The Third World War (34 page)

Once the national consciousness began to become uneasy about the danger to the UK of unchecked Soviet military expansion, the path of the air planners became easier, and it was possible to gain some political support from all sides in the House of Commons for measures now clearly seen to be needed for the defence of the homeland. Policy agreement was one thing, putting it into effect was another. The task was formidable. It is no simple matter to increase, or speed up, the production of complex aircraft and weapons, or to create their support facilities. It is more difficult stiil to conjure up the skilled and experienced men and women needed to operate an expanded and complex military system without mounting a deliberate programme of expansion in sufficient time to develop it in an ordered way over a number of years.

By 1985 the Tornado interceptors were in service in considerable numbers, thanks to increased production and round-the-clock working by all the contractors in that part of the European industry. The
AEW
^imrodhad replaced the Shacklelon, and the numbers of
SAM
systems had been increased by restricting overseas sales and by purchase from the United States. Among some very promising air-to-air and ground-to-air weapons was the new
EUROSAM
, a collaborative project with France, of which the
RAF
now had two squadrons at home. A tanker conversion of the splendid old
VC-IO
transport was coming into service, and this, together with some Boemgs bought from the United States, had greatly increased the air-to-air refuelling resources so critically important for long-range interception over the sea to the north and west.

Just as the early scientific gropings with radar at Bawdsey Manor in the mid-1930s had helped to turn the tide in 1940, so perhaps the most significant progress was in the completion of the new control and communications system (
UKADGE
). Without going into the technical details, it is sufficient to say here that it worked through mutually-supporting hardened control centres and accepted digitized data from the whole range of sensors contributing to the air defence system: ground and airborne radars, early warning aircraft, and
NATO
ground and sea-based sensor systems, including those of the French. This gave the Air Defence Commander, and all those concerned in the control chain, an immediate picture at any moment of the air threat and the resources available to counter it. It was to be the essential management platform from which the expected battle would be conducted.

Despite these improvements in equipment, and the highest quality of aircraft and weapons, the Royal Air Force still remained dangerously short of one vital asset:

trained and skilled manpower. Political recognition in the late seventies that discontent with service pay and conditions was making a career in any armed service unattractive to young men came belatedly. The air force chiefs had long been anxious because the young men and women of the calibre they needed commanded particularly good opportunities in civil life. When substantial increases of pay were agreed in 1978 the situation quickly improved, but skilled servicemen became an even more expensive item in the defence bill than ever. The levels were raised to meet the increased front-line requirement, but not to the extent that the
RAF
, or indeed
SACEU
Kin his operating criteria, considered necessary for sustained operations. If the
RAF
was to be engaged in hostilities in the near future, its commanders knew that through good leadership the human reserve would need to be stretched right to its limits and probably far beyond.

The account that follows is taken from a personal interview with Air Chief Marshal Sir John Hazel, AOC-in-C Strike Command and C1NCUKAIR (C-in-C United Kingdom Air Forces) in the
NATO
command chain,

‘At 0700 hours on the morning of 30 July the Air Chief Marshal waited in the hardened war room of his regional operations centre at High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, for the next briefing to begin. Since mobilization seven days ago he had virtually lived in the small subterranean office with his bunk set in an alcove to one side. Now his eyes were on the closed circuit television screen as the master clock ticked off the seconds to the start time for the briefing. Exactly on cue, the briefing officer appeared on screen and the routine began: weather conditions, actual and forecast, throughout his wide command; totes of aircraft and aircrew availability, and readiness at the operational airfields and the newly activated satellite fields and forward operating bases. AH of this was called up direct from the resource catalogue of the Command automatic data processing (
ADP
) bank.

Despite the urgent refurbishment programme ot the last three years, new assets of runways, dispersals and hangars were still far from what he would have wished;

overcrowding, and therefore vulnerability, was exacer-bated by the inflow of
USAF
squadrons to their war bases in his command area. The reinforcement so far had been most impressive, but one of the consequences was that there were now some very juicy airfield targets on offer. and he made a mental note to have another talk about dispersal with the Commander of
USAF
Third Air Force after the briefing. The transition to a war footing had really gone very smoothly, and with all the air movement that had taken place he was particularly pleased with the way the complicated airspace management task (the identification and separation of aircraft) was being conducted. He reflected on how different things might have been if the improved
UKADGE
had not come on line much as intended. The greatly increased capacity to track and identify aircraft was going to be worth its weight in gold once the President authorized the reinforcement air bridge to start operating at full throttle, as he must surely do very soon now if
SACEUR
was to get his troop reinforcements in time.

A continuous stream of heavy transport aircraft at the rate of one every two to four minutes, day after night after day, was what was called for to pump in the manpower to the Central Region in order to steady the inevitable recoil of the forward defences when the massive armoured thrust of the Soviet forces hit them. Even though many transports would fly over his air defence region without landing, their identification, safe control, separation and intergration with the UK-based movements, including the reinforcement shuttle traffic to and from the Continent, would tax his control resources to the utmost. On top of that, of course, there had to be scope for immediate reaction to hostile air activity, which had to be expected in his vast airspace once the war began and, perhaps, way out over the sea even before that.

The situation brief continued. Tornados of the Northern Interception Alert Force from Leuchars had been launched during the night in reaction to a high, fast-flying, radar plot. This was probably a reconnaissance MG-25 Foxbal, since it had turned away northeast and passed out of scan at an estimated 20,000 metres and two and a half times the speed of sound before the Tornados abandoned the chase and returned to base. Most of the ground-based radar sensors had experienced some sporadic
ECM
interference at the extremities of their cover but the
AEW
patrols had managed to maintain a clear low-level picture in their operating areas.

