by Frank Perry
Little Bird has one Allison 250-C30 turbo shaft engine, which produces 425 horsepower, that takes about a minute to reach full power from start. As the team ran to their aircraft, the birds began easing forward when the last set of boots was on board.
Peter switched the radio to COM 1, “Big Eye One, this is Striker One, over.”
“Striker One this is Big Eye One, over.”
“Big Eye, you will receive FLASH Traffic regarding mobile phone signal. It must be tracked in real time, over.”
“Striker One, confirm. FLASH traffic received and ELINT equipment being programmed as we speak. We should have capture capability in less than one minute, over.”
Peter confirmed, “Roger that Big Eye. Assume racetrack pattern opposite direction with Big Eye Two and maximize accuracy of vectors. We may not have many chances to nail this guy, so keep me current. We are refueling and will be tactical in ten minutes, over.”
“HUA Striker One, go get ‘em! Out.”
The Little Birds merged in formation flying at top speed back to base. The crew at Naperville was ready to top off the tanks with JP4 from fuel trucks as quickly as they landed. Blue Thunder was ahead and already refueling. MH-6Js carry 100 gallons of fuel, good for short flight times. The AH-64 Apache is faster and has a longer range, so the Little Birds were the limiting factor in tactics.
As the pilots radioed their approach into the temporary base, Big Eye One radioed the first intercept of the mobile signal. Peter ordered “hot top off.” This is a dangerous exercise because the engines would remain running and the refueling crews would be augmented with fire crews. All personnel would remain near their aircraft. Refueling this way was risky, but time was important.
Moments later, headquarters radioed from Springfield, “Shields this is Brodie, over.”
Peter responded, “Copy sir, this is Shields, over.”
”Striker One be advised XEMP weaps have arrived. Contact Eagle One on COM2. Fresh fuel from Scott [AFB] and on track above Chicago at Angels 15, waiting your command, over.”
Peter responded, “Roger that Sir, Eagle One at COM2. Striker One, Out.”
The little Birds touched down moments later.
Terms
The Russian convoy was heading northwest on Randall Road, a course that kept them roughly fifty miles outside the center of Chicago. Machin was becoming increasingly agitated, “Who do they think we are Vasya? Do they think we are joking? You know, I should explode another bomb just to show them who is the boss!” He reached for the controller on the seat between them.
Alekseev cautioned “Be patient Tolya. We are asking for a lot of money. Even the President cannot write a billion dollar check. Maybe we should have asked for less.”
“They wouldn’t take us so seriously. They will find the money.”
They were in a convoy of eight cars, third back from the front. All the cars had heavily armed men, mostly ex-Russian paratroops. All were promised a million dollars, and were loyal to Machin.
Machin picked up his phone and called the lead car. He did not want the convoy traveling too fast. Speed meant more turns and he wanted to stay in the farmland. The only trees along the road were located along the natural streams. Farmers liked to fish in the woods along streambeds near their fields. He regarded farming as a bleak way to live. He would rather be in a Russian prison than slave to the earth and animals. But, desolate little roads were perfect for the next few hours. The bombs would be in place in four to five hours, and by then he would be a rich man. They would all be rich, but none would know how much wealth he retained for himself. He dialed the lead car and spoke his commands in Russian.
Striker Mission Two
Back at Naperville, the Little Birds finished refueling. Peter briefed the entire strike team on the intelligence situation. They could be dealing with a mobile target, so quick reaction and movement would be key for their success. After the briefing he said, “Okay, equipment check, weapons ‘cocked and locked’, the same flight formation. Let’s rock an’ roll.”
In less than fifteen seconds the four Little Birds and Blue Thunder were airborne and moving toward the first set of coordinates. After midnight, there was little traffic on the roads as they moved westerly, over more farm country. The residential streetlights gave way to dark terrain.
Four minutes later they had arrived at the first waypoint, at the little suburban community of Batavia. The precise location of the signal intercept was slightly north of town along Randall Rd. They made a sweeping two-mile turn at one thousand feet around the location, but there was nothing but farmland. After two circles, Peter ordered the pilot to turn to the second intercept point. The other Birds and Thunder maintained formation following Little Bird One.
