by Dale Brown
the missild fields near Yinchuan in Inner Mongolia province
and, one by one, attacked.
Each B-2A carried sixteen AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack
456 DALE BROWN
Missile (SLAM) guided weapons on two internal rotary
launchers. Each SLAM was a Harpoon turbojet-powered anti-
ship cruise missile fitted with an imaging infrared television
sensor in the nose and a GPS satellite navigation guidance
system. The coordinates of the targets were all loaded into the
missile's memory by the B-2's attack computer; each B-2
bomber merely had to fly to a predetermined launch point and
release the missiles. Once released from low altitude-300 and
500 feet above ground-and as far as fifty miles from the
target, the missiles would get a final navigation update by its
GPS receiver and guide itself to the target, skimming less than
a hundred feet above the ground at 250 miles an hour. The
missile was even programmed with turnpoints so they would
not reveal the location of the B-2 launch aircraft. Once the
missiles were launched, the B-2 bombers turned eastbound and
began the treacherous 1,500-mile trek back across hostile air-
space to their first post-strike refueling anchor.
Sixty seconds prior to impact, the AGM-84E SLAMs began
to transmit images of their assigned target area-but they did
not transmit the pictures back to the B-2s that launched them.
Instead, the images were picked up by a lone aircraft flying
over the Chinese ICBM missile fields at 20,000 feet.
The EB-52 Megafortress had launched from Kai-Shan with
the remaining nine flyable Taiwanese F-16s and Jon Masters's
DC-10 just after sunset. The Megafortress was armed with
every drop of fuel and every remaining weapon it could pos-
sibly carry: two Wolverine cruise missiles and two Striker
rocket bombs on the forward bomb-bay rotary launcher; six
CBU-59 cluster bomb units on the aft bomb bay; and one
AIM-120 Scorpion air-to-air missile and four AIM-9
Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on'each wing weapon pod. After
an aerial refueling, the EB-52 flew north over the East China
Sea and waited for the B-1 and B-2 bombers to arrive from
the United States. Once the B-1 bombers laid down the cruise
missile barrage along the Chinese coastline, the B-2 and the
Megafortress cruised in toward the Chinese ICBM fields. With
the attention of the entire Chinese air defense system focused
on the Formosa Strait, it was a simple exercise for the six B-
2s and the lone EB-52 to penetrate disrupted Chinese airspace
and head for their assigned targets.
The EB-52 arrived in the Chinese ICBM field several
minutes before the B-2 Spirit stealth bombers got to their
FATAL TERRA I N 457
launch points. Flying in the defensive systems officer's seat,
Wendy McLanahan started the attack by launching the Wol-
verine missiles over the ICBM missile fields. The two Wol-
verines used their decoys and radar seekers to hunt down any
antiaircraft radars, then attacked them with antiarmor skeets.
"The Wolverines are working," Brad Elliott said. "I can
see the place starting to light up." Several antiaircraft artillery
sites opened fire, some very close by but locked onto the decoy
gliders, not the Megafortress. Streams of heavy antiaircraft ar-
tillery tracers arced into the sky-followed a few moments
later by a bright flash on the ground and secondary explosions
rippling across the expanse of darkness.
"Very cool," Nancy Cheshire remarked, as more missile
and triple-A sites were hit. "The Wolverines are working
great.'
"You spoke too soon," Wendy said. "I've lost contact with
both Wolverines. Both of them got shot down."
"I've got missile video starting to come in," Patrick
McLanahan announced. As each SLAM got within range, a
window would open up on his supercockpit display, and he
could watch as the missile approached the target. A wide white
rectangle in the center of the video indicated the missile's pre-
programmed target area. As the SLAM got closer, Patrick
could make out more and more detail of the exact target spot,
and he resized the target rectangle until it enclosed only the
spot he wanted to hit. A small white dot represented the mis-
sile's impact point, and Patrick resized the rectangle so the dot
could stay inside the rectangle without too many gross flight-
control corrections.
"I've got fighter radar activity at three o'clock, range un-
known," Wendy announced. "We're running out of time."
Patrick could hear the tension in her voice. He had been
against having her on this mission at all-her wounds from
the last time she had flown on an EB-52 Megafortress had
only recently healed, not to mention the danger to the child
she carried. But Wendy had been the first to demand that she
go along, and hers was the loudest voice arguing against her
husband. No one else knew the Megafortress's defensive suite
and weapons better than Wendy Tork McLanahan. Patrick
might be able to operate the systems by himself if the bomber
was not under attack, but if it ever became an item of interest
and came under active attack, it would take one crew mem-
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458 DALE BROWN
ber's full attention to defend the Megafortress. If there was
going to be any chance of success on this raid" Wendy had to
go along.
"Got a range now, three o'clock, forty miles and closing,"
Wendy reported. "I've got multiple bandits-four, maybe six.
