Chimera

by Vivek Ahuja

  These birds were being moved north into Tibet now in support of SFC. Their job was to keep an eye on the short-range DF-11 and DF-15 launchers being moved into northern Tibet. This was by no means an easy tasking, given the heavy PLA air-defenses being allocated to these missile units of the 2ND Artillery Corps. And while the S-300 area-defense weapons in Tibet were no more, the Chinese still had a very respectable number of surface-to-air systems and associated ground radars deployed around these missile forces.

  As a result, the Heron crews were flying their birds at the edge of their service-ceiling at thirty-five thousand feet and doing their darned best to remain invisible. From now on the IAF Herons would fly over Tibet until the Chinese missile threat was downgraded by the SFC.

  NORTHWEST OF THE KEELING ISLANDS

  THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION

  DAY 11 + 1400 HRS

  The leading Brahmos missile shattered into a thousand pieces of burning steel as an HQ-9 air-defense missile slammed into it meters above the sea. The burning debris splashed into the waters at supersonic speeds, causing a massive transient concave shaped cavity on the surface. It expanded for several dozen meters before the water poured back in and rose up into the air like a volcano.

  But as the waters frothed below, two more Brahmos missiles streaked by, oblivious to what had just happened. The other two HQ-9 missiles fell behind and dived into the surface of the ocean.

  More HQ-9 missiles were in the air now, but they weren’t diving down into the incoming Indian anti-ship missiles. They were arcing high into the bright sunny skies above as they went after the three escaping Indian Su-30s far to the northeast. These three aircraft were now diving on full afterburners behind clouds of chaff. They would soon be out of the range of the intercepting Chinese missiles.

  But the ship that had launched those missiles, the Chinese PLAN 052C class air-defense Destroyer Lanzhou and the other ships in the fleet had more pressing concerns at the moment…

  The Sovremenny class Destroyer Fuzhou, listed and splashed through the surface, conducting evasive maneuvers. It turned to port while the Lanzhou moved across its starboard, exposing its broadside to the two incoming Indian missiles, effectively covering the Fuzhou. It also allowed the Lanzhou to bring all of its close-in weapons to bear on the inbound threat.

  A kilometer south, the other 052C air-defense ship with the Chinese fleet, the Haikou, was already in position and its weapons opened up before the Lanzhou. The starboard side of the ship was covered with light smoke as the anti-air guns filled the air nearby with a wall of expended ammunition and lines of yellow tracers flying towards the two supersonic inbound specks on the horizon.

  The first Brahmos missile streaked straight by the gunfire intended for it, conducting an elaborate ‘S’ maneuver. The Lanzhou had a good intercept angle on the second missile and it shattered under the anti-air fire. But the first missile passed by the bow and slammed through the stern of the Fuzhou as it completed its evasive turn. The massive fireball shredded the aft of the ship just as the ship’s propellers detached from its driving shafts and flew over the Lanzhou and its stunned bridge crew before splashing into the waters on the other side…

  The Fuzhou instantly started taking on seawater as its forward momentum died away. The thick black column of smoke rising from the aft of the ship and the licks of flame rising into the air left no doubt about its fate. Those lucky sailors on the front of the ship who survived the impact began jumping into the ocean while other ships launched helicopters for rescue operations.

  But while the Fuzhou lay gutted, the Haikou and the Lanzhou had even more threats pop up from the northwest as a swarm of subsonic Klub anti-ship missiles began heading in. These had been launched from Admiral Surakshan’s surface-action-group destroyers in coordination with the Su-30s from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Klubs were high subsonic speed missiles and much slower than the Brahmos, but if allowed to go unchecked, they could ravage the Chinese ships.

  The Lanzhou also detected the radar emissions from the Ka-31 AEW helicopters of the Indian Navy, and that revealed to them the general location of the Indian ships over the horizon.

  The other two Sovremenny class ships immediately went into action against this threat. Both the Hangzhu and the Ningbo headed straight towards the northwest. The Haikou went into action as well as it steamed at full speed to take position alongside the two Sovremenny ships as the twenty-eight Klub missiles bored in.

