 Meanwhile, Colonel General Boris Lazar is tasked to lead an invasion force to seize Mrima Hill by travelling overland through Iran, also under the guise of military exercise, and covertly sail to Djibouti where they will be free to advance into Kenya before the US can mount a response.General Sabaneyev and Colonel Borbikov are confident that the operation will succeed, but General Lazar is disturbed by Borbikov's contingency plan to destroy the rare-earth mine with nuclear-tipped artillery shells if they fail to capture it.Tensions spike in the Pacific when the destroyer USS Stethem sinks an attacking Chinese submarine in the international waters near Taiwan.