Plan of Attack pm-12 Read online

  Two more SA-12 missiles launched moments after they picked up a sector-scan warning, followed by two more from a different set of launchers, but it was obvious the radar didn’t have a solid lock-on. “Four SA-12s in flight…missiles are deviating, the missile-tracking radar has lost contact…back to surveillance-scan mode only…clean misses.” The radar cross-section of each StealthHawk was one one-thousandth the size of the already-stealthy Vampire bomber — the Russian radar had no chance at all of tracking it except at very close range.

  Both StealthHawks bypassed the second SA-12 battery and instead rushed the first group of vehicles detected — the one with the command-post vehicle, the nerve center of the SA-12 system. The Ural-4320 six-by-six was the smallest vehicle in the group, but that didn’t matter to the UCAVs — both launched a single mini-Maverick missile at the correct vehicle. Patrick and Daren watched the attack unfold as the area images from the StealthHawk’s sensors, and then the target images from the mini-Mav’s imaging infrared sensor, showed the missiles closing in. The mission commander had the option of designating another target or correcting the aimpoint, but it wasn’t necessary — the StealthHawks were perfectly accurate. Both missiles plowed dead-center into the command-post vehicle, transforming it into a cloud of fire in seconds.

  Like meat-eating bees buzzing around a picnic table, the StealthHawks continued their work. The first UCAV sent its second mini-Maverick into the nearby 9S15MV surveillance-radar vehicle, which consisted of a large tracked vehicle carrying a massive billboardlike long-range radar. The second UCAV rolled in on another large radar array not far from the command-post vehicle, but Patrick hit his intercom button. “Negative on that target, Zero-seven,” he said. “That’s the sector-scanning radar — it’s only effective against ballistic-missile attack. Put another mini-Mav into that ‘billboard’ radar.” The remote mission commander overrode the StealthHawk’s target choice and instead guided it against the same long-range radar attacked by the first UCAV. Without the command-post vehicle, the SA-12 was lobotomized. Now, without the surveillance radar, it lost its long-range vision.

  The StealthHawks continued their attack by orbiting the two SA-12 batteries, searching for targets for their second weapon — two canisters, each filled with thirty BLU-97 Combined Effects Munitions bomblets that were scattered in a wide oval pattern above a target cluster. Each bomblet was a two-pound high-explosive fragmenting case with an inflatable Ballute parachute tail and a tiny radio altimeter that measured how far aboveground the canister was and set off the explosive at precisely the correct instant. When detonated, each canister shot several thousand steel fragments in all directions out to fifty to sixty feet, strong enough to penetrate automotive steel and light armor. At the same time, a mixture of zirconium in the Cyclotol explosive ignited, creating a fireball hot enough to set off unprotected fuel tanks, detonate ammunition — or kill a human being — for thirty to forty feet away.

  The two StealthHawks could not hope to destroy all of the over 180 remaining SA-12 missiles in the brigade, but their final attacks were still devastating. Each StealthHawk automatically adjusted its altitude and track so as to maximize the kill pattern of its Combined Effects canisters, dropping the canisters so that the scatter pattern of the BLU-97 bomblets hit as many targets as possible. Each run managed to hit at least two SA-12 transporter-erector-launchers or reload-launcher trailers, which created spectacular secondary explosions as the shrapnel ripped open missile casings and fuel tanks and the incendiary fireballs ignited the fuel or explosives within.

  As the StealthHawks continued to orbit the area, they sent back images and radar maps of their handiwork. “Command vehicle, surveillance radar, and most of two entire SA-12 batteries destroyed or heavily damaged, sir,” the StealthHawk flight-control officer reported. “No radar or datalink transmissions detected.”

  “Over thirty missiles destroyed and several more damaged,” Daren said. “Friggin’ unbelievable. We pretty much pulled the plug on this entire brigade.” Left unsaid was the casualty count — each SA-12 battery was manned by almost fifty soldiers, and the command vehicle alone had twelve officers and technicians on board.

