OVER THE GULF OF OMAN THAT SAME TIME "Shamu One-One, this is Nightmare on all primary, how copy, over."
Silently, McLanahan prayed. Be there, you guys, dammit, be there "Nightmare, this is Shamu One-One, read you five by," the KC-10 Extender aerial refueling tanker copilot responded.
"We're just about min fuel at Watchdog. What's your position?
Over."
"Nightmare is two hundred west of the ARIP, headed your way," McLanahan responded, breathing a sigh of relief. They were one hour late to their scheduled refueling, near the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln carrier group in the Arabian Sea, and now the B-2A was critically short on fuel--but so was their tanker, a converted Douglas DC-10 used by the U.S. Air Force for long-range aerial refueling and cargo hauling. If the KC-10 Extender couldn't stay to hook up, they would have to abort to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean--and surely this meant their cover would be blown. One didn't have to be a math major to draw a parallel between all the attacks on Iran and the sudden appearance of a B-2A bomber on Diego Garcia.
"We're headed your way, Nightmare," the copilot of the KC-10 said.
"We're working on an alternate divert site for ourselves to get you your full off-load. If you can take a partial off-load, it would sure help us out. Over."
McLanahan pulled up a large chart of the Pacific and Indian Ocean regions and ran several range calculations through the navigation computer. "We can take a three-quarter off-load and abort to Guam if we can't get a tanker to meet us," McLanahan reported. He paused, showing Jamieson the calculations: "We can also take a three-quarters off-load, fly across India, southeast Asia, and China, and get our normal refueling west of Hawaii. Tempting, isn't it?"
"We're not authorized to overfly any non-international air-space," Jamieson said, "no matter how much gas it'll save. But yes, it is tempting. Take the partial off-load, we'll plan on aborting to Guam."
"Agreed," McLanahan said. He relayed the information to the tanker crew, who were very excited to hear that they wouldn't have to try to get landing permission in Oman or fly anywhere near Iran right now--any aircraft, especially U.S. military aircraft, flying anywhere near the Persian Gulf would definitely be putting the lives of its crew at risk right now. Like a huge, angry swarm of bees, the entire Iranian air force was up, fully alerted, and looking for revenge. With a partial off-load to the B-2A, the tanker could safely make its way back to its staging base at Diego Garcia, a small island in the Indian Ocean leased by the United States from Britain for use as a military air and naval base, about 1,500 miles south.
They agreed on a "point parallel" rendezvous, in which both aircraft would fly toward each other 1,000 feet apart in altitude.
About thirty miles apart, the tanker turned in front of the bomber so it would roll out about four to five miles ahead of the bomber, within visual range, and then Jamieson would fly the B-2A up into the pre-contact position. The rendezvous was automatic--the tanker's navigation computers performed the entire operation, backed up by occasional updates by the B-2A's synthetic aperture radar transmitting in air-to-air mode--and a few short minutes later, the KC-10's flying boom was nestled into the B-2A bomber's in-flight refueling receptacle. The fuel transfer began. The B-2A needed gas badly, so the KC-10 crew turned up the transfer pumps and got the transfer rate up to 3,000 pounds of fuel per minute--enough gas to fill up sixty automobiles every minute.
The fuel transfer was about half completed when suddenly the tanker's director lights--the rows of colored lights on the tanker's belly that told the pilot where to fly to stay in the proper refueling envelope--flashed on and off rapidly, and the refueling boom popped out of the bomber's receptacle. McLanahan was watching the tanker and checking to make sure the fuel was being distributed to the proper tanks when he saw the flashing lights and immediately shouted, "Break away, break away!"
Jamieson chopped the throttles and started a 3,000-foot-per-minute descent, making both crew members light in the seats from the sudden negative gravity. "Boom's clear! Tanker climbing!"
McLanahan reported.
"What happened? What is it?" Jamieson asked, scanning his instruments. "Was it a pressure disconnect? Boom malfunction?"
"The tanker's lights are out," McLanahan said. "I lost sight of him..."
