Sky Masters

by Dale Brown

  flashed a "Missile Launch" indication. "Liang flight, break!" he

  shouted on the radio. In a pre-determined sequence, the J-7 fighter

  climbed and turned right, and the JS-7 fighter, because it was more

  powerful and could climb faster to re-attack, descended and turned left.

  The JS-7 fighter also carried radar-jamming and chaff and flare pods,

  and the pilot made sure all were activated as he brought his weapons

  on-line and prepared to attack. "Fayling, Fayling, Liang-Two flight

  under missile attack!" He dumped chaff and flare bundles, rolled right,

  went to military power, and raised the nose to re-acquire the bomber. .

  . or whatever it was. Just as he did, he saw a flash of light above and

  a bit behind him, then a growing trail of fire, and he knew his wingman

  was hit. "Fayling, Liang-507 is hit. 507, 507 can you hear me? You are

  on fire. Repeat you are on fire. Eject! Eject! Eject!" No response.

  The trail of fire began to grow as the J-7 fighter spiraled to the sea

  and disappeared. CHINESE DESTROYER EAIFRNG The radar blips first

  appeared as helicopters and were classified as such by the destroyer's

  Sea Eagle three-dimensional search radar, but it was quickly obvious

  that the air target was climbing and accelerating much too quickly for a

  rotary-wing machine. The radar operator aboard the destroyer Kazjeng

  immediately rang his superior officer in the ship's Combat Information

  Center. "Sir, rapidly moving air target launched from a vessel in the

  Sterett surface-action group, bearing one-four-eight, speed . . .

  speed approaching four hundred knots and accelerating, altitude

  decreasing to below one hundred meters, range five-zero nautical miles."

  There was no aircraft carrier out there, so it could only be one

  thing-Suspected Tomahawk cruise missiles in flight..." The officer in

  CIC reacted immediately: he hit the alarm button and rang the line

  direct to the bridge: "Bridge, CIC, missile alert, missile alert, we

  have suspected American cruise missiles being launched from the Sterett

  surface action group."

  "Bridge copies, " came the reply. "Give us a count and stand by to

  engage."

  "CIC copies." "Sir! Aircraft warning, attack warning, Liang-Two fighter

  group reports they are under fighter attack "Fighter attack!" the

  commander shouted. "Whatfighters? You said there was only one bomber

  up there!"

  "Liang-Two reports a missile attack, sir. He reports his wingman has

  been hit by a missile. Sir, the B-52 bomber aircraft rapidly

  decelerating, range closing to sixty nautical miles, airspeed

  six-one-zero and accelerating, altitude now seven thousand meters. ..

  six thousand meters. . . five thousand.. . sir, heavy jamming on my

  scope... attempting frequency jumping... heavy jamming persisting on

  all search frequencies. I cannot hop away to clear frequency!" CHINESE

  DESTROYER JINAN, IN THE CELEBES SEA, NEAR DAVAO GULF "Sir, destroyer

  Kaifi'ng reports incoming Tomahawk cruise missiles from the southeast

  and has issued an air-defense warning for all vessels. He also reports

  a suspected B-52 bomber in a rapid descent heading northwest, and heavy

  radar jamming on all frequencies. There was also a report about a

  fighter attack, number and type unknown." Captain Jhijun Lin of the

  People's Liberation Army Navy destroyer Jinan nodded resolutely. "Sound

  general quarters, alert the task force, begin intermittent radar search

  pattern. We can expect our own air threats any-"

  "Sir! Frigate Yingtan reports radar contact, aircraft, bearing

  two-zero-five, range forty-seven nautical miles, altitude . altitude

  three hundred meters, sir, speed four hundred seventy knots. No IFF

  codes observed. They report possible multiple inbounds on this

  bearing."

