A few minutes after receiving their vector from the E-2C Hawkeye radar plane, from VAW 117 Wallbangers, orbiting 200 miles northwest of the Lincoln carrier group, Crowley's radar intercept officer had the bogey on radar: "Radar contact, one-seven-five miles, off the nose."
"Aardvark flight, that's your bogey," the Hawkeye radar officer said, verifying the RIO's report. The Tomcats now took over primary responsibility for the intercept.
It was a cat-and-mouse game that had been played every night for the past few nights. These were "ferret" flights, probes of the Lincoln's air defense capability, by a wide variety of Iranian aircraft, from top-of-the-line MiG-29 Fulcrum, MiG-25 Foxbat, and MiG-31 Foxhound supersonic fighters to giant lumbering P-3 Orion and EC-130 surveillance aircraft. The smaller Iranian combat aircraft--already at the limit of their fuel reserves, because the Lincoln was still very far offshore--would simply drive in as close as they dared toward the carrier group and watch to see what sort of response the Americans would make. With one E-2 Hawkeye orbiting over the carrier and one Hawkeye stationed between the carrier and the Iranian mainland, the carrier group had "eyes" out at least 200 miles around the ship, and a narrow corridor of radar coverage on a straight line from the carrier to Chah Bahar Naval Base, over 400 miles away.
Most times, the Iranian "ferret" planes would zoom in--probably recording all of the electronic signals generated by the Lincoln, its escorts, and its patrol aircraft--then, once it was "paired" with a Tomcat, it would turn around and head for home. The Iranians knew all about the F-14 Tomcat and the AIM-54 Phoenix missile--because they still employed both of them. In the mid-1970s, when the Shah had been in power, the United States had transferred 100 of the advanced fighters to Iran; the exact numbers were unknown, but Iran probably still had a dozen operational Tomcats and about 100 Phoenix missiles in good condition. The Iranians knew to give the Phoenix missile a lot of respect, so at the first squeak of the Tomcat's AWG-9 radar, they usually turned tail.
But not this time Wallbanger picked this guy out at almost three hundred miles--that's the limit of his radar," Crowley observed, thinking aloud. "He's gotta be a big guy. You got numbers on him, Sunrise?"
"Range one-five-zero miles, still closing fast," Crowley's RIO, Lieutenant Adam "Sunrise" Lavoyed, reported. "Altitude angels forty, speed... shit, speed seven hundred."
"He's not an Orion then," Crowley said. Iran flew American-made P-3 Orion sub-chasers--another leftover from the Shah's regime--which were capable of carrying Harpoon or Exocet antiship missiles, but Orions were big, lumbering turboprop-powered planes, max cruise speed about 380 knots--this one was going almost twice as fast. "What's our bull's-eye?"
"Coming up on three hundred bull's-eye," Lavoyed responded, giving range back to the carrier.
"What are we up to tonight, asshole?" Crowley muttered on interphone to the unknown aircraft. "Who are you? What are you?"
Just then, Lavoyed shouted, "I'm picking up a second bogey...
shit, Crow, second bogey climbing through angels forty... angels fifty, speed twelve hundred... I'm picking up a third bogey, right behind the second, passing through angels forty, speed eleven hundred knots... bandit one turning northwest and accelerating!"
"Kitchens," Crowley shouted, jamming his throttles to max afterburner and raising the nose to pursue. On interplane frequency, he yelled, "Home plate, Kitchen, Kitchen, I am tracking two fast-movers passing angels fifty, speed Mach two"
"Go weapons hot, go weapons hot," came the reply. The call "Kitchen" was an all-inclusive call warning of the launch of a large anti-ship missile. For years the standard Soviet bomber-launched anti-ship missile, the AS-4 Kitchen, was a 14,000-pound liquid-fueled cruise missile that could fly at over three times the speed of sound for more than 200 miles--and the Tu-22M Backfire bomber could carry as many as three of these huge weapons. The AS-4 was armed with a 2,200-pound conventional high-explosive warhead, big enough to sink a small warship with one missile...
