Bennett glanced at Majors Handrah and Jauf, who surely would be involved in the upcoming operation. He winked conspiratorially at them. They self-consciously grinned in return.
Lawrence fidgeted in his chair. 'Mr. Fatah, we're self-contained for the most part, and we don't need many mechanics. From what we call a cold start, we can be airborne in sixty seconds.' The redheaded flier warmed to his subject, envisioning the situation and mentally licking his chops at the prospect of combat.
'In ninety more seconds we can be at thirty thousand feet. That means if we get word of bogeys, we can be at altitude in two and a half minutes from the go signal-'
Fatah held up his hands, as if to fend off the verbal torrent.
'Gentlemen, please! You do not need to convince me.' He smiled through his goatee. 'Your enthusiasm is gratifying, and the reasons you state have been made by our air staff in Riyadh.'
Then the mirthful tone was gone and his voice became more serious.
'But, my friends, there is more to this situation than you know. You have always been forthcoming with me, and I can do no less.' Fatah's gaze settled on Bennett. 'In truth, you are being tested. There are those who would not be disappointed if your Tiger Force failed. That is, I believe, why this assignment has arisen at this point. Those who envy your relationship with His Majesty realize that your pilots are not fully trained yet. '
Bennett returned Fatah's gaze. 'Safad, my boys can handle this job.'
The minister nodded and sat back. 'I assumed so. But remember, palace politics are at work here. If you had refused this mission, or if you fail, your influence would suffer.'
'Then we won't fail.' It wasn't a boast; merely a statement. Lawrence interjected. “Well, who's on our side? Will we have any support at all?'
''That is what we are here to discuss,' Fatah replied.
'We'll need airborne radar,' Lawrence said. ''There's a good ground-control intercept station at Khamis Mushayt, but it's almost useless for targets below ten thousand feet. The mountains interfere too much.'
'Please prepare a list of what you need,' Fatah smoothly responded. 'Anything within reason will be supplied.'
Lawrence managed to hold back a smile.
Bennett asked, 'Gentlemen, when would you want some F-20s down there, and how many?'
'We estimate a dozen fighters would suffice, one squadron's worth. In, say, three days?'
Bennett said, 'Yes, sir. We'll meet with you tomorrow with a preliminary plan.'
Walking back to his quarters after the meeting, Lawrence rubbed his hands together. 'Put the saddle on the stove, Mother. We're ridin' the range tonight.'
That evening the briefing room was quiet-not tense, but definitely attentive. Lawrence had spoken to some of the IPs from Class One and selected three besides himself-all of them unmarried-who were willing to take on the assignment. Now Lawrence and Bennett explained the setup.
'We've decided to share the wealth,' Lawrence began, 'and we'll have two four-plane flights from Orange Squadron and one from Black.' Each F-20 squadron carried a color designator within Tiger Force. It bore no relation to the Royal Saudi Air Force designation, but was used by the F-20 pilots and IPs as an internal identity, a morale- builder. The first two squadrons were traditional tiger colors. The next three, from Class Two, would be White, Red, and Green. Green was Muhammad's color.
Lawrence had chosen these men well, Bennett thought. There was always a tacit pressure on military aviators-an unspoken expectation to accept any proposition. 'Never turn down a combat assignment' was a watchword in the profession. Bennett knew that few of the forty IPs would in fact refuse potential combat, but he wanted to be certain. The men sitting before him were warriors.
'You guys know the background,' Bennett said. ''The Saudis are concerned about protecting their airspace from intrusion by any party. They're trying to walk a tightrope in the Middle East, and they no more want to encourage a fight than to appear to run from one. That's why they've decided to confront the South Yemenis.'
He studied the IPs' faces. Masher Malloy seemed edgy, fidgeting in his seat, but Bennett knew it was excess energy. Geoff Hampton, the former Red Arrow, was the soul of composure. Bennett would have preferred Peter Saint-Martin, who had combat experience, but he was married. The USAF delegate was Tim Ottman. Lawrence had been careful to select one man from each community besides himself.
