
of flying time. He's on his way home. The closest of those
fighter patrols are at eleven o'clock, forty miles and closing."
"We've got to get out of here, Brad," McLanahan said.
246 DALE BROWN
"Those Foxbats got a pretty good fix on us, and they're prob-
ably vectoring in the other fighters. The U. frigates are at
three o'clock, eighteen miles. Right turn to heading zero-eight-
z ro should get us back on coverage. We need some help from
those frigates or from Taiwan air defense, if they're up."
"Sons of bitches!" Elliott cursed, He got a good look at
the speeding Foxbat fighters too, and that was the closest he
ever wanted to get to those big, deadly jets. His heart was
pounding, his forehead sweating like crazy-he had never felt
so close to death before in all his life. "They better be up
here!" He switched to the secure satellite channel: "James
Daniel, this is Headbanger, what's your status?"
"Vessel calling James Daniel, keep this channel clear and
do not approach this task force," the operator responded.
"What in hell are you talking about?" Elliott retorted.
We're up here on patrol with you, you squid idiot! We saw
the Chinese cruiser launch Stallion rocket torpedoes at you.
What's your status?" There was no response. Furious, Elliott
switched to the secondary channel and keyed the mike: "Atlas,
this is Headbanger. How do you copy?"
"Loud and clear, Headbanger," the operator responded.
"What is your status? Over."
"Our goddamn status is that we were under attack by Fox-
bat fighters and we've got four more formations of fighters
closing on us," Elliott replied hotly. "Both frigates are also
under torpedo attack. We need fighter coverage up here and
we want permission to attack the Chinese warship that is trying
to blow your frigates out of the water."
"Headbanger, this is Atlas," Admiral William Allen re-
sponded himself seconds later. "We copy you were under at-
tack by Foxbats and have more fighters in the vicinity. The
ROC is vectoring fighters at this time, ETA zero-eight minutes,
flight of two F-16s. Second flight of four F-16s is scrambling
from Makung, ETA one-five minutes. We recommend you de-
part the area and head towards the Pescadores." The Pesca-
dores was a group of Taiwanese islands, located forty miles
west of Formosa and sixty miles southeast of the EB-52's pres-
ent position, where several Taiwanese air and naval bases were
located.
"Heading one-two-zero, direct Makung," Denton immedi-
ately interjected.
"No, we're not leaving!" McLanahan shouted. "If we
leave the frigates, they'll be defenseless-and we can use their
help against those fighters. We're staying overhead the frigates
until the Taiwan air force arrives. Nancy, get on the horn and
send in Carter in the other Megafortress."
"You got it, Muck."
"Sounds like a shit-hot plan to me," Elliott responded. On
the satellite channel, he radioed: "Atlas, this is Headbanger,
negative, we're holding our position. There's a big ass ship, a
cruiser or destroyer, about twenty miles northwest of our frig-
ates." He could hardly believe he was having an argument
with CINCPAC-agai,. "We've got it locked up, and we saw
it launch those torpedoes. They were rocket-p0wered torpe-
does, and we watched that cruiser launch them."
"The frigates are conducting anti-torpedo countermeasures
at this time," Allen said, "but they did not report contact with
any Chinese warships or submarines. We have had that entire
region under surveillance for several days, and we noted no
large warship movements ... stand by."
"Jesus, there they go again-'stand by,' " Elliott said an-
grily. "Stand by and watch the Chinese blast us to hell."
"The Duncan has stopped dead in the water," Denton re-
ported, as he zoomed in on the American frigate task force.
He called up more information, then added, "Something's
wrong-the ISAR's not IDing properly anymore.-
"That might mean it's hit and may be sinking," McLanahan
said. "If part of its structure is underwater, the inverse syn-
thetic aperture radar won't scan it completely."
The interphone got very quiet after that-but only for a few
moments, until Brad Elliott shouted, "Destroy that damned
Chinese cruiser now! You're clear on the bomb doors! Launch
the Strikers, dammit!"