... or, in Cold War days, a 350-kiloton nuclear warhead, big enough to destroy an entire carrier battle group.
"Shine, you got the second Kitchen, I got the first," Crowley shouted on interplane frequency.
"Two!" came the strained reply--Matte's heart was in his throat right now, just like Crowley's--you could hear it in his voice.
In the blink of an eye, Crowley was in range, and he fired his first Phoenix missile--the first time in his career he had launched the big P. He squinted against the glare as the Phoenix raced off its rail and arced to the right and skyward, the huge blast of the Phoenix rattling his Tomcat's wings and shaking the canopy. Crowley had to pull his Tomcat in a hard right turn to keep the AWG-9 radar locked onto the Kitchen missiles long enough to guide the Phoenix until its own radar could lock on. When he was sure he was locked on, he fired a second Phoenix, now on a tail chase. Crowley considered firing his third and possibly even his fourth Phoenix, but by then the Kitchen missiles were out of range--they were flying well over Mach two, twice the speed of sound and faster than the Phoenix missile itself!
Crowley watched the rest of the incredible chase in complete fascination. He saw a bright flash, then another, far off in the distance. "Clean misses," Crowley's RIO reported. "Bandit two heading straight for home plate at Mach two-point-four, angels sixty and still climbing." Crowley could see that Lavoyed still had the AWG-9 radar locked on to the first Kitchen missile, but they were well outside Phoenix range. It was up to any other fighters airborne and the Lincoln's air defense screen to stop the first Kitchen now.
Matte was more successful: "Splash one Kitchen!" he shouted happily. "Got it!"
"I missed," Crowley admitted on interplane frequency. "C'mon, Lincoln, nail that bastard!"
Far off in the distance, Crowley could see a few flashes of light, and he could even see a faint streak of light shoot up in the sky--it was the Lincoln's escorts, the outer air defense screen ships, launching missiles. A split second later, they saw a huge lightbulb POP! of brilliant white light very high in the dark sky. "Splash one Kitchen," the combat officer aboard the E-2C Hawkeye reported.
"Lake Erie got it." The U.S.S. Lake Erie was one of Lincoln's AEGIS guided-missile escort cruisers. "Aardvark-121, bandit one is retreating, fly heading one-one-zero, maintain angels thirty, this'll be vectors back to your tanker. Aardvark-122, squawk normal... 122, radar contact at angels three-five, 121, your wingman is at your two o'clock, thirty miles, above you."
"Roger," Crowley acknowledged. As he waited for Lavoyed to lock on to the Tomcat in front of him, he held out his right hand in front of his eyes--his hand was shaking. "Jesus, Shine," he said on interphone, "the Iranians launched two missiles at the Lincoln.
That was a close call!"
"Those were Backfire bombers launching those things, too," Lavoyed added. "Intelligence has been speculating that the Iranians bought Backfire bombers from the Russians for years--I guess it's true,'cause they just used one to launch Kitchen missiles at our carrier."
It took twenty minutes for the two F-14 Tomcats to join up and maneuver themselves behind a new KA-6D tanker. The radios were crazy with chatter. The Lincoln was launching three extra flights of F-14s, making six flights of two total; they were also in the process of launching a third E-2C Hawkeye radar plane to cover the airspace farther north of the group. The group was transitioning from a peacetime ForCAP, or Force Combat Air Patrol--which generally extended 100 to 200 miles from the carrier--to a BarCAP, or Barrier Combat Air Patrol, which would double that distance.
Soon, almost anything that launched from Iran would be intercepted, and any aircraft that was large enough to carry an AS-4 Kitchen missile would surely be destroyed long before it got within range. Undoubtedly the battle-group commander was rearranging the sea-borne escorts as well, spreading his forces out a bit more to get air defense missiles out farther from the carrier, while keeping one or two guided-missile cruisers or destroyers in close to provide last-ditch protection for the carrier and its five thousa
nd crew members.
