Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 06 (20 page)

 
          
“How
would they be employed?” the President asked.

 
          
“Two
groups of two, plus one ground spare, for the armed surveillance role,” McLanahan
replied. “One plane just outside Chinese long- range radar coverage, the other
over the assigned defense area. From the refueling track near
Okinawa
, it’s one hour to the southern tip of
Taiwan
, near
Quemoy
Island
, so each bomber can stay about four hours
on station. Just before the first bomber is scheduled to depart the station to
refuel, the other bomber takes its place. The teams rotate every sixteen hours,
so the second team gets a full eight hours of crew rest on the ground. If
fighting breaks out, we switch into surge mode—we recover, rearm, refuel, and
relaunch bombers as fast as we can, at least two at a time.”

 
          
“And
how long can you possibly keep that up? ” Secretary of Defense Chastain asked.
“Aren’t you afraid of exhausting your crews?”

 
          
“The
limiting factor is the planes, not the crews,” McLanahan answered. “On patrol,
it’s all high-altitude cruising time. All combat flying is stressful, but the
high-altitude cruise legs will give the crews a little opportunity to
decompress. During a combat surge, the crews will only be in actual hostile
territory anywhere from ten to twenty minutes maximum—that’s the power we have
with standoff weapons. In a combat surge, we anticipate running out of weapons
before running out of combat-ready aircraft. Of course, we’re just a covering
force, sir—we’d expect support from the Navy and Air Force within three to four
days.”

 
          
“Pretty
optimistic,” Chastain sniffed. “I haven’t heard you give any estimates for
combat attrition.”

 
          
“Attrition?
You mean, how many Megafortresses will we lose?” Masters retorted. “I’ll answer
that one, Art—zero. Zip. Nada. The EB-52s will be grounded because of systems
failures before
China
even gets a shot off at one.”

 
          
“That’s
pretty arrogant of you, Dr. Masters,” Chastain said. “If I’m not mistaken, the
PRC got a couple of your EB-52s in the
Philippines
conflict.”

 
          
“The
planes we’re using now are a generation more advanced than the ones we used
three years ago—the weapons are, too,” Masters said resolutely. “The bad guys
won’t
touch
us. We’re a lot safer
than those subs you got shadowing that battle group, I guarantee
that”

 
          
“All
we ask is that you let us act with a great degree of autonomy, once you send us
into the area defense ‘basket,’ ” General Samson said. “We can set up real-time
datalinks to provide the task force commander with a look at everything we’re
looking at, but we’re vulnerable and weak if we can’t act right away.”

 
          
“That
can’t be helped, General,” Chastain said. “A B-52 bomber loaded to the gills
with cruise missiles, taking on a Chinese naval battle group—we’re going to
insist
on absolute control. ”

 
          
“Although
we’re using strategic bombers, sir, we’re actually flying a
close-air-support-type mission,” Samson explained. “We’re flying close to the
enemy, staying out of sight but zooming into lethal range when it’s time to
strike, then bugging out of lethal range again. We must be given authority to
shoot when it comes time to do so—we can’t loiter within lethal range
hoping
to be given the order. As Patrick
explained, sir, our objective is to match, and never exceed, the level of force
used by the enemy—but we need absolute real-time authority to shift our level
of response. As good as Dr. Masters’s surveillance and communications gear is,
it’s not perfect nor one hundred percent reliable. Our guys
must
be given authority when to shoot.
That’s why we’re here, sir.”

 
          
President
Martindale shook his head and gave them a weary smile. “Can’t believe we’re
considering using a
private company
to fight our battles for us,” he said. “I feel like I’m hiring mercenaries.”

 
          
“Then
make us part of the military, sir,” Patrick McLanahan said. Several mouths
dropped open in surprise—the President’s, Freeman’s, Samson’s, even Masters’s.
“What did you say, Patrick?” Samson finally asked.

           
“Make us part of the military
again,” McLanahan explained. “Recommission the B-52 bombers—but make it a fleet
of EB-52 Megafortresses instead. Right now, you have a fleet of eight converted
bombers. Dr. Masters and I have identified thirty H-model B-52s in the fleet
that are suitable for the conversion. Within two years, maybe less, we can have
a wing, two squadrons, of EB-52 Megafortresses flying. They can do any mission
you can think of: reconnaissance, drone control, defense suppression, minelaying,
strategic or tactical precision attack, heavy bombardment, even air defense and
space launch. Reactivate Dyess Air Force Base in
Texas
as the initial base, or colocate the unit
with Jon’s facilities in
Arkansas
.”

 
          
“I
think we’ve got plenty on our plate right now without having to digest that
idea,” Chief of Staff Jerrod Hale interjected. He made it obvious he didn’t
think much of the idea—but Freeman, Samson, Masters, and even Secretary of
Defense Arthur Chastain suddenly wore thoughtful expressions as Hale continued,
“You’ve got ten minutes before you need to be on the road for that speech, Mr.
President. I suggest—”

 
          
Just
then, there was a knock on the Oval Office door, and before the Secret Service
agent could fully open it, Admiral George Balboa, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, stormed into the room. “I’m sorry, Mr. President,” he thundered, “but
my aide was given a message by someone in the communications center that the
meeting had been postponed an hour. But there’s no record of any such message.
Then, as if by some weird
coincidence
,
I find Brad Elliott outside in the reception area.
Brad Elliott.
Would somebody tell me what he’s doing?” And then
Balboa noticed General Samson, Patrick McLanahan, and Jon Masters in the Oval
Office, seated with the President and his military advisors. “Would somebody
mind telling me what’s going on?”

