Air Battle Force by Dale Brown Page A

happily.
    â€œGood,” Goff said. “I’d make it the Distinguished Flying Cross, but I know that can’t be awarded in peacetime.” He enthusiastically shook hands with McLanahan and Furness. “Stand at ease. Damn fine job, you two. If either that drone or your B-1 went down anywhere in Central Asia, even Afghanistan, the president would’ve been embarrassed enough to make him consider resigning. Not that he ever would, of course, but he’d consider it for the good of the country. That means I’d be the one forced to resign. The situation is so screwed up over there, who knows what would have happened? Good job.”
    â€œThank you, sir.”
    â€œGeneral Venti says you want to send in a team to look at the wreckage of the drone, recover the critical components, and destroy the rest?”
    â€œYes, sir. The team is already in place aboard a salvage vessel in the Arabian Sea—”
    â€œThe ones that went in over Pakistan to divert attention away from you so you could escape?”
    â€œYes, sir. We’ve got the location of the wreckage pinpointed fairly accurately by satellite—about fifty-five miles southwest of Kerki, about twenty miles south of the Kara Kum Canal. It’s uninhabited, but close enough for a patrol to go out searching for the wreckage. We need to get there first.”
    â€œHow soon can you have the team in?”
    â€œThe recovery team is standing by, sir. We’re ready to go in immediately if our satellites spot any activity near the crash site,” Patrick replied. “The rest of the team will be in place within twenty-four hours.”
    â€œYou want to go back there in twenty-four hours? That’s impossible. From what the CIA tells me, the Iranians and Pakistanis are still on full air-defense alert—hell, even CNN still has reporters in the area. It’s too hot to try a recovery effort now. You’ll have to wait until things calm down.”
    â€œOur plan has taken that into account, sir,” Patrick explained. “Our plan calls for three aircraft plus Air Force tanker support. Two aircraft will be CV-32 Pave Dasher tilt-jets, based off our salvage ship in the Arabian Sea. One of them will be used as an aerial-refueling tanker—it’ll go three hundred miles inland with the leader, refuel him, and return to the ship. The lead aircraft will carry the recovery team—Sergeant Major Chris Wohl and three commandos.”
    â€œ Four commandos? That’s all? ”
    â€œFour Tin Men, sir,” Venti pointed out.
    Goff nodded—he knew what just one of the Tin Men was capable of. “Almost sounds like overkill now,” he quipped. “I’m afraid to ask, but . . . what’s the third aircraft?”
    â€œAn EB-1C Vampire missile-attack aircraft,” Patrick responded.
    â€œA Vampire bomber? The same one that you almost got shot down in over Turkmenistan?” Goff asked incredulously.
    â€œThe Vampire can attack air, ground, and even surface targets with the right mix of weapons,” Patrick said. “It’ll stay at high altitude and keep watch over the entire recovery team from launch to landing. It’s stealthy enough to stay out of sight by search radars, and it can defend itself if any fighters manage to get a lock-on and approach it.”
    â€œFor Pete’s sake . . . ,” Goff muttered. He looked at Patrick and said, “I suppose you already have this Vampire in the theater?”
    â€œNot quite, sir,” Patrick replied. “I’ve launched one EB-52 Megafortress attack plane, which will go on alert on Diego Garcia in about twelve hours, ready to respond in case the salvage vessel is threatened. I want to launch the EB-1C Vampire attack aircraft within forty-eight hours to be ready to go into the recovery area in case someone goes looking for the wreckage.”
    Goff looked at General Venti. “Any other assets we can