"Get him on the SAR," Jamieson said. "We need this refueling."
Just then on the radios, they heard a thick Middle Eastern-accented voice say in English, "Unidentified aircraft, unidentified aircraft, this is Interceptor Seven-Four, air force of the Islamic Republic of Iran, on emergency GUARD frequency.
You have been observed flying into Iranian airspace in violation of international law. You are ordered to follow me to a landing at Chah Bahar air base. Turn left heading three-five-zero degrees immediately or you will be fired upon without further warning!"
"What?" Jamieson shouted. "What kind of bullshit is this? We're not in Iranian airspace!"
McLanahan made no reply--but he did reach up and hit the COMBAT switch light. The light began to blink because Jamieson's consent switch was not in the proper position. "Give me consent for COMBAT mode, AC."
"What are you doing?"
"Do it, Colonel!" McLanahan shouted. "Keep on descending--take it down to two thousand feet, fast!" Jamieson was about to argue again, but he flipped his consent switch to CONSENT, AND THE COMBAT light turned steady.
As Jamieson nosed the bomber over and pointed the B-2A's beaked nose seaward, McLanahan displayed the threat scope on his supercockpit display. There was the KC-10 tanker, transmitting rendezvous beacon codes. "Shut down your transmitters, Shamu," McLanahan prayed aloud. Another symbol, a flashing inverted-V "bat-wing" symbol with a yellow triangle emanating from its nose and overlapping the KC-10 symbol, also appeared on the scope.
"What is it?" Jamieson asked.
"An Iranian MiG-29," McLanahan replied. "He's got the tanker locked on his attack radar."
"An Iranian MiG! What's he doing way out here? We're a hundred miles outside Iranian airspace!"
"The Iranians are sweeping the skies for whoever invaded Chah Bahar. Bandar Abbas, and their carrier battle group," McLanahan surmised. "They're looking for us."
"And they found our tanker instead!" Jamieson cried. "Shit, they're trying to get him to land back at Chah Bahar!"
"To replace the hostages Briggs got out of prison," McLanahan said. "Jesus!"
"We gotta do something!" Jamieson shouted. "Get on that machine of yours. Call the Navy, call Washington, but get some help!"
McLanahan immediately burst out a message via satellite to the National Security Agency, warning them of the intercept and requesting that the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln launch fighters to try to pursue and to ask American fighter patrols over the Arabian Peninsula to intercept the group over the Gulf of Oman on their way back. "Messages sent," McLanahan said as they leveled off at 2,000 feet above the ocean.
"American tanker plane, this is Interceptor Seven-Four on emergency GUARD frequency. Change heading immediately or I will be forced to fire upon you. You have been observed trespassing in Iranian airspace and attacking Iranian military and civilian property. Turn left to heading three-five-zero now. This is your last warning!"
"Iranian interceptor, this is Shamu One-One," the pilot of the KC-10 tanker radioed back. "We are an unarmed aerial refueling tanker aircraft. We are carrying no cargo or weapons. We were not in Iranian airspace. We are on a round-robin ICAO flight plan, destination Diego Garcia. Please maintain your distance.
Do not approach this aircraft. Do you read me?"
McLanahan switched Off COMBAT mode so he could talk on the UHF radios; as soon as the electronic masking field around the bomber de-energized, he keyed the mike: "Iranian interceptor, this is Ghostrider Zero-Five, from the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, United States Navy." McLanahan didn't know the call sign of the fighter squadrons aboard the Lincoln, nor did he know anything about Navy fighter tactics--he just hoped this would sound good. "We have you on radar one hundred twenty miles south
of Chah Bahar at angels three-zero. We are rendezvousing with that American tanker aircraft you are pursuing. Back off immediately or we will attack from long range. Ghostrider flight, combat spread, arm 'em up."
"I hope the hell you know what you're doing, McLanahan," Jamieson said. He quickly placed the B-2A back in COMBAT mode as the MiG-29's attack radar swept the skies around them. For a brief moment the fighter radar locked onto the B-2A--the MiG-29 had an excellent and very powerful "look-down, shoot-down" radar, and it was only five miles away--but as soon as COMBAT mode was reengaged, the MiG's radar broke lock. The MiG scanned the skies again, using long-range scans, then locked back onto the KC-10 tanker.
