Bravo two zero (5 page)

    I was starting to feel tired. It was time for a break, or we'd begin to make mistakes. You only rush your planning if you have to.

    We had a brew and stretched our legs before getting down to the business of how to destroy Scud.

    Thirty-seven feet long and about 3 feet wide, the Russian-built SS-1C Scud-B had a range of 100-175 miles. It was transported on, and fired from, an eight wheeled TEL (transporter erector launcher). Crews were trained to operate from points of maximum concealment. Not very accurate, Scud was designed to strike at major storage sites, marshaling areas, and airfields, and was almost more of a propaganda weapon. As well as conventional high explosive, it could carry chemical, biological, or nuclear warheads.

    When our armored divisions were sent to Saudi, a rumor had circulated that if Saddam Hussein used chemicals against British forces, Mrs.

    Thatcher had instructed the generals to go tactical nuclear. I never thought that in my lifetime I'd find myself up against chemical agents.

    No one in their right mind would use them, but here was a man who had done so against Iran and his own people and would no doubt do so again in this war if the need arose.

    "There are maybe fifteen to twenty TELs but many more missiles," Bert said. "You can expect the TEL to be accompanied by a command vehicle, like a Land Cruiser, with the commander and/or the surveyor aboard. In the TEL itself will be the crew, two in the front, and other operators in the back. The command post within the TEL itself is in the center of the vehicle, entry being via a door on the left-hand side. There might be infantry in support, but we don't know how many-nor whether there might be several TELs together in convoy, or operating individually."

    It became clear that the surveyor was the main personality at a Scud launch. After the transporter rumbled up to an unprepared site, there was a wait of about an hour before the Scud could be launched. The time was spent in accurate site surveying, radar tracking of upper atmosphere balloons, calculating such factors as angle of deflection, and pumping in of propellants. There were a couple of lesser players, too-the commander, and the operators in the control center who tapped in the coordinates. That made a minimum of three people to be killed in order to render the launcher totally inoperable. However, they could be replaced. We'd still have to deal with the Scud.

    How would we destroy it? Air strikes are all very well, but we knew that the Iraqis had excellent DF (direction finding) capability, and we had to assume the worst scenario-that their DF equipment was intact and operational. It worked via a series of listening posts dotted around the country that shot a bearing out to the source of a radio signal. It only took two such bearings to pinpoint a position; it would then be very easy for them to get hold of us, especially if we were on foot.

    Calling in an air strike would effectively mean that we had gone overt.

    We'd only use air strikes if the Iraqis made us an offer we couldn't refuse-say, the world's supply of Scuds in convoy. Then we'd just have to get on the net (radio network) and take a chance of getting DF'd. We had to assume that they'd know we were there anyway just because the strike had been directed in.

    If we were going to attack the missile itself, there were dangers with the warhead. We wouldn't know if it was chemical, biological, nuclear, or conventional, and we didn't want to have to take the precaution of attacking with NEC protective clothing on because it takes time to put on and slows you down badly. The fuel was also a problem, being highly noxious.

    The TEL itself would be a better target, because without it the rockets couldn't be launched.

    "Can we destroy it?" Bob said.

    "Probably, but we don't know how easy it would be to repair," Dinger said. "And anyway, it's too near the missile."

    "What about the flight information that has to be installed into the rockets?" Chris said.

    The more we thought about it, the more sense it made to do a hands-on attack to destroy the control center in the middle of the vehicle.

    "We could just put a charge in there which would fuck things up nice without any problems to us," Vince suggested. "The TEL must be protected against the rocket blast-enough to stop our charge affecting the missile."

    We knew what to attack, but how would we do it? We finally decided that when we saw a Scud being launched, which shouldn't be too difficult given the billiard-table terrain, we would take a bearing and find it.

    Hopefully if the landlines were destroyed there would not be any launches anyway.

    We knew the vulnerable points. We knew there would be no problems, finding the Scuds. We would go to the area, pinpoint the launch site, and put in a CTR (close target recce) to find out how many troops there were, how many launchers were left, and where the stags were. In a typical CTR, we'd probably find the Scud, then move back and stop at an FRY (final RV) about a mile away, depending on the ground. From there, four blokes would go and carry out a 360degree recce of the position itself, looking for vulnerable points.

    Two of us would then go in as far as we had to in order to complete the information. Then we'd withdraw to the FRY. I'd have to give a quick brief for that CTR-how we were going to do it, how we were going to get there, what direction we were going to come back in, what the recognition signal was as we came back into the FRY. You always come back in exactly the same direction you left from, to cut down confusion.

    My normal recognition signal was to walk in with both arms outstretched in a crucifix position, my weapon in my right hand. Different patrols use different signs. The aim is to cut out the noise of a challenge and be easily ID'd. FRVs have to be somewhere easily identifiable and defendable, because navigating back to them in pitch darkness is not as easy as it sounds. Back at the FRY, I'd mentally prepare a quick set of orders for the attack and then tell everybody what was "on target."

    Until we actually got on the ground, we would work on the assumption that we'd have at least three "points of contact": i.e." we'd kill the surveyor, control-center commander, and operators. This would normally be done with silenced weapons. A man will always drop if you put a round into his body T-the imaginary line from one temple running across the eyebrows to the other temple and from that line down the center of the face from the bridge of the nose to the base of the sternum. Pop in a round anywhere along the T, and your man will always go down. It must be done from close up, almost right on top of him. You go from a "rolling start line" and just keep going until he turns round; then you must be quick. You cannot hesitate. It's all down to pure speed, aggression, and surprise.

