weird. "Say again our ROE. Over."
"Roger, Dragon. You are to visually I. and inspect the
transport. Avoid hostile-attack aspects. Do not fire unless fired
upon. Over."
:'You guys got that?" Coursey said.
'Two." That was Myers-his voice was shakier, tenser than
ever.
w "Three." Even Douglas sounded nervous. These guys were
ound pretty tight.,
"Listen up, Dragon," Coursey said, "run it like all other
intercepts. Take it nice and easy. As long as you don't hit 'em
with an attack profile the MiGs should leave you alone-they're
on a cruise to the Copacabana, that's all. They got as much right
to be here as we do. Follow the ROE and the non-nal air-traffic
rules and we'll be on the beach sipping cubra libras before you
know it. Head's up."
:'Two.
'Three. " Douglas sounded better, but Myers sounded like
someone had a vise-grip on his balls.
"One hundred miles," the controller said. "Rate of closure
nine hundred sixty knots. Bogeys moving to one o'clock . . .
radar now showing three primary targets, Dragon, repeat, three
primary targets-"
The radar-warning receivers on the F-16s lit up. On the dis-
plays of the three Falcons was a diamond symbol. On the left
display the computer identified the radar source as search-radar.
"Dragon's got music," Myers reported.
"Barrier copies," the controller said. "Transport target may
be an airborne-radar aircraft, Dragon." The warning hung on
the frequency; then the controller added: "Use caution."
Coursey had to laugh into his face mask.
What the controller did not convey to the F-16 pilots was that
the MiGs might be planning, computing their attack on them
DAY OF THE CHEETAH 339
using the long-range radar on the "-76 just as they themselves
would use the E-5's radar to direct an attack on the MiGs. The
767 AWACS controller should be setting up options for the F-
l6s in case the MiGs started to mix it up. Intelligence reported
that the Soviets now used an AA- I I infrared short-range missile,
code-name "Archer," and a copy of the AIM-120 launch-and-
leave medium-range missile called the AA-15 "Abolish," but
that neither was as good as the American counterpart. Well, if
things went to shit they were going to find out first-hand about
the Russian missile's capabilities.
"Eighty miles," the controller said. "Spacing increasing be-
tween fighters and transport aircraft. Altitude readouts on all
three remain flight level one-eight-zero." The MiGs were get-
ting some maneuvering room, Coursey thought, but it was un-
likely they'd leave the transport unprotected.
"Sixty miles. Flight level one-eight-zero. Moving to one-thirty
position. Distance between fighters and transport now one mile."
"Barrier, Dragon Five-Seven is zero-three minutes from join-
up," Coursey heard a new voice report. That was Major Tom
Duncan, the squadron operations officer and leader of the second
flight. The brass must have called back the second flight of F-
l6s when the MiGs showed up. At least someone on the AWACS
is thinking, Coursey thought.
"Forty miles," the controller said. "Spacing between fighters
and transport now one mile. Altitude still one-eight-zero."
They should just cruise on by, Coursey told himself. As long
as Douglas and Myers kept their guns away from them, they
shouldn't feel threatened. Nothing's going on here, Coursey told
himself, trying to convince himself this was a routine training
flight, but he began heading toward the Soviet fon-nation as if
running his own intercept on the transport. Radar-warning indi-
cations illuminated his threat receiver-he had to assume that the
Russians knew he was up here . . .
"Twenty miles, Dragon, moving to two o'clock position."
"Tally ho," Douglas called out. It was just a speck on the
horizon, but the huge Ilyushin transport moved into view. From
twenty miles away the huge saucer radome, viewed from above,
could be clearly seen; it resembled an American JC.-141 Starlifter
with a flying saucer hovering over it. "Definitely an AWACS
"Five-Five has a tally," Myers finally said-a few more sec-
340 DALE BROWN
onds; and Douglas would have had to take the lead. "Coming
right to intercept."
Fighters moving out to two miles of the transport," the con-
troller reported.
Two miles? They were still fairly close to the transport, but
two miles' separation was a long way for escort aircraft. They
were loosening up their escort duties considerably . . .
"Fighters moving to three miles . . . now four miles,
Dragon," the controller said. "Report visual contact on the
fighters. "
"Five-Six has a tally."
" Five-Five. " He didn't sound very positive-Coursey guessed
that he hadn't yet picked up the fighters -
"The fighters are breaking off to join up on you individu-
ally," Coursey called out on the command channel. "Ignore
them. Keep an eye on them, but all we want is a visual on the
transport. Be careful-they might try to crowd you or hit you
with a radar lock-on. Nice and easy."
Coursey was prophetic. "Dragon, MiGs are painng up with
you, one tuming left, one turning right, both climbing..Five-
Five, your bogey is at elev en o'clock, fifteen miles. Five-Six,
your bogey is at two O'clock, fifteen miles
"Lead, JC.'mon down here. That was Myers.