  The Haikou fired a salvo of HQ-9 missiles as fast as they could be cycled through the onboard CIC computers. In all, seventeen Klub missiles were shredded from the skies before the Lanzhou caught up as well and took down all of the remainder except for two which were accounted for by the close-in guns. In doing so, they had cycled all of their onboard supply of HQ-9s.

  Exactly as they had been expected to by Admiral Surakshan.

  Now the Indian ships began launching their onboard anti-ship variants of the Brahmos missiles using the cueing information from the long-range P-8Is far to the south, keeping the Chinese fleet under long-range observation. Within seconds, eleven Brahmos missiles had been launched from seven major Indian surface warships. The longer ranged Brahmos allowed them to stay out of range of the Moskits on board the Chinese Sovremenny ships, which could be as deadly as the Brahmos.

  But the Indians weren’t the only ones using Ka-31 helicopters today. The Hangzhu had launched its own Ka-31 AEWs minutes before while the Klubs had bored in. These helicopters quickly spotted the stealth ship INS Satpura over the horizon as it screened ahead of the surface ships using its AEW helicopters. Both the Hangzhu and Ningbo fired their supersonic Moskits at the Indian ship just as the Brahmos missiles appeared over the horizon.

  But now the 052C air-defense ships were out of HQ-9s to intercept these deadly threats, and all ships launched their far less effective shorter-range anti-air missiles into the sky.

  To no avail.

  The Hangzhu and the Ningbo as well as all other Chinese warships also opened up with their close-in weapons and filled the skies with a barrage of bullets, knocking out three Brahmos missiles in that desperate melee before the final eight missiles crisscrossed through the Chinese fleet and broke through to their targets…

  A series of thunderous explosions ripped through the calm seas and eight orange-yellow fireballs rose to the skies in quick succession, visible for kilometers around. By the time the noise dissipated away, seven columns of black smoke were rising.

  The Lanzhou had been ripped into two by successive impact from two Brahmos missiles near the same location on the hull. Its bow listed to port and the ship sank quickly below the roiled waters.

  The Haikou was dead in the water, its superstructure gutted from bow to stern and fires raging as sailors jumped overboard. The Hangzhu was still moving while its crew attempted to control the fires raging aft. The Ningbo was already listing heavily and its hull was far below the waterline.

  Behind the line of gutted and sinking major warships, two other fleet support ships were also gone and a massive thunderclap announced the death of the fleet’s resupply tanker as it exploded into pieces…

  To the northwest, the Satpura wasn’t in much better shape.

  Four of the incoming six Moskits had been engaged and destroyed by the ship. One more fell to close-in guns moments before the last Moskit had ripped through the hull. The Satpura was utterly decimated.

  The surviving Indian sailors were jumping overboard from the burning hull just as Sea-King helicopters from the other ships of the group began arriving over the horizon.

  Within the hour the bow of the Satpura slipped below the waters of the ocean and sank, taking with it the bodies of most of its crew.

  JUNWEI-KONGJUN

  BEIJING

  DAY 11 + 1700 HRS

  “I don’t care if you cannot raise them! Get some people on the ground down there if you have to!” Feng slammed the phone down.

  He stood there, his arm quivering with rage as his palm tried
to crush the phone. He turned around to see Chen walk into the center, returning the salutes from several mid-grade staff officers. The General’s orderly took his uniform overcoat and peak-cap and left the room.

  Chen walked over.

  “What’s the situation at Golmud?” he asked just as Feng released the phone from his death-grip and took a deep breath.

  “Not good,” he replied after a few seconds. “We cannot raise anybody over there on the comms. No radio, no telephone. The local army garrison commander witnessed the attack from long-range and called his command to report sighting nuclear detonation mushroom clouds over Golmud! General Yongju from the C-M-C called up to confirm this and I told them there was no such event recorded at our end.”

  “Conventional unitary warheads?” Chen asked.

