by Vivek Ahuja
OVER DEMCHOK IN SOUTHERN LADAKH
DAY 2 + 2144 HRS
The long convoy of Chinese trucks and several armored vehicles were rolling steadily on the road towards the battlefields further west. This sector, once bogged in desperate firefights between the PLA and the Tibetan rebels over the last year, had seen a vast influx of PLA units that had crushed the Tibetan resistance. Now these forces were angling to bring their firepower to bear on the Indian XV Corps units fighting them tooth and nail for Ladakh.
Three crucial mountain passes in the region at Chang, Jara and Charding to the north, east and south of Demchok had all been under Chinese control since 1962. They provided a south-to-north approach that could allow them to roll up the Indian defenses at Rezang-La and then Chushul up north.
As such, the side that controlled these regions could affect the outcome of the ground war in southern Ladakh. For the Indians, this meant capturing these passes or preventing the Chinese from using them.
The PLA convoy was moving in total darkness with all headlights switched off and only the moonlight above guiding the way forward on the road. Over the rumble and vibrations of so many truck and armor vehicle engines, the fast approaching noise of incoming jets behind them at low altitude went unnoticed until the aircraft were literally overhead…
The first flashes of light erupted when a dozen supply trucks disappeared into a large orange-yellow napalm fireball. A single Jaguar aircraft streaked overhead. The secondary explosions rocked the mountains as ammunition supplies exploded amongst many of the vehicles. The convoy immediately stopped as PLA soldiers abandoned their vehicles and ran, leaving the engines still running as more aircraft noises filled the skies.
The second Jaguar streaked above the ridges from the north and approached the line of five Type-99 tanks parked on the road. The tank-crews were already jumping out of the vehicles. The Jaguar streaked overhead and released two cluster-bomb-units over the five tanks. In two seconds the munitions struck the top armor plating of the tanks and the ground nearby.
Explosions rocked the valley and a dust cloud enveloped the smoke columns. By the time the dust settled, all that remained were five pillars of fire from what had been brand new Type-99 series tanks.
The last two Jaguars were now rolling into attack as the first two aircraft raced skywards and banked away. By this time the PLA anti-air guns had overcome the suddenness of the attack and started filling the skies with lines of tracers and exploding shells.
The night sky was no longer serene and it was getting dangerous for the Indian pilots. Disregarding the danger, the third Jaguar pilot lit up another twenty odd trucks with sequential dropping of his napalm bombs before banking away with blazing afterburners. In his wake followed a line of exploding anti-air artillery shells, but did not touch the aircraft.
The fourth pilot determined the location of the anti-aircraft guns from the base of the lines of tracers racing into the sky and flew over two such positions. He released cluster-munitions over both targets. The cloud of sparks and shrapnel ripped through the exposed gunners and their equipment, abruptly silencing the stream of tracer fire from both locations.
By now the first two Jaguars were on their second approach into the sector with empty pylons but with full gun ammo. Licks of flame erupted through five more trucks as the large cannon shells punched through their cargo and engine compartments. At this range, the cannon rounds punched large holes even on the dirt and gravel of the road and sent dust clouds rising around the five burning trucks…
Two whitish smoke trails left the ground behind the banking Jaguars and followed into the streams of flares and chaff released by both aircraft. The Chinese had recovered and were now engaging the Indian aircraft with more dangerous weaponry than unguided anti-air gunfire. The shoulder-launched anti-air missiles could be deadly.
The surprise element was now no more.
So it was time to leave. There was no second pass for the last two Jaguars and the entire formation of four left Tibetan airspace west of Demchok.
On the ground east of the Jara pass, they left behind dozens of smoke pillars reaching into the night sky as fires raged on the supply road. The message sent out by the PLA General commanding the Division in that sector to the PLAAF headquarters in Kashgar was not pleasant in its tone or content.
But it did trigger a different kind of response.
KASHGAR AIRBASE
SINKIANG AUTONOMOUS REGION
CHINA
DAY 2 + 2155 HRS
Feng abruptly stood up from his chair when he finished reading the message. Chen looked up in surprise.
“What happened?” Chen asked.
“Indian aircraft have destroyed a PLA convoy in southern Ladakh and escaped without loss!”
“Without loss?! Who’s the fool in charge of air-defense in southern Ladakh?” Chen growled angrily as Feng handed the message to him.
“He says he shot down three of the Indian bombers, but I will believe it when I see the wreckage. The PLA Division commander there has been saying entirely the opposite and blaming us for not protecting his troops with adequate air cover. He says his losses are severe. Hundreds dead and wounded. Several dozen vehicles destroyed,” Feng replied.
“That fool in charge of that sector will answer for this! I will have him shot! Have him arrested and replaced with someone more competent from your own staff. We cannot afford these kinds of attacks on our logistical arteries, Feng!” Chen said as he glanced through the report.
But Feng was putting a different picture together in his head…
“Sir, there’s another issue here. We don’t know how many of the Jaguars were involved in the attack,” Feng said. Chen looked up from the paper in his hands.
“And how is that possible?”
