Sky Masters полностью

The Hong Lung task force had driven to within twenty kilometers of the fleeing Filipino fleet when the first Shuihong-5 antiship flying boat arrived on the scene. The Chinese flotilla was picking its way through a series of reefs and shoals along the Palawan Passage on the west side of the island of Palawan, the westernmost province of the Philippines. Most of the island was remote and sparsely settled, but Ulugan Bay, the Filipino fleet’s obvious destination, had the best-outfitted port facilities at Nanan. It was also only forty-five kilometers north of Puerto Princesa, a former United States Air Force base on Palawan that was now a Philippine Air Force base; that base was the largest airport on Palawan and the center of the isolated island’s meager population.

“Talon Eight-One, this is Dragon,” Admiral Yin Po L’un radioed to the pilot of the flying boat. “Reconnoiter the Filipino attack fleet to the east. Report on any hostile activity. Authorized to return fire if fired upon. Warning, Chinese vessels have already been attacked and destroyed by this combat group. Proceed with caution.” It was a moot warning for the Shuihong-5 crew — if they followed their previous pattern, the Philippine vessels would fire on the flying boat. The Shuihong crew would then return fire with their murderous cargo and destroy most of the Filipino warships.

But it did not happen. Several minutes later, the pilot of the Shuihong-5 antiship aircraft reported, “Sir, Talon Eight- One reporting. We are in contact with four surface vessels, repeat, four vessels. The larger vessels identified as PF-class frigates, repeat, two PF-class frigates. Two smaller, probably PS- or LF-class patrol vessels. Over.”

“Commander Chow had reported possibly two PS patrol boats out there,” Captain Lubu said. “He mentioned a corvette…”

“But there are two frigates instead of two patrol boats,” Yin said. “Chow can’t identify ships very accurately at night at distances over five kilometers, even with ISAR radar.”

Lubu nodded, not quite convinced but accepting the explanation for now. “The PS patrol boat is probably the Rizal identified as the helicopter platform,” he added. “We should be on the lookout for another missile attack from the helicopters.”

“They’re running,” Yin said confidently. “The fight has gone out of the cowardly bastards. What is the status of the enemy ships now? Why haven’t they opened fire on the patrol plane?” A large patrol plane like the Shuihong-5 was a major threat to any ships such as those of the Filipinos’, which had no antiaircraft missiles. “What is his range?” “Nine kilometers,” Lubu reported, relaying the information from the Combat section. “They detect search and navigation radar only — no target-acquisition radars detected. He is awaiting instructions.”

Incredible, Yin thought — how could the frigate captain stay so cool in the face of an airborne hostile contact? Surely he must realize that the Chinese Air Force had such strike aircraft in the region? And then he realized that the Philippine vessels probably had no antiair weapons other than their guns, which had a maximum range no farther than four to five kilometers; the Hong Lung's Hong Qian-9 surface-to- air missile had a range of about seventy kilometers, and Yin would not hesitate to use them against any unidentified aircraft that flew within range of his ship.

“Close to five kilometers, maintain contact, report any change in hostile status,” Yin ordered the patrol plane. “I want positive identification of all vessels in that formation.” The Shuihong-5 pilot hesitated for a few long moments — he realized that his commanding officer had just ordered him to fly within gun range of the Filipino vessels. The pilot responded hesitantly, “Yes… sir. Talon Eight-One copies.” There were a few warning messages broadcast in English on international emergency channels, but Yin ignored them all. The plane drove only a few kilometers closer before the slow-scan P-band air-search radar switched to a high-PRF X-band fire-control radar, and soon, at precisely five kilometers range between the largest ship in the Filipino battle group, Admiral Yin heard the satisfyingly terrified voice of the pilot screaming in the radio that he was under fire from heavy antiaircraft artillery.

“Return fire,” Admiral Yin ordered angrily. “Clear to launch air-to-surface missiles. Stay out of gun range and at high altitude; Dragon task force will be attacking as well.”

Yin turned to Captain Lubu. “Are we receiving target telemetry from the patrol plane?”

“Yes, sir,” Lubu responded, double-checking with his Combat Information officers. The Shuihong-5 patrol plane could transmit radar data from its Heracles II surface-search radar to other ships capable of accepting the information; the Hong Lung could use this information to target the Fei Lung-7 antiship missile as if it were picking up the radar data from its own transmitters.