  "Understood, " Captain Jhijun acknowledged. As the combat-readiness

  alarm sounded throughout the ship, the manual track operator on the

  bridge of the EF4-class destroyer Jinan drew in the position of the

  radar contact on a large grease board. "I want a positive

  identification immediately." It was finally beginning, Captain Jhijun

  told himself. Although the intruder aircraft were detected very

  late-seaskimming targets should be detectable at twenty miles by the

  frigate Yingtan 's Sea Eagle radar, but targets at three hundred meters

  should be seen easily at fifty miles-he wished it were starting a bit

  more dramatically. After learning what the American Air Battle Force had

  in their arsenal on the island of Guam, he would have expected an attack

  by B- 1 or FB- 111 bombers, flying supersonic at seaskimming altitudes.

  From these radar contact's flight profiles, these appeared to be nothing

  more than B-52 bombers lumbering in. And they were coming in from the

  south, which was totally expected as well-the two layers of destroyers,

  frigates, and patrol boats in the Philippine Sea east of Mindanao were

  designed to herd the American bombers in the only "safe" flight path

  they could take-fly in from the south right into the mouth of Davao

  Gulf. "Sir, missile warning. Yingtan 's escorts report missiles

  inbound, no count, all sea-skimmers. Patrol boats maneuvering to

  intercept. Good radar track on all inbounds, intercept confidence is

  high. Identity now confirmed by flight profile as B-52 bombers." So it

  was confirmed-not B- Is, only B-52 bombers. An easy kill. The B-52s

  were flying right into a trap. Four frigates, one destroyer, and

  sixteen antiaircraft escort patrol boats were waiting for anyone stupid

  enough to allow themselves to be steered around by surface threats. Two

  of the frigates, Yingtan stationed on the southern perimeter and Xiamen

  on the northern side, were armed with short-range Hong Qian-6 I

  surfaceto-air missiles-deadly within their limited range-but his

  destroyer Jinan, in the center of the two-hundred-kilometerlong

  gauntlet, had the HQ-9I surface-to-air missile system, a licensed copy

  of the French Masurca medium-range SAM system. The HQ-9 1 was deadly out

  to forty-five kilometers even to low-flying supersonic aircraft-this

  B-52 would be an easy kill. Jinan had already seen action-it was that

  ship that had successfully guided the fighters in on the arrogant

  American Navy fighters over the Celebes Sea not too long ago. The

  little patrol boats were deadly as well-their guns could knock down any

  antiship missile in the American inventory and throw up a cloud of lead

  in front of any aircraft stupid enough to stray within a few kilometers

  of them. But even the B-52s could carry a big punch. "Radio to all

  attack-group ships and to Task Force Master, we are under attack,

  request air support against incoming B-52 bombers, " Jhijun said.

  Obviously Harpoon antiship missiles, he thought. They were lucky-they

  did not start their attack until they had a radar fix on Yingtan. That

  meant the Americans had no other radar aircraft in the area spotting

  targets for the B-52s. Jhijun checked the plot board. The B-52s will be

  coming within range ofjinan 's radars in a few minutes-if they survived

  that longand the longer-range HQ-91 missiles would not miss. But Jh jun
r />   fully expected the B-52s to turn tail and run after all thei1r Harpoon

  missiles were expended. "Patrol boat 682 engaging antiship missiles. .

  patrol boat 688 engaging missiles... Yingtan now reporting six incoming

  aircraft, all from the south, range to closest aircraft twenty nautical

  miles. Same flight profile, reported as B-52 bombers on low-level

  antiship attack." The reports began coming in as one by one the Harpoon

  missiles were destroyed. "First B-52 turning west, appears to be

  disengaging."

  "Lost contact with patrol boat 642, sir, " the combat information center

  officer onjinan reported. "Patrol boat 688 reports two vessels afire,

  suspect the other as patrol boat 651. Frigate Yingtan reports minor

  damage from antiship missile, but is still under way and combat

  capable." With six B-52s on the loose, each with the capacity to carry

  twelve Harpoon missiles, they had to expect some attrition. "Second

  B-52 disengaging So the B-52s were going to be content with launching a

  few Harpoon missiles and fleeing. The fighters would be able to mop

  them up then, Jhijun thought-they still had to contend with the Harpoon

  missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles, though. ... This was incredible,

  the Chinese pilot of the JS-7 fighter thought-one moment he was leading

  an eight-ship attack group on a routine night patrol, the next moment he

  was alone and under attack by an unseen, unidentified foe. "Fayling,

  Fayling, " the pilot radioed to the destroyer Kaifeng~ which was

  controlling the intercept in this sector, where is the target? I need a

  vector."

