The terrain sloped up steeply from the eastern cliffs facing the Celebes Sea in the Gian River Valley; the valley was at least six miles wide and did not rise as steeply on the west side. “Stay on the west slope of the coastal hills, on the ‘military crest,’ ” McLanahan said. “It’s not the best place to be, but it’s better than getting trapped down in the valley. The hills should shield us from the warships off the coast as well.” Another double click in response as Cobb banked the B-2 gently right and began flying north-northeast along the western side of the coastal hills, not flying too high but not diving too deeply into the valley.
McLanahan expanded his SMFD out to sixty miles’ range. At the top of the north-up display was their primary target, the radar site on Mount Apo. A yellow-colored dome surrounded the point, representing the range of the Chinese radar site operating there — that was their target. The edge of the yellow dome did not quite touch the B-2 icon — not because they were out of the radar’s range, but because the energy levels being recorded from the radar were less than those required to get a radar return off the stealth bomber. From that radar site the Chinese could vector in fighters against every American bomber in the strike package.
McLanahan immediately designated the top of the mountain as the target for two SLAM missiles, programming in evasive tumpoints and data-link activation points and checking the Global Position System satellite signal for good navigational data feed to the missiles. He had to program in a terminal “pop-up” maneuver for the missiles in order to hit the radar domes from above rather than from the side.
The one deficiency with the SLAM missile system over land was that the aircraft that was to steer the missile onto its target needed to have a clear line-of-sight radio signal between the two — that meant climbing away from the radar- clutter sanctuary of the terrain, which could expose the launch aircraft to enemy radar. The navigation-missile control computer interface would advise Cobb and McLanahan when it was time to climb, based on the bomber’s altitude and the signal strength — usually it commanded a climb in time to establish a clear signal sixty seconds before missile impact. Fortunately the B-2’s low radar cross-section made it less vulnerable to enemy radar than other SLAM-capable launch aircraft. “Missile programmed, Henry, ready for launch…”
Just as he said those words, two red-colored triangles appeared at the top of the display, with yellow arcs extending from the apex of the triangles out toward the B-2’s icon at the bottom of the scope — again, the arcs did not quite touch the icon, probably because of the B-2’s stealth characteristics. “Fighters at ten o’clock, forty miles,” McLanahan said. “Two… now showing six, at
“Fighter group fourteen, your targets are at thirty nautical miles, twelve o’clock, airspeed four-fifty, altitude less than one hundred meters,” the radar controller on Mount Apo reported. “Suspected cruise missiles heading northwest. Recommend right break and spacing for single intercept. Composite group two, your bandits are at eleven o’clock, twenty-seven miles. Groups fourteen and two, your flight leaders are directed to depart your formations for special patrol, designated Group Delta. Delta, come right to heading one-six-eight, take one-thousand-meters altitude and switch to controller frequency gold. Acknowledge.”
Two fighters broke out of the pack of fighter-bombers and headed southeast: a JS-7 fighter and an A-5K fighter- bomber. The A-5K was the upgraded version of the Q-5 good-weather attack plane, with sophisticated Aeritalia- made avionics that gave it an all-weather bombing capability, including a low-light TV camera and laser rangefinder.
“Group Delta, unidentified bogey possible at low altitude, estimated position at your twelve o’clock position, forty nautical miles. Report identification and pursue. Over.”
The two enemy aircraft triangles did not appear right away, and when they did appear their radar arcs immediately swept across the B-2 icon. “Two fighters separated from the rest of the pack,” McLanahan shouted. “Twelve o’clock. X-band search radars. They might have spotted us.”
The B-2 had just left the protective cover of the coastal hills of the Sarangani Peninsula and was now racing across the Buayan River valley, a flat, fertile area about forty miles southwest of Davao. The lone peak of Mount Apo was the only significant terrain around for fifty miles — it was the worst moment to be caught by fighters. To the east, ten miles southwest of Davao, the icons of several warships were just visible.
