and B-2A Spirit bombers at Guam formed a quick-reaction long-range conventional strike force that could reach very quickly throughout the Pacific, as well as provide aircrews a chance to train with the Navy and with foreign air forces. But since the American long-range bomber force had been so badly decimated during the American Holocaust, the bombers and their crews were becoming exhausted, and replacements were needed. Cuthbert had been assigned the task of coming up with solutions to the widening bomber gap from industry.
“I’m well aware of that, Cutlass,” Patrick said.
“And you said you can build a fleet of long-range strike aircraft in less than two years for hardly any money at all? How are you going to do that, sir—pixie dust?”
“They’re already built and battle proven,” Patrick replied. “They aren’t flying, but it’s not because they’re incapable or obsolescent. There are trade-offs. They are not stealthy, at least not twenty-first-century-version stealthy. They don’t have antiradar coatings or radar-absorbent materials built into their structures—Sky Masters can add those things, but the cost will skyrocket, and that’s not what we want. We want a capable long-range bomber for low cost that can be fielded very quickly.”
“So where is this magical aircraft?”
“It’s on its way,” Patrick said. He glanced at his watch, smiled, then said, “Cutlass, allow me to reintroduce you to the weapons system that we at Sky Masters believe will be the affordable interim ingredient to fulfilling the promise of the AirSea Battle concept: the XB-1F Excalibur.”
He could not have timed it better. Just as Patrick announced the name, Cuthbert’s attention was grabbed by a sinister-sounding rushing noise, like an oncoming race car, that steadily got louder and louder . . . and then it flew overhead from behind, and the roar of the XB-1’s four turbofan engines in full afterburner rolled over them. The sleek gray-green swept-wing bomber flew two thousand feet aboveground, but the immense size of the aircraft made it seem as if it was brushing their heads.
“Holy shit!” Cuthbert exclaimed. “A B-1 Lancer! She’s a beauty!”
As the bomber made a steep bank about a half mile away, Patrick began his carefully rehearsed sales pitch: “Not a Lancer, Cutlass. The XB-1 Excalibur looks like the standard B-1B Lancer bomber because on the outside it is basically the same—most of the changes are on the inside. We replaced the original F101 engines with the F136 engines, which are more powerful and more fuel-efficient; we retained the two-person crew of the EB-1C Vampire bomber and opted for remotely operated offensive and defensive operator stations and highly automated attack systems; we gave it the same steerable Active Electronically Scanned Array multifunction radar that’s been on the F/A-18 Super Hornet for years; and we replaced the older avionics with modern off-the-shelf electronic systems. The only other system we added was the ALQ-293 Self-Protection Electronically Agile Reaction system instead of the ALQ-161 electronic warfare suite.”
“What’s the ALQ-293?”
“The ALQ-293 SPEAR was developed by Sky Masters years ago in a competitive bid for the F-35 Lightning’s radar,” Patrick explained. “Our system was designed to not only send out a signal and then listen for the same returned signal for processing, but to listen for signals and then transmit other signals in response at that same frequency. SPEAR can alter the timing of the returned signal to make the enemy’s radar think we are farther away or even invisible. We also found that we can transmit just about any other kind of signal to enemy radar, even computer code.”
“Computer code?” Cutlass exclaimed. “You mean, like inserting a virus into a computer?”
“Exactly,” Patrick said. “We called it ‘netrusion,’ and it worked like a charm when we sent the Vampires over Iran during the civil
“I’m well aware of that, Cutlass,” Patrick said.
“And you said you can build a fleet of long-range strike aircraft in less than two years for hardly any money at all? How are you going to do that, sir—pixie dust?”
“They’re already built and battle proven,” Patrick replied. “They aren’t flying, but it’s not because they’re incapable or obsolescent. There are trade-offs. They are not stealthy, at least not twenty-first-century-version stealthy. They don’t have antiradar coatings or radar-absorbent materials built into their structures—Sky Masters can add those things, but the cost will skyrocket, and that’s not what we want. We want a capable long-range bomber for low cost that can be fielded very quickly.”
“So where is this magical aircraft?”
“It’s on its way,” Patrick said. He glanced at his watch, smiled, then said, “Cutlass, allow me to reintroduce you to the weapons system that we at Sky Masters believe will be the affordable interim ingredient to fulfilling the promise of the AirSea Battle concept: the XB-1F Excalibur.”
He could not have timed it better. Just as Patrick announced the name, Cuthbert’s attention was grabbed by a sinister-sounding rushing noise, like an oncoming race car, that steadily got louder and louder . . . and then it flew overhead from behind, and the roar of the XB-1’s four turbofan engines in full afterburner rolled over them. The sleek gray-green swept-wing bomber flew two thousand feet aboveground, but the immense size of the aircraft made it seem as if it was brushing their heads.
“Holy shit!” Cuthbert exclaimed. “A B-1 Lancer! She’s a beauty!”
As the bomber made a steep bank about a half mile away, Patrick began his carefully rehearsed sales pitch: “Not a Lancer, Cutlass. The XB-1 Excalibur looks like the standard B-1B Lancer bomber because on the outside it is basically the same—most of the changes are on the inside. We replaced the original F101 engines with the F136 engines, which are more powerful and more fuel-efficient; we retained the two-person crew of the EB-1C Vampire bomber and opted for remotely operated offensive and defensive operator stations and highly automated attack systems; we gave it the same steerable Active Electronically Scanned Array multifunction radar that’s been on the F/A-18 Super Hornet for years; and we replaced the older avionics with modern off-the-shelf electronic systems. The only other system we added was the ALQ-293 Self-Protection Electronically Agile Reaction system instead of the ALQ-161 electronic warfare suite.”
“What’s the ALQ-293?”
“The ALQ-293 SPEAR was developed by Sky Masters years ago in a competitive bid for the F-35 Lightning’s radar,” Patrick explained. “Our system was designed to not only send out a signal and then listen for the same returned signal for processing, but to listen for signals and then transmit other signals in response at that same frequency. SPEAR can alter the timing of the returned signal to make the enemy’s radar think we are farther away or even invisible. We also found that we can transmit just about any other kind of signal to enemy radar, even computer code.”
“Computer code?” Cutlass exclaimed. “You mean, like inserting a virus into a computer?”
“Exactly,” Patrick said. “We called it ‘netrusion,’ and it worked like a charm when we sent the Vampires over Iran during the civil
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