by Vivek Ahuja
“Type?”
Verma mentally absorbed the details from the screen. The operator shifted the interface screen to initiate inbound track. A second later the computer ran over the flight profile parameters with a known intelligence database before displaying the result on a corner of the screen.
“Possible J-10 variant. Designating inbound contact November-two-four. Track initiated,” the operator was already moving through the protocols but Verma remained lost in his own analysis.
“Might be a close formation two-ship flight. The reds don’t usually fly single aircraft patrols.”
“Could be, sir. Difficult to tell at this point. The contact is trying to keep within the peaks as best as he can. Once he gets closer we can differentiate the radar signature,” the operator did not look away from his monitor screens.
“Point of origin?”
“Bearing suggests dust-off from Kashgar, but we show no J-10 deployments that far west.”
“Until now that is. This is called real-time intelligence. CINC-WAC needs to know that his commie threat level just went up a notch,” Verma noted dryly. “Anyway, where is this bugger going?”
“The current flight path takes him to the south.”
“How close is he going to get to our airspace with the current heading?” Verma continued as he watched that inverted ‘V’ on the screen heading downwards.
“Around sixty to seventy kilometers east of the LAC on the way to Shipki Pass to the south. Doesn’t look like he is planning to approach anything important.”
“Doesn’t matter. That’s close enough,” Verma said and walked away from the console and to the airborne controller:
“Who’s up today?”
“Three Mig-29s at Leh ORP.”
“Good. Get them in the air and direct them towards November-two-four. Keep them on radar standby and over our airspace. Weapons release on hold. We don’t want any accidents. Do it.” Verma ordered.
LEH AIRBASE
INDIA
MAY 15, 1915 HRS
The sun had gone down some time back, and now only the western edge of the sky was a shade of dark red. Bright stars had begun to appear on the eastern skies. On the ground, activity was frantic at the southern end of the airbase as sounds of turbines spooling up filled the air. Inside the well-lit Hardened-Aircraft-Shelters or HAS, three Mig-29 pilots were strapping into their seats as the ground crewmen armed the weapons and conducted final visual checks. A minute later the first Mig-29 taxied out of the shelter into the darkness outside. This was not war, and so the runway perimeter lights were still on, as were the anti-collision strobe-lights of the aircraft as they moved out one behind the other towards the end of the runway. A minute later the thunder of afterburners reverberated in the surrounding hills as the first of the three air-defense fighters streaked down the end of the runway and lifted into the air...
HILLS OVERLOOKING THE VILLAGE OF SHIQUANHE
SOUTHWESTERN TIBET
MAY 15, 1930 HRS
The path down the hillside was not easy. The loose gravel and shifting rocks meant that one small mistake and one could end up sliding down the side and smashing into the rocks below. But there was no choice at the moment. Gephel and the other soldiers of his team were moving down the northern side of the slope and attempting to reach the next line of hills parallel to the one they were on. On the southern side of this hill the battle between the remaining Tibetan rebels and the PLA was in full flow, with the Chinese now hammering the hillside and the outskirts with artillery. In essence, the two PLA battalions in Shiquanhe were fighting on both the eastern and western outskirts of the village while controlling the central northeast-southwest road that ran through it. But it was not as serious a tactical problem as it might seem.
The reason for this is that Tibetan plateau is relatively flat. Unlike the steep gradients along the Greater Himalayas on the southern edge of this plateau, most urban and rural areas of Tibet are accessible from numerous directions. In the case of Shiquanhe, another road ran down from the direction of the Aksai Chin to the northwest. Gephel and his team had been positioned to the north of the village with both these roads on either side of them, having descended towards the village from the north. But now with two PLA convoys inbound towards the village from both these roads, the only escape route was back north again. Doing so was not going to be easy. The ground was barren and exposed. If detected crossing these open terrains, the intruders ran the risk of annihilation.
