Chapter One - part five

   The weapons were only one of the issues that caused concern for the surrounding nations. Turkey wasn't thrilled with having aircraft inside the borders that were all but invisible to them once airborne. The Turkish military had people working with the American military on some of the best radar and defense systems in the world. They had seen how difficult it was to track an F/A-48 even when it wasn't trying to evade them. If the planes were to actually decide to hide it was almost impossible to keep a lock on the exact location of the plane. They could be tracked, but it was very difficult to do even when you knew where to look and what to look for. The idea of a plane that stealthy and packed with weapons only dreamed of before was frightening, even for the nations allied with them. Many of those nations suddenly wanted to know a lot more about the true capabilities of the F/A-48. That was causing lots of issues both abroad and at home. The biggest issue seemed to be a total disruption within the government of Turkey itself.

   There were three distinct parties currently in power within the government. The one actually in control, though barely, was very pro-western in all of its actions. They wanted and indeed needed the United States to remain involved and be a strong supporter for them. That was the main thing that was holding them in power. The problem was the other two factions had enough power to cause major problems with relative ease if they had a reason. This time they both felt the F/A-48 was a valid reason to cause problems. The stronger of the two lesser parties normally walked a middle ground. They were not as supportive to the west as the ruling party, but they didn't want to go as far towards total Muslim law as the smallest group did. That smallest group wanted to become a nation ruled by Muslim law. They wanted all western influence gone and especially all the American and U.N. forces gone. They wanted them all out of the country once and for all.

  Every week things seemed to be growing worse, until finally a special election was called. That election proved to be the beginning of some major problems inside Turkey. The first two rotations of pilots had come and gone by then, though the length before the first rotation had been extended out to three months. They had also made a decision to not rotate out the other group of pilots that was stationed in Saudi Arabia. They were going to remain on duty the full length of the deployment.  James hadn't gotten a chance to see Sarah for three months, but when his rotation came up he had gone to join her for the month he was off. He had been shocked at how restricted she was, but he had been pleased to see how well received the F/A-48's had been too. The Saudi's seemed to be delighted to have the planes based in their nation. They had opposition within the nation, but the absolute rule of the Saudi King made it very dangerous for anyone actually inside the nation to openly voice that opposition. The King wanted and needed the strength of the American military within his borders to maintain his absolute power.  In fact he had made it known that he would welcome all of the new jets America wanted to base inside his borders.

   James was happy to spend most of his first leave confined on the base with Sarah. They had a place of their own. It was small, but that was fine with them. Sarah was getting more time in the air than James was. Since she didn't get to rotate off she was flying every two to three days. Most of the flying was confined to shipping lane patrols, but she occasionally had to fly longer missions. Those were called force missions. Those took her on a wide sweep of the entire area. They were normally done in groups of four to six planes, but a pair might go alone. The sole purpose was to show everyone in the area that the United States Air Force was present and ready. Those missions often became very tense. The nations they were trying to impress didn't like them at all. Who would like having six jets flying just outside their border that they couldn't track? During the entire flight the pilots were talking on open radio at key points. The sole purpose was to show those nations that we had the ability to strike without warning. Iraq and Iran had both been pushing things recently, but they weren't so eager now. More than once they had pressed the borders in their jets only to suddenly have F/A-48's join them without any warning.

   Tensions had been increasing in the area for years. The arrival of these new jets had shaken everything up once more. The power had been nearly even before, but suddenly it had shifted. The United States had shown itself to be far more dangerous than it had been only a short time before. The United States Navy had been and still was the supreme navy in the world. However the navy had limitations and carriers were much more vulnerable than they had once been. The Air Force had been very close to being matched by the combined forces in the area. No one nation could have stood against the United States, but several united would have been a close match to what America had available in the area. That had changed. The F/A-48 was a force they couldn't come close to matching. They were still untested in actual battles, but they had made an impression just by being there. Now the question was how long it would be before someone did test them in battle.