The Battle For Control Of Iran… Begins In Space "When a disgraced former Iranian military chief of staff engineers an insurgency that threatens to destroy the theocratic regime in Iran, a new era appears to be dawning in the Middle East. But one must be wary of old enemies…"On the run from the Pasdaran, the theocrat's terror army, and unable to count on support from his friends in the regular army, Iranian rebel leader General Hesarak al-Kan Buzhazi desperately turns to his old nemesis, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant-General Patrick McLanahan, for help. Unwilling to commit American forces in an Iranian civil war, and with time running out, the U.S. president authorizes McLanahan to utilize a new, top-secret fleet of globe-crossing spaceplanes, the XR-A9 Black Stallions, led by test pilot and astronaut Captain Hunter Noble. Within hours, McLanahan's Air Battle Force turns the tide, possibly changing the course of history in the Middle East for generations.The advent of almost instantaneous global reach, along with the reactivation of America's first military space station, Silver Tower, has rekindled fears of a space arms race, and the growing insurgency in Iran is threatening to erupt into a worldwide jihad. But McLanahan finds himself embroiled in even more bitter battles at the White House, between those who support his space-based military initiative and those who are working secretly to undermine it. When McLanahan is forced to concentrate on his political and personal battles back at home, it's left to Hunter Noble and his team of young American space engineers to keep the fires of freedom in the Middle East from exploding completely out of control.Filled with the latest cutting-edge weaponry, geopolitical intrigue, high-flying suspense, and a colorful cast of characters, "Strike Force" is "New York Times" bestselling master Dale Brown at his best.
This story is dedicated to my son Hunter, who has shown me time and again that he has inherited and embraced the greatest gift I can give any young person: the gift of imagination.
You may be reading this story for the first time, but I can tell you that Hunter and I have told and retold this story to each other dozens of times.
The old man thanks you, big guy.
2S6M Tunguska—combination missile and cannon mobile Russian air defense system
AGM-170D—supersonic scramjet-powered attack missile
Almaz S-300—Russian surface-to-air missile system, also capable against ballistic missiles
ARB—Air Reserve Base
Armstrong Space Station—first American military space station
BDU—Battle Dress Uniform, the standard utility uniform worn by soldiers in combat
BDU-58 Meteor—releases payloads over a target area after atmospheric re-entry
BERP—Ballistic Electro-Reactive Process, the material worn by “Tin Man” commandos
BOHM—borohydrogen tetroxide rocket fuel oxidizer
CAP—Civil Air Patrol (U.S. Air Force Auxiliary)
CID—Cybernetic Infantry Device manned combat robots
CO—Commanding Officer
COMSEC—communications security
Condor—bomber-launched commando insertion and retrieval aircraft; also large unmanned new technology airship
Crew Exploration Vehicle—next generation orbital and lunar manned space vehicle
DARPA—Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Doshan Tappeh Air Base—Tehran headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary GuardsCorps
EVA—extravehicular activity; a spacewalk
exfil—exfiltration
G-forces—acceleration forces imposed on the human body, expressed in multiples of Earth gravity
hypoplastic thumb—congenital birth defect where the thumb is reduced in size, missing, or fused with another finger
IRGC—Iranian Revolutionary Corps
ISAR—Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar
JP-7—jet fuel refined with a higher flash point than more common JP-4
KC-77—aerial refueling tanker and cargo aircraft
komiteh—Iranian moral and religious enforcers
LADAR—laser radar
LakeSpotter—private individuals who camp outside secret U.S. military installations to spot classified aircraft test flights
LPDRS—Laser Pulse Detonation Rocket System magnetohydrodynamic generator—using the movement of liquid metal moving through a magnetic field to generate electricity
Majlis—Iranian parliament
MHD—magnetohydrodynamic
mil power—full aircraft engine thrust without using afterburners
muay thai—kick boxing
NCOICNon Commissioned—Officer In Charge
NSA—National Security Agency
OPSEC—operational security
Orion—next generation manned spacecraft
Pax River—Patuxent River Naval Air Station
Pilatus PC-6—Swiss-made single-engine turboprop trainer
pollicization—surgical creation of a thumb from a finger
PSID—pounds-per-square-inch differential, a measure of cabin pressurization
RFID—radio frequency identification device
RPG—rocket propelled grenade
RTB—return to base
SA-10, SA-12, SA-19, SA-21—Russian surface to air anti-aircraft missiles
SAM—surface to air missile
SDB—small diameter bomb
Shahab-2, Shahab-3, Shahab-5—Iranian ballistic missiles
Skybolt—space-based anti ballistic missile laser
SPAW—supersonic precision attack weapon
SPO—senior project officer
sun-synchronous orbit—orbit that places a satellite over the same spot on Earth at the same time of day
Supreme Defense Council—Iranian military advisory group to the president
TEL—transporter-erector-launcher
Tin Man—commandos who wear advanced protective suits and carry sophisticated weapons
VFR—visual flight rules
XR-A9—Experimental Reconnaissance Article Nine, Black Stallion spaceplane
Zulfiqar—Iranian-made main battle tank
KEVIN MARTINDALE, President of the United States
MAUREEN HERSHEL, Vice President
ARMY GENERAL JONAS HARMAN SPARKS, National Security Adviser
JOSEPH GARDNER, Secretary of Defense
ARMY GENERAL WILLIAM GLENBROOK, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
DR. MARY CARSON, Secretary of State
KEN T. PHOENIX, Attorney General
CARL MINDEN, Chief of Staff
U.S. MARINE CORPS MAJOR-GENERAL ANTHONY LEWARS, White House Press Secretary
GERALD VISTA, Director of Central Intelligence
LT. GENERAL PATRICK MCLANAHAN, special adviser to the President
BRIGADIER GENERAL DAVID LUGER, asst. special adviser to the President
BRIGADIER-GENERAL REBECCA FURNESS, commander, First Air Battle Force (air operations), Battle Mountain Air Reserve Base (ARB), Nevada
BRIGADIER-GENERAL DAREN MACE, Air Battle Force operations officer and EB-1C mission commander
