Dale Brown - Sky Masters

“Jamming is heavy, but I think we can manually maintain a lock. Intercept confidence is good. But the number of inbounds is unknown… “Engage as many as you can, ‘ Jhijun said. “Our close-in weapons should get the rest.” Along with its 130-millimeter, and 25-millimeter antiaircraft guns, the destroyer Jinan carried two American-made Mk IS Phalanx cannons, one on each side, which were automatic radar-guided Gatling guns designed to destroy incoming missiles at close range. Ironic that they would be used to engage American missiles. “Sir! Three B-52 bombers that were reported turning west and disengaging-they are now turning northbound and appear to be re-engaging. They are at forty-three nautical miles, at extreme HQ-91 range.” Damn them! Jhijun cursed to himself. There were just too many of them. Well, the bombers were out of range-at least he still had a chance to get the cruise missiles before they started attacking the landing ships. “Message to all units: at least three, perhaps as many as six B-52s and at least one B-2 inbound from the south of Davao Gulf. Destroyer Jinan is unable to engage because of Tomahawk cruise missiles coming in from the southeast. Request fighter and surface support.” He received a reply moments later: “Sir, destroyer Hong Lung will provide support. Admiral Yin sends his compliments and advises you that the Tomahawk missiles are your priority. . . your personal priority.” Captain Jhijun swallowed hard when he heard the name Hong Lung, but when he got the message from Yin himself, his skin turned to ice. Every cruise missile he allowed to pass him, he knew, would mean a year in prison or a full reduction in grade. His career-more precisely, his lIje-rested on his performance now. DESTROYER HONG LUNG, SIXTY MILES WEST OF DESTROYER 1/NAN Aboard the flag bridge of the flagship of the South Philippines Task Force, three large grease boards were kept constantly updated on the deployment of warships in this operation. It was beginning to resemble a child’s crayon-drawn rendering of a beehive-Mindanao-with swarms of angry bees surrounding it. And the bees were getting closer and closer to the hive every minute. … Admiral Yin Po L’un could easily see the American tactic now: strike at the Chinese fleet from simultaneous, multiple axes of attack. Along with the reported B-2s and B-52s coming in from the south and the Tomahawk cruise missiles from the southeast, he had also received word of more B-52s from the east and B- Is from the northeast, followed by more B-52s and faster bombers, possibly FIlls, accompanying them. Jamming was heavy in all areas, so obviously a few of the aircraft were not strikers but electronic-countermeasure planes. Captain Sun Ji Guoming, Yin’s chief of staff, said, “A rough estimate so far is twenty-six B-52 bombers, six B-I bombers, four B-2 bombers-one reportedly shot down already by ]inan-possibly two EF-I I I electronic-countermeasure planes, and perhaps four to six F- I I I fighter-bombers involved in this raid. If this is so, the First Air Battle Wing has committed at least three-fourths and possibly as much as four-fifths of its force on this one escapade.” Sun smiled knowingly. “We can crush the American Air Force in one night’s work.”

“Is that so, Captain?” Yin asked in a low voice. “You say we have shot down only one plane so far, yet they have sunk one destroyer and one frigate, damaged two other frigates, and sunk or damaged nearly two dozen patrol boats. In less than thirty minutes they can be over Davao Gulf itself. I see no evidence of anyone being crushed so far.”

“They have suffered a great loss well before striking the target area or even coming within range of concentrated firepower, ” Sun explained. “They will suffer tremendous losses when they come within range of the destroyers Yinchuan and Dalian near Davao itself. The American forces are undisciplined-they are launching antiradar and other guided weapons at every small patrol boat they encounter, without bothering to save their weapons for the frigates, destroyers, or landing-craft carriers. It was sheer luck that they sunk Huangshi and Kazjeng, and Yingtan is still operational…”

“You failed to adequately take into account the possibility of a Tomahawk cruise missile attack, ” Admiral Yin said angrily. “They were able to overwhelm our outer defenses too easily. And why was I never advised of the presence of B-2 stealth bombers on Guam. . .?”

