Episode 3

E-3 “Sentry Seven,” 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron

Flight Level 390, Philippine Sea

Lieutenant Langdon removed his headset, stood up and yawned hugely.  Although it was the same time zone here over the Pacific as it was back “home” at Kadena in Japan, it still felt like he had been wrung out.  The same feeling everyone got after being on an airliner for several hours.  In this case, the E-3G Sentry he was working in was actually a derivative of the ancient Boeing 707 airliner.  Not seen in commercial service for years, the US Air Force absolutely loved the 707. The E-3 was only one of a dozen specialized aircraft based on the old airliner.

Also known as “AWACS,” the E-3 was among other things a fully self-contained air traffic control center.  In this case, the crew from Japan was tasked with keeping an eye on the air traffic related to yet another readiness drill.  This time, several “strike packages” were working up from bases in Okinawa and the newly renovated Clark field in the Philippines.  The exercise was to rendezvous over the ocean, meet up with a tanker, tank up and then“attack” an island in the south China sea. All of this was in response to China’s increasing belligerence in the area.  The Philippine government’s objections to US military presence in their country had magically evaporated once they realized that China could and would take whatever they wanted in that disputed waterway.

In this case, the live-fire exercise was taking place over this disputed patch of sea.  For the US and her allies, it was international waters and this exercise was completely legitimate.  To China, this was “an unwarranted provocation.”  Considering the fact that all the planes were fully armed with real weapons, this could go wrong quickly.  So, the AWACS crew was watching and listening.  And watching and listening some more.  Endless hours that everyone fervently prayed would remain mind-numbingly boring.  With aerial refueling, the E-3 could stay on station for over 24 hours with only issues such as crew rest and consumable supplies like food and water for the crew limiting endurance on station.  While the ancient E-3 platform could not actually operate indefinitely, it could outlast its crew.

One of the Sergeants who did the bulk of the work on the aircraft stiffened and waved to get the Lieutenant’s attention.  Langdon reached down and put his headset back on so he could hear her.  “El Tee, I have contacts coming up from that Chinese airbase we were briefed on.  Looks like a possible intercept scramble.”

Langdon consulted with his computer screen and saw the data she was seeing.  As usual, the Sergeant was completely correct.  Sure enough, six contacts were coming into radar range, close to Woody Island.  “Thank you Lemkins.  I am guessing those are the J-11s that we got briefed on.  I better warn the strike package to take care.”  He changed his frequency on the panel in front of him. He had been talking to the F-22s closest to Woody for the last forty minutes so he had their frequencies dialed up. “Eagle Strike Leader this is Sentry. We have some company for you on the scope.”

The reply was immediate. “Thank you Sentry, we see them. Vectoring to keep clear.  Going emcon now.”  Quickly, the data feeds representing the six F-22s disappeared. While “stealth” planes like the F-22 were not technically invisible to radar, their very small radar cross section was very difficult to pick up at long range without the support of a radar transponder.  When the F-22s switched to emcon, that meant turning off their radar transponders and reducing radio emissions to a minimum.  This should allow them to maneuver around the Chinese aircraft without being detected. While the Chinese obviously knew the Americans were in the area, it was a big sky and unless they got a visual on one of the aircraft, they would be unlikely to find them.  In theory, they could use IRST (Infra Red Search and Track) to find the stealthy craft but they were designed to also minimize their IR signature to the point where IRST was almost useless unless you were directly behind them.  On the other hand, the KC-135 which had just finished refueling the F-22’s was a different story.  Yet another variant of the 707, the KC-135 was about as stealthy as a pig in a whorehouse.   “Sustainer Three Five this is Sentry, recommend bug out say again, bug out.”

“Sentry, this is Sustainer we are bugging out.  Flight level 300 at max cruise.”

“Roger that Sustainer. Suggest you come to heading zero niner zero until you reach Philippine national airspace and then make your turn for Kadena.” 

“Sentry, Wilco.”

While nobody really thought the Chinese wanted to rumble with the USA, there was no way that elderly KC-135 had any business in the same sky as those Chinese fighters.  The F-22s had enough endurance now that they’d tanked up to loiter for about 45 minutes before they needed to head back to base.  Idling along at minimum throttle, they could eke out a bit more than that.  They could shadow the Chinese jets, watch their emissions and in general take a gander.  Other than that, it was a game of peek-a-boo.

Until it wasn’t.  “El Tee, I don’t like this.  The Chinese fighters look like they just went full burner, check out that delta vee.”

Once again, Langdon could not disagree with the sergeant.  The J-11s (if that’s what they were) had gone supersonic and were vectoring directly towards the KC-135.  If you wanted to threaten the F-22s, this was a smart move.  You don’t have to find an F-22 to make it useless.  All you had to do was take the gas away and the F-22 would also go away.  Darting towards an unarmed aircraft like the KC-135 was not considered a friendly act by any means.  “Sustainer, this is Sentry.  Advise you expedite your exfil.  Your signal is buster.  Say again buster.”

“Roger that Sentry. Buster to exfil.  Estimate two zero minutes to Philippine airspace.”

“Roger Sustainer, concur your estimate.”  While the Chinese had no reason to harass or attack an unarmed aircraft heading away from them, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try.  At their current speed, the only had about ten more minutes of full burner before they had to throttle back or head for home.  However, in ten minutes they would also be in extreme missile range of the tanker.  “Eagle Strike, come left to 120 and climb to flight level two niner zero.  Maintain current speed.  Prepare for intercept vector.”

