Frustrated, the third Iranian Thondor now fired its four missiles, and the drama would replay yet again. Yet the Iranian F-4 had also detected another ship hovering off the great oil terminal port of Al Fujairah, and it was also targeted by the frigate Alvand. From the Iranian point of view, their missiles were simply exploding, as they had not seen any of the Raptors on their fitful radars.
“Ulysses, Bertha. These guys have fired again. Take it to them. Cleared hot. Over.
“Roger Big Bertha, Ulysses on the Indians.”
The Strike Raptors were going after the source of the trouble, vectoring in on TF Jask. They raced in and sent a cloud of GBU-53’s at the Iranian ships, which had nothing but guns and chaff for defense. With 32 bombs in the air, that wasn’t going to have any chance of stopping that attack.
Light frigate Alborz was the first to be hit, three bombs blasting into the 1500 ton ship. All three patrol boats were smashed, and the sole survivor, frigate Alvand, turned and went all ahead flank for home.
It would never get there….
“Bertha, Ulysses. Bury my heart at Wounded Knee. The Indians are goners. Grandslam, Over.”
“We copy, Ulysses. RTB.”[2]
Two more F-22A’s, Achilles five and six, would now scramble to take up the watch as the Strike Raptors turned for home. The air cover had done its job, killing every missile fired at those two tankers, and then sinking all five Iranian ships, ending the naval threat from the port of Jask.
These incidents had turned on the lights in HQ compounds all through the Gulf of Oman. The Iranians were somewhat humiliated over the fact that they could not even put a single missile on those lumbering tankers, but the only thing they could do was order a hidden diesel sub to move in their direction. The American Raptors could not kill torpedoes. At Jask airport, they had nine Mirage F-1’s, which were relatively useless in any contest for control of the airspace. Their only missile was the R550 Magic, with a five mile range. Yet they might arm with bombs and make a suicide run at the tanker, for that is what it would become against the American F-22’s. At the moment, they were staying on the ground.
About 130 miles east of Jask in Iran, the Chinese had a squadron of J-10B’s at Char Bahar, and they threw up a CAP patrol to screen a KJ-200 AEW plane. That was the last Iranian airfield, on the Gulf of Oman, but further east, just across the Pakistani border, was the Chinese base at Gwadar. The US noted that the Chinese Arabian Sea Task Force did not appear to be entering the Gulf of Oman. You could draw a line from the Pakistani border to the Cape Ras al Haan where the coast of Oman bent sharply south, and the Chinese were staying east of that border.
As for the US Security Patrol, they had standing orders not to engage land targets in Pakistan, or any aircraft, ship, or sub identified as Pakistani. That was a fuse they did not want to light. So Bull Run turned northwest, about 30 miles off the coast of Oman, intending to make its way north towards Al Fujairah and the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. Then something happened to knock the tensely balanced situation out of whack.
The Chinese J-10 patrol was hugging the Iranian coast, about 115 miles from the US TF, and it made a sudden turn towards the Americans, switching on its radars. They were trying to resolve the contact made by their KJ-200 on the American ships, but that sudden move was like a gunslinger reaching to his hip as far as Captain Duncan was concerned on Bull Run. He went after them with Standard Missile-6, killing two of the three J-10’s.
That missile fire quickly allowed the Chinese TF to confirm the known American cruiser in the region was now at sea. Captain Duncan’s move might have been made out of an abundance of caution, but it immediately turned what looked like a tense standoff into an active engagement. There were a pair of dragons out in the Arabian Sea, and now they would wake up.
DDG Chilong, the Fire Dragon, was the local cop on the beat, operating out of Gwadar under Captain Yu Han. He was reinforced by DDG Feilong, the Flying Dragon that had come all the way from the Med, and these ships formed the nucleus of a very powerful TF, as Captain Duncan knew. Now he had all but dared the Chinese to do something about the shootdown incident, and they did, with a barrage of 16 YJ-18’s. Captain Duncan was now going to get a firsthand look at what that missile could do, or so he believed.
“We’ve been fired upon,” said Fallon, leaning heavily over the radar station aboard the Bull Run. “Looks like 16 Vampires.”
“Standby to repel missile attack,” said Duncan, knowing his SM-6 fire had poked a stick in the beehive. The Chinese weren’t doing anything he would not have done under similar circumstances, but he noted the salvo coming their way was not too heavy.
“Mister Fallon, contact Muscat and tell them they’d better get some more Raptors up.”
Those vampires were coming at a sedate 530 knots, which left plenty of time for the Air CAP to take a shot at them, which they did. The two F-22s killed six of the enemy cruise missiles before turning for home, and now more planes were scrambling off the airfield at Muscat. They just climbed, acquired the targets, and fired immediately. Not one of the YJ-18’s would get close enough to start that dreadful high speed terminal run, and Captain Duncan smiled, glad that the USAF had his back.
Aboard DDG Chilong, Captain Yu Han had been watching the attack on radar. When the last of his missiles were killed well before they reached their target, he knew there must be hidden aircraft out there in the deadly space between the two TF’s.
Yes, he thought, the American stealth fighters are very good. Reports from Admiral Sun Wei indicated that the British used their carrier planes almost exclusively to defend their fleet. It took overwhelming force to break them, and that means I might have to be more aggressive here if I am to make any mark on this American task force. A man cannot get fat with just one bite.
To begin with, their ships are much better at air defense than the Royal Navy ships, and this air cover will make them very hard targets. The enemy fighters would have to be defeated or at least worn down before we could get at those ships.
He considered what to do, knowing that the Americans were not the only ones with stealth fighters. There were two squadrons of J-20’s at Gwadar, but to use them he would need permission from the Zone Commander, Admiral Hung Buchan. That should not be difficult, he thought. That man was always spoiling for a good fight. It has been said he learned to run before he could walk!
2
A lot of Milspeak here: Bertha = Controlling AEW plane, Buster = Go to maximum speed, Indians = surface task force, Grandslam = all targets killed. Over.