Fatal Terrain Page 8
fense suicide."
"You might want to loosen up a bit, Patrick," Samson in-
terjected, with a wry smile. "Those decisions are made far,
far above our pay grade. Besides, it was the success of the
heavy bomber that ielped kill it off more than anything else.'
"What do you mean?"
"After your overlying of China with a B-2 everyone
thought had been destroyed, the world is scared shitless,"
Samson explained. "Any talk of using strategic bombers in a
conflict, especially with China, looks like a return to the Cold
War days, and it has lawmakers on both sides nervous. The
President has ordered all the Beaks back to Whiteman, and
he's lying low, waiti ng for the 'lynch mobs' to quiet down."
"Lynch mobs? Someone's upset that we struck back at the
Iranians?"
"Don't you read the papers, Patrick?" Samson asked with
surprise. "Half of Congress, mostly the left side of the aisle,
is howling mad at the President for authorizing those bombing
missions against Iran. There's talk of an investigation, an in-
dependent counsel, even impeachment. Nothing will come of
it, of course-it's all political mudslinging, and few outside
the Pentagon or the closed-door congressional military com-
mittees know what we did over Iran-but the President's neck
is stretched way out there."
"We proved today that the B-52 is still a first-class weapon
system," McLanahan said resolutely. "We've got five more
Sky Masters can arm
EB-52s sitting in storage right now, and
them all with Wolverine attack missiles and Tacit Rainbow
anti-radar missiles. The mission has changed, General, but we
still need the B-52s."
FATAL TERRAIN 49
"The B-52s have already been fragged for the boneyard,
Patrick, including the Megafortresses,', Samson said. "The
money's already been spent to get rid of them. Minot and
Barksdale go civilian by the end of next year-hell, my desk
will be auctioned off by Christmas. Give it up,
Patrick. I'll
recommend that Air Force buy Wolverines, but not to equip
B-52s-that's a losing proposition. Mate Wolverines with
Beaks and Bones"-Samson used the crewdog nicknames for
the B-2A and B-113 bombers-" and I think we'll have a
deal.-
But McLanahan wasn't listening-he was lost in thought,
his eyes locked in the "thousand-yard stare- that he seemed
to lapse into from time to time. Even though he ran checklists
and did his duties as a B-2 bomber mission commander, he
seemed to think about a hundred different things all at once.
Just like Brad Elliott, Samson thought. Thinking about how he
was going to twist the game to his advantage, turning over
each and every possibility, no matter how weird or outlandish,
until the solution presented itself. Elliott was famous ... no,
infamous ... for that,
"Twenty B-2s and sixty B-Is to cover all of the long-range
strike contingencies around the world?" McLanahan muttered.
"You can't do it, sir. Deploy the force to Diego Garcia for a
Middle East conflict, then swing them to Guam for an Asia
conflict? Maybe for a few days, but not for more than that.
Who leads the way for the little guys?"
"That's why we got the Navy and the F- 1 17, " Samson said.
"Bombers aren't the only answer, MC, you know that. you,re
forgetting the other twenty-five Air Force, Reserve, and Guard
combat strike wings, the thirteen Navy air wings, the four Ma-
rine air wings. . .
"Tactical bombers need forward airstrips, lots of tankers,
@nd lots Of ground support," McLanahan reminded the gen-
eral, "and naval bombers need carriers that can sail safely
within range of the target. A conflict in Asia, for example,
could do away with all of these."
"But a B-52 can't stand up to modem-day air defenses,
Patrick," Samson said. "All of the reports and studies prove
this. Even with two-hundred mile standoff weapons, a B-52
can't survive. Put it in a low- or zero-threat environment and
it could chew up a lot of earth, but it's not worth the money
50 DALE BROWN
to support a bomber that can only be used once the war's
almost won."
"General, the Megafortress will cream anything the Air
Force, Navy, or Marines can put up against it," Jon Masters.
"All by itself, it'll go up against a squadron of whatever you
want to put up and 'destroy' every strategic target in the RED
FLAG range-and it'll come out alive, ready to fight again."
"Spoken like a true salesman, Doc," Samson said over his
shoulder, with a broad smile. To McLanahan he said, "I'm
not promising that anything will come of this, you two, re-
member that. I did this flight test as a favor to you and Dr.
Masters. You and Jon might not get a contract from the Air
Force after all this is over, no matter how well your gear works
or how much of your own money you spend."
do, they'll make a
"When the Air Force sees what we can
t be able to re-
deal," Masters said confidently. "They won
sist.99
"General, Jon's business is making money-we all under-
stand that," McLanahan said earnestly. "But my objective is
to build the best long-range rapid-deployment attack fleet pos-
sible with our shrinking defense budget, and I believe part of
that objective is the EB-52B Megafortress, combined with
smart standoff attack and defense-suppression weapons. Jon
and his company are backing my ideas. All I want is a chance
to show the brass what we can do, and we need your help.
