Sky Masters

by Dale Brown

  if possible!" When Karbayjal made his call, Atkins had switched ejector

  racks, selecting the left ejector, and pumped out four more flares.

  Simultaneously, Carter immediately threw the Megafortress into a

  screaming right bank and held it until the stallwarning horn came on.

  "Can't climb, guns!" Carter shouted. "Disregard, " the gunner said as

  the last missile disappeared from his radarscope. "Fighter's coming in,

  four miles... three miles... Stingers firing.. ." The Megafortress

  crew could hear the heavy Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! and a rumble

  throughout the bomber as Karbayjal fired four more missiles at the

  fighter closing in. ... It had to be a fighter, the JS-7 pilot thought,

  since only a fighter could possibly move thatfast. The flares that the

  target was ejecting seemed as bright as the sun in the complete darkness

  of the Celebes Sea. His PL-2 missiles obviously thought so, because

  they tracked and destroyed the flares with ease. He was now weaponless

  except for his twin-barreled 23-millimeter cannon. But the stream of

  flares pointed to the target's location, even if it wasn't apparent on

  radar, so the pilot kept his throttle at min afterburner and closed in

  to cannon range. Suddenly four bright bursts of light erupted right in

  front of his fighter, stretching from his left wingtip all the way

  across the nose. His JS-7 fighter began to shudder, as if shivering with

  fear, and the shudder continued right into a full-blown stall. "Fayling,

  Fayling, Liang-Two, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, I'm hit, I'm hit. . ." He

  saw the "Engine Overspeed" and "Hydraulic Press" lights illuminate and

  pulled his ejection handle seconds before his controls locked and his

  fighter began a death spiral to the sea. DESTROYER JINAN "Sir! Destroyer

  Zunyi reports he is under attack by antiship missiles from the east, "

  another report suddenly came in. "Zunyi is engaging. Sichuan-Ten flight

  of two Q-5 fighters are engaging suspected B-52 bombers at low

  altitude."

  "Where's Zunyi?" Jhijun shouted. The answer came a few moments

  later-only one hundred nautical miles east ofjinan. Zunyi was an older

  Luda-class destroyer, part of the Philippine Sea cordon; it carried no

  surface-to-air missile system because it was designed to engage surface

  ships and submarines, not aircraft. "Get a feed from Zunyi's CIC and

  integrate their plots on our-"

  "Sir! Incoming missiles! Bearing two-six-five, high altitude, range

  twenty nautical miles, speed subsonic, multiple inbounds, intercept

  course!"

  "What?" Jhijun resisted the urge to swivel around in his seat and look

  at the west-it was pitch black outside, with a light overcast sky, and

  he knew he wouldn't see a thing. "How the hell could missiles get that

  close? Radar, get your heads out of your asses or I will have you on

  deck when those missiles hit! Report on fire-control

  statusimmediately!"

  "Fire control reports fully operational, good track on all inbounds,

  intercept confidence is high." Jhijun wished he could be more confident

  himself-first contact at twenty miles was far, far too close. "Targets

  maneuvering slightly, " the CIC officer reported. "Range to air

  targets, mark, fifteen nautical miles, bearing two-six-five, speed five

  hundred The targets weren't maneuvering. . . offset range was

  decreasing . . . bearing was constant . . . Antiradar missiles!"

  Jhijun suddenly shouted. He knew all about the Americans' radar-homing

  missiles, especially the loitering cruise missilesthis was probably a

  flight of them coming in now. But how in hell did those missiles get so

  close before being detected...? Pushing the big Megafortress bomber to

  descend at over twelve thousand feet per minute, it took less than three

  minutes to descend to two hundred feet-yet with Chinese warships all

  around them, it felt like an eternity. "Golf-band search radar at eleven

  o'clock . . ." Atkins shouted on interphone; "India-band gun fire

  control radar now at one to two o'clock position . . . Christ,

  Golf-band radar changing to Charlie-band missile director . . .

  another Indiaband fire control radar at two-thirty . . . dammit, are

  we in range of that destroyer yet? We're going to get nailed... ! I've

  got a possible fighter GCI signal from that destroyer now, he might be

  vectoring in more fighters."

