by Dale Brown
group once the engagement was made. "Aegis wants to commit ten
missiles, " the data-entry tech reported. "We got Bullet Two within
twenty miles on impact." The number was significant because if there
were nuclear tipped C601 antiship missiles, the Tomcats would fry in the
blast. But if Hart waited any longer, Bunker Hill would be doing the
frying. It was also significant because the Mk 41 launcher could
rapid-fire only seven missiles at one time. He selected sixty-four
nautical miles range on his LSD to keep careful watch on the intercept,
then said, "Understood. We'll do six from the forward launcher and the
rest from the aft launcher. Clear trial engage, sound the horn, engage
weapon commit."
"Trial engage clear." A muted horn sounded throughout the ship,
followed by, "Attention all hands, missile alert actual, missile alert
actual, stand by for missile launch." The tech then reported,
"Launchers in the green and reporting clear. CDS enable. Weapon commit
in three, two, one, now." The ASTAB monitors cleared, and they began to
show the Mk 41 launcher status and the status of the missiles in the
forward launcher that were being chosen by the Aegis system for the
first ripple. A button marked "Hold Fire" was blinking rapidly in the
lower-left corner of the communications panel, where both Hart and his
data-entry tech could reach it-Feinemann had a blinking Hold Fire button
as well, and he had full authority to use it. Aegis selected ten
missiles and began a pre-programmed ten-second warmup and target-data
transfer cycle. "Missile counting down, ten missiles in the green. . .
missile one forward in five... four... three... two... one... launch!
Missiles away. Up on the forward deck of the Bunker IIill, a
twenty-fivesquare-inch white door popped open atop the Mk 41 VLS
launcher, and a cloud of white smoke engulfed the entire forward portion
of the cruiser. Once every two seconds, an Aegis SM-2 missile lifted
free of the Bunker Hill, climbed to ten thousand feet in just a few
seconds, then arched over and began its intercept. The missiles'
autopilots steered them into an intercept "basket, " an area in which
the incoming targets were predicted to fly. When the Aegis SPY-I radar
detected the SM-2 missiles approaching the "basket, " the SPY-I would
activate an SPG-62 X-band target illuminator which would "paint" the
incoming Chinese missiles, and the SM-2 Aegis missiles would home in on
the radar energy reflected off the enemy missiles. "Six missiles away
forward, " the tech reported. "Forward launcher secure and reporting
clear, plenum status normal, refire status normal. Counting down on aft
launcher . . . in three... two... one... mark." The canister door
on the aft launcher flipped open and the first SM-2 fired... But
something happened. Instead of shooting skyward, the SM-2 rose about
twenty feet above the launcher, the solid-propellant motor stopped
running, and the missile slipped backwards, crashed to the deck, and
exploded. The concussion threw half of the Aegis crew members to the
deck. Feinemann was the only one able to react-he hit the Hold Fire
button to ensure that no other missiles from the aft launcher tried to
launch. "Status report!" he cried out. "Get me a status report!" The
damage-control alarm was ringing throughout the Bunker Hill, and there
were a few seconds of momentary panic as the CIC lights went out, the
emergency lights finally clicked on, and a few purple wisps of smoke
issued from the ventilators, "Status report, dammit!" Hart's ears were
ringing hard-from the blast, the confusion, or the sudden disorientation
of having the normally steady deck heaving beneath him, he couldn't tell
which-but he managed to straighten himself in his seat and help his tech
up. Several ASTAB monitors had gone down, and Feinemann's LSDs were
blank. "Mark 7 system is faulted... both launchers shut down . . .
SPY-I is still on-line, " he reported. On the intercom, he shouted,
"Bridge, CIC, Mark 7 system fault, recommend immediate AAW command
transfer."
"CIC, bridge, copy, command transfer to Sterett." With SPY-I still
operating, the cruiser Sterett could act as pseudoAegis cruiser by
receiving Aegis data via the Battle Group Anti Aircraft Warfare
Coordination system on its Mk 76 weaponscontrol consoles. The transfer
was made, but far too late. Three C601 antiship missiles, air-launched
versions of the huge Silkworm missile, survived the Aegis counterattack
made by Bunker Hill and the Sea Sparrow antimissile barrage by Sterett.
One missile was destroyed by combined Sea Sparrow missile hits by
Sterett and Phalanx Close-In-Weapon System gunfire seconds before it
reached Bunker Hill, and a second missile was destroyed by a last-second
burst of gunfire from the Ranger's portside Phalanx gun just a few
hundred yards before striking the carrier . The last missile hit the
carrier Ranger just aft of the port bow. The missile's titanium nosecap
pierced the outer hull of the carrier before the eleven-hundred-pound
high-explosive warhead detonated, ensuring that most of the missile's
deadly force was directed inside the vessel. ABOARD BULLET SIX "Bullet
Six flight, say your bingo status, " the controller aboard the Air Force
E-3C AWACS plane radioed. "Bullet Six is seven minutes to bingo, "
Lieutenant Jason "Razor" Penrose reported. "Ditto for Bullet Seven."