At the base of the next line of hills, Gephel looked left and right to see his men taking cover behind some boulders. With their heavy backpacks strapped on and their rifles at shoulder level, they scanned the open terrain in front of them. The sky above was lit with stars, but there was no moonlight. The top of the hill the team had been on before was now silhouetted against the continuous flashes of manmade light from a mixture of flares and explosions. The headlights of the dozen odd vehicles driving down the road from the northwest were also visible, thanks to the good line of sight from their elevated positions.
“Troop trucks,” Ngawang reported as he handed the binoculars to Gephel.
“They will be swarming these peaks by afternoon tomorrow. I doubt they will do anything beyond securing the village tonight,” Gephel replied. A few seconds later he handed back the binoculars:
“We have till daybreak to get under cover.”
“What about our contacts?” Ngawang asked.
“They are probably dead. Those who aren’t will be taken away. Either way, there’s nothing for us here. Let’s move out,”
“Yes sir,” Ngawang adjusted the night-vision optics attachment to his helmet before lowering it in front of his eyes. The rest of the team had done the same. Gephel was the last one to do it as he gave a final look to the flashing lights silhouetting the southern peaks behind them. Thirty seconds later he picked up his AK-47 rifle and moved out as Ngawang began leading the group across the cold, dark plains.
THE SKIES ABOVE SOUTHWESTERN TIBET
MAY 15, 1935 HRS
One of the components missing during the 1959 rebellion in Tibet was the extensive use of Chinese airpower. While there were transport aircraft in use at the time and while some bombing missions were done, it did not constitute a determined use of airpower offensively. Of course, at the time, the Chinese airpower was very restricted to begin with. This time around, however, the PLAAF was out in force in support of the PLA in Tibet. J-10s based at Shigatse and Lhasa were already assisting the local PLA forces with precision airstrikes against rebel held positions, when required. To the west, Kashgar and Hotien airbases were busy with J-10s and J-8IIs in this role and in northern Tibet, Golmud, Urumqi and Korla provided the required offensive air power to local PLA commanders.
Such heavy use of air-power was not going unnoticed by Indian Air Force commanders. The Chinese were patrolling aggressively in all sectors. The problem from their end was that it was proving extremely difficult to locate small groups of rebels moving around within the hills. And despite using unmanned drones to help in the task, many flights of strike aircraft simply could not locate their targets once they arrived on scene. When these locations were close to the Indian border, the situation became more complicated. In several cases the Chinese had dropped bombs against fleeing refugees and rebels heading south towards the Indian border. In two instances, overzealous Chinese pilots had dropped bombs inside Indian Territory! It was not sure whether these pilots were under instructions from PLAAF command to deliberately do so or whether they had mistakenly strayed into Indian airspace while attempting to locate and prosecute their targets. Either way, New-Delhi had lodged strong protests with Beijing on the matter over the last few months, but to no avail: the PLAAF continued their aggressive patrols and bombing missions close to the border.
This could not be allowed. Once New-Delhi had given up the diplomatic appeals, the IAF had deployed in force along the border with deterrence patrols of their own. In the east, the IAF was flying Su-30s
from Tezpur and Su-30s and Mig-21 Bisons from Chabua on deterrence patrols and Defensive-Counter-Air or DCA missions. In the central areas, Su-30s from Bareilly were keeping tabs along the Sikkim and Nepal sectors. To the west, Mig-29s and Mirage-2000s from the Western Air Command were doing patrols from Leh, Srinagar and other airbases in Punjab to ensure aerial presence over Ladakh. The No. 50 AWACS Squadron had deployed detachments to different airbases with its compliment of A-50 Phalcon AWACS aircraft and the handful of newly inducted CABS AEW&C aircraft. One Phalcon was deployed for the Ladakh sector and deployed from Agra airbase. The other two headed east to Kalaikunda for providing airborne coverage in the northeastern states. The CABS aircraft were used to compliment these larger aircraft and were filling in the gaps left out by the Aerostat tethered radar systems deployed there.