“Sir, the fleet intelligence center reported that the Ranger’s battle group was still in Manado and that Indonesia had not given permission for offensive operations, ” Sun explained. “If those cruisers launched their missiles from Indonesian waters, that is an illegal act . Yin glared at Sun, not satisfied with that explanation at all. “Admiral, Hong Lung is engaging B-52 bombers at extreme range, ” the communications officer reported. They could feel the distant rumble of the destroyer’s two big combination diesel-turbine engines spooling up to maximum speed, and the ship made a hard turn to starboard briefly before settling down. “Antiship missiles launched… jamming ineffective at this range, good radar contact, intercept confidence is high on all tracks.” Yin looked away from Captain Sun, finding it hard to fault Sun too much-had he not suggested that Hong Lung travel east to assist in the invasion defense, all these aged American bombers might well be attacking his Marines by now. “Report on the invasion force, ” Yin ordered. “Are they ready to land?”

“All vessels in position, ” Captain Sun reported. “The bombardment was to commence in two hours, and the invasion was to begin in three…”

“It can no longer wait, ” Yin said. “Order the landing craft to head ashore immediately.”

“But sir, we have not had time to prepare the beachhead for our forces, ” Sun argued. “There could be anything waiting for them. We should proceed with the bombardment first and shell the beachhead for at least an hour before-“

“We may not have an hour before those bombers and cruise missiles are on top of them, ” Yin said. “Issue the orders and get those Marines on the beach.”