Overall his command looked in reasonable shape. All UK-based units had completed their formal alert measures and were now husbanding their aircraft except for essential air tests. Civil flying had virtually ceased now that the emergency repatriation flights for summer tourists were out of the way, and the national airline resources were being incorporated as a transport reserve. Liaison officers at the reception bases for the
USAF
augmentation forces were very busy briefing new arrivals. The C-in-C was confident that the joint operating procedures hammered out over recent years between the two air forces would stand up to wartime pressures. The influx of men and women from the support units and reserves to their war appointments was now virtually complete. After his call to Third Air Force Sir John handed over to his deputy commander and left to visit some of his nearer bases to get a feeling for the situation at first hand. After all, the intelligence staffs still thought the signs pointed to another ten days or so of this sort of waiting game.

As his helicopter approached Wattisham, he noted with satisfaction the effectiveness of the toning down and natural camouflage measures which had been pursued for some seven or eight years now. You could not really hide the runway, of course, but it was not at all easy to distinguish the airfield from three or four kilometres away unless you knew the area very well. The di&persal and decoy system would also make it very much more difficult for an attacking pilot seeking to destroy aircraft on the ground.

“If only they were not tied to those damned runways,” he said to himself. Being a good airman the inflexibility and vulnerability that went with long runway airfields had always affronted his professional conscience.

Talking to the Tornado crews in their hardened operations room he was, as always, exhilarated by their professional competence and dedication. This squadron had less than a year’s experience with the Tornado but they were clearly delighted with it.

“The radar is absolutely superb, sir.” one enthusiastic crew member told him. “We can track them right down in the weeds if we have to.”

Talking to the Squadron Commander, Hazel was reassured by the thoroughness with which the training programme had been conducted; co-operation with tankers and with
AEW
was obviously first class, and full advantage had been taken of the Tornado’s electronic navigation and weapons system to develop methods for concerted, and if need be autonomous, interception techniques between groups of fighters.

Flying on to Bentwaters, he had a talk with the
USAF
Base Commander who was grappling with the problems of absorbing some fifty F-15s that had just landed from the States. Overcrowding was his problem; the prestocking of spares and munitions seemed all right, and he was deploying the aircraft to pre-planned dispersal airfields as rapidly as he could. One thing was certain: he was not going to get caught with his birds on the ground if the balloon went up.

“They’ll be up there,” he said, “fighting—and shooting the hell out of the Russians.”

Dropping in at Stanmore on the way back. Sir John talked at length with
AOC
No. 11 Group, his Air Defence Commander, and they reviewed the state of preparation together. They did not expect heavy losses in the air; after all, they had superb aircraft, and there was no reason why they should lose many in combat against intruding attackers. Losses on the ground were another matter. But the AOC’s real concern lay in the limits of his human resources.

“We can’t know,” he said, “whether this is going to be short and decisive or drawn out by reluctance to go nuclear. My chief worry is that in’any action beyond a week or two my air and ground crew will be stretched beyond the limits of exhaustion.”

This was not news to the C-in-C; he shared his AOC’s reservations, but there was little that could be done about it. Together they looked into the Command bunker which would serve as first alternative operations centre, with all the information available to the Command and Croup operations centres duplicated there. This would be a vital facility if battle damage put out the main centres at any time—which was something that a resolute enemy was bound to try to do.

It was a thoughtful and reflective Air Marshal who flew the remaining few kilometres back to his headquarters that afternoon. Much had been done to gear up defences since the penny had dropped with the Western governments. The crucial question was whether there had been time to do enough. On the answer to that question might well depend not only the continued existence of an independent United Kingdom but the survival of Western democracy.

Five days later, as we know, the Soviet offensive opened in the Central Region. Sir John Hazel did not take much waking in the early hours of 4 August. He was not greatly surprised to learn that heavy Soviet pressure was already being exerted along the whole length of the Central Region. He knew that many of his strike-attack forces would be committed immediately to interdiction and counter-air operations, for which they were ready, in an effort to slow down the momentum of the Soviet advance. He also knew that such of his aircraft as were assigned to
SACLANT
would be required for a pre-emptive attack on the main Soviet Backfire base in the Kola Peninsula up in the Arctic Circle. This would be carried out by Tornados and Buccaneers from the UK, supported by tanker aircraft for refuelling during the mission.

Hazel thoroughly approved of this objective. Maritime air defence philosophy had long been a lively subject for debate between differing schools of thought, but he saw this attack on the source of the threat as entirely consistent with his own strongly held view that the best form of maritime air defence was to prevent as many of the enemy aircraft as possible from reaching the sea area where the targets were. In the
EASTLANT
area this meant an emphasis on a barrier defence across the routes that geography forced on the Soviet long-range bombers. This philosophy, which was not shared by all, did not rule out air defence forces being dedicated to the needs of a specific surface group, but resources were sparse and point defence was an extravagant way of using aircraft. He certainly would need strong arguments before he would divert significant effort from the more cost-effective tactic of hitting the enemy at or near his point of origin.

In less than an hour the radar plot started to show intruders approaching the UK A’lr Defence Region from the far north. In the next few days the defences were to be very hard pressed indeed as wave after wave of attacks were launched against the UK mainland. The pattern suggested that the Soviet long-range and naval air forces hoped to achieve four main objectives: the neutralization of the air defences; the elimination of nuclear-capable forces on the ground; the disruption of command and control; and the impeding of the transatlantic flow of reinforcements by sea and by air.