Episode 57

4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment (4th ADAR), Battery A

Fiery Cross Reef, South China Sea

Lt. Colonel Rutgers was not in a good mood. Waiting around for someone to lob ballistic missiles at you wasn’t exactly a recipe for happy thoughts. The THAAD was designed to be a “Theater” level weapon, away from the main threats. In this case, they were defending an island that they were sitting on. This made the mission a bit more personal.

He had already reviewed the action plan with all the other Anti-Air commanders. This coming attack would be an interesting test in many ways. The Air Force, Navy, Army and potentially even the Marines were all cooperating on missile defense, something which had never happened before in combat.

The source of Rutgers mood wasn’t the plan to defend the islands. The plan was sound. THAAD would take first bite at any ballistics. Then the Navy would go, followed by the Patriot batteries. Each team had their assigned engagement altitudes to prevent fratricide or multiple redundant attacks on the same missile. There was talk of making the THAAD and Aegis systems interoperate, something which seemed obvious, but in the world of inter-service rivalries, things like interoperability were not always the highest priority. Until your life was on the line. Right now, Rutgers was cursing the REMF who decided that THAAD and Aegis didn’t need to talk.

“Cruise Missiles Inbound, sir.”

“Finally!” Rutgers was too focused on his mission to note the irony that he was actually relieved to be under attack. The noncom manning the radio tried very hard not to show his surprise.

“The flyboys are taking first crack, then the Navy.”

“Make sure those LPWS operators have their IFF’s locked in.”

“Yes, sir. They are good to go.” The LPWS was basically a Navy Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) mounted on a trailer. The automated Gatling guns were radar guided and very good at shooting down low flying cruise missiles. There were currently eight of them scattered around the perimeter of Fiery Cross Reef.

“Any chance of getting a boost intercept?” The holy grail of ABM was to kill the missile at the launch point during the boost phase. At this point in the missiles flight path, it is very easy to find because of the massive trail of flame pushing it into the sky and it is moving relatively slowly. Unfortunately, doing this required that you have airborne assets close to where the missile was launched. Something difficult to do in mainland China.

“No, sir. Not this time.”

“Damn. OK. Get the battery on alert.”

“We’re on it, sir.”

Rutgers slowly walked to the TFCC. Basically a glorified shipping container mounted on the back of a large truck, the TFCC was the control center for the entire THAAD battery. The attack would be managed from this small room, packed with electronics including half a dozen computer terminals and a full dozen radios of all types.

Rutgers was starting to get impatient again. They should have gotten a launch warning for Chinese ballistics by now. The entire defensive strategy assumed that the Chinese would attempt a time on target attack with ballistics and cruise missiles. “Any word from the early warning birds?”

“No sir.”

“Did we run a diagnostic? Are we getting data?”

“Yes, sir confirmed. Anthem Watch reports they are getting good data, but no confirmed launches.”

“Very well. Keep on it. They’re at least ten minutes late.”

“Navy says that the bombers launched at least fifteen minutes early due to the F-35 attack.”

“Well, that’s good news.”

“Launch warning! Multiple launches detected on the Chinese mainland. Expect inbound ballistics in fifteen to twenty minutes.”

“OK, people. Let’s get busy.”

THAAD was specifically designed to counter this exact threat. The system worked very well in training and in exercises. What they didn’t know was how well it worked in practice. The last time the US military had faced hostile ballistics, the system hadn’t been operational yet.

“Just like an exercise, people. Keep it professional, stay frosty. By the numbers.”

The response was nearly unanimous. “Yes Sir!”

“I have a bet with the Navy Alpha Whiskey. A bottle of good Scotch for every missile we get more than the Navy gets. Let’s make sure we win that bet, troops.”

The light-hearted bet seemed to have it’s intended effect. The soldiers in the command center were focused but not unduly tense. They had a job to do and they were doing it. Endless hours of drill made their responses automatic. They had trained for years for this moment. Life in the military was often like that. Years of preparation and training for an event you sincerely hoped never happened.

“Sir, we have isolated fifty, five zero, targets in this volley. The system is computing intercepts now.”

“OK. One interceptor per target as per plan. We will count on the Navy to get any leakers.”

While they had plenty of reloads, it took time to reload the huge interceptors. If there was another attack in a few hours or minutes, they wouldn’t have time to reload all the launchers if they simply flushed their launchers completely. It was tempting to “double tap” each incoming missile as this gave the best chances for success. However, they were playing the long game here.

“Firing now.”

With a massive roar, the THAAD battery began to fire. Over the course of only a minute, fifty of the large interceptors launched from the large platforms scattered around the island and on Mischief Reef. The interceptors had a long way to go to intercept the incoming missile strike, they wouldn’t know the results for several minutes.

“Interceptors are tracking. We have good track. One missile has failed to lock. Missile guidance has failed.”

“Abort the weapon.”

“Aborting.”

Far above the Pacific, the wayward missile self-destructed. Better to blow the missile up than risk it landing on friendly forces or civilians.

“Re-engage.”

“Re-targeting. Shooting.”

A lone interceptor launched from the nearest missile platform, joining its siblings in a suicide charge towards the incoming Chinese attack. As the missiles flew onward, the soldiers anxiously watched their screens. in some ways, it looked like a video game. Small dots marched across the screens. Lines showed the incoming tracks of the Chinese missiles and the outbound tracks of the US response. A “hit to kill” interceptor, the missiles had no warhead. They simply impacted their targets. With the combined closing speed of up to Mach 16, the resulting impact was so violent, no warhead was needed.

“Intercept! Multiple intercepts!”

While the THAAD had successfully intercepted multiple ballistic missiles in testing, it had never done so in combat. Until today.

“How many confirmed kills?”

“Too much clutter. Waiting for the survivors to clear the debris field.”

“Keep on it.”

“I think you are going to win your bet, sir. Looks like ten survivors. One zero missiles inbound.”