Episode 47

Electronic Attack Squadron 133 (VAQ-133) 

20 NM South East, Palawan Island, Philippines

Lieutenant Commander William “Froggy” Lake was a happy man. With two squadrons of EA-18G “Growlers” leading the way, the Navy was back in the fight and he was the head of the spear. Just where he wanted to be.

The Marines had obliged them with a full squadron of KC-130J’s out of Okinawa to support the raid. This extended their range immensely and allowed the Rhinos to buddy store much deeper into the mission than would normally be possible.

Using the near real-time data provided by ARTE, the Growlers and the other planes assigned to the attack could skirt known areas of radar coverage and focus on taking out the remaining SAM sites on Mischief Reef and Fiery Cross Reef. This would allow the overall Longsword plan to go forward.

“Froggy, we are about to go feet dry over Palawan.”

“Copy that Cougar. Feet dry in ten.”

“Romeo Foxtrot to Banshee Lead.”

“Banshee lead, go Romeo Foxtrot.”

“Banshee, Longsword is go. You are cleared weapons hot to the objective.”

“Roger Romeo Foxtrot. Banshee is cleared weapons hot.”

“OK Cougar, looks like it’s showtime. Talk to me about the ChiCom radar emissions.” This part of the mission was all about the back seater in the Growler. It was up to him to pinpoint enemy radar emissions and plan to defeat them. Either by plotting a course skirting their detection threshold, by jamming them or by destroying them at the source. In this case, they hoped to skirt the known emission sources and avoid detection until they were well within range of their HARM anti-radiation missiles. The Growlers would then take out the mobile SAM radar sites that the cruise missiles had missed and allow the remaining four squadrons of F-18’s to take out any remaining fighters at the two airfields.

“Froggy, looks like we have a problem. I am picking up a mobile radar right in the middle of our hole.”

“Damn, we waited too long.”

“Looks like a Chinese frigate. Matches their emissions profile. It’s still at 150 miles. Too long for a HARM shot.”

“Do you have a tight enough lock for a LRASM?”

“I think so.”

“Banshee Lead to Bronco Lead. You got your ears on back there Cowboy?”

“I’m with you Froggy. Talk to me.”

“Passing targeting data back. Need some help with a Chinese Frigate in our way.”

“Gotcha. On it.”

The mission planners had carefully studied Chinese naval deployments in the area and noted that they tended to use Frigates as radar pickets at irregular intervals. This same tactic had tripped up the original F-15E strike and had not gone unnoticed by the planners of Ball Buster. Bronco flight’s F-18F “Super Hornets” (or Rhinos as the crews called them due to the large bump on the nose) had been armed with AGM-158C “Long Range Anti Ship Missile” (LRASM).

“Bronco flight, Bruiser, Bruiser, Bruiser.” 

As the missiles separated from the Rhinos, their small wings unfolded and their internal jet engines came to life. Not as speedy as a rocket powered missile, they were capable of much longer endurance which is what mattered here.

“Banshee Lead to Banshee flight. Get set up to tank one more time.” Normally, the extremely slow speed of the KC-130 compared to the F-18 was annoying. However, in this case, it allowed the six cruise missiles fired by Bronco flight to get well ahead of the aircraft. The US planes didn’t want to get too close before the missiles attacked, the Frigate was undoubtedly armed with SAM’s and would have a good chance of taking out one or more of the planes in the strike package. Worse, an alert to the bases could make the mission impossible. Ideally, the island targets would not realize they were under attack until much later. If the frigate suddenly went off the air, they would be alerted but would not know the exact nature of the threat. Better to take the ship out if they could.

“Cougar, do you think they have acquired us?”

“Doubtful. We are well under threshold at this point. Down on the deck like this, they are unlikely to acquire us until within fifty miles.”

While flying down low made them harder to locate from ground-based radars, it also consumed fuel much faster than flying up higher where the air was thinner and the jets could perform more efficiently. The earlier attacks by F-22’s against the Chinese AWACS birds had made this mission possible, but there was still a significant risk to the planes and their crews. All of these factors had been taken into account and the extra tanker support from Okinawa would ensure that they had the range to complete the mission.

Cougar was focused on his instruments in the back seat. “I have good tracking data back from the missiles. Hard lock on the ship. Tracking. That’s a hit! Confirmed hard kill, no radar emissions.”

“Banshee Lead to Bronco Lead, nice shooting Cowboy. That’s a kill.”

“Banshee, confirmed. Thanks for the layup. I’ll call that an assist.”

“Next waypoint coming up. Turning to Two Nine Zero.” Unfortunately, Fiery Cross Reef and Mischief reef were about 170 miles apart. This made a simultaneous time on target attack much more difficult. It also meant that more tanker support would be needed to supplement the 800-mile range of the F-18’s. For this reason, two-thirds of the F-18F’s assigned to provide “buddy stores” to the other planes in the strike package would go with the Fiery Cross element of the attack while only one third would go to Mischief Reef. Once back over Palawan island, they would mate up with the KC-130J’s again for the final leg back to the carrier. It was a complicated plan, but they trained for this regularly.

