"Douglass, Keith- Carrier 3- Armageddon Mode (UC)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglass Keith)

PROLOGUE

CARRIER 3: ARMAGEDDON MODE

A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author

PRINTING HISTORY

Jove edition /June 1992

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Copyright © 1992 by Jove Publications, Inc.

Excerpted material from Stormrider copyright © 1992 by Victor Milan.

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ISBN: 0-515-10864-2

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 10 987654321

0735 hours, 23 March

IAF Fulcrum 401, nearing Hyderabad, Pakistan

Lieutenant Colonel Munir Ramadutta peered through his canopy, watching tan desert sand and gravel blur past a hundred meters below. Power surged against his spine through his ejection seat, the muted thunder of twin Tumansky R-33D turbofans, and the morning sun flashed brilliant from his wingtips. He grinned behind his oxygen mask and helmet visor as a verse from the Ramayana came to mind: "... golden in its shape and radiance, fleet as Indra 's heavenly steed.''

The ancient Hindu epic's description of Prince Ravanna's celestial car could easily have applied to his own aircraft. The MiG-29, code named "Fulcrum" by NATO, was almost identical in size, looks, and performance to the American F/A-18 Hornet and was considered by most observers to be more than a match for any fighter interceptor in the world. The Indian fighter was brand-new, fresh from the production lines at Nasik. Forty-five Fulcrums had been purchased directly from the Soviets, and another one hundred fifty were in licensed production now, sleek and deadly weapons certain to give the Indian air force crushing aerial superiority over India's old foes.

Pakistan. The barren, dun-colored desert was giving way to the patchwork green of the river-laced Indus Valley. There was still no sign that Wind Strike had been spotted by the Pakistani defenses. They were coming in hard and low on the deck, avoiding radar sites and villages. Even the date—Pakistan Day, anniversary of the 1940 decision to separate from India—had

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been chosen as a time when Pakistan's defenses would be at less than one hundred percent. Operation Paschim Hawa— West Wind—had been carefully planned, and the planning was paying off. They were now one hundred fifty kilometers inside the Radcliffe Line, the border between India and Pakistan. Hyderabad, second-largest city in the Sindh, lay one hundred twenty kilometers ahead.

"Green Wind One, this is Green Wind Three," a voice said in Ramadutta's headset. "Something on the threat indicator. Might be an APG-66."