"Signal is moving to ten o'clock," the DSO asked. "We're getting some space between us, but he's heading perpendicular to our course. He'll get a solid visual on us."
"Mach one point five."
"If he didn't know who we were before, he can take a good guess now," Canady said.
"One-Three's still with us.
"Signal almost abeam us now."
Canady looked out his left cockpit window. There, about ten miles off their left side, was a large white transport-like aircraft with a big disk-like radome mounted on top of its fuselage.
"I can see it. Ten o'clock," Canady asked. "It looks like an E-3
AWACS.Can it be one of ours?"
"Look at the tail," the DSO asked. "T-tail or conventional?"
Canady had to strain to see it as the Excalibur whisked past.
"T-tail," he asked. "And… escorts. He's got escorts, two fighters on his wings."
"Russian Mainstay surveillance plane," the DSO said, his voice cracking. "Looks like a C-141 with a radome on top, right?It's the Russian version of our AWACS.It pulls doubleduty as a tanker, too.
"He's going to pull his double-duty right on our ass," Canady said.
"Nav, cleartext a message over SATCOM.Tell them we have a Russian AWACS and two fighter escorts behind us. Give our position and flight data and ask for instructions.
"Already sent.
"We can't keep this up for long, Colonel," the co-pilot put in. "We're behind on the fuel curve and we don't have authorization to cross the second fail-safe point. If we start a second orbit, that Mainstay will catch up to us with its fighters. "Canady unbuckled his oxygen mask and pounded his instrument panel in frustration.-DSO, can you see those fighters behind us?"
"No. All I see is the AWACS-but the fighters won't need to turn on their radars to find us. If the AWACS can see us it can vector in the fighters better than the fighter pilots."
"Can you jam that AWACS' radar?"
"At this range, yes, barely."he follow us?"
"If we ducked down to low altitude, could "The Mainstay has good look-down capability," the DSO asked. "We might lose him if we combine jamming and a hard, fast descent "But then what?" the co-pilot interrupted, "We're still an hour from landfall and we're still not authorized to cross the second fail-safe point. He's got two fighters to look for us.and the fighters have plenty of fuel. We're behind the fuel curve as it is."
"To hell with the fuel and the second fail-safe point," Canady said.
"I won't risk being caught or shot up by those fighters. I'll keep it at Mach one point five until we reach land, then throttle back and hide in the terrain radar ground clutter.
II "Or we can engage those fighters and the AWACS, — the radar nav said.
Everyone else grew quiet. He had voiced the unthinkable-attempt a dogfight with the Russian fighters. The Excaliburs were the first American strategic bombers to be fitted with air-to-air missiles@the attack would be completely unexpected.
"If we have to, we will," Ca nady asked. "Arm the Scorpion missiles, DSO.Let's have them ready Canady looked out his left cockpit window.
Illuminated by the faint glow of the sun just below the horizon was a Russian fighter, cruising directly cockpit-to-cockpit across from Canady, so close to the Excalibur that the Russian pilot and his back-seat weapons officer could clearly be seen. Canady noted the red star on the MiG-31 Foxhound's vertical stabilizer and the four air-to-air missiles slung under its wing. Even traveling over a thousand miles per hour, the massive Russian fighter kept up easily with the Excalibur, flying in perfect side-by-side formation.
"A MiG-31," the co-pilot asked. "Right beside us. "He turned and looked out his right-side window. "The other one is off One-Three's right wing."
"Nav…"
"I'm sending it now," the radar navigator said, typing in a new uncoded emergency message into the satellite communications terminal.
"They got us," Canady said quietly. Silence from the crew, which felt naked, vulnerable. Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. Their protective camouflage, their weaponry, their terrainfollowing capability, even their speed was useless.
WASHINGTON, D.C
"Priority messages from the B-1s, sir. "Jeff Hampton rushed into the Oval Office with a long computer printout strip. At a stern glance from General Curtis, Hampton gave the message to him.
"Well, General?" the President said irritably, taking a sip of coffee.
"First message is a coded post-refueling message, sir. They completed their last refueling successfully. Next message acknowledges the first fail-safe order, authorizing them to proceed to-The President saw the color drain from Curtis' face. "What is it?"
"Seven minutes ago… oh, goddamn… two more messages transmitted in the clear-they didn't code them. First Z message indicates the formation was spotted by a Russian Mainstay airborne warning and control aircraft one hundred three miles north-northwest of Point Barrow, Alaska."
"Spotted by a what?"
"A Russian radar plane. "Curtis walked over to a map of the Northern Hemisphere. "Here-just a few miles away from the first orbit point.
That Mainstay is a copy of our E-3A AWACS surveillance plane. It can scan hundreds of miles around itself, track planes at high or low altitude, vector fighters-" "Did the Russians actually see the B-1s?"
"They… yes, visual sighting was made. "Curtis began to read the last message, then reached out his hand and held onto the back of a chair.
"I don't believe it," the President asked. "General, you told me there wouldn't be any Russian planes within two thousand miles of that orbit point."
"Mr. President…"
"What? There's more?"
"Yes, sir, the General Curtis didn't know if he could read it.the Excaliburs were intercepted by two Russian MiG-31 Foxhound fighters."
What!" shortly after being spotted. "Curtis' face had turned even whiter. The President dropped back into his leather seat.
"Did the fighters attack?"
"No. "Curtis looked again at the message. "This last report says the fighters were shadowing the bombers. The B-1s tried to outrun them but couldn't. Last reported speed was Mach one point five, still four hundred miles from the second fail-safe point. The fighters are still with them."
The President bent over his desk. "General, how can those fighters be so far from Asia?"
"The Mainstay is a tanker, too," Curtis asked. "It can sustain two fighters like that for five thousand miles. "He paused, then turned and walked back to the President's wide cherry desk.
"Sir, there has to be a leak somewhere. First, the timing of the attack on the Fortress, then the attack on Dreamland, and now these B-1s being spotted so fast. It can't be coincidence-" "Yes, I agree, but that's not the problem now. We've got two bombers up there headed for Russia, and two fighters alongside them ready to blow them out of the sky.
"Sir, I've got an-" "We have to recall the bombers. Those fighters could take them out any time-" "Yes, sir, but if they were ordered to do so they would have done it already.
"They could be waiting for orders from Moscow."
"That's possible, but Canady and Kamanski, the commanders; aboard those Excaliburs, are the best in the business. They just won't let the fighters take them out. The Excaliburs have the new Scorpion air-to-air missiles, advanced jammers, and better camouflage, plus they're just as fast as a Foxhound at high altitude and faster at low altitude."
"Curtis," the President said, shaking his head in disbelief, you're not suggesting that the Excaliburs fight off those MiGs and continue." "No, sir, but… they shouldn't be recalled, either."
"For God's sake, why?"
"Sir, the objective is still the neutralization of that laser site-" "Without starting a war, may I remind you."
"Yes, sir. Like we agreed, limited resources, precision bombing, little or no collateral damage. The B-1s are now essentially neutralized. They probably could escape the Foxhounds, but they wouldn't have the fuel reserves to continue their mission. Plus the Russian air defenses are alerted. All the Russians need to do is draw a straight line from the bombers' present position to Kavaznya and look along that line to find two B-1s."so?