"Brad, we wait until we get the word from CINCPAC,-
McLanahan said. Here it comes again, he thought-another
long, drawn-out argument with Elliott on whether or not they
should. . .
McLanahan stopped as he felt a familiar rumble and heard
the sound of windblast, and the words "Strikers away." Jeff
Denton, still in the offensive systems officer's seat, had obeyed
Elliott's command and launched two Striker missiles at the
still-unidentified vessel! He had quickly and efficiently desig-
nated the unidentified vessel, using touch-screen commands,
and prosecuted a double Striker missile attack! Seconds after
248 DALE BROWN
launch, the Striker missiles had ignited their powerful first-
stage motors and blasted out over the Formosa Strait toward
their target. They were supersonic just a few seconds later,
climbing on a ballistic flight path to almost forty thousand feet.
"Jesus, Denton!" McLanahan exclaimed. "Steer those mis-
siles clear!"
"Why? We're attacking, for Christ's sake!" Denton
shouted.
"We don't have permission to launch!" McLanahan said.
"Steer those missiles away from that target!"
Denton looked confused, stunned, and horrified all at once.
"But the AC said--
McLanahan didn't blame Denton; he was doing as his air-
craft commander ordered: destroy the Chinese ship. Unfortu-
nately, Elliott had ' jumped the gun. Again. McLanahan
frantically checked to be sure that Denton hadn't locked up
one of the Navy frigates-he hadn't. "Get manual control of
the missiles, steer them towards the southwest, away from
land!"
"Stay on the target, OSO,- Elliott said. "Continue the at-
tack."
From his jump-seat position, McLanahan didn't have voice
command of the attack computer. When he tried to reach
across, push Denton out of the way, and command the Striker
missiles to steer away from the vessel, Denton pushed him
back. "Hey, Colonel McLanahan, the missiles are on the
way," Denton said. "That was the ship that hit the Duncan
with torpedoes. The AC said to attack, dammit-why are you
pushing me?"
"Because I'm the mission commander, Denton, and I say
we don't attack until we get a valid order from CINCPAC to
attack!" McLanahan said. "Break the sensor lock, Denton.
Give me manual control!"
But it was too late. Just then, the TV image from the Striker
missile's imaging infrared scanner appeared on Denton's su-
percockpit display, just seconds from impact. The first radar-
only image was of a massive ship, very tall, riding very high
out of the water. McLanahan hit a touch-screen button to
switch to imaging infrared view-and then they saw it.
It was not a cruiser, or a large destroyer, or even a warship
of any kind-it was a passenger and vehicle ferry. They caught
a glimpse of some kind of barge or service tender being towed
on a very short hawser behind the larger ship, which could
have explained the ISAR's confusion over the proper identi-
fication of the target-but there was no doubt over the iden-
tification now! The ferry had a tall vehicle access amidships
and three decks above that, and it looked as if it was choked
with automobiles and delivery trucks. "Oh my God, it's a
passenger ship, a ferry!" McLanahan shouted. "C'mon, Den-
ton, break auto lock, steer those missiles away!"
Denton immediately deselected the AUTO LOCK touch-screen
button on the supercockpit monitor, which gave him manual
control of the missiles. McLanahan immediately reached over
and rolled the trackball left ...
... but it was too late. McLanahan and Denton watched in
horror as both Striker missiles plowed into the port side amid-
ships of the passenger ferry; they even clearly saw passengers
standing on the port rail near the bow just before the missiles
hit. Five seconds later, the second Striker missile registered a
direct hit as well.
"Oh, my God," Denton muttered. "What did I do? What
in hell did I do?"
"Forget it, Jeff-Jeff, damn it, snap out of it!" McLanahan
shouted. "Your responsibility now is with your crew and your
aircraft. Get on the radar and find out who we're up against."
But it was no use-Denton was frozen, stunned by confusion,
fear, and a dozen other emotions. McLanahan had no other
choice. He reached across Denton's shoulder, unfastened his
shoulder straps and seat belt, and one-handedly hauled Denton
out of the OSO's seat. Denton did not resist this time. "Jeff,
go downstairs, strap into a seat and parachute, and monitor the
flight instruments. Make sure your seat is unpinned and ready.
