throat-mics, leaving their hands free. Shepherd, who up to now had been using a set with a hand-operated “pressle” switch, that he had to press to talk, made a note to bin it at the first opportunity and get himself a throat-mic instead.
‘Wait one,’ Harry said, and stepped aside to talk into his radio. Shepherd saw his face change as he listened. ‘For fuck’s sake,’ he said. ‘Can the Yanks not deal with it? It’s one of theirs after all… Well, obviously we’ll do it better, that’s always a given, but… Yeah, yeah… All right, we’re on it.’ He gave a rueful smile as he turned to face his patrol. ‘Seems I was a little hasty in announcing my last patrol. We’ve got another job to do first.’
‘What and where?’ Diesel said, at once all business.
‘We’re off to the big city - we’re going into Sarajevo.’
‘What do you mean? Sarajevo is still cut off and completely surrounded by the Serbs,’ Shepherd said.
‘Not entirely,’ said Harry with a sly smile.
Shepherd waited, but Harry offered no further information.
‘So what’s the job?’ Spud said.
‘A little light target marking. A USAF F-16’s been shot down by a Serb missile.’
Spud shot him a look ‘Shoulder launched?’
‘No, a tracked SA-11 SAM system.’
Diesel frowned. ‘So why was its radar not detected and the SA-11 taken out before it could fire?’
‘Perhaps they only switched the radar on for a second or two at a time, giving the F-16 very little warning. The Serbs are getting clever.’
‘Some of the newer ones are also fitted with an optical tracking system, aren’t they?’ Shepherd said. ‘So to beat ECM jamming, they can engage a target without using the radar at all.’
Diesel gave a whistle. ‘Check out the big military brain on Dan,’ he said with a grin. ‘I thought Paras weren’t allowed to think for themselves, so where did you learn that stuff?’
‘I did my homework after school,’ Shepherd said, secretly pleased at Diesel’s compliment, even if it was disguised as an insult.
Harry shrugged. ‘You’re right Dan, but if they waited until the F-16 was directly overhead, its early warning and counter-measures would be at their weakest. Anyway, however they did it, they got off two missiles. One missed but the other one broke the F-16 in half. The pilot did manage to eject but nothing’s been heard of him since. He may be lying up somewhere. USAF pilots are briefed that if they’re shot down, they are most likely to be captured if they radio for help too soon and give away their position to searching enemy forces so their SOPs are not to switch on their radios or survival beacons until two or three days have passed, to give the enemy searchers time to lose interest.’ He paused. ‘Anyway, seems like the gloves are finally coming off and the Serbs are going to get an awful lot more than they may have bargained for. Right, get your kit together, we’ll need to be on our way sharpish, so briefing and work-up training are going to be short and sharp. Because of the time constraints we’ll not be able to convert on to new weapons and, although I would have much preferred that the patrol was armed with Armalites or even AK-74’s, we’re going to take the SA-80 which the non-SAS guys are familiar with. We’re all going to be carrying the same weapon, because the ammo is interchangeable and since you’re all well versed in the SA-80, I’m assuming that you should all be confident that you can hit the arse end of an elephant at twenty paces if I ask you to. Diesel and I will also be carrying M-79 grenade launchers.’
They spent the rest of the day test-firing their weapons, and practising drills for immediate action, anti-ambush, escape and evasion and a series of rendezvous drills. Harry outlined their task and briefed them on their individual roles, and then glanced at his watch before adding ‘Right, wagons roll. We’ll finish briefing it in the back of the truck on the way
‘Wait one,’ Harry said, and stepped aside to talk into his radio. Shepherd saw his face change as he listened. ‘For fuck’s sake,’ he said. ‘Can the Yanks not deal with it? It’s one of theirs after all… Well, obviously we’ll do it better, that’s always a given, but… Yeah, yeah… All right, we’re on it.’ He gave a rueful smile as he turned to face his patrol. ‘Seems I was a little hasty in announcing my last patrol. We’ve got another job to do first.’
‘What and where?’ Diesel said, at once all business.
‘We’re off to the big city - we’re going into Sarajevo.’
‘What do you mean? Sarajevo is still cut off and completely surrounded by the Serbs,’ Shepherd said.
‘Not entirely,’ said Harry with a sly smile.
Shepherd waited, but Harry offered no further information.
‘So what’s the job?’ Spud said.
‘A little light target marking. A USAF F-16’s been shot down by a Serb missile.’
Spud shot him a look ‘Shoulder launched?’
‘No, a tracked SA-11 SAM system.’
Diesel frowned. ‘So why was its radar not detected and the SA-11 taken out before it could fire?’
‘Perhaps they only switched the radar on for a second or two at a time, giving the F-16 very little warning. The Serbs are getting clever.’
‘Some of the newer ones are also fitted with an optical tracking system, aren’t they?’ Shepherd said. ‘So to beat ECM jamming, they can engage a target without using the radar at all.’
Diesel gave a whistle. ‘Check out the big military brain on Dan,’ he said with a grin. ‘I thought Paras weren’t allowed to think for themselves, so where did you learn that stuff?’
‘I did my homework after school,’ Shepherd said, secretly pleased at Diesel’s compliment, even if it was disguised as an insult.
Harry shrugged. ‘You’re right Dan, but if they waited until the F-16 was directly overhead, its early warning and counter-measures would be at their weakest. Anyway, however they did it, they got off two missiles. One missed but the other one broke the F-16 in half. The pilot did manage to eject but nothing’s been heard of him since. He may be lying up somewhere. USAF pilots are briefed that if they’re shot down, they are most likely to be captured if they radio for help too soon and give away their position to searching enemy forces so their SOPs are not to switch on their radios or survival beacons until two or three days have passed, to give the enemy searchers time to lose interest.’ He paused. ‘Anyway, seems like the gloves are finally coming off and the Serbs are going to get an awful lot more than they may have bargained for. Right, get your kit together, we’ll need to be on our way sharpish, so briefing and work-up training are going to be short and sharp. Because of the time constraints we’ll not be able to convert on to new weapons and, although I would have much preferred that the patrol was armed with Armalites or even AK-74’s, we’re going to take the SA-80 which the non-SAS guys are familiar with. We’re all going to be carrying the same weapon, because the ammo is interchangeable and since you’re all well versed in the SA-80, I’m assuming that you should all be confident that you can hit the arse end of an elephant at twenty paces if I ask you to. Diesel and I will also be carrying M-79 grenade launchers.’
They spent the rest of the day test-firing their weapons, and practising drills for immediate action, anti-ambush, escape and evasion and a series of rendezvous drills. Harry outlined their task and briefed them on their individual roles, and then glanced at his watch before adding ‘Right, wagons roll. We’ll finish briefing it in the back of the truck on the way
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