  "Ready in range with the first TACIT RAINBOW missile, " Kellerman called

  out after checking the information on the side-looking radar display

  once again and updating her map of all the ships in the area. "Right

  turn thirty degrees to escape, next target will be off the nose at

  twenty miles." Atkins rechecked the weapon indications one more

  timemissile engine, guidance, autopilot, data link, warhead continuity

  all reporting ready. "Doors coming open... missile one away. . .

  missile two away. . As the Megafortress banked away to the right, the

  AGM136A TACIT RAINBOW missiles sped off to the left and descended to

  less than one hundred feet above the sea, then continued their left turn

  until they were aiming directly at the Chinese destroyer. At the same

  time, Atkins programmed another missile on the next target, what ISAR

  reported as a Huangfeng-class guided-missile patrol boat transmitting

  with an India-band gun fire control radar. "Missile three reporting

  ready."

  "Left turn ten degrees to escape, " Kellerman called out. "I'll take us

  within ten miles of that patrol boat unless a missile radar comes up."

  In which case, Kellerman thought, Atkins better hold it together long

  enough to warn the crew. She knew it was a big mistake to send that

  scrawny little BB-stacker on this mission-Atkins might have an IQ larger

  than the national debt and could modify a wristwatch to jam half of

  Cleveland, and he seemed to do OK with Karbayjal holding his hand, but

  he simply wasn't cut out for combat. "Pilots copy, " Carter

  acknowledged. "Missile three counting ....... missile three away...

  doors closed, clear left turn." DESTROYER JINAN "Sir, destroyer Kazfeng

  reports their patrol boats are engaging inbound cruise missiles. Admiral

  Feng is recommending frigate Yingtan move east to help cover the

  southeast approaches."

  "Negative, " Captain Jhijun shot back. "My vessels are under attack by

  antiradar missiles-they are right on top of us. Yingtan will remain

  where it is until And then he realized that if antiradar missiles were

  appearing out of nowhere-it had to be a stealth bomber attack. The

  stealth bomber itself would not show on radar right away, but the

  antiradar missiles would show once they were launchedthe missiles would

  have a smaller radar cross-section than the bombers that launched them

  Radio to all task force vessels, suspect stealth bomber attack, number

  unknown, " Captain Jhijun cried. "CIC, directed search for carrier

  aircraft by visual and infrared scanners. Find that damned bomber! Find

  it!"

  "Sir, Kaijeng reports B-52 bomber is launching subsonic missiles . . .