  "Liang flight, target is in a rapid descent at your eight o'clock

  position, thirty kilometers, altitude four thousand meters, " the radar

  controller reported-apparently he was too excited to remember that the

  other J-7 fighter had been destroyed. "Turn left heading two-niner-five

  and descend to three thousand meters to intercept." Four thousand

  meters? Less than sixty seconds ago he was at ten thousand meters! The

  JS-7 pilot threw his fighter into a steep left turn and pushed the nose

  down, using his airbrakes judiciously to avoid ripping his PL-7 and PL-2

  missiles from their pylons. "Liang, your target is at your eleven to

  twelve o'clock, twenty-seven kilometers." He was getting heavy jamming,

  but his French-made radar was sophisticated enough to frequencyhop and

  avoid most of it. "Intermittent contact, " the JS-7 pilot reported. The

  lock-on was good enough for a radar range and firing solution, so he

  quickly selected a PL-7 radar-guided missile. "Liang shooting radar

  one... He waited a few seconds, then fired his second one. "Shooting

  radar two... Atkins was so sure the fighter back there was going to take

  a shot that he found himself staring at the threat-indicator light. As

  soon as it illuminated, he shouted, "Missile launch! Level off!" He

  found himself crushed into his seat by G-forces as Carter pulled the

  B-52 out of its high-banked dive, the fuselage and wings creaking so

  loudly from the stress that it seemed they would shatter like a crystal

  champagne glass. "Break left!" Atkins shouted on interphone as he

  ejected chaff out the right ejector racks. Carter heeled the EB-52

  Megafortress hard left, so hard that Atkins' helmet banged against his

  left instrument panel-but he kept his finger on the chaff button long

  enough to create a good-sized cloud. Carter shoved the Megafortress's

  nose down below the horizon to regain his airspeed, and the negative-Gs

  he created caused dirt, loose checklists and papers, and all sorts of

  unrecognizable garbage to float around the cabin as if they were

  suddenly weightless in orbit. Atkins felt his stomach go up with the

  floating junk, and he ripped off his oxygen mask to keep from filling it

  up with vomit. "You OK, E-dub?" Karbayjal said. Atkins turned and saw

  his gunner with a worried expression on his face and one hand on his

  shoulder. The plane was in a gut-wrenching turn, they were under attack

  by a Chinese fighter-but Karbayjal was worried about him. "Sure . ' .

  sure . . . Atkins moaned. "Good, " Karbayjal said. He settled

  himself back into his seat as calmly and as easily as could be, as if

  being tossed around and squished by four times Earth's gravity were a

  normal occurrence for him. "You're doing good, E-dub, " Karbayjal added.

  "Keep it up and let's get that sucker. Set up your jammers and take

  care of the uplink." Atkins struggled to refocus his eyes on his threat

  display. His automatic jamming system picked out the best frequency

  range and applied it to the correct antennae for the threat-in this

  case, an X3-band uplink signal driven to the tail antennae-and it would

  pump out chaff as well, but it would not tell the pilot when or in what

  direction to turn to avoid the missile. Tracked on the tail radar, the

  Chinese missile appeared to be wavering from the chaff to the EB-52, not

  entirely fooled. This close-in, the missile might lock onto the

  Megafortress if they made another turn. "Pilot, roll out!" Atkins

  called out. "Guns, stand by with Stingers!" Karbayjal smiled at

  Atkins-he was finally taking charge of this intercept. "Roger, E-dub."

