Israeli military law. But he had doubts. In his lifetime he had seen enough misery inflicted upon innocents-especially children-that he had to question the mercy, and therefore the existence, of a supreme being. He acknowledged that this earth also was a place of much beauty, at least as much in the sky as on the ground, so perhaps-just perhaps- there was some sort of ordered plan.
Long ago Yatanahu had decided that if he were a praying man, he would pray for more wisdom in the world. He considered it insane to pray for anything like peace, particularly in his part of the globe. That was the trick, he decided: not to pray for the absolute best that could happen, but to pray for the best that was
DAMASCUS, 15 September-The governments of Syria, Iran, Iraq and Libya issued a joint communique today, demanding that Israel withdraw from occupied Jordan. Though no specific timetable was advanced, the message stated that if 'good faith negotiations' were not forthcoming 'in due course,' a military solution would be employed by the Arab powers.
While not formally parties to the communique, in separate statements the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia went on record as supporting the call for Israeli withdrawal from Jordan. The Saudi foreign ministry in Riyadh went even further, adding that prolonged failure at negotiating a settlement to the lingering crisis could result in a declaration of war against Israel.
John Bennett read the article in his air-mailed copy of the London
But the Tiger Force CO had little time for philosophizing. He had been busy coordinating RHAW acquisition with Riyadh, obtaining a mixture of American and French electronic 'black boxes' for his F-20s. There would not be enough to equip every Tigershark, but at least each flight leader could be so equipped. He knew that if the Israelis came across the border again, they would come in strength with full support-including radio jamming and electronic deception. He also knew the Royal Saudi Air Force had configured several Tornadoes for the same role, with modifications to the E-3s to back up ECM operators.
Overall, Bennett expected the respective electronic warriors to cancel out one another. The air battle would be decided on the basis of the human eye and the human heart. And he would not have it any other way.
Brilliant motes of light flashed across the high plateau, 248 times faster than a supersonic aircraft. Forty-two F-15s, F-16s, Phantoms, and Kfirs-all bearing the blue and white Star of David-were supported by the powerful airborne jammers of other aircraft orbiting across the Jordanian border. The attackers' targets were four Tiger Force fields-those considered to pose the greatest threat to Israeli frontiers after the initial clash two weeks before.
The
Leaving the Jordanian-Saudi border, most of the Israeli jets were twelve to fifteen minutes from their targets. Monitoring Saudi radar frequencies revealed which operating bands were most likely to be used, and therefore it was possible to cloud the screens with hundreds of false targets. The 'snow' on radar scopes washed out the true blips, most of which were below the ground-based radar horizon anyway. Similarly, voice communications circuits were jammed by electronic noise which made extended conversation nearly impossible.
Ed Lawrence had Black Squadron at Orange Base that morning, doubling up with Ahnas Menaf's unit. The policy was to rotate the various squadrons between different bases to prevent the Israelis from gaining a clear picture of the air defense net. The two COs were in the operations shack when the low-frequency walkie-talkie circuit came alive.
'Attention all bases, attention all bases. Unidentified aircraft crossed the border southbound about two minutes ago. Mirror signals indicate crossing on a broad front at low level. Suspect Israeli aircraft inbound.'
Lawrence cast a glance at his former student. In two seconds they were both out the door, sprinting for their planes. Lawrence punched the button to activate the siren and the duty flight immediately started engines. Already parked at the downwind end of the runway, the four Tigersharks were airborne in sixty-eight seconds, scrambling for altitude. Twelve more F -20s were started and taxiing in minutes, led by Lawrence. But he feared what was likely to come. Setting a fast pace for his flight, he taxied past two fighters parked on the ramp for maintenance. Then he pushed the thought from his mind.
According to prebriefed plan, the four flights fanned out at staggered altitudes in an arc from west through north to northeast. If bogeys were inbound, they would almost certainly arrive from those quadrants. Lawrence checked his wingman's spread as he leveled off at 18,500 feet. He checked his watch. Four and a half minutes had elapsed.
Menaf's duty flight, first in the air, made first contact. Through scratchy voice radio Lawrence detected the flight leader's report:
'Many bogeys at low level northeast of the field. Am engaging. Out. '
Moments later there were half-discerned calls of bandit sightings, frantic warnings, and G-muffled cries for breaks. Looking to his right, Lawrence saw an ephemeral flash on the desert floor and crisscrossing missile trails. After a moment's reflection he led his wingman in a turn back toward the field. He estimated that by arriving at 12,000 to 14,000 feet in the next few minutes he could interrupt the bombers' roll-in.
The exec had called it correctly, but he was a shade late. The Israelis had maintained a sandblower mission profile, hugging the ground until within four miles of the field. Then the Kfirs popped up to get a look at their target, selected their dive headings, and rolled in. The first two were down the chute as Lawrence and Badir headed for the second section from the right side.
'Black Lead, bandits astern, three miles.' It was Khalil, leading the second section.
'You take 'em, Three,' Lawrence replied. The response was garbled but Lawrence had to assume it was acknowledgement.
The unexpected appearance of Saudi fighters airborne over their own field was a nasty surprise to the Kfirs. The delta-winged fighter-bombers, an Israeli upgrade of the French Mirage, were caught at a disadvantage. Pulling in behind the second Kfir, Lawrence had a good missile tone at one mile. The Israeli jinked violently in his dive, but refused to abort the attack.
When the tone in his earphones told him the port Sidewinder was tracking, Lawrence pressed the trigger. At only fifteen degrees angle off the tail, the AIM-9 homed on its target and connected. The missile tried to rendezvous on the jet’s tailpipe, but because of the evasive maneuvers the ‘winder’s proximity-fused warhead exploded 15 feet away. The fragments were flung outward, penetrating the targets empennage and slicing through fuel and hydraulic lines. Lawrence had a clear view of his victim arcing crazily into the bottom half of a loop, bombs still aboard. There was no ejection from the fuel-fed fireball.
Pulling up, Lawrence rolled into a hard climbing reversal to look for Badir. The redheaded flier glanced through the top of his canopy and caught site of the wingman's F-20 spiraling upward, engaged in a vertical rolling scissors with an F-16. Lawrence felt an immediate sense of dread — where there was one Falcon there would surely be another. The second Kfir seemed to have disappeared.
Lighting his afterburner, Lawrence accelerated quickly. He was passing through 550 knots when he caught a glint of sunlight at eleven o’clock high. He padlocked the glint, turning to put it on his nose. Damn, he thought, that 16s almost too small to see at three miles. He wondered if the Israeli saw him.
Suddenly Lawrence heard Badir’s muted call, topping out of his spiral with the first F-16 while pitching down to regain lost energy. Simultaneously the Falcon to Lawrence’s left front fired a Sidewinder at him. It was the first
