by Don Brown
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. The strident alarm brought Staas's eyes to the flashing red monitor on the cockpit control panel. Next to the Engine Failure alarm, this was the one alarm most dreaded by fighter pilots.
Missile lock! Missile lock! Missile lock!
Staas felt cold sweat all over his body. Kapitan Giorsky had tried radioing him, but he could not hear because of the alarm. His hands trembled as he hit the transmit button.
"Kapitan! He has locked onto me! Help me!"
There was no answer.
"Kapitan! Missile in the air!"
MiG-29
Codename Fulcrum Three
28 miles north of Tbilisi, Georgia
The petrified voice came squeaking over the air-to-air frequency and into Giorsky's headset.
"Help me, Kapitan! Please, help me!"
Giorsky saw the Eagle downrange, but Staas's Fulcrum was out of sight.
"Kapitan! Missile in the air!"
"Staas, pull up! Pull up now! Pull up and hit afterburners!"
Giorsky armed the R-73 Archer missile and pushed the launch button.
F-15 Eagle
Codename Eagle Three
30 miles north of Tbilisi, Georgia
A. J. Riddle could do nothing but wait. The seconds seemed like an eternity as he watched the Sidewinder close in on its target.
Time to impact. Five seconds. Four. Three. Two. One.
A burst of smoke in the sky five miles downrange.
Smoke and debris fell in multiple plumes, streaking down, down toward the ground.
Captain Riddle checked his radar screen. The target had vanished.
Riddle looked for signs of a parachute. Nothing on the horizon.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
The warning indicator light located directly above the radar sceen was flashing. A fast-moving heat-seeking missile was closing in!
A. J. pulled up on the stick and shot the Eagle up, up directly into the sun, which at this altitude was a blazing ball. He tried looking away, but the G-forces pushing him back in his seat made it difficult to turn his face away.
The missile came fast, like a bloodhound sniffing a deer, homing on the exhaust from the Eagle's turbofan engines. Cockpit monitors showed the missile closing distance.
2000 yards.
1500 yards.
1000 yards.
A. J.'s life flashed in a lightning bolt in front of him. Memories of Christmases and Thanksgivings past, with his cousins and grandparents around the dining room table for holiday meals. His graduation from USC. His marriage to Mary Frances. The birth of their son Michael and daughter Holly.
500 yards.
400 yards.
A. J. gripped the joystick with his right hand.
300 yards.
200 yards.
He punched the button, firing five decoy flares into the blue sky. The flares popped out like fireworks on the Fourth of July.
As the flares exploded, he jerked the stick a hard left.
The plane twirled and tumbled out of its ascent. The horizon spun like a gyroscope. The altimeter dropped like a rock. A. J. was on a roller coaster ride. His stomach was still at twenty thousand feet. The rest of his body was somewhere well below that. He thought about ejecting, but an upside-down ejection could be fatal.
He fought, desperately, to regain control of his aircraft. At six thousand feet, the horizon leveled out again, and his stomach caught up with the rest of his body.
A. J. looked up. The Russian missile had flown through the decoys and locked onto the sun's rays, exploding harmlessly in the sky. He scanned the sky above him, looking for the Russian.
"Eagle Three. Eagle Four. You okay?"
"Eagle Four. Eagle Three. Piece of cake."
"Great flying, boss."
"No time for that. Where's our bandit?"
"Got him on my scope, " Lieutenant Travis Martin said. "Still at course one-eight-zero at ten thousand. He's over the outskirts of Tbilisi."
A. J. looked down at his radar scope and spotted the MiG. "It's payback time, Travis. Let's go get him!"
Captain A. J. Riddle set the Eagle for a course of 180 degrees and hit the afterburners.
MiG-29
Codename Fulcrum Three
Over the northern outskirts of Tbilisi, Georgia
Another fifteen minutes or so, and the danger would have passed, Gior-sky thought. He had continued monitoring his radar scope for signs of the two F-15s. Perhaps the R-73 Archer missile had done its job.
Nothing like a heat-seeking missile up another plane's rear to jar the enemy's confidence a bit.
