{"id":1946,"date":"2026-01-03T22:01:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/sky-masters-brown-dale\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T22:01:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:01:57","slug":"sky-masters-brown-dale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/sky-masters-brown-dale\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky Masters – Brown, Dale"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Book Preview<\/h3>\n
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\nSKY MASTERS<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nBY DALE BROWN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nFlight of the Old Dog (1987)<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nSilver<\/span>
\n<\/st1u0003aplacename>
\n <\/span>
\n
\nTower<\/span>
\n<\/st1u0003aplacetype>
\n (1988)<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nDay of the Cheetah (1989)<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHammerheads (1990)<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nDONALD I. FINE, INC.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nG. P. PUTNAM’S SONS New York G. P. Putnam’s Sons Publishers Since 1838<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n200 Madison Avenue<\/span>
\n<\/st1u0003astreet>
\n <\/span>
\nNew York<\/span>
\n, <\/span>
\n
\nNY<\/span>
\n<\/st1u0003astate>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n10016<\/span>
\n<\/st1u0003apostalcode>
\n<\/st1u0003aaddress>
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nCopyright Qc 1991 by Dale Brown, Inc.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAll rights reserved.\u00a0 <\/span>This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nin any form without permission.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPublished simultaneously in Canada Endpaper maps and maps on pages 267<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand 370 by Lisa Amoroso.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nLibrary of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Brown, Dale, date Sky<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmasters \/ Dale Brown.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\np. cm.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nISBN 0-399-13705-X<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n(Putnam) I. Title. PS3552.R68543S58 1991 90-56053 CIP 813′.54~c20<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPrinted in the <\/span>
\nUnited States of America<\/span>
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThis book is printed on acid-free paper.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsky Masters is dedicated to General Curtis E. LeMay, the “Iron Eagle”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand the “Father of Strategic Air Power,” a man who envisioned much of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwhat Sky Masters is all about.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSky Masters is also dedicated to the men and women who served as part of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nOperation DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nI wish to especially dedicate this story to my brother, Second<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nLieutenant James D. Brown, 3-35 ARMOR, First Armored Division, United<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nStates Army, and his wife, Leah, and all of our military forces serving<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nashore, afloat, and aloft for all the sacrifices they made in their<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npersonal and professional lives.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nACKNOWLEDGMENTS<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nTo my friend Lieutenant Colonel George Peck (who was instrumental in the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nresearch for Day of the Cheetah and who, like Loki’s eternal fate in<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nNorse mythology, seems destined to be forever bothered by my insistent<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nquestions and requests); TSgt Alan Dockery, Captain Harry G. Edwards,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand the other helpful and professional persons in the Office of Public<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAffairs, Headquarters, Strategic Air Command (SAC), Offutt AFB,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nNebraska, for their assistance in gathering information on SAC<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nconventional and maritime operations and the <\/span>
\n
\nStrategic<\/span>
\n<\/st1u0003aplacename>
\n <\/span>
\n
\nWarfare<\/span>
\n<\/st1u0003aplacename>
\n <\/span>
\n
\nCenter<\/span>
\n<\/st1u0003aplacetype>
\n,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand for their help in reviewing the manuscript; To all the men and women<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nof the Strategic Air Command and Pacific Air Forces whom I met during<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nGIANT WARRIOR ’90, a multinational, multiservice combat strike and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndeployment exercise conducted by SAC’s Fifteenth Air Force in August of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n1990 at Andersen Air Force Base on <\/span>
\nGuam<\/span>
\n.\u00a0 <\/span>I wish to especially thank<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nLieutenant General Robert D. Beckel, Fifteenth Air Force commander, for<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nallowing me the privilege of observing his super exercise; Brigadier<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nGeneral DavidJ. Pederson, Third Air Division commander, and Colonel Alan<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nCirino, Third Air Division deputy commander, and their staff for their<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhospitality and helpfulness in explaining the intricacies of Pacific<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntheater combat operations; and to Colonel Arne Weinman, Ninety-second<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nBomb Wing commander and joint air forces commander of GIANT WARRIOR ’90;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSpecial thanks to Captain Cynthia Colin, Fifteenth Air Force Public<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAffairs, and the other professionals at Fifteenth Air Force Public<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAffairs, March AFB, California; MSgt Ron Pack, Ninety-second Bomb Wing<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npublic affairs; MSgt Al Dostal, Ninety-sixth Bomb Wing Public Affairs;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSecond Lieutenant Darian “Slick” Benson, Fifty-seventh Air Division<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPublic Affairs; the feared terrorist-group-turned-media-pool known<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthroughout the Pacific as the Dream Team; and everyone who helped make<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmy visit to Guam and GIANT WARRIOR ’90a pleasure and a success; To<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nBrigadier General Larry Dilda, DCS I Communications and Computer<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nOperations, HQ SAC, for conducting a very special tour of SAC<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHeadquarters, where I learned much about the “new” Strategic Air Command<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand its people and its new arsenal of weapons; and to Ron Silverstein,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nB-2 Project Senior Engineer and Chief Spokesman, and the others at<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nNorthrop Corporation, Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, for an<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\namazing tour of the B-2 bomber assembly facilities; To Colonel Thomas A.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHornung, Chief of Public Affairs, Air Force Public Affairs-Western<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nRegion in Los Angeles, for his invaluable assistance throughout the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmaking of Sky Masters and for arranging a spectacular tour of SAC<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nheadquarters; and to Major Ron Fuchs, former Deputy and Chief of Media<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nRelations in Los Angeles, for his time in reviewing the manuscript and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\noffering some valuable comments; To CDR Bruce R. Linder, commanding<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nofficer of the guided missile frigate FFG-55 USS Elrod, who was<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nextremely helpful in providing details pertaining to naval operations in<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe South China Sea, Palawan Passage, and the Philippines; To Richard<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHerman, famous author of Warbirds and Force of Eagles, for his technical<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nknowledge on aerial combat in the F-4E and other facets of fighter<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncombat; To Rockwell International for information on the B- 1 bomber;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nalso to Orbital Sciences Corporation for information on the Pegasus<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nair-launched space booster; To my executive assistant, Dennis Hall, for<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhis hard work and support.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nACTUAL NEWS EXCERPTS Date: 5\/21\/90 PENTAGON DECLARES PHILIPPINES<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“IMMINENT DANGER” AREA WASHINGTON (MAY 18) UPI-The Defense Department<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndesignated the Philippines Friday as an area of imminent danger for<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nspecial pay purposes, which means US military and civilian employees<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwill be getting slightly larger paychecks. The Pentagon said it took the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\naction because of the “current unstable conditions” in the Philippines,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwhere three American servicemen have been killed in politically<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmotivated attacks this month alone. Imminent danger pay is an additional<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n15 percent of basic salary for American citizens who are department<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nemployees and $110 per month for all US military personnel. Date:<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n5\/22\/90 “Well, first in my mind, the communist dream in the Philippines<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwill always be there. The communist dream of taking over and dominating<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe country will always be there because you can’t kill an ideology.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nGeneral Renato S. de Villa, Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPhilippines, from Asia-Pacific Defense Forum, U.S. Pacific Command,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nWinter 1989-1990 Date: 11\/2\/90 …\u00a0 <\/span>Turmoil in China…\u00a0 <\/span>combined with<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nspeculation about U.S. forces departures from the Philippines, have<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmerged to cause a new appreciation for U.S. regional security presence.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n.\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>I believe there is a growing realization in the Pacific that<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nU.S. presence cannot be taken for granted.\u00a0 <\/span>If the U.S. presence is<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsubstantially reduced, many Pacific nations perceive the danger of other<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnations moving into the vacuum created by our departure, with a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npotential result of conflict and instability.” 22 ACTUAL NEWS EXCERPTS<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAdmiral Huntington Hardisty, U.S. Navy, Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nCommand, from Asia-Paczfic Defense Forum, U.S. Pacific Command, winter<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n1989-1990 Date: 11\/6\/90 MELEE MARS INAUGURATION OF AUTONOMY IN SOUTHERN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPHILIPPINES COTABATO (Nov 6) REUTER-Police punched and clubbed 17 Moslem<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nstudents before dragging them off by their hair on Tuesday after they<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndisrupted President Corazon Aquino’s inauguration of an autonomous<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngovernment in the southern Philippines, witnesses said. The students,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmembers of an organization supporting Moslem rebels demanding a separate<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nstate on Mindanao island, chanted slogans against the autonomous<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngovernment about 20 meters from where Aquino was speaking. Manila has<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nset up the autonomous government, dominated by Moslems, as a way to end<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nseparatist violence on Mindanao, the second-largest island in the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPhilippines. The government, headed by former Moslem rebel commander<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nZacaria Candao, can pass its own laws, collect taxes and license fees,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand set up a regional police force in the four predominantly Moslem<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nprovinces on Mindanao island it controls. Manila would retain control of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndefense and foreign policy.