“What’s the plan El Tee?”

“When the Chinese lost track of the strike package, they decided to mess with the tanker.  Which is all well in good, but they have now placed themselves BETWEEN the F-22s and the tanker.  This course will bring them up behind the J-11s.  Having six F-22s on your six is bad news in any language.”

“Even Chinese.”

“Roger that, even Chinese.”

The crew of Sentry Seven watched with ever-increasing tension as the computer screens they were monitoring so intently showed the drama playing out two hundred miles off the Philippine coast.  The KC-135 was moving right along by her standards and the Chinese fighters had backed off from their initial sprint into a more economical pursuit.  The F-22’s were no longer visible, but everyone on board assumed they were vectoring in behind the Chinese fighters.

“MADL!  We have tac-net.” 

MADL (Multifunction Advanced Data Link) was originally designed to allow F-35’s to talk to each other without giving away their position by using things like directed radio broadcasts to reduce the likelihood of interception by enemy aircraft. Unfortunately, the F-22s never got MADL. Instead, it had it’s own Intra-Flight Data Link (IFDL) system and could receive but not transmit standard Link-16. This mix of systems was a constant challenge and had led to some aircraft like F-15s carrying pods like Talon HATE which acted as a router node.  In this case, a mixed strike package of F-35s and F-22s were able to use the F-35 as a routing node to translate F-22 data into MADL and then uplink that to the overall tactical data net.  All of which was a very long way of saying that the controllers inside of Sentry Seven could “see” the F-22s and the Chinese couldn’t.  That was the theory anyway.

“Do you think the Chinese see them?”

Langdon shook his head. “I don’t think so.  No fighter pilot likes to have another fighter on his six.  Even if we’re supposedly peaceful friendly types out here.  They would be vectoring around or they would split their formation.”  Instead of doing any of those things, the Chinese were grouped into a classic attack formation, focused on the KC-135.

“Sentry, this is Sustainer, we have threat receivers going crazy here.”

The Chinese fighters had lit up their fire control radars.  This gave them a “hard lock” on the KC-135.  Not a super friendly thing to do.  At this point, they were at the extreme range that the US estimated that the Chinese air to air missiles could effectively engage a target.  Not a great feeling for any of the Americans.

“Eagle Strike, this is Sentry.  The Chinese have lit up Sustainer.  Request intercept in support of Sustainer.  Recommend split formation.  Lead flight to make contact, trailing flight to cover.”

There was no answer from Eagle Strike as they were operating under emcon but the controllers could see the formation change.  Fighter pilots were naturally protective of their tanker brethren and no flight leader would ignore a request for support like that.  Unlike Chinese aircraft, the American aircraft were commanded by the flight leader so the flight controller could “request” or “advise” but not directly order the planes to take a certain action.  In theory, the controllers in the AWACS plane were the quarterbacks and it usually worked out that way in practice but in the end, it was the flight leader that actually ordered the fighters to take action.

US Air Force fighter tactics had already changed to adapt to the combined capabilities of the F-35 and F-22. In reality, they still didn’t know the best way to employ their capabilities.  However, it had quickly become apparent to both the pilots and the planners in the Air Force, that mixed strike packages of F-35s and F-22 provided a significant advantage over each type operating alone.  For this reason, the training today had focused on mixed strike packages with the F-35s coming down from Okinawa and the F-22s coming up from Clark.  Now, the formation shifted again with two groups of F-35s moving apart and pairing up with two groups of F-22s.  In effect, the F-35s were responsible for situational awareness, watching the enemy and all-around communications and coordination and the F-22s were the shooters. If it came to a merge, the F-22 could take any plane out.  If it came to sniping from long range, the F-35 was the master.

In this case, the point was to warn the Chinese off.  This meant giving up the American’s number one advantage, stealth.  Stealth does not mean that the planes are invisible. Stealth just means they’re harder to find and once you find them, it’s harder to get a weapons grade lock.  In air to air combat, the pilot who shoots first usually wins so the edge that stealth gives is critical even if it’s not perfect.  As the lead group of F-22’s accelerated, they also cranked up their fire control radars. Giving away a huge advantage.  If this had been wartime, the Chinese pilots would probably have already been dead.  But this wasn’t wartime and the Americans did not want to kill the Chinese. They only wanted to take the heat off the KC-135.

Unfortunately, the Chinese did not know this.  What they saw was a weapons grade lock warning coming from directly behind. From a plane that they had never seen and didn’t know was anywhere near.  Not a good feeling.  They reverted to their training and attempted to evade and to get their own locks in return. To achieve this, they had to maneuver violently to achieve radar or infrared returns on the other aircraft. Violent maneuvering ensued.

Or in other words, a dogfight.

“Oh shit.”

“You got that right El Tee.  You think we should tell Eagle Strike to waive off?”

“You think they would listen if we did?”

“Naw.”

“First rule of being an officer.  Never give an order you know will not be obeyed.”

“They teach you that at OCS?”

“Read it in a book somewhere, but I think it’s a good rule.  No, it’s their fight now.  Either they engage or they back off.  The flight lead is the man on the spot, we just back his play.”

“Ya think the Chinese commanders on the ground got a good idea about how many fighters we have up here?”

“Point taken.  No, I seriously doubt they even see the F-35’s at this point.  I can’t see them, so I assume they can’t either.  See if you can get them into the game.”