"I said ignore the fighters," Coursey said. "Keep your
damned cool." But Coursey found it was getting harder and
harder to believe himself-the Russians were up to something-
What?
"Ten miles to the trans port," the controller reported. "Five-
Five, your bogey's at nine o'clock, eight miles. F ive-Six, three
o'clock, seven miles . . . Dragon flight, both MiGs moving rap-
idly on your outboard beams, closing rapidly to three miles .
two miles . - - "
Myers could only stare out his canopy-the twin-tailed MiG-
29, resembling a larger single-seat version of the Navy F-14
Tomcat, was in a shallow right bank and screaming nght at him.
He was not stopping his tum rate . . . Myers called on the ra-
dio- "He's gonna hit - - - "
"Hold your position . - . "
But Myers couldn't stand it any longer. With the Mig still a
mile away, he selected max afterburner and yanked back on his
IL
DAY OF THE CHEETAH 341
control stick. Douglas was completely taken by surprise but
somehow managed to stay within a half-mile of his leader.
Myers shot skyward, allowing his F-16 to gain at least five
thousand feet before even thinking about recovering. Then, no
ticing his airspeed bleeding off, he rolled inverted to the left and
pulled to arrest his ascent-but he had ignored his wingman try-
ing to stay on his right wing. Douglas instinctively rolled left
with Myers and found himself at the top of the r
oll directly over
Myers and fast running out of airspeed. "Five-Five, roll right,"
Douglas called out as he remained inverted and pushed his nose
below the horizon to gain airspeed.
Douglas dropped like a stone right at Myers' F-16. Myers had
taken a few seconds to roll upright before he yanked his fighter
right just in time to avoid Douglas. The second F-16 dropped
another two thousand feet to regain its airspeed before rolling
upright and accelerating to join up on Myers.
"Myers," Douglas called, "watch what the hell you're do-
ing-"
"That crazy Russian almost rammed me--
"No one's going to ram you," Coursey told him, "they're
just screwing with you. You guys are looking like bozos. Now
get back there and check out that transport. Now. And goddamn
it, take it easy.
Myers scanned the sky-none of the aircraft was in sight.
"Barrier, where are they?"
"Dragon, transport is at one o'clock, ten miles and north-
bound, two thousand feet above you. Fighters have rejoined left
and right with the transport.
Murphy finally caught sight of them. "Roger. Tally ho. We're
climbing to pursue."
"Stay behind them," Coursey said. "I want an I. on the
transport, that's all. Don't mix it up with the MiGs. "
Fine with Myers. He waited until Douglas caught up with
him, then pushed his throttles back to min afterburner to pursue,
He stared at the transport-it looked immense even from this
distance. "Something strange with that transport, Barrier-"
Just then the two MiGs peeled off left and right from the
transport and made a hard descending tum straight at the two F-
16s.
"They're diving right at us, " Myers called out.
342 DAIE BROWN
"Hold your position, Myers," Douglas told his leader. "Hang
in there-"
Suddenly, when the diving fighters were less than three miles
away, Myers' jaw sagged. Out of the left fuselage wingroot area
he saw bright winking flashes of light and realized that ... God,
one of the MiGs had actually opened fire on him with its cannon.
"They're shooting at us."
Douglas saw the MiG's descending on them but it was soon
clear that they were going to pass well in front of the F-16s. He
yelled to Myers, -H ' old your-" Too late. Myers saw the can-
non firing and rolled hard left, quickly disappearing from view.
One of the MiGs turned to pursue while the other MiG continued
its dive, passing almost a mile in front of Douglas. But this time
Douglas did not turn to stay on Myers' wing. Instead he accel-
erated and headed straight for the transport.
"Five-Six, where are you?" he heard Myers yelling. "I've
got a MiG on my tail-"
"Join up on me," Douglas told him. "I'm on the transport."
"Dammit, get this MiG off me-"
"He's not on you, Five-Five," Douglas said. "He's just
buzzing you. Ignore him. Join on me and let's I. this transport
and go home."
The radar-threat receiver screeched a warning. "He's got mis-
sile lock." Myers again. "He's got missile lock - - ." The sec-
ond MiG, which had crossed below Douglas, had apparently
zoomed back up and behind Douglas and activated its missile-
tracking radar. Douglas ignored it. "I'm almost at the transport,
Barrier, there's something going on-"
"You've got one on your tail!" Myers shouted, forgetting
about the MiG behind him. "I'll be there in a second--
"I've got the lead, Five-Five," Douglas said. "Join on my
left wing. Ignore the MiGs. " Douglas stared at the transport.
"Barrier, this is Five-Six. I can't yet make it out clearly but it
looks like this transport's got three other planes under him. Re-
peat, it looks like three more planes flying tight formation un-
derneath him. Over."