If he had only fired the Archer before the American launched the Stinger that hit Staas. Giorsky had scanned the skies for parachutes, but saw nothing. Under the circumstances, he couldn't circle the area looking for signs of life.
Poor Staas. Shot down on his first combat mission only three months before his first child was to be born. The ultrasounds showed that it would be a boy. Staas was building a plastic model of the Fulcrum that was to be his boy's first present. What pride he had taken in building that model. He had spent hours painting the tiny red star on the plane's tailfin.
Giorsky would write to Staas's widow. He would tell Irina that Staas spoke of his unfailing love for her. Then he would finish building the model for Staas's son. He would write to the boy. He would remind the son that Staas died the death of a combat hero in defense of the Motherland.
Giorsky wondered about the pilot who shot Staas from the skies. Was he still alive? Did he have a wife or children? If so, who would write his family and tell of their father's death? But was the American really dead? Had he even been shot down?
Surely he had killed the American. True, he had wanted to tangle with an F-15. But not this way. Not by firing a missile up the American's jet stream without first a test to see who was the better pilot.
It seemed so unchivalrous. To let a missile fight for a warrior. Whatever happened to gladiator against gladiator? Or ace against ace?
He felt like he had shot a man in the back. Then again, that is exactly what the American had done to Staas. But this was part of the age of high-tech warfare.
Even still, he admired the American's tactics against the missile attack. The evasive maneuver was just what Giorsky would've done against a fast-moving infrared missile: climb for the sun, then at the last second before impact, release decoy flares and roll out.
In theory, the missile would be fooled by the decoy flares, and come out on the other side sniffing the heat from the sun. At least that was the theory.
In reality, this was a desperate do-or-die maneuver that could work, but only if the roll-out was not premature.
Roll away too early, and the missile would recover, catch up, and not be fooled again.
Roll too late, and the warhead was up your tailpipe.
All this was a nerve-wracking game of Russian roulette. And nobody played Russian roulette like the Russians. Not even the mighty Americans.
Giorsky checked his radar screen again.
Still nothing. Only forty miles to the Armenian border. Just a few more minutes and he would be home-free.
Perhaps this was his lucky day.
F-15 Eagle
Codename Eagle Four Over Tbilisi, Georgia
First Lieutenant Travis Martin was piloting his F-15 Eagle a quarter of a mile ahead of Captain A. J. Riddle's plane.
"Eagle Three, Eagle Four."
"Eagle Three, " Captain Riddle said.
"Sir, he's within range of my Sidewinders. Shall I do the honors?"
"By all means, Lieutenant. He's all yours."
Martin armed missile number two, then fed the tracking data from the plane's radar into the fire launch computer.
A red flashing light appeared on the console.
Target acquired. Target acquired. Target acquired.
Travis Martin hit the fire button. The Sidewinder dropped from the wing of the Eagle and fell through the
air. A second later, the missile burst forward like lightning, painting a white streak through the blue skies above Tbilisi.
MiG-29
Codename Fulcrum Three
Over southern outskirts of Tbilisi, Georgia
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. The alarm riveted Giorsky's eyes to his radar screen. Two enemy jets were converging on him from behind, almost at forty-five-degree angles. One was slightly closer than the other. A missile, probably a Sidewinder, was streaking toward him from the closer jet.
Giorsky pulled back on his stick, aimed the Fulcrum at the blazing sun, and hit the afterburners. G-forces plastered him back into his seat. The missile was closing fast.
400 yards.
300 yards.
200 yards.
100 yards.
Giorsky fired eight decoy flares from the belly of the Fulcrum and pushed the stick hard left.
F-15 Eagle
Codename Eagle Four Over Tbilisi, Georgia
Lieutenant Travis Martin had followed the MiG on its rapid ascent and was craning his neck, scanning the dark heavens above him when an exploding cloud of smoke and fire appeared at two o'clock, about two thousand yards from his position.
"Yeah! Captain, we've got missile detonation."
"Eagle Four. Eagle Three. I see that too. Any signs of the MiG?"
"Don't see him, sir. I think I got him!"
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch."
