Vietnam II: A War Novel Episode 3 (V2) (8 page)

The first objective of a strike mission is to just get to the target.  The navigator pretty much ran the show.  The pilots just followed their directions.  We had very little navigational information except for the compass.  We had to trust the navigators.

"Pilot fly heading 325. Pilot give me 290 knots indicated."  The navigator ordered over the interphone.

I turn us west. 

We are headed for Vietnam as fast as the Big Ugly Fat Fucker would allow.

Boatswain’s Mate Ridley Ford

USS Missouri

Gulf of Tonkin

The first wave of Air Force and Navy aircraft were retrograding out of Hanoi.  The bombers were coming in right behind them.  Between the two waves we had our window.  We had our fingers on the trigger waiting for the word.  When the first wave was completely clear it would be our turn.

A horn sounded followed by an announcement warning us that the Missouri was going to launch Tomahawks.  Moments after we got to our positions the first Tomahawk erupted from the deck.

The Missouri and other naval forces launched a barrage of Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles (TLAMs) from the Gulf of Tonkin against strategic targets in Vietnam including government buildings, TV stations, airfields, presidential palaces, military installations, communication lines, supply bases, oil refineries, airports, electric power plants and war machine equipment factories making Iraqi war machine equipment.

When we watched the Armed Forces Network news that next morning and the American reporters in Hanoi were saying, "I hear bombs but I don't see any planes."  I knew they were talking about us.

The reason they saw no planes was because the only systems sent to destroy the critical, but heavily defended targets in Baghdad were TLAMs.  You didn’t hear the Tomahawk until it exploded.

We had no idea how well these Tomahawks were doing until the next day.  Their performance was described by fleet as outstanding.  The Tomahawk’s accuracy was about 85% according to intelligence reports.  We would end up with about that same rate for the 288 missiles fired during the war.  The Tomahawk became popular for the same reason UAVs dominated war in the next century: they did not put anyone in harm’s way except the enemy and they worked.  Not only did the Tomahawk avoid risking the life of a pilot in attacking a heavily defended target, it also minimized the loss of life on both sides by reducing unintended collateral damage to civilians.

“All I see when one of those comes out of the launcher is taxpayer dollars going up in smoke.”  Quinn another sailor told me and Bella at chow.

I knew better than to start an argument with Bella.  However, I did like to watch him take people apart with his twisted logic.

“What kind of attitude it that?”  Bella said.

"They costs a lot of money," said Quinn.

“True, but they save lives.  How much does a person cost?”  Bella asked.

“I would say that we are sorting that our right now.”  Quinn responded.

“Saving lives is noble asshole.”  Bella said investing more syrup into his stack of pancakes.  “Those Tomahawks are dollars well spent.”

Little did we know it then, but the most effective and most famous weapon of V2 had just made its debut.

Lieutenant Colonel Carol Madison

U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer

Pacific Command Operations Center

It was a big night for the navy and their post V1 capabilities.  Anti-ship attacks were carried out against PAV warships using the smaller Harpoon cruise missile system.  These weapons had only been previously used against Iranian warships after the mine attack on USS Samuel B. Roberts.  In addition, the Navy also recorded the first combat use of the stand-off land attack missile or SLAM.  The SLAM was a variant of the Harpoon and it allowed users to attack high-value targets from 50 miles or more.

Deployed from carrier-based aircraft, SLAMs use targeting data from the Global Positioning System for mid-course guidance as well as video aim point control to provide a very precise strike capability that minimizes collateral damage.  The SLAM's data link system was so sophisticated that the missile could be launched by one aircraft and be guided to the target by another, as much as 60 miles away from the target.

High-speed anti-radiation missile were especially effective in the suppression of Vietnamese electronic emitters, in particular those associated with radar sites used to direct anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles.

Nine AEGIS cruisers were sailed into the Gulf of Tonkin.  They possessed a combat system that could be used against a wide variety of targets.  One AEGIS cruiser even detected and tracked four Vietnamese Silkworm missiles fired at great ranges.  AEGIS cruisers coordinate the anti-air defense of the navy battle group in a multi-threat environment.  This reduces the resources needed for defense and allows the battle group to concentrate on its offensive mission.  The AEGIS were capable of offensive firepower as well.  By the end of hostilities, more than 25 percent of the TLAMs fired during Jungle Storm were fired by the nine AEGIS cruisers on station.

The smart weapons changed warfare forever.  They were giving the evening news the footage from the strikes.  Now millions of people had a bird’s eye view of enemy command and control centers becoming clouds of dust and debris as television broadcast images of the bombs hitting their mark.  Contrary to Military Industrial Complex history, the smart weapons had performed exactly as they were intended. 

A new age of weaponry began.

Major Mike Lewis

Air Force Reconnaissance Pilot

Near Space over Old North Vietnam

I’m eating again.  That’s all I ever did on those U-2 sorties.  That and maybe run a systems check once in a while.

At least I can’t complain about being the only one in the air anymore.  I had quite a light show going on below me.

So I am sucking down chocolate through a toothpaste tube and trying to pretend that I am not uncomfortable.  My underwear is riding up and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.

The camera guys are getting all sorts of data from the flight.  I hope they are happy. 

Of course now I have to descend into airspace with a bunch of fighter guys with their blood up.  I just hope they have the where with all to realize the guy on descent from near space is one of theirs.

The city below had gone dark hours ago.  There was only one lit building left in the city.

“Control, Shadow 11.  I’ve got a light on in Hanoi.  Approximately city center.  How copy?”

“Shadow 11, Control.  Is it a single structure?”

“Control, Shadow 11.  That is correct.  It could be a command center.”

“Shadow 11, Control.  That’s Ho Chi Minh’s tomb.  It has a triple generator system.”

Ho Chi Minh’s tomb? 

I figured he was probably rolling over in his grave right now.