“Frankly,” said Karpov, “they can have only one thing in mind. First off, they’re just under 170 nautical miles out. So they probably think we can only hit them with the P-900s at the moment, and I’m betting they are assuming we have very few of those. They don’t realize we can modify the range of both our MOS-III and Moskit-II systems. We’ve got the extended range components in inventory, and I had them all mounted on the MOS-IIIs after that last engagement. So we’ve really got range on those missiles now, our premium strike weapon. That’s why I’d prefer not to tip my hand on them just yet, and hold those cards tight. So I’m thinking they may believe we have very few of the P-900s left. They’ve been counting heads too since our last engagement.”
“Correct,” said Fedorov. “We have only six left, but why would they court trouble with us here at all, under any circumstances? This doesn’t make sense.”
Karpov thought about that. “Yes, now that you say this, it does seem odd. Perhaps he was coming south to help defend Truk. Perhaps he’s just trying to thumb his nose at us.”
“To distract us away from another high value target,” said Fedorov, and that got Karpov’s attention.
“A carrier group?” That was the only high value target worth anything in Karpov’s mind. Fedorov’s suspicions had just hit pay dirt, though neither man had any notion of just where that suspected carrier group was, and what it was carrying.
“You think they may be planning another ambush… With a carrier group out there somewhere?”
“Why else would they be doing this? Why the direct radio contact? Why are they vectoring in on us now? I don’t like it.”
“Alright… If they did have a carrier group, where would it be?”
“North,” said Fedorov. “That ship is a key fleet defense asset. They would use it as a forward picket, and the carriers would be north. They could even have planes in the air at this very minute. We’re well within strike range of WWII carrier planes now.”
“But we can easily defeat such a strike,” said Karpov.
“Yes, but for a price. It will cost us more missiles.”
“I’ll hold all our longer range SAMs in that event, and just use the short range stuff. You may be correct here, Fedorov, but let’s wait a while, and see what they do. Kazan has likely turned, and Gromyko will be creeping up on them by now. He will be much closer, and he has the Zircon. That missile would get to them before they have a chance to react.”
“Got them!” Lieutenant Otani reported from her station on the SPY-1. “I have them bearing 262, on a heading of 47 degrees, at 20 knots. Contact reported by the Seahawk, sir. The Russian is emitting on everything: Fly Screen, Palm Frond, Roundhouse, Tombstone and Top Plate. I can even pick up his short and medium range fire control radars. He’s lit up like an American Christmas tree.”
“Excellent,” said Harada. “We’ve done our job. Miss Shiota, make sure Admiral Kita has that data, and it looks like the ball’s in his court now. Open that channel to Karpov.”
Harada smiled. He wanted to keep this fish on the line as long as possible, and decided to tell Karpov something plausible he might believe in this scenario.
“Ahoy Kirov,” he said over the com system. “I intend to pull every tooth you have if I can. So my bow is pointed right at you, and you can throw away as many missiles as you want. Our SM-2s are hungry this morning. Over.” He gave Fukada a smile, and the two men stood there waiting, arms folded, the tension rising. It was like waving your arms at a Grizzly Bear. Takami was going to play the lure as long as possible, hoping to rouse Karpov’s ire and get him to waste missiles. Seconds later, they got a rude alert.
“Sir, the Seahawk reports a vampire! They put a missile on it!”
Karpov had decided not to make the game so easy for the Japanese. He ordered up an S-400 and had it on its way, feeling just a little better now that his first missile had joined the argument with Captain Harada. The time for words was over.
Out on that Seahawk, the pilot had been up at 12,000 feet to get good radar coverage of the sea to the south, elated to finally spot their enemy. Then the missile warning jarred like a shock, and he knew he was in grave danger. Reporting the surface contact, he switched off his radars, toggled on any offensive ECM he had, and then dove. His helo was fairly agile as he desperately tried to avoid the missile, but it had already locked on and was not fooled. The S-400 ran true, and the Seahawk was dead ten seconds later…
Otani looked over at Harada, her eyes carrying the message plainly enough. “We lost them, sir. The Seahawk is gone.”
“Damn,” Harada swore, looking at Fukada. “That was one hell of a long shot. They must be packing the S-400 Triumf system.”
“We could even the score,” said Fukada. “Put an SM-3 on their helo.”
“That might feel good, but they have those damn Zircons, and the SM-3 is a good defensive weapon for that. At least our boys didn’t die in vain. We’ve got their location. Let’s hope Admiral Kita jumps on them. They just saw that helo go down too.”
Kita did see the Seahawk fall, and was none too happy about it. Yet now that they had Kirov’s position, he was going to get some payback. The F-35’s were up on the decks of Kaga and Akagi, and ready to climb for the clearing blue skies.
Kaga led the strike launches, allocating eight F-35’s armed with the GBU-53. Instead of sending three Shotai of three planes each, Kita opted to send two heavy Shotai, each with four planes, and hold one F-35 in reserve. The first, designated Kaga-1, would fly west, hopefully staying well out of range of the Russian helo’s radar, and then turn south to have their run at Kirov. Kaga-2 would fly a similar pattern, only moving east. Then Akagi followed by launching a SEAD package on one plane. Captain Yoshida would then set up a single Shotai of three planes, each one carrying four JSOW glide missiles. They would take a more direct vector on the contact, and all groups would attempt to coordinate their strike as they neared the target. It was a classic “Champagne” attack as the service called it, three groups with the two on the wings forward, and the JSOWs in the center slightly behind. All the pilots knew they were cleared hot, and would need no authorization from their home carrier to release their ordnance. Yoshida held the remainder of his planes in reserve for a possible second strike, which was always a wise precaution.
“Saturation,” said Admiral Kita. “Go get ‘em. If our planes get close enough to throw, that will put 64 GBU/53s in the air and 12 of the JSOW munitions all coming in at different angles to the target. Alright, let’s get the air defense ships out in front. Send to Kongo, and have them join Atago and Kirishima in a fan forward of our heading. The ship will come to starboard on 090. Signal Akagi to match our heading and speed. We’ll move off towards the Omi Group.”
The F-35B was capable of hovering and taking off vertically if required, and could also use the short flight deck. Built at great cost as a replacement for aging 4th generation fighters, it had seen increasing deployments in Western navies by 2021. Japan had a very few at the outset of the conflict, and Kita was quite fortunate to have so many here at his disposal.
The plane had been built as a strike fighter more than a dog fighter for the Navy. In early testing, many thought it would not have the agility to fight in close with even good 4th Generation fighters. In those engagements, it was built to rely on stealth and long range missile attack before it came to a dogfight. None of that was at issue here, and the plane’s outstanding ability to carry strike ordnance was now clearly evident.