had to program in a terminal “pop-up” maneuver for the missiles in order to hit the radar domes from above rather than from the side. The one deficiency with the SLAM missile system over land was that the aircraft that was to steer the missile onto its target needed to have a clear line-of-sight radio signal between the two-that meant climbing away from the radar-clutter sanctu ary of the terrain, which could expose the launch aircraft to enemy radar. The navigation-missile control computer interface would advise Cobb and McLanahan when it was time to climb, based on the bomber’s altitude and the signal strength-usually it commanded a climb in time to establish a clear signal sixty seconds before missile impact. Fortunately the B-2’s low radar cross-section made it less vulnerable to enemy radar than other SLAM-capable launch aircraft. “Missile programmed, Henry, ready for launch Just as he said those words, two red-colored triangles appeared at the top of the display, with yellow arcs extending from the apex of the triangles out toward the B-2’s icon at the bottom of the scope-again, the arcs did not quite touch the icon, probably because of the B-2’s stealth characteristics. “Fighters at ten o’clock, forty miles, ” McLanahan said. “Two. . . now showing six, at least six, heading this way. I don’t think they see us yet “Fighter group fourteen, your targets are at thirty nautical miles, twelve o’clock, airspeed four-fifty, altitude less than one hundred meters, ” the radar controller on Mount Apo reported. “Suspected cruise missiles heading northwest. Recommend right break and spacing for single intercept. Composite group two, your bandits are at eleven o’clock, twenty-seven miles. Groups fourteen and two, your flight leaders are directed to depart your formations for special patrols designated Group Delta. Delta, come right to heading one-six-eight, take one-thousand-meters altitude and switch to controller frequency gold. Acknowledge.” Two fighters broke out of the pack of fighter-bombers and headed southeast: a JS-7 fighter and an A-5K fighter-bomber. The A-5K was the upgraded version of the Q-5 good-weather attack plane, with sophisticated Aeritalia-made avionics that gave it an all-weather bombing capability, including a lowlight TV camera and laser rangefinder. “Group Delta, unidentified bogey possible at low altitude, estimated position at your twelve o’clock position, forty nautical miles. Report identification and pursue. Over.” The two enemy aircraft triangles did not appear right away, and when they did appear their radar arcs immediately swept across the B-2 icon. “Two fighters separated from the rest of the pack, ” McLanahan shouted. “Twelve o’clock. X-band search radars. They might have spotted us.” The B-2 had just left the protective cover of the coastal hills of the Sarangani Peninsula and was now racing across the Buayan River valley, a flat, fertile area about forty miles southwest of Davao. The lone peak of Mount Apo was the only significant terrain around for fifty miles-it was the worst moment to be caught by fighters. To the east, ten miles southwest of Davao, the icons of several warships were just visible. “We’ve got a little rolling terrain about twenty miles to the west, and nothing but Davao Gulf and another destroyer off to the east, ” McLanahan said. “Otherwise it’s flat, flat, flat. The fighters are at our twelve o’clock… getting a range estimate now of twenty-two miles. They’ll be in missile range soon. “We go west then, ” Cobb said. He banked his B-2 hard to the left, scurrying across the wide valley for the relative safety of a hilly ridge. “Fifteen minutes until we reach that ridge . . . about two minutes, ” McLanahan reported. “Bandits one o’clock, fifteen minutes…” At that moment one of the yellow arcs representing the enemy’s radar swept across the B-2 icon, and the yellow instantly turned to red as the radar locked on. “Shit, shit, shit, they got us. . The heads-up display on the Chinese JS-7 first locked onto the air target briefly, and the attack radar quickly computed the target’s altitude, heading, airspeed, and closure rate-but it was the A-5K’s low-light TV sensor that first caught a glimpse of the enemy. The sensor’s contrast-tracking function immediately locked onto the warm object and began to track it . . And, as the target made a slight turn to the west, there was no mistaking its identity-the pilot of the A-5K saw the distinctive boomerang profile of an American B-2 bomber. “A stealth bomber! Stealth bomber!” the A-5 pilot shouted excitedly on the command radio. “Very low, heading west.. .” He was so excited that he forgot to give a proper report. . And he also forgot he was in formation with another airplane. The two Chinese planes almost collided as the AS pilot turned westward to try to keep the fast-flying bomber within his low-light TV’s field of view. “Kong Yun One-Seven, hold your position!” the JS-7 pilot shouted. “Formation coming right to intercept. Control, this is Delta, we have an American B-2 stealth bomber on radar, turning to intercept at this time. But as they did, extremely heavy jamming from the B-2 continually broke radar-lock-the massive energy even put the Cyrano-IV radar in “Reset” twice. “Kong Yun OneSeven, ” the JS-7 pilot asked of the A-5K pilot, “do you still have him on your TV sensor?” “Affirmative, Jian, Zero-Niner.”
