Dale Brown - Shadows Of Steel Read online

  SHADOWS OF STEEL

  By Dale Brown

  Synopsis:

  Death, destruction, and military initials once again fill the air as Dale Brown brings together the surviving members of the crew from his Flight of the Old Dog for his latest adventure. Another Gulf War has begun, this time with Iran, a U.S. vessel has been sunk in the Persian Gulf, America's might has been (once again) crippled by short-sighted military budget cuts, and the only hope is a surgical strike by a secret weapon called Future Flight. Since our old pal Col. Patrick McLanahan of the Old Dog is in charge, how can it miss? As Brown points out, this story takes place in time between his Day of the Cheetah and Hammerheads, both of which are also available in paperback.

  Copyright (C) 1996 by Dale Brown

  REAL-WORLD NEWS EXCERPTS

  DEFENSE & FOREIGN AFFAIRS STRATEGIC POLICY, OCT 31, 1994 (reprinted with permission)

  In mid-September, Tehran concluded that a clash over the islands in the Strait of Hormuz--Abu Musa and the Tumbs--was inevitable. This assessment was based on intelligence from Saudi Arabia and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and was reflected in the intensification of Iran's military preparations and exercises in the Gulf. By late September (1994), Tehran was actively preparing for a possible military confrontation with the Persian Gulf states over the islands. Tehran believes that by demonstrating its strong and uncompromising position over the Gulf issues, it will be able to influence such countries as Egypt and Iraq to recognize Iran's unique position in the hub of Islam.

  IRAN SAYS WESTERN TROOP BUILDUP POSES THREAT TO SECURITY (OCT 20, 1994/0600 GMT) NICOSIA-REUTERS

  Iran's Intelligence (Internal Security) Minister Ali Fallahiyan said on Wednesday night the presence of Western forces in the Gulf was a threat to Iran's security. He said Iran should be vigilant and prepared "for any eventuality," the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported. It quoted Fallahiyan as saying that the "presence of alien forces and their movements in Iran's immediate vicinity needed vigilance and full preparation for any eventuality." He blasted United States policy in the Gulf region and urged oil-rich Gulf Arab states to end their alliance with Washington. The official news agency IRNA said the English-language Tehran Times and Iran News attacked the United States in editorials marking the November 4 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran after the Islamic revolution in 1979. Addressing neighboring Gulf Arab states, it said: "Now you are the victims of U.S. exploitation and usurpation carried out in more subtle ways to deprive you of your wealth." It urged them to oppose the presence of U.S. forces in the region. "Let the shout of 'Death to America' ring loud in the desert as a clear expression of your opposition to any pretext of a 'Desert Storm,' which we all know was just a game of cards the CIA played to justify their presence in the region."

  IRAN USES STYX TECHNOLOGY IN CRUISE-MISSILE DEVELOPMENT (Nov 17, 1994) 11/17/94 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL Iran is developing a range of ballistic missiles, and a cruise missile derived from the Russian SSN-2 Styx anti-ship missile, according to German intelligence documents obtained by Flight International. Tehran has access to Styx technology via the Silkworm, the 80-km (45-mile)-range Chinese-built version of the Styx. Iran took delivery of its first Silkworms in 1986 and the missiles are deployed on the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf waters. Four Silkworm launch emplacements have been built on the mid-gulf island of Abu Musa, where administration is shared by Iran and the Arab emirate state of Sharjah. Documents say that Tehran is also involved in the development of a solid-fueled missile and in the development of enhanced-performance Scud ballistic-missile systems....

  ARBITRATION REJECTED IN UAE ISLANDS ROW (DEC 23/1221 GMT) 12/23/94 TEHRAN (DEC 22) BLOOMBERG Iran spurned a call from its Arab neighbors to accept international arbitration in its dispute with the United Arab Emirates over three islands in the Persian Gulf. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said bilateral talks with the UAE were the only way to resolve the row which has soured relations between non-Arab Iran and the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). GCC leaders, ending a summit in Bahrain last night, called on the Iranian government to let the International Court of Justice decide who owns the islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tumbs. Iran, which controls the islands, said it will never give them up to the UAE. Raising the issue of territorial disputes posed a threat to the security of the Persian Gulf and served the interests of foreign powers in the region, the Foreign Ministry statement, carried on Tehran Radio, said.

