‘Is it worth while doing anything to sanitize the aircraft?’ Black asked.
Richter considered the question for a few moments.
‘If one does get shot down, a new paint job isn’t going to fool anyone, and the whole point of this is that the attack aircraft must clearly not be American, so the “Royal Navy” logos and squadron markings should stay. That might tell any eyewitnesses that the aircraft are British, though I doubt if many North Koreans would be able to recognize a Harrier. And especially not one that’s two hundred feet above the ground doing about five hundred knots. They’ll hear it, but they probably won’t ever see it.’
‘You still think a low-level approach is best?’
‘I don’t think there’s much choice, Blackie. If we go in at high or medium level, we’ll get picked up by radar and every SAM battery and anti-aircraft gun emplacement within range will start shooting at us. Not to mention having to tangle with their Fishbeds and Floggers, and at high level a Foxbat would eat a Harrier for breakfast. At low level, the GR9 can outrun, or at least outmanoeuvre, anything they’ve got, I hope. A high-speed, low-level quick in-and-out is the only way this is going to work.’
Oval Office, White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC
‘Welcome back, Walter. You’ve some news for us? Good news, I trust?’ ‘News, Mr President, yes,’ Walter Hicks said, sitting down in front of the desk. ‘But “good” isn’t the word I’d use to describe it. It looks as if Pyongyang is moving additional troops closer to the northern edge of the Demilitarized Zone, and our satellites have detected activity at most North Korean airfields.
‘Normally, they keep their aircraft in the hardened shelters dug into the mountains, but we’re now seeing quite a few Ilyushin 28 bombers parked out on hardstandings, and some have begun running their engines – the heat blooms are unmistakable. Just as worrying is that there are also large numbers of fighters on the ramps, mainly Sukhoi Su-25s, MiG-19s, 21s, 23s and Shenyang F-5s. Those are all old and fairly obsolete types, but we’ve also counted twelve Foxbats.’
‘And the implication is that they’re gearing up for military action?’
‘It’s difficult to put any other interpretation on it, Mr President. Historically, the North Koreans have always been frugal in their use of aviation fuel, because they haven’t got much of it, and their pilots carry out the minimum possible numbers of sorties per year as a result. We’ve never seen anything like this level of activity before. Nor do they seem concerned that we can clearly see what they’re doing, yet they obviously know we have satellites overflying the peninsula, because in the past they’ve taken care to restrict their activities to those periods when none of our birds were within range.’
‘Perhaps they know the preparations they must make are too extensive to be carried out between passes,’ the President suggested.
‘Perhaps,’ Hicks agreed. ‘The other, less attractive, explanation is that they want us to see that they’re gearing up for war. They want us to be aware that they’re serious. In that case, some kind of an ultimatum or demand might be on its way to us right now.
‘But I do have one small piece of good news. The Agency’s been contacted by the British SIS, and they’ve said that they will be able to launch an air raid into North Korea should it become necessary. They’ll send a Harrier from the warship Illustrious and aim to hit the east-coast missile bases.’
‘Just one aircraft? Will that be enough?’
‘Apparently it took quite a lot of persuasion to get the Royal Navy to commit even one Harrier, sir. But it’s a very capable aircraft, and it should be possible for the pilot to achieve his objective. For one thing he’ll have surprise on his side. And the attack will obviously come from the east, from the Sea of Japan, while North Korea’s defences are optimized for assaults from the south, across the Demilitarized Zone, so the DPRK forces should be looking the wrong way.’
‘What about the North Korean fighters? They’ve got swarms of them.’
‘Agreed, Mr President, but with the exception of the Foxbat they’re all old and slow, and the Harrier should be able to avoid or outrun them.’
At that moment the door opened and the Secretary of Defense walked in, looking agitated and carrying a slim red folder. He nodded a greeting to Hicks, then turned to the President. ‘I’ve just taken this off the teleprinter from Pyongyang. It’s addressed personally to yourself, to the Prime Minister of Japan and to the President of South Korea.’
He passed the folder across the desk. The President opened it and read the short printed message it contained. Then he looked over at Hicks.
‘You’d better tell your contacts at SIS to get that Harrier warmed up,’ he said. ‘It’s pretty much as you predicted. They say they hope we were watching the recent demonstration of their Taep’o-dong 2 missile’s effectiveness, and they claim here it followed a homing beacon to land on an obsolete freighter they were using as a target.
‘They’ve also released details of that successful flight, and the detonation of their nuclear weapon, to all the international news agencies. So this is going to be all over the papers tomorrow. They’ve also helpfully explained, just in case the editors are too stupid to get the point, that approximately one-third of the continental United States is now within range of their weapons. The talking heads are going to have a field day working out exactly which cities the gooks will be able to nuke if we piss them off in any way. The public backlash is going to be huge, and we’re going to have to tread real careful.
‘That’s merely the preamble, if you like. The meat’s in the second paragraph, and this stuff hasn’t been given to the press for obvious reasons. They’ve targeted nuclear-tipped missiles on Japan, and are threatening to use them if our embedded forces oppose their “peaceful” incursion to “liberate” South Korea from its capitalist oppressors. And if we do interfere directly, the first target of their now fully-functioning Taep’o-dong type 2 ICBMs will be Los Angeles.’
