Bharat Rakshak

Absolutely Brilliant. I loved the way you put this.
It gave me a chill.

Oh Ho Ho Ho Ho......Here comes the navy....Watch out Dragon.... Awesome stuff Vivek....More More

vivek ji 48 hours are gone ...... waiting for your next strike..

He has hit the writer's block I guess

Negative. Stand by. I am working on the next set of posts. Just got delayed, that's all.

Hi Vivek,

I wonder how you put up by all the pressure at this forum to keep delivering and keep doing it fast, non-stop.
Compliments from my end.
Speaking of delivery, when is your book coming out?
Pardon if I'm behind the curve here.

Regards,
Virendra

Most of the time the criticism is well deserved, so I bite my lips and plod on.

Yeah, just check the previous pages for the info on how we intend to publish this scenario and some other updates.

Regards

-Vivek

DAY 7 + 1320 HRS (L)

COMBAT INFORMATION CENTER
INS VIKRAMADITYA
FLAGSHIP, TASK-FORCE-VICTOR
INDIAN OCEAN REGION FIVE HUNDRED KILOMETERS EAST OF SRI-LANKA

Rear-Admiral Surakshan looked at the tactical map of the region on the digital pedestal in front of him. It was showing where his own task-force was placed relative to the nearby land territories and friendly forces. On his left flank, the Tri-Services-Command at the Andaman and Nicobar islands was effectively sealing off the Malacca straits since last week. On his right flank, Task-Force-X-Ray was screening for Pakistani submarines south of Sri-Lanka in case they decided to be foolish enough to engage his group. His battle-group of surface ships was currently steaming south, right into the paths being taken by the world’s merchant shipping now that the Malacca straits were a strict warzone.

His main targets were the Chinese merchant shipping and oil-tankers. He would sink the former and capture the latter as opportunities presented themselves. The Chinese had a couple of ships acting as escorts for their merchant force from the middle-east to the South-China seas. But they were not the real threat to his force. No. His real threat was currently a surface action group of Chinese warships that had left port a few days ago and was now entering the Indian Ocean region after having bypassed the Malacca straits via the Bali Sea. They were currently steaming west and were three hundred kilometers north-west of Christmas Island. Indian satellites had been tracking this surface-action group ever since it left port.

There were five major surface ships in the group, including two formidable Type-052C Air-Defense Destroyers and three Sovremenny class Guided-Missile Destroyers. Then there were the auxiliary and support ships in the group, adding to a total of about twelve ships. Their Varyag air-carrier was not in the group and had not left port: the Chinese had not yet developed confidence in their carrier air-wings to be useful in combat. Admiral Surakshan could understand that, given his own Naval Aviation background. You don’t just raise an air-wing for a carrier battlegroup by buying a carrier and some planes. It takes time, training and experience. It is difficult enough to do that in the open seas during peacetime, let alone during war. No. The Chinese were not going to commit something that could not add value to a fight, and at its worse offer a very large liability to the flexibility of their surface group. Not to mention a very high value target and very visible loss of face in case that thing went to the bottom of the ocean thanks to Surakshan’s battle-group forces…

He grunted with a half-smile. The Chinese battle-group commander was not stupid. He had probably requested leaving that carrier behind on his own. The rest of the ships in his group were heavy hitters and costly to lose, but surely worthy to commit to battle. Besides, the Chinese had trained on these ships for many years and were confident in their abilities in combat.

We shall damn well see… Surakshan mused as he threw back the color enhanced satellite images of the Chinese ships taken by an Indian Remote-Sensing satellite a few hours ago…

His main problem was that he would have to deal with this threat before he could deal with his primary objective of shutting down the Chinese merchant shipping in the area. Time was of the essence, as he knew. He could not afford to take forever to deal with the Chinese flotilla. The war was escalating quickly back on the mainland and the sooner he could apply some pressure on the Chinese with a naval blockade, the better it would help those on the air-land side of things.
But for all that, it was quite obvious that for the Chinese to attempt any naval engagements with his group, they would have to bypass Malacca Straits, thereby making a long trip from home much longer. In doing so, they were also effectively cut off from their own land based air-support, so far south of the Chinese mainland. And their subs could not keep pace with this kind of detour. So they were attempting to break the Indian Navy’s control over the Malacca straits for the last few days. They had been pretty unsuccessful so far.