"Eagle Three, Eagle Four. Nothing could've survived that, sir."
"Let's hope you're right. Swing back around on my wing. We'll sweep the area, call in our report, then head back to Incirlik. Our relief should be on station in ten minutes."
"Roger that, Captain. Making my loop now."
MiG-29
Codename Fulcrum Three
Somewhere over Tbilisi, Georgia
The missile had smashed into one of the decoy flares, setting off an explosion that had rocked the Fulcrum, sending it into a tailspin. The plane had dropped several thousand feet, but Giorsky had regained control.
He had gotten lucky again.
No, not luck.
Skill.
He thought about quitting while his luck was still good.
The two F-15s that had tried shooting him down streaked over his plane, about a thousand feet above him, headed southwest – in the direction of Incirlik.
Alexander did a quick check of his instrument panel to make sure that no damage had been sustained by the explosion.
A quick decision was at hand. Head for Armenia, or…
Alexander turned the Fulcrum in a southwesterly direction, pulled back on the stick, and hit the afterburners.
F-15 Eagle
Codename Eagle Three
Somewhere over Tbilisi, Georgia
Eagle Three. Papa Bear. Be advised your relief is on patrol over Tbilisi. Set course for two-two-two degrees and return to base."
"Papa Bear. Eagle Three. Acknowledge, " Captain Riddle said. "Set course two-two-two and return to base. We're on our way home." A. J. reached down and hit the frequency switch for direct contact with Travis Martin in Eagle Four.
"Eagle Four. Eagle Three. You copy that, Travis?"
"Copy that, Captain, I'm on your wing."
A. J. looked out to his right and saw the familiar sight of Travis's F-15 floating in the sky.
"Got you in sight, Eagle Four. Let's go home."
"Roger that, boss. There's no place like home."
For the first time since takeoff from Incirlik earlier in the day, A. J. Riddle breathed a relieved sigh. He wasn't certain that Travis Martin's missile had brought down the Fulcrum. But of this he was certain. Captain Adam Silverstein in Eagle Five, and his wingman, First Lieutenant Jim Blanchard in Eagle Six, were now on duty over the skies of Tbilisi.
If the MiG had escaped, or if more MiGs crossed the border from Chechnya, Silverstein and Blanchard would have to deal with them. At least for now.
A. J. sat back in his cockpit. Despite all the emotions of actually having killed a man, all the years of training had paid off. He had scored his first combat victory. He had taken evasive action in a tension-filled life-or-death situation to evade an enemy air-to-air missile. He would give briefings up the chain-of-command about his encounters with the two MiG-29s. He would be summoned to discuss the evasive maneuvers with other pilots who would be flying into the theater. Articles would be written in Air War College journals about the first encounter between an F-15 and a MiG-29.
But all that could wait. For now, this would be a ride home that he would enjoy. The first item on the agenda when he landed would be to call his bride Mary Frances and tell her how much he loved her.
Then he would ask to speak to his boy Michael and his girl Holly and he would tell him that he loved them too. Life was too short and too fragile, Captain A. J. Riddle had decided in the last fifteen minutes, not to pass up any opportunity to tell a loved one how much they are loved.
There may never be another chance.
With the hum of the wind rushing around his windshield at more than six hundred miles an hour, A. J. closed his eyes for just a few seconds of relaxation.
EC-2 Hawkeye
Codename Papa Bear
50 miles south of Kars, Turkey
The Navy Hawkeye flew in broad circles around the city of Kars, Turkey, where Navy Master Chief Rick Cantor kept his eyes glued to the radar scope showing air activity over the entire nation of Georgia, plus parts of Turkey, Armenia, and Chechnya.
From his duty station ten thousand feet above the Turkish landscape, Cantor's attention had been rivited on the missile exchange between the two Russian MiG-29s and the two United States Air Force F-15s.
Cantor was tracking the Eagles beginning their return flight to Incirlik when a blip reappeared on the radar screen that moments ago had disappeared.
The blip showed that one of the MiGs was alive and well. Apparently it had disappeared behind the turbulent explosion of the Stinger missile and somehow had momentarily dropped off the screen. Now the MiG was back and was making a run at the departing F-15s!
