Air Battle Force by Dale Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

wouldn’t need its radar to attack.
    â€œHard left ninety-degree turn,” Patrick said.
    â€œWhat? You want me to turn toward Iran?”
    â€œIf we get caught in the open, we’ll be a sitting duck,” Patrick said. “We’ll stay in the higher terrain to the west.” Rebecca did not argue further but turned sharply left. The tactic worked. Once they turned ninety degrees from the MiG-29’s course, the MiG’s pulse-Doppler radar detected no relative speed difference and squelched out the radar return. “The MiG broke lock,” Patrick reported. “He’s moving to seven o’clock, twenty-five miles. We’re out of his radar cone.”
    They weren’t out of the woods yet, but soon they left the fighters from Zahedan behind them. There were still several short- and long-range surface-to-air missile sites along the border, but as they flew along the Mighand Highlands northbound, they were actually flying behind them. As soon as they were clear of the dry lake beds, Patrick steered the EB-1C back across the Afghan border. They were able to climb up to fifteen thousand feet, high enough to escape visual detection and stay away from any antiaircraft artillery units that might pop up unexpectedly.
    â€œPuppeteer, this is Control,” David Luger radioed. “I show you going across the Turkmen border. The Turkmen army uses lots of Russian antiaircraft systems, and a lot of that stuff is right in front of you.”
    â€œI’m going to make one try at linking up with the StealthHawk, and then I’ll bug out,” Patrick responded.
    Minutes later Patrick had locked the StealthHawk’s encrypted beacon up with his laser radar, and they began a tail chase with the StealthHawk drone, which had already crossed the border into Turkmenistan. Rebecca turned the bomber to the northeast, closing the distance rapidly on full military power. “We’re sucking gas like crazy,” she mused. “How much longer before you’re in direct datalink range?”
    â€œAbout five minutes,” Patrick said, “if our range calculations are . . .” As soon as they did close to within ten miles, Patrick was able to reestablish the uplink to the StealthHawk. “Got it!” Patrick crowed. “It’s responding!”
    At the same instant their threat-warning receiver came to life. “Caution, SA-4 surveillance radar, twelve o’clock, thirty-eight miles, well below detection threshold,” the threat-warning computer announced. The SA-4 was a high-performance mobile antiaircraft missile—even launched from so far away, it could reach them in less than two minutes.
    â€œFor Christ’s sake, General, we’re flying right for that SA-4 . . . !”
    â€œKeep going, Rebecca. We’ve almost got it.”
    â€œWarning, SA-4 target-acquisition mode, twelve o’clock, twenty miles.” The system activated their countermeasures system, including the towed countermeasures array—they were an item of interest again. But there was nothing they could do until they got the StealthHawk turned around.
    â€œDamn . . . the Turkmen might be picking up our datalink signals,” Patrick said. Although the signals between the bomber and the StealthHawk drone were encrypted, the transmissions themselves could be detected. Soon, the Turkmen could pinpoint their location, no matter how stealthy they were.
    â€œLet’s get out of here, McLanahan!”
    â€œAlmost got it. . . .” He quickly entered in instructions for the StealthHawk to turn around, and it responded. “StealthHawk responding!” Patrick said. Rebecca immediately started a hard left turn. “ Wings level, pilot . . .”
    â€œI can’t—we’re going to get shot right in the face by that SA-4!”
    â€œCloser, Rebecca,” Patrick urged. “It’s turning away from that SA-4.