"Copy. Stand by... Bullet flight, code is 'slippery, ' repeat,
'slippery.'" Razor Penrose couldn't believe what he just heard. The
code word "slippery" meant that their carrier Ranger was damaged, extent
unknown, and no one would either launch or land. Dammit all to hell.
They missed and it had cost them! Because they couldn't get the
fighters or the big missiles, Ranger was hit. Fortunately, there were
other code words for more serious damage, so there was a possibility
that they wouldn't have to divert-it could be something as noncritical
as a damaged aircraft on the deck or foul arresting gear. There were a
few nearby divert runways available, and dozens more as long as the K-10
tanker was still available. The closest landing facility was a small
runway on the island of Sangihe, one hundred and thirty miles to the
southeast. With a KC-10, however, they could reach and rearm on Guam,
fourteen hundred miles to the northeast. They still had lots of
options. . But Penrose had no plans on diverting right now. As long as
he had gas and guns, he was going to stay aloft. Their primary job now
was to protect their damaged carrier. "Three bandits at twelve o'clock,
forty miles, high, northwest-bound at high speed, they appear to be
withdrawing, " the AWACS controller continued as calmly as if he were
reporting the weather. The three surviving first-wave fighters had done
their job-deliver the big antiship missiles-so they were bugging out.
"Four additional bandits, one o'clock, Blue plus twenty miles, southeast
bound, looks like they want to engage. "Basket, give me a SITREP. Who
do we get up?"
"Bullet Two, Four and Five are emergency fuel and are rende
zvousing with
Shamu, " the AWACS controller reported. "They report nine AIM-7s and
five A1M-9s between them. They will stay with Shamu and Basket after
refueling." No report on Bullet Three, Penrose noted-the Chink bastards
got Kelly, damn them. "Bullet Eight and Nine are airborne, ETE ten
minutes; they are staying within a hundred miles from home plate for
inner defense. They are max loaded with four AIM-54s, two AIM-7s, and
two AIM-9s apiece. You've got two KA-6s up but they'll have to tank
with Shamu before you can use them. One Hawkeye up, range
one-niner-zero miles east. Flashlight is at your three o'clock, eight
miles, low, southeast bound at vee-max." The big spy plane was on the
deck, trying to lose itself in the radar clutter of the sea. "Basket is
southeast of your position, one-one-zero miles. Say your load and
fuel."
"Bullet Six flight of two, two -7s, two -9s, seven minutes to bingo."
"Copy, Bullet Six flight. Vector to join on Flashlight, starboard to
heading one-one-zero, take angels eight."
"Negative. Bullet Six flight wants a vector to the inbounds." Penrose
had had enough of screwing with trying to protect the Air Force's radar
plane-his job was to protect the fleet and keep any more Chinks from
lobbing missiles at his home. "Your OPORD says to escort the RC, Bullet
flight "Fuck the ops orders, Basket. I want a vector to the inbounds."
On interphone, he told his RIO, Lieutenant Commander John Watson, "Lion
Tamer, lock those inbounds up if this bozo doesn't give us a vector That
was usually not very good practice-they would keep the element of
surprise if Penrose's RIO kept his radar off-but if he had to, they
would go it alone. . There was a brief pause from the AWACS controller,
but he was obviously not in the mood or not authorized to argue. "Roger
. . . Bullet Six flight, four bandits at one o'clock, fifty miles,
take angels three-five, that'll put you ten thousand above them."
"Six flight." Penrose held his heading and started his climb.
"Bogey-dope."
"Bandits at your one o'clock, level, fifty miles, closure rate eleven
hundred. Be advised, Bullet flight, Flashlight reported naval radar and
possible naval antiair at your twelve o'clock, two hundred miles. You
may be coming within detection range. "Six copies." Well, if that
happened, they'd be about even it was a two-vee-four, but there was not
yet any sign that they'd been detected. Penrose wasn't going to turn on
his radar until absolutely necessary. "Two."
"One o'clock, moving to one-thirty, forty miles . . . thirty miles,
two o'clock, low . They weren't going in completely blind. Penrose's
RIO was adjusting his IRSTS, or Infrared Search and Track System, a
long-range heat-seeking imager that could detect and display hot targets
at medium to short range; his was one of the few older F- 14A models
with both an IRSTS sensor as well as the typical TCS telescopic camera
system, in side-by-side chin pods. IRSTS allowed the crew to launch
missiles against targets at long range and activate their AWG-9 radar
only a few seconds before the missiles impacted-that was precisely what
they were trying to do now. "Two-thirty position, thirty miles.. ."
Penrose corrected his course to keep the bandits within the 30-degree
limit of the IRSTS seeker. "Cowboy, can you get an IR track on these
guys?"
"We got 'em all the way, " Penrose's wingman, Lieutenant Commander Paul
"Cowboy" Bowman, replied. "Ready when you are. "Stand by." On
interphone Penrose asked, "Got 'em yet, Lion Tamer?"
"Hold on... tally-ho, finally got 'em... IR track. Compiling data...
got a good data feed. Wish we had a laser ranger right now-their guys
would be dog meat. Be advised, Razor, my radar's coming on three
seconds after missile launch. We won't be invisible no more... okay. I
got a firing solution. Clear to launch."