One of them looks like a Su-27. Signal threshold is low, but
they've got several sweeps on us. They could get a lock on us
in three to four minutes."
Two SLAM missiles would be targeted against the DF-5
silos-the first SLAM would crack open the silo, and the sec-
ond would dive inside and destroy the missile. The first
1,400-pound Standoff Land Attack Missile would execute a
pop-up maneuver a few seconds before impact, then dive di-
rectly down onto the silo cover to crack open the silo; the
second SLAM would follow a few seconds later, execute the
same pop-up and dive maneuver, and destroy the missile in-
side. The DF-3 missiles were stored on erector trailers inside
storage sheds near each launch site, and it was a simple task
to target each storage shed and destroy the missile inside.
The SLAM launches had been coordinated so that the Me-
gafortress could fly eastbound out of the target area and he
would be within effective datalink range of each SLAM, work-
ing west to east. As soon as one SLAM would hit, another
window popped open, and Patrick would start steering another
SLAM in to its target. Some SLAMs did not transmit their TV
images, so it was unknown if they ever hit their targets, but
each SLAM was guided by a precise inertial navigation system
updated by GPS satellite navigation signals, accurate to at least
ten feet in altitude and position, so even without a TV datalink
>
they were very accurate weapons. Out of seventy-two SLAMs
successfully launched from the B . -2s, fifty-one reached their
assigned targets and transmitted a good enough TV picture so
Patrick could assess the damage and call the target destroyed
or knocked out of commission.
"But we got three DF-3 and two DF-5 sites where we don't
know if they got hit," Patrick announced to his crew.
"Perfect-we got two Strikers and six CBUs left," Brad
Elliott said. "Let's go back there and finish the job."
"Two o'clock, thirty-two miles and closing," Wendy an-
nounced. She then looked over at her husband and saw him
intently watching her. "I agree," she said. "Let's go get
em."
FATAL TERRAIN 459
"The odds are that the SLAMs got the last missile sites,"
Patrick said. "They've been running great, all of them."
"But we can't be sure, can we?" Nancy Cheshire asked.
"We can wait and get a satellite downlink from Jon's NIRT-
Sats," Elliott said. "Those can tell us if they got hit. How
long until we get a picture?"
"We won't-we didn't get a new constellation up in time,"
Patrick said. "The best info we'll get is from our synthetic
aperture radar or from a Striker video link."
"Then let's do it," Wendy said. Patrick turned toward her,
and she saw something that she'd rarely seen before-the fear
in his eyes. "Patrick, we've got to go back," Wendy said on
interphone. "We don't have a choice. We didn't come all this
way to leave any targets left." Patrick knew she was right.
They had risked everything to fly deep into the heart of the
People's Republic of China and attack these important tar-
gets-as long as they had weapons left, they had to use them.
Patrick touched his supercockpit display and called up the
five surviving targets. The closest one was only ten miles
away; the farthest, a DF-5 long-range ICBM site, was nearly
forty miles farther west. "Gimme a left turn heading two-five-
seven, center the bug, stand by for bomb-bay Striker launch,"
Patrick ordered.
"No." The words came from none other than Brad Elliott.
"We're not turning back. We're going to use the gas and the
weapons we have left to fight our way out of here."
"Brad. . ."
"I'm overruling you this time, Muck," Elliott said deter-
minedly. "You may be the mission commander, but I'm the
aircraft commander, and I'm responsible for the lives on board
this plane. We're six hundred miles inside China, alone, with
only ten defensive missiles and three hours' worth of gas left.
We did our job. Two DF-5s and six DF-3s are not going to
threaten anyone."
"Brad, we can do it," Wendy said. "We can take out those
last sites. "
"Forget about it, Wendy," Elliott said. "Let someone else
worry about them. You and Patrick and Nancy have a life
that's more important than blowing up a couple missile sites
in the middle of nowhere. Patrick, call up the exit point and
pick the best way to get us out of here."
Patrick looked as if a huge weight had been lifted off his
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460 DALE BROWN
shoulders-he even smiled. "Okay, Brad," Patrick said.
"We've got one DF-5 site that'll be within range just a couple
minutes to the north, and all of the DF-3 sites are east and
southeast. We'll leave the last DF-5 site for some other time."
He entered commands on the supercockpit display, then said,
"Give me a left turn to zero-three-seven and center up. Bomb-
bay Striker launch coming up ... in one hundred seconds."
Elliott responded by turning the Megafortress to the northeast.
, IBandits are at five o'clock, twenty-five miles and closing,"
Wendy reported. "I'm targeting the lead Su-27 for one Scor-
pion launch. Looks like we might have two Su-27s leading a
total of eight J-7s or J-8s. The second formation of fighters is
moving to eight o'clock, thirty-three miles."
