by Vivek Ahuja
By comparison, Feng could deploy six cruise-missiles from a single H-6 and not have to divert his J-11 force into the task. The Brahmos ALCM was a very high-speed missile but with low range and endurance compared with true long-range cruise-missiles. Their subsonic Nirbhay missile was intended to fill this role but had not entered service yet, which was fortunate for Feng and the other PLAAF planners. The Nirbhay, when matured, would become the equivalent of the Chinese CJ-10 Long-Sword GLCMs. The Brahmos ALCM on the other hand was a purely tactical SEAD-specific missile and had been used as such by the Indians.
Then there was the availability of the missiles. The Brahmos ALCM was new to the Indian inventory and had been acquired only a year ago. Production rates in India did not compare well with China and so they had only a few missiles on hand when this war had started.
And for all that they had used this small force of missiles effectively, Feng admitted in a moment of candor. The only reason he was where he was now with this air war was because of the effective use of that small arsenal of missiles against his air-defenses. Once those air-defenses had gone down, the same Indian launch aircraft had returned back to their fighter roles. But the important fact was that the Indians were now mostly out of their small ALCM inventory.
Probably…Feng thought.
He really didn’t know for sure whether the Indian inventory had been exhausted or not. But the intelligence estimates seemed to suggest it.
So that meant that the Indians would now be forced to depend on their remaining force on multi-role fighters for strike missions against PLAAF airbases and other infrastructure as well as PLA logistics.
Thanks to the massive offensives undertaken by the PLA along the Indian border, the Indians had been forced to allocate their small force of aircraft for the close-air-support role on the frontlines and for hitting PLA targets inside Tibet.
And in doing so they had encountered losses. Not enough to shut them down, but enough so that Feng could breathe easy and instead concentrate on countering Indian fighters.
But that no longer applied now that the ground offensives had lost momentum on both sides.
The Ladakh battlefields were a junkyard of prized weaponry from both sides for net zero gains. Both sides had exhausted their armies in Ladakh. To the east the offensive into Bhutan had made spectacular gains initially but was now bogged down in the mountains and had failed to capture the Bhutanese capital. And the Indians were counter-attacking to take back control. Frankly, the PLA Highland Division that had entered Bhutan from Tibet had failed in its major objectives but had succeeded in one very major objective. It had bogged the Indian forces in the east in a third country and had reduced their strengths in the Chumbi valley where they could otherwise have been used against PLA defenses.
Even more importantly, unlike the Ladakh and Arunachal-Pradesh fronts, the Indians could not allow this war to end while the Highland Division forces were still embedded inside Bhutan. That meant they would be focused on that theater from now on. And that made them predictable.
An advantage to exploit?
But that was for the CMC in Beijing to consider. On the sharp tactical end of the war, Feng had to accept that he now faced a battered but alive Indian Jaguar and Su-30 strike force licking its wounds…
Feng walked back to the table where the waiters were still waiting near his abandoned food plate. He apologized to them about the wasted food and asked for his uniform coat and cap. A few seconds later an orderly arrived with his winter overcoat with all the ribbons and insignia attached. He put those on and walked out of the room while everybody jerked into a standing attention in the middle of their meals. He did not return their salutes as he left the room.
As he exited the building and felt the biting cold winds outside, he saw his three-car convoy pulling up to take him back to the command center. In planning to have his meal in the peacetime operations buildings here, he had probably risked more than he should have. But he had enjoyed the breath of fresh air as compared with the thermal-controlled air inside his underground operations center.
As he prepared to get into the open door of his black sedan, he saw Major Li jumping out of the second sedan and walking up to him.
“You really should try the food here tonight. It is very good,” Feng said as he buttoned his overcoat.
“Sir, you should not be out here. It is not safe!” Li said.
“Yes, yes. I know,” Feng said. “But I needed the fresh air. I should eat alongside the men whom I order into combat every day. It was nice to see what their faces look like. When you get to my level of command, Li, you will understand why that is important.” Li smiled.
