Able Sentry

by John Schettler

  The American F-35’s were off the Independence, and they carried the latest US air defense missile, the AIM-260, with a 120 mile range. Yet they were now loitering, and did not see the lone J-31, which was presenting only its frontal aspect to the circling planes, making it very difficult to detect. Suddenly the Americans had a missile warning, and the flight leader bawled out an order.

  “Vampires! Number 2, break left. Number 3, break right! Burn it!”

  The three plane formation opened like a tulip as the fighters veered off. Then two more US missiles came in from the west. The Chinese plane had been seen when it fired, and Ranger-1, the second flight of three off the Independence, was coming to the rescue. From its angle, it had seen the J-31 first, and wasted no time putting two missiles in the air. That in turn prompted J-31 #2 to turn east and investigate, and a flight three J-20’s that had been waiting behind that outer screen now accelerated to 1000 knots and closed on the scene from the north.

  A flurry of missiles now filled the sky, and the new American missile proved to be very deadly. The F-35’s were able to lock on and target those J-20’s and killed all three, along with J-31 #2, paying the price for curiosity. The pilot that had started the affair in J-31 #3 was now out of missiles and trying to break off and get back to base, but he had an F-35 in close on his tail. It fired both its last two AGM-260’s but the Chinese plane evaded, streaking away at 900 knots. No American fighters were lost, but four turned for home when they ran out of missiles. The remaining two formed a picket line and loitered.

  Further west two US Raptors out of Masirah AFB in Oman had been on a routine CAP patrol and decided to take out a Chinese KJ-500 AEW plane. As they made their approach, a flight of three J-20’s moved to defend and another duel started, The Raptors dove under attack, and then found themselves behind the J-20’s, which were now being engaged at long range by harassing missiles from three F-35’s off the Roosevelt. In a perfect position, the F-22’s climbed, fired, and toasted two J-20’s as they were trying to evade the AIM-120’s out after them. The third enemy plane died when it was hit by one of the F-35’s, and the icing on the cake was that the Raptors had also killed that KJ-500, firing just before the dogfight started.

  As reports came in to Chen Bao, they painted a disturbing picture. His planes could find and engage the enemy, but they had not prevailed. He now had but a single plane aloft, and quickly sent orders to Omara AFB to get another flight of three J-31’s airborne at once.

  13:30 Local, USS Independence, 15 JAN 2026

  Captain Holmes had just checked with his screen to see that they had an ASW patrol up. Then, just a minute after had he closed that communication, an attack warning was sounded. Sonar had detected torpedoes in the water. The flanking destroyer Ulysses S. Grant was under attack, and the Goblin was just eight miles out.

  It was Yuan #9, a quiet diesel boat that had been creeping at four knots towards the sloshing sound of many props in the water. The Captain believed he was getting close to an American carrier group, thrilled with the prospect of getting in to score a hit. When a sub got in that close, it was usually very bad news for the ships targeted. The two YU-10 torpedoes could run at 65 knots for 20 miles. Yet even as the sub fired, it was detected by the destroyer, and a RUM-139C ASROC was out after it. The Seahawk that had just launched was vectored in, but it would not have to work that day. That ASROC found and killed Yuan 9, but those two torpedoes were still out there looking for trouble.

  DDG Grant turned and accelerated to 35 knots in a froth of white seawater. The destroyer raced southwest, and now it was just a matter of time. Did the torpedoes know where it was? The onboard torpedo sensors had just a two mile range. If it had already locked on, the destroyer was in grave danger, but the Captain angled southeast to see if he could get off the torpedo’s initial attack vector. As the Independence was also on that same vector, he might also be leading the torpedoes away from the carrier with that maneuver.

  When the YU-10’s reached the place they had thought to find their target, nothing was there. Even though the torpedoes were no longer receiving any guidance from its severed wire, they must have taken the scent of the fleeing destroyer because they turned, unerringly, and followed its boiling wake.

