Povik made the hookup on the second try, and he managed to stay hooked up and made the transfer all at once. He maintained visual contact on the tanker while his wingman made contact and got his gas, and then they got a vector from their E-2C Hawkeye radar plane controller to the west. No sooner had they finished refueling, and they were transferred to the Air Force E-3 AWACS radar plane’s controller, who was providing air coverage for all the planes operating near the Philippines. The Navy guys had trained a few times with Air Force controllers, but they still used different terminology and never seemed to shut u~they seemed determined to read off every number on their radar screens and let the fighter crews work their own navigation solutions. But after filtering out the chatter- obviously those AWACS guys were nervous too-Povik and his wingman in Bullet Five were vectored in to visual range of an Air Force RC- 135 reconnaissance plane. It looked like a KC-135 tanker, but without the refueling boom and with lots of odd bumps and antennas all over it. All that, from cat shot to now, took less than an hour. Now they had unidentified aircraft bearing down on them. Povik didn’t even have time to get himself comfortably situated, get his heads-up display set up just right, and tighten his strapsthe fight was starting right now. “Bullet flight, take spacing and check your lights, ” Povik radioed to his wingman. He turned to check that his wingman was configured properly-no missing missiles, lights off, nothing funny-looking out there-before he disappeared into the darkness. Now they were relying on the Air Force AWACS controller to keep them separated, yet working as a team as they prosecuted these bandits. “Bullet flight, this is Basket. Four bandits twelve o’clock, Blue plus twenty, flight lev-er, angels fifteen. Possible second flight of two bandits, angels ten.” The AWACS controller was trying hard to use Navy terminology for this intercept, such as “angels” for “thousands of feet” or “port” and “starboard” for “left” and “right, ” but the more excited he got the more he was stumbling over his tongue. ‘Starboard ten for intercept.”
“Bullet flight copies.” Povik’s backseater could just as easily lock onto the incoming Chinese fighters with his AWG-9 radar, but the radar emissions could be detected at incredible distances and the longer he kept his radar off the more they kept the element of surprise. Just then they heard on the international Guard radio channel: “Unidentified aircraft at ten thousand meters altitudethis is fighter unit seven.” The accent was heavily Oriental, not Spanish or Filipino-but Chinese. “You have violated restricted airspace. You will reverse course and drop your landing gear immediately.”
“Bullet flight, additional bandits departing Zamboanga area, ” the AWACS controller radioed on the air frequency. “Number unknown at this time.”
“Range from the bandits to Flashlight?” Povik said. “Range Blue plus zero, ” the controller replied. Fifty miles. The fight was going to happen in a matter of seconds. Obviously the Chinese fighters weren’t going to be content with chasing the American planes away-they wanted to intercept and capture them. “Unknown aircraft, you have violated restricted airspace, ” the warning came again, more insistently this time. “You are not responding as ordei’ed. Decrease velocity, lower your landing gear, and follow us or you will be attacked. This is your final warning!” Povik considered shutting off the Guard channel, but he might need it later. This guy was getting on his nerves, but he would shut up very soon once the furball started. “Where’s Bullet Two Flight?” Povik radioed to the AWACS controller. “Departing Shamu at this time, range to you Blue plus ten.” Sixty miles. It would take them too long to get in on the fight here-they would be in a position to engage just as the Chinese fighters caught up with the RC-135. That was far, far too late. Povik had a decision to make right now, but it really wasn’t much of a chore to make it. Their primary mission was to protect the Air Force recon planes. They had plenty of firepower-all they needed was time. They needed to get those Chinese fighters turned away from the Air Force heavies. “Bullet Four’s coming left forty-five. Bullet Five, stay with me. “Two.”
“Go ahead and lock ‘em up, Bear, ” Povik said. They wanted the Chinese fighters to follow them-it was okay to hit them with the radar now. Povik executed a hard left turn to a westerly heading and pushed his throttles up to full military power. “C’mon, you peckerheads, ” Povik cursed to himself at the Chinese fighter pilots. “Do it, do it!”
“Bullet flight, four bandits turning to intercept, now at your two o’clock position, forty miles. Second flight of bandits confirmed at angels ten, trailing bandits maintaining heading onefour-zero.” The tactic worked-sort of. Every degree the Chinese fighters turned, and every five seconds they interrupted their pursuit, meant another two miles of safety for the RC-135 recon plane. They were obviously going after the more glamorous prize-owning an RC- 135 was too easy. Downing a fighter was more macho. But the two extra bandits weren’t going to be distracted-they were heading straight for theRC-135. “Bullet flight, two bandits peeling off from pursuit, returning to heading one- five-zero to intercept on Flashlight.”
