[烛光生存狂]-PUKUL HABIS

Prologue

THE EVE OF WAR

GONG KEDAK AIR BASE, MALAYSIA Fighter pilots from 12 Skuadron Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM, Royal Malaysian Air Force) called their reconnaissance missions to Singapore the "flights to nowhere".At midnight, precisely 24 hours before Malaysia and Singapore went to war, 12Skuadron launched a Sukhoi Su-30MKM Super Flanker, callsign Jengking 04, from Gong Kedak Air Base for one such mission.

The Russian-made fighter soared into the inky black sky after a deafening takeoff run. Cones of blue-orange flames from the jet exhausts of the twin-engine fighter pierced the night. A thunderous roar rattled zinc-roofed kampungs and shook the farmland for miles around as Jengking 04, the squadron's final flight to nowhere, began its solo mission. The Sukhoi climbed to 10,000 feet at 400 knots from its base on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, its nose pointed southwest towards Kuala Lumpur,the capital of the Federation of Malaysia. The fighter would fly its 1,000-kilometre round trip at a slow, easy pace when it could hit more than twice the speed of sound and fly three times that distance.

Fast, capable and headed towards Singapore unannounced, Cik Su (Miss Su), which was the nickname Malaysians gave the Sukhoi fighter jet, was on the fifth night recon flight launched by the squadron in the past two weeks - a pace that Markas Angkatan Tentera Malaysia stepped up during the period of tension with neighbouring Singapore.Kapten Sulaiman Taufiq Abdul Bakar, a 31-year-old BAE Systems Hawk 208 fighter pilot who recently transferred to the squadron, piloted the Sukhoi from the front seat with Leftenan Kolonel Jarod Jonep, Pegawai Staf (Gerak) (operations officer) at 12Skuadron, in the back as the Weapon Systems Officer or whizzo.

Their target was the Republic of Singapore, a small city-state some 500 kilometres away at the southernmost tip of the Asian continent. With just 40 hours on the Su-30,Sulaiman was a squadron newbie. The 42-year-old whizzo from Sabah was more seasoned, with more than 420 hours on the Su-30MKM. Jarod was an exemplary mentor who gave the nugget his fullest attention. Cik Su was unarmed and travelled light. Her only external stores were wingtip pods for electronic intelligence gathering.Sukhois outfitted in this configuration were nicknamed the Growlerski.

Flying over Malaysian territory in peacetime inside an air corridor monitored by military and civilian ATC, Jengking 04 had several nearby Malaysian airports which the Su-30 could use in an emergency. The night recon flights were safe, routine and undemanding. There were no medals to be won. But pilots from 12 Skuadron enjoyed such missions as it was an easy way to clock flying hours.

Danger came from the risk of collisions with airliners from numerous red eye flights bound for Australia, Europe, North Asia or the Americas in the congested airways above Malaysia, their strobes twinkling silently in the distance like so many fireflies. A vigilant crew and excellent visibility from the cockpit lessened this danger.

When Jengking 04 reached Kuala Lumpur, Sulaiman banked the fighter south to follow waypoints on an electronic map. The Su-30 was on course and right on schedule. The fighter traced the Malacca Strait and aime for the tip of the vase-shaped peninsula where the slender landform ended with the island of Singapore like a dot at the end of an exclamation mark.

Jengking 04 maintained strict radio silence though her crew tuned in to the business-like chatter between airliners and air traffic controllers. Cik Su had her strobes and wingtip lights switched on in accordance with peacetime safety regulations. There was no need for stealth as allowing the Singaporeans to see the approaching Su-30 was all part of the game. Singapore was not told beforehand of this flight. There was no need to. This was a Malaysian military flight operating within sovereign airspace. The Su-30 needed less than 30 minutes to reach Singapore from Kuala Lumpur. So her crew stayed alert. The goal was to probe Singapore's defences, not trigger the Singapore Armed Forces into all-out retaliation.

Malaysia's "flights to nowhere" tested how Singapore might react to unidentified aircraft that approached the city-state. All were launched without prior notification,giving tiny Singapore mere minutes to react.

Puzzlingly, previous sorties drew no apparent reaction from the Singaporeans although SAF ground-based air defence radars must have detected the inbound flights.

Jengking 04 experienced the same lack of response that night.

Now came Jarod's favourite part of the routine flight when he could enjoy the night view of Peninsular Malaysia from the Sukhoi's roomy cockpit. Much of the flying was done straight and level with no complicated manoeuvres. And with no need to monitor the threat warning receivers during the peacetime mission, Jarod had time to marvel at the splendid view around the Sukhoi. A blanket of stars crowned the black sky above the streamlined cockpit canopy. Looking beyond the rim of the cockpit, the night glow from the dazzling light show beneath the cruising fighter never failed to fascinate Jarod.There was little need for navigational aids as the Sukhoi pilots knew their way across the peninsula. And the best guide came from brightly lit landmarks. City lights from Kuala Lumpur and big towns like Malacca, Muar and Johor Bahru sparkled like prominent beacons, while traffic along the federation's major expressways stretched like golden veins across the dark landscape, tracing the shape of the peninsula as the Su-30 closed in on Singapore.

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