Author’s Note
This is a work of fiction and a product of my imagination. Although I use the names of some real-world persons and organizations, their use is only to enhance authenticity of the story and is not meant to describe any real-world persons or organizations or depict their actual activities. Any similarity whatsoever is coincidental.
Cast of Characters
Brigadier General Patrick McLanahan, commander, 966th Information Warfare Wing; plans intelligence operations; 4 ops groups, 1 intel group
Major General Gary Houser, commander, Air Intelligence Agency
Colonel Trevor Griffin, deputy commander, 966th Information Warfare Wing, Lackland AFB
Command CMSgt Harold Bayless, Command NCOIC
Chief Master Sergeant Donald Saks, NCOIC, National Air Intelligence Center, WPAFB; produces foreign aerospace intel for DoD
Brigadier General David Luger, commander, First Air Battle Force
Brigadier General Rebecca Furness, commander, 111th Attack Wing; commander, 1 ABF/Air Operations
Colonel Hal Briggs, commander, 1 ABF/Ground Operations
Sergeant Major Chris Wohl, NCOIC, 1 ABF/GO
First Lieutenant Mark Bastian, Ground Ops squad leader
Staff Sergeant Emily Angel, ABF Ground Ops
Tech Sergeant James “JD” Daniels
Lance Corporal Johnny “Hulk” Morris
Colonel Daren Mace, Ops Group commander, 111th Attack Wing
Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Hellion, Fifty-first Bomb Squadron (EB-1C)
Colonel Nancy Cheshire, commander, Fifty-second Bomb Squadron (EB-52 and AL-52)
Colonel Kelvin Carter, operations officer, Fifty-second Bomb Squadron, AL-52 AC
Lieutenant Colonel Summer O’Dea, EB-52 AC
Major Matthew Whitley, EB-52 remote-control technician Major Frankie “Zipper” Tarantino, AL-52 MC
Captain Johnny “Soccer” Sammis, EB-52 MC
U.S. Marine Corps Captain Ted Merritt, Marine Special Purpose Forces platoon leader
Lieutenant General Terrill Samson, commander, Eighth Air Force
Brigadier General Charles C. Zoltrane, acting deputy commander and operations officer, Eighth Air Force
General Charles F. “Cuz” Kuzner, chief of staff, USAF
General Thomas “Turbo” Muskoka, commander, Air Combat Command
Lieutenant General Leah “Skyy” Fortuna, deputy commander, Air Combat Command
Admiral Charles Andover, chief of Naval Operations
General Walter Wollensky, commander, U.S. Space Command
General Randall Shepard, commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command; also commander of U.S. Northern Command
Colonel Joanna Kearsage, C-crew command director, Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station
Lieutenant Colonel Susan Paige, C-crew commander, Air Warning Center, NORAD, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base, Colorado
Brigadier General Jerrod Richland, E-4 AOC battle staff commander
Thomas Nathaniel Thorn, president of the United States
Robert Goff, secretary of defense
Richard W. Venti, USAF general, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff
Admiral Charles Andover, chief of Naval Operations
Douglas R. Morgan, director of Central Intelligence
Maureen Hershel, secretary of state
Darrow Horton, attorney general
General Anatoliy Gryzlov, president of the Russian Federation
Army General Nikolai Stepashin, chief of staff of the Russian military and commander, ministry of state security (chief of all intelligence bureaus)
Aviatskiy Kapitan Leytenant Josef Leborov, Tu-95MS-16 pilot
Aviatskiy Starshij Leytenant Yuri Bodorev, his copilot
General Jalaluddin Turabi, interim commander of Turkmen armed forces
Abdul Dendara, his aide
Aircraft and Weapons
MV-32 PAVE DASHER tilt-jet special-operations transport, cruise speed 320 KIAS, endurance 5 hours (conventional takeoff/vertical landing/vertical takeoff/vertical landing), carries 18 combat-ready troops plus crew of three; cargo ramp allows Humvee-size vehicles to fit inside; 2 retractable weapons pods for defensive or attack missiles; 1 20-millimeter Gatling gun in steerable chin turret; satellite and inertial navigation plus imaging-infrared sensor and millimeter-wave radar allows global terrain-following flight
MQ-35 CONDOR air-launched special-operations transport, cruise speed 300 KIAS, endurance 3 hours (glide insertion/conventional takeoff from rough field/conventional landing on rough field); carries 4 combat-ready troops plus up to 260 pounds of cargo; remotely piloted; mission-adaptive skin and lifting-body technology allows aircraft to be controlled without wings or flight-control surfaces; small turbojet engine and tricycle landing gear allows aircraft to take off from unimproved fields
RAQ-15 StealthHawk long-range reconnaissance and attack cruise missile; turbojet engine, 600 KIAS max cruise speed, max range 2,000 miles; lifting-body design, mission-adaptive flight controls; carries 6 AGM-211 mini- Maverick guided attack missiles; 2 can be carried by EB-52 Megafortress bombers on wing pylons or 2 in center bomb bay of EB-1C Vampire bomber; reloadable and refuelable by EB-1C bombers; launch weight 3,500 pounds
AGM-211 mini-Maverick, small TV-guided attack missile, 28-pound thermium nitrate (TN) warhead, glide-and rocket-boosted, 6-mile range