"Five-Six, look out, you've got one right at your six .
"I said ignore him, Myers," Douglas said. "If he was going
to shoot he would have done it before now."
Coursey felt his throat tighten. He keyed his microphone. "All
Dragon units, hold your fire." But it was too late. On board
DAY OF THE CHEETAH 343
Dragon Five-Five all Lieutenant Myers heard from Dragon Five-
Six was the word "shoot."
The F-16's throttle and control-stick grips were designed for
rapid touch-and-feel attack-mode activation, eliminating the need
for the pilot to take his eyes off the target to bring his weapons
to bear. Myers had that procedure down cold. With the index
finger of his right hand he hit the MSL step-button to select an
AIM420 radar-guided missile. Selection of the missile auto-
matically activated the attack data-link between the 767 AWACS
and the F-16. Target-designation diamonds appeared on the
heads-up display and surrounded both Douglas' F-16 and the
pursuing MiG-29. Myers hit another button on the top of the con-
trol stick with his right index finger, causing a blinking square
to surround the target-designation diamond around the MiG-the
attack computer was now locked onto the MiG and was trans-
ferring attack data to the selected missile. A moment later a
steady beeping sound was heard in Myers' helmet, indicating
that the AIM-120 Scorpion missile had received its initial flight-
course information and was ready for launch.
One last check around. Myers keyed his mike switch. "Fox
two," he called over the command radio, then hit the weapon-
release button on the control stick with his right thumb. A streak
of white roared off the left wing of Myers' fighter; the white
finger extended itself directly to the MiG and touched it. A flash
of orange billowed out of the MiG's tail, and the dark shape
began arcing toward the bright blue Caribbean Sea far below.
Large dark shapes fell free of the doomed MiG; seconds later a
dark green parachute blossomed out of one of the shapes as the
Russian Pilot began his descent to the waters below.
"Splash one MiG,- Myers called out. "Your tail's clear,
Five-Six.
"RUt the hell did you do?" Coursey screamed. "Dragon
flight, disengage, clear, and extend immediately . . ."
"Barrier, this is Five-Six," Douglas said. "I've got an I.
on those birds under the transport. There's two more MiG-29s
and another aircraft-looks like an X-29. Forward swept-wing
job. Carrying two fuel tanks and two missiles. Repeat, we've
got another two MiGs and an X-29 underneath the Midas trans-
port. Over."
A few moments later Myers pulled up alongside Douglas:
right wingtip and flashed a thumbs-up. "We're clear, Five-Six,'
344 DALE BROWN
Myers said on the command radio-the adrenaline pumping.
"We're-"
Myers' exhilaration was cut short by a thunderous pop, a flash
of excruciating heat, then darkness. The second MiG had in-
stantly, silently, avenged its comrade's death. Myers had for-
gotten about the second MiG closing in behind him. The Soviet
infrared search-and-track system needed no radar or even a radar
data-link to attack a target-the MiG-29's infrared AA- II dog-
fighting missile was slaved to directions provided by the large
infrared telescope mounted in front of the MiG's canopy. At
close range the AA- II missile did nof miss. Now it exploded
directly underneath the F-16's engine compartment, turning the
Falcon's turbofan engine into a one-ton dynamite stick. Myers
never had a chance to eject.
his
Aboard the 767 AWACS Elliott hammered the console with
hey're trying to fly it to
fist. "That's it, that's the XF-34. T
Cuba.
II General," Marsch called out, the warning words of Douglas
in Dragon Five-Six still echoing in his head, "what are you
talking about? We've just lost one of our planes - We're suddenly,
up against three MiG-29s with only two F-16s for cover. We've
gotta get out of here
Elliott ignored Marsch and keyed his microphone. "Comm,
this is General Elliott. Priority message to JCS. Give present
position and heading. Report sighting XF-34 in protective con-
voy with four MiG-29s and one "-76 tanker-transport-AWACS
aircraft. Send and repeat and get confirmation."
"Yes, sir. "
"Colonel, you had better take charge of this mission or I
will," Elliott warned the spooked Reserve AWACS commander.
We're not running anywhere, so get that out of your head neht
now.
"General, I've got my procedures to follow," Marsch said.
"Three against two is superior forces. The second F-16 flight
won't be here for ten minutes-by then we could be at the bot-
tom of the Caribbean. My procedures say butt out-"
"And my orders are from the White House, Colonel," Elliott
said. "I am to find the XF-34, prevent it from leaving Nicara-
gua, force it to land in friendly territory . . . or destroy it. You'll
have one F-16 on us in one minute to protect this aircraft. Our
DAY OF THE CHEETAH 345
F-16s are better than the MiG-29-they can handle it. We're not
facing superior forces, Colonel, and we're not retreating from
this flight. Now take command of this engagement or I will."
"I don't have to take your orders when the safety of my crew