Executive orders - Tom Clancy [398]
ADMIRAL JACKSON DID the brief, complete with videotape.
This is the upload from Port Royal. We have a similar tape from The Sullivans, no real differences, so we'll just use the one, he told those in the Sit Room. He had a wooden pointer and started moving it around the large-screen TV display.
This is a flight of four fighters, probably Jianjiji Hongzhaji-7s-we call it the B-7 for the obvious reason. Two engines and two seats, performance and capabilities like an old F-4 Phantom. The flight departs the mainland, and comes out a little too far. There's a no-man's-land right about here that neither side had violated until today. Here's another flight, probably the same aircraft and-
You're not sure? Ben Goodley asked.
We've ID'd the aircraft from their avionics, their RADAR emissions. A RADAR can't directly identify an airplane by type, Robby explained. You have to deduce types by what they do, or from the electronic signatures of their equipment, okay? Anyway, the lead group is coming east, and crosses the invisible line here. The pointer moved. Here's a flight of four Taiwanese F-16s with all the bells and whistles. They see the lead PRC group come too far and vector in on them. Then the lead group turns back west. Soon thereafter, right about now, the trailing group lights off their RADARs, but instead of tracking their own lead group, they're hitting the F-16s.
What are you saying, Rob? the President asked.
What this looks like, the lead group was simulating a dawn attack on the mainland, and the trail group was supposed to defend against the simulated attack. On the surface, it looks like a fairly standard training exercise. The trail group, however, lit up the wrong people, and when they shifted RADAR modes to the attack setting, one of the Taiwanese pilots must have thought he was under attack and so he pickled off a missile. Then his wingman did the same. Zap! Right here, a B-7 eats a Slammer, but this one evades it-damned lucky for him-and he gets off a missile of his own. Then everybody starts shooting. This F-16 jinks around one but walks right into another-see here, the pilot ejects, and we think he survived. But this element launches four missiles, and one of those acquires this airliner. Must have just barely made it all the way. We've checked the range, and it's actually two miles over what we thought the missile could do. By the time it caught up and hit, the fighters have all turned back, the PRC guys because they were probably bingo-fuel, and the ROC guys because they were Winchester-out of missiles. All in all, it was a fairly sloppy engagement on both sides.
You're saying it was a goof? This came from Tony Bretano.
It certainly looks that way, except for one thing-
Why carry live missiles on an exercise? Ryan said.
Close, Mr. President. The ROC pilots, sure, they're carrying white ones because they see the whole PRC exercise as a threat-
White ones? It was Bretano again.
Excuse me, Mr. Secretary. White missiles are war shots. Exercise missiles are usually painted blue. The PRC guys, though, why carry heat-seekers? In situations like this, we usually don't, because you can't turn them off-once they go they're entirely on their own, fire-and-forget, we call it. One other thing. All the birds fired at the F-16s were RADAR-homers. This one, the one that went for the airliner, seems to be the only heat-seeker that was launched. I don't much like the smell of that.
Deliberate act? Jack asked quietly.
That is a possibility, Mr. President. The whole show looks just like a screwup, classic case. A couple fighter jocks get really hyped on something, you have an instant furball, some people get killed, and we'll never be able to prove otherwise, but if you look at this two-plane element, I think they were aiming for the airliner all along-unless they took it for a ROC fighter, and I don't buy that.
Why?
It was heading the wrong way all the time, Admiral Jackson answered.
Buck fever, Secretary Bretano offered.
Why not engage people heading right for you instead