The unthinkable is about to happen in this high-flying novel of adventure and suspense.

In Air Battle Force, Dale Brown introduced U.S. Air Force aerial warfare expert Major General Patrick McLanahan and his air combat unit of the future. Armed with a force of these robotic planes, the general and a handful of commandos were secretly deployed to the oil-rich nation of Turkmenistan to stop a Taliban invasion. And though the Americans won the battle, the war is far from over....
To punish McLanahan and his fleet of robot warplanes for their audacity, Russian president General Anatoliy Gryzlov decides to do the unthinkable: a sneak attack on America-unlike anything ever believed possible-that devastates her strategic air forces.
McLanahan has collected information that not only foretold the Russians' daring plan, but also gave him the data he needs to plan a counterstrike that could stop the Russian war machine dead in its tracks. But Patrick is no longer in charge of Air Battle Force, and the Russian sneak attack has left the embattled U.S. president with few options: retaliate with every weapon in his arsenal, even if it triggers a global thermonuclear war, or to a cease fire on Russia's terms...
...or listen to a disgraced and discredited young bomber commander's long-shot plan of attack.

Patrick McLanahan demoted to Military Intelligence after launching a pre-emptive strike on Russian forces invading Turkmenistan. As an act of revenge, Russian president launches a nuclear attack on the US's strategic bases.

McLanahan then launches an attack on Russia and kills the Russian president thus preventing a nuclear war.

Martindale re-elected as President

Cast of Characters

Brigadier General Patrick McLanahan, commander, 966th Information Warfare Wing;
plans intelligence operations; 4 ops groups, 1 intel group
Major General Gary Houser, commander, Air Intelligence Agency
Colonel Trevor Griffin, deputy commander, 966th Information Warfare Wing, Lackland AFB
Command CMSgt Harold Bayless, Command NCOIC
Chief Master Sergeant Donald Saks, NCOIC, National Air Intelligence Center, WPAFB;
produces foreign aerospace intel for DoD

Brigadier General David Luger, commander, First Air Battle Force
Brigadier General Rebecca Furness, commander, 111th Attack Wing;
commander, 1 ABF/Air Operations
Colonel Hal Briggs, commander, I ABF/Ground Operations
Sergeant Major Chris Wohl, NCOIC, 1 ABF/GO
First Lieutenant Mark Bastian, Ground Ops squad leader
Staff Sergeant Emily Angel, ABF Ground Ops
Tech Sergeant James “JD” Daniels
Lance Corporal Johnny “Hulk” Morris

Colonel Daren Mace, Ops Group commander, 111th Attack Wing

Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Hellion, Fifty-first Bomb Squadron (EB-1 C)

Colonel Nancy Cheshire, commander, Fifty-second Bomb Squadron (EB-52 and AL-52)
Colonel Kelvin Carter, operations officer, Fifty-second Bomb Squadron, AL-52 AC
Lieutenant Colonel Summer O’Dea, EB-52 AC
Major Matthew Whitley, EB-52 remote-control technician
Major Frankie “Zipper” Tarantino, AL-52 MC
Captain Johnny “Soccer” Sammis, EB-52 MC

U.S. Marine Corps Captain Ted Merritt, Marine Special Purpose Forces platoon leader

Lieutenant General Terrill Samson, commander, Eighth Air Force
Brigadier General Charles C. Zoltrane, acting deputy commander and operations officer, Eighth Air Force

General Charles E “Cuz” Kuzner, chief of staff, USAF

General Thomas “Turbo” Muskoka, commander, Air Combat Command
Lieutenant General Leah “Skyy” Fortuna, deputy commander, Air Combat Command

Admiral Charles Andover, chief of Naval Operations
General Walter Wollensky, commander, U.S. Space Command
General Randall Shepard, commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command;
also commander of U.S. Northern Command
Colonel Joanna Kearsage, C-crew command director, Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station (killed)
Lieutenant Colonel Susan Paige, C-crew commander, Air Warning Center, NORAD, Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base, Colorado

Brigadier General Jerrod Richiand, E—4 AOC battle staff commander

Thomas Nathaniel Thorn, president of the United States
Robert Goff, secretary of defense
Richard W Venti, USAF general, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff
Admiral Charles Andover, chief of Naval Operations
Douglas R. Morgan, director of Central Intelligence
Maureen Hershel, secretary of state
Darrow Horton, attorney general

RUSSIANS
General Anatoliy Gryzlov, president of the Russian Federation (killed)
Army General Nikolai Stepashin, chief of staff of the Russian military and commander, ministry of state security (chief of all intelligence bureaus) (killed)

Aviatskiy Kapitan Leytenant Josef Leborov, Tu-95MS-16 pilot (ejects)
Aviatskiy Starshij Leytenant Yuri Bodorev, his copilot (killed)