  But even after all of their weapons were expended, the StealthHawks were not finished. Because they knew that their Vampire mother ship had been destroyed and they did not have enough fuel to reach friendly territory or rendezvous with another mother ship, they located one last target — both of the UCAVs selected a surviving launcher filled with SA-12 missiles — and dove in on it. Their small, thirty-pound “suicide” warheads ensured that both the target and the UCAVs themselves were destroyed in their final kamikaze attack runs.

  “Direct impacts on two more transporter-erector-launchers,” Daren reported. Patrick was still listening for word from Eighth Air Force headquarters. “Almost two entire SA-12 batteries destroyed, including their command-and-surveillance center.”

  “Pass along to your Bobcat crews, ‘Well done, good shooting,’ Daren,” Patrick said. It was over in less than ten minutes — one QB-1C Vampire bomber and two StealthHawk UCAVs destroyed with no casualties, versus half of a Russian SA-12 brigade with possibly dozens of casualties. Even Patrick was astounded by the power and efficiency of his unmanned aerial-combat warplanes. “Let’s get another Vampire airborne and on patrol, and let’s pinpoint the rest of that SA-12 brigade.”

  “Roger that, sir,” Daren responded eagerly. He left his station beside Patrick to go up the theaterlike Battle Management Center to the Bobcat flight-control center to pass along the general’s congratulations. At the same time, Patrick heard a chime in his headset. He entered his passcode and waited for the secure linkup. “Fortress, Avenger is up and secure.”

  “What’s your report, General?” Patrick recognized the groggy, gruff voice as Major General Charles Zoltrane, the deputy commander of Eighth Air Force. Well, he thought ruefully, the brass was awake now. He was probably speaking from a secure phone in his quarters, and he definitely did not sound happy about being awakened at this hour.

  “One of my unmanned Vampire bombers was shot down by a Russian SA-12 surface-to-air missile battery just outside Mary, sir,” Patrick replied. Patrick had known Zoltrane for many years, and they were of equal rank. But when Zoltrane used “General” instead of “Patrick,” McLanahan knew to keep this conversation formal and carefully observe their chain of command.

  “Shit,” Zoltrane murmured. “How in hell did you manage that, General?”

  “We were investigating some unidentified ground returns just twenty miles outside Mary, well within the prohibited area, when it popped on and nailed us. We detected two SA-12 batteries and their command-and-control units.”

  “Transmit the site’s coordinates and electromagnetic signals to headquarters, and let’s have a look.” But Zoltrane detected the hesitation in Patrick’s response and said, “What else do you have to report, McLanahan?”

  “The SA-12 batteries have been neutralized, sir,” Patrick said. “The command-and-control unit, surveillance radar, and a total of ten transporter-erector-launchers have been destroyed.”

  “Destroyed? Destroyed with what?”

  “StealthHawk UCAVs, sir, launched from our Vampire just before it was shot down.”

  “StealthHawks? You had Stealthhawks on board your reconnaissance aircraft? How many?”

  “Two.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “They were both completely destroyed when they kamikazied into SA-12 transporter-erector-launchers.”

  “Who gave the order to attack those SA-12 batteries, General?”

  “I did, sir, as soon as my Vampire bomber was attacked and destroyed by hostile ground fire from within the prohibited area around Mary.”

  “You received no guidance from General Samson or from CENT-COM?” Zoltrane asked. Lieutenant General Terrill Samson was the commander of Eighth Air Force and the immediate task-force commander. Although anyone up the chain of command could have issued attack orders to Patri
ck — even the president of the United States himself — most if not all commands would have gone through General Samson at Eighth Air Force except in the direst of emergencies.

  “No, sir.”

  “I see.” There was silence for several long moments, during which Patrick could tell that Zoltrane was still on the line. Then, abruptly, he said, “Stand by,” and the connection was broken. That was not a good sign, Patrick thought.

