ALSO BY MIKE MADEN
Blue Warrior
Drone
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
Publishers Since 1838
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New York, New York 10014
Copyright © 2015 by Mike Maden
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Maden, Mike.
Drone command / Mike Maden.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-698-19071-9
I. Title.
PS3613.A284327D77 2015 2015017116
813'.6—dc23
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Version_1
For all the brave sons, mine most of all
CONTENTS
Also by Mike Maden
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Character List
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Author’s Note
Epigraph
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
CHAPTER FIFTY
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
CHAPTER SIXTY
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
CHAPTER SEVENTY
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
Acknowledgments
CHARACTER LIST
JAPAN
SANJI HARA
Vice Admiral, JMSDF
DR. NITOBE IKEDA
Director, NEDO
HIROSHI ITO
Prime Minister of Japan
KOBAYASHI
Yakuza boss
HIROSHI ONIZUKA
Captain of the submarine Sword Dragon
OSHIRO
Yakuza underboss
KATSU TANAKA
Parliamentary Senior Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, LDP member of the House of Representatives (Nagasaki Prefecture)
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
GENERAL CHEN ZULIN
Vice Chairman, Central Military Commission
ADMIRAL DENG ZILONG
Fleet Commander, PLAN South Sea Fleet
FENG YONGBO
Vice Chairman, Central Military Commission
FENG JIANLI
Son of Feng Yongbo
ADMIRAL JI DONGSHENG
Fleet Commander, PLAN East Sea Fleet
HUANG YONG
Minister of State Security
PANG BO
Ambassador to Japan
SUN QUAN
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People’s Republic of China, Chairman of the Central Military Commission
DR. WENG LITONG
Head, GAD Expert Working Group (robotic weapon systems)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DR. T. J. ASHLEY
Pearce Systems associate
HENRY DAVIS
Ambassador to Japan
DR. WILLIAM (WILL) ELLIOTT
National Security Research Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Ex-CIA, friend of Troy’s dad
JIM GARZA
National Security Advisor
STELLA KANG
Pearce Systems associate
DAVID LANE
President of the United States
IAN MCTAVISH
Pearce Systems associate
MARGARET MYERS
Former President of the United States
GENERAL GORDON ONSTOT
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
TROY PEARCE
CEO, Pearce Systems
MIKE PIA
Director of National Intelligence
BREN SHAFER
Secretary of Defense
GABY WHEELER
Secretary of State
DR. KENJI YAMADA
University of Hawaii faculty, Pearce Systems associate
OTHER NOTABLES
AUGUST MANN
Pearce Systems director of nuclear facility deconstruction (Germany)
DR. LINH PHAM
VAST drone researcher (Vietnam)
TAMAR STERN
Former Pearce Systems security associate, Mossad agent (Israel)
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
4GW
Fourth-generation Warfare
A2AD
Anti-Access/Area Denial
AAV
Autonomous Aerial Vehicle
ACTUV
Antisubmarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel
ADPS
Automated Dynamic Positioning System
ASAT
Antisatellite
ASV
Autonomous Surface Vehicle
ASW
Antisubmarine Warfare
AUV
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
AWACS
Airborne Warning and Control System
CAP
Combat Air Patrol
CIC
Combat Information Center
CMC
Central Military Commission
DARPA
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DNI
Director of National Intelligence
EMP
Electromagnetic Pulse
FIC
First Island Chain
GAD
General Armament Department (A PRC/PLA version of DARPA)
GWOT
Global War on Terrorism
HGV
Hypersonic Glide Vehicle
HPM
High-powered Microwave
HUMINT
Human Intelligence (spies)
ICBM
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
JPALS
LDP
Liberal Democratic Party of Japan
LRAD
Long-range Acoustic Device
MAD
Mutual Assured Destruction
MIRV
Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle
MOD
Minister of Defense (Japan)
MSS
Ministry of State Security (PRC)
NEDO
New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization
NKP
New Komeito Party (Japan)
SAC
Second Artillery Corps (PRC)
SLBM
Sub-Launched Ballistic Missile
STEM
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
TAD
Threat Assessment Display
TEPCO
Tokyo Electric Power Company
TNF
Technical Nuclear Forensics
TTO
Tactical Technology Office (DARPA, USA)
UCAV
Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle
UCLASS
Unmanned Carrier-launched Surveillance and Strike Vehicle
UFP
Upward Falling Payload
USV
Unmanned Surface Vehicle
UUV
Unmanned Underwater Vehicle
VAST
Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology
VPA
Vietnam People’s Army
VTC
Video Teleconference
AUTHOR’S NOTE
While many of the drone and related systems described in this novel are currently deployed, others are based on patent filings, prototypes, and research proposals. In some cases I modified or simplified their performance characteristics for the sake of the story. However, I’m confident that some variants of what I’ve imagined could soon be a reality.
