Plan of Attack

by Dale Brown

  Into a hotter-than-hot war zone, he sends his own daughter, Captain Breanna Bastian Stockard. She pilots a Megafortress bomber—equipped with a high-tech, unmanned flight system that could make or break the future of Dreamland…

  “He writes about weapons beyond a mere mortal’s imagination.”—Tulsa World

  ˜

  Dale Brown’s Dreamland: Nerve Center (2002)

  Dale Brown and Jim DeFelice

  Dreamland’s latest project is Flighthawk—an unmanned aerial-attacking craft. A radical, high-risk method has been invented to help pilots master the complex remote-flying skills required to control Flighthawk: the implantation, in the pilot’s skull, of a microchip linked to the deadly machine.

  Initially all goes well for the first volunteer, Army Captain Kevin Madrone. But the psychological stress proves too much—and suddenly Madrone disappears, armed with and a part of one of the most powerful weapons in the world…

  “Nobody…does it better than Brown.”—Kirkus Reviews

  ˜

  Dale Brown’s Dreamland: Razor’s Edge (2002)

  Dale Brown and Jim DeFelice

  The weapon is codenamed “Razor”—the brainchild of the brilliant minds at Dreamland. It is a mobile chemical laser system with a range of 600 kilometers. It is capable of downing anything that flies.

  The destruction of an American aircraft over northern Iraq suggests the inexplicable and unthinkable: a vengeful foe now possesses this lethal technology. It is fear that draws a retired warrior back to the battlefield, and sends Dreamland’s best pilots to the skies to determine what the enemy has and to help take it away from him.

  But politics threatens to crush a covert engagement that must be won in the air and on the ground, unleashing a devastating rain of friendly fire that could ultimately annihilate a nation’s champions…and perhaps Dreamland itself.

  “The talk makes Brown’s novels authentic. What makes them riveting is the rapid pace and headline urgency of his plots.”—San Francisco Chronicle

  E-Book Extra

  “Death of the Dogfight”:

  An Interview with Dale Brown

  Interviewer: You began your first novel, Flight of the Old Dog, while you were still serving in the U.S. Air Force. What did your colleagues think of this?

  Dale Brown: I never really told anybody what I was doing. Most of them thought I was just playing computer games. The others thought I was wasting my time. I enjoyed proving them wrong!

  Interviewer: To what degree do you plan your novels before starting to write?

  Dale Brown: Probably not as much as I should. When I get an idea, I research it, and if I get some exciting info or background, I’ll write a short outline for my editor, tweak it a little, then get busy.

  Interviewer: Is there such a thing as a typical writing day for you? If so, what form does it take?

  Dale Brown: Most days start at nine a.m. and go to four p.m., then restart at nine p.m. and go to eleven p.m. I usually rewrite in the morning and write new scenes in the afternoon and evenings. But every day is different. Some days the scenes flow like water—the next day it’s as dry as a desert. But the important thing is to be in the seat with the computer on, ready to go.

  Interviewer:Dreamland is the first novel in a new series you’re co-writing with Jim DeFelice. Can you give us an idea of how the writing process works?

  Dale Brown: It should be bylined “Jim DeFelice with Dale Brown,” by the way. I invented the basic backdrop of the “Dreamland” series—the time, place, circumstances. I help develop the plot and the characters, and I review the manuscript. Jim does everything else. He’s an incredibly talented writer and we work well together.

  Interviewer: As well as describing the development of the weapons and their use in combat, Dreamland also details the crucial political background to the military action. Which part do you prefer writing?

  Dale Brown: I prefer describing weapons and technology by far. But the fighting is actually just a tiny fraction of the conflict. The political/diplomatic stuff is not as exciting sometimes, but it’s every bit as important to the story.

  Interviewer:Dreamland’s characters—“Dog” Bastian; his daughter, Bree Stockard; her husband, “Zen”; Mack “Knife” Smith—all face different challenges and all have different goals in mind at the beginning of the novel. To what extent are they based on real people?

  Dale Brown: We all know characters like these—the hot dogs, the dedicated ones, the smart ones, the obsessed ones. So all of my characters are based on folks I know. But it’s also true that the characters take on a life of their own. Jim DeFelice and I talk about the characters as if they’re real persons: “Bree wouldn’t do that”; “Mack would say this.”

