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Brown, Dale - Independent 02

HAMMERHEADS

DALE BROWN

Hammerhead
insignia copyright © 1990 by Dale Brown, Inc.

V-22
Osprey Joint Service Aircraft diagram, pp. xii-xiii, courtesy of Bell-Boeing.

All
rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any
form. Published in the
United States of America
by Donald I. Fine, Inc. and in
Canada
by General Publishing Company Limited.

Library
of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brown, Dale, 1956-

Hammerheads
/ by Dale Brown, p. cm.

ISBN
1-55611-170-3
I.
Title.

PS3552.R68543H3
1989

813'.54—dc20
89-46026 CIP

Manufactured
in the
United States of America
10 9 8 7 6

Designed
by Irving Perkins Associates

This
novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either
the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or
publisher.

To
Jean—

yes, you deserve it

and

to
Mayme—

you ’re the greatest!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Hammerheads
was conceived in December of
1988 in a quaint old restaurant in
London
,
England
, during a relaxing dinner with Jonathan
Lloyd, managing director of Grafton Books, and my agents George and Olga
Wieser. It was they who planted the idea in my mind to investigate the world of
drug trafficking and drug interdiction, an area I previously knew little about,
and it is to them that I wish to thank first of all for their ideas,
suggestions, and encouragement.

I
would like to thank the following individuals, agencies, and companies for
their invaluable assistance in the making of
Hammerheads:

United
States Customs Service: To Joe Krokos, Ralph Muser and Ed Perez, for arranging
a very enlightening visit to all the south Florida operations; Lt. Cmdr. Jim
Wade and Gene Wilcox at C-3 and C-3-I radar centers in Miami; to all the agents
of the Blue Thunder Marine Division for a thrilling ride in their big
interceptors; to Inspectors Frank Mullin, Mike Norwood, and Michael Holloway of
the Contraband Enforcement Team, who showed me the “down and dirty” (and
“saucy!”) side of drug interdiction; and to Senior Inspector Roger Garland,
pilot Dave Sherrey, and the other professionals of the Miami Air Branch, for
their hospitality during my visit to the nation’s best drug air interdiction
unit.

United
States Coast Guard: A very special thanks to Lt. Jeff Karo- nis, Chief of
Public Affairs, Seventh Coast Guard District in Miami, for arranging a
spectacular visit to the Coast Guard’s Miami and Ft. Lauderdale operations; to
Capt. Kent Vallantyne, former commander of Coast Guard Air Station Miami, the
world’s busiest search and rescue operation; to Lt. Kevin Rahl and his HU-25C
Falcon crew for a spectacular air patrol; to Lt. Curry, commander of the Coast
Guard patrol boat WPB-1302
Manitou;
and to Lt. Scott Burhoe and the men and women of Coast Guard Station Ft.
Lauderdale, for their time and helpfulness.

To
Terry Arnold and Bob Leder of Bell Helicopter Textron and everyone at the
Bell-Boeing Joint Development Team, Arlington, Texas, for their help in
providing information on the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft;

To
my wife, Jean, for legal research into federal agency reorganization
regulations and for her valuable advice and help; and to Dennis Hall, for his
help in arranging research trips, gathering information, and for his support;

Thanks
to Air Force Major Ronald D. Fuchs, Deputy Director and Chief of Media
Relations, Western Region, Air Force Office of Public Affairs, for the
information he provided that was invaluable in understanding the border
security responsibilities of the U.S. Air Force;

To
the
U.S.
Naval Institute Military Database, for information on defense data for
nations of the
Caribbean
and
South America
; and to the CompuServe Information Service,
Columbus
,
Ohio
, for information and assistance in a wide array of topics.

Details
on fighter air combat maneuvers in the various chapters provided by Robert L.
Shaw’s
Fighter Combat, Tactics and
Maneuvering
(Naval Institute Press, 1987).

Text
from a news briefing by Dick Cheney, U.S. Secretary of Defense, at the
Pentagon,
18 September 1989
:

“There
can be no doubt that international trafficking in drugs is a national security
problem for the
United States
. Therefore, detecting and countering the
production and trafficking of illegal drugs is a high-priority, national
security mission of the Department of Defense.

“We
will work hard to stop the delivery of drugs on their way to the
United States
and at our borders and ports of entry.
Deploying appropriate elements of the armed forces with the primary mission of
cutting off the flow of drugs should help reduce the flow of drugs into the
country over time. At the very least, it will immediately complicate the
challenge of getting illegal drugs into
America
and increase the cost and risk of drug
smuggling.

“.
. . The Department of Defense will be the lead agency in performing the
interdiction mission.”

(from
“Defense 89,” official publication of the U.S. Department of Defense, American
Forces Information Service, Alexandria, VA, November-December 1989)

Aircraft Characteristics

Spread
_________________
_________

Length
....................................... 57' 4"

Width
.......................................... 84' 7"

Height.........................................
22'.
7"

Folded
_____________________ ____

Length
....................................... 62' 7"

Width
.......................................... 18' 5"

Height.........................................
18' 1"

Take-Off
Weights
__________________

VTOL/STOL
.......................... 55,000 lb.

Self
Deploy STOL ................ 60,500 lb.

Fuel
Capacity........................ 2015 gal.

V-22 Osprey Joint Service Aircraft

MISSIONS

U.S.
Marine Corps — MV-22

Vertical
Assault Transport of troops, equipment and supplies from amphibious assault
ships and land bases.

U.S.
Navy — HV-22

Strike
Rescue, delivery and retrieval of special warfare teams, and logistics
transportation in support of the fleet.

U.S.
Air Force — CV-22

Long
Range
special operations missions, insertion and
extraction of U.S. Army special forces teams and equipment at mission radii in
excess of 500NM.

U.S.
Army — MV-22

Aeromedical
evacuation, special operations, long range combat logistics support, combat air
assault and low intensity conflict support.

DESCRIPTION
____________________________________________________

—Two
38 foot rotor systems

—Powered
by two Allison T406-AD-400 engines — 6150 SHP each —Operates as a helicopter
when taking off and landing vertically —Nacelles rotate 90 degrees forward once
airborne, converting the aircraft into a turboprop airplane —Speeds from hover
to 300 knots

—Transmission
interconnect shaft in case of an engine failure

—Folds
for stowage aboard ship

—70%
composite construction

—Crashworthy
troop and crew seats

—Two
10,000 lb. external cargo hooks

—Rescue
hoist

—Cargo
winch and pulley system for internal cargo loads —Aft loading ramp

—Capable
of all weather, day/night, low-level, nap-of-the-earth flight

—Continuous
operation in moderate icing

—Inflight
refueling

—Ballistic
tolerant

-Self-deployable
world-wide