Suddenly, an alarm rang out in all their headsets, and a blinking icon appeared on the supercockpit display. “What is that?” Elliott asked.
McLanahan urged Denton to start talking as they both studied the display: “High-speed low-altitude missile,” Denton said. “Looks like it came from the Chinese cruiser… second missile launch, same azimuth… shit, it looks like they’re headed for the Duncan and James Daniel! The Chinese are firing missiles at our frigates! More missiles… I’ve got at least four, no, five… six missiles in the air! ”
“Brad, let’s try to get within Scorpion range,” McLanahan shouted. The Megafortress immediately banked right and began a fast descent in response. “DSO, you got those inbounds?”
“No — no uplink signal, no terminal radar detected,” Bruno reported.
“We need the attack radar,” McLanahan said.
“Rog. Crew, attack radar coming on,” Denton announced.
“What do you got, Muck?” Elliott shouted on interphone.
“Six supersonic ballistic missiles,” McLanahan said. “Not sure, but I think they were fired from the large ship cruising west of the Navy frigates.”
“What do you mean, you ‘think’ they were fired from that cruiser?”
“Because we didn’t get an exact ID on the ship and they didn’t come exactly from that ship’s azimuth,” McLanahan explained.
“But it’s the only warship around, right?”
“I’m not sure if it is a warship, Brad.”
“I think we can assume six supersonic anti-ship missiles were fired from a ship that big,” Elliott said. “Spin up the Strikers and let’s take that sucker down.”
“Missiles will impact in less than one minute,” Denton reported. “We should be in range to intercept with Scorpion missiles.”
“I’ll get on the horn with the Navy and warn them of the inbounds,” Nancy Cheshire, the crew copilot, said.
“What kind of ship is that out there?” Elliott asked.
“It’s a cruiser,” Denton responded.
“We don’t have an exact ID on it, I said,” McLanahan corrected him. “Computer couldn’t match it, and we couldn’t get an eyeball.”
Elliott was on the secure satellite channel in an instant: “Atlas, this is Headbanger,” he radioed. “Are you getting the picture here? We’ve got six inbounds heading for our frigates.”
“Headbanger, this is Atlas,” the operator at the U.S. Pacific Command headquarters responded. “We copy. Stand by.”
“Stand by?” Elliott retorted. “Where the hell is Allen — having dinner with the Chinese ambassador? We need a decision up here, Atlas!”
“The James Daniel reports they have contact on the inbounds,” Cheshire reported.
“Checks — both frigates opening fire,” Denton shouted as he watched missile icons speeding away from the frigates toward the incoming Chinese missiles. “Looks like they got a clear—”
“Fighters!” Bruno shouted. “Large formation at four o’clock, five- zero miles, high… another large formation at one o’clock, four-seven miles and closing, high.”
“This is starting to smell like a trap,” Elliott said. “Secure the attack radar and let’s—”
“More fighters! ” Atkins reported for Bruno, who appeared to be getting a little overwhelmed by this sudden attack. “Three o’clock, five-zero miles and closing… first formation is breaking into two, we’ve got four formations of fighters inbound on us! ”
“Attack radar down,” McLanahan said, as Denton deactivated the Megafortress’s radar.
“The inbound Chinese missiles disappeared!” Denton interjected. “Just before the frigate’s missiles hit, they vanished!”
“Stallions,” Atkins said. “Russian-made rocket-powered torpedoes. They’re sea-skimmers until they get within SAM range of a target, then dive underwater.”
“More fighters inbound!” Bruno shouted. “Two fighters, very high speed, two o’clock, four-five miles and closing fast! Range forty miles… they might have a radar lock on us! ”
“Might be a Foxbat or Foxhound,” Elliott said. The Russian-made MiG-25 Foxbat and MiG-31 Foxhound fighters, designed to intercept the American B-70, B-56, FB-111, andB-1 supersonic strategic bombers, were all-titanium built Russian superfighters, the fastest fighters in the world, capable of high-altitude supersonic dashes well over three times the speed of sound; they had been on the international export market for many years. “Get those damn things! ”
“C’mon, Ashley, get on ’em… stand by for pylon launch, crew! All countermeasures systems active! ” Atkins shouted over interphone, reaching over Bruno’s shoulder and activating the Scorpion antiaircraft missiles. Seconds later, he had designated two missiles apiece against the incoming fighters, and the AIM-120 missiles were on the way…
… but Bruno’s delay in launching the antiaircraft missiles proved decisive. The incoming fighters started a descent at thirty miles that accelerated to well over three times the speed of sound, heading directly at the Megafortress. The Scorpion missiles expended all of their thrust in powering toward the attackers, so by the time the missiles closed in on their targets, they had no energy to maneuver and exploded several dozen yards aft of the high-speed attackers.
“Clean misses,” Atkins said. “Stand by for pylon…” But just then, they heard a fast-pitched deedledeedledeedle! warning tone. “Missile launch!” Atkins shouted.
“Break!” Bruno shouted.
Just as Elliott was going to ask which way to break, Atkins interjected, “Hold heading, pilot! They’re trying a nose-to-nose launch — very low percentage, especially against us. I’ve got the uplink shut down!” The Megafortress’s powerful jammers shut down the fighters’ attack radar and the steering signal between the missile and the launch aircraft; when the missiles’ own terminal homing radar activated, the jammers shut them down too. At the same time, the HAVE GLANCE active countermeasures system destroyed the missiles’ seekers with laser beam blasts. But the Megafortress’s own attack radar automatically shut down so the enemy missiles couldn’t home in on it, so they were temporarily blind again. “You see them out there, pilot?”
“Negative… wait, I got them! ” Cheshire shouted. “They’re headed right for us! Twelve o’clock, about five miles, coming down fast! Ready to break!”
“Go nose to nose with them, pilot! ” Atkins shouted. “Nose to nose! Pylon launch! ” Atkins powered up two AIM-120 Scorpion missiles and uncaged their infrared seekers instead of launching on radar guidance. Both missiles locked onto the red-hot superheated fuselages of the enemy fighters immediately, and seconds later, both missiles streaked out of the weapons pods on the wings right at their quarries. But by the time the Scorpions launched, the two Foxbat fighters had flown right over the Megafortress, missing it by just a few hundred yards. The incredible blast of the supersonic shock wave passing over the EB-52 felt like another nuclear explosion. Elliott and Cheshire looked on with amazement as the front cockpit windscreen buckled and wavered as if it was ready to implode again.
The Scorpion missiles switched from infrared to radar guidance, picked up steering signals from the side- and rear-looking radars, and streaked up and backward to pursue the fighters. They almost did not have enough energy to tail-chase the fighters — the Foxbats were flying three hundred miles per hour faster than the most sophisticated air-to- air missile in the world! — until both Chinese superfighters came out of full afterburner and began a hard turn back to the west to pursue the Megafortress. The sharp turn quickly sapped the big fighters of all their energy, enough for the Scorpion missiles to catch up to them, activate their own onboard terminal homing radars, and lock onto the fighters. One Scorpion missile failed to fuze properly and missed; the other made a direct hit, shelling out one engine and causing a massive fire. The pilot ejected seconds before his superfighter exploded in a terrific orange fireball.