“Roger,” Hunter replied, turning toward the Super Etendards and kicking in his afterburner. “You take care of the tanks. I’ll go after these guys … ”
Almost immediately the red alert was flashed to the Norwegian frigates. Their crews started to take countermeasures. The Exocet was a radar-homing missile. Hundreds of ship profiles were locked into its computer memory. Once a profile took hold via the missile’s on-board radar, the rocket would set a course right for its center. To counteract this, the Norwegian sailors started firing chaff rockets — small projectiles containing millions of ultra-thin, metalized, fiberglass wires. The cloud of chaff was designed to confuse the Exocet’s radar-homing device by mimicking several attractive radar targets. It was a good idea, but in reality the chaff defense worked about half the time.
Hunter put the 16 into a screaming dive and was instantly in the airspace between the attacking airplanes and the ships. Already he knew the lead Super Etendard had released a missile. The mini-blip on his radar screen confirmed it. He coolly set a path directly for the oncoming computerized projectile. The F-16 was traveling at 1100 mph and the Exocet was coming at him at nearly 650 mph.
“This won’t take long,” he thought.
Sure enough, five miles away he saw the telltale trail of smoke coming from the sea-skimming missile heading straight at him. He held the F-16 steady, barely flicking the aircraft’s side-stick controller. Now the missile was just three miles away. He counted off 1-2-3, then squeezed his cannon trigger. The Vulcan Six Pack roared in response, sending up a wall of lead. The missile and the cannon shells met a split-second later head on. A huge yellow explosion lit up the late afternoon sky. When the smoke cleared, nothing was left but cinders.
Even before the Exocet exploded, Hunter had launched a Sidewinder at the lead Super Etendard. The missile raced toward the attacking aircraft. An explosion off on the horizon ten seconds later confirmed the lead airplane had been hit.
Hunter turned his attention the second lead enemy airplane. It too had launched a deadly missile. Then, like a true hired hand, the pilot had turned his airplane around and fled the area. Hunter instantly had a clear visual sighting on the missile it had launched. Trouble was, it was moving too fast for him to shoot it down.
He knew the Exocet’s radar-homing computer had selected the circling Norwegian command frigate as its target. It was much too late for him to radio the ship to take evasive action. There was only one way he could prevent the missile from hitting its target. Hunter booted the F-16 until he was flying on an intersecting collision course with the missile. He kicked the 16’s engines once more and flashed right in front of the rocket, at the same time boosting up the power in his three cockpit radar sets.
The missile took the bait. Its on-board computer instantly “went dumb,” forgetting about the frigate and instead homing in on all the activity in the F-16’s cockpit. Hunter smiled, yanked back on the side-stick controller, and put the jet fighter into a merciless, straight-up climb.
The missile followed as advertised, but the speed of its target and the strain of the hellish climb were too much for its on-board circuitry. Wires began to melt, fuel began to heat up. Its electronic brain went crazy, instructing the missile’s steering systems to begin rotating. This caused the warhead to be jolted against its protective casing. A spark resulted and this ignited the warhead. The missile exploded an instant later.
“Two missiles down … ” Hunter whispered. “Only four to go … ”
He flipped the jet onto its back and found himself directly above two more incoming Super Etendards. Instinctively his fingers pushed the Sidewinder launch trigger and two missiles shot out from under his wings. They flew unerringly toward the slower attacking airplanes. One was sucked up into the trailing Super Etendard’s rear exhaust pipe. The airplane was instantly obliterated. The second Sidewinder caught the other jet right in the cockpit, exploding the chamber and ejecting the lifeless form of the pilot out through the smashed canopy glass. The aircraft went into a crazy spin and slammed into the sea with a steamy crash.
He found the last two remaining Super Etendards roaring over the top of the small fleet of three troop-carrying frigates, their Exocets still under the wings. He knew the pilots were trying to spin about and attack from the east, thereby giving them the option of attacking some of the SAS landing crafts in the process. But the gunners on the frigates interrupted those plans. The Norwegians sent up a wall of lead that impressed even Hunter. The SAS troopers on the beach were also firing at the enemy jets. One of the Super Etendards was caught square in a crossfire, its fuel tank taking hundreds of hits before it finally split and erupted into a ball of flame, taking the aircraft and its pilot with it.
The remaining jet, its pilot inordinately plucky, roared out into a wide turn and started back toward the small fleet.
“Send up chaff! Quick!” Hunter yelled into his microphone.
Almost before the words were out of his mouth, he could see a wall of chaff come flying up from the frigates. But the attacking jet was too far away from the close-to-shore frigates. The pilot launched his missile and immediately fled the area. Hunter instinctively wanted to chase the retreating airplane, but there was a much more immediate threat.
The Exocet was heading right for the Saratoga …
Without an instant’s hesitation, Hunter launched a Sidewinder, although he was not in a line-of-sight position. It was the only chance he had, and a risky one at that.
He was hoping the Sidewinder would get to the Exocet before the Exocet got to the carrier. It would be missile against missile. The Sidewinder was infrared, the Exocet was radar-targeted. The Exocet was an anti-shipper, the Sidewinder an air-to-air. The Exocet was bigger, faster, much more powerful — its warhead could damage the carrier beyond repair. The Sidewinder was more nimble, but it was carrying only enough explosive to shoot down an aircraft. Plus it would have to make one hell of a maneuver to get to the Exocet. But Hunter knew the Sidewinder had at least one advantage: it could take out a target head on. He crossed his fingers and watched the drama unfold.
The Sidewinder twisted down toward the Exocet, homing in on its infra-red target. Urging it on with body English, Hunter watched as his missile executed the necessary 120-degree turn. The Exocet was now less than 500 feet off the bow of the Saratoga. Gunners on all four frigates were throwing up a wall of bullets in the enemy missile’s general direction hoping a lucky shot would hit the missile. Even the SAS men on the deck of the carrier were firing at the oncoming missile with their rifles as it came right for them. “Christ,” Hunter whispered. “This is going to be real close … ”
The Sidewinder won the race …
Just 100 feet off the side of the carrier, the smaller American-made weapon caught the front fin of the Exocet, clipping it and causing its warhead to explode before it hit the carrier. Pieces of near-supersonic debris still carried on into the side of the Saratoga, but with much less force and resulting damage than if the missile had impacted intact. A small fire broke out on the carrier, but Hunter, streaking by the big ship, knew it was manageable.
He heard a burst of cheers from his earphones. “Good shooting, Hunter!” Sir Neil’s voice came through, so loud it caused his ears to ring.
“Don’t thank me,” Hunter said, only half-jokingly. “Thank the guys who built that Sidewinder so many years ago. That’s what it means to be ‘Made in the USA.’”
But now there was a new threat.
While Hunter was taking on the Exocets, a major battle had erupted on Gold Beach. Approximately 500 SAS troops were ashore and they were battling many of the T-62 tanks that had moved up from the town. Another group of about a dozen tanks were firing directly on the frigates, which were aggressively firing back.