"Brown, Dale - Patrick 7 - Battle Born" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brown Dale)

uted to American stealth bombers, aided by Taiwanese fighters-the Americans had not retaliated. It was world condemnation alone that eventually forced China to abandon its plan to force Taiwan back into its sphere of influence.
"I'm concerned about the path Russia, Japan, and North Korea are taking in the wake of the economic collapse in Asia and the conflict in the Balkans," Hayes went on. "Russia appears to be back in the hands of hard-liners and neo-Communists. Food riots in North Korea have led to the slaughter of thousands of civilians by military forces foraging for food. Japan has isolated us out of the Pacific and is proceeding with plans to remilitarize, all in an apparent attempt to shore up confidence in its government. I don't believe the United States sparked this return to the specter of the Cold War, but we must be prepared to deal with it."
"We are all shocked and horrified about all those events as well, General," the senator pointed out, "and we agree with the President that we must be better prepared for radical changes in the political climate. But this . . . this buildup of such powerful weapons that you're asking for seems to be an overreaction. What you are proposing goes far beyond what any of us see as a measured response to world events."
General Hayes swallowed hard. This was turning into a much harder sell than he had expected. While the world slowly went back to an uneasy, suspicious peace, President Kevin Martindale was roundly criticized for his inaction. Although China was stopped and an allout nuclear conflict was averted, many Americans wanted someone to pay a bigger price for the hundreds of thousands who had died on Taiwan, Guam, and onboard the four Navy warships destroyed in Yokosuka Harbor. The hawkish President was slammed in the press for abandoning the capital onboard Air Force
One during the attacks on Taiwan, while failing to use most of the military power he had spent his entire career in Washington trying to build up.
No one could say precisely what Martindale should have done, but everyone was convinced he should have done something more.
"Then what is a 'measured response' to those attacks, Senator?" General Hayes asked. "The People's Republic of China devastated Taiwan and Guam with nuclear weapons, taking hundreds of thousands of lives. Our response was to secretly attack their last remaining ICBM silos. Although we caused a lot of damage and prevented China from launching any more attacks against the United States,


that country still retains a tremendous nuclear force and is still a threat. Our best conventional weapons didn't work."
Army Chief of Staff Marshall spoke up to reinforce Hayes's point. "My concern," he said, "rests with other rogue nations that may want to use nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons against us. Intelligence reports say China has delivered nuclear warheads to North Korea via Pakistan in exchange for its missile technology. Combine that with North Korea's new long-range missiles and nuclear-capable aircraft delivery systems, and it could have a first-strike nuclear force in place in a few years, perhaps sooner. Iran, Iraq, Syria, and even Japan could be next."
"The question is, Senators, what does the United States do if another attack from one of these rogue nations occurs?" General Hayes asked. "Obviously, our conventional weapons superiority failed to deter China-it certainly won't deter any smaller nation. Do we use strategic nuclear forces? No American president would dare consider using a city-busting bombunless the very existence of the United States itself was in jeopardy.



"Does this mean we do nothing, as the world thinks we did against China? That would be the safest move. But we look indecisive and weak, and I think that perception makes us appear ineffectual to our allies and ripe for more attacks by our enemies. South Korea and Japan think we abandoned them, and both are clamoring to renegotiate defense treaties to allow them to build up their military forces once again. As you know, Japan doesn't allow any more U.S. warships to homeport or even dock there. And they've concluded a multibillion-dollar defense deal with Russia for MiG-29 fighters because they're afraid of not being able to buy American jets.
"To the Air Force," Hayes went on, "the answer is costly and politically hazardous, but absolutely clear. We must put a multilayered aircraft, satellite, and ballistic missile defense system in place immediately and rebuild our rapid-response intercontinental heavy-strike forces. The cornerstone of the five-year plan we are requesting is early deployment of the airborne laser and additional funding for the space-based laser defense system."
"Well, let's get into the specific programs and their status right now, gentlemen," the subcommittee chairman said. The subcommittee members leaned forward in their seats; this was where the sparks would begin to fly. "I'd like to begin with the Navy. Admiral Connor, start us off, please."
"Thank you, sir," Connor said. "The Navy has vastly improved its air defense and ABM technology over the years and is now ready, with congressional support, to field the world's most advanced, most mobile, and most flexible antiballistic missile defense systems. The Aegis Tier One system is in service now and has demonstrated a credible ABM capability, but Aegis Tier Two, using components available right now, will
increase its lethality tenfold. Aegis Tier Three will be the ultimate ship-launched air defense system, capable of defending the fleet and large sections of allied territory. We're on track and on budget to deliver both systems."
"General Hayes?"
"The Air Force is continuing development and acquisition research on the airborne laser, the nation's only air defense system designed to kill ballistic missiles in the boost phase rather than in midcourse or reentry phases of flight," Hayes said. "Mounted on a 747 airframe, ABL can rapidly respond to a crisis, can set up anywhere on the globe in less than twenty-four hours, and can give theater commanders an effective multishot missile kill capability."



