Since the burning of the White House by neighboring forces and British forces in 1814, the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., has never experienced war.
Its advantageous geographical location allowed the Federation to reap the benefits of both world wars.
However, everything has its pros and cons. Although the Federation had joined forces with the rest of the world in establishing the North American Air Defense Perimeter in the 1950s, the disintegration of the Red Empire and the replacement of long-range bombers with intercontinental missiles as the delivery weapon for nuclear bombs have steadily diminished the importance of the so-called North American Air Defense Perimeter.
After 9/11, the Federation refocused its attention on the management of aircraft, particularly foreign aircraft, but the reality remains relatively static.
After all, this is a country rife with private airports, with countless aircraft flying daily in various airspaces, making management extremely challenging.
Furthermore, the Federation military has always relied on air support, neglecting ground-based mid- and low-altitude defense. A shoulder-mounted Stinger serves as a single-person air defense missile, while a vehicle-mounted one functions as a dual-quadruple-launch "Avenger" air defense missile system.
As for the renowned Patriot medium- and long-range surface-to-air defense system, while deployed around Washington, D.C., it was clearly powerless against the low-flying gunship.
Jack hadn't yet figured out what force had the resources to acquire a retired AC130U, but that was beside the point.
Regardless of which "White House Down" episode had slipped in, the enemy was clearly targeting the White House. The priority was rescuing Zoe.
The reason it was confirmed to be a retired AC130U "Ghost" and not the latest AC130J (Ghost Rider) was that the newly deployed AC130J had replaced its 25mm and 40mm cannons with a single 30mm cannon.
The gunship had already completed a small counterclockwise circle, its altitude having increased from its previous entry of less than 500 meters, thus extending its range.
Two Avenger missile launchers had been raised from the roof of the White House, but they hadn't opened fire. It was unclear what the problem was. Judging by the gunship's air force livery, it was likely that the IFF system had prevented the launchers from locking onto the target.
Just over five minutes had passed since the gunship appeared over Washington, D.C., but the entire city was already in chaos.
While the capital city lacks the glitz and glamour of New York City, it attracts a constant stream of tourists year-round, with over 25 million visitors annually, making it one of the most visited cities in Europe and America.
As Jack, piloting the Mammoth, and guided by Kate, navigated the traffic around Constitution Avenue, near Constitution Park, the devastating scene before him was almost unbearable.
Constitution Park, home to the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool, sits adjacent to the Potomac River and is a must-see for every visitor to D.C.
A row of parked tour buses and several SAR police cars were swept from head to toe. The 25mm and 40mm cannons, capable of easily piercing light armor, reduced nearly all of them to flaming scrap.
While most tourists trembled in fear within the park, a bus that had just parked, before anyone had time to disembark, suffered a catastrophic loss.
The sight of limbs flying everywhere was horrific. Some tried to rescue the wounded, who wailed in the flames, while others stood by the roadside, bloodied and bewildered.
Compared to the dead, these people were undoubtedly fortunate, for the blood on their bodies was hardly their own.
No carbon-based organism could survive a direct hit from a large-caliber machine gun. Even if a shell landed nearby, the resulting shrapnel and flames would be enough to kill anyone nearby.
A 12.7mm heavy machine gun round hitting the torso could create a wound the size of a bowl at the point of exit, and repeated hits could easily rip a person in two. As for 25mm and even 40mm shells, their targets were never meant for the fragile human body.
Jack forced his gaze away, trying not to dwell too much on the utterly tragic scene before him. He had more important things to do.
In 1899, Congress passed the Washington, D.C. Building Height Limit Act, which capped buildings in the District of Columbia at 160 feet, or 49 meters. Therefore, the tallest building in the District was the 169-meter Washington Monument on the National Mall.
The low-rise buildings provided the gunship with an excellent field of view. As it tilted its fuselage again, two tongues of fire swept relentlessly across the oval lawn south of the White House, leaving a series of craters that stretched all the way to the rooftop.
Several Secret Service sniper teams, who had just arrived at their positions on the rooftop according to emergency procedures, were instantly reduced to a bloody haze, and an Avenger anti-aircraft missile system was also destroyed.
Only then did the person controlling the control system seem to have finally found a way to manually bypass the friend-or-foe identification. Before the flames reached the second Avenger launcher, white smoke rose into the air, and four Stinger missiles swooped down on the approaching gunship.
The next second, the second anti-aircraft missile launcher was also destroyed. Everyone who noticed this, including Jack, who was watching on the car screen, followed the four plumes of white smoke to the enemy in the sky.
However, almost immediately after the missiles were launched, a barrage of heat-trapping decoys mixed with aluminum foil splattered from the gunship's sides and tail, creating a long wall of flames resembling angel wings.
Almost all four Stingers were misled by the decoys, crashing into the flames and detonating their explosive warheads. The closest one exploded almost directly against the aircraft's tail, but the fragments only inflicted a few insignificant holes in the skin.
The AC130, a converted transport aircraft, may not be as survivable as the tougher A-10 Warthog, but it's not something a single Stinger blast at close range could easily destroy.
By then, Jack had already turned the corner and reached 17th Street, west of the national park, but he had to slam on the brakes.
A couple of hundred meters ahead and to the right was the White House, but even with its bulletproof steel plating, the Mammoth couldn't withstand a single round from a 25mm cannon.
The M242 Bushmaster cannon of the same caliber was used to cripple T-90 tanks on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield.
The AC-130, having dodged a barrage of anti-aircraft missiles, had already circled the White House for most of the way, heading directly in Jack's direction. Its tilted fuselage was slowly leveling and climbing again.
"What the hell are the Air Force for?" Jack cursed inwardly, though he knew he was somewhat misjudging the Air Force.
(End of Chapter)