Episode 81

93rd Bomb Squadron, US Air Force Reserve (USAF-R)

Two Miles South of the DMZ, South Korea, Angels 40

“Sniper Pod up?”

“Yes sir, good picture.”

“Ready for target handoff?”

“Yes sir, ready”

Major Tinney eased the straps on his seat restraint to a more comfortable position. Most likely, they would be here for a while. Once the SEAD mission was complete, his job was to take down any vehicles detected by the JSTARS aircraft orbiting ten miles away.

“Looker this is Bruiser. Ready for handoff.”

“Bruiser, stand by. We see emissions sources going offline now.”

“Affirm, we see the same. Standing by.”

The B-52 wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t fast and it certainly wasn’t the newest airplane in the US inventory. In fact, his father had flown B-52s many years earlier over Vietnam. What they did have going for them was long endurance and the ability to carry a massive payload. With a bomb bay full of L-JDAMs (Laser Guided Joint Attack Munitions), a single B-52 had the ability to take out an entire column of vehicles in just a few minutes.

The JSTARS aircraft was acting as a spotter. Using its side-looking radar, it could form a picture of every moving vehicle for hundreds of miles. Unlike South Korea, there was very little civilian traffic running around North Korea in the middle of the night. Most of the moving vehicles were military vehicles which made everyone’s job easier. The plan was to have the JSTARS aircraft spot the targets and then hand them off to the squadron of B-52’s prowling just over the border in South Korea.

“Raid Warning. Raid Warning. We have enemy fighters rotating.”

“Hatchet Flight Leader, this is Bruiser. You with us up there?”

“Right with you Bruiser. We’ll keep those fighters off you if they stray south.”

Having an entire squadron if F-16s assigned to keep him safe was a great feeling. Unlike his previous missions over the Pacific, there was plenty of gas and plenty of airfields for the F-16s and other tactical aircraft supporting tonight’s mission.

Tinney’s right seater, Lieutenant Williams spoke up. “I don’t think we have to worry about those MIGs.”

“No?”

“No, I’m picking up traffic from the controllers on the AWACS. Sounds like we have some F-22’s orbiting up there.”

“OK. Keep an ear out, John.”

“Will do.”

Tinney turned his attention back to the mission at hand. As the BUFF was assigned targets, they needed to turn left or right sometimes to unmask the Sniper Pod hanging under their left wing. At 40,000 feet, the JDAMs had a pretty decent range which gave them an engagement envelope almost as large as the range of the cameras in the Sniper pod.

“Come left to 275 to unmask.”

“Turning left to 275.”

“OK. Little more. Hold it there. I’ve got him. Request permissions to release the weapon.”

“Weapons free.”

“Dropping. Now. Now. Now.”

At this point, the attack was like a video game. The weapons operator in the back of the B-52’s crew cabin simply kept the crosshairs centered on the armored personnel carrier and waited. And waited. After what seemed like an eternity, the screen went white.

“Hit! Good hit! Switching to next target.”

And so it went. B-52’s east and west along the DMZ began to take down individual targets. One at a time. Over and over again. Within two hours they had run out of targets.