Drone Command Read online

  ALSO BY MIKE MADEN

  Blue Warrior

  Drone

  G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

  Publishers Since 1838

  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  375 Hudson Street

  New York, New York 10014

  Copyright © 2015 by Mike Maden

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Maden, Mike.

  Drone command / Mike Maden.

  p. cm.

  ISBN 978-0-698-19071-9

  I. Title.

  PS3613.A284327D77 2015 2015017116

  813'.6—dc23

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Version_1

  For all the brave sons, mine most of all

  CONTENTS

  Also by Mike Maden

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Character List

  Abbreviations and Acronyms

  Author’s Note

  Epigraph

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FORTY

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

  CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

  CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

  CHAPTER SEVENTY

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN

  Acknowledgments

  CHARACTER LIST

  JAPAN

  SANJI HARA

  Vice Admiral, JMSDF

  DR. NITOBE IKEDA

  Director, NEDO

  HIROSHI ITO

  Prime Minister of Japan

  KOBAYASHI

  Yakuza boss

  HIROSHI ONIZUKA

  Captain of the submarine Sword Dragon

  OSHIRO

  Yakuza underboss

  KATSU TANAKA

  Parliamentary Senior Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, LDP member of the House of Representatives (Nagasaki Prefecture)

  PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

  GENERAL CHEN ZULIN

  Vice Chairman, Central Military Commission

  ADMIRAL DENG ZILONG

  Fleet Commander, PLAN South Sea Fleet

  FENG YONGBO

  Vice Chairman, Central Military Commission

  FENG JIANLI

  Son of Feng Yongbo

  ADMIRAL JI DONGSHENG

  Fleet Commander, PLAN East Sea Fleet

  HUANG YONG

  Minister of State Security

  PANG BO

  Ambassador to Japan

  SUN QUAN

  General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People’s Republic of China, Chairman of the Central Military Commission

  DR. WENG LITONG

  Head, GAD Expert Working Group (robotic weapon systems)

  UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  DR. T. J. ASHLEY

  Pearce Systems associate

  HENRY DAVIS

  Ambassador to Japan

  DR. WILLIAM (WILL) ELLIOTT

  National Security Research Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Ex-CIA, friend of Troy’s dad

  JIM GARZA

  National Security Advisor

  STELLA KANG

  Pearce Systems associate

  DAVID LANE

  President of the United States

  IAN MCTAVISH

  Pearce Systems associate

  MARGARET MYERS

  Former President of the United States

  GENERAL GORDON ONSTOT

  Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

  TROY PEARCE

 
CEO, Pearce Systems

  MIKE PIA

  Director of National Intelligence

  BREN SHAFER

  Secretary of Defense

  GABY WHEELER

  Secretary of State

  DR. KENJI YAMADA

  University of Hawaii faculty, Pearce Systems associate

  OTHER NOTABLES

  AUGUST MANN

  Pearce Systems director of nuclear facility deconstruction (Germany)

  DR. LINH PHAM

  VAST drone researcher (Vietnam)

  TAMAR STERN

  Former Pearce Systems security associate, Mossad agent (Israel)

  ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

  4GW

  Fourth-generation Warfare

  A2AD

  Anti-Access/Area Denial

  AAV

  Autonomous Aerial Vehicle

  ACTUV

  Antisubmarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel

  ADPS

  Automated Dynamic Positioning System

  ASAT

  Antisatellite

  ASV

  Autonomous Surface Vehicle

  ASW

  Antisubmarine Warfare

  AUV

  Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

  AWACS

  Airborne Warning and Control System

  CAP

  Combat Air Patrol

  CIC

  Combat Information Center

  CMC

  Central Military Commission

  DARPA

  Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

  DNI

  Director of National Intelligence

  EMP

  Electromagnetic Pulse

  FIC

  First Island Chain

  GAD

  General Armament Department (A PRC/PLA version of DARPA)

  GWOT

  Global War on Terrorism

  HGV

  Hypersonic Glide Vehicle

  HPM

  High-powered Microwave

  HUMINT

  Human Intelligence (spies)

  ICBM

  Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

  JPALS

  Joint Precision Approach and Landing System

  LDP

  Liberal Democratic Party of Japan

  LRAD

  Long-range Acoustic Device

  MAD

  Mutual Assured Destruction

  MIRV

  Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle

  MOD

  Minister of Defense (Japan)

