W2F-1 Hawkeye “Angel-Three” Zero minutes after launch. Missiles 180 miles from target
“Vampires, vampires. We have vampire launch. North and south of Gaza. Raid count twelve missiles. Two groups of six. Target is Phibron Four, repeat target is Phibron Four. Eagle Flight, go for it.” The radar operator on the W2F-1 saw a group of aircraft detaching from the mass waiting in a holding pattern out to sea. One group streaked away from the rest, accelerating and eating up the distance. “Boy, look at those Super-Crusaders go.”
F9U-2 “Rosie”, 30 seconds after launch. Missiles 172.5 miles from target.
The Super-Crusader wasn’t quite the fastest fighter in the world, the F-108 had her by a small fraction of a Mach number but she was certainly the fastest accelerating fighter around. Lieutenant (jg) Paul Flower felt the kick in his spine as he accelerated then the awesome thump as the big engine in the back worked up some enthusiasm.
The F9U was blindingly fast but the truth was she couldn’t hold the speed for very long. She was built out of conventional aviation materials, not the sophisticated new alloys used by the F-108 and its bigger cousin, the B-70, and heat-sink effect would force her back down to normal speeds before too long. But, for the job of putting distance between herself and the ships she was protecting, engaging the enemy as far out as possible, there was nothing better. They were 200 miles from Phibron Four, Rosie and the seven other Super-Crusaders of Eagle Flight would cover that distance in six minutes.
USS “Thomas Jefferson “ CC-3, One minute after launch. Missiles 165 miles from target.
“Now that’s a surprise” Admiral Mahan saw the plot suddenly record the appearance of the anti-ship missiles on his displays. There was already a delay in the system, the computers that drove the NTDS links couldn’t keep up with the changes, but already the battle management system had done its job. The displays flickered again, and now they showed the Combat Air Patrol Shiloh had deployed to protect the carriers moving forward to intercept.
“Message from Angel Three to Shiloh. The fast attack craft are moving in to the attack.” That was expected, they’d been watching those Djinns ever since they’d left port earlier in the night. Angel-One had spotted them and tracked their movement. That was why Shiloh had an anti-shipping strike up as well as the fighters. On Shiloh now, the crews would be stripping ground support ordnance from the aircraft still on board and replacing it with anti-shipping weapons. Just in case a second strike was needed.
“They must be out of their minds. This is a full scale attack. Everybody knows what happens to people who try that on us.” It was one of the seamen on the air control center speaking, almost to himself.
“Don’t sweat it son. We haven’t destroyed a country since Germany. Well, practice makes perfect.” A chuckle went around the CDC. That was the nice thing about being an Admiral, Mahan thought. One’s little jokes were always funny.
USS Austin LPD-4. Three minute after launch. Missiles 135 miles from target.
The air raid warning siren was whooping, the shipboard alert system trumpeting “Air raid air raid this is no drill Caliphate missiles inbound.” To one side of the formation, the two guided missile destroyers were moving onto the threat axis, the first group of inbound fighters would be taking the southern formation of vampires, the destroyers would be taking the northern group with their Terriers.
All over USS Austin, the ship was coming to general quarters, hatches closing, tire prevention measures in force, damage control teams closed up and waiting. Captain Pickering stood on the bridge wings looking out along the threat axis. The radars were telling him the missiles were inbound but he couldn’t see them. He devoutly hoped they’d never get close enough for him to see them.
F4H-3 Phantom II “Tisiphone” five minutes after launch. Missiles 105 miles from target.
Rhino Force thundered across the sky, twelve F4H-3s, falling steadily behind the racing Super-Crusaders. They were the swing force, they were loaded down with unguided rockets to take on the fast attack craft but they also had their four AIM-7 Sparrows in case any of the anti-ship missiles got through.
Colonel Scott Brim checked fuel status and distance, his aircraft were much slower than the F9Us, all the more so for being loaded down. It would be marginal if he could get there quickly enough for the first wave. But for the FACs, that was different.
Behind him, but closing fast was Viper Force, 12 A3J-4 Vigilantes, loaded down with cluster-bombs. They carried their 12,000 pound load internally and they didn’t have the speed penalty that was hitting Rhino Force. So they’d get to the FACs first. Right at the back, plugging along subsonic, grimly determined not to be left out were the light attack boys in the Skyhawks. They were the reserve, the last ditch defense. Oddly, Brim had never thought of it before, but they were the only aircraft in the group that carried guns.
F9U-2 “Rosie”, seven minutes after launch. Missiles 75 miles from target.
The needles on the temperature gauges were edging towards the red as the eight Super-Crusaders swept over Phibron Four. Lieutenant Flower cut the speed back to 1200 miles per hour and watched the needle edge back a little. His radar was searching out ahead of him, looking for the formation of six missiles that should be directly ahead. All three of his AIM-7s were warmed up, the pair of AIM-9s were on standby. So just where were the targets?
USS “Charles F Adams”, eight minutes after launch. Missiles 60 miles from target.
The missile launcher aft swung to horizontal, the pair of Terriers slid out of the magazine onto the rails, then the launcher elevated and trained. The missiles on the rails had conventional warheads; there were too many friendly assets, too close, to use the nuclear-tipped missiles. In the CIC, radar had tracked the Super-Crusaders streaking overhead, saw them peel off to take the missiles coming in from the south.
The northern group were assigned to the destroyers. Six missiles, each destroyer fired her Terriers in pairs. The launchers cycled four times in each minute. The destroyers would keep a stream of missiles heading to the targets until they were splashed or the magazines were empty. Then, the computers calculated the target solution, came up with a go and the first two pairs of Terriers flashed into the night.
F9U-2 “Rosie “, eight minutes after launch. Missiles 60 miles from target.
Rosie had been diving to bring her within the firing envelope of her AIM-7s. “Now, he could see the missiles on his radarscope, a loose gaggle of six converging on Phibron Four, now more than 20 miles behind them His radar was already tracking a target. Rosie was third from the left so he picked out the third missile from the left. Stroke the firing switch and two AlM-7s, the side ones, dropped away before setting after the vampires somebody had been idiot enough to fire on an American warship.