"When can the ABL system be ready, General?" one senator asked.
"With continued funding support, ABL will reach initial operating capability with three planes by the year
2005 and full operating capability by 2007."
Hayes could see many of the senators shaking their heads-that was far longer than they recalled when the program was first introduced. "But Patriot and Aegis Tier One are ready now, is that correct?" one senator asked. "When can Aegis Tier Two be ready?"
"In two years, sir," Admiral Balboa replied proudly. "Modifications to the existing Standard missile, improvements on the Aegis radar system-all of which benefit fleet defense as well as improve ABM capability."
"Very good," the chairman said. "General Marshall?"
"The lead agency in antiballistic missile weapons technology has always been and will continue tQ be the U.S. Army," General Marshall began. "Our PAC-3 version of the Patriot missile is the only battle-proven an-



timissile system deployed right now. Our improved Patriot system, the Theater High Altitude Air Defense, or THAAD, system, is progressing and should be ready for initial operating capability in three years, providing we receive full requested-funding approval."
"But as I understand it," one senator said, "the performance of the weapon depends right now on the use of this so-called baby nuke. Is that a fair assessment, General Marshall?"
"No. That term is incorrect. The plasma-yield warhead is not a thermonuclear device, Senator," Marshall said. "It is a new technology high-explosive device that will increase the capability and effectiveness of all classes of theater or strategic antimissile defense . . ."
"Excuse me, General, but that sounds like doublespeak for a nuclear bomb to me," the senator interjected. "Would you mind explaining what these things do and omit the soft-soaping?"
"What plasma-yield weapons are, Senator," Marshall answered, "are the next generation of highexplosive weapons, designed to be small, lightweight, but very destructive warheads for antiballistic missiles, antiaircraft missiles, and cruise missiles. They are not 'baby nukes,' and I'm concerned that this characterization will deprive our arsenal of a very promising futuristic weapon. Although I'm not a physicist or engineer, I know enough about the process and the application of the device to explain it for the committee:
"Simply put, plasma is ionized gas-a cloud of charged particles, usually consisting of atoms that have had electrons stripped from them so their charge is unbalanced or dynamic. It is the most abundant form of matter in the universe-the physicists tell me that ninety-nine percent of all known matter is plasma. Because the gas is composed of charged particles called ions and not atoms or molecules as air and water are,
plasma has unique properties. We don't really know how to contain it, but we do know a lot about shaping it-in essence, plasma can be programmed. We can control its size, shape, mass, and what materials it interacts with.
"Plasma-yield weapons give us added flexibility by giving smaller weapons and delivery systems more punch, until we can improve our missiles' accuracy enough to allow smaller conventional warheads," Marshall explained. "The weapons use a small fission reaction, not to generate a thermonuclear yield, but to generate radiation . . ."



"A fission reaction-as in a nuclear explosion}" one senator asked, his tone incredulous.
"A rapid but controlled fission reaction more like a nuclear power plant, generating heat rather than an explosion," Marshall responded. "We bring nuclear material together to start a fission reaction, but our goal is not to create the chain reaction that leads to an explosion. We're only looking for the intense radioactivity to develop for a very short moment-milliseconds in fact-and then the reaction stops. The radioactivity is concentrated along a magnetic field and hits a pea-sized pellet of nuclear fuel. This forces ions-positively and negatively charged particles-to be stripped from atoms, producing a bubble of energy called plasma. Because there is no explosion per se, we can precisely control the diameter of the bubble, making it as small as a few hundred feet or as large as a city block.
"There are two noteworthy properties of a plasmayield effect," Marshall went on. "First, there is no large-scale release of radiation because the fission reaction is terminated gigaseconds after it starts. There is no nuclear chain reaction that produces the large explosion and release of nuclear particles and creates tremendous heat. The yield of this weapon is many times smaller