“Looks like they’re using merchants as a hull template. Smart. We’ve been looking into that. You can buy ’em much cheaper than the cost of making a destroyer.”
David said, “So we’ve been told.”
“What are these towers?”
Susan said, “That’s what we’re here to discuss.”
“You have any images that are zoomed in… oh, here’s one.” The DARPA scientist reached for a picture of the tower on the Jiaolong-class ship.
The expert on naval warships said, “It’s odd that they’ve positioned the flight decks off to the side. They plan on landing four helicopters at once?”
David said, “We believe that each one of those side-mounted flight decks is for an unmanned dirigible. The dirigibles are about three hundred feet long. You can see a close-up of one of those here.” David slid over another image. “And while we don’t have much data on them, we believe that they’re extremely effective as ASW platforms.”
The man arched his eyebrow at that. “No kidding. Dirigibles.”
The DARPA representative said, “We had a project like that a few years back. Not for ASW, mind you. Ours was for cargo transport and logistics. You could carry twice the load of a C-130 at a much lower cost per mile.”
David said, “Why did the program get shut down?”
“Well, that’s what’s so surprising about this. Dirigibles have obvious risks when used in a military environment.”
“You mean they could get shot down easily.”
“Of course. A three-hundred-foot target would be a sitting duck if it’s in range of — well, just about any antiaircraft weapon.”
David said, “So why would the Chinese take such a risk?”
One of the men said, “You said that it was very effective. How effective?”
“We’ve lost three US fast-attack boats in the past week. To our knowledge, our submarines weren’t even able to make it into torpedo range before they were destroyed.”
“During the cease-fire? Well, why the hell haven’t we reattacked the Chinese?”
David and Susan looked at each other. Then David said, “That’s not what we’re here to discuss.”
Seeing that they weren’t satisfied with that answer, he continued, “There are still some battles being fought. Ones that we don’t talk about. We have a hell of a lot of civilians and military personnel that are being allowed to leave Asia unharmed. But that’s above our pay grade, I’m afraid.”
“Sorry.”
The air defense expert said, “What a minute. These towers… I think I know what they might be.”
“Directed-energy weapons.”
After speaking with the three experts for an hour, Susan and David now sat in the Raven Rock executive conference room with the national security advisor, several flag officers, and the director of the CIA.
“That’s what these towers are?”
The room was focused on the projection screen, which displayed one of the images of the Jiaolong-class ship.
“That’s our hypothesis, sir. We think they’re being used as a new type of air defense weapon.” Susan tapped a button, and the presentation screen changed to an infrared image of one of the Jiaolong-class ships. “Our analysts believe these Jiaolong-class ships have modular nuclear power systems installed solely for these weapons. If that’s true, it would provide a nearly unlimited source of electric power.”
An admiral at the end of the conference table looked skeptical. “We have our own directed-energy weapons. The list of canceled projects goes on and on. How have they solved the range and beam attenuation issues? These systems aren’t yet viable air defense weapons. How do you even know that these things really work?”
David spoke up. “Sir, I’ve spoken with our experts who have seen the Chinese design. They’re convinced that the Chinese are on to something. They’re using billions of carbon nanotubes, stacked on top of each other throughout the towers. These nanotubes absorb the light and convert it to different types of energy.”
Blank stares.
“What’s the range?” asked an Army general sitting at the table.
“We don’t know that, sir.”
“Then why is this even something we’re discussing?”
“Because the Chinese must believe them to be pretty damned effective to risk using dirigibles for ASW. A blimp is an easy target for surface-to-air weapons.”
The general shot back, “Then maybe the Chinese are just stupid. They are communists, after all. Just send in an air strike and take out those dirigibles, then send in the submarines.”
David shook his head.
General Schwartz cleared his throat. “Ladies and gentlemen, how many wars have been lost because rooms like this underestimated the effectiveness of a new technology?”
David looked around the room. Some of the men and women here still didn’t seem convinced. He didn’t care if he spoke out of turn. He needed to make them understand.
David stood, and all eyes were on him. “This Jiaolong-class ship contains two disruptive technologies: a leap in ASW capability, and a leap in air defense capability. If any ship were to hold just one of these new capabilities, it would still be susceptible to attack. The American military would still retain its advantage. For example, if a Chinese destroyer had this new directed-energy weapon but no new leap in ASW capability, we could still sink that destroyer with one of our submarines. But together they could make this Chinese fleet quite lethal.”
“You’re making a jump, son. The ability of these directed-energy weapons remains to be seen.”
A Navy captain said, “The Chinese screen formation was unusually tight. That would make sense if they were all trying to stay under one umbrella. Instead of the destroyers protecting the high-value unit in the center of the formation, it seems like the HVU is protecting the entire fleet. The closer they stick together, the greater the level of protection.”
David nodded. “Exactly. If this directed-energy weapon works well, the Chinese fleet, with these Jiaolong-class ships, would be able to move with impunity throughout the Pacific.”
The skeptical admiral at the end of the table said, “That’s if this directed-energy weapon proves to be as effective as you’re suggesting.”
“Yes, sir.” But why else would they go out on a limb like this? Jinshan isn’t stupid.
A phone rang at the table, and one of the flag officers picked it up. “When? Very well. I’ll let everyone know.” He hung up the phone, then looked up at the group.
“The Chinese fleet has been picked up on radar, heading towards Guam. They just crossed the one forty-four.”
22
Victoria walked into the combat information center shortly after general quarters was called. The captain had ordered her air detachment to bring the bird into the barn, and she was hoping to lobby him against that decision.
Like any good athlete, she wanted to be on the field during the game. There might be a submarine threat, after all. Or they could provide over-the-horizon targeting or surveillance. Hell, it might take them a while, but she could even have her men throw on a few Hellfire missiles if it would help. But as she surveyed the room, her “put me in, coach” attitude diminished.
The basic concept of naval warfare hadn’t changed much in the last few hundred years. Target and sink the enemy’s ship before they sink you. But the complexity of modern tactics lay in the vast amount of information being streamed into the warfighter. Gigabytes of data were pumped into the ship via datalink, radio, sonar, radar, electronic and other sensors. Even the lookouts on the bridge fed information via sound-powered phone. Now all of these sensors reached out into the unseen distance, searching for their enemy, who was in turn searching for them. The same old game.