  MSS

  Ministry of State Security (PRC)

  NEDO

  New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization

  NKP

  New Komeito Party (Japan)

  SAC

  Second Artillery Corps (PRC)

  SLBM

  Sub-Launched Ballistic Missile

  STEM

  Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

  TAD

  Threat Assessment Display

  TEPCO

  Tokyo Electric Power Company

  TNF

  Technical Nuclear Forensics

  TTO

  Tactical Technology Office (DARPA, USA)

  UCAV

  Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle

  UCLASS

  Unmanned Carrier-launched Surveillance and Strike Vehicle

  UFP

  Upward Falling Payload

  USV

  Unmanned Surface Vehicle

  UUV

  Unmanned Underwater Vehicle

  VAST

  Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology

  VPA

  Vietnam People’s Army

  VTC

  Video Teleconference

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  While many of the drone and related systems described in this novel are currently deployed, others are based on patent filings, prototypes, and research proposals. In some cases I modified or simplified their performance characteristics for the sake of the story. However, I’m confident that some variants of what I’ve imagined could soon be a reality.

  Being unconquerable lies with yourself;

  being conquerable lies with your enemy.

  —SUN TZU, The Art of War

  ONE

  SIX MILES DUE WEST OF THE SENKAKU/DIAOYU ISLANDS

  EAST CHINA SEA

  1 MAY 2017

  The bloodred flag with the five golden stars snapped in the crisp morning breeze. The national flag of the People’s Republic of China was one of three held high by the naval honor guard, along with the flags of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the East Sea Fleet commander, Admiral Ji Dongsheng.

  Two hundred Chinese PLAN officers and sailors stood at rigid attention on the fantail of the seventy-five-hundred-ton guided-missile destroyer Kunming, its ASW helicopter stowed away in the hangar for the occasion. The ship’s skilled helmsman fought to stay in place as the vessel rose and fell in the long swells.

  Admiral Ji’s commanding voice cut through the buffeting wind. The handpicked crew stood proudly before him at rigid attention in their starched white uniforms and broad Soviet-style caps. The admiral’s thick neck, powerful jaw, and broad nose had earned him the nickname Bulldog behind his muscular back. A shrouded object stood just behind him.

  “A thousand years ago our ancestors crossed the oceans of the world. We are not becoming a new navy, as the Westerners believe; we are the world’s oldest and greatest navy, reclaiming our lost heritage, reclaiming our lost territories, reclaiming the vast resources of our waters from the thieving hands that stole it. We are the guardians of the blue soil of our homeland and will defend it with our blood and our honor.

  “Today is a great day. Today we lay claim to that which was always rightfully ours. Someday you will tell your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren that you were here this day, on this ship beneath our
glorious flag, taking another step in the long march toward our rightful destiny, our rightful place under heaven.”

  The admiral paused for effect, surveying the proud young faces before him. He twisted around and whipped off the linen shroud behind him. An engraved white-marble stele gleamed in the bright sun, thick and rectangular like a giant headstone. Admiral Ji nodded to four muscled sailors. They marched forward in lockstep and lifted the heavy stone off the fantail and heaved it into the rolling blue water in a geysering splash.

  The admiral shouted out the words from the national anthem, “Arise! All who refuse to be slaves! Let our flesh and blood become our new Great Wall!”

  The officers and crew shouted and cheered as they pushed forward to the end of the fantail, but the marble stele had already sunk beneath the waves.

  Ji’s weathered eyes caught a speck of gray in the faultless blue sky far above. A drone.

  He smiled.

  And so it begins.

  TWO

  ON BOARD THE JAPANESE SUBMARINE KENRYU (“SWORD DRAGON”)

  EAST CHINA SEA

  1 MAY 2017

  I can even see the admiral’s gleaming brass buttons.”

  Commander Hiroshi Onizuka had his eyes glued to the crystal-clear HD flat-panel display. A Sandia Multimodal Volant drone fed its images directly into his control console. Pearce Systems had just developed the integrated drone and sensor system, and installed it on the Sword Dragon for testing. Onizuka preferred his beloved periscope, but he was impressed with the expanded capabilities of the new electro-optical sensors in the retrofitted photonics mast married to the far-ranging surveillance drone. “But that’s not what worries me.”