“Confusion and chaos during the attack. Plus it’s nighttime. The soldiers on the ground running for their lives did not sit around gathering an accurate estimate. One eyewitness says four, another says six and other says a dozen. We are left to take our pick!” Feng said as he pulled the map on the table to his corner just as Chen walked over to his side.
“So? Does that matter? Surely the entire Indian force must have been involved in the attack?” Chen asked.
“Maybe. Maybe not. We had a report earlier that an entire squadron worth of Indian Jaguars was detected entering Tibetan airspace minutes before the attack on the convoy. The numbers that attacked the convoy at Jara were not the total force even if we could the exaggerated count!” Feng replied. “And we know already that Indian electronic-warfare aircraft are attempting to jam our radars in the Aksai Chin!”
“A diversionary attack!” Chen noted.
“The Indians are going after our S-300 defenses!” Feng said and urgently walked over to the nearby phone and pressed the speaker.
“This is Senior-Colonel Feng! Scramble all fighters immediately and get all those already in the air to the Aksai Chin! Tell them to look out for low-altitude Indian strike aircraft approaching the sector from the southeast. And sound the alarm on all ground defenses! We are under attack!”
OVER SOUTHWESTERN TIBET
DAY 2 + 2200 HRS
Parekh looked through the HUD as they crossed another ridgeline and dived down to low altitudes beyond it. His eleven other pilots did the same. The Jaguar was somewhat sluggish at the controls given the heavy load of weapons and the low density air at such altitudes. The return trip would be much smoother, Parekh admitted to himself.
If we make it back, that is!
“Firefly-One, this is Eagle-Eye-One. Proceed to primary. Out!”
He smiled as he processed the meaning behind that piece of news: his four pilots had struck the convoy and made it back safely. He switched radio frequencies:
“Firefly-One to all Firefly elements. Proceed to primary. Look sharp boys! Here we go!”
He pushed the throttle-control all the way forward until it clicked into reheat. As their leader accelerated ahead into the night sky, the ot
her Tuskers pilots punched in their own afterburners and followed him in.
OVER CENTRAL LADAKH
DAY 2 + 2205 HRS
The sixteen Su-30s were now in a line abreast formation parallel to the orientation of the Aksai Chin S-300 defensive belt. They were going to try something a second time now. The last such attempt the day before had given mixed results. This one would prove more decisive.
Hopefully.
On cue from Verma on board the Phalcon, the Su-30 pilots punched off the Brahmos missile they carried on their centerline pylons. The missiles fell off cleanly into the cold night sky. Three tons of steel and explosive now accelerated as the ramjet engines thundered to life. The missile accelerated beyond the launch aircraft, losing altitude until it was barely above the ridges near the Galwan River in central Ladakh and then kept heading east beyond. All sixteen missiles entered Chinese airspace streaking towards the deployed Big-Bird radars…
The Indian Su-30 pilots executed a pitch-out maneuver and raced back to the west. The Phalcon operations crew noted on their screens the clean release of all sixteen missiles that had now gone supersonic…
NORTH OF LANAK-LA
AKSAI CHIN
DAY 2 + 2210 HRS
The ground shook as the first 48N6E2 missile punched out of its vertical launch canister and raced into the night sky atop a pillar of smoke and flame, quickly arcing west. PLA soldiers on the ground strained their necks to see the fast moving missile as it disappeared within the stars above. That first launch was followed by another from a second battery further north. Then the first battery emptied another canister followed by second launch from the second battery.
And then a third missile raced for the sky.
The Chinese S-300 battery commanders were ripple-launching their long-range air-defense missiles…
They were prepared for what was coming. A game of numbers. Sixteen Indian missiles were streaking in at three times the speed of sound. Four of the seven S-300 batteries in the Aksai Chin were engaging these incoming targets. In under a minute the missile canisters became empty and the launch smoke dissipated away into the cold winds of the Aksai Chin.
Now both sides waited and watched as the radar intercepts merged.
OVER THE AKSAI CHIN
DAY 2 + 2214 HRS
The leading Brahmos missile shattered to pieces as it was hit by two of the intercepting Chinese missiles. With a much larger number of intercepting missiles, the Chinese battery commanders weren’t taking any chances.
Intercepting the Brahmos was always a dicey question. Even so, three more Brahmos missiles were knocked out in quick explosions just moments from their targets.
Unfortunately for the Indian side, once again they were falling short as their missiles fought through a swarm of intercepting Chinese missiles. Operating at the extreme range of their operational radius, there was little hope of the Brahmos doing any elaborate maneuvers before impact. The intercepting missiles on the other hand, operating a short distance downrange of the launch point, couldn’t care less for range. They were executing drastic maneuvers as their foes attempted to use speed to escape from under them.
Many of the Chinese missiles lost out as a result of this. There was no time to respond given the high speeds of the Brahmos missiles. And by the time some 48N6E2 missiles dived in, their targets were already behind them. Out of the sixteen Brahmos missiles, ten finally made it through to their targets. Across the Aksai Chin, Chinese battery crews braced for impact on their radars and the ensuing loss of signal.
But it didn’t happen.
The missile vectors changed as the ten Brahmos missiles flew past all active radars and instead dived into the launchers of the rearmost S-300 battery whose job it was to cover the other batteries when they were in their reload mode during intensive operations.