HMS Illustrious, Yellow Sea
Richter was still working with Roger Black in the admiral’s quarters, studying maps of North Korea and trying to work out the optimum routes in and out – the tracks that would avoid as many of the known anti-aircraft defences as possible. Then suddenly the telephone rang.
Black answered it, then handed the receiver to Richter.
‘Commander Richter? This is the CommCen, sir. We’ve just received a Flash signal for you, but it’s only a single word.’
‘Which is?’
‘The word is “PROXIMATE”, sir. Do you need me to spell that?’
‘No,’ Richter said, sounding resigned. ‘I know what it means, thanks.’
‘It’s a go?’ Black asked, as Richter replaced the phone.
‘That was the code-word. It’s a go. We need to get airborne at first light tomorrow morning.’
Chapter Nineteen
Monday
USS Enterprise, North Pacific Ocean
Captain William Rodgers woke up the moment the phone in his cabin began to ring. He’d always been a light sleeper, and whenever he was at sea he seemed preternaturally attuned to any unusual noise or motion, even a slight change in the direction the ship was steering.
‘Yes?’
‘Officer of the Watch, sir. You asked to be called when we reached six hundred miles from the peninsula. The satnav says that’s where we are right now, and the Hawkeye’s warming up.’
‘Thanks, I’ll be right there.’
A signals yeoman was also waiting on the bridge when Rodgers arrived, and handed him an envelope. The captain ripped it open, pulled out the signal and read it. The yeoman waited, signal pad and ballpoint pen in hand.
‘No reply,’ Rodgers said. ‘No, wait a minute.’
There would, he knew, have to be some kind of a response to the signal, which had basically ordered him to hold the Carrier Battle Group well clear of North Korean territorial waters, and emphasized that neither the ship nor its air group were to part
icipate in any acts of provocation. The latter instruction had merited a paragraph of its own, and had included a prohibition on any flights from the Enterprise except for purposes of pure self-defence, and that included surveillance and intelligence-gathering missions.
Rodgers was going to have to think more about that, but for the moment he’d already decided that the Hawkeye was going to be launched well before he had ‘officially’ read this signal. He’d also decided something else.
He turned to the signals yeoman. ‘No reply to this, but contact the Leyte and McFaul and tell them to detach. They’re to go to maximum speed and set up a picket line between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. On my authority, if any missile is launched from North Korea over the Sea of Japan, they’re to engage it.’
Positioning the two Aegis guided-missile destroyers ahead of the carrier would provide an extra margin of safety.
Eight minutes later, the Enterprise altered course slightly to port to take advantage of what little wind there was and, moments after the ship steadied on its new heading, an E-2C airborne early-warning aircraft, using the callsign Alpha Three, was accelerated into the air by the starboard bow steam catapult. It climbed away from the ship and continued up to just over thirty thousand feet, heading south-west directly towards Korea.
Mayang Missile Base, North Korea
Pak Je-San had meticulously plotted each stage of the operation, and had provided Kim Yong-Su with both an outline plan and explicit details. Kim, in turn, was implementing it step by step, with the full approval of the government in Pyongyang. Because of the scope of the operation, a number of the actions Pak had specified would necessarily have to be carried out by junior officers who would certainly not be privy to the overall strategy.
An Air Force tab-ryong, equivalent to a colonel, at the Mayang missile base was one of these officers. He’d been puzzled when Pyongyang had instructed him to mount a No-dong missile in the launch gantry. His confusion stemmed not from the instruction itself, which was clear enough, but simply because of the actual missile he’d been told to prepare. Mounting the payload and fitting the nose-cone also didn’t make sense to him, because he’d already been told that the ‘warhead’ was a fake, filled with scrap metal.
But when he read the last instruction from Pyongyang, he finally grasped the totality of the part of the operation in which he was personally involved, and its simplicity and elegance made him smile.
HMS Illustrious, Yellow Sea
Normally the main briefing room door was left open, but when Richter arrived at just before four that morning, the door was closed and a burly 800 Squadron chief petty officer was standing outside.
‘Commander Richter? You’re the last one, sir.’ He opened the door and ushered Richter inside, then closed it behind him.
‘Come in, Paul,’ said Roger Black. He was standing at the front of the room, the three other pilots, all wearing flying overalls, sitting in the front row of seats directly facing him. Off to the right-hand side were several whiteboards, and at the back of the room a flight planning desk with dedicated computers, none of which would be used during this briefing.
Usually Harrier pilots are briefed by an intel officer who would use a Powerpoint presentation delivered on a secret computer known as CSS. This is a remarkably useful system that enables secure planning, encrypted messaging, the storage and display of classified documents and mapping, combined with real-time intelligence information. But Richter had no idea how to use the system, and in any case the signal from Simpson had been absolutely specific: no details of any aspect of the mission were to be entered on any data storage device, and all planning materials were to be destroyed as soon as the briefing was completed.
‘I’ve been explaining the substance of the mission to these three,’ Black said, ‘but despite that, they still seem keen to go with you.’