The second waypoint was farther north in the town of Geneva, also along Randall Road. Again circling the location, the downtown area was completely barren. Only one car was in a parking lot that warranted investigation, so Peter ordered Little Bird Four to descend and investigate. They watched as the rear-most helicopter dropped to a few feet away. The helicopter turned on its landing lights looking inside the vehicle, “No visible occupants Striker One” was radioed.
”Roger that Four, reform.” The strike team had continued orbiting and the Little Bird requested momentary landing lights to locate them. The flying was dangerous in formation, so their air traffic controllers remained coordinated closely with the civil air authorities. The only reference each pilot had to the others was reflective markings on the sides of each helicopter.
The flight group was reformed in less than a minute. The target was moving north on Randall Rd. The time and distance between the two intercepts suggested a car traveling at moderate speed. Peter decided to order the pilot north, following the road at forty knots. The air current was blowing west to east, so it wouldn’t be a factor in their forward ground speed, which would be around forty-five miles per hour. He would follow this course hoping for another Big Eye intercept.
Peter switched the radio to COM2 to contact the F15 that was loitering somewhere overhead in the blackness. He radioed, “Eagle One, this is Strike Force, Colonel Shields, over.”
”Strike, this is Eagle One, over.”
Peter said, “Eagle One, what is your position and weapons load? Over.”
“Striker, Eagle One, orbiting above Chicago, currently south southeast of center at angels 30, packing two AGM-XEMP weaps with GBU guidance system, over.”
“Roger Eagle One. Proceed at 270 degrees about forty miles from center and orbit. Contact Naperville Guard Forward Air Traffic Control. ATC will coordinate. Shields, over.”
The pilot, “Roger 270 degrees at forty, contact Naperville ATC for vector, over.”
Peter inquired, “Eagle One, not familiar with XEMP parameters, please advise best launch altitude, over.”
“Sir, this is Eagle One, WSO (Weapons System Officer), suggesting angels fifteen for launch at five miles from the target, over.”
Peter said, “Roger Eagle One, maintain angels fifteen at orbit. Will advise target, over.”
Peter inquired again, “Eagle One, one more thing. Please advise weapon delivery time, over.”
The F15 WSO said, “Striker, Eagle One, weapon flight time from angels fifteen is less than twenty seconds, over.”
Peter answered, “Roger Eagle One, Shields, out.”
Switching back to COM1, Big Eye One reported a fresh coordinate almost due north of their position. Peter ordered the flight speed increased to one hundred knots, almost one hundred fifteen across the ground. At one thousand feet above the ground, references that could be seen were racing past. Everyone began to sense the confrontation coming. All were upright in their seats. Angela, back in Little Bird Four, was tensing up.
Randall Road is relatively straight running north of Geneva. As the navigation system provided information to the next waypoint, the flight path was directly above Randall Road. The pilot reported that they w
ere two miles from the waypoint. They were only seconds away at their current speed. With time correlation from Big Eye’s last intercept, they were probably about five to ten miles behind the target. Peter instructed the pilot to maintain speed and begin navigating along the road below, holding altitude constant.
Peter ordered, “Thunder, proceed to parallel our position, standoff one thousand right, over.”
Response, “Thunder, roger, over.”
Within fifteen seconds, the Apache attack helicopter was parallel to the lead helicopter about one thousand meters to the right. The AH-64 Apache ‘Longbow’ is a heavy attack helicopter with combat mission speed of 167 mph with duration of over two hours. For armament it carries multiple HELLFIRE missiles, 2.75" rockets and 30mm chain gun. The crew consisted of two members, a pilot and a co-pilot/gunner. It was fully armed.
Peter checked his watch and timed their flight. At two minutes, he disengaged his seat restraint and stood by the open doorway to see the road ahead. The wind in his face was too much without using his goggles. Two miles ahead, he saw a line of cars traveling together at close interval. He sat down again and used the intercom to talk to the pilots, “Gentlemen, do you see the line of cars we are approaching northbound on Randall Road?”
“Aye Colonel, the line is in sight.”
Peter said “Lower to five hundred and close to one half mile.” The