Fatal Terrain

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Fatal Terrain Page 63

by Dale Brown


  of three daughters, a former F-4 Phantom fighter WSO (weap-

  ons systems officer) turned computer engineer, Wyle was one

  of the U. military's few "triple hats," a commander of three

  major military commands: U. Air Force Space Command, in

  charge of all of the Air Force's satellites, boosters, land-based

  missiles, and launch facilities; U. Space Command, in charge

  of all of America's strategic defense systems, such as surveil-

  lance satellites and radars; and the North American Aerospace

  Defense (NORAD) Command, the joint U. and Canadian

  military team dedicated to detecting, tracking, and identifying

  all incoming threats against the North American continent. The

  four-star general had been the deputy "triple hat" commander

  under General Mike Talbot during the last major international

  crisis in Asia, when China had first started flexing its blue

  water muscles against its neighbors.

  "Still waiting for SEWS confirmation of a Chinese I"M

  launch," the senior controller reported on the commander's

  net in the command center.

  " Let's hear what you do know," Wyle ordered.

  "SEWS Pacific detected a total of ten missile launches in

  east-central China," the senior controller reported. "Subse-

  quent sensor hits showing large rocket plumes rising through

  the atmosphere, heading east. We have course and speed and

  approximate missile weight and performance data correlated

  through SEWS."

  422 DALE BROWN

  "So we're positive that we're looking at Chinese ballistic

  missiles?"

  "The latest intelligence data says the Chinese still had DF-4

  missiles at all of the ten known launch sites in the area of the

  current launches-not the longer-range DF-5, not any of the

  experimental long-range ICBMs, nor any civil or commercial

  Long March boosters," one of the intelligence officers re-

  ported. "So we can rule out with very good probability that

  the Chinese are not launching satellites, and that the attack is

  not against any targets in North America."

  That basic information saved a lot of time and wasted ef-

  forts-and a lot of officers and technicians who were holding

  their breath finally could breathe. It was well-known to every-

  one that Peterson Air Force Base would be a likely target for

  any enemy seeking to wipe out America's defense network-

  but these missiles were not heading for the continental United

  States. "Good," Wyle said. "Let's notify the Pentagon and

  the NCA, but put it out over the non-emergency priority net."

  "We've got a BMEWS confirmation of ten, repeat ten, in-

  bounds powering up through the atmosphere," another con-

  troller reported. Space surveillance radar sites in Alaska, South

  Korea, and the Philippines called BMEWSs or Ballistic Mis-

  sile Early Warning Systems, now started tra@king the inbound

  missiles, and trajectory projections appeared on the large full-

  color monitors in the operations center; they were backed up

  by radar satellites called DSSSs, or Defense Surveillance Sat-

  ellite Systems. The probable target was pinpointed less than a

  minute from first detection: "Impact area, Guam," the con-

  troller said.

  "Ah, shit-the Chinese launched an attack on Guam,"

  Wyle muttered. "Get it out on the network-target Guam.

  Time to impact?"

  "Twelve minutes," the controller responded.

  "Danunit. I hope the Army toads are on their toes this af-

  ternoon."

  "Sir, now we have a track update via BMEWS and DSSS,-

  the controller reported. "We're showing three of the missiles

  taking a different trajectory-"

  "Where?" Wyle asked. "South Korea? Japan? Alaska?"

  "No, sir-it's a flatter trajectory, possibly a satellite inser-

  tion profile," the controller responded. "The three missiles are

  using power to maintain a two-hundred-and-ninety-mile alti-

  FATAL TERRA I N 423

  tude. They could be ready to insert satellites into orbit."

  "FOB warheads?" Wyle speculated. He knew the Chinese

  had FOB, or Fractional Orbital Bombardment technology-

  the ability to put a nuclear warhead into low Earth orbit, then

  deorbit it anytime it circled the Earth. The warheads could stay

  aloft for weeks, virtually untouchable, and could threaten tar-

  gets all over the globe.

  "Unknown, sir," the controller said. "We' should be able

  to get an eyeball on the payloads when they separate." Space

  Command maintained space surveillance telescopes all over

  the world, which would allow technicians to visually observe

  and identify a satellite in orbit-the telescopes were powerful

  enough to read a newspaper fifty miles away!

  As the Chinese missiles reached apogee, their highest point

  in their ballistic trajectory at almost 400 miles up, the long-

  range Space Command radars detected the warheads separat-

  ing from the boosters and beginning their reentry. "We have

  one missile making an erratic track-looks like it's breaking

  up in reentry," the controller said. Wyle muttered a silent

  prayer, hoping more would follow suit. "Three boosters are

  inserting payloads into low Earth orbit, repeat, three payloads

  entering orbit. We have three boosters MIRVing, repeat, three

  MIRVing ... DSSS now reporting a total of twelve reentry

  vehicles, repeat, twelve MIRVs inbound, target Guam.