“And? What was your impression?” he asked Feng.
Feng exhaled a breath of cold air and decided it was time to get into the vehicle. Li got inside with him.
“They looked far fresher than I had hoped. Eager as well!” Feng said as the vehicles started moving. Li nodded and agreed with his CO.
“Indeed,” he said, facing Feng. “The pilots and officers you saw are from the 17TH Air Regiment that deployed here as per orders from General Chen after your meeting with him. More are deploying now. And the 19TH Fighter Division has moved initial detachments to Golmud and Urumqi airbases!”
Feng turned away from the shaded windows of the vehicle:
“So! A lot happened during my meal then!” he said. “But do you think it will be enough, Li?”
“I don’t understand. You told General Chen that these units are what you wanted.” Li responded with concern in his voice.
“Indeed I did. But there is a difference between wanting from choice and wanting out of desperation, is there not? The men I saw today in the dining hall are eager to get into the fight, as well they should be. But they are also not yet bloodied by war. The men from the former J-10 unit here from the 44TH Division were also similarly eager. And they had better equipment at hand when they joined the war eight days ago. And they died at the hands of the Indians despite their eagerness. These new units, barring the 19TH Division, are second tier at best and will now be facing battle-hardened Indian pilots. What do you expect the outcome to be?” Feng asked neutrally and then looked outside as the convoy went down into the entrance of his command center.
Soon the darkness outside was replaced with lines of yellow lighting along the tunnel. As the end of the tunnel, the cars stopped. Feng turned back to Li:
“Expect the Indians to begin launching strikes against our airbases in Tibet and even here. Put the base on full alert and have a sizeable portion of the available J-7s on immediate launch readiness. The ground offensives in Ladakh will no longer occupy the Indians as we had hoped they would. And their first target will be here. If I were Air-Marshal Bhosale, I would be ordering my planes to strike Kashgar right about now. There is nothing to stop them anymore other than our fighters and the AWACS. And these are the key. Pass the word to the 19TH and 26TH Division headquarters as well. I want round the clock AWACS and J-11 support for this sector from now on. Understand?”
“Yes sir!” Li said and stepped out of the other door of the car.
Feng stood after getting out and looked at the massive Chinese flag draped on the wall of the Tunnel at the entrance to the operations center.
He nodded at the flag, and the two sentries nearby shared a surprised look amongst themselves.
“Major!” Feng yelled back at Li who was already heading to the entrance gate.
“Sir?” Li said as he stopped just before showing his identification cards to the sentries.
“Where are Generals Chen and Wencang right now?” Feng said as he walked up to the Major near the entrance doors.
“Sir, General Chen is here and getting some sleep,” Li replied. “He said he is not to be disturbed for the next couple of hours. General Wencang is at the Junwei-Kongjun.”
“Wake up General Chen,” Feng said as he pulled Li outside of the hearing radius of the soldiers nearby, “His sleep can wait. And get a meet
ing set up with Colonel-General Wencang on behalf of General Chen and myself. Coordinate with his adjutant if you have to. Tell them both that I need to talk to them about our air operations in the next few days alongside the 2ND Artillery Corps.”
“Sir?”
“Listen to me, Li. This aerial war will go one way or another tonight. But if the Indians lash out at us here, deep inside our own territory as they attempt to destroy our major airbases supporting the Ladakh front, Beijing might take that as a last straw and take control away from the PLAAF high command and hand it over to Colonel-General Liu and his commanders in the 2ND Artillery Corps. You understand now?”
“Yes sir,” Li responded with some hesitation.
“Good,” Feng continued.
Li saluted and Feng returned it. As Li brisk-walked down the corridors and disappeared, Feng walked slower and headed to his office. He reached for the doors, sighed and walked inside.