Richter nodded to them and sat down at the end of the row. ‘I’m very grateful. I think you’re all mad to volunteer, but I do appreciate it.’
‘As you’re all aware, this mission has not been authorized by our controlling authority,’ Black began. ‘The intention was that Paul Richter would carry out a solo sortie into North Korea, and we all know how futile that would probably have been. For this to work, we’ll need a minimum of four aircraft – two pairs – on the mission. The captain is aware of what’s going on, and has given it his full support, but nobody outside this room is to be told anything about this operation, whether it succeeds or fails. As far as the rest of the ship’s company is concerned, you’re going up as two pairs of CAP aircraft to practise one-on-one air combat under South Korean control.
‘I’ve had a met brief, and the weather’s going to continue pretty much the same as it’s been for the last week. That means clear skies, light winds, and zero precipitation. Now, Paul’s done all the mission-planning, so I’ll hand over to him.’
As Black sat down in the front row, Richter walked over to the lectern, selected a map and switched on the overhead projector. On the screen behind him a detailed map of North Korea sprang to life. He turned to check that it was in focus, then back to face the men sitting in front of him.
‘Good morning, gentlemen. This briefing is classified Top Secret and is extremely sensitive, to put it mildly. We’re about to commit an act of war against a country that in no way threatens, or has ever threatened, the United Kingdom. We’re acting as proxies for the Americans, much as we’ve already done in Iraq, but this time I personally think the action is justified.
‘My first point is not directly connected with the mission, but needs emphasizing. You must be fully aware of the likely consequences if you get shot down. The North Koreans’ human rights record is dismal, to say the least. The best you can hope for is that they’ll simply shoot you, but it’s more likely you’ll spend a considerable length of time in one of their concentration camps, and finally be killed in some kind of medical “experiment”. The worst is probably Camp 22, up in the north-east corner of the country, near Haengyong. That establishment holds about fifty thousand prisoners, most of whom will end up gassed or poisoned in Pyongyang’s experimental biological and chemical warfare programme. You need to be in absolutely no doubt about this. The North Koreans have pulled off a difficult trick: they’ve managed to make the Nazis’ concentration camps look relatively humane.’
Richter paused and looked at the impassive faces staring back at him.
‘All four of us will be carrying Walther PPK pistols with one full magazine. This weapon is not intended for you to fight your way out of North Korea. It’s so you can put the barrel against the side of your head and pull the trigger, if you do end up on the ground. That, I assure you, may be your last resort but by far your best option. Do you all fully understand that?’
The three pilots nodded, and Richter shook his head.
‘And you still want to go on this mission? Well, I think you’re all certifiable.’
The Senior Pilot, Lieutenant-Commander Dick ‘Shorty’ Long, laughed briefly. ‘If you go, we go,’ he said. ‘It’s as simple as that, Paul, so stop trying to talk us out of it.’
‘OK, it’s your funeral – metaphorically speaking, I hope. Right, now, the mission.’ Richter turned his attention back to the map and used a pen as a pointer. ‘These are our targets. From the north: Hochon, No-dong, Mayang Island and Ok’pyong. The highest priority is Ok’pyong, partly because of statements made by a North Korean defector.
‘In August nineteen ninety-three a thirty-year-old lieutenant named Im Young-Sun, who’d been employed in the North Korean Military Construction Bureau, defected to the South. He was extensively debriefed by the Americans and, amongst other things, claimed that missiles based at Ok’pyong were normally targeted at Japanese cities and US bases in Japan.
‘According to the Americans, their satellites, mainly KH-12 birds, have detected an unusual kind of truck at Ok’pyong, a vehicle they believe has been specially modified for the carriage of nuclear weapons. From this th
ey inferred that the No-dong missile now sitting on the launch pad at Ok’pyong is carrying a nuclear payload, and the reason we’ve been asked to hit the other three bases is because identical trucks have been spotted at them as well. And at Mayang, here, one satellite image actually shows a warhead being mounted on the missile.’
Richter paused for a few moments, studying the map showing the locations of those four missile bases. Something was nagging at him about this mission, something that wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t put a finger on it. It would, he hoped, come to him eventually.
‘OK, there are four targets and we have four aircraft and, as Wings has said, the optimum tactics are to fly as two pairs, and each pair will take out two targets. The geographical separation of the bases means that one pair will attack Hochon and No-dong, and the other two will hit Ok’pyong and Mayang. I’m volunteering myself for the two southerly bases, because Ok’pyong’s the highest priority.’
Almost before he’d finished speaking, Dick Long turned slightly in his seat to address the other two pilots. ‘I’ll take Ok’pyong and Mayang with Paul. Your targets will be the other two.’
‘The mission callsigns will be Cobra and Viper,’ Richter said. ‘Splot and I will be Cobra; you two are Viper. Now, the weapons. In an ideal world, we’d get airborne, climb to about ten grand, pop off a bunch of Storm Shadows, and land back on board in time for breakfast. Unfortunately, we don’t have that particular missile available, for reasons we’re all aware of – like the fact that it doesn’t actually work with the GR9 – so we’re left with Mavericks, Brimstone, CRV7 rockets, Sidewinders, and bombs various.
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