\u00a0 <\/span>-from U.S. Naval Institute Military<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nDatabase Defense News. Date: 14 January 1991 AIR FORCE TO CREATE TWO NEW<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nCOMPOSITE AIR WINGS BY 1993 WASHINGTON-The U.S. Air Force will develop<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nby 1993 two composite tactical air wings that combine different types of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\naircraft in the same unit.\u00a0 <\/span>The new wings will serve as prototypes for<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe possible reorganization of the service’s tactical force structure<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nalong more mission-oriented lines.\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>[The composite air wings]<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwould include aircraft that could perform attack, defensive, standoff<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\njamming, and precision-strike missions.\u00a0 <\/span>-from Aviation Week and Space<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nTechnology magazine, p.26 AUTHOR NOTE Although the BIB bomber is now<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nofficially called “Lancer,” the author will still use “Excalibur.” Every<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\neffort has been made to present realistic situations, but all of the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npersons and situations presented here are products of my imagination and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nshould not be considered reflections of actual persons, products,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npolicy, or practice.\u00a0 <\/span>Any similarity of any organization, device,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nweapons system, policy, person, or place to any real-world counterpart<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nis strictly coincidental.\u00a0 <\/span>The author makes no attempt to present the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nactual military or civil policies of any organization or government. The<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nauthor hopes readers will note the chronological setting of this novel<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nin regards to some of his previous books, most notably Day of the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nCheetah. While certain characters and backdrops in that book appear<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhere, the events described in this book come a full two years earlier<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthan those in Day of the Cheetah.\u00a0 <\/span>Moreover, this book, like that one,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nstands completely on its own-neither a prequel nor sequel. MONDAY, 6<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nJUNE 1994, 0812 HOURS LOCAL SOMEWHERE OVER SOUTHERN NEVADA < minus two<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nminutes and counting.\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>mark.” Lieutenant Colonel Patrick McLanahan<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nglanced up at his mission data display just as the time-to-go clock<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nclicked over to 00:01:59.\u00a0 <\/span>Dead on time.\u00a0 <\/span>He clicked open the command<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nradio channel with the switch near his left foot.\u00a0 <\/span>“Vapor TwoOne<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncopies,” he reported. “CROWBAR, Vapor Two-One requesting final range<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nclearance.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Stand by, Two-One.” Stand by, he thought to himself-not likely.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMcLanahan and his partner, Major Henry Cobb, were flying in an FB-111B<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Super Aardvark” bomber, skimming two hundred feet above the hot deserts<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nof southern Nevada at the speed of soundevery five seconds they waited<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nput them a mile closer to the target.\u00a0 <\/span>The FBI 1 lB was the “stretched”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nversion of the venerable F-1 11 Supersonic swing-wing bomber, an<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nexperimental model that was the proposed interim supersonic bomber when<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe B-1 Excalibur bomber program was canceled back in the late 1970s.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nOnly a few remained, and the High Technology Aerospace Weapons Center<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n(HAWC)-the Defense Department s secret test complex for weapons and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\naircraft, hidden in the restricted desert ranges north of Las Vegas-had<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthem. Most F1-11 aircraft were Seeing their last few years of Service,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand more and more were popping up in Reserve unitS or sitting in museums<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nor base airparks-but HAWC always made use of their airframes until they<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfell apart or crashed. But the “Super Vark” Was not the subject of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntoday’s sortie. Although an FB-111B could carry a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntwenty-five-thousandpound payload, McLanahan and Cobb were carrying only<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\none twenty-six-hundred-pound bomb that morning-but what a bomb it was.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nOfficially the bomb was called the BLU-96, but its nickname was<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHADES-and for its size it was the most powerful nonnuclear weapon in<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nexistence.\u00a0 <\/span>HADES was filled with two hundred gallons of a thin,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngasoline-like liquid that was dispersed over a target, then ignited by<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nremote control.\u00a0 <\/span>Because the weapon does not need to carry its own<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\noxidizer but uses oxygen in the atmosphere to ignite the fuel, the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nresulting explosion had all the characteristics of a nuclear<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nexplosion-it created a mushroom cloud several hundred feet high, a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfireball nearly a mile in diameter, and a shock wave that could knock<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndown buildings and trees within two miles.\u00a0 <\/span>Oddly enough, the BLU-96 had<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnot been used since the Vietnam War, soHAWC was conducting experiments<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\non the feasibility of using the awesome weapon again for some future<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nconflict. HADES had been designed as a weapon to quickly clear very<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nlarge minefields, but against troops it would be utterly devastating.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThat fact, of course, would go into HAWC’s report to the Department of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nDefense.\u00a0 <\/span>“Vapor, this is CROWBAR, you are cleared to enter R-4808N and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nR-4806W routes and altitudes, remain this frequency.\u00a0 <\/span>Acknowledge.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMcLanahan checked his watch.\u00a0 <\/span>“Vapor acknowledges, cleared to enter<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nRomeo 4808 north and Romeo 4806 west routes and altitudes at zero-six,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n1514 Zulu, remain with CROWBAR.\u00a0 <\/span>Out.”\u00a0 <\/span>He turned to Cobb, checking<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nengine instruments and the fuel totalizer as his eyes swept across the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncenter instrument panel.\u00a0 <\/span>“We’re cleared in, Henry.”\u00a0 <\/span>Cobb clicked the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmike twice in response.\u00a0 <\/span>Cobb never said much during missions-his job<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwas to fly the plane, which he always did in stony silence. Romeo<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n4808N-that was its official name, although its unclassified nickname was<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nDreamland”-was a piece of airspace in south-central Nevada designated by<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense as a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“restricted” area, which meant all aircraft-civilian, commercial, other<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmilitary flights, even diplomatic-were prohibited to fly over it at any<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\naltitude without permission from HAWC.\u00a0 <\/span>Even FAA Air Traffic Control<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncould not clear aircraft to enter that airspace unless in extreme<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nemergency, and even then the violating aircraft could expect to get<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nintercepted by Air Force fighters and the air-traffic controller<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nresponsible could expect a long and serious scrutiny of his actions.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nR-4808N was surrounded by four other restricted areas that were meant to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nact as a buffer zone to give pilots ample warning time to change course<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nif they were-accidentally or purposely-straying toward R-4808N. If one<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nentered R-4808N without permission, military aircrew members would at<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbest lose their wings, and commercial and civilian pilots would lose<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntheir licenses-and both would be in for an intense multiday “debriefing”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nconducted by teams of military and CIA interrogators, who would discard<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmost articles of the Bill of Rights to find out why someone was stupid<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nenough to stray into Dreamland.\u00a0 <\/span>At worst, one would come face-to-face<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwith McLanahan and Cobb’s FB-1 1 lB racing across the desert floor at<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe speed of heat-or nose-to-nose with a BLU-96 fuel-air explosive bomb<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nor some other strange and certainly far deadlier weapon. Several<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthousand workers, military and civilian, were shuttled from Las Vegas,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nNellis Air Force Base, Beatty, Mercury, Pahrump, and Tonopah every day<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nto the various research centers there.\u00a0 <\/span>Most civilian workers reported<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nto the Department of Energy facilities near Yucca Flats, where nuclear<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nweapon research was conducted; most military members traveled forty<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmiles farther northeast to the uncharted aircraft and weapons facilities<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnortheast of Yucca Flats called Groom Lake.\u00a0 <\/span>A series of electronic and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhuman observation posts was set up just south of Groom Lake in Emigrant<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nValley, where they could observe the BLU-96 HADES bomb’s destructive<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npower. At the northern tip of Pintwater Ridge, the navigation com puter<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncommanded a full 60-degree turn toward the west.\u00a0 <\/span>McLanahan clicked on<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe command channel: “CROWBAR, Vapor Two-One, 1P inbound, unlocking now<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nat T minus sixty seconds.\u00a0 <\/span>Out.”\u00a0 <\/span>It took only seconds to configure the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nswitches for weapon release, and finding the target on radar was a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsnap-it was a six-story concrete tower, resembling a fire-department<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntraining tower, surrounded by trucks, a few surplus tanks and armored<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npersonnel carriers, and surrounded by about a hundred mannequins dressed<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nin various combat outfits, from lightweight fatigues to bulky chemical<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsuits.\u00a0 <\/span>Obviously, HAWC was not concerned about evaluating the effects<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nof a HADES bomb on minefields-they had “softer” targets in mind for the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nBLU-96.\u00a0 <\/span>Surrounding ground zero were several thirty-foot-high wooden<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nblast fences erected every one thousand feet, which would be used to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngauge the effect of the HADES bomb’s shock wave. McLanahan could shack<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthis bomb with one eye-it was hardly a test of either his or Cobb’s<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nskill.