“Their carriers can move and evade. Our outposts cannot hide.”
“They are enemy ships, Comrade Chairman, and ships can be sunk.” Both men appreciated the irony of those words from the Admiral of the PLA(N).
“We have lost many sons of the People’s Republic,” the Chairman groaned to no one as he looked out the window.
“Yes, Comrade.” Dong replied. “But they have lost more, and we will hit them harder than they’ve been hit in decades. In this sea fight Admiral Qin waits in his defensive lair for them to show themselves, and we will sink a big ship. Mark my words.”
When the Chairman faced him, Dong read the message in his eyes.
“We must end this soon, Comrade Marshal. We do not have the lubricant and fuel stockpiles to continue for an extended time. I give you two weeks to turn the Americans back. After that, we must acquiesce, and withdraw with as much force in place as we can. We have dozens of loaded ships waiting to leave port to deliver the People’s merchandise to eager buyers in foreign markets, including the United States. If we do not receive payments for our factories and financial institutions and end up with six-hundred million hungry citizens, we have a much bigger problem on our hands, comrades. Marshal Dong, what is your idea of victory?”
Dong was prepared for this question.
“Turn the Americans back to California, keep our total control of the Southern Sea, and keep the sea trade flowing as before. Status quo, Comrade Chairman.” The Chairman nodded, and then turned to Qin.
“Comrade Admiral?”
Qin put his cup down before answering. “To turn them back to California, we must sink a big ship, a carrier, a nuclear carrier. I am prepared to mass forces to do that, but I cannot guarantee that the People’s losses will be light. They will probably be significant, and we must be prepared to exchange a number of our ships and planes to get a big one of theirs.”
The Chairman’s face did not move. “Many more sons and daughters…”
“Yes, Comrade Chairman, many more. They fight for the People’s Republic and for each other. No matter the outcome, history will show that here we fought, and the Americans will be reticent to penetrate the first island chain in the future.”
“Indeed,” the Chairman nodded. “Their children spend hours growing weak in front of our digital screens, and they will whine to their indulgent grownups for more. They will pressure their leaders, too. No one wants a long conflict, and, Admiral, the fighting must remain on the sea. We cannot tolerate attacks on the mainland.”
“We will defend it, Comrade Chairman.”
“And the running-dog Japanese; we don’t want to bring them in any more. Has your submarine commander answered for his transgression, Admiral?”
“He has not returned to port, and I cannot guarantee that his boat is still intact in the far seas.” Qin was caught off guard by the question. But he knew one thing; nothing less than sinking a nuclear carrier would save his job now, and he had two weeks to do it.
At his INDOPACOM office, Admiral Clark picked up the secure line to Yokosuka. John McGill was waiting.
“John, Cactus Clark. How’s it going today?”
“Admiral, your tomorrow has become a tough sledding for us out here. The visual sightings and ESM hits have confirmed it; they’ve put up hundreds of high-altitude UCAVs over the South China Sea, from the Luzon Strait to south of the Spratlys. These are Divine Eagle airframes, which we did not think they had in numbers anywhere like we’ve seen.”
“Where did they come from?”
“We believe their interior, from mountainside hangars. Hunan province, we think, and maybe others.”
“Hundreds, John?”
“Yes, sir. We do not know if they have any more in reserve, and their OPSEC has been impressive. Here’s what we think, and I’m getting this from Washington…. These things can orbit above 100K, maybe up to 150, and can stay airborne for weeks. It is possible they have a payload of roughly a thousand pounds. They could have one or two air-to-air missiles or a couple of knockoff small-diameter bombs. It is probable, sir, they have a low-band radar and are networked with surface shooters and their outposts. The low-band may pick up stealth aircraft before we want them to.”
Clark gazed out his windows as McGill spoke. This was not expected. His eyes were drawn to a KC-135 on approach to Hickam. He needed it out west. He needed every tanker in the Air Force out west.
“John, what is the postulated range of their missile?”
“Sir, even if they are little PL-9 heat-seekers, if they launch from the damn ionosphere with jet-stream winds, they can reach out to about a hundred miles. Probably have strakes on their bombs; those things are going to glide tens of miles.”
“Yeah, but they’ve got nothing for end-game targeting,” Clark supposed.
“Yes, sir, but I’m not sure how good their tipper info is, how sensitive their seekers are, if their weapons are linked, their launch doctrine, how they are controlled and from where… we don’t know any of this, and we didn’t know they had hundreds of these UCAVs squirreled away until they darkened the sky over the SCS.” The line went quiet for a moment as both men considered the situation they faced. Clark broke the silence.
“So, John, what are you thinking?”
“Sir, we’ve got our Air Tasking Order out to send our first strikes tomorrow, but I’m going to change tomorrow’s ATO. I think we send probes… run at them and see how they react. Maybe they’ll expend some weapons that we can avoid. Collect ESM where we can, but, sir, we aren’t going to the Spratlys tomorrow. I’ve got little invisible missiles above me and big honkin’ missiles below me, and we can’t fly into that until we clear them out. Meanwhile, my submarines are inside the first chain and we can expect to see some PLA(N) ships start exploding in the next 24 hours. I’ve got SEALs on two boats, and they have a covert capability. Of course, comms are spotty, and I can’t coordinate with them the way I’d like. Right now we are reactive vice proactive. Anyway, sir, we need some more time.”
Although McGill could not see him, Clark nodded his understanding. That didn’t mean he could grant McGill’s request.
“John, I get it and I’m with you… but we’ve got to end this thing sooner rather than later. Washington is calling me once a day asking if it’s over out here, and I think the calls are going to increase to twice a day.”
“Yes, sir, and my guys in the planning cell have drunk all the coffee aboard working a new plan for our ships. We’re still dealing with fishing boats and their armed patrols into the Phil Sea; Hanna downed three PRC aircraft yesterday but lost one to a microwave weapon on a fishing boat hiding in plain sight. Randy Johnson is taking EMCOM most seriously. Good old-fashioned mark-one, mod-zero eyeballs are a main sensor out here.”
“His pilot okay?”
“Yes, sir. He’s lucky to be alive, but he’s okay.” McGill said.