On the Indian side of things, Surakshan’s group was fighting with his back towards friendly forces. He had land based air support from both the islands as well as long range air –support from both a single IAF IL-78 tanker as well as his own dedicated force of a handful of newly delivered P-8Is and Tu-142s. The only thing he did not have was effective airborne radar coverage. The IAF was already stretching its own small force of AWACS/AEWs to the limit on the mainland. So the Navy had to depend on its small force of Ka-31 mounted radars to provide airborne control for the Vikramaditya’s air-group as well as mid-course cueing for its anti-ship missiles. Not ideal on that front by any means. But it was something. And definitely more than what the Chinese had for sure…

Surakshan had his own force of twenty warships split into a carrier support force and a destroyer action force screening ahead of his force and about fifty kilometers south of him at the moment. Task-Force-X-Ray was about fifteen ships and subs and was not under his direct control, although that was only a technicality. If needed, he could requisition that force in short order. His surface action group consisted of two Delhi-Class Guided-Missile Destroyers, the INS Delhi and INS Mysore, the Rajput-Class ships INS Rana and INS Ranjit, the P-17 stealth warships Shivalik, Satpura and Sayhadri. He had held back the INS Ranvir as a personal shotgun for his carrier group while the INS Mumbai was acting as Flagship of the X-Ray group. The INS Deepak and Jyoti were also steaming ahead with Surakshan’s carrier group. Several hundred kilometers south of the Destroyer action group, a single P-8I Poseidon was currently flying south to meet up and maintain constant contact with the Chinese surface group just outside the range of the powerful anti-air missiles of the 052C Destroyers. It would ensure the Chinese did not disappear somewhere unexpected between satellite sweeps.

For the Chinese part, Surakshan wondered what the ISR capabilities were. Surely they had no airborne coverage. Satellites were definitely being used, but that would mean that until their own ships reached some sort of sensor contact with the Indian naval forces, their own information would be outdated by at least an hour to two, if not more.

Perhaps an advantage lay there…

Definitely their weapon systems could not be underestimated, Surakshan thought. The Moskit missiles on the Chinese Sovremenny class destroyers from soviet era were roughly comparable with the Brahmos missiles carried by the Indian warships. And the air-defense bubble provided by the 052C Destroyer was no joke…
Surakshan’s thoughts were interrupted by the rumble of another carrier launch of a Mig-29K outside. The people inside the CIC were not the least interrupted. But Surakshan’s thoughts were. He decided to leave the room and his operations staff and head up to the Bridge where the Captain was. As he walked in there, the massive glass windows provided the fantastic view of bright blue skies and a sunny day over the Indian Ocean. Very hot and humid as well. He saw the numerous warships in his group steadily steaming south just as a flight of three Mig-29Ks flew overhead: part of the CAP over the fleet. On the deck below a Ka-31 was spooling up its engines to take station above the fleet for providing airborne radar coverage.

Surakshan realized that this was the key to the upcoming battle: ISR. His surface force was matched more or less evenly in terms of major warships. But he had superior airpower and a near instantaneous ISR network and the Chinese did not…

DAY 7 + 1400 HRS (L)

AIRSPACE ABOVE MADHYA-PRADESH
INDIA

“You think it will send the message?” the PM asked. The voice of Air-Marshal R. Iyer, Commander Strategic-Forces-Command (SFC) came through on the phone a few seconds later:
“Yes sir, I think it will. If the rumblings we keep hearing are true then this is the effective counter-force response.”

“But I want to make clear that we suspect this to be happening. We really don’t know for sure, do we?” the PM responded as he looked up at the Defense-Minister. The latter leaned towards the phone on the table:
“Iyer, I want to emphasize that what the Prime-Minister stated is technically true. We expect a Chinese 2ND Artillery deployment in the next day or so if we keep hammering them conventionally as we are doing now. We just want to be prepared, but not appear overly aggressive. I know that sounds contradictory but do you get the point we are trying to make?”

“I understand sir, but I want to add as well that the fact that the Chinese missile groups in Tibet are deployed in Tibet is not really something they are attempting to hide anyway. They know that we know they have missiles deployed there. Many are nuclear armed. And if they launch, we will have minimal response time to launch a counter-force attack if we are not fully deployed as well,” Iyer said calmly from SFC wartime headquarters bunker deep under the ground in southern Madhya-Pradesh.
“But we are deployed, aren’t we? I mean our missiles are?” the PM asked in confusion.