  Daren Mace returned a few minutes later. “Bobcat Zero-four is inbound inside the ingress corridor over western Pakistan and should be on station in less than an hour,” he reported. “He does not have any StealthHawks on board. Bobcat Zero-two will be ready to launch from Diego Garcia in about thirty minutes, and he’s loaded with two UCAVs. We can only load fifty percent of our Vampires with UCAVs for now, but we expect to get a few more ready to upload within twenty-four hours. Within forty-eight hours, all Vampires will have UCAVs on board.”

  “Very good,” Patrick said. “Get Zero-two airborne as soon as possible, with StealthHawks and full defensive armament. All Vampires that launch from now on will have StealthHawks on board unless further advised. The Russians might have many more SA-12s waiting for us out there.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Patrick glanced up and saw Brigadier General David Luger, his second in command, trotting down the stairs toward the command console, apparently in a very big hurry, looking worriedly at Patrick. “Put Zero-four on patrol, and have him identify each and every laser-radar return within fifty miles of Mary,” he went on. “If the Russians have a portable latrine out there, I want to know about it.”

  “You got it, sir,” Daren said enthusiastically. He started to put on his headset to talk with the flight-control crew in the BATMAN and his ground crews on Diego Garcia, but David Luger came over to him, bent down, and whispered something to him. Daren Mace looked quizzically at Luger and shook his head, but Luger grasped Mace by his right upper arm, and Mace stood up and retreated up the stairs toward the flight-control crews.

  Patrick watched this interchange with a slight feeling of dread that he tried not to make evident in his voice as he asked, “What’s going on, Dave?”

  “I received a call from Eighth Air Force headquarters, Patrick,” Luger replied. Patrick noticed that David was in a flight suit but was un-shaven and had barely taken the time to lace up his flying boots. At that moment a tech from the communications center trotted down the steps carrying a message. He handed it to Luger, who read it quickly. Patrick saw his face turn ashen. “Oh, shit…”

  “What in hell’s going on, Texas?” Patrick asked.

  “You…you’ve been relieved of duty, Patrick,” Luger responded, his voice shaking with disbelief and shock. He handed the message to Patrick. “I’ve been ordered to take command of the Air Battle Force and to confine you to quarters until you can be reassigned. All of our planes are being recalled. You…Christ, Patrick, you’ve been demoted to brigadier general.”

  Patrick read the message, shrugged, and simply nodded. “Guess they didn’t appreciate me blowing up a Russian SAM site without letting them know first,” he said simply.

  “Patrick…Muck, this is not right,” David stammered. “Eighth Air Force can’t take away your command just like that—we don’t belong to them. And only the president, the SECDEF, or the chief of staff can take away your stars.”

  “This message is not from Eighth Air Force,” Patrick said, holding up the note and tapping the relevant line. “It came from the Pentagon, transmitted in response to a request from General Samson,” Patrick said. He crumpled the paper in his hands. “You have command of the Air Battle Force, Dave. I’ve been ordered to go home.” He looked at his friend, clasped him on the shoulder, then took off his headset and dropped it on the command console. “I’ll be with my son in quarters. If they want me, they can reach me there. I’ll have my earset on — don’t ring my home phone. It might wake Bradley.”

  David Luger was just too stunned to move. “Muck…”

  “Don’t let them take away your ability to fight, Dave,” Patrick said, looking at his longtime friend and partner with a defeated expression Luger had never seen before. “The staff weenies at Barksdale don’t have a clue. Don’t let them take away your strength.” And with that, Patrick McLanahan marched up the steps and out of the Battle Management Center.

  In the blink of an eye, a general reduced to nothing.

  Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Turkmenistan,

  Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan

  That same time

  Yes, sir, I know what my orders were,” Colonel General Boris Kasimov, commander of Turkmenistan Defensive Alliance forces, forcibly responded on the secure telephone line. “The order was ‘all weapons tight.’ But we were under attack, damn it. The Americans had an armed B-1 bomber up there over Mary, and it rolled in on my brigade and attacked without any warning.”

