***
McClushy heard the call, but they were too far away to do anything about it. Once again, all he saw was empty ocean until he noticed a telltale wake below him. It was a small corvette going somewhere in a hurry. Matching its course, he signaled the others to keep up. Glancing at his fuel gage, he had some wiggle room and decided to use it. Ten minutes turned to twenty. As the gages moved slowly towards empty, McClusky hoped the two tankers were out there somewhere waiting for them. In a few minutes they would be beyond their reserves to get back safely.
Ten minutes later he heard a pop from beside him. His wingman had let off a round to get his attention. His wingman was pointing to something. There, on the horizon, were ships. Signaling to the others, he began a slow descent.
***
Upon receiving the warning from the Hawkeye, every ship in the Kennedy battle group lit off their radars and prepared for battle. There were a number of targets already in range of their missiles. The first to launch was USS Anzio, an AEGIS cruiser. First one, then two missiles leapt from their boxes and streaked toward their enemy. Two miles away, the Arleigh Burke, a newer DDG, began firing her missiles.
The Russian pilots made their way in a tight formation at five thousand feet. There were four SU-25 Frogfoot attack aircraft in the first wave. Sixteen SU-33 Flankers were above and behind them in two sections. Once the carrier had signaled where the American’s were, they had changed course towards them. No radars were turned on. Like the Americans, they were relying on eyesight to get them where they needed to go. The first indication of trouble was when one of the Flankers exploded in midair. With threat receivers screaming, the first Flanker formation began to scatter as three air-to-air missiles from the F-35s slammed into the first three aircraft. The second turned to try and intercept the Americans, but by then a second volley of missiles had taken out three more of their number. Dropping their bombs and anti-ship missiles, the Flankers tried to engage the three Lightnings, only to find that three additional Lightnings had maneuvered behind them. The sky was filled with aircraft trying to get into position to attack another. Six more Flankers fell from the sky before the Lightnings broke off and zoomed away.
Wondering what had happened, the Russians turned back toward the American carrier only to see the four Frogfoot attack aircraft be wiped out of the sky by the Standard Missiles from the ships below. With the threat receivers indicating more missiles were on the way, the rest of the planes turned and made their way home. Not before four more had been destroyed. Out of the twenty aircraft sent out, only six would return.
***
As McClusky came closer he was impressed by the sight below him. The Russian formation was laid out in concentric circles around the carrier in the center. Above and to the right was a three plane CAP. A second three plane formation was on the carrier’s starboard quarter. He noticed the forward CAP suddenly turn toward the formation. He keyed his mike. “Okay, they’ve seen us. Group one break to starboard, group two break to port. Begin attack plan alpha.”
The formation of Lightnings separated into three segments. Two went toward either side of the Russian formation while a third continued on to take on the fighters. When in range, the fighter group launched their AGM-158 Joint Air to Surface Missiles attached to pylons on the wings. Stealthy both in flight and while attached to the aircraft, they dropped free then sped toward the formation in the far distance. Once free of the missiles, the fighters jettisoned the pylons, readying the aircraft for their fighter roles. The pylons began tumbling earthward and immediately the Russian ships could see them on their radar sets. Within seconds, missiles were on their way to the targets.
The Russian pilots had split their forces to go after the aircraft they could see turning towards either side of the formations. They could not see the fighters coming straight at them. As they settled on an intercept course, the pilots were amazed that their onboard radars still could not see what their eyes beheld. No matter, each of the Flankers carried heat seeking missiles. Once they got behind one of these aircraft, the missile would do the rest.
The Russian surface to air missiles continued to make their way to the falling pylons. When within parameters, the warheads exploded, flinging their deadly shrapnel through the sky to strike the falling empty pylons, which continued to fall into the sea. No other aircraft were near them.
The lead Russian pilot focused his attention on one of the planes in the American formation. In a few seconds he expected to hear the signal that his heat seekers had locked on. He heard something loud to his right, and turned to see his wingman disintegrate in a ball of fire. Quickly scanning the skies, he caught a glimpse of something coming up on his left. The American Sidewinder literally tore the rear of his plane off. Missile fragments penetrated the fuel tanks and the pilot watched flames pour from behind him. He was reaching down to pull his ejector seat lanyard when the plane exploded.
On the opposite side, one of the Russian pilots heard his signal and loosed his own missiles just before his own plane was struck. Banking away, he maintained control of the aircraft despite seeing that one of his rudders was completely shot away. Fighting the controls, he finally wrestled control of the machine and steadied it towards his carrier when he saw the aircraft he had shot at began launching flairs behind itself. Willing the missiles on, he watched as one by one they were drawn away and flew on. Cursing, he wanted to turn back in, but his aircraft simply didn’t have the ability. He was barely able to keep it flying. His anger turned to joy when the missiles locked in on another American and flew in, blowing the F-35 out of the sky.
He didn’t have time to celebrate. Looking to his left, and American had flown up next to his aircraft. The pilot was looking directly at him. Using hand signals, he indicated for him to eject. Shaking his head furiously, the American threw up his hands and the aircraft suddenly pulled up and moved in behind him. Now he knew what was about to happen. There was nothing else to do. He pulled the ejection handles and blew himself out of the plane just before a missile finished the job the first one had started.
***
There was panic on the Admiral Kuznetsov. One by one their aircraft had been shot out of the sky and now the ships could see other aircraft visually. Their radars had been worthless, yet, when they picked up one section of planes they had successfully launched their missiles and achieved hits. They could see the explosions high in the sky. But the Americans were still coming up on their position. Without their radar and without air cover, there was not much the ships could do. Gun systems were brought to bear, but it would be a while before the aircraft would be in range. It would be a visual fight.
The Joint Air to Surface Missiles streamed in. No one saw them until it was too late. Using Link 16, each missile had been programmed to attack a specific ship. Four went toward the Kuznetzov. Two each went to the Sovremennyy class destroyers on either beam of the carrier and one each toward the Udaloy destroyers ahead and astern. The rest of the ships were frigates and corvettes, which were no real threat to the Americans.
Aboard the Gremyashchiy, the Sovremannyy on the carrier’s port side, Captain Monyetin had his guns turned towards the aircraft he could see on the horizon. The first missile struck just above the bridge of his ship, killing him and knocking out all the ship’s command and control functions. The second struck aft, just in front of the helicopter hanger, sending fragments down into the engine room. Within minutes, the ship was dead in the water.
The other ships met the same fate. The smart missiles simply didn’t miss. In most cases, the superstructures of each ship were a shambles, knocking out the ship’s weapons systems.