Bennett smiled at the recollection of Ottman's oft-stated explanation of the I973 Paris Peace Accords. 'Here I was, fresh out of training, up to speed in the F-4, and they called off the war. Well, you know why. The MiG drivers mutinied. They said, 'Oh, no, Ottman's coming! Quick, sign the damn paper!'' Well, now perhaps Tim would have his war.
Masher Malloy raised a hand. 'Skipper, what about ROE?'
Rules of engagement always were a sore point.
'I'm coming to that. This is supposed to be a show of force. We cruise a couple miles abeam of any unidentified gaggle and one of the Saudis raises them in Arabic. The ROE are clear from then on. If the bogeys ignore an order to leave Saudi airspace, or if they don't reply, we turn to engage. If they bug out, let 'em go. There's no hot pursuit over the border into Yemen.'
Malloy squirmed. 'Geez, I've heard that tune before.'
Bennett pinned Malloy with a stare which made the little flier uncomfortable. 'Just remember, this isn't our fight. It's not even our air force. Riyadh makes the rules. Clear?'
Bennett continued. 'Otherwise, it's pretty lenient ROE. If the bogeys turn into you, fight's on. If they attempt to gain a rear-hemisphere advantage, you fight. And for damn sure, if they shoot first, you shoot back.'
Consulting his notes, the CO continued. 'We'll cover this tomorrow and again with the pilots before you head south. What I want to emphasize is your relationship to the Saudis. Each of you has flown with most of the fifteen studs we'll be using from Class One. You know most of their moves, their strengths and weaknesses. We're in a ticklish situation because, though we're senior to these boys, we're not really their commanding officers. One of the Saudi majors has wrangled permission to go along, but it's understood Ed will run the show for this limited time.
'We'll run this exercise zip-lip as much as possible. It's a good opportunity to test our radio discipline. It should be a non-ECM environment, so you can call sightings and breaks as needed, but let's use this first opportunity to impress the young sports with emcon. We should be able to run any intercept under complete emissions control because we won't be radiating.'
This drew a few chuckles; most Tiger Force aircraft had been ordered without radar.
'Each of you will be flying section lead in your flight. This will give the Saudis good experience, only calls any of you make, except an emergency, before you have to engage. We've decided to follow up the Arabic challenge with English. If there's no reply after that, expect the worst.'
Lawrence broke in, a wry smile on his face. 'Of course, we could try hailing them in Spanish. Word is some Cubans are calling the shots with those folks.'
Hampton spoke up. 'John, any more word on how long this may last? We'll need to plan for resupply to the staging fields.'
'Nothing on that yet. But I imagine if there's one or two good hassles, and they lose a few MiGs or Sukhois, things will settle down. At any rate, plans are being made for F-5s to take over the sector patrols as soon as possible. At visual distances it'll be hard to tell one of them from an F-20. '
Ottman chortled. 'Good idea. Make 'em respect
''That's about it,' Bennett said. 'You'll have info on your radar controllers before you leave-E-3s staging out of Khamis Mushayt. You can arrange procedures with them when you arrive.
'One more thing. Be sure to go over loose deuce again with all your pilots. You'll be flying in rotation; an alert flight, a backup flight, and an off-duty flight during daylight hours. With four Saudis per flight, one of them also will be off duty. But you guys will be on the board full-time. So don't take anything for granted. Reinforce the fundamentals. And stress that selection for this job doesn't replace the training syllabus. Even if some of our studs come back with scalps on their belts, they'll still have two months of operational training to finish.'
Lawrence noted slightly puzzled expressions on one or two faces. 'It's psychological, guys. We need to keep the Saudis from developing overconfidence. If we give special treatment to a couple of pilots who bag MiGs, it could cause morale problems later on.'
