Mike Maden
Drone Command
For all the brave sons, mine most of all
CHARACTER LIST
SANJI HARA — Vice Admiral, JMSDF
DR. NITOBE IKEDA — Director, NEDO
HIROSHI ITO — Prime Minister of Japan
KOBAYASHI — Yakuza boss
HIROSHI ONIZUKA — Captain of the submarine Sword Dragon
OSHIRO — Yakuza underboss
KATSU TANAKA — Parliamentary Senior Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, LDP member of the House of Representatives (Nagasaki Prefecture)
GENERAL CHEN ZULIN — Vice Chairman, Central Military Commission
ADMIRAL DENG ZILONG — Fleet Commander, PLAN South Sea Fleet
FENG YONGBO — Vice Chairman, Central Military Commission
FENG JIANLI — Son of Feng Yongbo
ADMIRAL JI DONGSHENG — Fleet Commander, PLAN East Sea Fleet
HUANG YONG — Minister of State Security
PANG BO — Ambassador to Japan
SUN QUAN — General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People’s Republic of China, Chairman of the Central Military Commission
DR. WENG LITONG — Head, GAD Expert Working Group (robotic weapon systems)
DR. T. J. ASHLEY — Pearce Systems associate
HENRY DAVIS — Ambassador to Japan
DR. WILLIAM (WILL) ELLIOTT — National Security Research Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Ex-CIA, friend of Troy’s dad
JIM GARZA — National Security Advisor
STELLA KANG — Pearce Systems associate
DAVID LANE — President of the United States
IAN MCTAVISH — Pearce Systems associate
MARGARET MYERS — Former President of the United States
GENERAL GORDON ONSTOT — Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
TROY PEARCE — CEO, Pearce Systems
MIKE PIA — Director of National Intelligence
BREN SHAFER — Secretary of Defense
GABY WHEELER — Secretary of State
DR. KENJI YAMADA — University of Hawaii faculty, Pearce Systems associate
AUGUST MANN — Pearce Systems director of nuclear facility deconstruction (Germany)
DR. LINH PHAM — VAST drone researcher (Vietnam)
TAMAR STERN — Former Pearce Systems security associate, Mossad agent (Israel)
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
4GW — Fourth-generation Warfare
A2AD — Anti-Access/Area Denial
AAV — Autonomous Aerial Vehicle
ACTUV — Antisubmarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel
ADPS — Automated Dynamic Positioning System
ASAT — Antisatellite
ASV — Autonomous Surface Vehicle
ASW — Antisubmarine Warfare
AUV — Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
AWACS — Airborne Warning and Control System
CAP — Combat Air Patrol
CIC — Combat Information Center
CMC — Central Military Commission
DARPA — Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DNI — Director of National Intelligence
EMP — Electromagnetic Pulse
FIC — First Island Chain
GAD — General Armament Department (A PRC/PLA version of DARPA)
GWOT — Global War on Terrorism
HGV — Hypersonic Glide Vehicle
HPM — High-powered Microwave
HUMINT — Human Intelligence (spies)
ICBM — Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
JPALS — Joint Precision Approach and Landing System
LDP — Liberal Democratic Party of Japan
LRAD — Long-range Acoustic Device
MAD — Mutual Assured Destruction
MIRV — Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle
MOD — Minister of Defense (Japan)
MSS — Ministry of State Security (PRC)
NEDO — New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization
NKP — New Komeito Party (Japan)
SAC — Second Artillery Corps (PRC)
SLBM — Sub-Launched Ballistic Missile
STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
TAD — Threat Assessment Display
TEPCO — Tokyo Electric Power Company
TNF — Technical Nuclear Forensics
TTO — Tactical Technology Office (DARPA, USA)
UCAV — Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle
UCLASS — Unmanned Carrier-launched Surveillance and Strike Vehicle
UFP — Upward Falling Payload
USV — Unmanned Surface Vehicle
UUV — Unmanned Underwater Vehicle
VAST — Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology
VPA — Vietnam People’s Army
VTC — Video Teleconference
AUTHOR’S NOTE
While many of the drone and related systems described in this novel are currently deployed, others are based on patent filings, prototypes, and research proposals. In some cases I modified or simplified their performance characteristics for the sake of the story. However, I’m confident that some variants of what I’ve imagined could soon be a reality.
Being unconquerable lies with yourself;
being conquerable lies with your enemy.
ONE
The bloodred flag with the five golden stars snapped in the crisp morning breeze. The national flag of the People’s Republic of China was one of three held high by the naval honor guard, along with the flags of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the East Sea Fleet commander, Admiral Ji Dongsheng.
Two hundred Chinese PLAN officers and sailors stood at rigid attention on the fantail of the seventy-five-hundred-ton guided-missile destroyer Kunming, its ASW helicopter stowed away in the hangar for the occasion. The ship’s skilled helmsman fought to stay in place as the vessel rose and fell in the long swells.
Admiral Ji’s commanding voice cut through the buffeting wind. The handpicked crew stood proudly before him at rigid attention in their starched white uniforms and broad Soviet-style caps. The admiral’s thick neck, powerful jaw, and broad nose had earned him the nickname Bulldog behind his muscular back. A shrouded object stood just behind him.