    So much for the theory. Vince had brought a silenced weapon with him from the UK, but another squadron had come and begged it off him for a specific task and there were none left. D Squadron had got to Saudi before us, and down at the stores there had been a nasty outbreak of Shiny Kit Syndrome. They had snaffled everything in sight, and there was no point in us going and asking them nicely if we could please have our ball back. They'd only say they needed it-and probably they did. In the absence of silenced weapons we'd probably have to use our fighting knives-weapons resembling the famous Second World War commando dagger-if we wanted the attack to remain covert for as long as possible.

    A fire-support base consisting of four men would be positioned, and then the other four would move out and infiltrate the Scud area. We'd take out the surveyor, then the characters sleeping or sitting in the TEL.

    Then we'd lay a charge made from PE4 plastic explosive. My guess was that about 2 pounds of explosive on a 2-hour timer inside the TEL would do the trick. We'd close the door and up it would go, well after we'd ex filtrated We'd put an anti handling device on the PEas well, so that even if they found it and went to lift it, it would detonate.

    Also on the charge we would have a compromise device. This would be a grip switch that would initiate a length of safety fuse, which in turn would initiate the detonator after about 60 seconds. So if the shit hit the fan, we could just place the charge and run. There would be three different initiations on the charges, hopefully covering any eventuality: the timing device, an anti handling device-pull, pressure, or pressure release, whichever was appropriate-and a compromise device.

    It was 1600. One or two of the faces around me were beginning to look tired, and I guessed that I looked the same. We'd really motored. We knew how we were going to do the task, even down to such detail as "actions on." Actions on contact for the 4-man fire-support group were to give covering fire to allow the attack group, if possible, to complete their task and extract themselves. Actions on for the 4-man attack group were to give support to each other and attempt to complete the target attack using the compromise device. One way or another, they should extract to the ERV (emergency RV) and quickly regroup. They should then move to the patrol RV and regroup with the fire support team.

    We wouldn't know, of course, if any of this was feasible until we saw the disposition on the ground. There might be four TELs together, which would pose problems of compromise as there would be many more targets.

    Or maybe there'd be just one TEL which we couldn't get in to attack, in which case we'd do a stand-off attack with lots of firepower-but not at the expense of the patrol to take out only one objective. In a stand-off attack we wouldn't get "hands on" but would use 66s to try and destroy the target. Such an attack must be short and sharp, but whether or not to carry one out would be a decision that could only be made on the ground. It's only when you have seen the problem that you can make your appreciations and work out what you will do. We would always try a covert target attack if at all possible.

    The third option would be an air strike. Deciding between a stand-off attack and an air strike would be a fine balance, probably swayed by the numbers involved. Both, however, would advertise the fact that we were close by in the area. The compromise would be bearable if the numbers were high enough to warrant it, but if we were successful in cutting the cable, there would be no need for this at all.

    By now the place was stinking of sweat, farts, and cigarettes. There were bits of paper everywhere with pictures of Scuds and matchstick men and fire-support group movement diagrams. Planning is always exhaustive, but only because we want to work everything out to the finest detail. When we got to the TEL and the door was closed, where was the handle? How did you operate it? Which way did the door go, out or in? Was it a concertina door? Did the door hinge from the top?

    Would the door be padlocked as it is on many armored vehicles? What would we do then? People didn't know, so we studied pictures and tried to work it out. Detail, detail, detail. It's so important. You might be pushing a door when you should be pulling. Minor detail missed equals fuckup guaranteed.

    We moved on to thinking about the equipment required to execute our plans.

    You can destroy a power station with a shaped charge of 2 pounds of explosive in just the right place; you don't have to blow the whole installation into the sky. It can be done by a small specific-to-task charge, because you know the vulnerable point you're going for. With Scud we knew the vulnerable points, but not for sure how we were going to get at them. I was keen to take just charges of PE, each weighing about 2 pounds, rather than specific-to-task explosives, because we might not be able to use specifics any other way. Again, we wouldn't have the information until we got there on the ground.

    We'd need PE4 explosive, safety fuse, grip switches, nonelectric and electric dets, timers, and det cord. You don't put detonators straight into plastic explosive, which is how it's portrayed in films. You put det cord between the detonator and the explosives. We'd make up these charges in advance, and just before the attack place the dets and timers on to them.

    Vince and Bob disappeared to go and organize these items, and came back a quarter of an hour later.

    "That's all squared away," said Vince. "It's all under your bed."

    All the main points had now been covered.

    We would be on foot, carrying everything in, so we'd need a cache area, which would be our LUP (lying-up point). Ideally, the LUP would provide cover from fire and cover from view, because we'd be manning it all the time. It's very dangerous to leave equipment and go back to it-even though this sometimes has to be done-because it might be ambushed or booby-trapped if discovered. We'd work from a patrol base and move out from there to carry out our tasks. It might happen that we'd find a better site for our LUP during a patrol, in which case we'd move all the kit again under cover of darkness.

    We now worked out the E&E plan. We would be 185 miles from Saudi, but only 75 from neighboring countries. Some were part of the Coalition, so in theory would be perfect places to head for.

    "What are the borders like?" Vince asked Bert.

    "I'm not entirely sure. Might be like the border with Saudi, a tank berm and that's all. But they could be heavily defended. Whatever, if you cross a border, for heaven's sake make sure they don't think you're Israeli -it's not that far away."

    "Fair one, Bert," said Stan, nodding his head in Bob's direction and grinning. "But I'm not going across any border with that spick."