Beyond the APCs there were about 300m of open ground to the river and a ribbon bridge, which was in constant use. Leg infantry in single file, tanks, APCs and soft skinned vehicles were marshalled across by engineers who had one eye on their bridge, minimising the speed of the traffic to avoid damage that would take it out of service until they could repair it.
He heard the scream of incoming artillery and saw it land further along the river by another ribbon bridge. Everyone took cover but after just a handful of rounds the shelling ceased and the field police bullied and kicked the troops to their feet, forcing them on.
Johar was puzzled at the lack of a sustained barrage by his own people until the moan of outgoing artillery passed high above. It had been fast, the return of fire so perhaps that was the reason.
Among the dead in the wood, as the flames from the tank receded, Johar was now at a loss as to how he could get across the river. He had only the corpses for company and as much as he would have wanted to gather up all the identity papers from the dead, he could not burden himself down whilst in enemy territory. Besides which, he had friends who may be amongst the dead, here in the wood, he preferred not knowing who, or how many he would never see again.
There are no ‘radar invisible aircraft’, at least not yet. The F-117A Nighthawk however was as close as present technology could manage, its shape and material it is made from, lessen the radar return, hiding it amongst the clutter. The danger time for the Nighthawk is when its low profile is spoilt, such as when it released non-stealthed weapons from within its belly.
Far to the west, an E-3 Sentry ventured closer to the front, hidden behind a jamming screen of NATO aircraft that now headed east again. The task of that particular E-3 was to assist the 49th Fighter Wing in its present mission.
The Russian A-50 and its escorts were aware of the jamming approaching them. They kept station for the moment, as they were still well outside missile range.
The operators aboard the A-50 updated their friendly air and ground units as to the latest occurrence and altered their own radars operation to pan back and forth across the approaching interference, with only a full 360’ scan once per minute.
After about ten minutes, an operator noticed a very faint return from behind them during the minute’s full sweep. He reported it to the senior controller who set the radar to pan across their rear, there was nothing there now so the once a minute full sweep was resumed and they concentrated on the western threat.
Although he had seen nothing on radar the senior controller tasked a Su-29 away from its flight of three, sending it to use its IR sensors and look-down shoot-down radar, just in case.
The 49th Fighter Wing had completed a long, arcing, low-level flight in order to penetrate the air defences over Central and Eastern Europe. Four Nighthawks were going after the nearest A-50 base in northwest Ukraine whilst Colonel Tobias Corbin in Hawk 01 led his wing against the A-50 that was aloft, before tackling their secondary missions against other enemy CAP and the AAA missile systems.
What the A-50 had detected was a Nighthawk launching an AIM-120 from 18 miles away, well inside the weapons maximum range and it was now fast approaching them and the escort, along with thirteen of its brothers, launched from other Nighthawks.
The approaching E-3 Sentry was controlling the AIM-120B AMRAAMs via data link, the missiles own WGU-41B onboard systems were set to standby mode whilst the 335lb weapons were steered in at Mach4. There was no active radiation being emitted to warn the target aircraft of their approach until they got to one mile out, when the E-3 ordered the missiles sensors to active and it cut them loose.
Aboard the six Mig-31s and the A-50, automated systems discharged chaff and flares whilst screaming an alarm into the pilot’s headsets. The fighters broke, but for the lumbering A-50, its evasive manoeuvres were a token effort.
The AIM-120B is an advanced weapon of the fire-and-forget family, its onboard mono-pulse radar guidance systems analysed the radar returns from the chaff bundles, and they were travelling too slowly to be aircraft so they were ignored.
The A-50 died first, 40lb charges in two AMRAAMs exploded next to the tail section and cockpit, spreading wreckage over five miles. There were two weapons targeted on each aircraft and all were destroyed although two crewmen ejected safely.
In the Ukraine, an A-50 on pad alert was immediately ordered aloft to replace the splashed AWAC but aborted its take-off run when an engine lost power. Ground crews rushed to ready another aircraft and its crew awoken and scrambled out to the flight line.
Five miles from the airbase a Nighthawk lazed the A-50 being readied whilst its partner launched an AGM-65 Maverick, its arrival coincided with that of the crew and fuel bowser, the explosion illuminated the airbase and surrounding countryside. Six more A-50s were scattered about in high walled dispersals and the lazing Nighthawk sighted three of them. Twenty minutes later all three were wrecked and on fire, as was the A-50 taxiing back to the flight line.
Back over the battlefield an air raid warning was going out to both ground and air units. Systems went active as they sought the oncoming attackers but the A-50s destruction had robbed them of their long-range eyes whereas the NATO attack had the full benefit of AWAC and JSTARS support. It wasn’t going to a one sided fight, but for the moment the west had the advantage.
Johar witnessed the NATO attacks by more conventional aircraft. He lay huddled down amid the bodies, still looking for a way across the river. Although it was dark he doubted he could get away with joining the westward columns of troops, periodically the field police used red filtered torches to check the men filing past.
He became aware of shouting and caught the words ‘air raid’. On the bridge, vehicles commanders shouted at the vehicles ahead to speed up and troops started to push their way toward shore, either the west or east banks, whichever was closer. An officer emerged from among the field police APCs and despatched men to the bridge at the run, Johar winced as they gunned down without warning, two of the leg infantry who were heading back to the eastern bank.
The air seemed to tear open at the very sound of an incoming projectile, everyone froze in tableau as the AAA vehicle to Johar’s right exploded.
At the bridge further along the river, the ribbon bridge came apart as columns of water that contained men, vehicles and bridging sections, leapt high.
Johar was agape until low flying jet aircraft tore low overhead, heading east. He huddled down between bodies, ignoring the searing pain from his shoulder, neck and ribs as he sought cover.
250lb retard bombs bracketed the far bridge, banks, the column of AFVs and men, whilst closer to home CBU bomblets peppered the area.
Royal Air Force Tornado GRs and Jaguars gave the area part of their loads as they went toward suspected harbour area, gun lines, workshops and headquarters. USAF and Belgian F-16s had the wild weasel tasking’s and French Mirage shared the air superiority mission with USAF F-15s, clearing the air threat for B-52s to attack the bridgehead to the west with fuel-air weapons.
When the last bomblet had detonated he dared to raise his head again, he viewed a scene of carnage, there were dead and injured scattered about, burning vehicles lined the route to the bridge.
He made a decision and got to his feet, the bridge was damaged but still spanned the river and was at the moment unguarded and unattended.