“Yes sir, the land based missiles are. That is correct. But I want to get the triad deployed right away. We want to ensure that if the Chinese are thinking of the nuclear option, then we give them something very visible to think about as well. I don’t think it will be considered escalatory in any sense of the word.”
“But you are not sure,” the PM retorted.

“Negative, sir. I cannot physically go inside the minds of the Chinese leaders and commanders. I can only guess at their plans and thought process based on visible, actionable intel,” Iyer stated dryly. The Defense-Minister noted a hint of irritation in the voice. He looked up at the PM and saw that he had detected the same…
“Air-Marshal Iyer, I want to emphasize that we are not trying to second-guess your authority on this matter. But you will have to forgive me being dense on the matter but I do have one additional question. Please indulge me if you would,” the PM said finally.
“Of course, sir”

“What are the chances that if we take this step, we won’t actually give the Chinese the pretense they need to go offensive with their nuclear missiles?”
“Sir, it’s possible that they might consider this action on our part escalatory. I can see how they might use that against us. But that said we know exactly what the flyover schedules of Chinese satellites are over Indian territories. We know they are keeping a close watch on our missile groups. But I want to emphasize that deployment of these missiles will take some time and the last thing you would want is to see the Chinese attacking our missile forces before they go further. We have to remove the very idea of the feasibility of a decapitating pre-emptive missile strike from their minds. Once their satellites see that the missiles are deployed and in the field, they will lose that thought.”

The PM looked at the Defense-Minister who nodded agreement so he leaned towards the phone yet again after several seconds of thought…
“Very well. I concur with the SFC assessment. How long before we are ready?”

“Within two hours we should have the launchers deployed. After that we will begin collecting targeting data and allocation of missiles to key targets.”

DAY 7 + 1430 HRS (L)

VIZAG DEEP SEA PORT
EASTERN COAST OF INDIA

As the last Chinese satellite flew out of LOS range and beyond the horizon, the Indian navy ballistic missile submarine INS Arihant left port under heavy escort. The port had been closed to merchant ships three days ago and was now primarily under control of the Indian Navy. Two Corvettes provided coverage for the submarine as it entered the deeper waters of the Bay of Bengal. Armed with four K-4 ballistic missiles with up to 3500 kilometer range, it put the targets as Beijing under the Indian Nuclear umbrella if launched just south of Bangladesh waters. The Arihant left its sister submarines, still under construction, behind and soon thereafter dived into the deep waters before the next Chinese satellite could pass over the horizon…

Whoa , I hit refesh and a new paost appears magically. Kaash it happened everytime.


If war is happening in 2014 or beyond then Arihant has its sister/brother prowling nearby.
How far is it possible to enter ECS and SCS region and escape after launching Ballistic Missiles? Whether China could attack them to neutralise this advantage. Perhaps they could be already deployed off Philippines , deep water pacific region just lurking for orders. That would give flight time of less than few minutes to Beijing and Shanghai. That should provide some food for thought to Chinese.
The trick is to force them to Negotiating tables without being in weaker position and without actually launching BMs.

Also we still have Chakra too..and the old lady Viraat. Hope they have role
to play.

Could there have been a role for the sea harriers @ Paro/DBO if viraat is not @ sea?they wud be good @ ground support.

Vivekji- the chief of navy is refferred CNS (chief of naval staff) not chief naval ops like in US.

Being an avid follower of urs.. Am really happy to see you pushing towards the completion of this master peice which makes us feel as if it was really happening.

Good good.. Let the games begin in the arena.

Ajit,The CNO is a position in the Naval HQ, nder CNS and is of the rank of Senior Rear Admiral or a Vice Admiral.. Just like the Army's DGMO..

Bala,the signal is from verma who is chief of naval staff. Also in IN the. Position is DNO.

Only Vivek can tell if its an allusion to the current CNS or a fictional character who is the DNO also with the surname Verma.. if the case is as you have put it, then my apologies for having understood it wrong..

No I was in fact referring to the CNS, but in the message sent to the fleet I used the description of the role rather than the actual position held by the Admiral. So that was an oversight on my part.

I have edited it now.

Scratch that: Forum software would not allow me to change it.

Vivek new post please

may be its on Dhanteras when 052-c in place of wealth get first and last shower of brahmos..

Chankaya is already doing awesome job of posting sat images of Bhutan theater.

