by James Rosone
Sitting across from him on the couch and chair, was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the SecDef, the Secretary of State, his National Security Advisor, and Katelyn Mackie, his cyberwarfare czar. They sat patiently, awaiting the President’s final decision. Foss sighed and then looked up at the group.
“If we move forward with this initiative…how long will it take the PLA to figure out what we’ve done to their UAVs? When would we lose access to their network?”
Ms. Mackie took a breath in and out. “We estimate it’ll take the PLA maybe a few hours to a day to figure out what has happened to their UAVs. Once they have determined where the problem is, they’ll move to ground the UAV fleet, or at least move all their secured communications off it. However, we also believe that will happen soon anyway as they figure out that we’ve been listening in on them.”
“How do we know this message President Hung and Ambassador Bryant have crafted is even going to be effective?” the President asked next, directing that question to Secretary Landover and Tom McMillan.
Secretary Landover jumped at the question. “It’ll work, Mr. President,” he asserted. “We’ve tested the speeches on the prisoners of war we’re currently holding. In all cases, the average Chinese person who has seen one or all five of these messages has responded positively. In the case of the occupied territories, we’ve seen many of the people ask how President Xi’s government had been able to deceive them for so long. Many of them had no idea how the war had started, or the reality of how the conflict has been going. Many of them said they had been led to believe that it was America and the Allies who had started the war to keep China poor and in its place. As they learned the truth, many of them became angry at having been deceived and misled. In the case of the occupied territories, many of the people have even asked unprompted how they can help or support President Hung’s government.”
Tom McMillan added, “I wasn’t sure this whole idea would work at first, but having seen the results and talked with many Chinese citizens, it does appear that it just may have the intended effect.” McMillan had just returned from a trip to China and South Korea, where he had toured the front lines. During his expedition, Secretary Landover had also arranged for him to talk with several groups of Chinese citizens in Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province.
Foss turned his head to look at his military advisors, seeking their input next. “Thoughts?” he asked.
Jim Castle looked at the others sitting across from him before turning his gaze to the President. “Sir, it’s my recommendation as your Secretary of Defense that we not move in this direction. I know the evidence that this plan may work looks good. However, I’m not confident that it’ll bring about the change we’re hoping for and betting on to end the war. Truthfully, I’ve been skeptical about this idea ever since it was first brought up. I don’t want to give up the intelligence advantage we have—that has produced tangible results on the battlefield—for a strategy that we don’t know for sure will end the war.”
Foss saw the looks of disappointment from Tom McMillan and Secretary Landover at his remark. Castle swept past the reactions and continued, “Mr. President, right now, we are gaining valuable, actionable intelligence on a minute-by-minute basis from this program. Since its inception, we have intercepted or interdicted nearly every enemy air and naval attack on our forces. We have crushed or forced the PLA to cancel or suspend several ground offensives because we were able to take out those unit’s fuel depots, munition stores or bombed them outright before they could attack. Had we not had this program up and running when we invaded the Shanghai region or Guangdong Province, then in all likelihood, our forces would have either sustained many times more killed in action or been defeated outright. I can’t in good conscience recommend a course of action that would end our ability to obtain this level of intelligence at this juncture in the war.”
Admiral Meyers had largely stayed silent during the discussion but stepped in at this point. “Sir, Secretary Castle is right about the importance of this intelligence-gathering program. However, Secretary Landover is also right in that this proposal might be the final nail in the coffin of Xi’s regime. Perhaps we give it another month of using the intelligence we’re gleaning before we move forward with a course of action that will end the intelligence gravy train we’ve been feasting upon,” he offered.
The President smiled. This gave him an out—not outright picking one way over the other, but still keeping both options on the table.
The President had made his decision. He turned to Katelyn Mackie. “I’m going to give the military a bit more time with your current program before we try the State Department’s proposal. Have your team continue to stand by to execute State’s proposal should we need to, but for the time being, we’re going to stick to the military need.”
Katelyn bit her lower lip and nodded. “Yes, Mr. President. We’ll continue to stand by.”
With the decision made, Secretary Landover and Ms. Mackie proceeded to get up and head for the door. Their part of the meeting was over; it was time for the military leaders to discuss the next steps now that they had a couple more weeks of Project Enigma.
While they were leaving the office, the President signaled to one of the White House stewards to bring in a fresh pot of coffee. An aide also ushered in the chief of staffs for the Army and the Air Force, along with the Chief of Naval Operations.
Once the newcomers took their seats, the President asked, “How are the troop deployments going?”
Admiral Meyers took the question. “In the Guangdong Province in the south, the Marines have offloaded another 110,000 men. That brings their total number up to 380,000 Marines. Most of our ANZAC allies are there as well. Between the Australians and New Zealanders, they have 42,000 soldiers. In the last couple of weeks, the Army’s offloaded the rest of their force, roughly two divisions’ worth of men. We’re trying to keep the southern operation mostly a Marine-led operation while the Army focuses on the Shanghai region and northern China.”
