Dale Brown
Strike Force
DEDICATION
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.
ACRONYMS AND TERMS
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
CAST OF CHARACTERS
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
