The sonobuoys themselves were an advanced new design. Their battery life was short, but the smaller batteries allowed the engineers to use that saved weight for other purposes, such as computing power and more advanced acoustic sensors.
During antisubmarine prosecutions, the Jiaolong dirigible ASW drones used a sophisticated mesh network controlled by artificial intelligence computers. As the convoy of ships moved forward and the sonobuoys either ran out of battery life or became useless due to their lagging geographical position, one of the dirigibles would fly in, hover over the buoy at low altitude, and pick it up with a mechanical arm. The dirigible would store the used buoys in an onboard chamber and drop them off on one of the Jiaolong’s unused flight deck platforms. Here, the buoys would be recharged and then reloaded onto a dirigible that was ready to go to work.
The Jiaolong received and processed the massive amount of acoustic information from the drones dipping sonar and many sonobuoys. The entire system had been developed in secret over the past fifteen years. During the Cold War, antisubmarine warfare had relied upon skilled operators to listen, analyze, interpret, and make decisions. Humans had to guess where a target might be based on small bits of acoustic data. Data that might or might not be accurate.
This new Chinese system completely transferred the analysis and decision making to computers. Machine learning allowed the dirigibles to identify the most likely positions where an enemy submarine might make its approach. The computers concentrated their sonobuoy and dipping sonar placements in these areas, covering wide swaths of ocean, far ahead of where submarine captains might expect them to be. And they were lethally efficient.
Inside Jiaolong, one of the ASW officers monitored the latest report from the drones.
“The American submarine is forty-five thousand meters to our east. The ASW drones are prosecuting the target.”
“Very well,” came the reply from the senior officer.
Another American submarine had fallen into their web.
Commander Wallace had watched with horror as his periscope showed the Chinese aircraft right on top of their position. Soon his sonar room was reporting splashes all around them.
The captain said, “Conn, get us safely east of here. Whatever the hell they have up there, we don’t want to be in this area.”
The conning officer said, “Increase speed to all ahead two-thirds. Come right to zero-two-zero and make depth six hundred feet.”
Commands repeated throughout the bridge, and the crew began leaning in unison as the submarine responded to new commands.
The navigator said, “Sir, shallow water to our east.”
“Understood.”
A high-pitched ping echoed throughout the submarine’s metal hull. Whispered cursing from the crew.
“All ahead flank, come right to one-seven-zero,” the captain called out, doing the conning officer’s job for him.
“Conn, Sonar, another splash in the water one thousand yards, bearing one-eight-zero.”
Commander Wallace took in the new information. They had put another buoy down in the water right in front of where he’d intended to take his submarine. At least, he hoped it was a buoy…
“Make new heading zero-nine-zero.”
“Zero-nine-zero, aye.”
How the hell were they putting buoys down in exactly the right spot? It was like the Chinese knew the command Wallace had given. He now realized why the other two submarines that had faced this convoy had not come back.
Another loud ping echoed throughout the hull. More cursing. Wallace noticed that one of his young officers, an ensign who had been aboard no more than a month, was no longer at his station. He was now walking around the compartment, muttering something to himself over and over, his eyes darting every which way. The kid looked like he was cracking up. Wallace made eye contact with the XO and nodded to the ensign. The XO quickly nodded back and had the chief of the boat escort him out of the space. The XO then took his station.
“Conn, Sonar, we have another splash.”
“Bearing and range?”
The voice sounded deflated. “Right on top of us, sir.”
“Conn, Sonar, transient! Torpedo in the water!”
The torpedo’s pinging began. These pings sounded different than the previous ones, which had come from a sonobuoy or dipper, and they sounded painfully close.
The pings became more rapid.
“Sir, the torpedo has acquired us.”
“Launch countermeasures! Left full rudder—”
But Commander Wallace knew that it was too late.
The dirigible launched its torpedo with targeting information that had been derived from a total of seventeen acoustic devices that held contact on the USS Columbia. The targeting information had been processed and refined, and the artificial intelligence computers calculated where the submarine would be when the torpedo was released, with ninety-eight percent probability.
The lightweight torpedo dropped from a height of one hundred feet, its parachute barely having time to open before making contact with the water. The seawater-activated motor kicked on, and it let out a few pings to acquire its target, then increased the frequency of its pings as it began homing.
On board the aircraft carrier Liaoning, Admiral Song received his report.
“The enemy submarine has been destroyed, sir.”
21
David Manning sat in a private conference room reading over the morning intelligence reports with Susan Collinsworth. She had flown up to Raven Rock to brief the new director of the CIA and military leadership. They wanted to know what the hell this new Chinese ship was capable of. Her brief would be based on the SILVERSMITH team’s analysis of ISR imagery taken from Colonel Wojcik’s reconnaissance aircraft, as well as the results of a conversation they were about to have with three experts.
Thousands of the US government’s political, military, and intelligence leaders were being housed at Raven Rock and a series of other emergency complexes along the Appalachian Mountain Chain. Raven Rock was where the highest-level military plans were being made.
“We lost contact with another sub?” David asked, reading the daily brief.
Susan frowned, nodding slowly. “The Columbia.”
“Why are we sending submarines anywhere near that Jiaolong-class ship? Shouldn’t we keep them at a standoff distance until we have a way to fight the threat?”
“The Pentagon now agrees with that assessment.”
“Wonderful. And it only took three sunken subs to get them there.”
The door opened and in walked their three specialists. One wore a lab coat and rimmed glasses. David recognized him as the representative from DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency. The second man was an air and missile defense expert. The third was the expert on naval warship technology.
David put the folder down and stood as introductions were made. Susan began the conversation with disclaimers on the classification level and stressed the obvious importance of their task. Then she opened a manila envelope and placed a series of images on the table.
She said, “Gentlemen, what you’re looking at is known as the Jiaolong-class warship. The Chinese are referring to it as a battleship.”
The three men took turns passing around the photographs, exchanging whistles and hums. They were intrigued.