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IT WAS JUST AFTER 3 A.M. when Spectre walked out to preflight the jet. He was operating on just a few hours of sleep, adrenaline, and a Rip-It energy drink Coolio had given him. It reminded him of his first combat tour in the Air Force Reserve flying F-16s in Iraq.
He was amazed at the efficiency of the folks working with their top secret operation. Within an hour of coming up with their plan, DARPA technicians had an A-10C in the hangar and were making the necessary modifications to make the aircraft survivable for this mission.
While they worked, Spectre had taken a short nap and then joined the other pilots from the mission for the briefing. He could tell none of them – except the 160th Nightstalker pilots who appeared to be used to such last-minute operations – were thrilled to be flying such a critical mission into North Korea with a plan that might as well have been scribbled onto a bar napkin.
When they were finished, the two F-22 and two F-35 pilots returned to their side of the base. They would take off shortly after Spectre and the helicopters, and would provide both air superiority and Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) as necessary to ensure all players made it to the objective and back across the DMZ safely.
The crew chief saluted Spectre as he approached the aircraft. “Beautiful night to go flying, sir.”
“How’s the jet?” Spectre asked as he returned the salute.
“Best flying jet on the base, sir. And it looks like your friends have made it even better,” he said, indicating the DARPA pod on the left wing.
“It’ll be our little secret,” Spectre said.
“Of course, sir. I’ve been read in and I’m not telling anyone. Unlike Hillary Clinton, my ass would end up in jail if I was careless with a secret like this.”
“That’s funny,” Spectre said with a chuckle. “And you can stop calling me sir. Call me Spectre. What’s your first name?”
“Joe,” the crew chief replied.
“Where are you from, Joe?”
“Fort Smith, Arkansas, sir...uhh...I mean, Spectre.”
“Well, Joe, thank you for giving me such an awesome jet tonight. We’re going to need all the help we can get for this one,” Spectre said as he shook Joe’s hand.
“My pleasure, Spectre.”
Spectre pulled his flashlight out of his helmet bag and placed the bag next to the ladder. He did a thorough walk around, paying close attention to the DARPA EA pods on the wings. The engineers at DARPA had managed to find a second pod for the mission. Having two that worked in unison would prevent the blanking issue that happened during a sharp turn.
The aircraft was loaded for just about anything, carrying a mix of laser guided bombs, Maverick missiles, cluster bomb unit munitions, and rockets. Somehow the engineers had also managed to retrofit two AIM-9X heat-seeking air to air missiles as well, a feat Spectre had been told was impossible with the A-10 due to hardware and software limitations. And yet the technicians at DARPA had done it in hours.
When he was finished with the preflight and satisfied that everything was in good working order, Spectre climbed up the ladder and settled into the cockpit. Joe followed him up the ladder and connected his G-suit and the parachute risers from his seat to his harness and then shook his hand.
“Good luck, sir,” Joe said and then descended the ladder.
Spectre took a minute to reorient himself with the A-10. He hadn’t flown it in nearly two years, and most recently, he had been eating, sleeping, and breathing the Flanker and its systems since their trip to Europe. For a moment, all the systems knowledge he had of the A-10 seemed to blur with the SU-35 and the F-16 that he had spent most of his career flying.
After doing a quick cockpit sweep and methodically touching every switch to make sure it was in the right position, Spectre felt comfortable that his mind was recaged and he was ready to fly. If he had been back at the squadron, they would’ve insisted that he do an emergency procedures simulator mission for practice prior to returning to the air, but in this case, there was no time and those rules didn’t apply.
Spectre went through the startup procedures in a deliberate and methodical manner. They had plenty of time, and Spectre wanted to make sure he didn’t miss anything by rushing through it. He needed every system to be online and ready once airborne. It was a short flight and there would be little time to troubleshoot failed systems once in the air.
Joe finished up his final checks, wished Spectre luck a final time, and then disconnected from the intercom. Spectre switched the ARC-210 secure radio to the operations frequency that Coolio was monitoring.
“Jabos One-One is ready,” Spectre reported.
“Oracle copies,” Coolio replied. “Your fighters are just starting up now and Chariot One and Two are being loaded.”
“Jabos,” Spectre replied.
He held just outside the hangar with the position and strobe lights off while waiting for Chariot One to report ready. As he sat there running through the mission plan in his mind, he checked the specially installed control panel for the DARPA pods. They were both powered on and their built-in tests reported that they were functioning correctly.
“Chariot One is ready,” the Nightstalker pilot reported with a slight southern drawl.
“Jabos copies. Oracle, Jabos One-One, taxi, words.”
“No other words – press,” Coolio replied.
Spectre switched to the ground frequency and called for taxi as he flipped on his lights. As he taxied out, he could see the two, ultra-secret stealth Blackhawks with their rotors spinning next to the hangar near his. Ringo and his team were still loading their gear into the second one.
“Jabos One-One, cleared for takeoff, left turnout to the high pattern approved,” the Osan Tower controller said as Spectre reported number one for the runway.
“Jabos One-One, cleared for takeoff,” Spectre replied.
Spectre taxied onto the runway and held the brakes as he pushed the throttles forward. He wanted to do a static takeoff to ensure both engines were operating normally since his jet was heavily loaded. When the engines stabilized at military power, Spectre released the brakes.
His seat-of-the-pants feeling was all wrong as the jet started rolling down the runway. The Flanker had really messed with his internal clock. It felt like he was barely moving as the A-10 lumbered down the runway. He kept checking his engine instruments to ensure he hadn’t lost an engine because it felt even slower than the single-engine takeoff he’d done in the Flanker less than twenty-four hours prior.
The A-10 finally reached rotation speed and Spectre gently eased back on the stick. As he got airborne, he raised the gear and flaps and the jet slowly climbed away. He climbed to two thousand feet and made a left turn, turning downwind as he pulled the panoramic night vision goggles out of its case and attached them to his helmet over the Scorpion HMIT helmet-mounted cueing system that covered his right eye.
He looked off his left wing and saw Chariot One take off from the ramp and start to climb away. Reaching the end of the runway he had just taken off from, Spectre made a left-hand turn to follow the helicopter.
Spectre shadowed the helicopter as it turned north toward Kaesong. In less than twenty minutes, they’d be crossing into North Korean airspace, and from there, another fifteen minutes to intercept the train.
As he flew his racetrack pattern over the much slower helicopter, Spectre saw the datalink symbol for the second helicopter appear on his screen and start moving away from Osan Air Base. Moments later, the four fighters charged with protecting Spectre from surface to air missiles and enemy fighters also took off from Osan Air Base.
Spectre took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as the exhale valve on his mask clicked. So far, so good, he thought. At least everyone has made it airborne.
The helicopter flew at five hundred feet as Spectre flew overhead at two-thousand. As they neared the border, it descended to a nap-of-the-earth profile just a few feet above the terrain. Despite being stealth, they weren’t taking any chances with the North Korean SAMs. Ideally, he would’ve had two A-10s to daisy chain around the helicopter to protect it from ground fire, but since Spectre was the only A-10 out there, the plan was for him to stay high and fly slow and slightly ahead until they neared the train, and then push out in front at low level to clear for threats.
“Chariot One LEROY JENKINS,” the Blackhawk pilot called out over the secure frequency, using their code word to indicate they had hit the run-in point that started at the DMZ.
They had just breached North Korean airspace. They were completely committed now.