Disclaimer: This is a work of semi-fanfiction based loosely on the works of Dale Brown. Although some organisations depicted within do exist in the real world, the following literary work does not claim to be an accurate representation of people, events, and methods of operation. Any similarities are purely coincidental.
Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM, Royal Malaysian Air Force) Alor Setar
Kedah, Malaysia
20 January 200X
0312 local (1912 GMT)
The flight line was a hustle of activity, as maintenance crews and technicians scuttled about the various hangars, doing final checks on the aircraft under their charge, loading up weapons onto each individual aircraft. The pilots and the weapon systems officers, already seated in the cockpit, had begun their preflight checklists minutes ago. To an external observer, the base seemed like it was getting its aircraft ready for an exercise. After all, the TUDM Alor Setar was where the Air Force Academy was located. But not this morning. The 4 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29Ns were fitted not with practice bombs or missile-launch simulator pods, but something far more sinister...
...each had 150 rounds of 30-millimetre ammunition for the on-board Gryazev-Shibunov GSh-30-1 30-millimetre cannon. The two outboard stations were each fitted with one R-60, known to the rest of the world as the AA-8 Aphid heat-seaking air-to-air missile. The other four stations were bristling with Russian Kh-29D (AS-14 'Kedge') air-to-surface thermal-imaging missiles. The final station, on the centreline in between the massive, rectangular air intakes, housed an infra-red imaging pod, similar to the American FLIR (Forward-Looking Infra Red).
The engines of the 4 MiGs spooled up one after another, and very quickly they taxied out of the hangars and lined up for takeoff. Afterburner plumes briefly lit up each plane and the runway as the MiGs sped up, then leapt into the night sky, and quickly disappeared, their jet engines roaring and rattling more than a few windows of the low-rise residential areas situated near the airbase. The takeoff was immediately detected by an E-2C Hawkeye patrol of the Republic of Singapore Air Force, orbiting aprroximately 700 kilometres away, but the operators on-board dismissed it as a routine training flight, since aircraft took off and landed from that base regularly, and the four aircraft didn't appear as if they were on an abnormal flight path.
The MiGs slipped into a finger-four formation soon after takeoff, and banked left, going down low to try to avoid the snooping AN/APS-145 radar mounted on the Hawkeye. In a few short minutes, they were well out of the maximum detection range of Singapore's air defences, and streaking over the Bay of Bengal. Executing a coordinated turn left once again, the MiGs now headed south, flying only a few metres above the sea, which extended out from their position for many kilometres in all directions. That was the only cover they were afforded, and this mission had to succeed, to set off the chain of events that would soon follow...
Elephant Hill
Singapore Armed Forces Training Area
Pasir Laba Camp, Singapore
That same time
The Signals platoon had just reached the rendezvous point, and the platoon commander, a second lieutenant who was serving his national-service obligation, dismounted from the lead Land Rover. The detachment commanders of the vehicles behind also dismounted, and the platoon commander, together with his sergeants, headed to the deployment site on foot to recce and secure the area. The sergeants, all young men whose average age totalled 20, groaned as their boots crunched on hard, solid, rocky ground. "We are so going to die, Sir! This place is so hard, how the hell are we going to spike?" one of them groused.
"We have no choice. Use the water from the jerry cans to soften the ground if you have to." the lieutenant replied. Leaving two of the sergeants remain at the site, the lieutenant returned to the rendezvous point, and started to guide the vehicles in. The platoon got down to work as soon as their vehicles stopped, the sergeants and enlisted men leaping into action, doing what they had been practicing for the past few months: setting up a communications array from their vehicles.
On board the lead MiG-29
One hour later
The flight overwater was relatively uneventful, since they stayed so low. No aircraft or radar systems bothered them, and no ships were in sight. Once again, with perfect coordination, the 4 aircraft banked left, without the need to break radio silence and letting any stray electronic emission give away their location. They were heading towards Indonesia now, but that was of no concern to the flight leader, since they had secretly negotiated over overflight privileges. Indonesia must be preparing her portion of the offensive right at this moment, he thought. And they were the tip of the spear, the ones who would precipitate all that was to come.
On board the RSAF E-2C Hawkeye
Patrolling over the Singapore Straits
A few minutes later
"Sir, we've got intermittent contacts, heading directly for us, estimated bearing zero-niner-zero, speed unknown, altitude unknown." reported the radar operator on board the Hawkeye. The senior controller called up the radar display on his console, and studied it intently. Sure enough, there was one... or was it two? blips heading towards the aircraft, or perhaps Singapore itself. They blips flickered on and off, but they were there, definitely.
"Continue your observations, Lieutenant. Give me a sitrep when you have it."
The MiGs had happened to level off a mountain range, and now, no longer above sea level, the AN/APS-145 radar locked on to them. The blips now showed clearly. Four of them, boxed up on his display console, with a green "UNIDENT" flashing. They were headed for Singapore all right, and travelling at a thousand kilometres per hour! Military jets, no doubt about it. If they did not change course soon...
"Sir! Multiple contacts! All around us! We... sir, we're being jammed! I've got noise on all frequencies!"
The senior controller never had a chance to issue his orders, because right at that time, 4 missiles plowed simultaneously into the fuselage of his aircraft, breaking it into many flaming pieces that spiralled down into the sea. Moments later, two Indonesian Air Force Sukhoi-30s streaked past the area, hunting down the F-16 escorts of the Hawkeye. Caught by surprise by the attackers who came from nowhere, the two fighters went down within minutes.
On board the lead MiG-29
The intelligence information was correct, and on the dot. The communications assets were right where the intel guys said they would be. Four vehicles on the hill, called Elephant Hill by the Singaporeans, with their antennas sticking high up into the sky on the barren hilltop. The flight leader laughed. The hill looked nothing like an elephant. Typical Singaporean stupidity, he decided. Unchallenged by any air defence aircraft or equipment – this was strange – were they all sleeping? He shrugged it off, and selected the infrared imaging pod, looking at its image through the multifunction display mounted on the right side of the instrument panel. He could clearly see the vehicles, and the soldiers, tiny pinpricks of heat in the cold night. The idiotic soldiers had even built a campfire right in the middle of the deployment site, and were cooking, he could see as he zoomed in, making it an even more inviting target for his thermal-imaging missiles. He clicked twice on his microphone, giving the order for his flight to attack.
The AS-14 seeker head uncaged and got a good look at the target zone through the datalink fed to it by the pod. Pulling back on his joystick, the flight leader turned up, and squeezed a button. At the same time, 3 other AS-14s leapt off their launch rails, trailing paths of fire in the sky as their boosters activated, and they headed to their target: the Signals deployment site on Elephant Hill. All four missiles struck their target, the high-explosive warheads blasting apart human flesh, and causing sympathetic explosions on the vehicles. The entire hilltop was aflame. Nothing except bits of charred flesh and metal would be recovered as the fires burned out.
Their jobs done, the MiGs headed north over the border, and orbited nearby, ready to seek out targets of opportunity given to them by higher-echelon command.
Final Disclaimer: I again wish to make known that this is, first and foremost, a work of fiction. It is not meant to inflame and relations between any countries, not put who or what into a bad light. This is fiction! Please don't censure me for this.