"They're going back to defend the western surviving DF-5
site," Cheshire guessed. "It must still be active."
"Bomb doors coming open ... missile away!" Patrick said
as he processed a Striker missile launch. Elliott immediately
rolled right and centered up on the first DF-3 launch site.
11 Bandits got a good look at that missile launch!" Wendy
cried. "Bandits at six o'clock, eighteen miles and closing ...
stand by for pylon missile launch ... radar lock, they got a
radar lock ... no, radar's down, they're closing in to heater
range ... missile away, missile away!" An AIM-120 Scorpion
missile streaked out of the left weapon pod, arced up and over
the Megafortress, and plummeted down on its quarry. "Splash
one!" Wendy shouted. "Splash ... no, the Su-27's still up! I
hit one of the other fighters! The Su-27's still coming!"
"Good terminal video," Patrick called out. Sure enough,
the Dong Feng-5 missile silo they had just launched on had
not been touched by any of the SLAMs. Patrick centered the
targeting crosshairs directly on 'the movable concrete silo
cover, and hit it directly in the center. "Got it!" he shouted.
"Stand by for second pylon launch!" Wendy shouted.
"Missile away!" The last Scorpion missile flew out of the
right weapon pod, and this time it did not miss. "Splash two!"
she shouted. "Got the-27! The other fighters are breaking for-
mation.... I've got two formations of J-8s now, closest at
three o'clock, seven miles and closing. The second formation's
at six o'clock, twelve miles."
"First DF-3 site twelve o'clock, twenty miles," Patrick
called out.
I need a turn!" Wendy shouted.
FATAL TERRAIN 461
"Do it!"
11 Right forty degrees!" Wendy cried, and Elliott hauled the
Megafortress into a tight turn. "I'm jamming their ranging
radars! I've got a lock! Pylon launch, now!" The AIM-9L
Sidewinders mounted in the weapons pods were not directly
mated to the Megafortress's attack system-they had to be
pointed at a target and allowed to find their own target. But
once Wendy had turned the Megafortress at the oncoming Chi-
nese fighters, the Sidewinders quickly detected the fighter's
hot-wing leading edges and sent a MISSILE LOCK signal. As
soon as Wendy got the signal, she punched off one Side-
winder. It homed perfectly on its target and exploded right in
the path of the J-8, sending it spiraling to the ground.
. "Splash two!" Cheshire crowed when she saw the explo-
sion and saw the burning plane plummet to earth. Wendy im-
mediately selected another Sidewinder that had locked on to a
fighter and let it fly. This one disappeared from sight with no
explosions-clean miss.
"Hold this heading-we're going nose to nose with them!"
Wendy shouted.
"Shit-they're right on us!" Elliott shouted. Both he and
Cheshire saw numerous winks of light in the darkness as the
J-8 fighters opened fire on the Megafortress with their 23-
millimeter cannons, then p
eeled off.
The Megafortress's crew heard what seemed like hundreds
of hammerlike blows all over the aircraft, then the rumble and
roar of the Chinese jets flying just a few hundred feet away
from them. "Check the instruments!" Elliott shouted to
Cheshire. "Patrick!"
"Right turn and center up!" Patrick responded.
Elliott started a hard right turn-and immediately decreased
the turn when they felt a hard, sharp rumbling on the right
wing. "We got something hanging on the right," he said.
"Nance, you see anything?"
"No," Cheshire responded. "But I've got fluctuating num-
ber four hydraulic pressure. It feels like we might have lost a
spoiler."
The DF-3 missile sites were situated along the same access
road, roughly in a line about five miles apart. "Radar coming
on ... radar stand by," McLanahan said as he took the release
fix. The synthetic aperture radar image showed the Dong Feng-
3 launch complex in stark detail: the launch pad, gantry, and
462 DALE BROWN
the two railroad lines leading from the launch pad to the two
missile-storage sheds, spaced about 200 yards apart. The Me-
gafortress rolled in on the first site. "Doors coming open ...
bombs away!" McLanahan shouted. He sequenced the re-
leases so that the bornblet scatter pattern of one CBU-59 clus-
ter-bomb unit was centered directly on the missile sheds.
The tactic worked. Each DF-3 storage shed was blasted
apart by hundreds of one-pound bomblets, and the scatter pat-
tern was large enough to encompass the launch pad and a
nearby electrical transformer farm, which shut down power to
the complex's air defense artillery site located to the north.
The second missile was only damaged in the attack, but the
first 59,000-pound liquid-fueled DF-3 missile caught fire and
created a massive explosion- that wiped out the second missile
very effectively.
But the sudden destruction of the DF-3 site alerted the air
defense units protecting the other two remaining sites, and sec-
onds later the horizon was illuminated with six antiaircraft
artillery guns opening up. Wendy had used her jammers to
shut down the triple-A site's tracking radars, so the Chinese