McLanahan deactivated COMBAT mode once again, then keyed the UHF radio mike: "Iranian interceptor, we are detecting you locking on to our tanker with your attack radar at our twelve o'clock, eighty miles. I warn you, shut off your radar and return to your base, or we will attack from long range. Ghostrider flight, lock 'em up, now."
That time, the MiG-29's radar slaved precisely at the B-2A bomber and locked on, the Iranian fighter's radar triangle switching from green to yellow and back to green as it attempted to maintain a lock on the stealth bomber. While not engaging COMBAT mode, the B-2A still had a very small radar cross-section, but not small enough to evade a MiG-29 at close range. McLanahan considered telling the KC-10 pilot to do evasive maneuvers now while the MiG wasn't locked on to him, but it wouldn't do any good; the MiG-29 could reacquire the big KC-10 with ease. McLanahan called up the B-2A's electronic countermeasures control panels, ready to activate all its defensive systems...
... and it was just in time, for as soon as the radar triangle surrounding the B-2A bomber on the threat scope changed to a solid yellow, it changed to red. They heard a rapid deedledeedledeedle!
warning tone, followed by a computer synthesized "MISSILE LAUNCH... MISSILE LAUNCH...
McLanahan immediately activated COMBAT mode and all of the countermeasures equipment. The HAVE GLANCE system promptly locked on to the incoming missile and fired its laser beam. "Two missiles in the air!" McLanahan shouted. "Break left!" Jamieson threw the B-2A bomber into a hard left turn and jammed the throttles to full military power.
With COMBAT mode engaged and the B-2A bomber's "cloaking device" reenergized, absorbing every watt of radar energy striking the bomber's electrified skin, the only solid radar-reflective object in the MiG-29's radar sweep was the cloud of chaff the B-2A ejected, and that's what the two radar-guided missiles struck. The radar triangle changed back to green, then disappeared.
Jamieson descended down to 100 feet above the Gulf of Oman, daring the Iranian MiG to fly down to that dark expanse of open ocean to pursue. "He might be trying a heater shot," McLanahan said, warning Jamieson to get ready to counter a heat-seeking missile shot. But the MAWS radar showed the fighter still up at 30,000 feet, not yet pursuing.
"C'mon, this guy's got to be running out of fuel," Jamieson said.
"We're nearly three hundred miles away from his base."
"With three external tanks for an air patrol mission, he's good to go for almost a thousand miles," McLanahan said. He deactivated COMBAT mode once again, keeping the MAWS tracking the fighter.
"Iranian interceptor, this is Ghostrider flight of two, you just committed an act of war," McLanahan radioed. "Turn back immediately or we will..."
But the ruse didn't work. The B-2A's threat scope showed the MiG-29 briefly transmit with its N-019 pulse-Doppler radar, lock on to the KC-10 tanker once again, then flick off. The MAWS radar tracked the MiG-29 until it closed within five miles of the KC-10...
"Jesus, no!"
"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Shamu-One-One on GUARD," the pilot of the KC-10 Extender shouted on the international emergency frequency.
"Position, two hundred miles south of Chah Bahar airfield. We have been attacked by an Iranian fighter, repeat, we are under attack! We have been struck by missiles fired at us by..." And the radio went dead.
"Good-bye, Yankee cowards," the Iranian pilot radioed, and the MiG-29 turned and headed back toward Iran.
As Jamieson set up an orbit over the area, McLanahan sent another message to the National Security Agency and the Air Intelligence Agency, detailing the events. Using intermittent bursts of the SAR, they orbited the Gulf of Oman over the KC-10's wreckage for another hour until no more radar-significant debris could be detected. Silently, afraid to speak, frozen and riddled by guilt and anguish, the crew started to climb and set a course for Diego Garcia to arrange another refueling for the long trip home.
