The S-3B Vikings left the carrier deck next. Their missions for the day were midair refueling. All carried buddy fuel tanks under their wings. They stopped their ascent at a mere five thousand feet and began slow orbits of their carriers, waiting for the next aircraft that would be leaving the decks.
The EA-6B Prowlers followed. Two had been aloft since before dawn, providing electronic cover for the carrier by jamming Chinese radars. They would be landing shortly to refuel and switch flight crews before going back up to join their brothers.
Lincoln’s F-18 Hornets took their turns after the Prowlers. They all turned northwest from Lincoln’s once they were in the air. Washington’s own Hornets lined up on the deck with four waiting on the catapults. They would sit on the deck, their pilots antsy to fight but not launching until Lincoln’s fighters engaged the enemy. Once Lincoln’s planes began running low on fuel and ammunition, Washington’s second wave would move in and cover their brothers’ withdrawal.
The Bounty Hunters’ F-35 Joint Strike Fighters went up last. They turned west as one and pulled away from the carrier fleet. They lowered their noses and did not level out until they had reached an altitude of one hundred feet above the waves of the Taiwan Strait.
Nagin was the last to go up. He flew in formation with the Bounty Hunters for two minutes, then rolled away, pulled back on his stick, and climbed for the sky.
Lincoln herself was hugging Taiwan’s southwestern coast. The position gave the small fleet the maximum distance between itself and China’s land-based forces and effectively prevented any PLA subs from sneaking up anywhere on Lincoln’s starboard side. The American ships were under EMCON — emissions control, radio silence. That and the Prowlers’ electronic jamming would make finding the fleet a hard job for the PLA Air Force, at least until Pollard wanted that situation to change.
“This is not a good idea.” Lieutenant Sam Roselli and his EP-3 Aries crew had taken off from Kadena hours before. “Same schedule, same flight plan. We’ll get the same MIGs off our wing and the same missile lock up our tail.”
“Somebody has to be the bait,” Lieutenant Julie Ford said. “Might as well be us.” The radar track showed several MIG combat air patrols off the coast and eight E2-C Hawkeyes dispersed in a north-south arc with a pair of AWACS birds circling behind. Some commercial traffic was heading east away from Taiwan and in various directions from the Chinese coast. There were no US fighters even close to the EP-3’s altitude.
“I’d feel better if I could see ’em.” Stealth planes flying on the waves weren’t easy for anyone to see, allies or enemies alike. The laws of physics didn’t discriminate between American and Chinese radar receivers, especially when the Vikings were out there doing their electronic warfare voodoo.
“They’re out here,” Ford said. Unless the entire mission had gone totally FUBAR from the start. She hoped Admiral Pollard aboard the Lincoln would have the courtesy to let them know if that was the case.
The EP-3’s HUD flashed a change. At least two dozen icons appeared in sequence over the Chinese coast on the radar track Ford and Roselli were sharing with the Hawkeyes. The icons formed up after several minutes in the air and began moving east. “I guess the PLA wants to see what’s going on,” Roselli said.
“Come to Mama,” Ford said.
Three of the triangles broke away from the main group. “Three contacts inbound, bearing two-zero-seven, range thirty miles,” one of the Hawkeyes reported. Ford stared at the HUD. The Su-27s were approaching too fast for comfort, using their afterburners for no good reason other than to intimidate the much slower EP-3. You can’t run was the message.
All done running, she hoped.
It was a very short minute before three Su-27s rocketed past the Aries faster than the speed of sound. The sonic boom shook the EP-3, and the turbulence increased as the prop-driven plane passed through the roiled air. Roselli pushed forward on the stick until the aircraft reached calmer air a thousand feet below. The MIGs turned and reduced speed to match the US Navy plane’s course.
“Tallyho. Weren’t we just here?” Roselli muttered.
Two of the MIGs flanked the EP-3, one off each wing, with a third holding position behind. “Lead bandit is on our six,” Ford announced. She looked to starboard. The Su-27 was close enough that she could see into the cockpit through the canopy. The PLA pilot waved at her, signaling for the EP-3 to change course. Ford shook her head. We’re in international airspace and you know it, she thought.
The flight leader didn’t disappoint. The EP-3’s threat receiver lit up on schedule. “Bandit just lit us up!” Ford announced. This time Roselli didn’t push the stick forward to dive for the waves. And he knew that this time his hand was shaking for certain.
“This is fun,” he muttered.
“Break!” Nagin ordered. The PLA Air Force, already engaged in active hostilities against Taiwanese territories, had just threatened a US Navy aircraft over international waters. At least that would be the story recounted in the UN Security Council. The Chinese would deny that they intended to shoot the EP-3 down, but the positive radar lock and the ongoing war would make it difficult for the Chinese ambassador to argue against the USS Abraham Lincoln coming to the defense of an unarmed US aircraft under the circumstances.
Lincoln’s unstealthy Hornets had held back over fifty miles to the rear, leading the Chinese pilots to think those were the closest American fighters. It was a bad assumption. The Bounty Hunters had held their F-35 Joint Strike Fighters at less than a hundred feet above the waves while flying in circles around the EP-3’s course. The Su-27s’ radar washed harmlessly off the Bounty Hunters, the energy deflected in every direction except back toward the Chinese planes. With the EP-3 now under threat of hostile fire, every US Navy fighter pilot in the area pulled back on the stick and the planes climbed for the sky in a wide sunburst formation that would have made the Blue Angels proud.
“There!” Ford yelled. An absurd number of icons appeared on the radar in a circle around their position almost simultaneously, and they were close. The fact that the radar returns on the new planes were holding steady meant that their missile bays were open.
It took less than a second for the Chinese pilots to prove they had seen the same on their HUDs, though she doubted the enemy pilots knew what they were up against. Every Su-27 was getting multiple threat warnings off their receivers, and the Chinese fighters began banking and rolling hard enough that Ford wondered whether the Chinese pilots weren’t seeing spots from the g-forces pulling the blood away from their brains and down to their legs.
“That’s our cue,” Roselli said. He pushed forward on the stick and the nose dropped. “Elvis is leaving the building.” There was no sense in giving the PLA another target. He suspected that the MIGs would be far too busy to go after his aircraft, but he was not a gambler at heart, even without the rest of his regular crew on board.