Being unconquerable lies with yourself;
being conquerable lies with your enemy.
—SUN TZU, The Art of War
ONE
SIX MILES DUE WEST OF THE SENKAKU/DIAOYU ISLANDS
EAST CHINA SEA
1 MAY 2017
The bloodred flag with the five golden stars snapped in the crisp morning breeze. The national flag of the People’s Republic of China was one of three held high by the naval honor guard, along with the flags of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the East Sea Fleet commander, Admiral Ji Dongsheng.
Two hundred Chinese PLAN officers and sailors stood at rigid attention on the fantail of the seventy-five-hundred-ton guided-missile destroyer Kunming, its ASW helicopter stowed away in the hangar for the occasion. The ship’s skilled helmsman fought to stay in place as the vessel rose and fell in the long swells.
Admiral Ji’s commanding voice cut through the buffeting wind. The handpicked crew stood proudly before him at rigid attention in their starched white uniforms and broad Soviet-style caps. The admiral’s thick neck, powerful jaw, and broad nose had earned him the nickname Bulldog behind his muscular back. A shrouded object stood just behind him.
“A thousand years ago our ancestors crossed the oceans of the world. We are not becoming a new navy, as the Westerners believe; we are the world’s oldest and greatest navy, reclaiming our lost heritage, reclaiming our lost territories, reclaiming the vast resources of our waters from the thieving hands that stole it. We are the guardians of the blue soil of our homeland and will defend it with our blood and our honor.
“Today is a great day. Today we lay claim to that which was always rightfully ours. Someday you will tell your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren that you were here this day, on this ship beneath our
glorious flag, taking another step in the long march toward our rightful destiny, our rightful place under heaven.”
The admiral paused for effect, surveying the proud young faces before him. He twisted around and whipped off the linen shroud behind him. An engraved white-marble stele gleamed in the bright sun, thick and rectangular like a giant headstone. Admiral Ji nodded to four muscled sailors. They marched forward in lockstep and lifted the heavy stone off the fantail and heaved it into the rolling blue water in a geysering splash.
The admiral shouted out the words from the national anthem, “Arise! All who refuse to be slaves! Let our flesh and blood become our new Great Wall!”
The officers and crew shouted and cheered as they pushed forward to the end of the fantail, but the marble stele had already sunk beneath the waves.
Ji’s weathered eyes caught a speck of gray in the faultless blue sky far above. A drone.
He smiled.
And so it begins.
TWO
ON BOARD THE JAPANESE SUBMARINE KENRYU (“SWORD DRAGON”)
EAST CHINA SEA
1 MAY 2017
I can even see the admiral’s gleaming brass buttons.”
Commander Hiroshi Onizuka had his eyes glued to the crystal-clear HD flat-panel display. A Sandia Multimodal Volant drone fed its images directly into his control console. Pearce Systems had just developed the integrated drone and sensor system, and installed it on the Sword Dragon for testing. Onizuka preferred his beloved periscope, but he was impressed with the expanded capabilities of the new electro-optical sensors in the retrofitted photonics mast married to the far-ranging surveillance drone. “But that’s not what worries me.”