  AEROSPACE DAILY-01/19/95

  Defense Intelligence Agency Director It. Gen. James R. Clapper, Jr.... said Iran is in the midst of rebuilding its military capability... Clapper said Iran has been spending between $1 billion and $2 billion a year on arms, and has focused on missiles and weapons of mass destruction and some "limited growth" in conventional capabilities. Some of the systems Iran is acquiring, such as Russian Kilo submarines and anti-ship cruise missiles, "could complicate operations in and around" the Persian Gulf, he added.

  GULF STATES AGREE To BOLSTER CAPABILITIES (JAN 27/JDW) 01/27/95-JANE's DEFENSE WEEKLY (JAN 21)

  Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council have agreed at their annual meeting to bolster their defense structure, possibly by purchasing three to four airborne warning and control aircraft. The six-nation alliance, comprising Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, said in Bahrain last month it would develop a "unified strategy" that could "act swiftly and decisively" to counter any threat to any member. That includes bolstering the GCC's 6,000-man rapid-deployment force, known as Peninsula Shield and based at Hafr all-Batin in northern Saudi Arabia, to 25,000 men. The GCC's move to bolster defenses came as Iran is reported to be building anti-ship missile sites and other fortifications on three disputed islands in the southern Gulf. Abu Musa, Greater Tumb and Lesser Tumb are being transformed into military arsenals, claims the UAE.

  IRAN DEPLOYS HAWK MISSILES To GULF ISLANDS-SHALIKASHVILI 03/08/95

  Iran has placed Hawk antiaircraft missiles on islands at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Feb. 28. "We spotted them putting missiles onto launchers, which they haven't done before," he told a meeting of reporters, according to wire reports. U.S. reconnaissance has also spotted the Iranians moving artillery into forward positions on its islands in the Strait of Hormuz, he said. "All of that could lead me to lots of conclusions. One of them is that they want to have the capability to interdict the traffic in the Strait of Hormuz." The U.S. is carefully monitoring the situation, he added. While Iraq is considered the biggest military threat in the Persian Gulf, Iran could become the region's major power toward the end of the century, Shalikashvili said.

  ARMS BUILDUP MAY THREATEN GULF OIL-PERRY (MAR 22/0951 GMT) 03/22/95-ABU DHAB-REUTERS Iran has moved 8,000 troops, chemical weapons and anti-ship missiles to islands at the mouth of the Gulf in a buildup that could threaten oil shipping, U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry said on Wednesday. Perry, on a week-long Gulf trip, hammered home a warning that he has made in moderate states in the region that Iran might one day try to control the flow of half the world's oil using a recent buildup on islands in the Strait of Hormuz. "This involves almost 8,000 military personnel moved to those islands. It involves anti-ship missiles, air defense missiles, chemical weapons," Perry told a news conference in Manama, capital of Bahrain. "It can only be regarded as a potential threat to shipping in the area," he added, charging publicly for the first time that Iran had stationed chemical weapons on the islands, some of which are claimed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Perry did not name the islands but the Pentagon has previously identified one as Abu Musa.

  NAVY FACES EXTENDED RANG
E OF IRANIAN MiG-29S-NAVY NEWS & UNDERSEA TECHNOLOGY (NVTE)-08/21/95

  A major new headache for Central Command and Navy battle groups in the Arabian Sea has emerged with Iran's development of in-flight refueling probes for its MiG-29s, intelligence community sources confirm. "... The Iranian air force possesses four tanker versions of the Boeing 707, roughly comparable to the U.S. Air Force KC-135, which was based on the never-built civilian Boeing 717.