  no successful hit on any Tomahawk missiles because of heavy radar

  jamming. B-52 bomber closing to within thirty
miles of Kafeng. "Sir,

  destroyer Kafeng reports one hit by a Tomahawk cruise missile." No one

  spoke on the combat bridge. They couldn't believe it. What was going

  on? 'Kazjeng radioing for assistance. Task force group commander

  dispatching frigate Yingtan to assist. . . Kazfeng reports additional

  hits by antiradar missiles from the B-52, sir! Destroyer Zunyi now

  reports under attack by sea-skimming antiship missiles... patrol boat

  6114 hit by Harpoon antiship missile, extensive damage . . . lost

  contact with patrol boat... Zunyi reports contact with B-52 bombers

  east of their position, number unknown Damn them! With Yingtan moving

  out of position and Kaifeng damaged, Jinan was now the southernmost

  warship guarding Davao Gulf. Ships as large as destroyers needed a

  frigate for heavy close-in air support, and Jhijun was losing his! Well,

  he was not going to suffer the same fate as Kafeng. "Emitters in

  standby!" the commander of the destroyer Jinan shouted. "Turn the

  radars off! Use all available personnel with infrared and

  electro-optical spotters, but find those bombers!" The nightmare was

  back. Only two days since first stirring up the hornet's nest with their

  reconnaissance overflight, McLanahan and Cobb were back at it again in

  their B-2 Black Knight stealth bomber-only this time they not only had

  to examine and count the hornets coming out of the hive, they had to

  swat at them. To make things worse, there appeared to be more hornets

  than ever out here, and they seemed mad as hell and ready to inflict

  some serious stings. "Radar down on that destroyer... fire-control

  radars going down on all area vessels, " Patrick McLanahan reported to

  Henry Cobb. "Fourteen miles before impact-they figured it out pretty

  fast. Most operators won't figure out their radars are under attack

  until the first few hit." He expanded the God'seye view on the Super

  Multi Function Display before him, inundating his screen with NIRTSat

  satellite data received only a few minutes earlier. "I've got a few

  fire-control radars still up from those patrol boats, but most don't

  have anything but surface-search radars." Cobb clicked his mike in

  reply, still seated in his usual frozen position-hands on stick and

  throttles, eyes straight ahead, unmoving. How the hell could Cobb stay

  so calm? McLanahan wondered to himself. He sees everything that goes

  on, he studies the Super Multi Function Display, he sees the threat

  warnings, yet he sits as calmly as ever, staring straight ahead. He

  looks the same on training flights as he does in combat. "TACIT RAINBOW

  missiles are entering their holding pattern until the radar comes up, "

  McLanahan added. "Go to five-twenty on the airspeed and let's get out

  of here before the radars come back up." Cobb clicked again and pushed

  power up to full military thrust-the faster the B-2 could get past these

  ships, the better. McLanahan's B-2 Black Knight had a few stings itself

  this time around-no more reconnaissance pods, now that the NIRTSats

  appeared to be working again. The B-2 carried four AGM-I36A TACIT

  RAINBOW antiradar cruise missiles and four AGM-88C HARM antiradar

  missiles in clip-in racks in its left bomb bay, plus a Common Strategic

  Rotary Launcher with six AGM-84E SLAM TV-guided missiles in the right

  bomb bay. The TACIT RAINBOW antiradar missiles horned in on radar

  transmissions, and they had turbojet engines, wings, and autopilots that

  allowed them to stay aloft and, if an enemy radar was turned off, orbit

  a suspected target area to wait for the radar to be reactivated. The

  four TACIT RAINBOW missiles that McLanahan had launched from thirty

  miles away would remain in their orbits for another ten minutes within a

  few miles of the last-known position of the radars-this would give all

  the strike aircraft the chance to get past the Chinese warships and move

  into the target area. FRIGATE YJNGTAN, FORTY MILES SOUTH OF DESTROYER

  JINAN Several minutes had passed, and no hits reported by any ships

  since Kazfeng. If the carrier aircraft were the same speed or a bit

  faster than the antiradar missiles, the carrier aircraft would be very

  close by now. They had sailors with night-vision goggles and infrared

  scanners looking for the missiles, but unless they heard it or got lucky

  there was almost no chance of their finding a tiny loitering cruise

  missile up there without radar. A few of the larger patrol boats had

  low-light TV cameras and infrared fire-control sensors on their 57- and

  37-millimeter guns, but their field of view was very small, and getting

  a lock on a fast-moving target was difficult. The intercom clicked on:

  "Bridge, CIC, request permission to activate search radar for two

  sweeps. There was a slight pause; then: "Acknowledged." To the radar

  operator, he said, "Two sweeps. Shut down immediately if there's a

  target within five miles. Call out bearings to contacts for gun

  control."

