Although stealth aircraft usually did not require a terrain-following system, Luger was sure this system was not developed for Tuman simply because the pilots would not trust it, and that definitely seemed to be the case now. "Listen, Comrades," Luger said in pidgin Russian over inter-phone, "flying around at eight hundred meters with the autopilot on is crazy for any strike aircraft unless you're in the vicinity of significant antiaircraft artillery units that can get a lucky shot off at you. Take it down and let 'er unwind, all right?"

"Our mission is to test the weapons-delivery systems," the pilot replied testily, "not test our enemy-avoidance techniques. Besides, what do we have to fear from antiaircraft defenses?

No radar can see us; and the Americans do not have significant air-defense weapons anyway.

"You don't train for the best-case situation, you train for the worst."

"Are you suggesting we break the weapon-delivery parameters, Doctor Ozerov?"

"You can re-establish the weapon-release parameters immediately before delivery," Luger replied. "All other times you should be avoiding the enemy. Don't give him an opportunity to see you.

"The enemy cannot see us," the crew engineer said. "Machulishche Airport, south of Minsk, is only ninety kilometers away, and the detection-energy threshold is almost too low to be measured. That is the most powerful radar in the western Commonwealth. We do not need to descend and expose ourselves to ground hazards."

No use arguing with these guys, Luger thought. He checked his chart and the navigation displays on the right side of the cockpit and saw they still had almost one hundred kilometers to go until they reached the first missile-launch point. At only six hundred kilometers per hour, it would take another ten minutes to reach the IP. The assigned flight corridor, surveyed to avoid major towns and industrial areas, was twenty kilometers wide, which left them a lot of room to maneuver. "Push the airspeed up to seven hundred kph,"

Luger said, "and let's try some steep turns."

"That is not in the test-flight itinerary."

"No, but this is the twentieth test flight, the tenth low-level flight, and the fourth with weapons aboard," Luger snapped, not mentioning that it was also his sixth flight and by far the most boring, "and we've done nothing but fly straight and level. Let's crank this baby up."

To the three Russian crew members, Ozerov had a peculiar and annoying habit of lapsing into English when excited. Words like "crank" and unwind," although they knew each word's meaning, did not make sense a lot of times. They often wondered about Ozerov's use of jargon, but they had the good sense not to ask-Ozerov was very close to the chief of security, General Gabovich. They also had the good sense not to deviate from the set program. Still .

Perhaps Ozerov might get himself kicked off the program if he broke the rules. That would certainly make everyone's life more bearable.