Go!" Denton was lucid enough to offer a silent apology to
McLanahan before climbing down the ladder to the lower-deck
spare ejection seats. McLanahan activated the Megafortress's
attack radar, which scanned the skies in all directions; he shut
it down as soon as the system had recorded all air, sea, and
land targets.
In the meantime, Bob Atkins had swapped seats with Bruno
and was now in command of the defensive weaponry. "Okay,
crew, nearest fighter formation is now ten o'clock, thirty-three
miles and closing," Atkins began. "I don't think they have a
radar lock on us, but they got a good solid vector from the
Foxbats, and they're headed this way. I've got a second for-
250 DALE BROWN
mation low, twelve o'clock, fifty-three miles and closing."
"A low CAP, Bob?"
He studied his threat display for a moment; then: "Don It
think they're fighters, Colonel. I'm showing surface search ra-
dars only-no air search or target-tracking radars. They're
looking for the frigates. I think we've got anti-ship attack
planes inbound. Colonel, call the James Daniel, see if they got
the inbounds and find out if they can coordinate with us."
"Rog," McLanahan said. He switched his radio to the fleet
common frequency: "James Daniel, this is Headbanger, how
copy?"
"Headbanger, this is James Daniel on fleet common tactical
one. Suggest you clear the area and head east. Stay out of this
area. We are responding to inbound bandits at this time. Clear
this frequency. "
"Second flight of bandits, low altitude, eleven o'clock,
forty-eight miles," Atkins reported. "I've counted eight in-
bounds so far in two formations. There's probably more. I
need another radar sweep."
"JD, this is Headbanger. You have at least eight inbounds
on an anti-ship missile attack profile, and we've got more than
twice that number after us," McLanahan said. "Let's make a
deal-you ge
t the fighters, we'll take the attack planes. Deal?"
Theri was an excruciatingly long pause; then a different
voice responded: "Okay, Headbanger, it's a deal. This is the
TAO on the JD. Stay north of us, and we'll keep your tail
clear."
"Copy that, JD,- McLanahan said with relief. "Give us
your search and track bands to avoid."
"Stop buzzer on India-three through Juliet-ten to keep our
scopes clear," the tactical action officer on the James Daniel
replied. "You're clear to jam all other freqs-and I hope
you're not a bad guy, or else we've just screwed ourselves.
You got a wingman?"
"Affirm," McLanahan said. "He'll be coming in from the
north. "
"Keep him north. Good hunting."
"Center up on the heading bug, heading three-zero-five to
intercept," Atkins called out.
In the meantime, Nancy Cheshire was on the secure satellite
frequency to Headbanger Two: "Two, this is lead, how
copy?"
"Loud and clear, Nance," Colonel Kelvin Carter responded
from the second EB-52 Megafortress.
"Authenticate echo-echo."
"Poppa."
"Loud and clear," Cheshire said. "Stand by.
"I got 'em," McLanahan said. He centered his cursor on
the trailing formation of Chinese fighters, the ones closest to
Carter. As he did so, the information from his attack computers
was being shared with the second Megafortress, which meant
Carter's crew did not even have to activate its attack radar.
"Two, this lead, there's your bandits."
"Tied on radar," Major Alicia Kellerman, the OSO on
Headbanger Two, replied. "I show you've only got two Scor-
pions remaining, lead. Maybe you better bug out."
"Let's see what kind of havoc we can cause first," Mc-
Lanahan replied.
"Have fun. Two's in hot."
It took only the last two of Atkins's Scorpion missiles to
break up the first formation. The formation consistedof eight
Q-5 Nanchang fighter-bombers, copies of the Soviet Sukhoi-
17 fighter-bomber, armed with four AS-10 electro-optical at-
tack missiles each. The fighters broke up into four groups of
two, spread apart and in trail by several miles-Atkins merely
