asked.
Ro, I dont,?James said nervously, as he reached out and shook Davee hand. Dleased to meet you, David.?
Call me Dave,?Dave smiled.
James felt like a tit. Who introduced themselves to someone like Dave Moss by saying Pleased to meet you? It was the kind of thing yout say to an old granny at a funeral.
Cavid is highly regarded amongst the mission preparation staff,?John Jones explained, Ind wete looking for two good agents to work alongside him on one of the most important missions CHERUB has ever undertaken.?
James couldnt stop himself from grinning. i knew it was big,?he stuttered. i mean ?Everyone knows Davee reputation. Youte not going to send him on some piddly little mission.?
Houte not done badly yourself, James,?Dave said reassuringly. ite read your personnel file. Youte only been on two missions, but what you lack in quantity you more than make up for in quality.?
Cheers,?James grinned. The compliment made him feel a little more relaxed in the company of the campus hero. To whate this mission about??
Dave looked at John Jones. Can I show him now, boss??
John nodded. i抣l just make it clear to James before you do: whether or not you choose to accept this mission, everything you hear from now on must stay within these walls.?
James nodded. Of course, same as always.?
Dave reached down the arm of the sofa and picked up a fat aluminium tube with a shoulder stock and trigger hanging underneath it.
Co you know what one of these is??
it looks like a missile,?James said.
Lot it in one,?Dave said. Hou rest it on your shoulder and aim it at a tank, helicopter, whatever. You get one shot, then you throw the launch module away. This one is the latest model. The missile has a solid-fuel rocket engine with a ten-kilometre range and more brainpower than a roomful of nerds.?
John went into detail. Iround the time you were born, James, the Americans used Tomahawk cruise missiles in the first Gulf War. Until then, everyone dropped unguided bombs out of aeroplanes five kilometres up in the sky and crossed their fingers. Yout count yourself lucky if one bomb out of twenty hit the spot, and unlucky if you happened to live anywhere near a target. Then the Tomahawk missile came along. Suddenly, you could sit in a control room five hundred kilometres from a war zone and send off a missile accurate enough to smack the target on the nose ninety-nine times out of a hundred. This kind of accuracy gave the Americans a big tactical advantage, but it didnt come cheap: every Tomahawk cost half a million dollars. They were spending two billion dollars on missiles every day the Gulf War lasted and even the Yanks dont have that sort of cash to throw around.?
Dave passed the missile across to James for a look.
To,?John continued, The big challenge for the boffins wasnt to make precision-guided missiles bigger, or to give them longer range, or more accuracy. The challenge was to make them cheap. The weapon youte holding in your hand is the result of fifteen years?development. Its official acronym is PGSLM: Precision Guided Shoulder Launched Missile, but everyone calls it a Buddy missile. Ite built using off-the-shelf components, like those you might find inside computers, or in-car navigation systems. You can program in targeting data using any laptop computer or handheld device capable of running an internet browser, or you can download live data on a moving target such as a car or ship, via a satellite link. Then, all you have to do is move within ten kilometres of your target, either on the ground or from a helicopter. You point the dangerous end at the sky, press the trigger and the missile weaves its merry way to the target.?
James admiringly turned the metal tube over in his hands. To how much does this cost??he asked.
That onee a mock-up,?John said. But the real deal comes in at under fifteen thousand dollars a shot. Of course, the Americans will only sell this kind of technology to their closest allies.?
Tafe,?James said, as he pulled on the trigger and made a ka-pow noise. i抣l start saving up.?
John smiled. Is a matter of fact, James, wete hoping you抣l be able to get your hands on some real ones.?
i thought the Americans were our allies. Wont they sell them to us??
John smiled uneasily. The manufacturers gave the British army thirty-five pre-production samples for field trials. A little under three weeks ago, we sent a Royal Air Force freighter aircraft to