  Interviewer: The novel depicts certain rivalries among those on the ground and those who take to the air. It’s the latter group who get the glory, yes?

  Dale Brown: No one likes to admit it, because it doesn’t fit in with the “whole force” politically-correct concept, but the pilot is and will always be king of the U.S. Air Force. Only seventeen percent of USAF personnel are pilots, but they make up most of the unit commanders. Even if in ten to fifteen years most USAF combat aircraft will be unmanned, the pilot will still be king.

  Interviewer: Life in a secret establishment such as Dreamland—or even on a “normal” military base—must be hard enough without the staff having relationships. In your experience, do these relationships lead to difficult situations?

  Dale Brown: All the time—that’s why we authors put them in our stories! We are always looking for conflict. It’s another complication in wartime.

  Interviewer: Since the end of the Cold War, threats to “our way of life” are not so neatly geographically placed. Nor, aside from Saddam Hussein and various terrorist groups, is it clear where we should place our military priorities.

  Dale Brown: There are plenty of bad guys out there—but it sometimes takes more background to explain why they are the bad guys. Fifteen years ago, everyone understood why we were fighting the Soviets. But if you set a war story in Ukraine or Lithuania or the Philippines, you need to take some time and explain why we’re fighting there.

  Interviewer: What effect has the advent of improved technology had on the art of being a fighter pilot?

  Dale Brown: It has changed it completely. The “dogfight”—two pilots, two planes—is all but dead. Life and death takes place in split-second battles that happen across dozens of miles, usually without either adversary ever seeing the other. Pilots are more systems operators than fliers nowadays. Sooner than most folks think, our fighters won’t even have pilots in them!

  This interview was first published, in a slightly different form, at www.fireandwater.com, the website of HarperCollins UK.

  Dedication

  This novel is dedicated to the men and women serving as part of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and to their families and loved ones. Thank you all for your service and sacrifice.

  This is also dedicated to the peacemakers of all nations who are still wise and bold enough to know that free nations must still keep their swords sharp, their eyes open, and their resolve strong in order to be prepared to combat the evil in the world.

  Author’s Note

  This is a work of fiction and a product of my imagination. Although I use the names of some real-world persons and organizations, their use is only to enhance authenticity of the story and is not meant to describe any real-world persons or organizations or depict their actual activities. Any similarity whatsoever is coincidental.

  Cast of Characters

  Brigadier General Patrick McLanahan, commander, 966th Information Warfare Wing; plans intelligence operations; 4 ops groups, 1 intel group

  Major General Gary Houser, commander, Air Intelligence Agency

  Colonel Trevor Griffin, deputy commander, 966th Information Warfare Wing, Lackland AFB

  Command CMSgt Harold Bayless, Command NCOIC

  Chie
f Master Sergeant Donald Saks, NCOIC, National Air Intelligence Center, WPAFB; produces foreign aerospace intel for DoD

  Brigadier General David Luger, commander, First Air Battle Force

  Brigadier General Rebecca Furness, commander, 111th Attack Wing; commander, 1 ABF/Air Operations

  Colonel Hal Briggs, commander, 1 ABF/Ground Operations

  Sergeant Major Chris Wohl, NCOIC, 1 ABF/GO

  First Lieutenant Mark Bastian, Ground Ops squad leader

  Staff Sergeant Emily Angel, ABF Ground Ops

  Tech Sergeant James “JD” Daniels

  Lance Corporal Johnny “Hulk” Morris

  Colonel Daren Mace, Ops Group commander, 111th Attack Wing

  Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Hellion, Fifty-first Bomb Squadron (EB-1C)

  Colonel Nancy Cheshire, commander, Fifty-second Bomb Squadron (EB-52 and AL-52)

  Colonel Kelvin Carter, operations officer, Fifty-second Bomb Squadron, AL-52 AC

  Lieutenant Colonel Summer O’Dea, EB-52 AC

  Major Matthew Whitley, EB-52 remote-control technician Major Frankie “Zipper” Tarantino, AL-52 MC

  Captain Johnny “Soccer” Sammis, EB-52 MC

  U.S. Marine Corps Captain Ted Merritt, Marine Special Purpose Forces platoon leader

