by Vivek Ahuja
“Another Flanker dominated unit,” Bhosale added and then thought about that…
They will keep adding these forces to replace their losses for now. But they only have so many airbases in the region. Each such fighter unit must therefore be committed piecemeal.
Perhaps the advantage lay there?
If so, that gives us the day today to pull off whatever we have planned before this vicious cycle starts off again…
“All right. What about the Pakistanis?” Bhosale asked as he pulled himself out of his thoughts. The Group-Captain walked back towards the wall map of Kashmir.
“Well, they had four of their F-16s deployed throughout the time our boys were locking horns with the Chinese Su-27 drivers. They still have at least two of their birds up in the air at any given time.”
And there was not a damn thing we can do about it unless we start taking out their airbases in the Skardu sector...
Bhosale thought as he leaned back in his chair, and then corrected himself:
Well, maybe we might just do that too, if it comes down to that!
The IAF had been forced to temporarily postpone their planned takedown of the Chinese S-300 defensive belt around Aksai Chin when the Chinese aircraft had hit the skies around Leh and gotten embroiled in a vicious dogfight with the No. 28 Squadron Mig-29s and No. 17 Squadron Su-30s. It was as complicated a battle situation as the IAF had faced in its entire history. But far worse battles were to come.
There was every indication that the Chinese might try again just as soon as they replaced the decimated Su-27/J-11 units with fresh ones from central China. But for now Bhosale realized that they had pushed the PLAAF temporarily out of the skies over Ladakh…
And that left the skies clear for Indian missions designed to take down enemy air-defenses on the ground via SEAD missions
For all the Chinese losses in the past twenty four hours, there was no denying the fact that their S-300 systems were achieving a very critical objective: keeping the IAF away from hindering the hundreds of convoys moving from Sinkiang into Tibet and from the Aksai Chin towards the LAC. And piecemeal attacks against the Chinese defenses were not working. They had clearly deployed backup equipment to replace losses. As a result of all this, three Squadrons of Jaguar strike fighters were being forced fly close-air-support sorties for now until this threat was removed.
Bhosale put his hands behind his head and leaned further into his leather chair, lost in thought.
The Chinese commander who set this up is no fool. I am clearly dealing with a smart son of a bitch here! But smart or not, we have to find a way to dismantle that integrated air-defense system in the Aksai Chin and start taking on enemy armor…
How?
EAST OF DAULAT BEG OLDI
LADAKH
DAY 2 + 0730 HRS
“Six kilometers and closing!”
A soldier with an IMFS shouted over his comms to the field HQ. Adesara heart the radio chatter inside the bunker while he pored over the maps on the wall.
His infantry battalions were already deployed north of the citadel and aligned north-south. Colonel Sudarshan was in command of friendly armor forces and had moved the available T-72M tank platoon further north. The tanks were in hull-down positions in open terrain that gave their turrets a wide field of view while presenting the least possible target area for the enemy gunners. Topside hatches were closed and the tank crews had identified targets on their optics.
Adesara looked around to see his men hunkered down and their INSAS battle-rifles aimed east with each soldier looking down the weapon’s optics, waiting to engage enemy soldiers dismounting from the ZBDs at long-range. He then looked behind him to see the airstrip still being pummeled into dust by Chinese artillery.
They don’t leave anything unfinished, do they?
Adesara was quietly worried about the upcoming fight. But for the Chinese field gunners battering away at his positions, he had a special welcome that was already being executed.
“Five kilometers...” the same soldier’s voice came through on the radio. Adesara thought it sounded more strained than before. He could understand that. There were very few things in the world as scary as seeing a line of tanks heading straight for you when all you have is a rifle. It took training and courage to keep calm in these situations. But in that, he knew he had the finest soldiers around. They would not break under the increasing strain. Perhaps not even after the tanks had rolled over their positions?
Adesara was watching the UAV feed on the battlefield computers in his command center. The views had changed from infrared to visual by now. He could see the very slowly advancing T-99 tanks with their rotating turrets.
The Chinese gunners were looking for targets too...
Adesara grabbed his binoculars and stepped outside the bunker as the gravel was still raining all around. He looked to the Major in charge of his anti-tank teams and nodded. The latter turned to his men:
“Milan crews forward!”
SASER
SOUTH OF DAULAT BEG OLDI
LADAKH
DAY 2 + 0745 HRS
South of the airstrip at DBO, a group of three truck-mounted radars remained camouflaged under snow-white netting. The radars were modern and did not require physical movement. Their beams were moved electronically. So there was no motion from that location as the phased-array radars quietly stared into the skies east and beyond the LAC, tracking the incoming artillery shells as they flew on their projectile paths towards the airstrip and other defensive positions around DBO.
In the command vehicle, a Major and his group of NCOs punched in the target information data into their systems and then digitally transmitted them up the Indian Army’s Artillery Combat Command and Control System or ACCCS, also known by the name “Shakti”. This system received inputs from all such sensors including ground based weapon-locating-radars or WLRs, remotely piloted vehicles and even satellites to paint a picture of potential targets to be hit and destroyed by artillery assets. These latter could include anything from a battery of guns to a high-tech MLRS vehicle or even a tactical cruise-missile or ballistic-missile regiment, depending on the situation.
