It took only a second for range instrumentation to get back. “Kill confirmed. Sierra one-one, break off, return to base. You have been killed.”
“Sheee-it.” It was Sierra One-two who, very correctly, believed that a second GAR-8 was already locking onto his tailpipe. The F-104 formation broke up, the leader diving away to return to Nellis, Sierra one-two trying to turn and climb into the sun to duck the inevitable missile. Sierra one-three and one-four were breaking left, hoping to scissors and sandwich the RB-58 between them, the way the RB-58s had trapped them a few seconds earlier. The problem was that while their radars had a narrow scan cone, the ASG-18 did not. Tiger Lily was already turning and bringing her missile armament to bear. All she needed was enough separation to fire safely.
“Fox-One” From Marisol, “Miss” from Range Instrumentation. Kozlowski swore and started to lock his third GAR-8 on. He'd been afraid of that, the sun was too strong an IR source. In the rear seat, Dravar was locking his 20 millimeter cannon onto one of the two F-104s now behind them. A long, long way behind them
“Fox-November” from Tiger Lily. A pause then “Sierra one-three and Sierra one-four. Break off and return to base, You're history.”
Ahead of Marisol the last F-104 was running out of energy; the long climb up to the battle area had left the little fighter short to start with and the climb into the sun had bled off what was left. In contrast, Marisol had dived into action and her weight gave her an energy reserve that was still undepleted. The F-104 ran out first and rolled out of its climb. In doing so, its afterburner made a perfect target
“Fox-One”
“That's a hit, Sierra One-Two; go home, it’s all over.” The two RB-58s formed up and, still on full afterburner, exited the target area leaving the defenses a (simulated) smoking shambles. Behind them, the B-52s split up for their own bombing runs.
Primary Debriefing Room, United States Air Force Air Warfare Center, Nellis AFB, Nevada
“Gentlemen, that concludes the mission review. Marisol is credited with one Ajax site, eight F-101 Voodoos and two F-104s. Tiger Lily is credited with two Ajax sites, four F-101s and two F-104s. Much more importantly, the B-52s were able to make their bombing runs unmolested. Captain Kozlowski, would you take the podium first please to answer any questions?”
Kozlowski looked down on the audience. During the account and video trackfilms of the wild furball over the exercise area, the resentment of the fighter pilots and triumphalism of the bomber crews had gone, to be replaced by hard professional interest in the mechanics of the fight. The implications of what had happened were quite clear, the bombers had taken the fight to the interceptor and missile defenses and won decisively. That meant somebody else who had the same equipment could have done the same and an American city could pay the price.
“Captain Kozlowski.” It was the pilot of Vampire One-one “How close to the envelope edge were you pushing your aircraft. Did you have much performance in hand?”
“We went slightly over the edge ducking your MB-1 shots. By the way, it’s very obvious when you are lining up for those; the radar picture shows it clearly. Frankly, I don't think you should rely on MB-1s, they are fine against B-52s but we're fast and agile enough to see them coming and get clear.
“We went to 102 percent on inlet temperature and 99.8 on leading edge and canopy. That means the aircraft have to go in for a check-up. It was a transient, not sustained, so no harm done. We're getting new inlets and cockpit canopy materials that will ease the limitations a bit. We're told we'll be cleared to 1,700 mph when they arrive. We're limited to 1,660 tops at the moment.”
The Voodoo pilot nodded. What he was about to say would get him ridiculed but professionalism demanded he ask. “Captain, I'll be honest, you wiped the floor with us. How did you do it, and from your perspective what could we have done to stop you?”
Kozlowski thought carefully “Our big edge is that we have three people in the crew. Lieutenant Dravar was defending us jamming your radars and the ground sets, leaving Lieutenant Korrina to concentrate on attacking the defenses. That left me clear to fly. Another big edge is fuel. We can fly on full afterburner an hour or more.” That caused an intake of breath from the Fighter Mafia.
“If all else fails we can just run you out of fuel and energy. Or, if that fails, just run. You can't catch us and, to be honest, in a tail chase, I don't think your missiles can. We're scheduled to fly against the new F-106 a little later. That may be different. As for what would have made our lives harder?” There was laughter and a stir of interest.
“Get in close; we rely on nuclear weapons to take you out. We can't use them if you're right beside us. Don't forget our tail gun though. And spread out so we don't take whole formations out with single shots.”
Other pilots, fighter and bomber were rising with questions. Kozlowski realized that it was going to be a long, long session. Ruefully he thought that if he'd wanted an early night he should have lost the battle, But there were lessons to be learned and learning lessons was what Red Sun was all about.
Ban Rom Phuoc, Thai-Burmese Border
Name of a name, they were all crying again. Who would believe that a creaky drama series could have this effect? It was called Path of Virtue and was centered around a rich family living in Bangkok. The hero was their son who had fallen in love with the heroine, a girl from a poor family. His parents had opposed the match and done everything possible to break the couple up - even to the extent of making false accusations against the heroine. Then, the wealthy wife had been in a serious accident and been taken to hospital. There, her husband had seen the girl they had condemned was a nurse and was working her hardest to save his wife, even though they'd done so much to harm her.
Stricken with guilt at their cruelty and injustice, the rich parents had approved the son's marriage and the father had become a Monk to make amends for all his wrongdoings. But now an evil Japanese company man also had designs on the heroine and, deciding if he couldn't have her, nobody would, had poisoned her wedding meal. The heroine was just to eat when the black-and-white image had faded and the credits had roiled. Tune in again next week.
Phong Nguyen reflected on the power that box had. It was incredible; it could manipulate people’s feelings and their whole outlook. Path of Virtue was brilliant propaganda, entertaining and enjoyable with its messages carefully presented so they didn't jar. No matter how hard the trials, no matter how great the injustices, the young hero and heroine always overcame them by their honesty and integrity. The guilty were always found and punished, those who behaved bravely and decently were rewarded.
Suddenly he realized something very profound. This one box could revolutionize the whole art of insurgency. The riskiest part of running an insurgency was the initial stages, sending cadres out to spread the word. As the Chipanese were finding out, this was a hard, hard task and the risks were great. But use this box, and the whole thing could be done centrally, Work the revolutionary message into the scripts and an insurgency could be started without sending the cadres in. The groundwork could be done without risking those valuable assets. That box, sitting in the corner of the communal hut, could do it all.
Even here it had done so much already. After the night of the attack, Army engineers had arrived and installed a diesel-powered electricity generator. It powered lights in the village hut, ran a radio and operated a few simple machines. Then, the box had arrived. It was said that a wealthy man, who owned the factory that made them, had heard of the courageous fight put up by the village and sent them the box to show his respect. The television set head been set up in the hut and a couple of men from the Army had helped tune it into the television transmitter. First night they'd switched it on and their whole world had changed.