  BMEWS confirms that track, twelve reentry vehicles inbound,

  target Guam."

  "Confirm for me that an air attack alert has been issued to

  all installations and on civil defense nets on Guam," General

  Wyle asked in a low, somber voice.

  We've confirmed it, sir," a communications officer said.

  "Full military and civil EBS notification." Wyle thought

  about all the times he had heard the Emergency Broadcast

  System tests on TV and radio and simply ignored the nuisance

  interruption. Of course, he had been in many places where

  people paid attention to EBS-during the floods near Beale

  Air Force Base in Marysville, California; the tornadoes near

  Omaha, Nebraska; and even on Guam during frequent typhoon

  warnings in the summer. But civil defense was a thing of the

  past, and suitable hardened, underground shelters outside of

  the military bases were rare on Guam. The population of that

  tiny, sleepy tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

  was going to take the full force of the Chinese missile attack

  424 DALE BROWN

  ... unless the Patriot missiles could stop them.

  As fast as the information could be beamed out by satellite,

  the air defense units on the island of Guam were scrambled

  and activated. Two U. Army Patriot surface-to-air missile

  batteries were stationed on Guam, one on Andersen Air Force

  Base in the northern part of the island, and one at Agana Naval

  Air Station in the central part. Each Patriot battery consisted

  of a command trailer, three large flat "drive-in-theater screen"

  radar arrays, and twelve transporter-erector-launcher trailers,

  with four missiles per tra
iler, plus associated electrical power

  and communications relay trucks. The radars did not mechan-

  ically sweep the skies, but they electronically scanned huge

  sections of airspace up to fifty miles in all directions, so be-

  tween the two sites the entire island of Guam was covered.

  The phone at his console buzzed, and he picked it up-he

  knew exactly who it would be. "Wyle."

  "General Wyle, this is Admiral Balboa," the chairman of

  the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. "I'm at the White House. The

  President and the SECDEF are here with me. What's the sit-

  uation?"

  We detected ten missile launches from central China,"

  W y le reported. "We're tracking a total of twelve inbound bal-

  listic vehicles, all heading for Guam. All tracks confirmed. We

  believe with high confidence that the missiles are Chinese East

  Wind-4 intermediate-range nuclear ballistic weapons. The re-

  entry warheads are believed to be everything from sixty-

  kiloton to two-megaton yield."

  "Sweet Jesus," Balboa muttered. "Any other launch detec-

  tions anywhere?"

  "None, Sir."

  11 Anything headed for us at all?"'

  "Three missiles launched from China inserted small pay-

  loads into two-hundred-and-ninety-mile orbits, inclined ap-

  proximately thirty degrees from the equator, Sir," Wyle said,

  reading information off the large monitors in the command

  center. "We haven't identified them yet. Their orbits will take

  them over the Pacific, within about two hundred miles of the

  Hawaiian islands, but not over the CONUS. They fly over

  central China on the backside of their orbits, so they might be

  weather or communications satellites, or just decoys."

  "I want those payloads positively identified as soon as pos-

  FATAL TERRAIN 425

  sible, General," Balboa said sternly. "Status of the air defense

  sites on Guam?"

  "Two Patriot batteries on Guarn. Both are on full alert and

  will be directly tracking the inbounds in about five to Six

  minutes," Wyle responded.

  "The NCA wants an immediate notification on any other

  launches," Balboa ordered.

  "Yes, Sir, I'll do it personally," Wyle said. "Is the NCA

  going airborne?"

  "Negative, but we've got Marine One and Two standing

  by. 11

  "Might be a good idea to get them airborne until we sort

  this out," Wyle said. "If any of the inbounds hit, we'll lose

  the 720th Space Group on Guam-that cuts out a lot of missile

  and satellite tracking and control functions in the Pacific. The

  warning net might go down, or suffer a bottleneck .

  "I'll pass along your recommendation, General," Balboa

  said. "We'll keep you advised." And the line went dead.

  Everything that could be done was being done. Along with

  providing land-based nuclear intercontinental missiles to Stra-

  tegic Command in case of a crisis, Space Command's primary

  function was surveillance, detection, tracking, and notification

  of an attack from space on the United States, its territories,

  and allies. That function was completed-now it was up to

  the last line of defense to minimize the damage.

  The Patriot air defense missile batteries first detected the

  inbound warheads at ninety seconds time-to-impact, but they

  could not begin firing the first two-missile volleys until thirty

  seconds time-to-impact. The launches were done completely

  by computer control, sequencing the launches from both bat-

  teries so each salvo would not interfere with another. Every

  battery fired all of its missiles-that meant that every incoming

  nuclear warhead had eight Patriot missiles flying up to attack

  it, launched in four different volleys of two missiles each.

