Arctic Storm Rising Dale Brown (literature books to read TXT) 📖

outside,” the other man said patiently. “Anyway, we can use the vehicle maintenancebay. It’s got decent overhead light.”

“But no heat.”

Takirak’s eyes crinkled with laughter. “Trust me, sir. We’ll all be sweating plenty by the time PT’s done.”

Flynn thought about that and matched the older man’s smile. “I take your point. And after PT?”

“Breakfast to replace the calories we just burned off,” the sergeant said. “And after that some kind of working detail ormaybe a route march across the tundra to acclimate.”

“We need a firing range,” Flynn said slowly, thinking it through. The team was equipped with a variety of small arms and heavierweapons, including one of the new, very lightweight M3E1 Carl Gustaf 84mm recoilless rifles and an M249 light machine gun.Issued fresh from stores, all of their weapons would need to be zeroed in to be effective in combat conditions. “Somewhereout on the western end of the island, where there’s no chance of any stray rounds hitting anything or anyone by accident.”

Considering that there was nothing between here and Prudhoe Bay except the occasional rock, that wouldn’t be much of a challenge.

Takirak nodded. “Yes, sir. We can put a range together out that way without much trouble.” He cocked an eyebrow. “If I mayask, exactly how much time are you planning to spend on weapons training?”

“As much time as it takes to qualify every man in this unit as a marksman or above,” Flynn said simply. “We both know the odds are probably about a million to one that we’re ever going to come face-to-face with any Russian Spetsnaz commandos up here. But if we do draw that short straw, I want to make damned sure our guys come out the other end alive. And that our enemies end up dead.” Aware that he sounded a little overzealous, he shrugged. “Plus, shooting live ammo is a hell of a lot of fun. And a really good way to break up the monotony.”

“Amen to that,” Takirak agreed appreciatively.

Six

Over the Chkalov State Flight Test Center, Southern Russia

A Few Days Later

Several thousand meters above the winding trace of the Volga River, three Russian aircraft slid southeast through a moonlessnight sky. Two were twin-tailed Su-34 fighter-bombers assigned as chase planes to the third, much-larger plane—the manta ray–shapedPAK-DA stealth bomber prototype. Weeks of rigorous tests had validated the experimental aircraft’s flight characteristicsand confirmed that its stealth features made detection and tracking by radar and infrared sensors extremely difficult. Nowthe program had moved on to check out the bomber’s advanced navigation, attack, and defense systems.

Inside the PAK-DA’s relatively spacious cockpit, Colonel Alexei Petrov tweaked his stick slightly to the left. Respondingimmediately to his control inputs, the bomber rolled into a gentle turn. The Su-34s flying a thousand meters off each wingtipmatched his maneuver perfectly. Infrared sensors fed their images directly to the face shield of his flight helmet—turningthe inky darkness into a green-tinted version of full daylight.

He smiled under his oxygen mask. Flying at night like this made it more difficult for any foreign intelligence agents stationed near the Chkalov Test Center to track this new aircraft. It also offered an excellent opportunity to evaluate the sensors and software that Tupolev’s engineers touted as providing unparalleled situational awareness to the bomber’s crew. So far, he had to agree. A quick press of a switch on his stick allowed him to toggle rapidly between any of the cameras mounted around the PAK-DA’s nose and wing—giving him the equivalent of a full, 360-degree view. And all without the need to actually turn his head or lose sight of any of the vital flight information provided by his HUD, his heads-up display.

Seated next to him in the right-hand seat, Petrov’s copilot, Major Oleg Bunin, checked one of his large multifunction displays.It showed a detailed, digitized map of the terrain ahead of them. Variously shaped icons glowed across the map. One blinkedgreen. “Coming up on the target evaluation range in two minutes.” Bunin, stockier and slightly taller than his commander,tapped the screen with a gloved finger. “The range is locked in to our navigation system.”

A new steering cue appeared on Petrov’s HUD. It slid right and then centered as he rolled out of the turn to the east andleveled off. His left hand slid the throttles forward. “Going to full military power.”

The roar from the bomber’s two massive NK-65 turbofans deepened as it accelerated, racing ahead now at more than a thousandkilometers per hour. Both Su-34 chase planes easily kept pace. The fighter-bombers were capable of attaining supersonic speedswell above those possible for the larger, longer-ranged aircraft.

“Sixty seconds out,” Bunin reported. “Activating targeting radar and other sensors.” His fingers tapped at another of hisdisplays. Instantly, the PAK-DA’s active electronically scanned array Ku-band radar powered up. Like the AESA radars carriedby America’s B-2 stealth bombers, its signals were designed to be difficult for any enemy to intercept.

Almost immediately, new icons blinked onto Petrov’s HUD. They showed the positions of possible targets—camouflaged tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery pieces, surface-to-air missile launchers, and bunkers—scattered across the test range. Some of them were real. Others were decoys that had been carefully constructed to produce apparently genuine radar and thermal signatures. “Engage our target discrimination program,” he ordered.

Obeying, Bunin set a piece of sophisticated computer software running. It rapidly analyzed data collected by the bomber’sradar and other sensors, ferreting out the slightest inconsistencies. “The TDP program is running.”

One after another, target icons vanished as the software weighed them in the balance, judged them to be fake, and locked themout of the system—ensuring that no missiles or bombs would be wasted on mere decoys. As they disappeared, Bunin highlightedseveral of the remaining high-priority targets for the bomber’s advanced attack software. Acting autonomously, the computerselected the weapons most likely to kill each target and assigned them on its own, without human intervention.

A countdown timer flashed into existence on Petrov’s HUD. “Attacking in ten seconds,” he said calmly. His thumb settled overthe weapons release button on his stick. The timer clicked