"Range and mountains, sir." The general consulted a notepad. "It would take an in-flight refuel to make the trip down to Medellin and back from Panama. We'd also have to put extra tanks on the Blackhawk. What I've done is moved a navy assault ship, the Raleigh, down off the west coast of Panama. An HH-53 from 1st Special Operations Wing is in the process of forward deploying down there today and will operate off the flight deck of the Raleigh. Four Apaches are also moving down to the Raleigh to provide fire support for southern targets out of the range of those based in Panama.
"Also, this exfiltration point is on the other side of a mountain range. The HH-53H Pave Low has terrain-following radar and other night-flying equipment the Blackhawk doesn't. It's already set for the in-flight refuel if they determine they need it. This is the type of mission the HH-53 was designed for."
Macksey ceded the point. "All right, continue."
Vaughn looked up from his note cards. "I'll be followed by Sergeant Alexander, who will be giving you the intelligence portion." Riley felt sorry for the NCO: not only was he acting as operations sergeant for his split team but intel sergeant as well. A lot for one man.
"Good morning, sir. I'll try to keep this brief. However, the area we will be operating in is quite different terrain wise from what Eyes One is going into. My team, Eyes Two, will be going into mountainous terrain at almost six thousand feet of altitude.
"Key terrain features in our area are the Cordillera Occidental mountains to the west and the Cordillera Central mountains to the east. Medellin is in the foothills of the central mountain range. Our target is approximately thirteen kilometers to the south of the city. Weather is expected to be good for both the drop and mission, with temperatures in the low fifties at night.
"Population density throughout the area is high. Approximately ten to twenty people per square kilometer is the average. This is one of the reasons we are jumping in higher than our target and working down, since the higher slopes will be less inhabited.
"The target itself is cut into the forest on the side of a hill, as you can see on this imagery. There is a helicopter landing pad next to the target and a dirt road leading through the foothills toward the main road to Medellin. For local security, we estimate at least twenty to twenty-five guards on site armed with automatic weapons.
"Colombian military in the area include parts of the 4th Brigade headquartered in Medellin. The closest elements are about twenty-one kilometers from our target. This is an infantry unit, about company sized, armed with automatic and crew-served weapons.
"There is also the possibility of some guerrilla units in the area, since the hills around Medellin are known to have several guerrilla base camps. We feel that the guerrillas would not engage us, but we are prepared for that possibility.
"There are some helicopters at the Medellin airport. Satellite imagery didn't show any, but intel reports list at least two Huey types there.
"We assume they are hangared out of sight. Some military aircraft are reported at the Medellin airport, but again they must be hangared, since they didn't show up on imagery.
"We have also received intelligence that a Colombian Army Ranger company may be operating against the guerrillas in the vicinity of Medellin. This could cause us some problems, because they might be operating at night and also might investigate any aircraft they hear in the area. Although this possibility is remote, we must be on the alert for the Rangers."
Alexander completed his intelligence portion with a presentation of the escape and evasion plan. He then returned to the podium, figuratively switching hats to do the operational portion.
"Sir, for infiltration we will depart Fort Belvoir army airfield on Friday at 1400. We will follow this flight route." Alexander traced a route similar to the one Powers had shown, except Eyes Two crossed Panama and then flew down the Pacific coast of Colombia.
"We will turn in and head due east into Colombia when we reach this latitude; we will then fly over the Occidental mountains and head for our primary drop zone. We will be jumping T-10 model C parachutes at five hundred feet. This ought to keep us in very tight and keep dispersion to a minimum. We will be jumping automatic CARP, or computed air release point."
Riley shook his head. He wasn't sure which was worse: jumping at thirty thousand feet or jumping at five hundred. At five hundred feet the men of Eyes Two would barely have time for their canopies to deploy before they hit the ground. Riley had done quite a few CARPs, as the air force called them, or blind drops, as the SF guys called them, out of Talons. Very rarely had he been dropped where he wanted to be. Usually, the air force was anywhere from a few hundred meters to several kilometers off the designated drop zone. Thinking about this brought to mind some equipment Riley thought might be useful to Eyes Two in their assembly on the ground. He made a mental note to tell Alexander about it after the briefback. He tuned back in to the brief.
"Once we have verified destruction we will move to our exfiltration pickup zone, which is the PZ cut into the mountainside next to the lab." Riley wondered if that wasn't too close to the target, but he hadn't looked over the Eyes Two AO to see if there were any other suitable sites. The whole area was pretty steep.
Alexander almost seemed to shrug. "That completes my portion, sir. I'd normally be followed by the medic, but his briefing is pretty much the same as the one Sergeant Partusi gave you. The same is true for the commo portion, although we will be using PRC-68 radios for internal commo rather than the radio helmet. I'll be followed by Captain Vaughn."
Vaughn seemed to have gained some confidence as he strode up to the front of the room. "Pending your questions, sir, that concludes our briefback. I want to assure you that this team is ready to go and can successfully accomplish the mission."
Riley gave Powers a sidelong glance. The captain had probably been taught to say that last sentence in the Q-course. Macksey probably wasn't very impressed — it was his job to determine if indeed the mission and planning were viable.
Macksey leaned back in his chair and thought for a few minutes, then stood up and walked to the front of the room. "I have to admit I am impressed with the amount of work you've done under a compressed time schedule. Very thorough. I'm going to recommend approval of these first two missions to the secretary of defense and he'll relay that to the president. As of now, assume you're a go." Riley breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been half afraid that the mission would be canceled.
Macksey looked around the room. "I have one minor change I didn't have time to give to General Pike before coming over here." Riley frowned. What change?
"Eyes One will still use Spectre for Hammer One. However, Eyes Two is going to use Apache helicopters. You'll still use the laser designator, just the firing platform will be different. I don't see any problem with that. This way you also get Apaches to fly cover on both exfiltrations.
"The reason for the change is that General Linders tells me that 1st Special Operations Wing wasn't sure they could keep Spectre on target over Medellin without having the Colombian Air Force scramble. We think that Apaches flying off the Raleigh in the Pacific can make it in and out without getting spotted."
Riley considered this. The change made sense, but he could also see intraservice politics worming its way into the operation. The army wanted to justify the billions of dollars it was outlaying for the new Apache attack helicopter. However, Apache or Spectre, it didn't really matter. The end result would be the same. Plus, getting the Apaches to fly cover on the exfiltration was something they hadn't thought of. It was a good addition. He had thought Linders's reasons for using the HH-53 for Eyes Two's exfil had been kind of lame. If they could fly Apaches in from the navy ship, then a Blackhawk also could make the distance. But Blackhawk or Pave Low — it didn't matter to Riley as long as the damn thing flew. He glanced over at Captain Vaughn. The captain was accepting the change without comment.