Red Hammer 1994

Despite being strapped in and the noise, Alexander wanted to conduct business. He keyed his microphone for a comm check. One by one the passenger’s acknowledged him. The secretary of defense wanted to hit the high points. “Where do we stand on comms?”

Bartholomew leaned forward from across the cabin. “NEACP and Looking Glass are airborne, and we have comms. STRATCOM’s airborne command posts, the airborne launch control centers, and the UHF relay aircraft all escaped. PACCS is in place. So far the satellites have survived. The Russians have detonated high-altitude bursts. HF and LF are holding up. EHF is good; SHF is marginal, UHF SATCOM, worthless.” Bartholomew thought for a moment. “If the MILSTAR and DSCS satellites go, we’re in trouble. We need the bandwidth to get the targeting updates to the forces. Can’t do that over HF or LF.”

The general fidgeted, waiting for a signal from Alexander.

“Electro-magnetic pulse effects have been negligible,” Bartholomew added as an afterthought. “Only the old gear has been affected.”

Alexander was surprised that communications had held. The money spent on strategic C3 in the 80s had paid off. He paused while digesting the general’s words. Mentally he created an image of the United States, placing the players in their respective locations like so many pieces on a board game. “Where’s the Commander-in-Chief Strategic Command?” he asked.

“CINCSTRAT evacuated Offut and is heading to his mobile command center.”

Alexander nodded. They had to rapidly establish communications with all the mobile command centers spread the entire length and breadth of the country. Sooner or later the airplanes would have to come down. Then it would be up to the mobiles to carry on the fight for the duration—however long that was.

Thomas leaned and poked his boss. He had overlooked the most important question. “Where’s the vice president?” he interjected. He said it to Alexander, but they all heard.

“He’s being flown directly to the North Carolina bunker,” came the answer from somewhere in the cabin. The secretary grimaced. “Who the hell made that decision?”

“He did, sir,” answered Bartholomew. “His staff felt it was too risky to bring NEACP down.”

Alexander showed a flash of anger. “Those idiots. All the fixed sites will be hit. STRATCOM HQ in Omaha, the CSOC at Falcon, NORAD, the ANMCC at Fort Ritchie, Mount Weather, they’re all gone. The vice president should be airborne with a battle staff, ready to be sworn in.”

The secretary stewed. “All right,” he said, too fatigued to remain angry. “How about Indications and Warnings?”

Bartholomew signaled the army major general on his left.

“Ground based I and W is getting shot to hell, Mr. Secretary, just like the fixed comm sites. The early warning radars are gone, including the over-the-horizon backscatter radars. That means we can’t detect cruise missiles except with AWACS aircraft. The Defense Support Program satellites are still operational, so we can detect ballistic-missile launches, but we can’t get any worthwhile tracking data. We don’t know where the weapons are headed anymore. The nuclear detonation sensors on the Global Positioning System birds are working, so we’re getting damage reports.”

“What are the casualty numbers?” interrupted Genser. “How bad is it?”

The general was unsettled by the question.

“We don’t have time for that,” said Alexander. He stared hard at the secretary of state to shut him up. “What about the other satellites, General?” he asked, glancing away.

Genser had been treated badly and knew it. He became flushed; the anger exploded as his face tightened. “You’re all insane. We should be talking to the Russians,” he shouted. “Not plotting to bounce the rubble.”

Alexander accepted the outburst calmly. He replied, choosing his words carefully. “This has a long way to go. We’d be wasting our time trying to negotiate a cease-fire until we’ve cut into the Russians’ strategic reserve.”

Genser glared. The general now answered.

“It’s too soon to give you a complete answer, Mr. Secretary. We detected a direct ascent ASAT launched against one of our photo recon birds, but it missed. We’ll have to wait and see if they fire at others when they pass over Russian territory. The coorbital ASATs they launched will take a few orbits to position themselves before an attack.”

Thomas felt an urge to focus with time critical. “The key,” he interjected, “is whether they try to take out our geosynchronous early warning, comm, and ELINT satellites. And the GPS constellation. Direct ascent ASATs take six to eight hours to reach geo, and with our I and W shot, we may not even know we’re under attack. I recommended defensive maneuvers while we still can.”

Bartholomew didn’t appreciate the tutorial. “I’d save the onboard fuel,” he countered, “until we’re certain. We don’t know they can attack satellites at geo. Maneuvering the satellites could disrupt comms.”

“We can’t assume they’re safe,” Thomas countered.