  Karbayjal already had a good lock on the incoming Chinese missiles and

  was waiting for them to close in. It was a risky move-hoping that the

  Megafortress's low radar cross-section would defeat the missiles more

  than maneuvering would. They needed to build up a new speed reserve as

  well, since even the Megafortress bled off a lot of airspeed in tight

  turns. But thejammers weren't completely shutting down the Chinese

  fighter's uplink-the missiles were still tracking. "Missiles still

  coming!" Atkins shouted on the interphone. "I'm ready with Stingers, "

  Karbayjal told him, "but you gotta do it. My Stingers are strictly last

  resort . . ." Atkins took another calculated risk-as he began pumping

  out chaff once more from the left ejectors, he overrode the automatic

  jammers and reduced the transmitter power in half, letting a strong

  fighter fire control lock on the bleedthrough, then shouted, "Pilot,

  break right!" The missiles continued to bore in. . Now there were three

  radar targets out there, the Chinese JS-7 pilot cursed. The first was

  obviously a chaff cloud-it had begun to dissipate very quickly, and his

  PL-7 missiles weren't fooled. His radar seemed to get a firm lock-on

  just then on the real target, but it turned out it was a firm lock on

  another chaff cloud. The target was scooting right at nearly a thousand

  kilometers an hour, while the big, bright, original target was dead

  ahead-at zero kilometers per hour. Obviously a chaff cloudand his

  missiles were both going for it. A clean miss. "Fayling, Liang, where

  is Sichuan-Ten flight? I have no radar missiles left."

  "Liang, Sichuan-Ten flight has been separated into two flights of two,

  high patrol diverting north to intercept air targets under control by

  destroyer Zunyi. Your helpers will be designated Sichuan-3 I flight of

  two, now at ten thousand meters, range two-one-five bull's-eye."

  "What about the rest of my Liang-Two flight?"

  "Lia
ng-Two homebound are still at twelve thousand meters,

  northwest-bound."

  "Are you crazy?" the JS-7 pilot shouted. "Turn those bastards around!

  Liang-Two flight of six, reverse course, descend to three thousand

  meters, prepare to engage!" There was a scratchy reply on the radio-they

  heard him, although they probably wished they did not. If they turned

  around, there was no chance they'd land back at Zamboangabut ditching in

  the Celebes Sea or landing at Cotabato was better than allowing this

  B-52 or whatever it was to head in toward the fleet unopposed. He had

  one more chance before he had to return to basethrottles to max

  afterburner, close in fast, two PL-2 heat-seeking missile shots, a gun

  pass with his 23-millimeter cannon, then abort. The JS-7 pilot pushed

  his throttle to max afterburner, watched the range quickly decrease to

  less than fifteen kilometers, got a seeker lock-on from his two

  remaining PL-2 missiles, then launched them both at once. ... "Bandit

  at six o'clock, crew, descending behind us, " Karbayjal called out,

  carefully watching the Chinese fighter on his tail radar. The Chinese

  fighter was sending out jamming signals, but at this range even the

  Megafortress's smaller tail radar burned through it easily. "Bandit's

  accelerating... Jesus, stand by for missile attack . . . E-dub, stand

  by for flares on the right The infrared tail warning receiver's "Missile

  Warning" light in all crew stations, which detected the heat of a

  fighter in the rear quadrant and locked onto it, was immediately

  replaced by a high-pitched tone in everyone's headset and a "Missile

  Launch" warning light. "IR missile attack!" Atkins shouted. "Break

  left!" Atkins immediately released four bundles of flares

  simultaneously from the right ejector. But Karbayjal had seen the

  missile launch and was ready. Careful not to aim the Stinger airmine

  rockets at the flares, he waited until the missiles tracked, then

  ejected the flares and re-acquired the Megafortress's hot engine

  exhausts, then opened fire with a stream of missiles. He launched six

  Stingers, then watched for any sign of pursuit. When he saw at least

  one Chinese missile survive, he shouted on interphone, "Reverse! Climb