OVER GILGIT
PAKISTAN OCCUPIED KASHMIR
DAY 8 + 2130 HRS
The rumble of the turboprop engines reverberated through the cockpits as the flight-crew checked their instrumentations. The pilot had his hands on the control and was looking through the cockpit glass via his helmet-mounted night-vision goggles. The low-light optics was not really required as the aircraft was fully equipped for instrument flight. And at these altitudes, there was no chance of terrain collision. But the pilot was interested in the skies around them for other reasons. And as the aircraft flew south-east to their orbiting location one-hundred kilometers north of the peaks at Kargil, the skies were alive with danger…
The greenish-black view from his optics showed a flight of four F-16s calmly overtaking his aircraft two thousand feet above him in a loose finger-four formation. He could make out the black silhouettes of the four aircraft against the moonlight.
These were the escorts.
The pilot now turned his attention back to the front and saw no other aircraft. But that was very deceptive.
As the PAF ‘Karakoram-Eagle’ AEW aircraft moved into its AO close to the Line-of-Control with India, the radar and mission crews in the back of the aircraft began their job and started developing a radar picture of the Indian aerial warfare capabilities over Ladakh.
Pakistan had yet to engage in direct confrontation with Indian forces as the war with China raged on. But that by no means was a result of any hesitation on the part of the Pakistanis. The real issue was how to seamlessly integrate their capabilities into the Chinese operational plans. It was not as easy as it sounded. Not an easy task under any circumstances.
But that did not mean that nothing could be accomplished from Pakistani assets. Far from it. The advantage for the PLAAF commanders was that they were major suppliers for the PAF in terms of equipment. The JF-17s, FC-20s and the ZDK-03 aircraft came directly from China. And so there was a significant commonality of operating systems and avionics, even though Pakistan had gone ahead and integrated several western systems into each aircraft type.
For the present situation, the ZDK-03 ‘Karakoram Eagle’ AEW aircraft, with its airborne radar mounted on the heavily modified Z-8 turboprop transport, itself a reverse-engineered Russian An-12 aircraft, was a crucial game changer for the PLAAF over Ladakh…
Ever since the IAF had taken control of the skies over Ladakh and southern Tibet, the PLAAF had been forced to pull back their airborne radar aircraft to safer distances to the north. Moving these critical ISR aircraft further away from Indian airspace meant that they no longer had a clear idea of what the Indians were up to over the Ladakh skies.
And that was not desirable because it meant that the gathering of Indian aircraft southwest of Leh was no longer visible to the PLAAF except for the intercepted long-wavelength radar emissions of the Indian Phalcon AWACS. They could triangulate the patrol areas of the Phalcon and the CABS AEWs on the Indian side through their electronic emissions but had no clue where the fighter/tanker concentrations at any given time were unless the Indian fighters flew northeast into southern Tibet on offensive fighter sweeps or strike missions. This gave very little reaction time to the PLAAF air-defenses and ultimately handed the Indians the combat initiative on a silver platter.
And that was where the Pakistanis came into the picture.
The PAF had now deployed two of its AEW aircraft to Gilgit. Their job was to utilize Pakistan’s neutral stance between Indian and Pakistan to full advantage for Beijing. The current aircraft was flying within a hundred kilometers north of Kargil. In doing so, the Pakistani airborne radar was snooping deep inside Indian airspace over Ladakh and Kashmir. It could now see on radar dozens of Indian fighters, helicopters and transports flying all over the region. All of which was now being shared over secure datalinks with the PLAAF 26TH Air Division KJ-2000 AWACS over the Taklimakan desert…
UDHAMPUR
INDIA
DAY 8 + 2145 HRS
“Are they poised to engage?”
Bhosale asked his operations commanders at the operations center for the Western Air Command. Verma on board the Phalcon AWACS from the No. 50 Squadron above southern Ladakh was on the comms with the center.
“Negative, sir,” Verma replied. “They are set snooping on us. We count four escort birds high above them waiting to sweep in on any potential threats, but they are deployed purely defensively. No offensive capabilities on display.”
“So far,” Bhosale added.
“Indeed, sir. But they are watching everything in the air north of Jammu,” Verma concluded.
