Lungfirst adjusted his position to match the formation even more precisely while he listened to the calls from his new colleagues.  He was not in a great mood.  This formation was far too low altitude for his liking.  In fact, he’d have to climb before he could effectively engage much of anything without being vulnerable.  Still the pilot flying in front of him was both his boss and a living legend and he had given an order.  Lungfirst transmitted his acknowledgments to the other two pilots while he analyzed his combat options.

Lungfirst’s voice was mostly flat as he replied.  “Long-Dive copies.  Thanks for the breathing room.  Looking forward to the specs too.  Out.”

He was distracted by the task of assessing his current tactical options.  So long as he was at such a low altitude he would be a big target for anti-aircraft weapons as well as vulnerable to attack from above.  Also, his targeting cone for missile strikes against ground targets was reduced and he couldn’t use his forward missile launchers so long as he was at the back of the formation.  He would have to climb as soon as any hostile force appeared in order to make full use of his weapons.  Just when he finished his tactical analysis the Iron Jackson radioed his intent to descend and examine a convoy.

He pulled up and began to climb immediately.

With most planes, this action would weaken the formation and deprive them of fighting power.  However, the Long-Dive had AA missile launchers pointed both fore and aft.  As he climbed and accelerated above the formation the targeting cone of his rear launchers expanded to cover the other planes while the upward angle of his nose lifted his under-wing anti-ground missile launchers into a forward firing angle. And his forward launchers lifted to cover the formation’s 12-o-clock high.

His first instinct was to simply target the vehicles with AG missiles and take them out, but he wanted to wait till the group’s leader had achieved his stated objective.  The other three planes were all designed to be able to effectively strafe.  He continued to climb but acquired target locks on four vehicles in the convoy.  He couldn’t be sure that they were carrying something volatile, but if any of them were, then the secondary explosions could take out some of the remaining vehicles.  He waited until the planes that were going to strafe had completed a single run and were clear of the likely blast radius before confirming his targets were still operational and calling the Iron Jackson.  

“Long-Dive, targets locked.  Confirmed live.  Permission to fire?”  His thumb was on the launch switch and he was going to fire the moment he had confirmation from his leader.