  “Have to be,” Feng replied. “That garrison commander saw mushroom clouds for sure, just that they weren’t nuclear detonations. I told the General to get me in touch with that garrison commander at Golmud. I just got off the phone with him.”

  Chen nodded and both men walked out of the conference room into the main center. It was lined with rows of communications gear and map displays on the walls. The room was occupied with more than two dozen air-force officers as they controlled the large scale PLAAF operations. Right now, the center was filled with the cacophony of an air-force headquarters in chaos attempting to regain control of a fast deteriorating war.

  Normally Feng and Chen would be at their Chengdu-Lanzhou unified MRAF center, controlling a curious mix of tactical and strategic operations that such large regional commands entailed. For now, however, Wencang had asked them to operate from here now that the war had stopped being tactical. Feng regretted his loss of tactical control of the units in theater. But he also understood that he was needed here now.

  Of course, it helps now that the strategic and tactical aspects are one and the same…He thought, looking at the large wall display of Tibet.

  “What’s the tactical situation out there?” Chen asked. “Who has operational airborne control?”

  “That’s what I am trying to find out right now. 26TH Division headquarters say that they have lost all contact with their detachment at Golmud,” Feng noted as he crossed his arms.

  “That’s not surprising, is it?” Chen said dryly.

  “No, it is not,” Feng continued. “I have ordered tankers from Wugong airbase to meet up with the J-11s over Golmud to refuel them and keep them on station with the last remaining KJ-2000 AWACS until we can get reinforcements up there. We…” Feng rubbed his forehead, “…lost several special mission aircraft on the ground at Golmud along with a few fighters. That’s going to cost us in the long run. We don’t have enough airborne-radar aircraft now to maintain continuous presence. We could use the last remaining KJ-2000 from Korla for specific operations but not for continuous patrolling. What’s worse, we lost the 821 brigade detachment at Golmud as well.”

  Chen frowned at that and rubbed his tired eyes with his fingers. The losses they had just incurred would be painful for operations and both men knew it. Several seconds later he walked over to the phone and picked it up.

  “I think it’s better that Wencang hears this from me before Liu grabs him by the collar demanding an explanation!” Chen said and then waited on the line. A few seconds of silence later, Chen livened up:

  “Chen here. You are not going to like this at all. I…” Chen was cut mid-sentence as Wencang took over the conversation. All Feng could hear was some distant voice on the phone as Chen raised his eyebrows in surprise. Chen got off the phone and looked at Feng.

  “So it looks like Liu is already aware of the situation,” Chen said as he absorbed what all he had been told by Wencang. “He also told me that on Liu’s advice, Peng has ordered all C-M-C members to move to the national wartime operations center outside of Beijing. The 2ND Artillery boys are running the show now!”

  day 12

  CHINESE NATIONAL COMMAND CENTER

  WEST OF BEIJING

  DAY 12 + 0400 HRS

  “I think I have heard just about enough of you! Colonel Dianrong, get the commanders from 818, 819 and 820 Brigades online right now!” Liu thundered and slammed the table. The force of it shook the civilian party leaders in the room.

  But Liu’s opponent in the room was not intimidated that easily.

  “Colonel! Stay that order!” Wencang shouted with a finger pointed at Colonel Dianrong who had the phone in his hand. The force of the order from Wencang caused him to pause mid-way.

  “You are out of line, Wencang!” Liu’s voice was shaking with rage. He was not used to having his orders questioned, let alone dismissed.

  “And you do not have the authority to make unilateral decisions on this matter!” Wencang shouted back and gestured at Chairman Peng, who was quite shaken by force of the argument between his senior military commanders. He knew that his authority within China was only enforced by the uniformed people in this room.

  If that disappeared…?

  “Are you insane, Wencang?” Liu shouted back. “We have already been attacked with ballistic-missiles! Would you rather we wait till our forces are completely wiped out? Just like Golmud? If we don’t strike now we will only embolden the Indians into striking deeper and harder! My men died under your command at Golmud. You may be fine losing your command and your air war, but I will turn the entire subcontinent into a pile of ash before I lose mine!”