The conversation temporarily ended as two of the stewards brought in the tray of fresh coffee the President had requested. Being a bit of a java snob, President Foss insisted on having his favorite coffee served during certain meetings throughout the day—at $79 a pound, the Saint Helena coffee was once a favorite of Napoleon Bonaparte. No one there was complaining about it, to be sure. Once everyone had a cup of the famed coffee the way they liked it and the stewards had left, the meeting continued.
Admiral Meyers took one more big sip of coffee before he placed his cup down on the table between the couches and resumed his explanation. “Now that we have the city of Shanghai and the surrounding area largely secured, we’ve been able to ferry in vast numbers of soldiers via commercial aircraft and bring in heavy equipment through the dozen or so ports we’ve captured. In the last nineteen days, we’ve brought ashore 390,000 soldiers. That number will grow by 90,000 a month until the end of the year. In the north, we have a considerably much larger force. The South Koreans have committed 300,000 soldiers, the Japanese Defense Force has committed 160,000 soldiers, and then we have 670,000 American soldiers along with the 190,000 troops that invaded western China through Mongolia.”
The Army Chief of Staff added, “If you give us the order to capture Beijing, I believe we could have it captured by Christmas.”
“Is capturing Beijing still essential? Hasn’t the capture of Shanghai and Guangzhou negated that necessity?” inquired the President between sips of coffee.
“Yes and no, Mr. President,” said Admiral Meyers. “The issue isn’t so much the capture of Beijing as it is the destruction of the PLA 20th, 27th, and 38th Armies, which have dug themselves in around the capital. The 54th and 65th Armies are facing our forces now. Our soldiers could bulldoze their way through them in a matter of weeks—the challenge is the 100-kilometer-deep defensive network these other three armies have constructed that encircles the capital region.”
Tom McMillan interjected. “What abo
ut strategic bombings? Can’t we make heavy use of our B-52 bombers to carpet bomb these positions?”
The Air Force general chimed in. “We would certainly do that. However, we have to continue to work at removing the enemy SAM threat and their remaining air force assets. They’ve concentrated a lot of their remaining fighters to the capital region, along with a lot of their newer SAM systems. While we’re inflicting a lot of aerial losses on them, it’s going to take some time before that gives us the tactical and strategic advantage we need to fully dominate the skies. Now that we have destroyed a large portion of the aerospace industry in Guangzhou, the PLA Air Force won’t be able to replace their losses as quickly or as easily as they have been doing up to this point.”
A few of the other generals nodded. President Foss still wasn’t sure if the Allies would ever be able to fully dominate the skies, considering the sheer number of losses they had sustained in frontline aircraft over the last two years of war.
“I’m not trying to get too far into the weeds here, but how long is it taking us to produce a new fighter plane to be sent to China to replace our own losses?” asked the President.
The Air Force general smiled, not fazed in the least by the question. “Now that we’ve fully repaired the damage to our manufacturing facility in Dallas-Fort Worth, Lockheed is cranking out sixty-four F-16 Vipers a month. They’ve just finished training a full third shift of workers and will now be running a full twenty-four-hour, seven-day-a-week production schedule. Starting in October, the plant will be producing 150 Vipers a month. In St. Louis, the Boeing plant is finally running at full capacity, rolling out 118 F/A-18 Super Hornets a month. Even the F-35 plant is now churning out 130 new fighters a month. For the first time since the war started, we’re finally starting to produce more aircraft than we’re losing.”
Jim Castle placed his coffee cup down and leaned in. “When the war first broke out in Europe and we sustained those horrific aircraft losses, President Gates authorized me to begin a massive procurement order for new fighters and other weapons needed to win this war. It has taken us nearly two years to retool our factories, train workers, and get our supply systems up and running. However, I assure you, they are fully up and running now. As the general just elaborated, we’ve turned the tide. It’s only a matter of time now until the Chinese are defeated,” he asserted.
Foss held up a hand. “OK, Jim, you’ve succeeded in reassuring me that we’re going to win. My only concern is how long will it take. Everyone here knows our country’s past history with wars. For better or worse, the democracies of the West only seem to be able to stomach a war for a short period of time before they demand either victory or an end that they can live with. The next presidential election cycle is going to start in a couple of months, and already my opposition has taken on the mantle of ‘a vote for me is a vote to end the war.’ And while I want an end to this war as well, I want an end that will leave the world in a better place than when we started.”
The President sighed and then turned to the Air Force general. “What about the B-21 Raider we talked about last month? Is it ready to be tested over China?” he asked.
The general nodded as a smile spread across his face. “Yes, Mr. President. I spoke with the program manager and the test pilots, and they’ve flown it out to Japan. Tomorrow, it will fly its first combat mission over northern China, attacking a collection of PLA command-and-control bunkers we’ve identified through Project Enigma. Pending the results of that mission, we’ll test it against a much tougher target in Beijing.”
The President scratched his chin and a mischievous smile curled up the corners of his lips. “If Project Enigma can identify these command-and-control bunkers, can it also identify where the senior PLA leadership is located? Or even President Xi?” he asked. “If we can locate them, then perhaps we should try and go after them more directly.”
“We’ll look into it, Mr. President,” Admiral Meyers replied as he scribbled something on his notepad.