THE PENTAGON BRIEFING Room 23 APRIL 1997, 0904 HOURs ET
"I just wanted to express my concern over recent events in the Middle East," Secretary of Defense Arthur Chastain began.
"Apparently, late last night Iran time, Iran fired several volleys of missiles from air defense sites in the Strait of Hormuz and from their aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Oman.
"The President immediately spoke to President Nateq-Nouri of Iran, who explained that there has been an air defense integration problem with the aircraft carrier battle group, and that a false alert over Bandar Abbas in the Strait of Hormuz caused a similar false alert over the aircraft carrier, causing the missile launches. At last report, no vessels or aircraft were in danger of being struck by these missiles.
"The President conveyed his deep sense of concern over this apparent demonstration of power, and he said that such demonstrations might affect the proposed summit of Middle East nations and negotiations over Iran's proposal to exclude land-attack warships from the Persian Gulf region. The President, as you know, has endorsed President Nateq-Nouri's proposal and has even suggested expanding the ban to land-attack aircraft. The President is awaiting a formal draft treaty before presenting it to the congressional leadership.
"To summarize: Iran apparently fired several dozen air defense missiles, anti-ship missiles, and antiaircraft artillery guns into the sky last night, Iran time. No aircraft or ships were struck, and no countries were in danger. Neither the United States nor any of the countries bordering the Gulf has put its forces on alert in response to this demonstration of power. The Defense Department speculates that this was either a malfunction, a response to a false attack alarm, or some kind of demonstration of air defense power that, frankly, wasted a lot of missiles and bullets for nothing. The President has said that he is still committed to peace in the Persian Gulf region and will not let such blatant demonstrations sway him from that objective. Thank you. What are your questions?"
"... No, we are in direct and constant communication with President Nateq-Nouri and Foreign Minister Velayati of Iran, and they assure us that Iran is not gearing up or mobilizing for war in the Persian Gulf or Gulf of Oman, or anywhere else for that matter," Chastain replied. "He did admit that there are very pro-military persons in the Iranian government that see the Persian Gulf demilitarization treaty as a sign of weakness and as undercutting Iran's sovereignty and national defense. Privately, some analysts have speculated--and this is only speculation--that these hawkish military leaders staged this air defense demonstration not only to threaten the Gulf Cooperative Council states and others sailing the Persian Gulf, but members of their own government as well. Yes?"
"... Yes, we've heard that other Iranian military bases reacted as well, and that Iranian fighter planes were flying around on full alert, but they are farther away from international waters and from routine monitoring by Gulf Cooperative Council forces, so we don't know much about those reports. Yes, Iran's chief of staff General Buzhazi is claiming that the United States is flying stealth bombers over his country and is threatening to attack. The idea is ridiculous. The United States has a grand total of ten B-2A bombers in the inventory, and all ten of them are still at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, and they've never left. In addition, the bomb wing there is not scheduled to be operational until October first.
"Let me make this point very clear, ladies and gentlemen: Iran is not threatening war with anybody, so why
should we fly any aircraft over their country? In fact, President Nateq-Nouri has gone a long way toward promoting peace for the Middle East, and the President of the United States will do nothing to hinder that.
What the right-wing fanatical military leaders or the fundamentalist clerical leaders of Iran will do, and whether or not President Nateq-Nouri can control them or gain their support, is a question I just can't answer."
TEHRAN, IRAN LATER THAT MORNING "You arrogant, incompetent fool!" Islamic Republic of Iran President Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri shouted angrily. He and his Cabinet ministers were meeting with military chief of staff and Pasdaran commander Buzhazi in Nateq-Nouri's office--the meeting had been bombastic, angry, and threatening to go out of control right from the start. "How dare you march into my office, deliver a report like this to me, and have the unmitigated gall to tell me that I am preventing you from doing your job! I should court-martial you for dereliction of duty--no, I should have you sent to prison for the rest of your life for insubordination as well as dereliction of duty! But this will wait for a better time--the Supreme Defense Council is waiting."
Dale Brown - Shadows Of Steel Page 26