  -nautical-... The U.S. analysts look to the roughly 2,100-mile distance from Iran to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. With in-flight refueling, Diego Garcia would come within the range of the Iranian MiG-29s.... Thus, the aircraft could be used to disrupt U.S. air supply lines in the event of future conflict in the Persian Gulf. Additionally, although the MiG-29 is heavily geared to air-to-air combat, one analyst said "there is some evidence" that the Iranians are working on adapting the aircraft to carry the air-to-surface version of the French Exocet anti-ship missile. In this case, he noted, the U.S. Maritime Prepositioning Squadron based at Diego Garcia would be at risk.... The possibility of such legal Iranian harassment of U.S. battle groups concerns several analysts, who observe that because of the Vincennes's (CG 49) shoot-down of an Iranian airliner in 1988, U.S. forces would be reluctant to attack in the face of Iranian provocations. At press time, U.S. Central Command officials had not responded to Navy News' requests for comment on the MiG-29 development.

  B-2 BOMBER FIGHT BREWING ON CAPITOL HILL, PHILLIPS BUSINESS INFORMATION 01/19/95 By KERRY GILDEAS Rep. Ron Dellums (D-Calif), ranking member on the House National Security Committee who has staunchly opposed additional B-2s, attended a closed National Security Committee briefing on military intelligence operations yesterday, said he learned of no changes in the world threat situation that would demand additional weapons systems or increased defense spending. "I absolutely do not think there is anything we see presently in the world that would justify 20 more B-2s, " Dellums remarked. "Where are you going to fly them? Where is the threat?"

  OVER THE PERSIAN GULF NEAR ABU MUSA ISLAND, IRAN 12 FEBRUARY 1997, 0314 LOCAL TIME The attackers were first spotted on radar only twenty miles from Abu Musa Island; by the time the chief of the air defense radar unit issued the air defense alert notification, they were seventeen miles out. Because this was the morning of Revolution Day in Iran, only a skeleton crew was on duty at the Islamic Republic Pasdaran-Engelab Revolutionary Guards air squadron base, and the pre-Revolution Day celebrations had ended only a few hours earlier--response time, therefore, was very slow, and the attackers were within missile range long before the Islamic Republic Air Force F-5E Tiger II fighter crews could reach their planes. The order to commit the Pasdaran's British-built Rapier antiaircraft missiles and ZSU-23/4 antiaircraft artillery units was issued far too late.

  Four three-ship flights of British Aerospace Hawk light attack jets streaked in at treetop level, launched laser-guided Hellfire missiles on the six known Iranian air defense sites, then dropped laser-guided incendiary bombs and cluster munitions on the island's small airfield. One unknown Rapier site launched a missile and destroyed one Hawk, but two trailing Hawks flying in the "cleanup" spot scoured the area with cluster bombs where they saw the Rapier lift off, receiving a very satisfying secondary explosion as one of the unlaunched missiles exploded in its launcher. The cluster bombs also hit the U.S.-built F-5E fighters on the ramp, destroying both and damaging two hangars where another F-5E was parked, the control tower, and some sections of taxiways. One adjacent empty hangar was left untouched.

  The second punch arrived just a few moments later. Four flights of four SA-342 Gazelle and SA-332 Super Puma attack helicopters swooped over the island, firing laser-guided Hellfire missiles and AS-12 wire-guided missiles from as far away as two miles--well out of range of the few Pasdaran soldiers who were firing blindly into the sky with handguns and rifles at any aircraft noise they heard.

  Each attack was quick--launch on the move, no hovering in one place. The next two flights did the same, swooping in and destroying targets; then the first two waves came in again to kill any targets they'd missed on their first pass, followed by the second two flights making a second pass.

  The attacks were fast and chillingly accurate. In just a few minutes, the attackers had claimed the prizes for which they had come looking: six Iranian HY-2 Silkworm and four SS-22 Sunburn antiship cruise-missile launch sites, several Rapier antiaircraft missile batteries, and a handful of antiaircraft artillery sites, plus their associated munitions storage and command-control buildings. All were either destroyed or severely damaged. The Silkworm and Sunburn missiles had been devastating long-range weapons, capable of destroying the largest supertankers or cargo vessels passing through the Persian Gulf--their presence on Abu Musa Island, close to the heavily traveled international sea lanes, had been protested by many nations for several years.