Out here, near the airstrip, that information got distributed over to the battery of Smerch launchers deployed further down the valley near Saser…
The launch barrels elevated on to a high zenith launch angle and the correct azimuth before stabilizing and locked into position. Two minutes later the early morning sunlight was snubbed out by the salvo launch of heavy MLRS rockets in quick successions. The rockets raced into the sky, leaving behind a lingering dust cloud.
East of the LAC, the Chinese field gunners had little warning.
The morning sunlight transformed into a shadow after a series of small thuds. Chinese soldiers working on their guns jerked their heads upward to see a cloud of small blacks specks scattered across the gray skies. The incoming cluster munitions slammed into their targets split seconds later…
As the fireballs exploding on the airstrip at DBO stopped abruptly in the seconds after the strike, the Indian artillery counter-response had just begun. All along the Ladakh front, battery after battery of Chinese field guns and short-range rocket-launchers were snubbed out by long-range Smerch MLRS systems in those first few hours of the second day.
But the battle for Ladakh had just begun.
EAST OF DAULAT BEG OLDI
LADAKH
DAY 2 + 0800 HRS
The Milan anti-tank guided-missile crews heard small thuds of their own as their anti-tank missiles leaped out of their canisters and streaked eastwards. Opposite the missiles was a wall of Chinese vehicles slowly trampling over the gravel as they headed westwards to the airstrip. The line of sixteen T-99s was interspersed with a dozen ZBD infantry-fighting-vehicles. Behind that line was the second line of vehicles with the same vehicle types but inversed composition. The idea behind that was that the first wave was expecting to take on Indian amour and the second wave would mop up the infantry.
A third wave was spread out into platoon sized formations.
The Indian anti-tank teams were aiming for the tanks. And as far as they were concerned, this wave was as good as dead. Adesara and his staff were obviously more concerned knowing as they did the real depth of the enemy force in front of them.
By this time the wave of missiles were streaking towards the tanks...
The Chinese T-99 tank crews saw, analyzed and reacted to the threat heading towards them as they had been trained to do. The first armor line instantly disappeared behind a manmade mist.
The entire formation then executed a textbook spread maneuver and increased the distances between their ranks. The line was now spread out and still detonating aerosol mixtures around themselves to shield from the missile-gunner’s optics. They were almost within main-gun range of the Indian positions…
The Indian gunners had precious seconds to retarget their missiles. Most of them managed to stick to their original targets, while others had to fix on to another vehicle or a nearby ZBD. The eight Milan missiles slashed into the Chinese lines a split second later.
Adesara looked with delight as five T-99s went up in fireballs amidst the advancing tank line. The burning hulks staggered to a stop before being gripped by secondary explosions as their internal fuel and ammo lit up. Three ZBDs were also now nothing more than furiously burning chasses.
By now both sides were within range of their main-guns and in an ear shattering burst of fire the remaining eleven T-99s and four Indian T-72Ms in hull down positions opened up with sabot rounds.
That first exchange killed another three T-99s, one ZBD and one T-72M. Three Milan missile teams were killed as they attempted a second launch attempt from their trenches. On both sides the remaining crews reloaded within seconds before a second burst of gunfire sounded out while the infantry on both sides were left feeling vulnerable and impotent in the deadly fusillade.
Adesara watched another two T-99s and another T-72M go up under a fireball before he picked up the radio and called up Colonel Sudarshan and his BMP force to the southeast. The Chinese first line of armor, or what was left of it, was now closing to two kilometers and was well within the Indian side of the LAC…
The twelve BMPs comprising three platoons under Colonel Sudarshan had splashed across the semi-frozen waters of the Chip-Chap River through a shallow fjord and had raced off to the southeast leading a dust cloud raised by their tracks. The specialist anti-tank platoon of four modified BMPs had silently peeled off inside that large dust cloud. Sudarshan was racing his BMP-IIs further southeast than where his anti-tank platoon had peeled off so that as far as the Chinese UAVs overhead were concerned, he was slicing across the Chinese advance from the south as a right hook maneuver.
In reality the entire move was a farce designed to draw the Chinese to the wrong conclusions.
And while the auto-cannons of his eight BMP-IIs were effective and were savaging the Chinese recon troops immediately at the border, making no attempt to mask their envelopment, the real claw of the pincer was already heading for the Chinese left flank.
But the Chinese were also reacting to this threat. The third line independent platoons of the armor advance were already being diverted to the south by the Chinese brigade commander to face Sudarshan’s BMP-IIs head on. Unfortunately, they bypassed the real threat to their main force on their right flank...
The four vehicles of Sudarshan’s anti-tank platoon now staggered to a stop as their crews watched the lead tanks of the Chinese first wave hammering the Indian positions and moving east to west in front of them. They were watching the Chinese from the south. In the chaos of the dust clouds and vast maneuvering forces all around them, these four vehicles operating in single units had failed to attract attention.