  The destroyer Captain knew he was in trouble when sonar reported that turn. If he made another multi-point evasive turn himself, he would slow the ship, perhaps fatally. So instead he ordered the helm to make small three point turns to port, maintaining his speed while trying to continue angling off the approach vector of those pursuing torpedoes. It didn’t work….

  At 13:46, Grant took a hit, and the crew saw the second torpedo sweep past the ship in a narrow miss. The resulting explosion damaged one of the SPY-6 radar panels and also penetrated the hull to cause flooding. In the naval war here, the Americans had actually drawn first blood with the sinking of Yuan #9, but its vengeful torpedoes were going to take DDG Grant out of the fight.

  Captain Holmes got the report a minute later, and he wasn’t happy about it. That sub may have also given away his position if it managed to relay any information before it made its attack. The lone Goblin had done something Admiral Sun Wei and his entire surface fleet had been unable to accomplish, and it was a stern word to the wise. The submarine threat remained the real terror at sea, and the fate of Grant was ample testimony to that fact.

  15:00 Local, 15 JAN 2026

  The F-35’s spent the next half hour clearing out or chasing off the Chinese J-31’s, and the scout pickets were returning to base. But at 14:30, more enemy planes were detected, even as the strike group off the Independence was making its way north. The plan had been to open major hostilities at 15:00, and the Independence had a squadron of nine Avengers up escorted by a dozen F-35’s. Roosevelt had a smaller package of six strike planes and six escorts, and taken together, they were bringing 192 GBU-53 glide bombs to this attack. It was the opening act, a saturation attack aimed at depleting the enemy SAM defenses so the follow on strikes could break through and score hits. Those planes were already being spotted on the flight decks, making for a one-two punch to try and end this battle in the early rounds.

  The Chinese had replaced their scout line quickly, and by 14:30, those planes had detected the leading escorts of the Independence strike group. They concluded that they were seeing too many planes up for this to be a simple CAP patrol, and sent a warning back to Air Force HQ in Karachi. That prompted Chen Bao to order a stage one air alert, and flights of Chinese fighters scrambled from Gwadar, Omara, and Faisal AFB’s to rise to the defense. Three J-31’s began to mix it up with Escort-1, while Escort-2 and the Avengers swung east of the fray and continued on to the target.

  Two of the three J-31’s died, the third diving and maneuvering south to escape. The pilot’s desperate, twisting escape had an unexpected dividend. His long range radars suddenly registered a large group of surface contacts about 140 miles south. That information was flashed to air force command, and Chen Bao, standing in the midst of a group of officers in the command bunker received it seconds later.

  They had found the second American carrier.

  Seconds later, an AMRAM found and killed that third J-31, but it had delivered valuable intelligence, and the General took action.

  “Dong Feng! He shouted. Now!”

  That order reached the three DF-21D TEL’s far to the north, and time was of the essence, for each second that passed increased the target’s down range ambiguity. The missiles crews scrambled into action, but only two of the three TEL’s could get ready in time to fire. Yet that sent eight ballistic missiles up in a wash of white smoke, the yellow fire of their engines pushing them rapidly into the sky.

  At 110 kilometers high, the missiles were burning through the upper atmosphere in two tight fists of four, their speed a blistering 6300 knots. When they were 120 miles out, the US destroyers started firing SM-3. It had prevailed earlier, in those first weeks of the war when no one really knew how either weapon system would perform in real ti
me combat. Then as now, the life of the USS Independence was at stake, and perhaps the outcome of this battle in that gamble.

  The missiles screamed off the decks of Sherman, Sheridan, Hancock and the cruiser Portland, and 50 miles out, as the East Wind fell through the 45 kilometer altitude mark, the first kills were registered. Explosion bloomed high in the sky, one after another, but one missile escape that opening salvo.

  Four US missiles were still out after it, this time the reliable RIM-174 SM-6. The first missed, and its mate executed a turn to try and get at the Vampire. It was too slow. The DF-21 was still screaming in at 6000 knots, leaving the US missile traveling 2650 knots in its wake. Shots coming at the Vampire from the flank were very chancy, and the Dong Feng surged past three more SM-6 missiles, simply too fast to be caught. Sheridan was directly in the line of attack screening the carrier, and it fired two more SM-6 and then two SM-3’s for good measure. Six miles from the Independence, the last of those SM-3’s found and killed the Vampire.

