War with Russia

MacWhite continued. “But we’ve also got to show the President that we’re determined to protect Latvia. We’ve heard that the Germans and others have stopped NATO declaring Article Five. You’ve talked to the Chancellor and she’s made it clear that the Bundestag and the Constitutional Court, to say nothing of her coalition partners SPD, the Social Democrats, will have to have their say before she can support the implementation of collective defense.” He looked at Admiral Howard.

SACEUR nodded his agreement.

“I think we need to get troops on the ground, reinforcement to the Baltic Air Policing mission, and ships into the eastern Baltic. If NATO won’t do it, we’ll have to do it bilaterally and with other willing allies.”

“With what—and with whom?” asked the President, turning to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Marty McCann, a sandy-haired Bostonian of Irish extraction. A former tank commander, he was also well known for his fine singing voice and tendency to burst into song. But this was not a time for Irish ballads.

“Madam President, in line with your direction, from last Saturday we reduced notice to move timings of 6th Fleet, 18th Airborne Corps, Special Operations Command and US Air Force Europe to twenty-four hours, with follow-up elements at between three and seven days. So in terms of immediate support, we could get six F-16s and roughly three hundred airmen from the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Airforce Base in north Italy, into Lielvārde Air Base, southeast of Riga.”

“How quickly?”

“The first transport planes from the Contingency Response Group can be there in twenty-four hours to set things up for the F-16s. Once they’ve got things ready on the ground, say another twenty-four hours, the fighters will follow. So, we’ll get the first fighters into Latvia around forty-eight hours from now.”

“And what else?”

“On the navy side, 6th Fleet has two destroyers conducting a port visit in Hamburg at the moment. They could be in the Gulf of Latvia in twenty-four hours. Land forces are more of a problem. It’ll take five days to get the personnel to man the brigade’s worth of vehicles we’ve got warehoused in Eastern Europe into the various countries the equipment is stored in. Then add at least another ten days to concentrate them in one place, as they’re spread real wide. So there’s not much we can do with them. My recommendation is to deploy the 82nd Airborne Division Global Response Force. That’s a Combat Team of around four hundred and fifty soldiers with the combat support and logistics to be able to operate on their own for several days. We can deploy the lead elements in eighteen hours.”

“Why can’t they operate for longer?” the President questioned.

“Airborne forces have to fight using what they land with, until they can link up with other ground troops or be resupplied by air. That means limits on their heavy weapons, mobility, logistics and stores. Once we’ve got them in, we’ll follow up with a brigade of air-landed ground troops, that’s around five thousand men, to reinforce them within a few days. But until the second wave are on the ground, the Global Response Force will be on its own. But that’s what they’re trained for.”

Satisfied, Dillon turned back to MacWhite. “What about other allies?”

MacWhite looked at his old friend McCann, a comrade whom he’d fought alongside in many campaigns. “Where do you think the Brits will stand, Marty? You know them well.”

“We’re getting close again after they messed up in Iraq. In actual fact, 82nd Airborne have been doing good work with the Brit 16th Air Assault Brigade. They put together a damn good exercise earlier this year—900 Brits from ‘3 Para Battlegroup dropping to secure an airfield alongside the All-Americans,” McCann replied, referring to the famous nickname of 82nd Airborne Division.

“That sounds like just what we need to make this a coalition operation,” interjected the President with interest. “We need our two closest allies in there with us and it’s worth slowing down a bit to achieve that. The question is: will the British political leadership will have the stomach for this… ? And the French?”

“Ma’am, no question that the French military will be up for this. The worry is that their army is totally fixed on internal security. They’ve got ten thousand soldiers deployed guarding schools and supermarkets against the jihadi terrorist threat, so readiness will be an issue. And, of course, we can’t be sure of the politicians. It’s much the same for the Brits, although thankfully they’re not committed to internal security in the same way. You can be sure that their military will be more than keen to get involved and their soldiers are still pretty good. The challenge will be the political leadership.”

“Leave the British PM to me.” Dillon was firm.