  Lieutenant General Terrill Samson, commander, Eighth Air Force

  Brigadier General Charles C. Zoltrane, acting deputy commander and operations officer, Eighth Air Force

  General Charles F. “Cuz” Kuzner, chief of staff, USAF

  General Thomas “Turbo” Muskoka, commander, Air Combat Command

  Lieutenant General Leah “Skyy” Fortuna, deputy commander, Air Combat Command

  Admiral Charles Andover, chief of Naval Operations

  General Walter Wollensky, commander, U.S. Space Command

  General Randall Shepard, commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command; also commander of U.S. Northern Command

  Colonel Joanna Kearsage, C-crew command director, Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station

  Lieutenant Colonel Susan Paige, C-crew commander, Air Warning Center, NORAD, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base, Colorado

  Brigadier General Jerrod Richland, E-4 AOC battle staff commander

  Thomas Nathaniel Thorn, president of the United States

  Robert Goff, secretary of defense

  Richard W. Venti, USAF general, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff

  Admiral Charles Andover, chief of Naval Operations

  Douglas R. Morgan, director of Central Intelligence

  Maureen Hershel, secretary of state

  Darrow Horton, attorney general

  Russians

  General Anatoliy Gryzlov, president of the Russian Federation

  Army General Nikolai Stepashin, chief of staff of the Russian military and commander, ministry of state security (chief of all intelligence bureaus)

  Aviatskiy Kapitan Leytenant Josef Leborov, Tu-95MS-16 pilot

  Aviatskiy Starshij Leytenant Yuri Bodorev, his copilot

  Turkmen Starshiy Leytenant

  General Jalaluddin Turabi, interim commander of Turkmen armed forces

  Abdul Dendara, his aide

  Aircraft and Weapons

  MV-32 PAVE DASHER tilt-jet special-operations transport, cruise speed 320 KIAS, endurance 5 hours (conventional takeoff/vertical landing/vertical takeoff/vertical landing), carries 18 combat-ready troops plus crew of three; cargo ramp allows Humvee-size vehicles to fit inside; 2 retractable weapons pods for defensive or attack missiles; 1 20-millimeter Gatling gun in steerable chin turret; satellite and inertial navigation plus imaging-infrared sensor and millimeter-wave radar allows global terrain-following flight

  MQ-35 CONDOR air-launched special-operations transport, cruise speed 300 KIAS, endurance 3 hours (glide insertion/conventional takeoff from rough field/conventional landing on rough field); carries 4 combat-ready troops plus up to 260 pounds of cargo; remotely piloted; mission-adaptive skin and lifting-body technology allows aircraft to be controlled without wings or flight-control surfaces; small turbojet engine and tricycle landing gear allows aircraft to take off from unimproved fields

  RAQ-15 StealthHawk long-range reconnaissance and attack cruise missile; turbojet engine, 600 KIAS max cruise speed, max range 2,000 miles; lifting-body design, mission-adaptive flight controls; carries 6 AGM-211 mini-Maverick guided attack missiles; 2 can be carried by EB-52 Megafortress bombers on wing pylons or 2 in center bomb bay of EB-1C Vampire bomber; reloadable and refuelable by EB-1C bombers; launch weight 3,500 pounds

  AGM-211 mini-Maverick, small TV-guided attack missile, 28-pound thermium nitrate (TN) warhead, glide-and rocket-boosted, 6-mile range

  AGM-165 Longhorn TV-and IIR-guided attack missile, 200-pound TN warhead, MMW radar guidance, 60-mile range, 2,000 pounds each

  AIM-120 Scorpion AMRAAM air-to-air missile, 50-pound warhead, 35 miles max range, triple-mode active radar, passive radar, or infrared, max speed Mach 3, 350 pounds each

  AIM-154 Anaconda long-range radar-guided air-to-air missile, 50-pound TN warhead, 150-mile max range, ramjet engine, active-passive radar/IR guidance, max speed Mach 5, weight 6,000 pounds

  AGM-177 Wolverine cruise missile, turbojet powered, max 50-mile range, 3 weapon bays, IIR or MMW radar terminal guidance, 2,000 pounds

  AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW), range 15 to 40 miles depending on release altitude, 1,500 pounds, unpowered glide weapon, carries 200 antipersonnel/antivehicle bomblets, 10 BLU-108/B antiarmor submunitions, or 500-pound high explosive; EB-52, B-2, or EB-1C can carry 8 on rotary launcher

  ABM-3 Lancelot air-launched anti-ballistic-missile weapon, 200-mile range, plasma-yield or conventional warheads, 3,000-pound launch weight

  Russian:

  AS-17 “Krypton” (Kh-31P) medium-range air-launched antiradar missile, max 120-mile range, speed in excess of Mach 3, 225-pound blast/fragmentation warhead; carried by Tu-22M Backfire bombers

  AS-X-19 “Koala” (Kh-90) long-range air-launched attack missile, ramjet powered, max range 1,800 miles, speed in excess of Mach 8, 1-kiloton nuclear warhead with delayed trigger fuze and armored nose cap, designed for destroying deep underground or armored facilities; two carried by Tu-95 Bear bombers

  AS-16 “Kickback” (Kh-15) inertially guided supersonic attack missile, 90-mile range, max speed Mach 2, 300-pound high-explosive warhead or 1-kiloton nuclear warhead; Tu-160 bomber can carry 24 internally on rotary launcher

  Prologue

  Battle Mountain Air Reserve Base, Nevada

  June 2004

  SA-17 target-detection radar, twelve o’clock, fifty miles, no problem, well below detection threshold…oh, wow, a newcomer, SA-12 surveillance radar, one o’clock, eighty-five miles,” the reconnaissance technician reported. The guy looked all of nineteen years old and sounded even younger. He could’ve been commenting on the appearance of aliens in a video game—he was neither excited nor surprised, just gleefully energized. “SA-12 datalink signals being transmitted…still not locked on, but he knows we’re out here. He—Wait, radar’s down. He shut it off in a big hurry.”

  “Well, well—the Russkies sneaked an SA-12 into the theater,” Major General Patrick McLanahan remarked. He was well accustomed to the youthful expressions and seemingly laid-back style of his soldiers, and he tried not to impart his own “red alert” mentality on them. The forty-seven-year-old two-star Air Force general typed in commands on his computer terminal, calling up any additional information on this new contact. “Possibly a full SA-12 battery—six transporter-erector-launchers plus five loader-launchers tied into a surveillance radar vehicle, sector-scanning radar vehicle, and command post. He’s pretty far outside Ashkhabad—it’s obviously not intended to protect Russian forces in the capital. It’s a clear violation.”

  “They’re moving the heavy guns a little farther east every day,” Air Force Colonel Daren Mace remarked. The fifty-one-year-old Air Force veteran watched as the large, full-color tactica
l display updated itself with the location and identification of the new Russian surface-to-air missile unit. The SA-12, similar in performance to the American Patriot antiaircraft system, was one of the Russian Federation’s most advanced surface-to-air missile systems, capable of destroying large aircraft out as far as sixty miles. “You’d think they didn’t want us out there watching them or something.” He made a few inputs on his own keyboard. “The task force has been updated with the new intel, and we’ve sent warnings to all the United Nations participants,” he went on. “The Russians are threatening past the sixtieth meridian now with the SA-12, sir. If they keep this up, they’ll have surface-to-air missile coverage over Mary itself in just a few days.”

  Patrick nodded. The Republic of Turkmenistan had been cut in half since the Taliban invasion last year, with the Turkmen government and military virtually exiled to the city of Mary in the east and the Army of the Russian Federation in control of the capital city of Ashkhabad in the west. The United Nations Security Council had ordered all parties to stand fast until peacekeeping forces could be moved into the country to try to sort everything out, and to everyone’s surprise the resolution passed without a veto from Russia. Now it appeared that the Russians were violating the order and moving steadily eastward, taking steps to control the skies first and then slowly taking more and more of the countryside. “I’ll go to Eighth Air Force again and make sure they know that the Russians haven’t stopped pushing east.”

  “Think that’ll do any good, sir?” Daren asked. “We’ve painted a pretty clear picture of the Russians moving east across Turkmenistan, in violation of the Security Council’s resolution. The SA-12 is a lot more than a tactical defensive weapon—one battery can shut off two hundred thousand cubic miles of airspace.”