March 8th, 2023 saw a 'spontaneous' uprising of Iranian dissidents in the port city of Bandar-Abbas. By some strange twist of fate the night of 8-9 March was moonless and the tides on the morning of 9 March favoured an amphibious landing shortly before dawn.
The night of March 8th saw the Canadian-lead Allied Support Force positioning itself to follow the Joint Landing Force into a staging position northwest of Bandar-Abbas. The US-British-French carrier force had started it's withdrawl further northwest, a position from which it could readily support the coming landings, while not risking an overcrowding of the areas surrounding the Straits of Hormuz.
At 2147 hrs (local) Kestrel 21, a CC-138B, lifted off from HMCS Kapyong enroute to the carrier USS Gerald R Ford. Kestrel 21 was making the voyage to pick up Commodore R. P. Hardesty, commander of the RCN contingent. By 2253 hrs (local) Kestrel 21 was 107 nautical miles south-southwest of the carrier force when the routine mission came apart. Kestrel 21 had a rendevous with destiny, and the clock had just ticked down to zero.
RCAF Capt. Rick 'Head' Case loved flying at night, the gentle drone of the engines, a crystal sky filled with millions of stars... this was why he had joined up! He traded soft-spoken comments with his fellow crewmembers, Lt. Chris 'Judge' Murphy (Copilot) and 2Lt Bob 'Stretch' Jurgens (Tactical Officer). It seemed none of them wanted to break the gentle reverie of the night. Reverie, or not, the night was shattered by a desperate call over the tactical radio net.
"All Stations! All Stations! All Stations! Tophat declaring condition ZULU at this time. I say again, ZULU! ZULU! ZULU! This is not an exercise. ZULU actual declared at 2254080323. Starship actual declaring exclusion zone to 150 nautical miles from all Allied vessels."
Up front in Kestrel 21 Case and Murphy exchanged stunned looks... ZULU?!?! A presumptive nuclear attack? By who?? ON WHO??? At his station in the rear of the plane Jurgens had more info, if seemingly less answers. His tactical displays altered, showing free fire missile engagement zones reaching out from all allied vessels and formations via LINK 16 data exchange he could see the picture forming... but who was attacking the allied fleets with nuclear weapons?
Tophat was the callsign of an RAAF Wedgetail AWACS operating out of Qatar. Tactical control was being passed to a USAF E-46 Athena AWACS even now. Fortunately the Athena, callsign Dalek, had been due on station at 2300 hrs. The tactical handoff had largely been completed before ZULU had been declared. Aboard both aircraft the fighter weapons controllers were shocked, but a quiet professionalism had quickly settled in. Tophat was going to stay on station, taking control of the myriad civilian and uninvolved military aircraft flying through the conflict zone.
A young fighter controller in the back of Tophat looked down his list and saw the next item of interest, Kestrel 21. Kestrel 21, he saw, was a Canadian Guardian from HMCS Kapyong. Well, he thought, they're out of it and with a secure military comm set he could even spare a moment to update them.
"Kestrel 21, Tophat Control. Steer course 185, take angels 15, your signal is Buster. Stand Clear all Allied vessels. Repeating Case ZULU is in effect."
“Tophat Control, Kestrel 21. Course 185, Take angels 15, Buster. Understand Case ZULU.”
"Kestrel 21, Good readback Sir. Has Pickles (HMCS Kapyong) been able to update you?”
“Negative Tophat. Ahh… Be advised Pickles is not a tactical vessel. Pickles comm is not hardened against Echo Mike Papa.” EMP is a side effect of a nuclear detonation, it can destroy non-hardened electronics.
“Kestrel 21, understood. ZULU declared based on intelligence received by Charlie India Alpha assets. Intelligence verified by takeoff of described air missions. We’re trying to sort it out, but the entire Iranian Air Force popped out of the desert to confuse things. The threat is six reported Sierra Uniform 3 9 type aircraft. Each aircraft reported to carry one fixed 20-25 KT package.”
Aboard Kestrel 21 Case winced. SU-39’s were bad enough, but fixed packages? A suicide mission then, run by fanaticals all too willing to die for their cause. Lord! Would they have to kill every last one of them to find peace?
Aboard Tophat the young fighter controller had been watching his assigned sector even though the Wedgetail could see only about 30 miles further south than the Athena positioned almost 70 miles further north. Now he saw a primary radar target appear at the edge of his screen. He queried the IFF and got no response. At least Case ZULU simplified things; there are no unknowns in this fight, only friendlies and hostiles. He watched the track develop and his stomach went cold… the track marched right over Kestrel 21!
"Kestrel 21,Tophat Controller. BANDIT! BANDIT! BANDIT! Bandit bearing 174, course 351, angels 55, 800 knot closure, Recommend you steer 270 to sidestep.” A ‘deedle-deedle-deedle’ could be heard in both aircraft as the Athena read the target signature and flight path. The target was a SU-39, headed right for the carriers, on the wrong side from the fighter screen and only minutes from impact!