  “Take it easy, Boris, take it easy,” General Anatoliy Gryzlov, president of the Russian Federation, asked in a soft, understanding tone. Short, slender, with thin brown hair and bright blue eyes, the former cosmonaut, test pilot, and, until recently, chief of staff of the Russian military, usually appeared as if he would very much like to beat up everyone to whom he spoke. But when he was speaking to his generals, Gryzlov’s entire demeanor was different; he treated them all, from the most senior commanders to the lowliest conscripts, with fatherly attention.

  “Sir, I take full responsibility for this incident. I—”

  “Boris, hold it,” Gryzlov implored. “It’s me, Anatoliy, your classmate at the academy, your squadron leader, your poker buddy. We’ve served too long together, fought too many battles, for you to talk to me like an altar boy caught yanking his wanker in the confessional. Just speak to me, all right? What happened?”

  Gryzlov could hear Kasimov take a deep, relieved breath and a hard swallow. “General, we came under attack, and the air-defense brigade reacted, plain and simple,” he said wearily. “All of a sudden that damned American bomber appeared out of nowhere and headed right for the number-one battery, and it had its bomb doors open. The crews saw it on the optronic sights, and everyone panicked. They lit it up and fired on it without requesting permission.”

  “For Christ’s sake, Boris, I know your crews have more discipline than that,” Gryzlov said. “That’s the reason we picked that brigade to deploy on this mission — they knew how to preserve operational security. My orders were specific: Weapons stayed tight unless I personally, verbally gave the order to attack. And that was only going to happen after we started moving the armored divisions eastward — not for another six months at least. I was hoping by then that the world would have forgotten about that stinking rathole called Turkmenistan and leave us alone to do our business, just like Chechnya. This incident puts the conflict right back on the world media’s hot sheet.”

  “General, blame it on the Americans,” Kasimov said angrily. “They weren’t permitted to bring armed attack aircraft into Turkmenistan, just unarmed reconnaissance planes and other aircraft armed with defensive systems only.”

  “I know that, Boris,” Gryzlov said. “What I’m asking you is, what were your orders to the brigade? Exactly.” There was a long pause. “Boris, let’s not play games here. Talk to me.”

  “I told my brigade commanders that the order from you was ‘weapons tight,’ but I made it clear to them that I did not want to lose the brigade to attackers, especially Americans or Turkmenis,” Kasimov said finally. “I told the colonel that they were not to initiate an attack, but they were not to lose the brigade under any circumstances.” He quickly added, “Surely, General, you did not expect me to just allow that S-300 brigade to be attacked from the air without fighting back? I know that your orders didn’t mean we should just let the entire brigade be wiped out….”

  “Boris…”

  “The Americans had a B-1 bomber that launched two unmanned attack aircraft,” Kasimov said, his voice pleading now. “Each one of thos
e things employed at least two guided missiles and two cluster munitions before flying themselves into another target. They took out nearly the entire antiaircraft brigade! At least we got the fucking bomber — and if you ask me, we should follow it up by attacking their forward base in Diego Garcia. We can’t let the Americans get away with this!”

  Gryzlov winced when Kasimov reminded him of that fact. The Antey S-300V-series surface-to-air missile system — what the West called the SA-12 “Gladiator”—was the best long-range, high-altitude antiaircraft weapon system in the Russian Federation, and probably the best in the world; it was also the world’s first workable mobile antiballistic-missile system. Despite its effectiveness, however, Russia’s outmoded and inadequate industrial and technical development centers and its rapidly shrinking defense budget couldn’t produce enough spare parts and reloads for its own training and operational needs, let alone fully support its export customers. Just a single pair of missiles expended in a rare live-fire training exercise took weeks, sometimes months to replace — losing two entire missile batteries, not to mention the command-and-surveillance radar vehicles, would be devastating.

  And the men that were lost…five officers and thirteen technicians killed, including the brigade commander and his deputy; three officers and thirty techs injured, some critically. It was a devastating loss. It didn’t matter that the United States was technically in violation of the UN Security Council’s peacekeeping agreement: Russia had suffered a tremendous loss, in a country where it had almost total control.