Now once more low-level over the sea, I rushed through the radio calls to establish our new mission with Matrix. The CAOC and the CO had arranged our passage, and as soon as I made contact Matrix pushed me once again to our own Apache frequency, telling me the Pred was waiting. I reached up into the sky to gather the facts: ‘Hello, Nomad three-five, this is Machete, send SITREP.’ Fifteen thousand feet above Libya the remotely piloted Pred had its eyes on the target. Its pilot could have been sitting anywhere in the world, but tonight he was in Creech Air Force Base, about 50 miles north-west of Las Vegas in the USA.
‘Machete, got you loud and clear, I have eyes on the ZSU, no other movement, call ready for talk on.’
I glanced at the two multi-purpose displays in my cockpit and, using the fixed buttons around the outside of the screens, I rushed through the weapons page and selected Nomad’s laser frequency while simultaneously checking the navigation figures. The aircraft did the calculations for me – I could be in the right place to fire in seven minutes.
‘All copied, on scene in seven minutes. Are you able to give me a laser handover?’
‘Affirm. You’re gonna need to hurry, I only got nine minutes fuel left and then I’m off.’
John and Little Shippers raised the collectives and bled every last knot out of our heavily laden gunships in the charge towards the ZSU.
With the Pred inside his last three minutes of fuel I settled the FLIR on to the coordinates the CO had given me. At long range I could vaguely make out a copse in a field with a single-storey farm building about 50m to its right. If the ZSU was in the copse I needed a laser handover from the Pred to get my sight on to it. John set the aircraft on a steady heading, no angle of bank, no change in height. With everything set, all I needed was confirmation of the target and then I could go into the firing sequence.
‘Ready laser,’ I called, noticing our range rapidly closing with the copse. Silence. ‘Ready your laser,’ I called again, expecting Nomad to shine his laser on the ZSU so my FLIR, searching for his code, could identify the target. Still silence.
I could make out the copse but I needed that final confirmation from the Nomad’s laser. There were similar bunches of trees in almost every field, some with buildings close by. I had to be sure. But Nomad was silent: no laser and we were getting closer to the shore, dangerously close, well within ZSU 23-4 range. With no laser spot handover I broke the patrol away. John banked hard left, calling Little Shippers to follow.
‘Too close, with no confirmation,’ I transmitted to Nick.
Little Shippers interrupted on the inter-aircraft frequency, ‘He might be thinking you want to fire on his laser, tell him exactly what you want.’
John continued the turn and we immediately re-set for an attack. I got back on the net.
‘Nomad, this is Machete, can you identify the target with your laser? I do not intend to fire using your laser, I just need you to identify it for me.’
Both aircraft were now well inside the crucial 5km range and I was very nervous in the knowledge that all ZSU man needed to do was switch on his radar and he could rinse us out of the sky in three seconds.
‘Roger, laser on, call when you have the target.’ All was calm in Nevada, but I was getting frantic over Libya. His laser brought my sight right into the middle of the copse, exactly as the CO had described.
From the rear seat John called to me, ‘Ready when you are!’
I let Nomad know the handover was complete: ‘Got it, my target, your laser off, engaging in ten seconds.’ Then I actioned the Hellfire with my left thumb and pulled the right-hand trigger, sending a constant pulse of my own laser to the ZSU and back to my missile. There was no time to re-plan or think. The common language misunderstanding and lost seconds in translating my needs had put both aircraft well inside the engagement zone for the ZSU; it was now only about self-preservation.
I transmitted to Nomad and Machete 2, ‘Firing!’
The Hellfire symbology in my right eye showed the missile was locked on and ready to launch, and with my right hand laser providing the guidance I pulled the left-hand trigger, sending the missile towards the copse. A few seconds later the copse erupted in fire and shrapnel, but to my horror a rectangular, car-sized silhouette appeared, apparently untouched by the strike, just in front of the trees. In my wide-open infrared right eye it seemed to me that the ZSU was still there and that the Hellfire had gone long and missed. I immediately pulled the left-hand trigger again, sending another Hellfire into the object.
Whatever the second object was, it was not a ZSU. The missile impact lifted it high into the air, sending it end-over-end across the field before landing, bouncing and rolling to a halt.
‘Nomad, what can you see?’ I called up again.
‘Machete, that looked beautiful to me! Good strike on the ZSU with the first missile. Not sure what that was with the second one. I’m off, out of fuel, out.’
And that was it. One ZSU 23-4 down and some other nameless object too.
Perplexed but pleased to be alive and ready to get away from all the unknowns around us on the ground, I got on the radio to Nick and Little Shippers: ‘Machete complete, regroup at waypoint five, my lead.’
This was pro-Gad territory and I needed to return to the sanctuary of the sea to plan our next move. As we manoeuvred away from the coast, over the huge empty space of the Med at night, Nick was mocking me on the radio. ‘Hay bale?’ he enquired.
At the same time a flare launched from the ground less than a mile to the east, in the vicinity of the target VCPs given to us by Chris. Anxiety, relief and mild confusion were replaced by hostility from the ground once more. This was the primary combat indictor that bad things were about to happen, and both aircraft went to guns. We had no surprise left. The unseen pro-Gad on the ground would have heard the 30mm going into the sea half an hour earlier and seen and heard my Hellfire just up the road where they knew their ZSU was positioned. If a MANPAD was going to be launched, now was the time.
I slaved my FLIR to the VCP. The linear checkpoint was strung out for 800m along an east-west road linking Zlitan with Misrata, and it was rushing with pro-Gad. Some were hiding, others hurriedly moved equipment about, all keeping to the cover of trees and ditches. Everything about the scene was military. This was the gateway to the regime front line outside Misrata, and vanguard units from 32 Brigade manned it. If they had a ZSU 23-4 on their flank they were highly likely to have SA-24s all over the place, particularly working alongside the scouting screen on the coast. The flare going up was them getting ready. We needed to be fast and decisive to complete the mission and get away untouched.
From a point just over the beach I issued the quick battle orders and we turned our weapons on the VCP and its scouting screen.
The sustained and persistent use of attack helicopters, from the initial strike against the speedboats to this onslaught against front-line troops, had spread panic on the ground. In between the 30mm and Hellfire detonations the low altitude thunder of our rotor blades hidden in the night sky ranged in and out of earshot. Listening pods flying miles above Libya recorded the troops’ confusion and lack of coordination. When SA-24s and NVG were requested the reply was too slow and they didn’t know where to aim them. The weight of fire we sent into the VCP prevented any meaningful retaliation and left Khamis with a huge gap in the front line.
The initial assessment of that night’s work was positive. The rebels moved forward, up to 5km. Pro-Gad had taken a hit, their coastal SF option was closed and the front-line troops were temporarily in disarray. Sadly, this progress did not last; by sheer weight of troop numbers and a well-organized supply chain Khamis was able to restore his stranglehold on Misrata. We, too, were unable the take advantage. The moon was up and we had to wait a week until the night conditions were suitable for us to go again. We took heart in the small advance, however transient, but at the same time realized that the task was vast and we were no quick fix for the problem.