TURKMEN STARSHIY LEYTENANT
General Jalaluddin Turabi, interim commander of Turkmen armed forces
Abdul Dendara, his aide

AIRCRAFT AND WEAPONS
MV-32 PAVE DASHER tilt-jet special-operations transport

cruise speed 320 KIAS, endurance 5 hours (conventional takeoff/vertical landing/vertical takeoff/vertical landing), carries 18 combat-ready troops plus crew of three; cargo ramp allows Humvee-size vehicles to fit inside; 2 retractable weapons pods for defensive or attack missiles; 1 20—millimeter Gatling gun in steerable chin turret; satellite and inertial navigation plus imaging-infrared sensor and millimeter-wave radar allows global terrain-following flight

MQ-35 CONDOR air-launched special-operations transport

cruise speed 300 KIAS, endurance 3 hours (glide insertion/conventional takeoff from rough field/conventional landing on rough field); carries 4 combat-ready troops plus up to 260 pounds of cargo; remotely piloted; mission-adaptive skin and lifting-body technology allows aircraft to be controlled without wings or flight—control surfaces; small turbojet engine and tricycle landing gear allows aircraft to take off from unimproved fields

RAQ-15 StealthHawk long-range reconnaissance and attack cruise missile

turbojet engine, 600 KIAS max cruise speed, max range 2,000 miles; lifting-body design, mission-adaptive flight controls; carries 6 AGM-211 mini-Maverick guided attack missiles

2 can be carried 1 EB-52 Megafortress bombers on wing pylons or 2 in center bomb of EB—1C Vampire bomber; reloadable and refuelable by EB-1C bombers; launch weight 3,500 pounds

AGM-211 mini-Maverick, small TV-guided attack missile

28-pound thermium nitrate (TN) warhead, glide- and rocket-boosted, 6-mile range

AGM-165 Longhorn TV- and IIR-guided attack missile

200-pound TN warhead, MMW radar guidance, 60-mile range, 2,000 pounds

AIM-120 Scorpion AMRAAM air-to-air missile

50-pound warhead, 35 miles max range, triple—mode active radar, passive radar, or infrared, max speed Mach 3, 350 pounds each

AIM-154 Anaconda long-range radar-guided air-to-air missile

50-pound TN warhead, 150-mile max range, ramjet engine, active-passive radar/JR guidance, max speed Mach 5, weight 6,000 pounds

AGM-177 Wolverine cruise missile

turbojet powered, max 50-mile range, 3 weapon bays, IIR or MMW radar terminal guidance, 2,000 pounds

AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW)

Range 15 to 40 miles depending on release altitude, 1,500 pounds, unpowered glide weapon, carries 200 antipersonnel/antivehicle bomblets, 10 BLU-108/B antiarmor submunitions, or 500-pound high explosive

EB-52, B-EB-1C can carry 8 on rotary launcher

ABM-3 Lancelot air-launched anti-ballistic-missile weapon

200-mile range, plasma-yield or conventional warheads, 3,000-pound launch weight

Russian:
AS-17 “Krypton” (Kh-31P) medium-range air-launched antiradar missile

max 120-mile range, speed in excess of Mach 3,225-pound blast/fragmentation warhead
carried by Tu-22M Backfire bombers

AS-X-19 “Koala” (Kh-90) long—range air—launched attack missile

ramjet powered, max range 1,800 miles, speed in excess of Mach 8, 1-kiloton nuclear warhead with delayed rigger fuze and armored nose cap
designed for destroying deep underground or armored facilities;
two carried by Tu-95 Bear bombers

AS—16 “Kickback” (Kh—15) inertially guided supersonic attack missile

90-mile range, max speed Mach 2, 300-pound high-explosive warhead or 1-kiloton nuclear warhead
Tu-160 bomber can carry 24 internally on rotary launcher

Patrick McLanahan return in the twelfth instalment of the series.

Like a plate of cheese one can't read too many Dale Brown books at once or they'll become tiresome and one can't appreciate the characteristics that make them desirable, spread out however? They're excellent (just like the special reserve cheese which was consumed whilst reading this book).

Yes, the plot is far fetched and poor Patrick McLanahan has either the most stellar military career or the worst luck imaginable depending upon your perspective. Yet, like a fast paced action film, the detail, technical proficiency of the writer, large scale action scenes and blistering atmosphere of the story conceal what would otherwise be immersion breaking plot holes.

If you're happy with an enjoyable story of modern air war (circa 2004 with 'technothriller' enhancements) between America and Russia with a touch of bureaucratic wrangling then you'll enjoy it. If you're after exacting realism and solid plots you probably won't make it to the twelfth book in the series to begin with. ( )

Read 10-09-2015

Dale Brown

Dale Brown