\u00a0 <\/span>This was going to be a “toss” release, where the bombing<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncomputer displayed a CCIP, or continuously computed impact point,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsteering cue on Cobb’s heads-up display; the steering cue was a line<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthat ran from the target at the bottom of the heads-up display to a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nrelease cue cross at the top, with the release pipper in the middle.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nCobb would offset the bomber to one side of the release cue line; then,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nat the right moment, would turn and climb so as to “walk” the pipper up<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe release cue line and eventually place the release cue cross directly<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nin the center of the aiming pipper.\u00a0 <\/span>When the cross split the pipper,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe bomb would release-the hard turn would add “whip-crack” momentum to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe bomb, allowing it to fly farther than a conventional level release.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nIt was all a very computer-controlled and rather basic bombing<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nprocedure-hardly a difficult task for a fifteen-year Air Force veteran<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbombardier.\u00a0 <\/span>But sortie rates were down and flying hours were being cut,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand McLanahan and his fellow flight test crew dogs were sniveling every<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nflight they could.\u00a0 <\/span>Except for a few high-value projects-Dreamstar,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nANTARES, the Megafortress Plus, the A-I 2 bomber, the X-35 and X-37<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsuperfighters, and a few other aircraft that were too weird for words<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand probably would never see daylight for another decade-research<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nactivity at Dreamland had almost ground to a halt. Peace was breaking<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nout all over the world-despite the efforts of nut-cases like Saddam<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHussein, Moammar Quaddafi, and a few renegade Russian generals to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndisrupt things-and the military would be the first to pay for the “peace<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndividend” that most Americans had been waiting for at least the past<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfive years. “T minus thirty seconds, final release configuration check,”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMcLanahan announced.\u00a0 <\/span>He quickly ran through the final seven steps of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe “Weapon Release-Conventional” checklist, then had Cobb read aloud<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhis heads-up display’s configuration readouts.\u00a0 <\/span>Everything was normal.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMcLanahan checked the crosshair placement on target, made a slight<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nadjustment, then told Cobb, “Final aiming…\u00a0 <\/span>ready.\u00a0 <\/span>My dark visor’s<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndown.”\u00a0 <\/span>McLanahan told Cobb his dark visor was down because Cobb seemed<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnever to check around the cockpit, although McLanahan knew he did. “Tone<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\non.”\u00a0 <\/span>McLanahan activated the bomb scoring tone so the ground trackers<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwould know exactly when the release pulse from the bombing computers was<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngenerated. “Copy,” Cobb said.\u00a0 <\/span>“Mine too.\u00a0 <\/span>Autopilot off, TF’s off.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nComing up on break…\u00a0 <\/span>ready…\u00a0 <\/span>ready…\u00a0 <\/span>now.”\u00a0 <\/span>He said it as calmly,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nas serenely as if he were describing a china teacup being filled with<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nafternoon tea-but his actions were certainly not dainty.\u00a0 <\/span>Cobb slammed<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe FB- 111 in a tight 60-degree bank turn to the left and hauled back<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\non the control stick.\u00a0 <\/span>McLanahan felt a few roll flutters as Cobb made<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nminute corrections to the break, but otherwise the break was clean and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nstraight-the more constant the G-forces Cobb could keep on the BLU-96,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe more accurate the toss delivery would be.\u00a0 <\/span>Through the steady four<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nGs straining on every square inch of their bodies, Cobb grunted, “Coming<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nup on release .\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>ready .\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>ready .\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>now.\u00a0 <\/span>Release button .<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n.\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>ready .\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>now.\u00a0 <\/span>McLanahan saw the flash of the release pulse on<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhis weapon control panel, but he jabbed the manual release “pickle”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbutton just in case the bomb did not separate cleanly. “This is CROWBAR,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngood toss, good toss,” McLanahan heard on the command channel.\u00a0 <\/span>“All<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nstations, stand by… Cobb had just completed a 180-degree turn and had<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmanaged to click on the autopilot again when both crew members could see<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nan impossibly bright flash of light illuminate the cockpit, drowning out<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nevery shadow before them.\u00a0 <\/span>Both men instinctively tightened their grips<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\non handholds or flight controls just as a tremendous smack thundered<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nagainst the FB111B’s canopy.\u00a0 <\/span>The bomber’s tail was thrust violently to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe left in a wide-sweeping skid, but Cobb was waiting for it and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncarefully brought the tail back in line without causing a roll couple.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Henry-you okay?”\u00a0 <\/span>McLanahan shouted.\u00a0 <\/span>He could see a few stars in his<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\neyes from the flash, but he felt no pain.\u00a0 <\/span>He had to raise his dark<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nvisor to be able to see the instrument panels.\u00a0 <\/span>Cobb raised his own<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nvisor as well.\u00a0 <\/span>“Yeah, Patrick, I’m fine.”\u00a0 <\/span>After returning his left<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhand to his throttle quadrant, he made one quick scan of his controls<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand instruments, then resumed his usual position-eyes continually<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nscanning, head caged straight ahead, hands on stick and throttles.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“CROWBAR, this is Vapor Two-One, condition green, McLanahan reported to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe ground controllers.\u00a0 <\/span>“Request clearance for a flyby of ground zero.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Stand by, Vapor.”\u00a0 <\/span>The wait was not as long this time.\u00a0 <\/span>“Vapor Two-One,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nrequest approved, remain at six thousand MSL over the target.” Cobb<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nexecuted another hard 90-degree left bank-turn and moved the FBI 1 lB’s<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwings forward to the 54-degree setting to help slow the bomber down from<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsuperSonic speed.\u00a0 <\/span>They could see the results as soon as they completed<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntheir turn back to the target.\u00a0 <\/span>There was a ragged splotch of black<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\naround what was left of the concrete target tower, resembling a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsmoldering campfire thousands of feet in diameter.\u00a0 <\/span>The tanks and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\narmored personnel carriers had been blackened and tossed several hundred<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfeet away from ground zero, and the regular trucks were burned and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmelted down to unrecognizable hunks.\u00a0 <\/span>Wooden blast targets up to two<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmiles away had been singed or knocked down, and of course all the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmannequins, regardless of what they had been outfitted with, were gone.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“My God..\u00a0 <\/span>.”\u00a0 <\/span>McLanahan muttered.\u00a0 <\/span>He had never seen an atomic ground<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nzero before except in old photos of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, but guessed<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhe was looking at a tiny bit of what such devastation would be like.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Cool,” was all Cobb said-and for him, that was akin to a long string of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nepithets and exclamations. McLanahan turned his attention away from the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nugly burn mark and the holocaust below: “CROWBAR, this is Two-One,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nflyover complete, request approach clearance. “Vapor, this is CROWBAR,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nclimb and maintain eight thousand, turn left heading three-zero-zero,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nclear to exit R-4806W and re-enter R-4808N to PALACE intersection for<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\napproach and landing.\u00a0 <\/span>Thanks for your help.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Eight thousand, three-zero-zero, PALACE intersection, Vapor copies all.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nGood day. Out.” McLanahan set up the navigation radios to help Cobb find<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe initial approach fix, but couldn’t shake the pow~ul impression HADES<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhad left on him.\u00a0 <\/span>It was a devastating weapon and would represent a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nserious threat and escalation to any conflict.\u00a0 <\/span>No, it wasn’t a nuclear<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndevice, but the fact that one aircraft could drop one bomb and kill all<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nforms of life within a one-to-two-mile radius was pretty sobering.\u00a0 <\/span>Just<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\none B-52 bomber loaded with thirty to forty such weapons could destroy a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsmall city.\u00a0 <\/span>Thankfully, though, there wasn’t a threat on the horizon<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthat could possibly justify using HADES.\u00a0 <\/span>Things were pretty quiet in<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe world.\u00a0 <\/span>A lot of the countries that had regularly resorted to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\naggression before were now opting for peaceful, negotiated settlements.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nFlare-ups and regional disputes were still present, but no nation wanted<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwar with another, because the possibility for massive destruction with<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfewer military forces was a demonstrated reality. And for McLanahan that<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwas just as well.\u00a0 <\/span>Better to put weapons like HADES back in storage or<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndestroy them than to use them. What Patrick McLanahan did not know,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhowever, was that half a world away, a conflict was brewing that could<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nonce again force him and his fellow flyers to use such awesome weapons.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nNEAR THE SPRATLY ISLANDS, SOUTH CHINA SEA WEDNESDAY, 8 JUNE 1994, 2247<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHOURS LOCAL nst as fifty-seven-year-old Fleet Admiral Yin Po L’un,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncomander of the Spratly Island flotilla, South China Sea Fleet, People’s<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nLiberation Army Navy of China, reached for his mug of tea from the young<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsteward, his ship heeled sharply to port and the tray with his tea went<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nflying across the bridge of his flotilla’s flagship.\u00a0 <\/span>Well, evening tea<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwould be delayed another fifteen minutes.