“Everyone, listen up,” barked General Jack Wheeler, trying to get everyone’s attention. “I just finished speaking with the President, and he has authorized us to move all US and NATO forces to Threat Condition Delta. He has further directed me to take whatever measures are deemed necessary to protect our forces, short of engaging the Russians. We are authorized to defend ourselves if fired upon, but again, but we are not to provoke the Russians.”
Wheeler paused for a moment and surveyed the audience; he definitely had everyone’s attention. “I’m directing the Bush carrier battle group to take up position in the Black Sea. Should the situation calm down, I will redirect the battle group to the eastern Mediterranean to continue with their previous mission.” Should things heat up with the Russians, having the Bush carrier group in the Black Sea would provide NATO with not just additional combat aircraft, but several ships capable of launching Tomahawk missiles. The 3,500 Marines accompanying the battle group would also come in handy should they need additional ground forces.
General Wheeler directed his attention to the US Air Force Europe Commander. “I want the Air Force to immediately start flying Combat Air Patrols (CAP) over our major NATO bases. I want the F-35s armed and on ready alert to go after those SA-10s and SA-21 sites, if we are given the go order. I also want our AWACs up and running around the clock — we need those eyes in the sky. Until we are told otherwise, I want our air force to be on a war footing, ready to respond to any further Russian aggression,” he directed.
General Wheeler then looked at General Cotton and said, “I want the 2nd Cavalry Regiment issued alert orders and ready to deploy as a brigade within 48 hours to Kiev. Tell them that if they are given the order, they will have 24 hours to arrive in country and to plan.” Several of the colonels in the JIOC with General Cotton were taking copious notes as they began to dispatch orders to their subordinates to get things moving.
The meeting went on for another hour as General Wheeler continued to issue orders, bringing NATO and US Forces to the highest state of readiness since the Cold War. Poland, Germany, and the UK all began to scramble their air forces, providing combat air patrols over critical NATO bases and ports.
Mobilization
While NATO began to mobilize their forces in response to the shoot down of their aircraft, the Russians began to move their own forces to the border of Ukraine in preparation for the next phase of their operations.
Major General (MG) Aleksandr Chayko was walking through the marshaling point, viewing the various vehicles of the 137th Reconnaissance Battalion, which would be responsible for leading the way during the next phase of Operation Red Storm. MG Chayko had taken over command of the 4th Guard’s elite “Kantemirovskaya” Tank Division roughly seven months ago, at the outset of Operation Red Storm. Since taking over command, he had been given unfettered resources to get his command ready for direct combat against NATO, should the need arise. His division was equipped with 320 T-80U main battle tanks (MBTs), 600 BMPs (Russian infantry fighting vehicles) and BTR infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), 130 self-propelled artillery guns and 12 multiple rocket launcher vehicles. As he toured the facilities and saw the various machines, carefully cleaned and maintained by his men, he was proud to be leading this elite armored division. However, he wished they had more of the modern, up-to-date equipment that they would need in order to defeat what everyone thought of as an undefeatable army.
MG Chayko took assessment of what would make the biggest difference in their fight, and then sent a message to his direct superiors, the Commander of the 1st Tank Army and the General of the Army. He requested to replace as many of his T-80s as possible with the newer T-14 Armata MBTs and T-15 IFVs. These were the most powerful tanks and infantry fighting vehicles in the world, and clearly superior to the American Abrams and other NATO tanks. Despite the Russian defense industry moving to full production of the Armata line of vehicles, they had only been able to field roughly 120 of the T-14s and 65 of the T-15s. All of them had been sent to the 4th Guard’s Division to be swapped out with the T-80s and BMP-2s. Chayko needed all of his divisions to be fortified with the newest equipment available as they readied for war.
One of the new tools his division had was a series of drones that had just been introduced to the Army. The ZALA was a small micro-drone used by his reconnaissance units and the infantry; it would provide them with exceptional real-time intelligence as they advanced forward.
However, the crown jewel of the new drones was the Zhukov. It was a rather large drone, with a sleek futuristic-looking design that looked like something out of a Hollywood movie with its tilt rotors. The Zhukov could perform a multitude of functions, ranging from surveillance to tank hunter, and it could also be used for precision strikes. In addition, it was fast… it could travel up to 190 mph with a range of 320 miles. Because of its tilt rotor propulsion, it was very maneuverable compared to a traditional drone, though it could still be shot down by a conventional aircraft or air defense system. The Zhukov carried six AT-15 Springer anti-tank missiles, similar to the American Hellfire missiles. What made the Zhukov so deadly was that in addition to the anti-tank missiles, it could also be fitted with air-to-air and anti-ship missiles. This made the drone a triple threat against the ground, air and naval forces. His division had nearly two dozen of them available, and he planned on using every one of them when the time came.
Ever since he had taken command and been read in on Operation Red Storm, Chayko began to drill his troops mercilessly. They received increased time at the rifle and tank ranges, and they began to conduct rigorous training in urban warfare. Some of the best young officers and Non-commissioned Officers (NCOs) across the army had been transferred from other divisions across the army to fill his ranks. He also began to push his men physically, insisting that they become as physically fit as possible in the lead-up to the start of the operation.
Chayko knew his division was going to be the lead division to head into Ukraine, and if there were a confrontation, they would be the first unit to encounter it. Aleksandr thought the plan was bold, but highly risky. Invading Ukraine and capturing territory would not be hard; holding it against a NATO counterattack, should one come, would be the challenge. The entire plan counted on the Americans and NATO agreeing to the new Ukrainian border and not risking a larger war.