Strike Force

This story is dedicated to my son Hunter, who has shown me time and again that he has inherited and embraced the greatest gift I can give any young person: the gift of imagination.

You may be reading this story for the first time, but I can tell you that Hunter and I have told and retold this story to each other dozens of times.

The old man thanks you, big guy.

2S6M Tunguska—combination missile and cannon mobile Russian air defense system

AGM-170D—supersonic scramjet-powered attack missile

Almaz S-300—Russian surface-to-air missile system, also capable against ballistic missiles

ARB—Air Reserve Base

Armstrong Space Station—first American military space station

BDU—Battle Dress Uniform, the standard utility uniform worn by soldiers in combat

BDU-58 Meteor—releases payloads over a target area after atmospheric re-entry

BERP—Ballistic Electro-Reactive Process, the material worn by “Tin Man” commandos

BOHM—borohydrogen tetroxide rocket fuel oxidizer

CAP—Civil Air Patrol (U.S. Air Force Auxiliary)

CID—Cybernetic Infantry Device manned combat robots

CO—Commanding Officer

COMSEC—communications security

Condor—bomber-launched commando insertion and retrieval aircraft; also large unmanned new technology airship

Crew Exploration Vehicle—next generation orbital and lunar manned space vehicle

DARPA—Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Doshan Tappeh Air Base—Tehran headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary GuardsCorps

EVA—extravehicular activity; a spacewalk

exfil—exfiltration

G-forces—acceleration forces imposed on the human body, expressed in multiples of Earth gravity

hypoplastic thumb—congenital birth defect where the thumb is reduced in size, missing, or fused with another finger

IRGC—Iranian Revolutionary Corps

ISAR—Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar

JP-7—jet fuel refined with a higher flash point than more common JP-4

KC-77—aerial refueling tanker and cargo aircraft

komiteh—Iranian moral and religious enforcers

LADAR—laser radar

LakeSpotter—private individuals who camp outside secret U.S. military installations to spot classified aircraft test flights

LPDRS—Laser Pulse Detonation Rocket System magnetohydrodynamic generator—using the movement of liquid metal moving through a magnetic field to generate electricity

Majlis—Iranian parliament

MHD—magnetohydrodynamic

mil power—full aircraft engine thrust without using afterburners

muay thai—kick boxing

NCOICNon Commissioned—Officer In Charge

NSA—National Security Agency

OPSEC—operational security

Orion—next generation manned spacecraft

Pax River—Patuxent River Naval Air Station

Pilatus PC-6—Swiss-made single-engine turboprop trainer

pollicization—surgical creation of a thumb from a finger

PSID—pounds-per-square-inch differential, a measure of cabin pressurization

RFID—radio frequency identification device

RPG—rocket propelled grenade

RTB—return to base

SA-10, SA-12, SA-19, SA-21—Russian surface to air anti-aircraft missiles

SAM—surface to air missile

SDB—small diameter bomb

Shahab-2, Shahab-3, Shahab-5—Iranian ballistic missiles

Skybolt—space-based anti ballistic missile laser

SPAW—supersonic precision attack weapon

SPO—senior project officer

sun-synchronous orbit—orbit that places a satellite over the same spot on Earth at the same time of day

Supreme Defense Council—Iranian military advisory group to the president

TEL—transporter-erector-launcher

Tin Man—commandos who wear advanced protective suits and carry sophisticated weapons

VFR—visual flight rules

XR-A9—Experimental Reconnaissance Article Nine, Black Stallion spaceplane

Zulfiqar—Iranian-made main battle tank

KEVIN MARTINDALE, President of the United States

MAUREEN HERSHEL, Vice President

ARMY GENERAL JONAS HARMAN SPARKS, National Security Adviser

JOSEPH GARDNER, Secretary of Defense

ARMY GENERAL WILLIAM GLENBROOK, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

DR. MARY CARSON, Secretary of State

KEN T. PHOENIX, Attorney General

CARL MINDEN, Chief of Staff

U.S. MARINE CORPS MAJOR-GENERAL ANTHONY LEWARS, White House Press Secretary

GERALD VISTA, Director of Central Intelligence

LT. GENERAL PATRICK MCLANAHAN, special adviser to the President

BRIGADIER GENERAL DAVID LUGER, asst. special adviser to the President

BRIGADIER-GENERAL REBECCA FURNESS, commander, First Air Battle Force (air operations), Battle Mountain Air Reserve Base (ARB), Nevada

BRIGADIER-GENERAL DAREN MACE, Air Battle Force operations officer and EB-1C mission commander