“Dammit!” Povik berated himself. After a few seconds of obvious confusion, the Chinese fighters decided to break into two groups and go after the RC-135. Well, at least they got the odds more in their favor-two-vee-two heading away from their heavies, and two-vee-four still closing. Another advantage: the farther the Chinese pilots flew away from their radar ship, the harder their job would be. “Bullet Two flight, can you get the four inbounds?”
“Affirmative, Hitman, ” the pilot of Bullet Two replied, using Povik’s call sign. “Bullet Two flight has a contact on the four southeast-bound bandits.”
“Bullet flight, be advised, Bullet Six flight of two airborne, ETE ten minutes, ” the AWACS controller reported. Two more Tomcats were on the way. Well, Povik thought grimly, everybody was paired up and the dancing was going to begin. “Check the gas gauges, Hitman, ” Povik’s RIO said. “We got about ten minutes before we gotta start heading back.”
“Thanks, Bear, ” Povik replied. “Ten minutes max, then we split.”
“Bullet Two flight, push Eagle for your controller.” Povik switched to the new pre-planned frequency-as a security precaution, actual frequencies were never read over the air, no matter how secure the radios were-checked in his wingman, and checked in with the new AWACS controller; now the Air Force controller could stop saying “Bullet Two flight” to differentiate them between the other two Tomcats. “Bullet, bandits at your three o’clock, thirty miles. Say your bingo.”
“Bullet Two bingos in eight mike, ” Povik replied. Povik’s wingman reported the same-Povik knew he would do so unless his fuel state was worse than his own. The gauges actually said ten minutes, but always subtract two minutes for the wife and kids, he thought. The AWACS controller, if he was worth a shit, would subtract another two minutes and start vectoring the Tomcats toward the carrier after six or seven minutes. If past experience were any indication, the fight would be over in less than two minutes.. . one way or another. STRATFOR COMMAND POST, ANDERSEN AFB, GUAM “Message from Basket, sir, ” an operator reported. “They report six enemy fighters, probable Chinese origin, engaging the F- 14 escorts, three hundred miles northwest of Mandao. Flashlight is southeast-bound, withdrawing from the area.” General Stone was on his feet and beside the radio operator in a heartbeat; Elliott was behind him, listening intently. “Tell Flashlight to dump their data buffers and get the hell out of there. Shamu should stay available for emergency refueling, and Basket should stay to control the intercepts-but I want them as far away from the Philippines as possible.”
“All units withdrawing from the area at best speed… Basket reports more fighters airborne from Zamboanga. No visual contact made, but Basket reports the enemy fighters made a warning-message broadcast ordering the aircraft to reverse course and follow them. Operators report the pilots spoke English and sounded Oriental.” The operator flipped a switch and spoke briefly, then reported, “Communications center confirms a good secure data download via DSCS from Flashlight and Basket.” Stone nodded with a silent sigh of relief. The lives of his crew members were vitally important, but it was also important to preserve any data they might have collected up to this point. “Carrier Ranger is launching two more fighters to assist, ” the operator reported. “Reports of more fighters launching from Zamboanga area. Ranger is declaring an air-defense emergency with a two-hundred-mile exclusion zone. “Verify that all aircraft are in international airspace, ” Elliott told Stone. “If any of the aircraft are attacked, we’ve got a case for retaliation.” Stone nodded. To the radio operator, he said, “Order Basket to download a radar map of the entire area and then verbally read off INS and GPS latitude and longitude, then range and bearing from radio and radar checkpoints to verify position accuracy. Tell them to repeat the report every sixty seconds until they are clear of the attackers.” As the radio operator relayed the orders, Stone said to Elliott, “The Chinese not only have attacked Zamboanga, it looks like they’ve fortified it and brought fighters in to seal the area. That was a major defense installation.” Elliott referred to a chart of the Philippines that had been set up in the command post. “From there they can control access to the southern Philippines.” A Navy captain, who was acting as the Navy liaison to the STRATFOR, said, “That EF4-class destroyer is definitely the key, sir. Flashlight reported a Rice Screen radar system in operation-it’s the most sophisticated radar system in the Chinese fleet, and it’s almost as good as an Aegis system but without the weapon systems. He can control almost the entire Celebes Sea from that one