To counter the Indian fighter presence, the Chinese had responded by deploying forward elements of the PLAAF 26TH Air Division and its subordinate 76TH Airborne Command and Control Regiment along with its compliment of KJ-2000 and KJ-200 AWACS aircraft. The 26TH Air Division and the 76TH Regiment commanders and their staff had deployed to Korla while detachment of KJ-2000s were deployed further south with an aircraft each at Lhasa, Hotien and some reserve aircraft at Korla. The turboprop powered KJ-200s were lesser capable than their bigger brothers, the KJ-2000s, and were deployed further to the east near Chengdu for filler missions.
The Chinese fighter compliment had been brought up to very respectable strengths by the forward deployment of three Fighter Divisions and one more in strategic reserve. The 6TH Fighter Division deployed to Lanzhou airbase with their J-11s to protect the precious assets of the 26TH Air Division. The 33RD Fighter Division deployed around Lhasa, Shigatse and Golmud airbases and the 44TH Fighter Division deployed Regiments to Urumqi, Hotien and Kashgar airbases. The 19TH Fighter Division was the theater reserve with its J-11 Regiments.
With such massive tit-for-tat deployments in air-power over the last month, the aggression in the skies had increased, mostly as a result of orders from both capitals to display their respective strengths in defending their nation’s airspace. This meant that the margin for compromise was razor-thin now and live weapons were being carried by all fighters from both sides...
In the skies above the sands of the Taklimakan desert, four J-11s from the 33RD Fighter Division punched afterburners and accelerated southwards to take escort position near their J-10s flying out of Kashgar. As the four fighters headed south, another aircraft entered the airspace fifty kilometers behind them. This one activated its onboard radar and sent a wave of radio energy hundreds of kilometers to the south where it was detected by its counterpart beyond the Himalayas.
IAF PHALCON AWACS AIRCRAFT
SKIES OVER WESTERN LADAKH
INDIA
MAY 15, 1948 HRS
“More inbounds! Active airborne radar signatures!” the radar console operator shouted over the intercom. Verma was behind him ten seconds later.
“Sitrep,” he ordered.
“Four inbound fighters in line abreast formation heading south. Active airborne radar aircraft forty to fifty kilometers behind the fighter formation. Computer thinks that we are looking at four Su-27s and a KJ-2000 entering the airspace. I am inclined to agree,” the console operator reported. Verma took a deep breath. No need to get excited unnecessarily. They had dealt with such aggression before.
“Okay. These will be the CAP support for that J-10 we spotted out of Kashgar. And they are bringing AWACS support with them. We see them, and I bet they see us. Now it’s about numbers,” Verma said out loud. A few moments later he was using his intercom to alert the Phalcon pilots up in the cockpit as well as the pilots of the flight of three Su-30s flying alongside as escorts. These fighters moved between the inbound threats and the Phalcon they were charged to protect. The latter was taking evasive maneuvers. All strobe lights were now switched off and combat conditions were initiated on all aircraft. On board the Phalcon, Verma was already in contact with the operations staff at the Western Air Command (WAC) where Air Marshal Bhosale, the commander in chief of WAC (CINC-WAC) was overseeing the deployments of his units against the Chinese should things get ugly.
This was not a new setup by any means. The Chinese had been flying aggressive patrols with their Su-27s in this sector for several days now. But now they had brought in their KJ-2000s to provide airborne radar coverage and real-time airborne command for all their aircraft. The IAF was already doing this so it could not be considered an escalation as such. But such were the stakes in this kind of environment that one misunderstanding could cause the massive coiled springs on either side to come undone on each other.
Misunderstandings could lead to war. Wars based on misunderstandings were always the bloodiest. Yet, actions demanded responses and the cycle continued on its merry way to Hades…
HILLS NORTH OF THE VILLAGE OF SHIQUANHE
SOUTHWESTERN TIBET
MAY 15, 2010 HRS
The slippery snow and rocky terrain were not making things any easier. The next set of hills was as far away as ever, and to their rear the sounds of the gunfire refused to die away. The terrain was cold and they were not. Any thermal imager would pick them up against the background whether it were on an unmanned aerial drone, a manned aircraft, helicopter or even an attached optical sight in front of an enemy soldier’s eyes. Gephel and his team had such imagers mounted on their Integrated Multi-Function Sights or IMFS, which they used to scout out territory from long-range. Fortunately, intelligence data suggested that the PLA units involved in suppressing the Tibetans in this sector were not well equipped. So the chances of them being spotted were remote. Even so, it only took one such device to ruin their night and everybody in the team knew it.