  But despite software and hardware upgrades on the system

  since its debut as a ballistic-missile killer during the 1991 Per-

  sian Gulf War, the Patriot antiair missile system had never

  been designed to be an anti-ballistic missile weapon. The Pa-

  triot had the advantage of its own onboard terminal guidance

  radar, which meant it was much more responsive and agile

  and was more capable against fast-moving targets such as in-

  bound ballistic missiles or warheads, and the new Tier 3 PUG

  426 DALE BROWN

  (Patriot Upgrade Group) gave the missile a larger warhead and

  a new high-pressure hydraulic actuator system, so it could

  move its control surfaces faster to chase higher-speed targets.

  Nonetheless, it was still a matter of "bullet-on-bullet," nose-

  to-nose precision aiming that was still several years from per-

  fection.

  Out of twelve inbound warheads, three survived the on-

  slaught of Patriot missiles. One sixty-kiloton warhead ex-

  ploded two miles west of Orote Peninsula, a total of eight

  miles southwest of Agana, just 5,000 feet above the ocean,

  leveling most of the high-rise oceanfront hotels and condo-

  miniums and creating an instant killer typhoon. Another sixty-

  kiloton warhead was blasted off course by a nearby exploding

  Patriot missile and was harmlessly fratricided by the preceding

  nuclear detonation near Agana. Although the blast damage,

  heat, and overpressure effects were enormous, casualties in the

  central part of the island would be termed minimal.

  But one two-megaton warhead exploded just one and a half

  miles north of Andersen Air Force Base at an altitude of less

  than 3,000 feet-and every aboveground building on the base

  was wiped away in a blast that was greater than the power of

  five hundred typhoons. The nearby village of Fafalog com-

  pletely disappeared in the fireball. Mount Santa Rosa, the ver-

  dant green hill overlooking the military airfield, was instantly

  denuded of all vegetation and then sliced nearly in half. The

  entire northern one-fifth of the island was immediately set

  ablaze, which was extinguished only by the 200-foot nuclear-

  spawned tsunami and typhoon-force winds that ripped into the

  scarred tropical island.

  BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE,

  BOSSIER CITY, LOUISIANA

  "ONE WHO IS ABLE To CHANGE

  AND TRANSFORM IN ACCORD WITH

  THE ENEMY AND WREST VICTORY IS

  TERMED SPIRITUALI"

  -Sun_TZ14

  The Art of War

  TUESDAY, 24 JUNE 1997, 1431 HOURS LOCAL

  (1531 HOURS ET)

  SKYBIRD, SKYBIRD, message follows: kilo, three, seven, niner,

  eight, foxtrot, one. . .,, the U. Strategic Command senior

  controller said over the command net, reading off a long string

  of phonetic letters and numbers, then repeating the coded mes-

  sage with the phrase "I say again. . ."

  In the Eighth Air Force command center, two teams of two

  controllers were copying the message down, then beginning to

  decode the message separately, then comparing their results

  with each other; satisfied, they began running the associated

  checklist. The checklist would instruct them what message to

  transmit to the bomber forces under their command. Both sets

  of controllers composed the new
message, then quickly veri-

  fied it with each other.

  Then, while the first set of controllers began reading the

  427

  428 DALE BROWN

  new coded message on the command post's UHF and VHF

  frequency, the second set of controllers copied the message

  and passed it along to the battle staff operations officer. He in

  turn decoded the message with another officer, checked their

  results with the first two sets of controllers-it checked once

  again. At least four sets of eyes always checked every message

  and every response to be sure they were accomplishing the

  proper action. If there was any error anywhere along the line-

  a nervous or cracking voice, a hesitation, anything-the other

  controller would slap a piece of paper over the codebook, and

  the controller reading the message would read, "Stand by,"

  then start all over again. The stakes were too enormous to

  leave any ambiguities.

  "Latest EAM verified, sir," the ops officer reported to the

  Eighth Air Force battle staff. "DEFCON Two emergency ac-

  tion message." The entire staff opened up their checklists to

  the appropriate page, as the ops officer began writing updated

  date-time groups up on the command timing board. DEFCON,

  or Defense Condition, Two was a higher state of readiness for

  all U. military forces; for the bomber forces, it placed them

  at the very highest stages of ground alert, just short of taking

  off. "Message establishes an 'A' hour only, directing force

  timing for one hundred percent of the force on cockpit alert

  status, plus fifty percent of available forces as of A plus six

  hours to go to dispersal locations," the ops officer went on.

  "Bases with missile flight times less than twelve minutes go

  to repositioned alert; bases with MFTs less than eight minutes

  go to engines-running repositioned alert. The message directs

  full Reserve and Guard mobilizations."

  Every member of the battle staff reached for telephones as

  soon as the minibriefing was over., Lieutenant-General Terrill

  Samson, commander of Eighth Air Force, was on the phone

  to his boss, the commander of Air Force Air Combat Corn-

 

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