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to activate his sensor package.
April 2, 2008, 03:10 local time
Ta Shih
Enhanced KS-3 Missile Battery
PRC COSTIND Research Facility
Central Mongolia
Captain Hu Ziyang recognized the approach profile of the oncoming enemy
aircraft. He had dealt with them before. In fact, it was as a result of those
earlier encounters that he had been promoted and assigned the task of
protecting this critical research facility from enemy air attack. His standard
radar was
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registering the intermittent, hyper-velocity contact typical of an American
high-altitude, hyper-velocity stealth mission. Other than the intermittent
contact though, that equipment was unable to lock-on. If the approach profile
came close enough, he knew he could launch his un-enhanced KS-2+ and newer
KS-3
missiles and hope for an infra-red intercept, but that was literally a long
shot.
But tonight, the Captain knew he would not have to rely on any such long shot.
No, tonight my elusive American friend, we are going to bring you down hard,
thought the Captain as he waited for the intermittent contact to come within
the 250 km range of his ta shih sensors.
As the contact came within range, the Captain ordered his two enhanced KS-3
batteries to activate their ta shih detectors and within two seconds he had
his answers.
Captain, the system has identified the approaching aircraft as an American
HR-7 hyper-velocity stealth reconnaissance aircraft closing on a bearing of
282 degrees, altitude 45,000 meters, speed mach 4.2 We have a solid lock.
April 2, 2008, 03:11 local time
160,000 feet over Central Mongolia
Approaching PRC COSTIND Research
Facility
Mac Mendenhall had already activated his sensor package and was just
beginning his turn. The data was already being recorded, encrypted and
communicated in bursts to the circling drone aircraft that were flying at an
altitude almost twice that of his own well to his north over the Arctic Ocean.
At the speed of light, they were transmitting the mission data back to North
America, the NRO and the White
House.
Mac had also noticed the various conventional radar bands that were trying to
get a lock on his aircraft and was flying secure in the knowledge that they
could not do so. He knew that at any moment the
Chinese would launch their high performance missiles at him in an effort to
get an infra-red intercept, but he also knew how to handle that and avoid the
lock-on if he simply kept his cool.
What Mac hadn t noticed & what Mac couldn t notice, because his equipment had
no way of sensing it, was that the Chinese ta shih detectors associated with
the two enhanced KS-3 missile sites had already bounced particles off of his
aircraft and locked on to him. When their missile launches were monitored by
his aircraft, it came as no particular surprise to him. What did come as a
surprise to the
Colonel, and to every American who was monitoring the engagement, or who would
later see the data that recorded it, was what followed those missile launches.
MISSILE LAUNCH, MISSILE LAUNCH, MISSILE LAUNCH
The red flashing of the warning light and the accompanying incessant words in
his headset, though of no
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great surprise and of no immediate concern, did get the adrenaline flowing and
cause the Colonel to focus on his defensive systems while the sensor package
continued its automated sequence of recording, encrypting and broadcasting.
Within thirty seconds all of that changed as both surprise and immediate,
mortal danger overshadowed past experiences and as the Colonel s training
kicked in to compensate.
The KS-3 missile was a significant enhancement over its KS-2+ forerunner.
Capable of engaging targets at up to 70,000 meters in altitude (210,000+
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feet), and capable of a maximum speed of Mach 10, the
KS-3 missile was designed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles. In the
conventional mode, using normal radar, the missile had a maximum range of 500
km (over 300 miles). In the ta shih enhanced mode, all of its performance
criteria remained the same, except for the range. Since the current ta shih
detectors only had a range of 250 km (150+ miles) the stealth directed range
was limited to that distance.
As Mac Mendenhall approached at mach 4.2 and closed to within 175 km of the
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