Sky Masters полностью

General Stone was on his feet and beside the radio operator in a heartbeat; Elliott was behind him, listening intently. “Tell Flashlight to dump their data buffers and get the hell out of there. Shamu should stay available for emergency refueling, and Basket should stay to control the intercepts — but I want them as far away from the Philippines as possible.”

“All units withdrawing from the area at best speed… Basket reports more fighters airborne from Zamboanga. No visual contact made, but Basket reports the enemy fighters made a warning-message broadcast ordering the aircraft to reverse course and follow them. Operators report the pilots spoke English and sounded Oriental.” The operator flipped a switch and spoke briefly, then reported, “Communications center confirms a good secure data download via DSCS from Flashlight and Basket.” Stone nodded with a silent sigh of relief. The lives of his crew members were vitally important, but it was also important to preserve any data they might have collected up to this point.

“Carrier Ranger is launching two more fighters to assist,” the operator reported. “Reports of more fighters launching from Zamboanga area. Ranger is declaring an air-defense emergency with a two-hundred-mile exclusion zone.”

“Verify that all aircraft are in international airspace,” Elliott told Stone. “If any of the aircraft are attacked, we’ve got a case for retaliation.”

Stone nodded. To the radio operator, he said, “Order Basket to download a radar map of the entire area and then verbally read off INS and GPS latitude and longitude, then range and bearing from radio and radar checkpoints to verify position accuracy. Tell them to repeat the report every sixty seconds until they are clear of the attackers.” As the radio operator relayed the orders, Stone said to Elliott, “The Chinese not only have attacked Zamboanga, it looks like they’ve fortified it and brought fighters in to seal the area. That was a major defense installation.”

Elliott referred to a chart of the Philippines that had been set up in the command post. “From there they can control access to the southern Philippines.”

A Navy captain, who was acting as the Navy liaison to the STRATFOR, said, “That EF4-class destroyer is definitely the key, sir. Flashlight reported a Rice Screen radar system in operation — it’s the most sophisticated radar system in the Chinese fleet, and it’s almost as good as an Aegis system but without the weapon systems. He can control almost the entire Celebes Sea from that one platform. With shore-based aircraft, he can control antiair and antisurface forces for hundreds of miles.”

“What we need,” Stone said half aloud, as if daring himself to say the words, “is permission to launch an attack from Ranger on that EF4-class boat.” Elliott and the others in the command post looked at the Air Force three-star general wordlessly; surprised at his reaction but silently wishing the same thing.

“Unfortunately, that’s pretty unlikely,” Elliott said. “We’re lucky Washington authorized this mission — I would think there’s no way they’d approve a preemptive strike on a Chinese naval vessel.” He paused, then added grimly, “Unless, of course, one of our recon planes gets shot down…”

One of the hardest tasks for a fighter pilot, and the most important skill that every good pilot possessed, was situational awareness — the ability to instantaneously paint a picture of the world around him in his mind without the help of radar planes, fancy electronic displays, or even backseat- ers. Luckily Povik had that knack — he had been honing it during his twelve years as a naval aviator, all of them in carrier-based fighters.

Bullet Two and Three, plus the extra Tomcats launched from Ranger a few minutes ago, would have to take care of the four Chinese fighters chasing the reconnaissance plane. That left Bullet Four and Five to deal with the two bozos that broke off to chase them. Bullet Five had closed back with Povik, but he was not right on his wing. They were in a combat-spread position that allowed either Tomcat to assist the other if they came under attack. It was a purely defensive position, but it could be quickly switched to an offensive one if necessary.

Unfortunately, a more advantageous offensive stance was not authorized. Under the ROE, the Rules of Engagement which were carefully briefed to each pilot by the Carrier Air Group commander, the Tomcat pilots could not attack unless they were attacked first or unless a hostile aircraft was within one hundred miles of Ranger. The ROE then allowed them to use their weapons only to break up an engagement and allow all friendly fighters to disengage — although few commanders expected their naval aviators to deliberately miss or back away from a fight.