  Liu turned again to Dianrong, his aide-de-camp. The Colonel was currently stuck in a very nasty position.

  “But I have had quite enough of this! Dianrong! I gave you a direct order! I want you to carry it out…right now!”

  “Liu! Control yourself!” Wencang shouted.

  With two of his senior commanders thundering at each other in the room and the shouts echoing around, Peng rubbed his forehead to lower the headache. They had been in here for hours now, and everybody’s tempers were flaring.

  “That’s quite enough! Both of you!” Peng shouted at the top of his voice. He then turned to Colonel Dianrong:

  “Colonel, put down that phone and step away!”

  With both Liu and Wencang seething, Dianrong put down the phone and quietly backed away towards the walls and took his position. Peng got up from his seat and looked at Wencang.

  “Is it true that you lost several special mission aircraft in the Indian missile attack on Golmud?”

  “Yes, comrade chairman,” Wencang replied after controlling his anger.

  “And we also lost the long-range cruise-missile launchers that General Liu had attached to the air-force. What is the status of that base?” Peng asked neutrally. Liu took his seat in the meantime.

  “It is no longer operational,” Wencang went on, knowing fully well where this was going. “We will need all of today to repair the runway enough to allow fighters to land and refuel. But we have relocated several units to Korla, Wugong and…”

  Wencang was stopped mid-sentence by Peng’s raised hand.

  “I am not finished, General! Please answer my questions first and then say what it is you wish to say!”

  General Yongju, Chen and the others noted the tone. The party leader was exerting his control. Chen knew that Liu and several of the PLA garrison commanders in this region were strongly loyal to the party and Peng. So the chairman could push back on Wencang without too much worry. Wencang noted the insult as well but bit his tongue.

  “So it is safe to surmise that the Indians have control of the air over southern Tibet,” Peng continued. “And if they have control of the air, they will control events on the ground eventually. It is inevitable. Now, I understand we have significant unused missile capabilities in Tibet. We were perhaps far too confident about our air-force’s ability to control the skies when we began operations two weeks ago. And the air-force has proven us wrong and brought us to the verge of defeat. The navy did not fare any better, did it?”

  Peng turned to face Admiral Huaqing, who was having difficulty
swallowing the lump in his throat. The meeting had just covered the disastrous naval battle in the Indian Ocean the previous day before the argument between Wencang and Liu had erupted.

  “I think our conventional forces have failed us utterly and brought shame on us in the party, the armed forces of this nation and the people of China!” Peng thundered to the assembled Generals. “And I blame you all for that! All of you! Generals and Admirals alike! We find ourselves hiding in this bunker like rats waiting to be exterminated! Perhaps I am to blame as well for believing in all of you! But I can correct my mistakes here and now!”

  Wencang stared at Peng like a rock. He did not fear what was coming.

  “General Wencang!” Peng looked at him from the head of the table. “Consider yourself dismissed as commander of the air-force! General Chen, you are dismissed as well. You have brought defeat on your respective commands and betrayed the trust of the people of China. And for that you will answer to them when the time comes. I will not have you pollute the minds of others in this room any further!”

  Wencang grunted, then pulled himself to attention and saluted. Chen got up from his seat and did the same. Peng did not return the respect.

  “Get out of my sight! Both of you!”

  As both Generals got up, collected their papers and left the room, Peng turned to the naval commander.

  “Admiral Huaqing! I think back now to the lies you said to my face about our capabilities and I wonder whether I should not have you shot for treason right now! But there is war on and I would not want the people to grow concerned with the loss of their Admirals in the midst of it. So consider yourself lucky that I am just having you removed from your post and placed under arrest. You will answer for your deceit later! Get out!”

  As Huaqing fumbled with his papers and got up, the two remaining senior Generals in the room, Yongju and Liu shared a look in silence. Peng waited as the disgraced Admiral left the room and the door was closed behind him by Dianrong. Once peace prevailed in the room again, Peng turned to face Liu and Yongju.