"Good. Lock up the rest as soon as the radar's on." On the interplane
frequency, he called out, "Seven, give it to 'em. Bullet Six, fox one.
"Seven, fox one. Penrose squeezed the launch button on his radar, and
the light-gray outline of his Tomcat fighter lit up again as the big
Sparrow missile leaped into the dark sky. He could see a missile from
his wingman slash through the sky just a few hundred feet away-the two
missiles appeared to be flying in formation as they streaked toward
their targets. The missiles seemed to track perfectly . But suddenly
Penrose's missile seemed to diverge away faster and faster-his wingman's
missile curved to the right, tracking all the way, but Penrose's Sparrow
was going off in the weeds. "Lion Tamer, what's going on...?"
"Damn! Radar's not coming up!" Watson shouted. "Shit, it cooled down
too much!" A status light to the right of the RIO's tactical
information display read ENV STBY, meaning that the system would stay in
nonradiating mode until the electronics fully warmed up. "Two! Take the
lead! Six is gadget-bent!"
"Seven's taking the lead." Penrose began searching to his right, hoping
he could see his wingman, but he made it easy for him: Bullet Seven had
his left engine in min afterburner, both to help Penrose find him and
start closing in on the Chinese fighters faster. "Cowboy, got a tally on
you, kill your burner, " Penrose said. The burner flicked off. They
continued their right turn to put themselves right on the four Chinese
fighters' tails. Lion Tamer's APR-45 radar threat scope suddenly came to
life. It showed first a friendly search radar directly aheadBullet
Seven-and, seconds later, several bat-wing symbols appeared off to the
right as the Chinese fighters, after detecting the Tomcat's radars,
activated their own search radars to find their ambushers. All four
bat-wings were superimposed, with a diamond around the closest one. As
Penrose searched out his canopy bubble to see if he could see any of the
enemy fighters, he saw a tiny puff of fire in the distance-Bullet
Seven's Sparrow missile had exploded. One of the bat-wings promptly
disappeared. "Bullet flight, splash one bandit, " the AWACS controller
reported. "Dead bandit descending rapidly, turning right, decelerating.
Two bandits breaking left, same altitude, nine miles. One bandit looks
like he's descending, heading straight ahead... lone bandit is thirty
miles from Flashlight, appears to be closing on him."
"Six, go after the solo. I'll take these two."
"Negative. I'm bent. I'm staying with you. "I can take these two. Use
your IR and the AWACS. Get the solo." "Dammit, Cowboy, if those two are
bugging out, let 'em. Don't get sucked into a one-vee-two. Let's go
get the solo together."
"We got these two locked up, no sweat. Take the solo. I'll be back in
a flash." He punctuated his sentence by banking hard left in pursuit.
Penrose and Watson were suddenly right between two enemy cells. "You
gotta protect the recon plane, Razor, " Watson told him. "Fuck the recon
plane. My wingman might be in trouble..."
"So what happens when that bandit smokes that RC-135? There's eighteen
guys on that t
hing." He was right-he had no choice. "Shit. We're going
after the solo. Basket, Bullet Six, vector to the solo inbound."
"Bullet Six, bandit at your twelve to one o'clock, eleven miles, five
thousand below you, airspeed six hundred thirty." Penrose shoved his
throttles to full military power, anxious to get within missile-firing
range but not enough to risk using afterburners and getting himself in a
low-fuel situation-he fully intended to go back and see to Cowboy after
dealing with the lone bandit. "Lion Tamer, what's with the radar? Can't
you get it going?" "Keeps resetting. I'm recycling it . This is going
from bad to worse, Penrose thought. On interplane, he asked, "Cowboy,
how goes it?"
"We got one in the kill zone, " Penrose and Watson heard on the
interplane frequency. "Looks like the other guy's bugging out-he's out
of it. Thirty seconds and I'm back with you. "Don't get cocky, " Penrose
said. "Shoot and clear. Basket, dammit, keep an eye out for Seven's
trailer." "Basket copies. Second bandit on Bullet Seven is two o'clock,
eleven miles, accelerating, descending. Bullet Six, your bandit is
twelve o'clock, ten miles. Your bandit is twenty-five miles from
Flashlight and closing. Watson manually slewed the IRSTS along the
bearing given by the AWACS controller and finally found the Chinese
fighter, a tiny green dot on his screen. He hit the "Lock" button, and
a big square superimposed itself on the dot; a second later as the IRSTS
refined its aiming and stabilized its gyro platform, the square
compressed to slightly larger than the dot, and a stream of tracking
figures appeared on the screen. Watson slaved one AIM-9R Sidewinder
missile to the IRSTS boresight, and Penrose heard a low, menacing growl
as the missile's seeker head locked on. "Got the Chink on IR, Razor, "
Watson said. "Select a Sidewinder and nail this bugger. "Bullet Seven,
second bandit climbing through your altitude, two o'clock, twelve miles
. . "Bullet Six, fox two . . ." Penrose shot one Sidewinder, decided
against selecting his last one-Cowboy might need the extra missile. The