           
“Brad Elliott?” the President asked
in a suddenly squeaky voice. “He’s
here
?”
And then everyone understood why Balboa was late for this meeting with the
President. He smiled mischievously and shook his head, saying, “Nooo . . . no,
Elliott wouldn’t
dare.”

 
          
“Wouldn’t
dare leave a phony message with my aide so he or his cronies can talk with the
President of the
United States
alone about some cockamamie secret stealth
bomber attack plan?” Balboa asked in a breathlessly sarcastic tone. “Hell, sir,
I’m surprised he didn’t try to ambush my car with one of his robot drone
missiles. But it worked, didn’t it? You’ve been talking about some covert air
patrol of the
Formosa
Strait
against the
PLAN.”

 
          
“We’re
discussing what
China
’s next move might be,” Freeman said, “and what we should do about it.”

 
          
“Do
. . . what we should
do
?” Balboa
asked, with considerable restraint evident in his voice. Balboa was a
hot-tempered but dynamic and well-respected Navy veteran, strong-willed and
intelligent, just the way Martindale liked his advisors. “Oh, yeah, the Air
Force’s scheme to put those experimental ‘stealth’ B-52s out there.” Balboa
said “B-52” as if it were the punch line to a very bad joke. “Mr. President,
I’m prepared to brief you on the Joint Chiefs’ recommendation.”

 
          
“The
carriers,” the President guessed. “Full-court press.”

 
          
“It’s
the best response—maximum firepower if we need it, maximum visibility
otherwise,” Balboa said. “Send both
Independence
and
Washington
into the
Formosa Strait
right away. When
Vinson
replaces
Lincoln
in the
Arabian Sea
, we send
Lincoln
into the theater until things calm down,
then rotate it with
Indy
and send her
home for her decommissioning party. ”

 
          
“I’m
reminding the President that there are powerful elements of the Japanese
parliament that see this administration as more hawkish when it comes to Asia
in general and China in particular, and they’re fearful of us using military
force if it means threatening trade and instigating military and economic
conflict,” Freeman said. “The carriers are a powerful weapon—maybe
too
big a stick. The bombers could keep
an eye on things without stirring up too much hostility.”

 
          
“He’s
right, Admiral,” the President said. “Two, three carriers in the
Formosa Strait
—that’s an awful lot of firepower, almost
Desert Storm-sized. It’s bound to make
China
nervous.”

 
          
“It’s
supposed
to make ’em nervous,” Balboa
said with a loud laugh.

           
“Mr. President, we’re totally exposed
right now. If the Chinese try an attack against
Quemoy
,
Matsu
, or
any of
Taiwan
’s islands, we pound on ’em. My guess is, they’ll back off with two
flattops parked in their front yards.

 
          
“Mr.
President, the Chinese wouldn’t dare try an invasion of Taiwan,” Balboa went on
with a confident tone, punctuated with an exasperated glance at Freeman, “but
if they’re contemplating following up their attacks on Quemoy with a play on
the island of Formosa itself, we can have the carriers standing by ready to respond.
The carriers’ll discourage the Taiwanese from getting too frisky too. We’ll see
to that.”

 
          
“The
carriers aren’t in position, Admiral,” Freeman argued.

 
          
“We’ve
got four frigates in the area ready to assist
Taiwan
, sir, plus land-based attack planes out of
Okinawa
,” Balboa said. “Plus the Taiwanese are no
slouches when it comes to defending their islands.
Indy
will be on station in two days, and
George
will be on in five, tops. Just the
news
that two American carriers are on the way will scare that PLAN
task force right back to base. They’ll back off, just like they did last
March.”

 
          
“Admiral,
we’re marching towards a huge naval confrontation by racing to put two aircraft
carrier battle groups in the
Formosa Strait
to oppose
China
’s task force,” Freeman said. “Yes, it might scare them into
retreating—or it might provoke them into firing first. Putting a couple of our
EB-52 Megafortress stealth bombers in the area will keep things quiet and give
us plenty of firepower in case the Chinese task force tries something. No one
will know we ever had the Megafortress bombers on station.”

 
          
“Is
that what you said about the B-2 attacks against
Iran
, General?” Balboa retorted. The conflict in
the
Persian Gulf
region between
Iran
and the
United States
was still classified top secret, but the
rumors and the heated debate over the mysterious attacks on
Iran
’s secret military bases and warships in the
Gulf
of
Oman
were just beginning. “ ‘No one would find
out?’ Then why is it that half of Congress is calling for an investigation into
an alleged illegal overflight of several Asian countries, including
China
, by a B-2 stealth bomber? Why is it that
some loudmouth congresspersons are calling for the President’s
impeachment
?”