Now the four vehicles deployed their weapons and the rectangular launch canisters for the Nag anti-tank missiles slewed into position. By this time the surviving elements of the Chinese first line were moving directly towards Adesara’s lines, oblivious of the threat on their left flank…
A few seconds later the first four Nag missiles slapped out into the thin mountain air and streaked upwards before initiating the dive into the target area. A second later another Nag streaked out, and each NAMICA vehicle went into a salvo-fire mode with fire-and-forget missiles. The fire-and-forget capability of the Nag missile was a force-multiplier in these kinds of situations, and it was the trump card in Sudarshan’s deck.
By the time the missile launches were detected by the crews of the Chinese vehicles at the southern edge of their line, it was far too late. Situational awareness cannot be lost on the modern battlefield because they ultimately decide the fate of battles.
The Chinese lost situational awareness.
And it cost them their advancing armor columns.
Adesara and his men were jerked back from their view when the majority of the surviving Chinese first line vehicles suddenly disappeared in a series of fireballs and staggered to a halt. The thunder of the explosions rippled through the Indian positions. As large licks of flame leapt for the fray skies above, the single remaining T-99 tank crew and several ZBDs deployed smoke and began to traverse backwards. The survivors of the two decimated columns of armor began reorienting themselves to engage the perpetrators of that vicious strike, but the fast retreating NAMICA vehicles were throwing smoke of their own as they buggered out of the area...
That was the cue.
Adesara grabbed the radio again and ordered his remaining Brigade units to pull to the second defensive line to the west while the Chinese vehicles were busy maneuvering around the burning hulks of their column. He noticed however that of all four of his T-72Ms lay within their hull down positions, spewing smoke and flames from their open top hatches. There had been no survivors amongst those four tanks.
He realized that his force was beating the Chinese back, but was also getting mauled in the process.
We cannot keep taking these losses without reinforcements...
Adesara climbed out from his trench and walked westwards towards the second defensive line as his soldiers grabbed their equipment and began doing the same. They were now moving close to the airstrip perimeter.
Adesara realized that if critical reinforcements and air-support did not arrive soon, Indian control of DBO and the Karakoram pass could be lost.
KASHGAR AIRBASE
SINKIANG AUTONOMOUS REGION
CHINA
DAY 2 + 0900 HRS
The airbase was alive with the thunder of jets arriving and departing into the clear blue morning skies. The smell of aviation fuel was in the air and men were running about…
As they should. There is a war on!
Feng stood calmly in his winter uniform overcoat on the tarmac in front of the main terminal building as the cold winds swept the base. Despite the morning sun, it was freezing cold out here. He kept moving his gloved fingers to maintain circulation. His gold braided shoulder-boards of a Senior-Colonel glistened in the sunlight. In terms of rank, Feng was the Chinese equivalent of a Brigadier-General of the air-force. And he enjoyed the power that came with it. He had more say in the way things were done and there were now lesser people above him who had the authority to overrule. If he played his cards correctly in this war, he might very well be in line for many higher ranks in his future. And he knew it.
But the war. Yes. It was not going well at the moment out here.
His current commander, Major-General Zhigao had bungled his tasks. An incompetent man Feng could deal with. But an incompetent senior officer unaware of his incompetence was deadly for the pilots Feng saw around him. And that was why he found himself standing on the tarmac this cold winter morning…
As the Tu-154M rolled on to the main tarmac and came to a stop at the signal from the ground controllers, Feng took a deep breath. The aircraft’s engines began spooling down and the engine noise started winding down as well. An honor guard of soldiers ran over in formation and took position near the base of the stai
rcase that was being moved into position. A small square piece of red carpet was also laid out at the base of the staircase. Just as the doors opened, the honor guard snapped to attention with their rifles.
Colonel-General Wencang and Lieutenant-General Chen walked down the stairs as they talked amongst themselves. Wencang put on his gloves and returned the salute from the honor-guard Captain before walking towards Feng and the parked military utility vehicles that would take them to the base operations center.
Feng walked over and saluted the two senior Generals approaching him. The salutes were returned and Chen put out his hand to Feng, who took it.
“Welcome to Kashgar, sir,” Feng was interrupted by the roar of two Su-27s that thundered overhead, maintaining security over the base while the Deputy-Commander of the PLAAF and the unified-MRAF commander were on the ground below.
“Indeed, Feng! Shall we?” Wencang said politely and Feng took the cue. He pointed the Generals to the waiting vehicles and climbed in behind them.
“We have problems,” Feng said as the vehicles moved out.
“More like you have a problem that did you in.” Wencang grunted.
Feng did not reply to that. It was not his place to do so. Wencang continued:
“You need not say it, Senior-Colonel. I have not flown a thousand kilometers for nothing. This is important. Our entire air war in Ladakh depends on good leadership and aggression backed with intellect. The days of the people’s army marching on slogans and blind aggression are over. We need thinking men in thinking positions to fight a digitized war. I am here to take care of your problem. Then I want you and Chen to take care of mine: the Indian air-forces in Ladakh.”