I am wondering, if anyone want to volunteer to post a picture of composition of two different Naval task force.
That will make naval engagement far more clear.



-----
This is suggestion for the BRF Webmaster.
It would be nicer to have some kind of reward system for members who bring-in or share great news/analysis or even post scenarios.

Here is one such plugin for the forum (assuming BRF uses phpbb)
https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/ ... for_posts/

DAY 7 + 1600 HRS (L)

INDIAN OCEAN REGION NINE HUNDRED KILOMETERS SOUTHEAST OF SRI-LANKA

The surface-action group of Task-Force-Victor detached itself from the carrier protection group and headed south-east. Led by the flagship INS Delhi, the group of seven large warships was now no longer screening in front of the carrier INS Vikramaditya as the latter continued to steam southwest towards the incoming Chinese flotilla. The Chinese ships were now about fifteen-hundred kilometers away from the Indian ships, still more than a day’s worth of steaming distance away if left unchecked in its dash northwards…

Chinese satellites flew over the Indian carrier within the hour and noticed the surface warships leaving the group and heading southeast. They correctly recognized it for what it was: a flanking maneuver at sea. And Rear-Admiral Surakshan expected no less from the Chinese naval commanders. They could understand the problem, but the solution was the real issue at hand. If they continued steaming north towards the incoming carrier and the few ships around it, they could be flanked by the seven heavy-hitters from their left flank when the time came. If instead they went after the destroyer group, they would leave their right flank exposed to the carrier’s air group when things got messy.

Then they had to deal with the fact that the Indian ships and aircraft would be launching anti-ship missiles at them and their two 052C Destroyers would have to deal with them. The problem was, the engagement envelop of the HQ-9 did not afford well for sea-level engagements against sea-skimming targets as it did in the ground based version against higher altitude fixed-wing and missile targets. The reason for this was simple: the HQ-9 missile-system is based on a Track-Via-Missile (TVM) system. This system means that engagements are never truly fire-and-forget as far as the launching ships are concerned. The ship must illuminate targets continuously from the time it tracks the target, launches the missile to intercept it and the interception itself. And while the purported maximum range of the HQ-9 (about 200km or so) is similar to the S-300 from which it is based, this is not indicative of the real engagement envelope of the missile for seaborne scenarios. The reason for this radar-horizon…

Since the ship mounted radar masts for standard systems can be extended much higher than the superstructure of the ship, the radar horizon (higher than the visible horizon for radar emissions) can be significantly extended. Not so on the 052C ships where the guidance radar is mounted on the superstructure itself in order to improve the effective field of view of the modified S-300 system: one of the disadvantages of not developing a dedicated SAM system for seaborne use. This means that when the anti-ship missile launched towards the ship comes in lower and lower, the effective engagement range for the ship’s missiles reduces if the radar guiding them is fixed at the superstructure height.

The 200km range is pure fancy in this regard. For that range interception, the incoming target, be it aircraft or missile, would have to fly at least 7000 ft. ASL and which no sane pilot or enemy commander would do. For a 100km range, the required target elevation is about 2000 ft. ASL. And when the target comes in at sea-skimming mode say, at 100 ft. ASL, the engagement zone reduces to about 50km. This number is fatally low when you consider that an incoming Brahmos missile at sea-level has a range about 150km at Mach 2.8. So if the Chinese ship sees that missile at 50km, then it has about 55 seconds to shoot it down before it slams into the side of the ship.

55 seconds…

And it gets worse. The maximum engagement envelope of the missile is not the only parameter that can prove fatal. It is also the minimum engagement envelope that can kill it. The higher the radar mount on the ship superstructure, the larger the minimum engagement zone around this ship under which the missile can receive no tracking information unless a secondary ship-borne radar can take over the interception. This secondary radar or second ship must be able to do so instantly, given the kind of speeds and time factor in play and emphasizes the need for network-centricity in the modern naval battlefields.

For the HQ-9 system mounted on the 052C destroyers, the radar elevation on the superstructure means that the minimum engagement radius for the primary guidance radar is about 10km or more. This means that the truly effective engagement with that system for a sea skimming target can take place only between 10km and 50km ranges around the ship.

