No-Fly Zone
Kozlov and Semenov walked into the parlor room to see President Petrov talking with General Egorkin, General Kuznetsov from the Air Force, and Admiral Petrukhin from the Navy. As they made their way to join them, they noticed the four of them were sipping on some vodka. It was only 9am — clearly the President was in a good mood if he was having a drink this early with his senior military leaders. They took their seats as a steward brought them a glass of vodka and placed the bottle between them.
Petrov was finishing a story of when he had been the KGB Director in East Germany; he was bemoaning the struggles and mistakes the Soviet Union had made back then in dealing with the West. The President was determined to right some of those wrongs now and create a newer, stronger Russia that was as robust economically as it was militarily.
President Petrov turned to the new arrivals in the room. “General Kuznetsov tells me our air-defense systems are operational. We have a multi-layered defense, able to defeat anything the Americans throw at them. General Egorkin assures me that our missile defense system protecting our air-defense systems are also ready. So, when the no-fly zone goes into effect in forty-seven minutes, I want any US, NATO or Ukrainian aircraft and drones flying over it to be engaged. I want them shot down,” the President said resolutely. He raised a glass of vodka to his generals as a salute and downed it with one gulp.
Kozlov felt he should press the President one last time before it was too late to turn back. “Are you sure you want to do this, Mr. President? We have already turned world opinion against the Americans for their attack on our soldiers. We are gaining in global sympathy and moving forward with the referendum vote. I do not want to lose our progress,” he said. Although Kozlov was hoping to approach things differently, he too raised his glass of vodka and took a sip. He was hoping he could get by with nursing just the one glass; he wanted to keep his wits about him for what he was sure would be a long day.
“Shoygu, did the Americans shoot down a Syrian helicopter that they said strayed into the no-fly zone they implemented in Syria a few months ago?” asked Petrov.
“Yes, they did shoot down the helicopter, Mr. President. They even threatened to shoot down one of our own before we turned around and went back to base.”
Smiling, the President said, “That proves my point. If the Americans can impose a no-fly zone on other countries, then so can Russia. I want all drones, helicopters and aircraft flying over the Ukraine no-fly zone to be shot down at 10am,” he announced emphatically as he poured himself and the generals another glass of vodka. He motioned for his two senior advisors to join them in a toast.
“Today,” Petrov said, “Russia reasserted itself as a world power.”
Enforcement — The First Steps to War
Major Jake LaFine (call sign “Frenchy”) leveled off his F-16 at 18,000 feet with his wingman, Captain Jorge Ramos “Bean,” as they began to fly towards the self-imposed Russian no-fly zone. They had been briefed on what to do if the Russians fired on them. They were not to hold anything back.
They were each carrying two High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs); if they were activated, they would search out and destroy the source of nearby radar sites (unless the enemy radar operator turned off their radar before the missiles reached their target). The two German Eurofighters were also carrying two HARM missiles each as well. The American aircraft were also carrying specific electronic warfare pods to help them defeat any potential Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs) as well.
“Bean, let’s get this show on the road and go pay our Russian friends a visit,” Frenchy said as he led their little air contingent towards the eastern half of Ukraine.
As they approached the no-fly zone, a Russian voice came over an open international aircraft radio frequency hailing them. “NATO aircraft, you are approaching a restricted no-fly zone. If you enter the no-fly zone, you will be fired upon.”
They ignored the caller and continued their mission. The voice called out again, “NATO aircraft, once again, you are approaching a no-fly zone. No combat aircraft are allowed to enter the no-fly zone. Turn around before you are fired upon.”
As Colonel Denis Manturov sat in the command trailer of the S-400 (or as NATO calls them, SA-21 Growler air-defense systems) he noted the arrogance and complete disregard of their message by the American and German pilots. President Petrov was right, the Americans no longer feared them. “Well, that is about to change,” he thought. “The SA-21 has never been fired at another nation before — I doubt the Americans have any idea what they are up against.”
As Colonel Manturov looked at the radar screen, he also noticed the Americans had seven drones heading to various positions in the no-fly zone to provide ground support to the government forces. These were the same positions the drones had previously been located at over the past week, providing the eyes and ears for the Ukrainian ground forces attacking the pro-Russian separatists.
“After the brazen American attack on the Spetsnaz camp two weeks ago, I’m glad that I will be the one to draw first blood for the Motherland,” thought Denis.
He turned to the radar operators and told them, “Have the radars lock onto the enemy aircraft, and standby to engage any anti-radar missiles the Americans may shoot at us.”
The operators simply nodded.
“Send a message to the S-300 battery to have them lock on, and engage the American drones now,” Colonel Manturov continued.
After a tense moment of waiting, one of the radar operators said excitedly, “I have radar lock on the four-enemy aircraft.”
One of the younger soldiers piped up from the radio, “The S-300 battery says they have the American drones locked up as well. Awaiting your order.” A trace of excitement could be heard in his voice.
Colonel Manturov looked at the men in the command center; all their eyes were locked on him, waiting for him to deliver the final authorization. At that moment, Denis knew he was about to change the world forever. He took a deep breath, then announced, “Fire! Engage the hostiles and shoot them down.”
Within seconds, the S-400 fired eight surface-to-air missiles, two for each of the enemy aircraft. The S-300 battery that was closest to the Ukrainian border also fired a series of seven surface-to-air missiles at the American drones. In seconds, the Russians made it known to the world that they meant what they said about enforcing a no-fly zone over eastern Ukraine.
Next, Manturov barked a series of orders to help them prepare their systems to engage any American missiles that may be fired at them in response.
Major LaFine’s warning alarms suddenly started to blare in a cacophony of obnoxious beeping, alerting him that a Russian air defense radar system had locked onto his aircraft. He silently told himself, “This is no big deal. They are just trying to scare us.”
His little air contingent continued to ignore the Russian warnings. Though he would never admit it to anyone, he secretly felt terrified by the warning alarm; in the nine years he had been flying, he had never been locked up by an enemy radar system before. Just as he looked to his right to see Bean flying next to him, his alarm system blared a different warning at him — this time, telling him that the air defense radar system had just fired two surface-to-air missiles at him. A countdown readout told Frenchy that he had roughly three minutes until the missiles would reach him.