We're the best, General. We need the chance to prove it."
Samson smiled and shook his head in amusement. "You
better watch yourself, Colonel-you're starting to sound an
iott."
awful lot like that old warhorse friend of yours, Brad Ell
tor. "He's a good
McLanahan smiled at the mention of his men
buddy and one fine man, but he sure got stung by the hornets
from all the nests he stiffed up. A friendly word of caution:
don't be like him."
judging by the silence, Samson guessed that McLanahan
hadn't heard a word he said.
-I pop-
FATAL TERRAIN 51
CENTRAL MILITARY COMMISSION CONFERENCE
ROOM, GOVERNMENT HOUSE, BEIJING,
PEOPLE'S REPU13LIC OF CHINA
TUESDAY 27 MAY 1997., 2341 HOURS LOCAL
(MONDAY, 26 MAY9 1041 HOURS ET)
"Loyal fathers of the Party, stand and pay respect to our Par-
amount Leader!"
The assembled general officers and ministers of the People's
Liberation Army stood and bowed deeply as the president of
the People's Republic of China, Paramount Leader Jiang
Zemin, entered the conference chamber, bowed slightly to the
others, and took his place at the head of the table. They re-
inained standing, all bowing at the waist except Jiang, until
the Chinese anthem, "Xiang Yang Hong," or "East Is Red,"
was played. They stood at attention until after the In
tonation
of Strength and Solidarity was read; then the ministers ap-
plauded the Paramount Leader as he took his seat. The Into-
nation was a solemn promise to support and defend the
Communist Party, Zhongguo Renmin Gongheguo, the Peo-
ple's Republic of China, and the people; but unlike the Amer-
ican Pledge of Allegiance, the Intonation contained a threat of
the particular punishment one might expect if he or she did
not sacrifice one's life for the Party and for the people-dis-
grace, humiliation, death, and public dishonor of self and one's
ancestors.
Jiang Zemin carefully watched the faces of the assembled
ministers and generals as the Intonation was read, looking to
see if anyone's eyes glanced over toward his or to anyone
else's-the threat of death and humiliation in the Intonation
was sometimes enough to make a guilty or conspiratorial man
fidgety. It was of course possible to bury any outward signs
of treason,. but Jiang knew that a man bent on betrayal some-
times looked for reassurance from coconspirators or for evi-
dence that he was under suspicion. Jiang was an expert in
detecting such subde, outward signs of a man's innermost
fears.
Paramount Leader and President Jiang Zemin was seventy-
one years old, in excellent health and looking far younger than
his years. He had a square, tough-looking face with a high
forehead and thick, dyed black hair combed, straight back. He
52 DALE BROWN
wore a simple olive short-sleeved open-collar rough-cotton tu-
nic shirt belted at the waist, with matching pants. His horn-
rim spectacles were plain; he wore no jewelry except a
wristwatch. Educated as an engineer but trained in Communist
Party doctrine and theory in Moscow, formerly the mayor and
Communist Party chief of China's second-largest city, Shang-
hai, Jiang was a master at power politics in China, a man well-
suited to run his nation's large and complicated Party
mechanism. d's most po
Today, Jiang Zemin was president of the worl P_
ulous nation and, as such, arguably the most powerful man on
planet Earth. Among his many responsibilities and duties, the
engineer from Jiangsu Province was general secretary of the
six-member Chinese Communist Party Secretariat, the genesis
for all political thought in China; chairman of the Politburo,
the group of twenty-one senior Party leaders who determined
all Chinese political ideology and direction; chairman of the
Standing Committee, the highest policy-making body in China
and the body who actually wrote legislation (the 3,500-
member National People's Congress always rubber-stamped
their approval of all legislation drafted by the Standing Com-
mittee and Politburo); chairman of the powerful Military Com-
mission of the Chinese Communist Party, who deterriiined
Party policy in military affairs; chairman of the Central Mili-
tary Commission, responsible for implementing Party military
nder in
policy in the People's Liberation Army; and comma
chief of the People's Liberation Army-a force of two hun-
dred million regular, reserve, paramilitary, and militia troops.
Jiang not only had the power to enforce laws, but also made
laws and even created the philosophy and ideas behind the
laws, the ideals that formed the very basis of Communist Chi-
nese thought. He was not only leader and chief executive of
the most populous nation on earth, but was also commander
in chief of the largest military force on the planet-and now
he was planning to set that huge machine in motion.