*******
29,000 Feet above Northern China
When Lieutenant Colonel Rob “Pappi” Fortney’s B-2 stealth bomber had been shot down over Russia, he’d figured his career in the Air Force was over. After twenty-five years of service, he was certain the brass would put him out to pasture in disgrace after losing a $2 billion warplane just days into the start of World War III. Then, when he’d found out his co-pilot, Major Richard “Ricky” James had been captured, he’d truly felt like a failure.
Within a couple of days of being rescued by NATO soldiers on the Lithuanian border, he had been flown back to the US to be treated for his injuries. While he was recovering at the Army’s Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, a major general in charge of the Air Force’s B-21 Raider program had paid him a visit.
“I heard a rumor that you had planned to retire at the end of your service obligation, Fortney,” he’d opened. “Any truth to that?”
“Yes, Sir,” Pappi had replied cautiously, wondering if he was going to be forced out sooner.
“Well, I’m here to ask you to reconsider,” the major general replied. “I’d like you to stay on and be the lead Air Force test pilot for the new stealth bomber program.”
Pappi’s mouth hung open in surprise.
Unfazed, the general continued, “With twenty-five years of service flying stealth bombers, you’ve flown combat missions over Serbia during the NATO Kosovo campaign and also carried out numerous missions over Afghanistan and Iraq. Since you no longer have a plane to fly, the Air Force wants to leverage your flight experience with the B-21 as we rapidly move the program forward to meet the new demands of the current war.”
“Sir, I appreciate the offer, but honestly, I just want to retire and put the memory of my last bombing run behind me,” Pappi responded.
The major general had tried unsuccessfully to convince him to change his mind. However, within the week, the Air Force Chief of Staff had shown up at the hospital. When he’d made his plea for Pappi to reconsider, he’d also offered a promotion to go along with the Silver Star they were awarding him and guaranteed him the first B-21 bomber. It was an offer he couldn’t turn down, especially when President Gates also paid him a visit later that same day.
*******
“Raider Zero-One, this is Mother Goose. We show five enemy aircraft eighty-two kilometers from your current position at heading two-two-four, 520 knots. Altitude nineteen thousand feet. How copy?” asked the air battle manager on the Boeing E-3 Sentry loitering one hundred and twenty kilometers behind them.
Double D depressed the talk button on her radio. “That’s a good copy, Mother Goose. We are twenty mikes to target. Proceeding with mission,” she replied.
Major Donna “Double D” Daniels was Pappi’s smart, yet brash young copilot who was eager to release their twenty-four GBU-31 2,000-pound laser-guided bombs and get back to the protection of the Allied lines.
Today was the B-21’s first combat mission, and her first time flying over enemy territory. They were going to test the bomber’s ability to release, guide and hit twenty-four separate targets with its onboard targeting computer. With the loss of the DoD’s military satellites, aircraft were having to rely on their own ability to guide their bombs to the target as opposed to leveraging GPS satellites to do it for them.
Not taking her eyes off her instruments or radar screen, she asked, “How are we looking, Boss?”
Pappi pressed a couple of buttons and then looked up at Double D. “We’re good. Just finished arming the bombs and double-checking the targets. Everything is set,” he replied. Looking at his copilot again, he raised an eyebrow. “You look nervous, Daniels,” he added.
“We’re flying an experimental bomber over enemy territory with fighters hunting us less than 80 kilometers away. Yeah, I guess you could say I’m nervous.”
Pappi snickered. “Oh, come on, Daniels. You were full of piss and vinegar about how we were going to turn the tide of the war with this bomber two weeks ago
.”
“Yeah, well, that was when we were still back in Nevada at the test facility. I had no idea they were going to send us to China to test my theory a week later,” she replied with a bit of embarrassment in her voice.
Turning serious, Pappi added, “It’s OK to feel nervous or scared. We all do. Remember, I’m the one who’s already been shot down once. Yet here I am, back in a bomber, flying over enemy territory again. Just stick to your training, take deep breaths and remain calm. We’re fine. The enemy can’t see us, and they have no idea we’re here.”
Daniels took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she nodded. The pep talk seemed to help. A few minutes went by as the two of them flew in silence, the sound of the engines and the air flowing past the outer shell of the bomber the only audible noise.
The navigation system popped up with an alert. “One minute to weapons release,” she announced.
Pappi reached down and depressed the weapon standby button. In seconds, the doors opened up, exposing the bomb bay and their precious cargo to the world below. He then moved his finger over to the targeting computer, selecting the bombs he wanted to release. Pappi waited until the system indicated they were over the predetermined drop site, and then, in a single fluid motion, he hit the weapons release button. The targeting computer would automatically begin releasing the Raider’s bombs.
One by one the bombs fell, heading to their predetermined targets 29,000 feet below them. In roughly sixty seconds, the targeting computer had released all twenty-four bombs. Now it was time for them to watch and wait as their laser designator directly beneath them guided the bombs to their intended targets. Minutes passed by as Pappi and Double D waited for the bombs to hit. After what felt like an eternity, the bombs started to hit their marks. In the span of a single minute, they had hit twenty-four command-and-control bunkers and communication nodes of the PLA’s 54th and 65th Armies, to devastating effect.