  "Acknowledged. Radar coming on in three, two, one. now. One sweep,

  twelve seconds, and they knew the awful truth: "Bridge, CIC, multiple

  small targets within five miles, all bearings. Additional air targets,

  two large targets in trail formation, bearing two-seven-eight, range to

  closest target ten nautical miles. Radar down." The commander of the

  frigate Yingtan was on the all-stations call intercom immediately. "CIC,

  all thirty-seven gun stations, all thirty-seven gun stations, fire

  defensive pattern, multiple inbound missiles, all quadrants. Attempt

  visual acquisition. Release radar decoys. Shut down all radars and

  verify." Almost immediately the frigate's four twin 37-millimeter

  antiaircraft guns began firing, sweeping the sky with shells in

  predetermined patterns that would cover all but the ship's centerline

  area-fortunately the patrol boats were dispersed at least six kilometers

  away to avoid being hit by the frigate's barrage. "Helm, forty degrees

  starboard. CIC, ship turning starboard, shoot portside chaff rockets."

  From the sky, the barrage of gunfire might have looked like a

  fireworks-show finale, with winks of muzzle flashes and tracers shooting

  out in all directions. The frigate meanwhile began a series of sharp

  turns and accelerations designed to get as far away as possible from the

  last spot where the radar was turned on-they knew that was where the

  loitering missile was headed. Yingtan also had mortars that fired

  radar-decoying chaff rockets into the air, launching them on the side

  opposite the ship's turn-they would act as decoys if the missiles

  carried active radar seekers. Yingtan 's gunners were rewarded with

  several spectacular flashes as the guns found targets, and missiles

  could be seen splashing down in their wake-a few dangerously close, less

  than a dozen meters away-but none hit. Two missiles went after the tiny

  radar-emitting decoy buoys dropped overboard by the frigate, and the

  bridge crew was treated to a good-sized explosion just a hundred meters

  aft as the missile impacted. In just a few seconds, all of the antiradar

  missiles were defeated by the frigate Yingtan. But all that gunfire only

  saved them
from the small antiradar missiles-the aircraft that launched

  all those missiles were getting away. "CIC, concentrate one

  hundred-millimeter guns at the last position of that bomber. Maybe we

  will get lucky. Prepare to engage with HQ-6I missiles. Comm, radio to

  all patrol boats and to Fleet Master, suspected heavy stealth bomber

  aircraft inbound to Davao Gulf, number unknown." The sudden flurry of

  gunfire into the night sky was spectacular and frightening at the same

  time. It looked like a dome of sparklers had formed over the frigate in

  the distance, like some unearthly glittering spaceship half-submerged in

  the oceanexcept they both knew that those pretty sparklers meant death

  to any aircraft that strayed too close. Cobb instinctively banked

  farther west to avoid the area where most of the gunfire was being

  concentrated, even though McLanahan estimated they were at least ten

  miles abeam the closest ship. "Jesus Christ, " McLanahan muttered.

  "Look at that. . Cobb said nothing. "And we're only seeing about one

  every twelve tracer rounds . . "It's not the guns I'm worried about, "

  Cobb said. "I'm waiting for the SAMs from that frigate."

  "He hit us with a radar sweep powerful enough to paint us, " McLanahan

  said. "He must know we're out here." McLanahan used the tracer rounds

  to find the frigate with his forwardlooking infrared scanner, and the

  imaging heat-seeking telescope locked on easily to the huge vessel. "I

  got a lock on the big mother ship. That must be the frigate. Laser

  rangefinder on . . . laser firing . . .' Immediately the laser

  rangefinder computed the precise distance to the target, completed the

  firing solution for the B-2's complement of weapons. McLanaz han

  touched the right-bomb-bay icon on the bottom of his Super Multi

  Function Display, and the weapons computer picked a SLAM TV-guided

  missile, automatically reducing the SMFD screen in half and using the

  right side of the big screen to display SLAM seeker video transmission.

  "The shit's going to hit the fan as soon as this puppy goes, " McLanahan

  reminded Cobb, then he moved the Bombing System Switch from "Manual" to

  "Auto."

  "Missile Counting ....... missile one away... The right bomb-bay doors