The ground shook as the first of ten Brahmos missiles slammed into one of the six S-300 launchers. The resulting fireball lit up the horizon for the Chinese convoys moving nearby. The ground reverberated again as the other five launchers were also blown to smithereens with their ready-to-fire missiles still in the canisters. The one active radar for that battery was also destroyed when the shredded vehicle was thrown up dozens of feet into the air. It fell on the rocks of Ladakh in several pieces a few moments later. The shockwaves rippled out from the battery location and spread for hundreds of yards in all directions behind a wall of gravel carried by it…
In the five minutes it took from the launch of the Brahmos missiles by the Su-30s to the burning debris of the launchers scattering into the rocks of the Aksai Chin, a window of opportunity had opened up. There were now no S-300s with loaded missiles ready to fire until they were reloaded. Back on board the Phalcon, Verma sent out the word.
They now had precious few minutes before this window of opportunity closed again…
OVER THE AKSAI CHIN
DAY 2 + 2222 HRS
“Eagle-Eye-One to Firefly elements! Weapons-free! Take them out!”
“Roger! Firefly rolling in!”
Parekh’s eyes never left the heads-up-display. They were moving just a few hundred feet above the rocks and gravel of the plains below. All of this had been planned beforehand. But all the planning in the world could not make this a safe flight even if the Chinese decided to stand by and do nothing.
Which they wouldn’t!
The twelve Jaguars were operating in groups of four. Now they began spreading out and going after individual targets.
Parekh finally showed some emotion as the aircraft cleared the last set of ridges and entered what was essentially a vast flat terrain. He could make out the long snake-like convoy of trucks moving along the Chinese highway that cut through here.
Each one of those trucks was loaded with PLA men and supplies…
The sight in front of the Tuskers pilots was one that all Jaguar squadron pilots in the IAF wished for. But their current targets were not those vulnerable convoys but rather the small speck of vehicles spread out on the plains around the highway: the S-300 batteries.
The active launchers with vertical canisters could be made out from above by their L-shaped silhouettes against the moonlit, rocky terrain. Parekh was relieved to see that none of the vehicles were L-shaped. As planned, Almost all were reloading. But one launcher was elevating its canisters…
Parekh flipped his control-stick and dived in.
The sky was filling up with tracers and exploding shells from the point-defense anti-air guns all around the plains. Most of this stuff was manually operated. But there were radar-directed guns in there as well. And those could prove deadly. The ARC crew on board the Gulfstream-III near the LAC was playing hell with the Buk gun-radars in electronic space. All the elements of this plan were falling in place.
Parekh smiled ruthlessly behind his oxygen mask.
The Chinese S-300 crews on the ground realized the futile nature of their effort when they saw the tracer fire rising into the night sky to the south. That could only mean one thing and they knew what it was. It was only a matter of seconds after which they spotted the Indian strike aircraft streaking towards them at murderously low altitude.
The operators dropped their headphones, slammed open the vehicle hatches and ran for their lives in all directions away from their vehicles…
The rain of cluster munitions deployed a few hundred feet above their heads made sure neither they nor their vehicles survived. The mass of small sparks flying off over a circular carpet area announced the end of the first S-300 battery launchers. As Parekh banked to the side to make another pass, he already had to look for new targets because by this time the other Jaguars had also struck.
Four of the six launchers of the battery he had struck were now on fire. Two others remained. And then there were the radar trucks and other auxiliary equipment scattered nearby. The return fire from the Chinese side was also getting heavy. Parekh could distinctly hear the thuds of exploding shells near his aircraft and the whitish trails of the heat-seek
ing missiles racing across the sky. Most of the latter were being fired by panicked and surprised Chinese crews on the ground and were failing to find targets. But professionals like Parekh knew that such luck would not last forever.
For now however, the missiles were flying off into the mass of flares and chaff being dumped by the Jaguar crews after every few seconds...
As Parekh steadied his aircraft after locating the launcher he was after, his aircraft received several hits from shrapnel and shuddered under the impact. The port wing was completely shredded with several holes visible as he again steadied his aircraft. He still continued with his bomb run and only discovered the sluggish control response from the aircraft as he pulled away from a mass of fires on the ground behind him.
“Damn it! Up you come you beast!”
He pulled on the control-stick to no avail. Because of the heavily damaged control surfaces, most of which had been shredded, the aircraft barely avoided flying into the ridge he was trying to hide behind. But he wasn’t the only one in trouble…
Parekh looked away from the HUD and spotted a fast moving white streak moved across the night sky and slammed into another Jaguar with a thunderclap. That aircraft slammed into the ground below in quick seconds.
His own aircraft received more jolts now as several more rounds slammed into his starboard engine from below. This time a whole host of warning lights began flashing in his cockpit. The starboard engine flamed out a few seconds later.
There was no hope of making it back now.
“JC, you hear me back there?” he called back to his WSO. No response.
“Damn it, JC, are you receiving me? If you can hear me, eject now!”
Verma strained his neck to see the shattered glass of the cockpit behind him and what he could make out as blood splattered against it.