This reduces the engagement time to about 40 seconds against the Brahmos missile…

It doesn’t take long to look at a watch to see how small that time can be under any circumstances. Now this situation need not always be the case. If airborne radars can supplant the 052C scanned array radars on the Chinese ships, then the effective radar horizon can be improved dramatically. The problem was that the Chinese did not have any worthy of that designation. The newly delivered Ka-31s to the Chinese Navy were not integrated yet with the HQ-9 guidance system, even though they were integrated with the search radar system. The Chinese AEW helicopter could tell the Chinese ships about the incoming missiles and hence provide early warning, but the engagement zone remained the same. Worse, the Ka-31 in both navies, Indian and Chinese, were very limited endurance platforms for the kind of role required by true AEW systems. In both cases they were at best early-warning systems to trigger alarm bells on both sides of imminent threats.

All of the above problems were mirrored on the Indian side as well. Similar threat from Moskit missile, similar Ka-31 limitations and similar physics issues with the LRSAM system. The one key advantage on the Indian side, however, was the air-arm. With ultra-long range maritime aircraft staying outside the engagement zone of the chinese warships, the Tu-142s and the couple of P-8Is were in continuous contact with the Chinese ships. More importantly, the aircraft carried Brahmos missiles just like the ships and could launch them from stand-off ranges. In doing so, they provided a full azimuth threat to the Chinese commander. This in turn meant that with only two 052C destroyers at hand, he could place them ahead of his Sovremenny destroyers to fend off a missile threat from the Indian surface action group, only to find that his rear hemisphere was now more vulnerable to the snooping Indian stand-off launchers, and vice versa.

Further, if he split his force into two to try and avoid revealing a flank to the enemy, he would end up weakening the defensive capabilities of his two groups against saturation level attacks. It was not an enviable position to be…

So the Chinese commander did what he was expected to do and continued steaming towards the Indian carrier group to his north. If he was going to lose his fleet in battle, he would take the flagship of the Indian navy down with him…

DAY 7 + 1720 HRS (L)

WARLORD-CENTRAL, C3I
HAA DZONG
BHUTAN

“How’s it looking over there, Misra?” Lt-General ‘Warlord’ Potgam asked as he held the phone like set to his ears. He was standing inside the comms trailer outside his former IMTRAT buildings.

“Cold as hell but we are deployed. The two Chinese infantry Battalions making a push to Thimpu are dead in their tracks, but that had more to do with the pounding from Hotel-Six rather than my boys. We are yet to face significant attacks on Thimpu itself. A couple of Commie recon teams attempted to head into the outskirts but were engaged by one of my Para companies in the northern outskirts. They withdrew in short order. They haven’t made a push since then for the last seven hours.” Colonel Misra said from the government palace in Thimpu that had become his Battalion HQ.

“That sounds about right.” Potgam said as he ran his hands over his balding head. “The Chinese momentum into Bhutan is gone. They have gone into holding mode, trying to hold on the territories they have snatched so far instead of pushing further south. That’s good news and bad news for us. Good news is that Eastern Army’s flanks are secure via Bhutan. Bad news is that the Chinese hold on to significant tracts of Bhutanese soil as of now. We are going to have to evict them somehow. Ideas?”

A few seconds of silence passed before Misra’s voice came back online:
“What exactly are we facing up north from where I am right now? I mean, the two Chinese battalions directly opposite my force are in tatters. If we make a push north they will either surrender or fold back to the north. The question is, what are they falling back on to? What’s the force depth to the north?”

“We think, and I want to emphasize the word think, that the Chinese drive on Thimpu was made with a Division worth of troops. Another Division led the drive into eastern Bhutan. Of this one Division facing your boys out there, we have managed to remove a Brigade worth of forces out from their effective ORBAT in the last few days. That means that we are probably looking at least at another three Battalions between you at Thimpu and the northern Bhutanese border with Tibet. And the timeline isn’t too good either. Based on rumblings we are hearing out of Eastern Army HQ, the Chinese are getting real fidgety about the ongoing state of the land war with us. If they decide to up the ante, they could remove the rug from under any of our actions before we get anywhere. But we have to try anyway.” Potgam replied and walked over to the digital map of Bhutan inside the trailer showing likely enemy dispositions.

“Sir, perhaps we can make the Chinese attempts to up the ante work to our favor in some way.” Misra said from his HQ where he too was looking at a paper version of the map Potgam was looking at.
“I am listening.”
“So it is going to come down to who holds what when they decide to bring out the nuclear card on us, isn’t it? The government is going to go cold feet on any further advances into Chinese held territory. Hell, if the Chinese still hold on to Bhutanese soil, we may have to barter our gains in the Chumbi valley in exchange for them to vacate Bhutanese soil,” Misra hypothesized.