“And we can bet the farm that they are feeding everything they are seeing back to General Chen and his commanders in Chengdu!” Bhosale said. He was looking intently at the live wall-mounted digital screen showing Kashmir with aircraft dispositions of India, China and Pakistan visible on it.
“That’s affirmative, sir,” Verma’s voice came over the speaker in the operations room. “E-S-M suggests it is one of their Chinese-built Z-D-K-Threes.”
Of course. That makes sense. Those bastards!
Bhosale rubbed his hands over his lips as he considered his options before making his decision:
“Fine! Let the Pakis look and share to their heart’s content. What I want is a flight of eight Su-30s deployed just south of Kargil. I don’t care if you have them leaning over into Pakistani occupied airspace, but I want the message sent to the Pakis right now that if they make one wrong move, we will knock them out of the skies in a heartbeat! And I want to proceed with operation Pivot-Strike as we had planned. If the Chinese see us coming then so be it. It won’t help them much anyway. Understood?”
“Wilco! Executing operation Pivot-Strike as planned! Eagle-Eye-One has the ball!”
ABOVE SHYOK
LADAKH
DAY 8 + 2200 HRS
As Pivot-Strike unfolded, and Eagle-Eye-One initiated operations over Ladakh, a large force of sixteen Su-30s from No. 220 ‘Desert Tigers’ Squadron in two line-abreast formations of eight aircraft each switched on their afterburners and accelerated northeast of Leh, heading straight over what used to be Chinese S-300 dominated skies above the Aksai chin and beyond…
OVER THE TAKLIMAKAN DESERT
TIBET
DAY 8 + 2205 HRS
For the first time in this war for the crew of the 26TH Air Division kj-2000 AWACS, orders came down to shut down the radar and to egress from its patrol area on emergency.
The sixteen Desert-Tigers Su-30s had gone supersonic just over the Aksai Chin and were now charging at this Chinese aircraft and its crew. In response, Feng had just ordered all available Chinese fighters in the area to respond and protect their precious airborne-radar aircraft at all costs. Time was of the essence when one considers that the Indian fighters were travelling one kilometer every two seconds towards their target! And they only needed to get into the successful engagement envelope for their long-range air-to-air missiles…
The pilots of the Chinese AWACS heard the orders from the operations center at Kashgar and immediately
realized the severity of the situation. The pilot, a PLAAF Lieutenant-Colonel, immediately muttered a curse and began disabling the autopilot as his right hand reached the throttle controls of the four turbojet engines and pushed them to maximum settings.
The aircraft reverberated under the sudden strain of the thrust and the engine noise spooled up dramatically. At the same time the mission crew in the back were switching off their comms and fastening their seatbelts. They were hearing the urgent communications from the cockpit over the radio as the pilots brought the lumbering aircraft into a turn and banked to the side to bring them on a northerly escape vector back to Korla airbase, about six-hundred kilometers to the northeast.
As the aircraft banked away, the six J-11s escorts left the aircraft and went full afterburner to meet the Indian threat head-on and buy time for their precious AWACS to escape. The six fighters went active on their radars just around the same time the Indian aircraft did.
The latter were also out of their airborne-radar coverage areas: the No. 50 Squadron Phalcon pilots had no intention of going behind the Su-30s in order to extend the radar cover. It was far too dangerous for the rewards it merited.
No. The Su-30 drivers were on their own from now on.
At Kashgar, Feng understood exactly what the Indians were after and he had no intention of giving it over to them without a fight. He picked up the phone and immediately ordered the scramble of all available J-7s of the 17TH Air Regiment at Kashgar and also ordered Major Li to get the 19TH Division to scramble all available J-11 detachments that had already arrived at Urumqi airbase north of Korla. He also ordered the release of operational control on those fighters from 19TH Division HQ over to his command at Kashgar.
These J-11s, although too far north to join the immediate fight, would move south and bring the retreating AWACS bird under their protection and escort it back to the landing pattern at Korla. He also ordered the ingress of more H-6 tankers from Wulumuqi airbase north of Urumqi to refuel the inevitable fuel-hungry fighters over the Taklimakan desert…