“Banshee Lead to all flight leads. Breakpoint coming up in five minutes. We are EmCon from here on out. Good luck and good hunting.” Lake had assigned himself and his squadron the more difficult attack on Fiery Cross Reef. This mission had largely been conceived by him and Smith working together, he felt it was only right to assign himself the more difficult part of the mission.

“How are we looking Cougar?”

“Right on the line. Clear from here to the target.”

“OK. Let’s tank up one more time and send the gas passers back home before the shooting starts.”

Once again, Lake regretted the lack of a proper carrier-based tanker. The KC-130 support was working well for this mission, but they just weren’t fast enough to keep up with a strike mission like this one. Using Rhinos for the job was a waste of a tactical jet and didn’t really provide enough fuel since they were fighters, not dedicated tankers. In this case, almost one half of the entire strike package was made up of planes that wouldn’t actually take part in the attack.

As they got closer to the target, Lake felt himself focus on the job at hand. He was aware of every minute change to his plane. Small adjustments kept them below one hundred feet and on target for the attack.

“Passing eighty miles. Going active on jammers. They are frequency hopping. Adjusting. OK. I have them locked.”

“Nice job. Do you think they have us?”

“Doubtful. We have plenty of intel on these emitters now. We gamed this out on the ship and the emissions I am getting match those. They know we’re up here, but they can’t get a bead on us.” At the beginning of the war, everything the Chinese did was a surprise. Nobody had taken fire from them before or seen what they could really do. Now, they were forming a database of Chinese capabilities which made them easier to counter.

“OK. We will stay on profile.”

The plan was to fire HARM missiles at fifty miles and guide the anti-radiation missiles all the way into the target. The Rhinos and “Legacy” Hornets following would attack any aircraft in the air or on the ground. If successful, the attack would render the airfields at Fiery Cross and Mischief Reef inoperable by removing their anti-aircraft support and destroying all the planes based there.

Lake signaled to his wingman by flashing his formation lights. He got a flash in return to acknowledge. The Navy believes in the buddy system. When you were in the Navy you never went anywhere alone, whether you are going drinking on liberty or blowing stuff up.

“OK. Here we go. Magnum, Magnum, Magnum.” The two AGM-88 HARM missiles sped away from Lake’s aircraft and he could see a similar launch from his wingman. The other planes of the squadron were too far away to see but Lake knew they had fired also. “Punching the burners.” Lake grunted as the Growler lept forward. At this point, speed was life. The faster they could get in close the less time the Chinese would have a chance to respond.

“Airborne emissions. I think we have fighters rotating. I have a bogey at thirty miles, bearing three two zero.”

“Get me a lock.”

“Working… Locked.”

“Got it. Shooting!”

While it was technically the mission of the following jets to clear out any enemy aircraft, the Growler was armed with the same AIM-120D missiles as the other F-18’s in the strike package. One less Chinese fighter meant less chance of a friendly getting shot down.

“Missiles are tracking. I’ve got good telemetry on all four missiles. HIT! Primay SAM target is hit. They are off the air. Miss! First missile missed the fighter! HIT! Hard kill on the bogey!”

“OK, we’re done here. Breaking right!”

As Lake and his wingman turned, the other fighters of the strike package bore down on the small island. Within minutes, every aircraft on the island had been destroyed on the ground or in the air.

“Banshee Flight, form up. Time to RTB.”

“Shit, we have a problem here Froggy.”

“Talk to me.”

“Another emissions source. Looks like a second picket. Sitting right on our ExFil. Just came online. Oh Fuck, they’re CLOSE!”

“Dammit. Only one HARM left.”

“Shoot that fucker! I think they have us!”

“Shooting. Magnum! Jam them!”

“Working on it!”

As the single HARM missile launched off the rail riding a tounge of flame, Lake began a series of evasive maneuvers. “Banshee, break! Enemy surface contact, bearing zero nine zero, two miles. Break! Break! Break!”

“Launch warning! Incoming SAM!”

Lake grunted as he reefed the plane into a high gee turn and punched the afterburners again. Outrunning a missile was not easy to do, but he wasn’t going to just fly level and give them an easy shot. He punched the button for countermeasures. Chaff and flares were ejected from the rear of the plane.

“Where is it?”

“Closing! Break right! Break right!”

Lake threw the pane into an even more aggressive maneuver. He was over stressing the plane, but he didn’t care. Coming back from the mission alive was the only thing he cared about. His vision began to grey out as the g-force pulled the blood from his head towards his lower body. He grunted with exertion and focused on his g-straining maneuver, trying to keep from blacking out.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash and an impact that almost knocked him out. Warning lights and buzzers sounded as the rear of the aircraft disintegrated.

“We’re hit! Eject! Eject! Eject!!”

“Bronco Lead to Banshee Lead. You with me? Dammit, I’m Winchester. Somebody shoot that Fucker.”

“Bronco Lead to Banshee Lead. Talk to me Froggy.”