  Other missile attacks had claimed a large portion of the island's small port facilities, including the heavy-lift cranes, long-boat docks, and distillation and petroleum-handling facilities.

  But the big prize, the real target, had also been destroyed: two Rodong surface-to-surface missile emplacements. The Rodong was a long-range missile that had been jointly developed by North Korea, China, and Iran, and could carry a high-explosive, chemical, biological, or even nuclear warhead. From Abu Musa Island, the missile had had sufficient range to strike and attack targets in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and most of the oil fields in eastern Saudi Arabia--about two-thirds of the oil fields in the Persian Gulf region.

  The Hawk, Gazelle, and Super Puma crews were incredibly accurate, almost present. A building that supplied power to the communications and military base facilities was destroyed by two missiles, but a virtually identical building just a few yards away that supplied power to the housing units was left untouched. A semi-underground Silkworm missile bunker with a fully operational Silkworm inside got a Hellfire through its front door, yet an adjacent empty bunker undergoing refurbishment but identical in every other respect was left undamaged. Although nearly half a billion dollars of weapons, equipment, buildings, and other infrastructure were damaged or destroyed, out of the more than two thousand men stationed on the island, only five unlucky Pasdaran soldiers, plus the F-5E pilots and their crew chiefs, lost their lives, and only a handful more were injured.

  From the nearby air defense base at Bandar Abbas on the mainland, just 100 miles to the northeast, Islamic Republic Air Force MiG-29 fighters were scrambled almost immediately, but the attackers had hit their targets and were retreating south toward the Trudal Coast and the United Arab Emirates long before the Iranian fighters arrived. The MiGs tried to pursue, but Omani and UAE air defense fighters quickly surrounded and outnumbered them and chased them out of UAE airspace.

  As the surviving Pasdara'n troops scrambled out of their barracks and began to deal with the devastation of their island fortress, five black-suited two-man commando teams silently picked up their gear, made their way to the shoreline of the one-square-mile island, clicked a tiny wrist-mounted code transceiver, then slipped into the warm waters of the eastern Persian Gulf after their leader cleared them to withdraw.

  Before departing, one member of the lead commando team took a last scan around the area, not toward the military structures this time but northeast, toward the Strait of Hormuz. Peering through the suitcase-sized telescopic device he and his partner had been operating, he soon found what he had been searching for. "Man, there's that mutha," he said half-aloud to his partner. "That's what we should've laid a beam on." He centered a set of crosshairs on the target, reached down, and simulated squeezing a trigger. "Blub blub blub, one carrier turned into a sub.

  Bye-bye, Ayatollah baby."

  "Get your ass in gear, Leopard," his partner growled under his breath. In seconds they had packed up and were out of sight under the calm waves of the Persian Gulf.

  The object of the young commando's attention was cruising six miles northeast of the islan
d. It was an aircraft carrier, the largest warship in the entire Persian Gulf--and it was flying an Iranian flag. It was the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, flagship of the Islamic Republic of Iran's new blue-water naval fleet. Once the Russian aircraft carrier Varyag, and now the joint property of Iran and the People's Republic of China's Liberation Army Navy, the carrier dwarfed all but the largest supertankers plying the Gulf. Not yet operational and used only for training, its officers and crew had only been able to look on helplessly as the missile batteries on Abu Musa Island exploded into the night.

  Leopard and his partner, along with the rest of the commando teams, followed tiny wristwatch-sized locator beacons to small Swimmer Delivery Vehicles anchored to the muddy bottom, and four divers climbed aboard each SDV. There they changed air tanks for filled ones, and followed their watertight compasses south and west to the marshaling point, where all five SDVs rendezvoused.

  They traveled southwest together, surfacing for a few seconds in random intervals to get a fix from their GPS satellite navigation receiver. An hour later, still submerged, air tanks just a few minutes from exhaustion, they motored up to the hull of a large vessel, and hammered a code onto it. A large section of the port center side of the hull opened, and one by one, the five SDVs motored inside, surfaced inside the chamber, then hooked onto cranes that hoisted them out of the water onto the deck, where the crewmen disembarked.