Читать книгу Top Hook - Gordon Kent, Gordon Kent - Страница 33

When Rafe sent the word that the brief for the admiral was finally a go, Alan threw his notes into a presentable briefing in a rush. He dragged the new officer, Soleck, into his preparations, because it was obvious that Soleck could find his way around a computer, and he was still so new that he didn’t have the sense to stay out of Alan’s way.

Most of the squadron commanders and a sizeable portion of the flag staff were at the brief. The admiral glanced at him several times while other officers delivered readiness reports, his face unreadable. When his time came, Alan went to the front, squared his shoulders, and went for it.

“Good evening, Admiral. I’m going to cover the capabilities of the MARI system and how it can act as a force multiplier for the BG.”

“Go ahead, Commander Craik.”

“Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar was fitted on all of the S-3bs in the late nineteen-eighties. That allowed us to do long-distance recognition of targets and greatly aided over-the-horizon targeting. MARI, or Multiple Axis Radar Imaging, uses the latest developments in computer-image modeling to allow several ISAR systems to link and provide a sharper, 3-D image. With multiple-axis imaging and a lot of new software, we can get a synthetic-aperture picture of a stable object, like a surface-to-air missile site, a hangar, or a tank.”

“How fine is the resolution?” the flag captain said. He didn’t sound hostile, at least.

“The contractors say one meter, but I don’t think it’s there yet, sir. Just before we left Pax River, we got an across-the-board software upgrade that ought to improve both processing time and resolution. I’ll be able to tell you more when we’ve implemented it.”

“Have you flown it?”

“Once, sir.”

“What’s your reaction?”

“It still drops link too often to be considered reliable. I’m not a computer expert, but I think the volume of data exceeds the bandwidth available.” Alan glanced at Soleck, who nodded. Soleck had the confidence of a puppy—a newbie who hadn’t even flown with the system yet.

Admiral Kessler nodded at him but didn’t smile. “I appreciate the straight talk. However, I’m not ready to let your aircraft go over Bosnia. Seems like a high risk in terms of aircrew while you’re not sure of the technical side.” The admiral looked around at Rafe for his opinion.

“Sorry, Al, but I’ve got to concur.” Rafe looked apologetic. He knew as well as Alan that what the det needed was real-world action.

Alan tried to be persuasive. “Sir, when it works, it’s a powerful tool. We’d be able to detect SAM sites, even when they were in passive mode. With the ESM suite, we can catch a radar when it’s on and then track it even when it’s off.”

That got the attention of the F-18 skippers.

“And pass targeting?” one of them said.

“Down to the meter.”

But the admiral wouldn’t have it. “Then I suggest you get the link fully functional and find your bandwidth.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Give it your full attention, Craik. Do you understand me?”

It wasn’t said with hostility, but the tone carried some nuance. Behind the admiral, Maggiulli gave a slight nod. Meaning, Cut the NCIS crap and spike the rumors about you and your wife and get with the program!

“Any other business? Okay, folks, have a good evening.” The admiral rose and slipped away, and the rest of the officers stood at attention until he was gone and then moved around Alan and out into the passageway. Alan left the computer to Soleck and followed Rafe, who stopped in the p’way and gave him a slight smile.

“That the late Mister Soleck?”

“He knows computers.”

“But not calendars, apparently.”

“Rafe, I got a whole detachment of guys here to fly real-world. Everybody else will be racking up air medals while we drill holes in the water. We can help.”

“Get the link fixed, Al.” Rafe gave a small shrug. “Maybe we can have coffee after.”

“I’ve got a flight.”

Alan stepped through the bulkhead at frame 81 and turned toward the ready room, to find Soleck jabbering at the female intelligence officer from the EA-6B squadron. When he saw Alan, he waved at the woman, picked up the laptop that had held the brief, and followed.

“That Mary Rennig sure is cute,” he said, bright as a new dime.

“Soleck, do you always say every word that comes into your head? Ensign Rennig is an officer in the US Navy.”

“Oh—right, sir! Sorry. Anyway, she got me all these great recognition cards!” Soleck held out a complete set of ship and aircraft recognition cards as they ducked through the ready room door, Soleck still talking. “So I’m going to correlate all the recognition cards with the simulator. Chief Navarro says the recognition library on the simulator is ‘sparse’ and I’m going to input a bunch of new ships.”

“Mister Soleck, are you telling me that you are going to add data to a simulator?”

“Well, yes, sir. I mean, all the stuff on how to do it’s in the manual.”

“How do you know what the radar returns from a ship will look like?”

“Well—Jeez, sir, it’s—”

Alan remembered a phrase from high school geometry—intuitively obvious. Could Soleck possibly be so good that blue-skying radar images was intuitively obvious?

“Better show me before you put them up.” Alan felt like patting him on the head.