Free Vietnam II: A War Novel Episode 3 (V2) by C.R. Ryder Page B

Center
     
    It was a big night for the navy and their post V1 capabilities.  Anti-ship attacks were carried out against PAV warships using the smaller Harpoon cruise missile system.  These weapons had only been previously used against Iranian warships after the mine attack on USS Samuel B. Roberts.  In addition, the Navy also recorded the first combat use of the stand-off land attack missile or SLAM.  The SLAM was a variant of the Harpoon and it allowed users to attack high-value targets from 50 miles or more.
    Deployed from carrier-based aircraft, SLAMs use targeting data from the Global Positioning System for mid-course guidance as well as video aim point control to provide a very precise strike capability that minimizes collateral damage.  The SLAM's data link system was so sophisticated that the missile could be launched by one aircraft and be guided to the target by another, as much as 60 miles away from the target.
    High-speed anti-radiation missile were especially effective in the suppression of Vietnamese electronic emitters, in particular those associated with radar sites used to direct anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles.
    Nine AEGIS cruisers were sailed into the Gulf of Tonkin.  They possessed a combat system that could be used against a wide variety of targets.  One AEGIS cruiser even detected and tracked four Vietnamese Silkworm missiles fired at great ranges.  AEGIS cruisers coordinate the anti-air defense of the navy battle group in a multi-threat environment.  This reduces the resources needed for defense and allows the battle group to concentrate on its offensive mission.  The AEGIS were capable of offensive firepower as well.  By the end of hostilities, more than 25 percent of the TLAMs fired during Jungle Storm were fired by the nine AEGIS cruisers on station.
    The smart weapons changed warfare forever.  They were giving the evening news the footage from the strikes.  Now millions of people had a bird’s eye view of enemy command and control centers becoming clouds of dust and debris as television broadcast images of the bombs hitting their mark.  Contrary to Military Industrial Complex history, the smart weapons had performed exactly as they were intended. 
    A new age of weaponry began.

Major Mike Lewis
    Air Force Reconnaissance Pilot
    Near Space over Old North Vietnam
     
    I’m eating again.  That’s all I ever did on those U-2 sorties.  That and maybe run a systems check once in a while.
    At least I can’t complain about being the only one in the air anymore.  I had quite a light show going on below me.
    So I am sucking down chocolate through a toothpaste tube and trying to pretend that I am not uncomfortable.  My underwear is riding up and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.
    The camera guys are getting all sorts of data from the flight.  I hope they are happy. 
    Of course now I have to descend into airspace with a bunch of fighter guys with their blood up.  I just hope they have the where with all to realize the guy on descent from near space is one of theirs.
    The city below had gone dark hours ago.  There was only one lit building left in the city.
    “Control, Shadow 11.  I’ve got a light on in Hanoi.  Approximately city center.  How copy?”
    “Shadow 11, Control.  Is it a single structure?”
    “Control, Shadow 11.  That is correct.  It could be a command center.”
    “Shadow 11, Control.  That’s Ho Chi Minh’s tomb.  It has a triple generator system.”
    Ho Chi Minh’s tomb? 
    I figured he was probably rolling over in his grave right now.