“It’s a tight deadline, but I think we can make it happen,” said Willem. “I’ve got a Dutch logistics unit arriving later today. These are my go-to guys. We’ll make it work.”
Chapter 4
Decisions
General John Bennet sipped on his Green Beans coffee as he readied himself for the big meeting, one that would decide the fate of millions of people. Today was one of the final strategy meetings to end the third great war. While former president Gates had been involved in many of the strategic decisions of the war, the current president, Wally Foss, was content to let his generals execute the war. Secretary of Defense Jim Castle had taken that extension of the leash and fully intended to let his generals do whatever was necessary to end this war quickly.
The door to the briefing room opened, and the SecDef walked in, followed by several of his aides. Bennet had insisted on using a long boardroom-style table for the day’s meeting. He’d wanted everyone to be able to sit opposite each other. He had his ground, air and naval commanders at one end and the SecDef and other support groups at the other.
Everyone’s faces looked weary. They had already met all day yesterday. In the morning, they’d gone over the disposition of the current People’s Liberation Army ground, air, and remaining naval forces, which had taken several hours. In the afternoon, they’d examined the key rail and logistics networks the enemy was using, as well as the likely routes enemy reinforcements would use depending on where the Allies launched their next attacks. Then, in the evening, they’d discussed the disposition of the Allied forces up to this point, and where they had built up supplies and logistical support. It was all relevant information to build a successful strategy, but everyone had grown weary of PowerPoint slides and printed dossiers at this point.
Despite the obvious lack of enthusiasm, by 0750 hours, all stragglers were present and ready to begin the meeting that had been scheduled for 0800 hours. Even in boredom, military punctuality reigned supreme. Besides, the President had given them a twelve-month window to defeat the Chinese, and they intended to meet their objective.
Once everyone was present, the doors were closed, and a guard was placed outside to make sure they weren’t interrupted and that the information being discussed inside remained secret from any potential prying ears. Bennet stood, walked over to the large wall map, which measured three meters by two meters, and rapped his knuckles on the board to get everyone’s attention.
“Good morning,” he said with as much gusto and gravitas as he could muster. A broad smile crept across his face.
“I’d like us to pick up where we left off. We went over a lot of information yesterday, and today we’ll be going over a lot more. This is the day we decide on how we’re going to defeat the People’s Republic of China.” He paused for dramatic effect. “Without further ado, I’d like to hand things over to Secretary Castle.”
The bulldog of a secretary stood up and walked over to General Bennet, nodding as he took his place at the center of the map. “Listen up, people. The President has given us the objective of defeating the Chinese by May of 2020. He wants the war to be largely wrapped up before the fall of 2020, so the outcome or course of the war doesn’t become a political decision.” Walking up and down along the map like a schoolmaster, Castle continued, “Secretary Landover has told the PRC our terms for ending the war, and as you can guess, they summarily rejected them.”
A few snickers escaped.
Secretary Castle continued, “I also need to make you all aware of a key piece of intelligence — up to this point, it’s been closely held, in hopes that the information wouldn’t be needed. Unfortunately, the Chinese are going to move the war in a new direction, and I’m afraid it’s not a going to be good for us. In the near future, the Chinese are going to begin going after the global civilian satellite network.”
A few people gasped. Castle seemed undeterred and plowed on. “Their aim is to bring down our ability to communicate, navigate and fight. In doing this, they know we’ll be responding in kind against their own civilian satellites. To compensate for the loss of those satellites, they will be switching their entire communications network over to a fleet of low- and high-altitude UAVs that will encompass their country and their army.”
Despite the fact that the room was secured, Castle leaned forward and spoke in a softer tone. “What the Chinese don’t know is that the NSA has inserted a code into the firmware of the UAVs that will allow us to decode and transmit a copy of everything they’re saying. It’s like the PRC decided to use the Navajo language to transmit all its data and we suddenly have a willing translator to help us interpret it all. With this access, we’ll know in advance what units are being arrayed against us, where and when they plan to attack us, and the disposition of their current air, naval and ground forces. I’m not going to lie and say losing our own satellites isn’t going to hurt us. It is. But in exchange, we’re going to gain complete access to their communications network, allowing us to anticipate their moves. With this information we’re going to crush them.”
Admiral Lomas, the Pacific Commander, held up his hand. “Excuse me, Sir, if I may. If the Chinese disable our satellite infrastructure, how are we going to compensate for that? For example, I don’t think the new MQ-4C Tritons the Navy acquired for targeting and surveillance for the carrier strike groups could handle the bandwidth and data load required on their own. How are we going to offset this loss without crippling our own capabilities?”
Crinkling his eyebrows, Castle explained, “There’s no other way to say this — this situation is going to suck. Fortunately, this problem was considered last summer, and a small contingent of people in D.C. have been hard at work figuring out a workaround. Between SpaceX, Google and Facebook, they’ve developed several types of UAVs that will essentially address our last tactical mile problem. At the front line, we’re going to make heavy use of our RQ-4 Global Hawks. Slightly further behind the RQ-4s will be a layer of Google/SpaceX high-altitude UAVs. Intermixed within this layer will also be a series of E-8 Joint STAR planes until Boeing is able to refit roughly three dozen 737s with midair refueling capability and additional communications equipment and a power plant to run it. While this will be tough on us, we will adapt.”
He cleared his throat. “I believe I’ve spent enough time on this issue,” he asserted. “Let’s move on to some of the changes the President just made to the rules of engagement.”
Castle pulled up a new PowerPoint slide. “The first major shift is for the Air Force and Navy. If your fighters or analysts find a target of opportunity, they are cleared to engage it. No more seeking higher-level authority, just execute and report what you hit and why. Second, no more restrictions on attacks, regardless of whether there’s a high probability of collateral damage. The Chinese have figured out that if they move something important near a civilian target, we won’t attack it. Well, that’s now changed. No more hiding behind a school and operating with impunity. Your guys are cleared hot to take `em out. Third, we have been authorized to carry out any necessary strategic bombings of Chinese cities and industrial parks.”
He held up his hand. “Before anyone gets up in arms over this, let me explain what I mean. If we spot a PLA brigade using a small city or town for cover to launch attacks on our forces, then we are cleared to use our strategic bombers to flatten the city in an attempt to destroy the enemy brigade. This does not mean we will carry out blanket carpet bombing of cities like what happened in World War II. It just means we won’t allow the enemy to hide behind civilians and kill our men.”