“I’m receiving heavy jamming and I can’t maintain a radar lock. Close us within PL-2 missile range. You have the lead.”
“I have the lead.” The JS-7 pilot could feel the tension grow in his arms and shoulders as he made the dangerous transition from following his radar cues and searching out the windscreen for terrain to picking up the A-5K’s dim formationlights. He used a few notches of airbrakes to slide back and ease into a comfortable position on the A-5’s right wing, but he immediately edged away from the fighter-bomber in a momentary panic when he thought he was getting sucked in too close. It took several moments of adjusting before he could inch back in to proper wingman position. At night, only a few meters away from another fighter loaded with weapons, traveling over sixteen kilometers per minute close to the ground, chasing down a heavily armed and dangerous intruder-it was some of the most dangerous flying around. The two crew members of the B-2 Black Knight stealth bomber only seventeen miles ahead of the Chinese pilots might have disagreed. Cobb had the power up to full military thrust, trying desperately to make it to the cover of the hills to the west. “Fighter’s crossing behind us, ” McLanahan told him. “They found us… fighter radar’s down now. They might be engaging visually or by IR.” He set the B-2’s MAWS system from “Passive” to “Active.” MAWS, or Missile Approach Warning System, used small passive infrared sensors to search for nearby aircraft that might be a threat. Once a threat was located, it would lock onto it and continue to track it. If MAWS detected a second flash of light from that same target-indicating the ignition of a missile’s rocket motor-it would activate the bomber’s ALQ-I99A Doppler radar missile tracking system to track the missiles and begin active countermeasures. “I’m launching the SLAM missiles-at least we’ll take out the radar before these bozos get us.” McLanahan touched the weapon icons at the bottom of the Super Multi Function Display, overrode the mission timing schedule of the computer that deconflicted weapon releases for the entire strike package, then commanded the two Standoff Land Attack Missiles to launch. Cobb had to allow the bomber to climb an excruciatingly high one hundred extra feet before the missiles would start their countdown: “Altitude hold off… missile one counting down. . . doors open. . . missile one away. . . launcher rotating… missile two away… doors closed… altitude hold back on, descend back to one hundred feet TFR.” Although they still had two SLAMs and two HARM antiradar missiles remaining, their primary mission was completed-as the old bomber pilot’s saying goes, once the bombs are gone, you’re not flying for Uncle Sam anymore; you’re flying for yourself. Cobb and McLanahan started flying for their lives. … “Missiles! Bomber launching missiles!” the A-5K pilot screamed. On his TV sensor he could clearly see the two missiles slowly speed away from the bomber’s belly. . . and the sight filled him with an almost overwhelming red-hot rage. He selected a PL-2 heat-seeking missile and hit the “Launch” button when the bomber was directly in front of him. He realized after launching the missile that he was still too far out and did not give the missile enough time to lock on, but at this range, he could not miss. . . “We’re not going to find anyplace to hide in these hills here, ” McLanahan said, checking the computer-generated terrain depiction on the Super Multi Function Display. Without one squeak of radar energy being transmitted, the computer drew all the terrain, rivers, valleys, and cities on the SMFD, updating their position with every turn-but right now it was not giving them any good news. Unless they flew their B-2 below one hundred feet, those hills would not provide enough cover to shake off their pursuers. We should-” He was interrupted with a flashing “Missile Launch” indication and the computer- generated words, “Infrared Missile Launch… Break… Infrared Missile Launch… Break” in the interphone. “Break right!” McLanahan shouted. At the same time, he checked to make sure that the electronic-countermeasures computer had launched decoy flares and had activated their HAVE GLANCE infrared jammers, a device that would use laser beams guided by the ALQ- I 99 missile warning radar to blind and distort the enemy missile’s seeker heads and make it difficult for a heat-seeking missile to lock onto the B-2’s engine exhausts. It was the first time Patrick had ever observed a missile launch on the Super Multi Function Display, and it was weirdly fascinating-like watching an arrow speeding to its target in slow motion, except this arrow was speeding at them! The MAWS sensors had tracked the fighters to the rear quadrant, and when the heat-seeking sensors detected the missile launch, it automatically activated the ALQ- 199 tracking radars and laser jammers. The fighters were depicted as red triangles with squares around them, highlighting them as the major threat against the B-2, and when the missiles were picked up by the ALQ-199 they appeared as blinking red circles. The SMFD redrew the scene, zooming in on the B-2 icon, the terrain immediately surrounding the bomber, and the pursuing fighters. The dots initially swerved left to follow the decoy flares as they ejected from the left ejector racks, but they immediately realigned themselves on the B-2. A tiny data block showed time since launch and estimated time to impact-the “time-to die meter.” It had initially started at twelve seconds, but as the Chinese PL-~ missile accelerated to its top
