Dale Brown - Sky Masters

“It always happens that way, I think, ” Elliott said. “The time you need sleep the most is when you can’t do it.” He regarded his younger colleague with an inquisitive expression; McLanahan seemed to pick up on the pause right away. “We got the order, didn’t we?” Patrick asked. “Couple hours ago, Elliott said. “They wanted to be sure the three Navy ships in the Philippine Sea could get into position; we just got the word that they reported ready. They may wait one more day to see if we get the NIRTSats back on-line, but the recon photos you got last night are pretty good quality so we might do it tonight.” Strangely, Patrick felt no fear, no apprehension, not even a trace of nervousness-his churning stomach and restless mind had kept him from sleep all afternoon, but now his body was quiet. It was as if he had already been told they were going to fly, that Elliott had somehow given him secondhand information. He nodded wordlessly to Elliott; then his eyes sought out the large high-definition monitor on which the NIRTSat reconnaissance data was usually displayed. “I can’t believe these are still down…”

“Yeah, well, nothing is ever guaranteed, as you know. Even the best stuff.” Patrick stepped over to a large chart on which was drawn the positions of the known Chinese warships that he, Cobb, and the dead U-2 pilot had photographed a few nights earlier. A second board had the intelligence section’s best guess as to how the ships were going to be deployed when the strike aircraft were set to go over the target. Elliott was amazed by the flyers he encountered in all his years of flying, but Patrick McLanahan had to be the most… admirable. His expression, his demeanor, his attitude were constant-distant, unshakable, almost detached. It was the same whether he was meeting the President of the United States or when getting promoted-unflappable coolness. Was it an act or was it real? Was McLanahan really such a cool character or was he destined for some huge heart attack or ulcer down the road for keeping all those emotions locked inside? He didn’t want to guess. He was just glad McLanahan was on their team. Elliott noticed Patrick’s eyes on the briefing board behind him. “Can’t wait to see what you’re up against either, eh? We have one more NIRTSat pass before the mass briefing, so this won’t be the final picture-and hopefully PACER SKY will be working by then-but the pictures you got us are spectacular and very useful.” They stepped toward the screen. “The Chinese are not only continuing on with their invasion plans, but they’ve set up a pretty sophisticated naval defense network around eastern Mindanao. It’s all being controlled from the radar installation here. “Don’t tell me, ” McLanahan said wearily. “The Chinese got Mount Apo.”

“Took it yesterday and set up shop immediately. They’ve got big-picture coverage of all Mindanao now-almost unlimited fighter-intercept coverage, early-warning, maritime, even ground and fire control. Samar’s boys held out for days against a huge Chinese task force-the word is, it took five thousand Chinese and New People’s Army troops to take Samar’s two-hundred-man garrison. Samar’s men were wiped out completely.” McLanahan felt his throat go instantly dry. “Here’s the easternmost ship-it’s a destroyer, extensive airsearch radar, early-warning capability, long-range HQ-91 SAM coverage, ” Elliott continued. “There’s a line of six frigates two hundred miles offshore, giving them four-hundred-mile early warning-a good thirty- to forty-five-minute warning at least. Nothing sophisticated but still effective. “One hundred and twenty miles offshore is the real gauntlet-three destroyers, six frigates, twelve patrol boats, in a three-hundred-mile-wide band around eastern Mindanao. The destroyers are spaced so that their anti air-missile lethal ranges don’t quite overlap, but they put a frigate with massed triple-A guns on it in the gaps. That’s how the U-2 was hit-they used one destroyer with an air-search radar to herd the U-2 into missile range of another destroyer that wasn’t transmitting. A few of these southern ships are in Indonesian waters, but there’s not a darn thing Indonesia can do about it. Between the missiles and guns, it’s overlapping, layered antiair coverage over all altitudes. “Inside that first band is another layer of frigates and patrol boats-no destroyers, thank God, but the frigates are bad enough. They stay in basically a semicircular band around the mouth of Davao Gulf. There’s one destroyer and six escorts sitting in the Sangihe Strait in the south Celebes Sea to oppose the two Navy cruisers we got moving up from Indonesia. “The main body is already in Davao Gulf itself, and it’s a real mess-the Chinese have one major warship for every ten square miles. That means they can theoretically shoot a shell or launch a missile and hit every part of Davao Gulf and every spot three miles above it.” Despite the ominous information, Patrick had to smile-it was very much like Elliott to describe such firepower, even the enemy’s, in such weird terms. “We’ve counted twelve minesweepers, ten frigates, two destroyers, about thirty fast guided-missile patrol boats, twenty amphibious-assault ships, tank-landing ships, dock ships, amphibious-landing craft everywhere-over a hundred vessels, ” Elliott continued. “To make matters worse, a battalion-sized airborne unit may have landed at one of the small airfields north of Davao and are making their way south. We don’t think the airfield is big enough to land fighters or transports, but if they can air-drop armor and artillery pieces there, Davao has had it. “To cap it all off, they also may be sending another destroyer surface-action group from Zamboanga to reinforce this armada-the Hong Lung battle group this time. It’s their most powerful warship. It’s escorted by three frigates and six patrol boats. Hong Lung was also the vessel that reportedly fired the nuclear-tipped antiship missile near Palawan, and of course the staff feels the Chinese task force commander might just do it again. “Their fighter coverage is pretty good, ” Elliott continued, “good enough that the Joint Task Force commander, General Stone, has decided not to risk sending the AWACS or tankers within two hundred miles of Mindanao.z.” “That means no combat air patrol for the strike packages?” McLanahan asked. “So far it looks unlikely, Patrick, ” Elliott replied. “We may be able to send up a few F- 155 to cover the withdrawal, but we can’t send a tanker close enough to cover the strikers going into the target area. The Megafortresses will have to take on the fighters.” Patrick felt his throat go dry-the Megafortresses were well equipped for air-to-air combat, but not against massed numbers of fighters. They would have to contend with the naval threats, too. The odds were looking worse every minute. “The Chinese have at least a hundred fighters in the area, half of which have the endurance for long overwater patrols, ” Elliott continued. “The Chinese can effectively layer their defenses-warships, fighters, warships, fighters, then warships, in the target area. If they take Samar International Airport near Davao and start using it as a forward staging base, it definitely means no AWACS or tankers-and it may mean no Air Battle Force over Mindanao.”

“You got any good news on that screen, General?” McLanahan asked wryly. “Sort of. The New People’s Army and the Chinese lost a big battle for the city of Cotabato, here on Moro Gulf. We think the Chinese wanted to use the airport there to stage fighters to support their upcoming assault on Davao. Samar’s guerrillas held out-for a while. But it was long enough, because they demolished the airfield before they were driven out by Chinese air raids. Pretty clever how they did it, too-instead of just cratering the runway, which would have made it easy for Chinese engineers to repair, they stripped out sections of runway, buried stolen bombs in it, then cemented trucks over the bombs. It’s going to take the Chinese two or three days to repair the runway and another few days to make it a usable staging base.”