\u00a0 <\/span>Sometimes, he thought, his<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nlot in life was as if the gods had sent a fire-breathing dragon to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndestroy a single lam-and the dragon finishes drowning in the sea along<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe way. The skipper of Yin’s flagship, Captain Lubu Vin Li, chewed the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nyoung steward up one side and down the other for his clumsiness.\u00a0 <\/span>Yin<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nlooked at the poor messboy, a thin, beady-eyed kid obviously with some<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nTibetan stock in him.\u00a0 <\/span>“Captain, just let him bring the damned tea,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nplease, ” Yin said.\u00a0 <\/span>Lubu bowed in acknowledgment and dismissed the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsteward with a slap on the chest and a stern growl. “I apologize for<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthat accident, sir, ” Lubu said as he returned to stand beside Yin’s<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nseat on the bridge of the Hong Lung, Admiral Yin’s flagship.\u00a0 <\/span>“As you<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nknow, we have been in typhoon-warning-condition three for several days;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nI expect all the crew to be able to stand on their own two feet by now.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Your time would be better spent speaking with Engineering and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndetermining the reason for that last roll, Captain, ” Yin said without<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nlooking at his young destroyer skipper.\u00a0 <\/span>“The Hong Lung has the world’s<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbest stabilizer system, and we are not in a full gale yet-the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nstabilizers should have been able to dampen the ship’s motion.\u00a0 <\/span>See to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nit.”\u00a0 <\/span>Lubu’s face went blank, then pained as he realized his mistake,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthen resolute as he bowed and turned to the ship’s intercom to order the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nchief engineer to the bridge.\u00a0 <\/span>The most sophisticated vessel in the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPeople’s Liberation Navy should not be wallowing around in only<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nforce-three winds, Yin thought-it only made the rest of his unit so<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nunsightly. Admiral Yin turned to glance at the large, thick plastic<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npanel on which the location and condition of the other vessels in his<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nflotilla were plotted with a grease pencil.\u00a0 <\/span>Radar and sonar data from<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhis ships were constantly fed to the crewman in charge of the bridge<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nplot, who kept it updated by alternately wiping and redrawing the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsymbols as fast as he could.\u00a0 <\/span>His ships were roughly arranged in a wide<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nprotective diamond around the flagship.\u00a0 <\/span>The formation was now headed<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsouthwest, pointing into the winds which were tossing around even his<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbig flagship. Admiral Yin Po L’un’s tiny Spratly Island flotilla<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncurrently consisted of fourteen small combatants, averaging around<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfifteen years of age, with young, inexperienced crews on them.\u00a0 <\/span>Four to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsix of those ships were detached into a second task force, which cruised<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwithin the Chinese zone when the other ships were near the neutral zone.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nOn the outer perimeter of the flotilla, Admiral Yin Po L’un deployed<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthree Huangfen-class fast-attack missile boats, capable against heavy<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsurface targets, and four Hegu-class fastattack missile boats with<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nantisubmarine and antiaircraft weapons.\u00a0 <\/span>He had an old Lienyun-class<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nminesweeper on the point, a precautionary tactic born of the conflict<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwith the Vietnamese Navy only six years earlier.\u00a0 <\/span>He also had two big<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHainan-class fast patrol boats with antiair, antiship, and antisubmarine<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nweapons operating as “roamers, ” moving between the inner and outer<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nperimeters.\u00a0 <\/span>All were direct copies of old World War II Soviet designs,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand these boats had no business being out in the open ocean, even as<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nforgiving and generally tame as the South China Sea was.\u00a0 <\/span>The ships in<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nYin’s flotilla rotated out every few weeks with other ships in the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsix-hundred-ship South China Sea Fleet, based at Zhanjiang Naval Base on<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe Leizhou Peninsula near the Gulf of Tonkin. Yin’s flagship, the Hong<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nLung, or Red Dragon, was a beauty, a true oceangoing craft for the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nworld’s largest navy.\u00a0 <\/span>It was a Type EF5 guided-missile destroyer that<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhad a Combination Diesel or Gas Turbine propulsion system that propelled<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe 132-meter, five-thousand-ton vessel to a top speed of over<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthirty-five nautical miles per hour.\u00a0 <\/span>The Hong Lung had a helicopter<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhangar and launch platform, and it carried a modern, French-built<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nDauphin II patrol, rescue, antimine, and antisubmarine warfare<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhelicopter.\u00a0 <\/span>Yin’s destroyer also carried six supersonic Fei Lung-7<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nantiship missiles, the superior Chinese version of the French Exocet<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nantiship missile; two Fei Lung-9 long-range supersonic antiship<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmissiles, experimental copies of the French-built ANS antiship missile;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntwo Hong Qian-9 1 single antiair missile launchers, fore and aft, with<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthirty-missile manually loaded magazines each; a Creusoit-Loire<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndual-purpose 100-millimeter gun; and four single-barreled and two<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndouble-barreled 37-millimeter antiaircraft guns.\u00a0 <\/span>It also had a single<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPhalanx CIWS, or Close-In Weapon System gun.\u00a0 <\/span>Developed in the United<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nStates of America, Phalanx was a radarguided Vulcan multibarrel<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n20-millimeter gun that could destroy incoming sea-skimming antiship<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmissiles; from its mount on the forecastle perch behind and below the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncon, it could cover both sides and the stern out to a range of two<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nkilometers.\u00a0 <\/span>The Hong Lung also carried sonar (but no torpedoes or depth<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncharges) and sophisticated targeting radars for her entire arsenal. The<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHong Lung was specifically designed to patrol the offshore islands<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbelonging to China, such as the Spratly and the Paracel Islands, and to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nengage the navies of the various countries that claimed these islands-so<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe Hong Lung carried no antisubmarine-warfare weaponry like the older<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nType EF4 Luda-class destroyers of the North Fleet.\u00a0 <\/span>The Hong Lung could<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndefeat any surface combatant in the South China Sea and could protect<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nitself against almost any air threat.\u00a0 <\/span>The Hong Lung’s escort ships-the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nminesweepers and ASW vesselscould take on any threat that the destroyer<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwasn’t specifically equipped to deal with. “Position, navigator, “<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAdmiral Yin called out.\u00a0 <\/span>The navigator behind and to the Admiral’s right<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncalled out in reply, “Sir!”, bent to work at his plastic-covered chart<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntable as a series of coordinates were read to him from the LORAN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnavigation computers, then replied, “Sir, position is ten nautical miles<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnorthwest of West Reef, twenty-three miles north of Spratly Island air<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbase.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Depth under the keel?” “Showing twenty meters under the keel, sir, “<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nCaptain Lubu Vin Li replied.\u00a0 <\/span>“No danger of running aground if we stay<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\non this course, sir.” Yin grunted his acknowledgment.\u00a0 <\/span>That was exactly<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwhat he was worried about.\u00a0 <\/span>While his escorts could traverse the shallow<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwaters of the Spratly Island chain easily, the Hong Lung was an<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\noceangoing vessel with a four-meter draft.\u00a0 <\/span>At low tide, the big<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndestroyer could find itself run aground at any time while within the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSpratly Islands. Although the Spratlys were in neutral territory, China<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncontrolled the valuable islands informally by sheer presence of force if<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnot by agreement or treaty. Yin’s normal patrol route took the flotilla<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthrough the southern edge of the “neutral zone” area of the island<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nchain, scanning for Philippine vessels and generally staying on watch.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlthough the Philippine Navy patrolled the Spratlys and had a lot of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfirepower there, Admiral Yin’s smaller, faster escort ships could mount<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\na credible force against them.\u00a0 <\/span>And since the Philippine ships had no<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmedium or long-range antiship missiles or antiair missiles in the area,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe Hong Lung easily outgunned every warship within two thousand miles.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThey were currently on an eastward heading, cruising well north of the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nninth parallel-and as far as Yin was concerned, the “neutral zone” meant<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthat he might consider issuing a warning to trespassers before opening<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfire on them.\u00a0 <\/span>The shoal water was also south of their position, near<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPearson Reef, and he wanted to stay clear of those dangerous waters.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“CIC to bridge, ” the interphone crackled.\u00a0 <\/span>“Wenshan re ports surface<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncontact, bearing three-four-zero, range eighteen miles.\u00a0 <\/span>Stationary<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntarget.” Captain Lubu keyed his microphone and grunted a curt,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Understood, ” then checked the radar plot.\u00a0 <\/span>The Wenshan was one of the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHainan-class patrol boats roaming north and east of the Hong Lung; it<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhad a much better surface-search radar than the small<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHuangfen-classboat, the Xingyi, in the vicinity; although the Xingyi was<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nequippe~Fei Lung-7 surface attack missiles, often other ships had to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nseek out targets for it. Lubu turned to Admiral Yin.\u00a0 <\/span>“Sir, the surface<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncontact is near Phu Qui Island, in the neutral zone about twenty miles<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnorth of Pearson Reef.