Crowley had just maneuvered his F-14 behind the KA-6D tanker and was setting up for the run in toward the lighted drogue when suddenly they heard, "All units, all units, pop-up bogeys bearing zero-two-zero, two-seven-five miles bull's-eye, angels twenty, speed six-zero-zero-knots, all Aardvark units, say fuel status and stand by."
"121 flight's on the hose, ten-point-one!" Crowley shouted as he rushed toward the drogue for at least a token on-load. But the harder he tried to plug the drogue, the worse he did. He finally got the tanker to fly straight and level for longer than normal so he could plug the drogue; he took a fast five thousand pounds and cycled off. "121's clear."
"121, vector to intercept new bogey one, heading zero-five-zero, angels forty," the combat controller aboard a different E-2C Hawkeye ordered. Crowley finally realized that the new voice was from the new Hawkeye just launched to cover north of the Lincoln carrier group--sure enough, another Tu-22M Backfire bomber had sneaked in and was now within 250 miles of the carrier! "Go single ship, 122 will follow in trail."
"121 copies," Crowley responded, banking to the vector heading and again pushing his throttles up to military power. "Wallbanger, be advised, 121 will be bingo fuel in two-zero mike, I only got a token on-load. I'm down two Ps."
"Copy that, 121, break, Aardvark-122, top 'em off, you'll be the only north CAP when your leader bingos. Say your state.
122 copies, I'm down two Ps also. I'm on the hose."
Crowley's RIO wasn't able to lock the second Tupolev22M until it was within 250 miles from the carrier and just over 100 miles ahead. "Stand by for Kitchens, home plate," Crowley yelled.
"Stand by!"
But the Tu-22M continued to barrel in, now traveling at well over the speed of sound. "Wallbanger, 121, do you want me on the Backfire or do you want me to wait on the Kitchens?"
"Stand by, 121..."
"You better hurry with an answer, Wallbanger," Crowley said. He was now within range to fire on the Backfire bomber itself, but it had not launched a missile. "Wallbanger, let's hear it!"
Just before Crowley was in position to launch, the combat controller aboard the E-2C Hawkeye responded, "Bandit one turning... bandit one now heading two-seven-five, angels forty, looks like he's bugging out... 121, home plate says hold fire and maintain contact."
"Copy, Wallbanger. I will..."
"Missile launch!" Matte suddenly shouted. "The Backfire's launching missiles!"
It had happened so fast, Crowley didn't see it happening, and they were expecting another attack on the carrier, not on anything else. Before anyone could react, the Backfire bomber had launched four missiles--not at the carrier, but all of them at the third E-2C Hawkeye radar plane that had just launched from the Lincoln.
The missiles were new Russian Novator KS-172 Pithon "Python" air-to-air missiles, designed specifically for use against airborne radar planes and intelligence-gathering aircraft by homing in on their radars and electromagnetic emissions--they could even home in on the stray electronic emissions from computer screens leaking through the cockpit or observation windows.
Flying at a speed of Mach two and fired from a distance of well over two hundred miles, the Pithon missiles were devastating weapons. Even though the E-2C shut off its radar and took evasive action, the missiles "remembered" the plane's last position and activated its onboard radar when it got within range. Then it could not miss. All four Pithon missiles plowed into the Hawkeye's twenty-foot rotodome, stripping it from the fuselage and sending the entire aircraft spinning into the sea.
Crowley could do nothing as the third Wallbanger aircraft abruptly went off the air. He immediately turned to pursue, even plugging in full afterburner to try to catch up, but he never got within Phoenix missile range of the retreating Backfire bomber, and within minutes was forced to return to the tanker.
THE WHITE House OVAL OFFICE 25 APRIL 1997, 1321 HOURs ET
"Do we know that it was an Iranian Backfire bomber?" the President of the United States asked in a low, bitter voice. "Positive ID...?"
