Shadow Flight (1990) Read Free Page B

sage green flight suit. "Must've been the burritos I ate."
    "Here we go," Matthews said as he lowered the Stealth's nose and reduced power on the four General Electric engines.
    "We're only four seconds off," Evans reported, writing on his knee board.
    "Computer tracking?" Matthews asked his right-seater.
    "You bet, boss," Evans answered, smiling under his oxygen mask. "Locked on like a poor bachelor at a rich widows' convention."
    Matthews chuckled softly as Shadow 37 penetrated the dense cloud cover, rocking gently in the light turbulence. The airspeed was passing 440 knots as the covert strike radar began to see "enemy" radar emissions.
    Simmons squirmed in his seat, clearly ill at ease, as he adjusted the setting in his transponder head. The tech-rep fumbled with three circuit breakers, one for each transponder, then pulled all three and placed clips over the two marked primary and secondary. He then placed the temporary transponder switch to the on position, patted his zippered thigh pocket, and wiped his forehead with the back of his flight glove.
    The numeric code that Simmons had dialed into his transponder, if energized by pushing the circuit breaker back into place, would automatically trigger alarms in ground-based radar facilities. Code 7700 indicated an emergency condition.
    STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND HEADQUARTERS Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska
    General Carlton W. Donovan, SAC commander, listened intently as he watched the time/event display tracking the "expected" positions of Shadow 37 and Ghost 25. The same information was being observed in the National Military Command Post at the Pentagon in Washington, D . C .
    Only General Donovan, his immediate staff, and the bomber crews knew the course that would be flown to their respective targets. The only knowns were the two simulated targets, along with the fact that the bombers would return to Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, without refueling.
    The classified operation was an emergency war order exercise to test the airborne crews against alerted ground and air defenses. Canadian and U . S . teams on board two AWACS aircraft would attempt to track the elusive bombers, while ground surveillance centers focused on detecting the intruders.
    The mission would evaluate the long-range, low-level capability of the new Stealth B-2 against state-of-the-art bistatic radar installations. The highly classified radar units used transmitters and receivers placed in different locations. Four separate radar sites would try to foil the Stealth's ability to deflect their radar waves. Shadow 37's smooth, flowing shape did not have sharp edges or vertical surfaces for radar waves to bounce off. The B-2 had already proved capable of absorbing other types of radar beams in the composite wings and fuselage.
    Donovan, a tall, lithe, white-haired man of fifty-seven, looked at his display board, which clearly defined the route of each bomber.
    The two courses had been selected from a number of restricted training routes. Shadow 37 was marked in dark blue, Ghost 25 in bright orange. Both dotted lines commenced their irregular courses over the Attawapiskat River, seven miles east of Lansdowne House, the point where the two bombers separated.
    Shadow flight followed a path north to Winisk Lake, Ontario Province, then northeast to the southern tip of Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay. From there, the Stealth bomber would turn west, descend to 400 feet above the bay, and traverse 255 nautical miles of open water. The simulated target was Fort Severn, Ontario.
    After the strike, Shadow flight would fly a direct course south to Duluth, Minnesota, then southwest to Ellsworth Air Force Base, where the classified bomber would land. After refueling, the B-2 crew would depart immediately for their permanent home, Whiteman Air Force Base, Knob Noster, Missouri. Shadow 37 was the second Stealth bomber assigned to the base. Whiteman had been scheduled to have a complement of twelve B-2s.
    Ghost flight