On board Kestrel 21 the effects was electric. Case snapped out orders; “Stretch, MASTER ARM ON! MASTER ARM ON! Judge, set the panel up for air intercept.”
“Tophat, Kestrel 21. Give me vectors to intercept.”
The young, but rapidly ageing, controller aboard Tophat was confused. Vectors, he thought, do they expect to kill a Sukhoi with a Hellfire? Wait… WHAT THE HELL??? His tactical display changed, and what it showed wasn’t possible… was it? Regaining his composure he keyed his mike footpedal and spoke to the Canadian Guardian.
“Kestrel 21, Tophat Control. Steer 134, take best angels, speed Buster. Cleared Hot!”
Aboard the Athena a USAF Senior Fighter Weapons Controller had been about to step in, but damn if the young Aussie wasn’t coping quite well. Instead of taking over, he took notes. If this worked out somebody deserved a lot of recognition, a damned lot!
Aboard Kestrel 21 the situation was tense. Only Case had ever done what they were attempting, and he only once. Case ZULU in a war zone was not a time for on-the-job training, but you work with what you have. The Guardian was vibrating, engines roaring as it clawed for altitude. Case flew the profile given him on the multifunction display in front of him, watching for cues and hoping this worked as well in the Persian Gulf as it did at the CFB Cold Lake weapons ranges.
The MFD told Case to push over and he smoothly dropped the nose. Settling at 12 degrees nose-down speed built quickly to Vmax and beyond. The vibrating became a shimmy, transitioned to a shake, a shudder and reached a violent bucking as the aircraft was stressed to ‘not quite’ the breaking point. The MFD thankfully indicated it was time to pull up and he gently eased the nose back up. The Guardian soared upward and as the climb settled on 43 degrees nose-up Case smashed the weapons release button down.
“Kestrel 21, FOX ONE!” Case counted to himself 2… 3… 4… again the button smashed down. “Kestrel 21, FOX ONE!”
Aboard the Iranian Sukhoi the pilot was bemused. He’d watched the wild flailings of the infidel helicopter. Did they really think to fool one of the chosen of Allah? He would show them, he activated his weapons and locked up the impudent helicopter for a radar missile shot. Only a moment or two and he would be in range, then the infidel would die. His raised his eyes Heaven-ward and thanked Allah for the opportunity to serve in such a glorio… “DEEDLE! DEEDLE! DEEDLE!” The screeching of the threat display broke his prayer and he looked down in annoyance. It was the wrong thing to do; he should have pumped out counter-measures and jinked. It did, however, afford him to know just what it was that was about to kill him. A split second later two AIM-120E missiles slammed into the last of 6 flyable Iranian Air Force Sukhoi fighters. The wreckage, and it’s deadly cargo fell harmlessly into the warm waters of the Persian Gulf.
“Kestrel 21, Tophat Control. SPLASH ONE! I say again: SPLASH ONE!”
The next 90 minutes passed without incident, and slowly more information became available. The failed Iranian test had not been their first weapon, it was their seventh. They had predicted, rightfully, that the Western powers would react badly. When it fizzled instead of detonating they had still learned enough to make the others work. Iran was a de facto nuclear power. Faced with invasion, merely a pretense to land large quantities of weapons to the revolutionaries, Iran had taken the desperate gamble of a suicide nuclear strike against the Allied carriers. Allied fighters had downed 4, a Spanish frigate got one… and Kestrel 21 had got the last.
Reaching a point 12 nautical miles from the USS Gerald R. Ford Case checked in with the ship, he still had a night free deck landing to accomplish and quite frankly, he was exhausted.
“Starship, Kestrel 21 with you. Request permission to approach and land.”
“Kestrel 21, Starship Actual. You are cleared overhead to the break, cleared to land. Wind straight down the deck at 40 knots, deck motion negligible.”
Case stammered; “Ahh…ahhh.. Starship Actual, Kestrel 21. Cleared fighter break, cleared to land. 40 kts down the deck, negligible deck motion." The Admiral? His approach controller was the Task Force Commander?
“Kestrel Good Readback. Welcome aboard!”
The Guardian made an decidedly abnormal, but stylish approach and landing on the huge US carrier. The crew was escorted below decks and then properly fêted for what they had accomplished. On deck, crewmen swarmed over the diminutive warrior mustelid. A grizzled CPO glared at the various gawkers and settled on an armament tech. “You there! Presumably you recognize those rails?” The hapless tech nodded dumbly and the CPO went on; “Break out a pair of Slammer Echos and mount them!”
The tech did as he was told, what choice did he have? But… AIM-120E’s on a prop job? What the hell good could those ever do? He would never understand how the Navy worked… Never…