\u00a0 <\/span>No recent reports of any vessels or structures<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nin the area.\u00a0 <\/span>We have Wenshan and Xingyi in position to investigate the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncontact.” Yin nodded that he understood.\u00a0 <\/span>Phu Qui Island, he knew, was a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nformer Chinese oil-drilling site in the Spratly Islands; the well had<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbeen capped and abandoned years ago.\u00a0 <\/span>Although Phu Qui Island<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndisappeared underwater at high tide, it was a very large rock and coral<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nformation and could easily be expanded and fortified-it would be an even<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nlarger island than Spratly Island itself.\u00a0 <\/span>If Yin was tasked to pick an<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nisland to occupy and fortify, he would pick Phu Qui. So might someone<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nelse.\u00a0 <\/span>. “Send Wenshan and Xingyi to investigate the contact, ” Yin<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nordered. “Rotate Manning north to take Wenshan ‘5 position.”\u00a0 <\/span>Manning<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwas the other Hainan-class patrol boat acting as “rover” in Yin’s patrol<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngroup. Captain Lubu acknowledged the order and relayed the instructions<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nto his officer of the deck for transmission to the Wenshan. Yin, who had<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbeen in the People’s Liberation Army Navy practically all of his life,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwas proud of the instincts he’d honed during his loyal career.\u00a0 <\/span>He<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntrusted them.\u00a0 <\/span>And now, somewhere deep down in his gut, those instincts<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntold him this was going to be trouble.\u00a0 <\/span>Granted, Phu Qui Island, and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\neven the Spratlys themselves, seemed the most unlikely place to expect<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntrouble.\u00a0 <\/span>The Spratlys-called Nansha Dao, the Lonely Islands, in<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nChinese-were a collection of reefs, atolls, and semisubmerged islands in<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe middle of the South China Sea, halfway between Vietnam and the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPhilippines and several hundred kilometers south of China.\u00a0 <\/span>The<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfifty-five major surface formations of the Spratlys were dotted with<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nshipwrecks, attesting to the high degree of danger involved when<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnavigating in the area.\u00a0 <\/span>Normally, such a deathtrap as the Spratlys<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwould be given a wide berth.\u00a0 <\/span>Centuries ago Chinese explorers had<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndiscovered that the Nansha Dao was a treasure trove of minerals-gold,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\niron, copper, plus traces or indications of dozens of other metals-as<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwell as gems and other rarities. Since the islands were right on the sea<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nlanes between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, the “round-eyes”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\neventually found them, and the English named them the Spratlys after the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncommander of a British warship who “discovered” them in the eighteenth<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncentury.\u00a0 <\/span>It was the British who discovered oil in the Spratlys and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbegan tapping it. Unfortunately, the British had not yet developed the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntechnology to successfully and economically drill for oil in the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nweatherbeaten islands, so the islands were abandoned for safer and more<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nlucrative drilling sites in Indonesia and Malaysia. As time progressed,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nseveral nations-Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines-all tried to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndevelop the islands as a major stopover port for sea traffic.\u00a0 <\/span>But it<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwas following World War II that the Chinese considered the Spratlys as<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwell as everything else in the South China Sea as their territory. As<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\noil-drilling platforms, fishing grounds, and mining operations began to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nproliferate, the Chinese, aided by the North Vietnamese, who acted as a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsurrogate army for their Red friends, began vigorously patrolling the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\narea.\u00a0 <\/span>During the Vietnam War radar sites and radio listening posts on<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSpratly Island allowed the Vietcong and China to detect and monitor<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nevery vessel and aircraft heading from the Philippines to Saigon,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nincluding American B-52 bombers on strike missions into North Vietnam.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nBut the most powerful navy in the postwar world, the United States Navy,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nexerted the greatest tangible influence over the Spratly Islands.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThrough its sponsorship, the government of the Philippines began<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npatrolling the islands, eradicating the Vietnamese espionage units and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nusing the islands as a base of operations for controlling access to the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwestern half of the South China Sea.\u00a0 <\/span>The Chinese had been effectively<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nchased away from the Spratlys, ending five hundred years of dominance<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthere. That became a very sore point for the Chinese.\u00a0 <\/span>After the Vietnam<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nWar, the American presence weakened substantially, which allowed first<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe Vietnamese Navy, and then the Chinese Navy, to return to the Spratly<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nIslands.\u00a0 <\/span>But the Philippines still maintained their substantial<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmerican-funded military presence there, although they had ceded most of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe southern islands to China and Vietnam. The lines had been drawn. The<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPhilippines claimed the thirty atolls north of the nine degrees, thirty<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nminutes north latitude, and the territory in between was a sort of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nneutral zone.\u00a0 <\/span>Things were relatively quiet for about ten years<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfollowing the Vietnam War.\u00a0 <\/span>But in the late 1 980s conflict erupted<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nagain.\u00a0 <\/span>During the war, Vietnam had accepted substantial assistance from<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe Soviet Union in exchange for Russian use of the massive Cam Rahn<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnaval base and airbase, which caused a break in relations between China<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand Vietnam.\u00a0 <\/span>Vietnam, now trained and heavily armed by the Soviet<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nUnion, was excluding Chinese vessels from the oil and mineral mining<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\noperations in the Spratlys.\u00a0 <\/span>Several low-scale battles broke out.\u00a0 <\/span>It<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwas discovered that the Soviet Union was not interested in starting a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwar with China to help Vietnam hold the Spratlys, so China moved in and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nregained the control they had lost forty years earlier.\u00a0 <\/span>Faced with<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nutter destruction, the Vietnamese Navy withdrew, content to send an<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\noccasional reconnaissance flight over the region. That was when Admiral<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nYin Po L’un had been assigned his Spratly Island flotilla.\u00a0 <\/span>To his way<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nof thinking, these were not the Spratlys, or the Quan-Dao Mueng Bang as<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe Vietnamese called them-these were the Nansha Dao, property of the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPeopIes Republic of China.\u00a0 <\/span>China had built a hard-surfaced runway on<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSpratly Island and had reinforced some stronger reefs and atolls around<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nit enough to create naval support facilities.\u00a0 <\/span>Their claim was stronger<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthan any other nation.\u00a0 <\/span>Several other nations had protested the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmilitarization of Spratly Island, but no one had done anything more than<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntalk.\u00a0 <\/span>To Admiral Yin, it was only a matter of time before all of the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nNansha Dao returned to Chinese control. But the Filipino Navy, such as<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nit was, still held very tight control over their unofficially designated<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nterritory.\u00a0 <\/span>Yin’s job was to patrol the region, map out all sea traffic,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand report on any new construction or attempts to move oil-drilling<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nplatforms, fish-processing vessels, or mining operations in the neutral<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nzone or in the Philippine sector.\u00a0 <\/span>He was also to report on any<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmovements of the Philippine Navy’s major vessels in the area and to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nconstantly position his forces to confront and defeat the Filipino<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npretenders should hostilities erupt. Not that the Filipino Navy was a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsubstantial threat to the Chinese Navy-far from it.\u00a0 <\/span>The strongest of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe Filipino ships patrolling the Spratly Islands were forty-year-old<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfrigates, corvettes, radar picket ships, and subchasers, held together<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nby coats of paint and prayers. Still, a threat to Yin’s territory-no<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmatter whom it was from-was a threat, in his mind, to all of China.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThirty minutes later, Yin’s task force had closed to within nine miles<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nof the contact while Wenshan and Xingyi had closed to within one mile;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nYin positioned his ships so that he could maintain direct, scrambled<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncommunications with his two patrol boats but stay out of sight of the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncontact. “Dragon, this is Seven, ” the skipper aboard Wenshan, Captain<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHan, radioed back to Admiral Yin.\u00a0 <\/span>“I have visual contact.\u00a0 <\/span>The target<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nis an oil derrick.\u00a0 <\/span>It appears to be mounted or anchored atop Phu Qui<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nIsland. It is surrounded by several supply barges with pipes on board,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand two tugboats are nearby.\u00a0 <\/span>There may be armed crewmen on deck.\u00a0 <\/span>They<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nare flying no national flags, but there does appear to be a company flag<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nflying.\u00a0 <\/span>We are moving closer to investigate.\u00a0 <\/span>Request permission to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nraise the derrick on radio.” So his instincts had been right An oil<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nderrick in the neutral zone? How dare they place an oil derrick on<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nChinese property.”\u00a0 <\/span>Yin turned to Lubu.\u00a0 <\/span>“I want the transmissions<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nrelayed to us.\u00a0 <\/span>Permission granted to hail the derrick.\u00a0 <\/span>Tell Captain<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHan to warn the crew that they will be attacked if they do not remove<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthat derrick from the neutral zone immediately.” A few moments later,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nYin heard Han’s warning: “Attention, attention the oil derrick on Phu<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nQui Island.