  Captain Holmes had rushed out onto the weather deck and saw the explosion, which rattled the bridge windows when it erupted. It had been close, too close, but doughty Sheridan had stayed in the fight and won the hour. He watched as the two RIM-174’s that had turned to try and pursue the missile now soared over his task force, their war ended as they flew south over the empty sea.

  “Mister Cooper,” he said to his XO. “Why is it the Chinese seem to want to sink my ship? This is the second time they tried the DF-21 on us.”

  “Because we’re all shiny bright and new, sir,” said Cooper.

  “Right. Well, let’s move Shiloh in tight with Sheridan. I want two ships between me and anything else they might throw at us. That was too damn close for comfort.”

  “Aye sir, I’ll send the re-stationing order at once.”

  “Has Grant controlled her flooding?”

  “Not yet sir. They’re creeping at two knots while the crews work.”

  “Very well, detach Sherman to render assistance. The rest of the formation tightens up on this flattop, and we move to 30 knots.”

  Part X

  The Gambit

  “What is the object of playing a gambit opening? To acquire a reputation of being a dashing player at the cost of losing a game.”

  ― Siegbert Tarrash

  Chapter 28

  14:45 Local, 15 JAN 2026

  “Ranger-1, Able-Sentry. Come right to 120 and engage Bandits. Over.”

  “Roger Able-Sentry. Turning on targets.”

  The strike packages were getting close, and the Ranger-1 escort flight off the Roosevelt was going to try and make sure the release point was clear. Three J-20’s were engaging the escorts at 35,000 feet, but they had not yet seen the strike planes up at 50,000 feet, though they were very close. They released their missiles, and seconds later the planes of Sriker-6 were detected on their radars. The escorts swarmed in to the fight, which saw the fighters swoop and dive down to 15,000 feet.

  “Striker-6, Able-Sentry. Come right to 60 degrees and maintain altitude.”

  “Roger that. Diverting. Striker-6, over.”

  As that order went out, the Avengers in Striker-9 off Independence were out for some payback. They were in position, cleared hot, and opening their weapons bays to put a cloud of 144 SBD-53’s in the air, with 16 allocated to each of nine different Chinese ships. A few minutes later, Striker-6 was in position to release and sent another 48 bombs towards the enemy fleet. For all intents and purposes, the saturation attack was now already a success. Those bombs were in the air, homing on targets, and the enemy SAM’s started flying off the decks of every Chinese ship in the fleet.

  * * *

  Admiral Sun Wei shook his head. The Air Force had sent up 15 more fighters, but the stealthy American strike planes had still managed to get within 60 miles, unseen until just before they began to release their bombs. He knew what was coming, a hive of flying steel, and for each bomb, he would need to expend one or more missiles to assure a kill. It was going to heavily deplete his VLS Bays, and so he told an aid to contact Lt. General Chen Bao and ask him to prepare to launch operation Bright Sword. That was the counter air strike they had planned, aimed at trying to get at one of the carriers while the American planes up there dueling with the fighters were using up their fuel and missiles.

  Yes, he thought. Now is the time to strike them hard. I must launch my YJ-100’s at the carrier we targeted with the East Wind. That is the only carrier we have found, and I must destroy it. The YJ-100’s are slow, but if I fire now, they will disrupt any further recovery or launch operations on that carrier, and that may also buy time for the strike planes to get closer.

  The Admiral had all of his YJ-100’s on just two ships, the two Type 055’s that had just blasted away that massive cluster of enemy bombs. Not one got through to harm his ships, and now he would order his destroyers to fire. In another 40 minutes, they would reach the enemy Carrier Strike Group.

  The Able-Sentry saw the SSM strike on radar, and it began diverting any flight that had not gone Winchester to attack the Vampires. Several of the escort planes got kills, weakening the strike, and then the Avengers, already on RTB, were ordered to divert and use their AMRAM’s to also engage the SSM’s.

