“I’m going within Scorpion missile range of the frigate,” Brad Elliott said. “We’ll back up the frigates antiair weapons. Patrick, we’ve got to attack that carrier now. There’s no way it’ll get away unless we attack! And if it launches more fighters, we’ll be sitting ducks! ”
“Brad, we are already in deep shit by launching those Wolverines,” McLanahan argued, looking over the top of his instrument panel to look at Elliott in the pilot’s seat. “My nose is cold until we get—”
“Missile launch! I’ve got two missiles lifting off from the Mao… going supersonic! ” Vikram shouted. “Two Granit missiles on the way! ”
“Dammit!” McLanahan shouted. “Emitter, can you get them?”
“I’ve got them!” the defensive systems operator shouted. “I’ve got the missiles! ” He touched the Granit missile’s symbols, then touched the command trigger on his interphone panel and said, “Launch commit Scorpions one and two.”
WARNING, WARNING, LAUNCH COMMIT SCORPION MISSILES. Then, after a few seconds: missiles away. At that instant, one AIM-120 radar-guided missile leapt off a wing pylon from each wing and streaked toward the Chinese anti-ship missiles.
“The Kin Men is launching missiles!” McLanahan shouted. “Stand by for a second salvo from the—”
“I’ve got a second salvo from the carrier! ” Vikram shouted. “Another two Granit missiles lifting off… Square Tie radar down, must’ve got hit by a Rainbow missile… looks like the Taiwanese frigate is firing more antiaircraft missiles… Sun Visor radar down…” Vikram immediately fired another two Scorpion missiles at the Chinese anti-ship missiles.
“Range to the lead destroyer is down to twenty miles,” McLanahan warned. “Let’s do a left turn to reposition. Left turn heading one-six-zero. We’ll go out two minutes, then—”
Suddenly, Vikram shouted, “Another missile launching from the Mao … this one going ballistic! They’re launching an M-11 missile! Missile heading toward the mainland… turning east, heading for Quemoy… another missile lifting off! Two M-11 missiles in the air!”
McLanahan shouted, “Brad!” but Elliott already had the EB-52 Megafortress in a hard right turn. “Lock ’em up, Emitter! You’ve only got a few seconds…”
“They’re out of range!” Vikram shouted. The M-ll missiles were huge 13,000-pound solid-fuel rockets; they lifted off slowly but accelerated quickly and flew to much higher altitudes.and speeds than anti-ship cruise missiles. “Dammit, I missed them!”
“Get ready in case they launch a second salvo! ” McLanahan shouted. “We—”
“Shit, I’ve got that lead Chinese destroyer in sight!” copilot Nancy Cheshire shouted. While they were focusing on the Chinese M-ll missile launch, they had drifted to within twelve miles of the Chinese destroyer Kang—and there it was, right in front of them, way out on the horizon but close enough to see its enormous size. “Continue right turn, let’s get out of here! ”
“Missile launch!” Vikram shouted. “Second salvo of M-ll missiles in the air! ” But he was ready for them this time — within two seconds of detecting the launch, two Scorpion missiles were in the air chasing them down. But seconds later, they heard a dee die dee die dee die! warning tone in their headsets. “Missile launch!” Vikram shouted. “That destroyer launched Crotale missiles on us!"
“Full countermeasures!” Elliott shouted. Vikram immediately activated the EB-52’s AN/ALQ-199 MAWS (Missile Approach and Warning System), which used rear- and side-looking radars to search for the incoming missiles. Once the radars locked onto the incoming missiles, the computer system automatically ejected chaff and flare decoys to try to steer the incoming enemy missiles away. At the same time, tiny laser emitters popped up from the Megafortress’s fuselage and fired beams of laser energy at the missiles, attempting to blind the missile’s sensitive seeker heads.
The Chinese destroyer Kang had shut down its tracking radars because of the Tacit Rainbow anti-radar missiles buzzing around, so the only guidance left for the Crotale missiles was their own heat-seeking sensors, which were sensitive both to decoys and to the MAWS laser beams. One by one, the French-built Crotale missiles were diverted safely away from the Megafortress, and they crashed harmlessly into the sea.
“Kang reports launching Crotale missiles at extreme range on a large multi-engine aircraft that closed to within sixteen kilometers of their position,” the officer of the deck reported to Admiral Yi on the bridge of the carrier Mao. “They also reported spotting anti-missile decoy flares on the horizon. They have lost contact.”
Admiral Yi was already on the communications links, taking reports from squadron leaders in his fleet. “Hit? Hit by what? We detected no missile launches from the Nationalist frigate.”
“They appeared out of nowhere, sir,” the skipper of the Jiangwei-class frigate 542 reported. “Four large high-speed targets, all from different bearings, all around us. We fired -61s, but they all missed; we tracked them with fire-control systems, but they evaded our gunners. Patrol boat 1107 destroyed and lost with all hands. Patrol boats 1209 and 1136 on fire. Minor damage to patrol boat 1332. We have suffered major damage, one fire on deck three starboard not yet under control, one hole just above the waterline. We are being assisted by patrol 1108.”
“Were they fighters? Maybe rebel F-16s dropping bombs?”
“Sir, I have never seen aircraft move like that,” the skipper replied. “I swear to you, sir, they seemed to be able to move at right angles, as if they were on rails. They were subsonic, but we could not track them— our antennas could not move fast enough! ”
It had to be some American secret weapon, Yi told himself as he blankly hung up the phone. Unless the Nationalists were getting help from cosmic sea gods, that was the only explanation — some kind of high- maneuverability air-launched missile fired by the American bomber. “Vector the fighters to the last bearing of those flares,” Admiral Yi ordered.
“Bridge, Combat,” the intercom blared. “Fighters have made visual contact! They report contact with an American B-52 bomber! ”
Yi s mouth dropped open in surprise. A B-52, a nearly forty-year-old plane — and it had wreaked havoc throughout his battle group. “Shoot it down! ” Yi shouted. “Tell those pilots to engage! I want to pick up that plane’s wreckage and show it for all the world to see! ” He then concentrated on his watch. “Missile flight time?” he shouted.
“Forty seconds to first detonation, sir,” the quartermaster responded.
“Sound collision,” Yi ordered. “Signal the battle group to sound collision.” The alarm bells began ringing all across the ship; down below, men put the final clamps and cables on the helicopters up on deck and began clearing the flight decks.
“Got ’em!” Vikram shouted. “Crotales no factor… Scorpions closing in on the M-11s!” He watched in fascination as the AIM-120 Scorpion missile’s icons quickly and smoothly merged with the Chinese M-ll ballistic missile icons. What incredible power! Vikram thought gleefully. We’re shooting down ballistic missiles, shutting down radars, turning away antiaircraft missiles, and getting ready to blow a carrier out—”
“Fighters!” Nancy Cheshire suddenly shouted out on interphone. “Two fighters at eleven o’clock high! They’ve got us in sight! ” Just then, the threat receiver came to life with a fast, high-pitched deedledee- dledeedle! and a female aural “Missile launch… missile launch… missile launch! ” warning. At the same time, streams of radar-decoying chaff and heat-seeking missile decoy flares began automatically ejecting from both internal tail ejectors. At the same time, Elliott grabbed the control stick and hauled it over hard left with his left hand, then jammed the throttles on the center throttle console to full military power.