Jiang was presiding over a crucial late-night meeting of the
Central Military Commission, made up of civilian and military
members in charge of the key divisions of the military infra-
structure: the Minister of National Defense, Chi Haotian; High
General Chin Po Zihong, chief of the general staff of the Chi-
nese People's Liberation Army (PLA); General Yu Yongpo,
chief of General Political Affairs of the PLA; General Fu Qan-
FATAL TERRAI N 53
you, chief of the PLA General Logistics Department; the chiefs
of staff of the army, air force, navy, and the East China Sea
Fleet; and the chiefs of China's ten military and civilian in-
telligence agencies and institutes. als, there is a saying
"Comrades, loyal ministers and gener
in the ancient military philosophy of Zhongguo that the gov-
ernment must evaluate not only the enemy, but evaluate itself
before pondering the beginning of hostilities," Paramount
Leader Jiang Zemin said. "I am here to inform you that the
Party and the government have looked deep within ourselves,
at the state of our nation and of the people and our way of
life, and we have seen that our nation is being pulled apart
piece by piece by the encroachment of the Western world. It
is time to end the rape upon our nation, our people, and our
way of life. In China, as it should be throughout the world,
the government must govern, and that is the will and the task
of the Party.
"The disintegration of the state is seen in the usurpation of
several regions on the periphery of our nation," Jiang went
on, "including India, Kyrgyzstan, Vietnam, Mongolia, and
threats against our Communist brothers in North Korea; and
three critical regions belonging to China since- the dawn of
recorded history: Senkaku Dao, taken from us by Japan in
World War Two; Nansha Dao, taken from us by European
imperialists and by Asian anarchists and dictators using West-
ern governments as their puppets, and Formosa Dao, taken
from us by the Nationalists and now protected by the United
States. The Party's stated goal is simple, comrades: The
twenty-third Chinese province of Taiwan will be ours once
again. The Party demands that our attack plan against Taiwan
be activated.
The ministers and generals nodded dutiful) , but Jiang was
surprised to hear applause from the commission! Rising to his
feet while continuing to applaud his president's words was
Admiral Sun Ji Guoming, the first deputy chief of the general
staff and General Chin's expected successor. Moments later,
other generals followed Sun's lead, rising and applauding, and
even some of the aged ministers clapped, their soft, withered
hands making virtually no sound. It was unheard of, totally
out of character for a Chinese to express himself so openly,
especially a military officer.
"You dishonor yourself by such a pretentious and disre-
54 DALE BROWN
spectful display, Comrade Sun," General Chin, the chief of
staff, said in a low, croaking voice. "Be seated."
Sun bowed to both Chin and Jiang. "Forgive me, com-
rades," Sun said, without being given penrnission to speak.
"But I welcome the Paramount Leader's words with great joy-
I meant no disrespect." He quickly dropped back into his seat
and apologetically averted his eyes-but only for a moment.
Jiang," General Chin said, after giving Sun a deadly stem
warning glance. "Implementing the Party's wishes will be a
challenging but ultimately victorious task. I urge the Central
Military Commission to order the aircraft carrier Mao Zedong
and its new battle group into position to take Quemoy im-
mediately, so the Taiwanese Nationalists cannot use them as
staging or observation bases against us," Chin said. Quemoy
was a large Taiwanese-occupied island just a mile from the
Chinese mainland, used as an observation outpost and tourist
destination. "We can blockade the island with ease with our
task force, cut off their supplies, and starve them into submis-
sion. The task force can land five thousand troops on Quemoy
right away, and we can eventually move three thousand troops
a day onto the island. In two weeks, we can retake the island
and claim it."
Jiang was surprised at Chin's comments-he expected re-
sistance from the People's Liberation Army. Bloated, gargan-
tuan, hopelessly encrusted and weighed down with decades'
worth of nameless bureaucrats, the military seemed. to require
a full ten years of preparation before embarking on the sim-
plest program or operation. Under Deng Xiaoping, Jiang's
predecessor, the People's Liberation Army had been reduced
in size by one-fourth and the militias reduced by almost half,
but there were still over three million active-duty troops in
China and over two hundred million men and women that
could be mobilized for military service.
The centuries-old "sea of humanity" concept of warfighting
was being replaced by modem ideas, but it would take several
generations to eliminate the old ways-and the old inertia.
Chin Po Zihong was a daring leader who truly believed China
was destined to rule Asia, but he was not the best tactician. It
was Chin who had tried to form an alliance with a socialist
government faction in the Philippines; it was Chin who had
devised the current alliance among China, North Korea, and
FATAL TER RAI N 55
the Islamic Republic of Iran. Although both programs had