"Eagle Three! Threat. Two-two-zero. Eight o'clock. Ten thousand!"
F-15 Eagle
Codename Eagle Three
Master Chief Cantor's warning shot an electrical jolt through Captain Riddle. He looked down at his radar screen. The bandit had returned from the dead! The MiG-29 was chasing the two F-15s, and did not seem intent on stopping at the Turkish border!
"Eagle Four, Eagle Three! On my word, split!"
"Roger that!"
The splitting maneuver would force the bandit to commit to one Eagle or the other.
"On my mark… Now! Split!"
A. J. Riddle jerked his joystick to the left. Travis Martin jerked right. The F-15s cut away from each other, almost at forty-five-degree angles, as if splitting at the vortex of the letter Y.
The Eagles rolled and fired more popping flares from their bellies, streaking past like fireworks on the Fourth of July.
"Eagle Three. Papa Bear. Bandit broke left. He's on your tail."
"Roger that, Papa Bear."
Captain Riddle had a few more flares to fire, but after that, his ability to evade would depend on pure piloting skills.
The Eagles split in opposite arches, dropping several dozen smoking flares through the blue sky. The flares popped, each a fizzling fire streaking a trail of smoke across the sky to confuse enemy heat-seeking missiles.
"Eagle Three, what's your status?" A. J. heard Papa Bear's inquiry, but could not free himself to respond.
"Papa Bear. Eagle Four. Eagle Three has shifted. Off my nose."
A. J. heard Travis Martin's voice, but again could not respond. He had to focus on keeping his aircraft at such an angle that it would be difficult for an infrared missile launch.
"Eagle Four to Eagle Three. Bandit six o'clock. Eagle Three, break left!"
A. J. responded to his wing man's instruction by again jerking the stick hard
left. The horizon spun like a spinning gyroscope. Shooting through the sky at six hundred miles per hour, in a belly-up position, he fired one more round of flares, and then peeled harder left.
"Papa Bear, he's giving me a good fight, " A. J. said, managing to get off a quick radio burst in the midst of the hard bank.
"Eagle Four. Papa Bear. What is Eagle Three's status?"
"Negative roll. Five thousand. Eagle Three is defending. Firing flares."
A. J. craned his neck around. The Fulcrum was behind him still, maybe within five hundred yards. Too close for a missile shot. This guy was going for machine guns!
"Eagle Three, Eagle Four!" Lieutenant Travis Martin's voice sounded in again. "Keep that turn going! Bandit! Six o'clock."
"Roger that, " A. J. said, pushing harder on the stick to the left. He battled the G-forces to look around again. The Red Baron was still at an angle, but was closing closer to a straight line. He remembered the intelligence reports that for close-in combat, the Fulcrum was rumored to be more agile than both the F-16 and F-15. No wonder this guy was trying to get in close. Plus the close distance made it too risky for Travis Martin to launch a missile at the Fulcrum for fear of taking out A. J. as well.
This guy was a shrewd fighter pilot, and had a bucketful of Russian testosterone.
"Eagle Three! Eagle Four! I've got shots in the air! Repeat, shots in the air!"
A. J. looked out to his right. White tracers flew through the air just past his right wing! This cat was already firing his thirty-millimeter cannon.
If the Russian straightened out that angle just a bit more, this party would be over. He had to try an evasive maneuver to get in behind the Russian and become the pursuer, rather than the pursued.
One thousand three, one thousand two, one thousand one. A. J. yanked back on the stick and hit his afterburners. The Eagle stalled for a split second, and then shot toward the heavens. He put the Eagle in a reverse vertical loop, like riding the inside loop of a roller coaster. The horizon was rightside up, then standing on its end, then upside down, then standing on its end again.
The plane emerged from the loop and the horizon was in its proper place. The Eagle was now behind the Fulcrum.
"Yeah! Take that, Igor!" A. J. pushed down on the throttle. The Fulcrum might be more maneuverable, but the Eagle had the speed. The Fulcrum's jet engines were growing larger as the Eagle closed the distance.