\u00a0 <\/span>This is the People’s Republic of China frigate Wenshan on<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ninternational hailing channel nine.\u00a0 <\/span>Respond immediately.\u00a0 <\/span>Over.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nCaptain Han on Wenshan was speaking in excellent English, the universal<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsailors language even in this part of the world, and Yin had to struggle<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nto keep up with the conversation.\u00a0 <\/span>He made a mental note to congratulate<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHan on his resourcefulness-the Wenshan was not a frigate, but if the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncrew of the oil derrick believed that it was, they might be less<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ninclined to resist and more inclined to follow orders. “Frigate Wenshan,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthis is the National Oil Company Barge Nineteen on channel nine.\u00a0 <\/span>We<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nread you loud and clear.\u00a0 <\/span>Over.” Admiral Yin seethed.\u00a0 <\/span>The National Oil<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nCompany.\u00a0 <\/span>That was a Philippine company run by a relative of the new<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPhilippine president, Arturo Mikaso, and headquartered in Manila. Worse,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nit was financed by and operated mostly by rich Texas oil drillers.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAmerican capitalists who obviously thought they could, in their<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntypically imperialistic way, just set up an oil derrick anywhere they<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npleased. The audacity. To even attempt to build a derrick in a neutral<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nzone.\u00a0 <\/span>And Yin knew it wasn’t really neutral at all.\u00a0 <\/span>It was Chinese<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nterritory.\u00a0 <\/span>And the Americans and the Filipinos were trying to rape it.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“National Oil Barge Nineteen, ” Han continued, “you are violating<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ninternational agreements that prohibit any private or commercial mineral<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nexploration or facilities in this area.\u00a0 <\/span>You are ordered to remove all<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nequipment immediately and vacate the area.\u00a0 <\/span>You will receive no further<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwarnings.\u00a0 <\/span>Comply immediately.\u00a0 <\/span>Over.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Vessel Wenshan, we are involved in search and salvage operations at<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthis time, ” a new voice on the radio, young and at ease, replied.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Salvage operations are permitted in international waters.\u00a0 <\/span>We are not<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\naware of any international agreements involving these waters.\u00a0 <\/span>You may<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncontact the Philippine or American governments for clarification.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“National Oil Barge Nineteen, commercial operations in these waters are<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\na direct threat to the national security and business interests of the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPeople’s Republic of China, ” Captain Han replied.\u00a0 <\/span>He knew that Admiral<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nYin would not approve of his debating like this over the radio-he was a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsoldier, Yin would tell him, not a scum-sucking politician-but he wasn’t<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngoing to move a meter closer to the Philippine oil derrick unless<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\neveryone on board understood why. “You are ordered to discontinue all<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\noperations immediately or I will take action.”\u00a0 <\/span>There was no further<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nreply from the barge crew.\u00a0 <\/span>“HF radio traffic from the barge, sir, “<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nLubu said, relaying a report from his Radio section.\u00a0 <\/span>“They may be<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncontacting headquarters.” Contacting headquarters?\u00a0 <\/span>There was no reason<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfor the people on the drilling platform to do anything other than<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndismantle.\u00a0 <\/span>And to do it immediately. Yin shook his head in disbelief.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd anger.\u00a0 <\/span>China had been forced to cede an island chain that was<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nrightly theirs, forced to set up a neutral zone and allow free<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnavigation in the area, only to have it thrown back in their faces.\u00a0 <\/span>The<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\narrogance! “This is unacceptable!”\u00a0 <\/span>Yin spat.\u00a0 <\/span>“Any idiot knows this is<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nChinese territory, whether this is called neutral territory or not.\u00a0 <\/span>How<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndare they “We can relay a message to Headquarters and report the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nviolation, sir. Yin bristled.\u00a0 <\/span>“This is not a mere violation, Lubu. This<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nis an act of aggression!\u00a0 <\/span>They know full well that the neutral zone is<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\noff-limits to all commercial activity, and that includes salvage<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\noperations-if indeed that is what they are really doing.\u00a0 <\/span>This task<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nforce will not sit idly by while these bastards ignore international law<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand challenge my authority.” Lubu had not seen his Admiral this angry in<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\na very long time. “Sir, if we are seriously considering an armed<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nresponse, perhaps Headquarters… Admiral Yin cut him off.\u00a0 <\/span>“These<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npeople aren’t worth the aggravation of an explanation. Have you<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nforgotten that I’m in charge of this area?\u00a0 <\/span>It is my responsibility to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nprotect our territory.”\u00a0 <\/span>Yin shook his head angrily. “The brazenness of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthis is what’s so astounding to me.\u00a0 <\/span>Don’t they remember history? Hasn’t<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthere been enough of their blood shed over these islands?\u00a0 <\/span>Have they<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngone senile?\u00a0 <\/span>Well, let’s remind them of the full power of this force.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nYin turned to Lubu.\u00a0 <\/span>“Captain, relay to Captain Han on Wenshan: ‘You are<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nordered to move within one thousand meters of the platform so as to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nprovide sufficient lighting and covering fire from your deck guns, then<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndispatch a boarding crew to take the captain, officers, and other<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npersonnel on board the derrick into custody.\u00a0 <\/span>After the crew is removed<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfrom the barge, you will destroy the entire facility with heavy gunfire.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n‘To Xingyi: have them move closer and be ready to assist.\u00a0 <\/span>To the rest<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nof this task group: ‘go to general quarters.” Relay the messages and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nexecute.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Number-one launch is manned and ready, sir, ” the officer 0f( the deck<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nreported.\u00a0 <\/span>“The chief reports davits for launch number three are fouled;<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhe recommends switching to launch four.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“So ordered.\u00a0 <\/span>I want that launch freed up as soon as possible. Have<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nother launches checked and report status to me immediately.”\u00a0 <\/span>Han wasn’t<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngoing to say why-he was afraid they might need the damned launches for<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthemselves.\u00a0 <\/span>A few minutes later, with the ~nshan barely maintaining a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nclose and comfortable position away from Phu Qui Island, the motor<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nlaunches were lowered overboard.\u00a0 <\/span>Each wooden launch, forty feet long<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand eight feet wide, carried a crew of three and eight sailors armed<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwith AK-47 look-alike Type 56 rifles and sidearms. The launches were<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nonly a few dozen meters away from the Wenshan when the world seemed to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nexplode for Admiral Yin, Captain Han, Captain Lubu, and the rest of the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntask force. The engines on the Wenshan had been racing back and forth in<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nresponse to the helmsman’s attempts to hold the ship’s position steady.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHan had been watching the number-four motor launch moving away from the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nship and did not hear his crewman’s warning: “Shoal water!\u00a0 <\/span>Depth three<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmeters .\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>depth two meters…\u00a0 <\/span>depth under the keel decreasing.” From<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe barges on Phu Qui Island, bullets began pelting the starboard side<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nof the Wenshan as the crewman aboard the oil-derrick barges fired on the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\napproaching launches and at the Wenshan itself. Captain Han had not<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nheard the shoal-water warning.\u00a0 <\/span>He ran back into the bridge.\u00a0 <\/span>“Radio to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nHong Lung, we are under fire from the oil barges. “Captain, depth under<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe keel…!” Suddenly the Wenshan was pushed laterally toward the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nisland and struck a coral outcropping surrounding Phu Qui Island.\u00a0 <\/span>The<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npatrol boat heeled sharply to starboard, the sudden, crunching stop<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nflinging every crewman on the bridge off his feet.\u00a0 <\/span>The gusting winds<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nonly served to push the Wenshan harder against the coral, and although<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe brittle calcium formations gave way immediately under the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfour-hundred-ton ship, the sound of straining steel combined with the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhowling winds and the cries of the surprised crewmen made it seem like<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe end of the world was at hand. The officer of the deck had raised his<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nheadset microphone to his lips and shouted, “Comm, bridge, relay to Hong<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nLung, we are under fire, we are under fire..\u00a0 <\/span>.”\u00a0 <\/span>Then amid the tearing<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand crunching sounds: “We have hit the reef, we have hit the reef.”\u00a0 <\/span>But<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe message transmitted to the rest of the task force group by the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nstartled and terrified radioman was, Wenshan to Hong Lung, we are under<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfire.\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>we have been hit.” ABOARD THE FLAGSHIP HONG LUNG When the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwarning from the Wenshan pierced the air in the bridge of the Hong Lung,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAdmiral Yin spun on his heels to Captain Lubu and shouted, “Order<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nWenshan and Xingyi to open fire, full missile and gun salvo.” Lubu<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwasn’t going to question this order-he had been fearing just such an<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\noccurrence.\u00a0 <\/span>He quickly relayed the command to his officer of the deck.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSeconds later the stormy night sky erupted with flashes of light and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nstreaks of fire off in the distance.