“Inbound chopper!” one of the team members pointed out to the north as a PLA Mi-17 helicopter suddenly popped over the top of the next set of hills against the greenish background of their night-vision optics. It took the others only a couple of seconds to spot the threat before the sounds of the main rotor blades whipping through the thin mountain air reached their ears.
“Oh shit! Everybody: down! Now!” Gephel shouted but noticed just as quickly that all of them had already done so. He took cover behind a clump of rocks and hoped the ragged rocky outline would make them hard to spot.
A few tense seconds passed during which Gephel could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. But it was soon clear that the Mi-17 was not looking for them. And sure enough, it flew past the crouching team members by a leisurely five hundred meters. A minute later it was beyond the peaks the team had been on when they had been overlooking the village. Gephel motioned for the rest to stay where they were for another minute to make sure the threat had dissipated. Fifty seconds later it was clear that the Chinese helicopter was busy dealing with the Tibetans to their south.
“Doesn’t look like they know of our existence,” Ngawang noted for everybody. Gephel shook his head:
“You can thank the Tibetans for that. Looks like they are giving the Chinese, what the Americans call ‘a run for their money’. Okay, let’s move out.”
Ngawang got up from above the rocks and took a few steps before a dark delta winged aircraft swept over their heads and streaked to the south, the sounds of thunder sent the team diving for the rocky ground yet again.
“What the hell was that?” Ngawang shouted as the thunder in their ears subsided. Gephel was already on his back and staring at the southern peaks to see where the aircraft had gone. The hills were dark, but the green sky in his night-vision optics picked up the dark blob in contrast as the aircraft reached for the sky at much slower speeds now: the pilot was positioning to visually acquire his target...
SKIES OVER WESTERN LADAKH
INDIA
MAY 15, 2018 HRS
“November-two-four has initiated attack runs. We have him gaining altitude above grid-reference three-two-bravo slash seven-nine-echo,” the radar console operator read off the numbers from the screen.
Verma was already on the satellite communications link with the operations commander at WAC:
“This is Eagle-Eye-One actual. We show enemy strike package November-two-four initiating attack runs. November-two-five through eight still southbound with AWACS support.”
By this time, Air-Marshal Bhosale was monitoring the air situation personally along with his staff. It was the beginning of a long night for all of them. The giant digital map overlay in the operations center showed everybody exactly what the Phalcon radar was seeing. And it was getting very crowded up there...
“Who do we have up today to greet the reds?” Bhosale asked.
“Three Mig-29s from Leh inbound to greet the single J-10 attacking Shiquanhe in case it gets any closer to the border. Three Su-30 escorts from Eagle-Eye-One flight have assumed BARCAP positions and we have another four Su-30s heading north to assist. Eagle-Eye-One is being pulled south,” Bhosale’s operations chief replied as he read off the details from recent memory.
“Good. Pass the word: I want weapons tight on this one. No mistakes,” Bhosale said and turned his gaze to the real-time updating data on screen. The aircraft were rapidly approaching the border from both sides…
LEH AIRBASE
INDIA
MAY 15, 2018 HRS
Leh airbase had been unusually busy ever since the crisis in Tibet had escalated to the threat of military clashes with China. The Indian Army was surging forward larger number of units into the Ladakh sectors. The IAF was doing its best to ensure a solid logistical node existed for those units at Leh. As such, the number of flights inbound and outbound from Leh was immense. Between the transport flights during the day, the helicopter and UAV operations by the resident units at the airbase and the fighter operations by the Mig-29s of No. 28 Squadron, the traffic pattern over the airbase was almost always filled to capacity these days.