“There is no need for haste, sir, ” Sun tried one last time. “We should wait to see if any of the American bombers go overhead-perhaps the American bombers will even bomb the beach for us. In any case, our forces should not be on the beach when the bombers come in. “Neither should they be in the landing craft on Davao Gulf, ” Yin said, his voice louder and sharper this time. Sun knew enough to hold his tongue then. The uncomfortable silence in the flag staff was broken by the combat-alert horn as the destroyer began prosecuting its attack on the B-52s swarming around them. … FORTY MILES EAST OF THE CHINESE DESTROYER HONG LUNG The six B-52 G-model Stratofortress bombers in the southern strike group were threading the needle here in the worst possible sense-trapped between two Chinese destroyers, with no place to hide except for an electronic curtain of jammers. Their only hope: throttles to military power, altitude pegged at one hundred feet, and hope to make landfall at Balut Island or Sarangani Island, twenty miles ahead, before the crush of Chinese antiair missiles found them. Although they were not receiving any missile fire-control signals from the eastern destroyer, it had still somehow shot down the B-2 with a missilethey were going to give both destroyers as much space as possible. “Trick Zero-Two, this is One, ” the lead B-52 pilot called out on the tactical frequency. “We’ve got a radar fix on those ships to the west. I’ve got four Harpoons left. We’re going for it.” As soon as the navigators plotted the position of the ships, they commanded a climb to three hundred feet and launched their last four AGM-84 Harpoon missiles at the ships. The first two Harpoons were the original air-launched model, which flew directly toward the ships at five hundred and fifty miles per hour; the second two missiles were the advanced AGM-84E SLAM missile, which was far more flexible in selecting an evasive course and attacking from multiple directions and altitudes. While the first two Harpoons sped directly for Hong Lung, the second two split north and south of the destroyer, so in effect the Hong Lung was attacked from three sides simultaneously. The engagement worked-the southerly missile, being steered by the first B-52’s radar navigator, impacted just above the waterline on the starboard side of the escort frigate Change De, putting it out of action immediately, and one minesweeper]patrol boat riding point for the Hong Lung was hit by a Harpoon missile. The other Harpoon and SLAM missiles were destroyed by gunfire from Hong Lung and its surviving escorts. But the counterattack by Hong Lung was devastating-the sky filled with antiair missiles as soon as the B-52 attacked. Releasing all four of its remaining Harpoon missiles on the Hong Lung battle group created a big, bright “arrow” to point the way for the Chinese fire-control operators, and Hong Lung released four HQ-9 I air-to-air missiles at the B-52 within a few seconds, followed by a volley of four more. “Time to get the hell out of here, ” the pilot of the first B-52 shouted-for his own benefit more than for his copilot or the rest of the crew. “Get rid of those mines and let’s split!” The last of the conventional B-52’s weapons were four Mk 60 CAPTOR torpedoes on clip racks in the forward part of the bomb bay. CAPTOR, which stood for Encapsulated Torpedo, was a large canister containing an Mk 46 torpedo and complex sensor gear. As the B-52 began a tight right turn away from the western destroyer, it began sowing the CAPTOR mines in the eastern Celebes Sea. After activation, the canisters would lie on the seabed or hang suspended in the water until a warship passed by. When the sound, pressure, and magnetic parameters matched its pre-programmed settings, the mine would track the target and launch the torpedo. The torpedo had a range of six miles, and one CAPTOR by itself could sink all but the largest class of Chinese surface ships or submarines. In two minutes, all four CAPTOR mines were released, and the airspeed of the B-52 increased dramatically. Now weaponless, it dropped a cloud of radar-decoying chaff and continued its right turn to a safe southerly heading. But at its high speed the tightest turn the bomber could make was still twenty-five miles-directly in the path of two of the stricken destroyer Jinan ‘s patrol-boat escorts. Guided byjinan ‘s one remaining air-search radar and using infrared sights, the patrol boats opened fire on the bomber with 57-millimeter, 37-millimeter, and 25-millimeter gunfire, rattling every inch of the big jet with shells. The B-52’s cockpit windows shattered, decapitating the two pilots and sending the stricken aircraft crashing into the sea. The crash of the B-52 not more than three kilometers away was the most incredible sight any of the seventy-man crew of the Haijui-class patrol boat Yingkou had ever seen. The mushroom cloud of fire had to be a kilometer high, and flames were so big and so hot that the captain could swear he felt the heat from inside the bridge. The fireball skipped across the water, rolling and rushing along like a huge orange-and-red tidal wave. It was utterly spectacular. After a few minutes of awe, the bridge crew broke out into wild cheers as the flames began to die away-and then the crew ran for cover as bits of flying metal and thick clouds of smoke rolled across the water. “Radar contact, second and third B-52 bombers, ” came the report from his fire-control officer. “I have a good track on both planes-they should be turning this way just like the first. Five minutes before the next one passes close enough.” This was going to be incredible, the captain thought-he might easily kill a second, and perhaps even a third B-52 with his 57-millimeter gun tonight. He would certainly get his own frigate after tonight… “Move farther west, ” he ordered his helmsman. “I want to be as close as possible to these last twO bombers.” The helmsman went to flank speed in order to get a few meters closer to the bomber’s track-every hundred meters closer was another dozen rounds on target. “Second bomber turning east, range decreasing . . . he’s coming this way, sir… I’m getting jamming on my fire-control radar . . . forward 57 switching to electro-optical sights with data link from Jinan. . . target reacquired, forward 57- and port 30-millimeter report ready.” This was perfect, really perfect. The other patrol boat escorting the destroyer Jinan had no data link with the destroyer $ air-search radar, so all he could do was follow Yingkou ‘s tracers. He would never be credited with a kill… “Thirty seconds… twenty seconds… all gun mounts report ready. . . fifteen seconds. . . all guns stand. He never finished the sentence. The first CAPTOR torpedo mine had armed immediately upon hitting the water and, despite the incredible sounds of destruction from the B-52 crash, had locked onto the engine sounds of the Haijui-class patrol boat as soon as he gunned his engine, and ejected its deadly torpedo. The torpedo switched on its active sonar, acquired and locked onto the patrol boat, accelerated to nearly fifty miles per hour, and hit the patrol boat near the engine compartment one foot below the waterline. A shaped charge rammed a titanium nosecap through the patrol boat’s hull, and the torpedo actually swam three feet inside the port engine room before its eight-hundred-pound warhead exploded. With most of its stern blown apart, Yingkou slipped under the surface in less than two minutes-about as long as it took the last of the burning debris of Trick Zero-One to hit the water. The other two B-52s in the first south attack group avenged their leader’s death with a flurry of Harpoon missile launches, and within minutes three more of Jinan ‘s patrol boats had been destroyed. Jinan itself, overwhelmed by Harpoon missiles from the south as well as the flight of Tomahawk cruise missiles from the southeast, was hit by both a Tomahawk and a Harpoon and was put out of action. ABOARD THE EB-52C MEGAFORTRESS DIAMOND ONE-ONE It was a surprise for Major Kelvin Carter to see the COLA (Computer Generated Lowest Altitude) computer command a climb after so many hours at one relatively stable altitude, but as the Megafortress approached the tall, rocky peaks of the Nenusa Archipelago islands, the EB-52 wanted to climb six hundred feet to clear the tallest peak. Carter edged his Megafortress slightly south of the tiny radar dots, and, after the computer realized it would safely clear all the terrain, the Megafortress sank back to one hundred feet above the eastern Celebes Sea. Alicia Kellerman was busily plotting the positions of the other planes in the strike team as she heard position reports come over the radio. “All right!” she said. “All six BUFFS in the number-two east group and Diamond One-Two made it through. They’re two minutes ahead of us.”