\u00a0 <\/span>Using their sophisticated Round<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nBall fire-control radar, the fast attack craft Kingyi had maintained a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncontinuous attack solution on the barges with their Fei Lung-7<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsurface-to-surface missiles.\u00a0 <\/span>As soon as the warning cry had been issued<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nby Captain Han on Wenshan, Captain Miliyan on Xingyi had ordered all<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmissiles and guns made ready for action.\u00a0 <\/span>When he received the message<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfrom Admiral Yin, the Fei Lung guided missiles were in the air. The<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nFlying Dragon missiles received initial course guidance from the Round<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nBall targeting radar, and a small booster engine ignited that punched<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe twenty.two-hundred-pound missile out of its storage canister.\u00a0 <\/span>After<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nflying a hundred yards away from the ship, the big second-stage<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsustainer motor kicked on, accelerating the missile to Mach one.\u00a0 <\/span>A<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nradar altimeter kept the missile precisely at one hundred feet above the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nchoppy waters until it hit the easternmost barge and exploded six<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nseconds after launch. The pointed titanium armor-piercing warhead<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsection thruster cap of the Fei Lung missile allowed the missile to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndrive through the thin steel hull of the outermost barge before<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndetonating the warhead.\u00a0 <\/span>The four-hundred-pound high-explosive warhead<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncreated a massive firestorm all across the Philippine oil platform,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nspraying red-hot chunks of metal and propellant for hundreds of yards in<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nevery direction.\u00a0 <\/span>A wall of fire caused by a wave of burning petroleum<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwashed across Phu Qui Island, swirling into an inverted tornado that<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndefied the late summer rains and stabbed skyward. Captain Han watched<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe spectacular firestorm that was once a Philippine oil derrick for<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nseveral moments until he realized that the Wenshan had returned to an<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\neven keel and that the forward 76-millimeter gun had opened fire on the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nplatform, pounding the mountain of flames with twenty kilogram<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nradar-guided shells.\u00a0 <\/span>“Cease fire!”\u00a0 <\/span>Han shouted at his officer of the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndeck, who was staring in rapt fascination out the forward windshield at<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe maelstrom.\u00a0 <\/span>“Cease fire!”\u00a0 <\/span>he repeated before the forward 76 was<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsilent.\u00a0 <\/span>“Helm!\u00a0 <\/span>Move us out to two kilometers from the island.\u00a0 <\/span>Signal<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe motor launches and the Hong Lung that we are maneuvering out of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nshoal water.” As Wenshan eased away from the huge fires still raging on<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe Philippine oil barges, Xingyi launched two more missiles at the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbarge until Admiral Yin on the Hong Lung ordered him to stop.\u00a0 <\/span>One Fei<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nLung missile was quite enough to suppress any hostile fire from the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsmall oil facility, and two missiles would have completely destroyed<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nit-four missiles, half the Xingyi ‘s load, could devastate an aircraft<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncarrier. Admiral Yin’s intent was clear-he wanted no one alive on that<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nplatform. “Seven, this is the Dragon, ” the radio message began.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Recover your boarding parties and rejoin the group.\u00a0 <\/span>Over.” Captain Han<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npicked up the radio microphone himself.\u00a0 <\/span>“I copy, Dragon, ” Han replied.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“I recommend that one of my motor launches search for survivors.\u00a0 <\/span>Over.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Request denied, Seven, ” came the reply.\u00a0 <\/span>“Dragon Leader orders all<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nDragon units to withdraw.” One hour later, all traces of the Philippine<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\noil derrick and barges were swept away in the rising tide of the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwindswept South China Sea currents.\u00a0 <\/span>Except for a few pieces of pipe and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhalf-burned bodies, the oil platform had ceased to exist. MALACANANG<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPALACE, MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES THURSDAY, 9 JUNE 1994, 0602 HOURS LOCAL<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSince the Marcos years, the official residence of the Philippine<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPresident, Malacanang Palace, had undergone a major transformation.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nConcerned for his security, Marcos had transformed the graceful<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\neighteenth-century Spanish colonial mansion into an ugly fortress-he had<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nblocked most of the windows and replaced stained glass and crystal with<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsteel or reinforced bulletproof glass.\u00a0 <\/span>Wishing to distance her<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngovernment from the dictatorial excesses of the Marcos regime, Corazon<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAquino had chosen to live in the less pretentious Guest House and had<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nturned the palace into a museum of shame, where citizens and tourists<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncould gape in wonder at Marcos’ underground bunker-some called it his<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“torture chambers”-and Imelda’s cavernous bedroom, stratospheric canopy<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbed; her infamous shoe closets and her bulletproof brassiere. The new<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPresident of the Philippines, seventy-year-old Arturo Mikaso, changed<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe Malacanang Palace back into a historical landmark that his people<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncould be proud of, as well as a livable residence for himself and a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nworkable office complex 46ions of Malacanang Palace were now open for<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntours when they were not in use by the President.\u00a0 <\/span>In time the palace<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nagain became a symbol for the city of Manila itself. But now, in the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngrowing summer dawn, the palace was the scene of a hastily arranged<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmeeting of the President’s Cabinet.\u00a0 <\/span>In Mikaso’s residential office,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwhere the President could see the Pasig River that wound through<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnorthern Manila, President Mikaso sipped a cup of tea. Mikaso was the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nelder statesman, a white-haired man who was taller and more<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npowerful-looking than most Filipinos, a wealthy landowner and ex-senator<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwho was immensely popular with most of his people.\u00a0 <\/span>Mikaso had been<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nelected as President of the nation when Corazon Aquino’s second<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfour-year term came to an end.\u00a0 <\/span>He won the election only after forming<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nan alliance with the National Democratic Front, the main political organ<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nof the Communist Party of the Philippines; and the Moro National<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nLiberation Front, a pro-Islamic political group that represented the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthousands of citizens of the Islamic faith in the south Philippines.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“How many were killed, General?”\u00a0 <\/span>Mikaso asked.\u00a0 <\/span>“Thirty men, all<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncivilians, ” the Chief of Staff of the New Philippine Army, General<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nRoberto La Loma Santos, replied somberly.\u00a0 <\/span>“Their barge came under full<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nattack by a Red Chinese patrol.\u00a0 <\/span>No orders to surrender, no quarter<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngiven, no attempts to offer assistance or rescue the attack.\u00a0 <\/span>The<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbastards attacked, then slinked away like cowardly dogs.” A tall,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndark-haired man, standing alone near the great stone fireplace, turned<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntoward General Santos.\u00a0 <\/span>“You have still not explained to us, General, “<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSecond Vice President J~~e Trujillo Samar said in a deep voice, “what<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthat barge was doing in the neutral zone, anchored to Pagasa Island.\u00a0 <\/span>.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“And what are you implying, Samar?”\u00a0 <\/span>First Vice President Daniel<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nTeguina, who was seated near the President’s desk, challenged.\u00a0 <\/span>Teguina<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwas politically an ally of Samar but ideologically a complete opposite.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPart of the coalition formed during the 1994 elections was the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nappointment of forty-one year-old Daniel Teguina.\u00a0 <\/span>Much younger than<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMikaso, Teguina was not only a vice president, but also the leader of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe Philippine House of Representatives, an ex-military officer,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnewspaper publisher, and leader of the National Democratic Front, a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nleftist political organization. With General J~~e Trujillo Samarwho<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbesides being the second vice president was also governor of the newly<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nformed Commonwealth of Mindanao, which had won the right to form its own<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nautonomous commonwealth in 1990-these three men formed a fiery coalition<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthat, although successful in continuing the important post-Marcos<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nrebuilding process in the Philippines, was stormy and divisive.\u00a0 <\/span>“Those<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwere innocent Filipino workers on the barge..\u00a0 <\/span>.”\u00a0 <\/span>said Teguina. Samar<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnodded and said, “Who were illegally drilling for oil in the neutral<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nzone.\u00a0 <\/span>Did they think the Chinese were going to just sit back and watch<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthem work?”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“They were not drilling for oil, just taking soundings, ” said Teguina.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Well, they had no business there, ” Samar insisted.\u00a0 <\/span>“The Chinese<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nNavy’s actions were outrageous, but those workers were in clear<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nviolation of the law.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“You’re a cold bastard, ” Teguina cut in. “Blaming the dead for an act<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nof aggression “Enough, enough, ” the elderly Mikaso said wearily,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ngesturing for the men to stop.\u00a0 <\/span>“I did not call you here to argue.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nTeguina glared at both men.\u00a0 <\/span>“Well, we can’t just sit back and do<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nnothing.\u00a0 <\/span>The Chinese just launched a major act of aggression.\u00a0 <\/span>We must<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndo something.\u00a0 <\/span>We must-“<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Enough, ” Mikaso interrupted.\u00a0 <\/span>“We must begin an investigation and find<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nout exactly why that barge was operating in those waters, then. “Sir, I<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nrecommend that we also step up patrols in the Spratly Island area, “<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nGeneral Santos said.