"We didn't get a visual ID, sir," Philip Freeman replied. Freeman had called the President out of a Rose Garden bill-signing ceremony, and now they were back in the Oval Office, with the President scanning a written report on the Gulf of Oman incident.
"But its size was estimated by the radar operators, and based on the range at which it was detected, it had to be a large aircraft.
Combine its speed and altitude, then add in the flight characteristics of the missiles it launched--we're ninety-nine percent sure it was an Iranian Backfire bomber."
"What in our inventory could do something like that?"
"The B-1B Lancer bomber has a very similar flight profile," Freeman replied. "The F-111, F-15, F-16, or F-22 fighters could mimic a Backfire's speed and performance, but not its range or payload.
We have nothing like the AS-4 Kitchen missile--all of our cruise missiles are subsonic."
"What about other countries? What about China?"
"The Chinese have a bomber, the B-6D Badger, that Possibly could mimic the speed of the Backfire bomber," Freeman said. "They have one supersonic anti-ship cruise missile, but it has a much shorter range than the AS-4 Kitchen missile--forty miles versus two hundred miles. Iraq and Libya also fly the Backfire bomber, but none are reported to be in serviceable condition, and neither country is known to possess any supersonic cruise missiles. Pakistan's F-16 fighter might be able to mimic the speed and performance of a Backfire bomber, but it could not carry any cruise missiles with the performance of an AS-4 missile.
"Russia of course still flies the Backfire and its upgraded follow-on supersonic bomber, the Tu-145 Blackjack. Ukraine owns several Backfire and Blackjack bombers acquired from Russia, but it is uncertain if they are operational.
Russia also still possesses the AS-4, a few of the AS-6, and the AS-9 supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles."
"You're saying Russia might have done this?"
"Extremely unlikely, sir," Freeman said, shaking his head. "At best, the Russians keep twenty-five percent of their supersonic bombers flyable--they were selling off their Backfire bombers to anyone in the world that might be interested, and they didn't squawk too loudly when Ukraine claimed the Blackjack bombers.
Given what's happened in Iran in the past few days with the establishment of martial law and the suspension of President Nateq-Nouri by the Ayatollah Khamenei, I think Iran is the most likely culprit." He paused for a moment, then asked, "Do you want us to be positive before we go further?"
"Hell no, Philip, I'm damned positive," the President said resolutely. "I don't need a bomb to fall on me to figure out that this is Buzhazi's attempt to scare us away. But you said you're still looking for the Backfire bomber base...?"
"It should be much easier to find them now, sir," Freeman said.
"The Navy was able to track the Backfires well inside Iran after their attack, and we've had many more surveillance assets in place looking for them. Jon Masters launched two constellations of tactical reconnaissance satellites himself--just gave us the satellites. Once Space Command picked out an orbit for them, Masters put them up there. He's got every airfield in Iran capable of landing a Backfire bomber under constant surveillance."
"Good," the President said. "I want to meet Masters one of these days, after this is over. Now," the President went on, fixing a serious gaze on his National Security Advisor, "it's important to me to hit back without starting a huge, full-scale war in the Middle East. The allies and the oil companies are already jumpy enough--oil prices are already spiking. Now, I know it was this Intelligence Support Agency group that launched those 'screamer' missiles, but I f, want to start shutting down Iran's ability to make war, not just harass them. What have you got?"
"We're already sending Future Hight the entire Disruptor series of weapons," Freeman said. "Brad Elliott's Disruptors don't just screw with radars and sensors--they can do a lot of damage as well."
"I never thought I'd be say
ing this, Philip--it sounds like a bad movie," the President said, "but it's the truth: I want this to look like an accident. When Masters finds those BACKfire bombers, I want them grounded, for good--and I want it to look like an accident. If that Iranian carrier comes anywhere near the Lincoln or any American warship, I want it on the bottom of end Saudi or Turkey, I want a major military headquarters building in Tehran to grow a large jagged hole in its middle--and I want it to look like an accident. Can you do that?"
Dale Brown - Shadows Of Steel Page 31