  In the midst of this mayhem, an aide ran up to say the Dong Feng’s were firing again from northern Pakistan. That was most welcome news to Admiral Sun Wei, because it meant the fix on an American carrier had been honed down to within one mile.

  This time, it was the Roosevelt….

  15:20 Local, USS Roosevelt, 15 JAN 2026

  Captain Simpson saw that his strike was defeated, which was not surprising when attacking some 20 ships with full VLS bays. No enemy ships were hit. Now the enemy had launched a cruise missile counterattack, and he saw the Able Sentry diverting the strike planes to attack those SSM’s. From the radar track, they were all vectoring in on the Independence. That left him free to conduct defensive operations.

  “Mister Ripley,” he said to his XO. “Is that last flight of Panthers rigged with bombs?”

  “Yes sir, GBU-53’s.”

  “That leaves us pretty thin for fighter coverage.”

  “Yes sir, just one F-35 on ready CAP now, but we still have the Super Toms. There’s a full flight of six set for heavy BARCAP. The rest have strike missiles.”

  “Very well. Let’s get ‘em up. I’ll want to coordinate with the Independence before we spot another strike.”

  “They’re under attack, sir,” said Ripley. “Looks like the Chinese threw their YJ-100s at them.”

  “They sure are taking the heat today,” said the Captain, not realizing that four DF-21’s were just crossing high above the coast of Pakistan, 220 kilometers up, at 6500 knots. But Simpson’s mind was more on the offensive than defensive. He was hankering to go at the enemy again.

  This time there would be no six hour long wait before the US carriers could strike again, and they had only committed 15 strike planes for that opening saturation attack. Simpson watched from the weather deck as three F-35’s were being recovered. Then claxon’s sounded and he realized they were under attack. He rushed back onto the bridge, and saw Ripley leaning over the radar. The crew had been making routing RPM changes, the watch station repeating orders, when suddenly they saw the decks of cruiser Gettysburg and DDG Hooker out in front erupt with missile fire.

  “Come right to 090 degrees,” he ordered, and the helm answered. Eight missile trails were arcing up from Standard Missile-3, accelerating as they climbed, faster than anything in the sky. The lead missile passed through 50,000 feet and it was moving at 8650 knots—just over Mach 15. It was a straight shot. The missiles ran true, and they would kill all four Vampires about 70 miles out. The reliability of SM-3 had now been proven three times, defeating a total of 24 DF-21D’s thus far in the war.

  “Now that is gratifying, is it not, Mister Ripley.”

  “Most gratifying, sir,” said the XO.

  “Chief of the Watch, secure fr
om battle stations and proceed with recovery operations.”

  The immediate danger passed, Roosevelt went back to the routing work of air operations. All six strike planes and the two Growlers were coming back, but only three of the six escort fighters returned. Then Able Sentry sent out an all points advisory. They were seeing numerous airborne contact over the coast of Pakistan. 114 strike planes were up, a combined operation by the Pakistani and Chinese air force, the most massive air strike of the war.

  The heart of Pakistan’s strike force could barely reach the US carriers. The JF-17 Thunder carried their Wrecker cruise missile with a 135 mile standoff range, but the plane itself had a strike radius of only 175 miles. Added together, that made 310 miles, and Pakistan just did not have the drop tanks to correct that situation. They would mostly have to wait and see if the targets came inside their strike range. China had sent four H-6 Tankers to help out, which would enable at least one squadron to refuel after takeoff and have the range to make the attack.

  So this meant China had to carry the weight in the attack, and for this they would rely heavily on their JF-7’s and J-10’s.

  There were 24 JH-7’s and 36 more J-10’s armed with a mix of the YJ-12, and the KD-88 cruise missile. With the 12 Pakistani planes, it made a strike package of 72 planes, with 18 fighter escorts, mostly J-20’s. Anything else seen by Able Sentry was a ruse, planes up that were never intended to reach for a target. It would not be a stealthy attack, but it was massive enough to spell grave danger in any language you wanted to use. And it was coming at a most inopportune time for the American carriers.