\u00a0 <\/span>“This may be a prelude to a full-scale invasion of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe Spratlys by the Chinese.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Risky, ” Samar concluded.\u00a0 <\/span>“A naval response would be seen as<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nprovocative, and we have no way of winning any conflict with the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPeople’s Liberation Navy.\u00a0 <\/span>We would gain nothing… “Always the general,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\neh, Samar?”\u00a0 <\/span>Teguina asked derisively. He turned away from him to the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nPresident.\u00a0 <\/span>“I agree with General Santos.\u00a0 <\/span>We have a navy, however<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsmall-I say to send them to protect our interests in the Spratlys.\u00a0 <\/span>We<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhave an obligation to our people to do nothing short of that.” Arturo<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMikaso looked at each of his advisers in turn and nodded in agreement.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nLittle did he realize the extraordinary chain of events he was about to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nset into motion with that slight nod of his head. OVER NEW MEXICO, 100<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMILES SOUTH OF ALBUQUERQUE 9 JUNE 1994, 0745 HOURS LOCAL with his boyish<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nface, long, gangly arms and legs, his baseball cap, and his<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthirty-two-ounce squeeze bottle of Pepsi-Cola-he drank five such bottles<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\na day yet was still as skinny as a rail-Jonathan Colin Masters resembled<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\na kid at a Saturday afternoon ball game.\u00a0 <\/span>He had bright-green eyes and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nshort brown hair-luckily, the baseball cap hid Masters’ hair, or else<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhis stubborn cowlicks would have made him appear even younger, almost<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nadolescent, to the range officers and technicians standing nearby.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMasters, his assistants and technicians, and a handful of Air Force and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nDefense Advanced Research and Projects Agency (DARPA) officials were on<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nboard a converted DC-10 airliner, forty-five thousand feet over the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nWhite Sands Missile Test Range in south-central New Mexico.\u00a0 <\/span>Unlike the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmilitary and Pentagon officials, who were poring over checklists, notes,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand schematics, Masters had his feet up on a raised track in the cargo<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsection of the massive airliner, sipping his cola and smiling like a kid<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwho was at the circus for the first time. “The winds are kicking up<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nagain, Doctor Masters, ” U.S. Air Force Colonel Ralph Foch said to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMasters, his voice one of concern. Masters wordlessly tipped his soda<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbottle at the Air Force range safety officer and reached to his control<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nconsole, punched in instructions to the computer, and studied the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nscreen.\u00a0 <\/span>“Carrier aircraft has compensated for the winds, and ALARM has<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nacknowledged the change, ” Masters reported.\u00a0 <\/span>“We got it covered,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nRalph.” Colonel Ralph Foch wasn’t mollified, and being called “Ralph” by<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\na man-no, a kid-twenty years his junior didn’t help.\u00a0 <\/span>“The<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\none-hundred-millibar wind patterns are approaching the second-stage ‘Q’<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nlimits, Doctor, ” Foch said irritably.\u00a0 <\/span>“That’s the third increase over<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe forecast we’ve seen in the past two hours.\u00a0 <\/span>We should consider<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\naborting the flight.” Masters glanced over his shoulder at Foch and<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsmiled a dimpled, toothy smile.\u00a0 <\/span>“ALARM compensated OK, Ralph, ” Masters<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nrepeated.\u00a0 <\/span>“No need to abort.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“But we’re on the edge of the envelope as it is, ” Colonel Foch reminded<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhim. “The edge of your envelope, Ralph, ” Masters said.\u00a0 <\/span>He got to his<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfeet, walked a few steps aft, and patted the nose of a huge,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntorpedo-shaped object sitting on its launch rail. “You established your<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nflight parameters based on data I provided, and you naturally made your<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nparameters more restrictive.\u00a0 <\/span>ALARM here knows its limits and it still<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsays go.\u00a0 <\/span>So we go. “Doctor Masters, as the range safety officer I’m<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nhere to insure a safe launch for both the ground and the air crews.\u00a0 <\/span>My<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nparameters are established to-“<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Colonel Foch, if you want to abort the mission, say the word, ” Masters<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsaid calmly, barely suppressing a casual burp.\u00a0 <\/span>“The Navy doesn’t get<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ntheir relay hookup satellites on the air until tomorrow, you can spend<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe night at the Blytheville, Arkansas, Holiday Inn again, and I can<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nbill DARPA another one hundred thousand dollars for gas.\u00a0 <\/span>It’s your<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ndecision.”<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“I’m merely expressing my concern about the winds at altitude, Doctor<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMasters .\u00a0 <\/span>. “And I replied to your concerns, ” Masters said with a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsmile.\u00a0 <\/span>“My little baby here says it’s a go.\u00a0 <\/span>Unless we fly somewhere<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nelse to launch, away from the jet stream .\u00a0 <\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>“DARPA is very specific<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nabout the launch area, Doctor.\u00a0 <\/span>These satellites are important to the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nNavy.\u00a0 <\/span>They want to moni tor the booster’s progress throughout the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nflight.\u00a0 <\/span>The launch must be over the White Sands range. “Fine.\u00a0 <\/span>Then we<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncontinue to monitor the winds and let the computers do their jobs. If<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthey can’t properly compensate without going outside the range, we turn<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\naround on the racetrack and try again.\u00a0 <\/span>If we go outside the launch<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwindow, we abort.\u00a0 <\/span>Fair enough?” Foch could do nothing but nod in<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nagreement.\u00a0 <\/span>This launch was important to both the Navy and Air Force,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nand he wasn’t prepared to issue a launch abort unilaterally. The object<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncalled ALARM that Masters so lovingly regarded was the Air Launched<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlert Response Missile; there were two of the huge missiles on board the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nDC-10 that morning.\u00a0 <\/span>ALARM was a four-stage space booster designed to<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nplace up to three-quarter-ton payloads in low-to-medium Earth orbit by<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nlaunching the booster from the cargo hold of an aircraft-in effect, the<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nDC-10 was the ALARM booster’s first stage, with the other three stages<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nprovided by powerful solid-fuel rockets on the missile itself. The ALARM<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmissile had a long, slender, one-piece wing that swiveled out from its<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nstowed position along the missile’s fuselage after launch. The wing<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwould supply lift and increase the effectiveness of the solid rocket<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmotors while the booster was in the atmosphere, which greatly increased<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe power and payload capability of the booster.\u00a0 <\/span>An ALARM booster could<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncarry as much as fifteen hundred pounds in its ten-foot-long,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nforty-inch-diameter payload bay. On today’s mission, each of Masters’<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nALARM boosters carried four small two-hundred-pound communications<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsatellites, which Jon Masters, in his own inimitable way, called<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nNIRTSats-“Need It Right This Second” satellites.\u00a0 <\/span>Unlike more<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nconventional satellites, which weighed hundreds or even thousands of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\npounds, were placed in high geosynchronous orbits almost twenty-three<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthousand miles above the Equator, and could carry dozens of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncommunications channels, NIRTSats were small, lightweight satellites<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nwhich carried only a few communications channels and were placed in low,<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\none-hundred-to-one-thousand-mile orbits.\u00a0 <\/span>Unlike geosynchronous<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsatellites, which orbited the Earth once per day and therefore appeared<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nto be stationary over the Equator, NIRTSats orbited the Earth once every<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nninety to three hundred minutes, which meant that usually more than one<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nsatellite had to be launched to cover a particular area.\u00a0 <\/span>But a NIRTSat<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncost less than one-fiftieth the price of a fullsized satellite, and it<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\ncost less to insure and launch as well. Even with a constellation of<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfour NIRTSats, a customer with a need for satellite communications could<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nget it for less than one-third the price of buying “air time” on an<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nexisting satellite.\u00a0 <\/span>A single ALARM booster launch, which cost only ten<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nmillion dollars from start to finish, could give a customer instant<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nglobal communications capability from anywhere in the world-and it took<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nonly a few days to get the system in place, instead of the months or<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\neven years it took for conventional launches. NIRTSats could be<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nrepositioned anywhere in orbit if requirements changed, and Masters had<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\neven devised a way to recover a NIRTSat intact and reuse it, which saved<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nthe customer even more money. Masters’ customer this day was, as it<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nusually was, the Department of Defense, which was why all the military<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nobservers were on hand. Masters was to place four NIRTSats in a<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nfour-hundred-mile-high polar orbit over the western Pacific to provide<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Read the full book by downloading it below.<\/p>\n

DOWNLOAD EPUB<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Book Preview SKY MASTERS \u00a0 BY DALE BROWN \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Flight of the Old Dog (1987) \u00a0 Silver Tower (1988) \u00a0 Day of the Cheetah (1989) \u00a0 Hammerheads (1990) \u00a0 DONALD I. FINE, INC. \u00a0 G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS New York G. P. Putnam’s Sons Publishers Since 1838 200 Madison Avenue New … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[99],"class_list":["post-1946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dale-brown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}