before comprehension began to dawn. He scrambled out from under the
single bed and lurched to his feet.
Good. Uninjured. Sikes nodded approvingly, then spared two seconds to
shake the man’s hand. It quickly turned into a hard, quick embrace.
Getting out was just as easy. Whatever remaining Cuban forces had been
in the compound were significantly distracted by the destruction
raining down on them. Sikes tried to remember the mission was briefed
as a six-missile strike, all impacting their targets simultaneously.
If things went according to plan, there would be no more inbound
missiles to jeopardize the team’s escape. Not that the SEALs should
have ever been there in the first place by now, they should already
have been back in their boat and headed for the carrier. Still, the
Cubans didn’t know that more missiles weren’t coming. There was a
ten-minute window between the Arsenal attack and first strikes by naval
aircraft.
He hoped it would be enough.
0455 Local (+5 GMT) Hawkeye 601
“Oops. Here comes trouble.” The RIO’s voice over the ICS brought
everyone back to full alert. On each screen, just at the outer edge of
the detection capabilities, six small blips appeared. “Where the hell
did they come from?” the RIO muttered under his breath. “It would be
too good to be true if we had air superiority without a fight, don’t
you think?”
The second RIO reached for his mike. “I’m going to let strike leader
know, if he hasn’t already seen them on his AWG-9.”
“Intercept time?” the first RIO asked.
“About six minutes.” The second RIO left unspoken the obvious
conclusion there wasn’t enough time for the inbound strike to dump
weapons and disengage. They’d have to take the MiGs on while still
fully loaded or dump their weaponry harmlessly in the ocean. A helluva
choice to make, and one the E2C RIO was glad he didn’t have to entrust
to his pilot.
0455 Local (+5 GMT) Tomcat 201
Bird Dog swore softly. Why the hell couldn’t the MiGs have waited
another ten minutes? By then, he’d be wings clean and at his most
maneuverable. As it was, air combat maneuvering against the nimble
Soviet-built fighters would be problematic, not only for the fighters
but for the smaller Hornets accompanying them. And the EA-cBs carried
no anti-air weaponry except the HARMs. “Why didn’t we have the Arsenal
neutralize that land base and airfield?” Gator asked. “I would have
thought that would be the perfect mission for them.”
“You don’t understand conflict. Gator,” Bird Dog said hotly. “This is
an operational air problem. This is a limited war we don’t want it
spreading into a full out-and-out conflict between the United States
and Cuba. See, if we conducted an attack on the other base, we’d be
sending a signal that” “Maybe they don’t read sign language. Bird
Dog.
Did you ever think of that? All your fancy operational art has gotten
me so far is fighters inbound.” Gator sounded tired. “Okay, let’s
figure out how we’re gonna get out of this one.”
“We outnumber them,” Bird Dog observed. “You got the contacts relayed
by the E-2?”
“Affirmative. We definitely outnumber them, but they’re moving like
greased lightning. Tight formation, good flight discipline. They
should beah, there they go. High-low formation now.”
“Let’s give them something to shake up that tight discipline a little,”
Bird Dog said. He toggled over to tactical. “Red Dog Three, this is
Red Dog Leader. Vector zero-four-five and take bogeys with Fox One.
Hold them off for a while, Fred, until we can get rid of this load
we’re carrying.”
“Roger. Coming right now.” Two aircraft peeled off from the formation
and headed toward the incoming MiGs.
“Fox One, Fox One,” Red Dog Three announced seconds later, indicating
that he had fired Phoenix missiles at the intruders.
The Phoenix missile was the long-range attack weapon of choice for the
United States Navy. Designated the AIM-54, it was the most
sophisticated and longest-range air-to-air missile in service in any
nation. Over thirteen feet in length, with a diameter of fifteen
inches, it weighed almost one thousand pounds and was capable of
achieving speeds of up to Mach 5. With a maximum range of 110 nautical