“Agreed. So?” Potgam asked, not really following where this was going.

“What if we made the Chinese ability to hold on to this territory untenable? I mean, there is no infrastructure south of the Bhutanese border with Tibet. They pushed south so rapidly because they were moving light infantry through the mountains. The same problem they had in ’62. So back then they withdrew back to their own territory just after declaring the ceasefire. Not because they were being generous but because they simply could not continue an advance any further into the plains. Now, what if that option is removed by us?”

Potgam stared at the map and nodded. But there was one problem with that:
“But how are you going to support a force movement from our side? We have to ensure that we are not the ones finding ourselves in a position that we plan to put the Chinese into!”

“Sir, I agree. But look to the west. We have a staging ground out of the territory we hold in the Chumbi valley. That will be our anchor point. Besides, all we are talking about is a Brigade level force spread over the hills of Bhutan. How long will it take them to starve to death?”
Potgam grunted at that thought and agreed:
“In terms of forces available, I can move my two remaining Para Battalions into this operation. One’s already deployed here so we will have to pull them off. The other hasn’t begun to deploy so that will be easier to support. Need to get in touch with the boys at Army Aviation and the Air Force to figure out the logistics here. But good plan, old boy. In theory anyway! Let me see if I can put some flesh on the bones of this idea at my end. At your end I want you to start applying pressure and push the Chinese out of field artillery range of Thimpu.

"As for the tattered Red Battalion to your immediate north, go ahead and end their pitiful existence as a favor to me and the boys here. Warlord out!”

Awesome !!! Yeh Dil Maange More !!!

Vivek we need some Diwali Dhamaka!!

two factors not seen yet are
- ASAT attacks on indian satellites
- Shang SSNs to support the chinese SAG.

DAY 7 + 1900 HRS (L)

CHINESE STRATEGIC AIR CENTER
KASHGAR
CHINA

Feng rubbed his eyes as he sat at the dining table, his food barely touched thus far. His arms were weighing heavy now and a look at the mirror in the washroom outside the dining hall showed him that he had aged several years in the last ten days. His eyes showing the red lines of sleep deprivation. But he had had an easier war compared with the hundreds of pilots and ground-crewmen who had lost their lives under his command in a brutal week of combat operations. Most importantly, he knew he had it easier. Many did not…

He looked around to see a bustling dining hall filled with tired officers and men moving back and forth. A well-organized meal was simply not on the cards at the moment. People were grabbing their food as and when they got time. Many were going through papers and reports while they ate. Under normal conditions this kind of behavior from officers in the dining room was unthinkable. But the times now were different. And Lt-General Chen had ordered the relaxations on normal protocol, much to the chagrin of the senior political commander at the command center. The latter had objected on the grounds that such behavior bred dilution of morale. It had been quickly overruled by Chen.

Privileges of rank… Feng mused as a waiter leaned over to ask him if he needed anything. Feng dismissed him with a wave and returned to staring at his meal in silence.

They were running out of time. Chen had made that very clear in his last meeting. If the war could not be given a positive direction quickly, all control would pass over from the field commanders in the TAR back to Beijing. And war looks very different when it is being fought from thousands of kilometers away…

Feng looked at his wristwatch and realized that the 19TH Fighter Division would have begun deploying to three key airbases north of TAR by now. The 55TH Fighter Regiment, part of the Division, would be deploying detachments of its three fresh J-11 squadrons between Golmud, Urumqi and Wulumuqi airbases. Of these, the one at Golmud was the higher altitude base and would restrict some capability on the J-11s there. But it could not be helped. Besides, the J-11 could take it. It was a much different story with the other second generation fighters available to Feng for the TAR region. Basically speaking, all J-8 variants were barely operational from TAR high altitude airbases and mostly combat ineffective when doing so. The only way they could carry enough payload off the ground at those altitudes was using the kind of massive runways available at Shigatse and a few other airbases. But Shigatse was no more available now; not least after the Indians had removed the S-300 air defense systems in that region more than twelve hours ago. Hotien airbase in western TAR was another such airbase laid waste by the cursed Jaguars while the western S-300 belt along the Ladakh regions had been reduced to a shadow of its former self…

That was the problem… Feng admitted to himself. The air war being fought by the PLAAF was from the very beginning a defensive one from the strategic standpoint. This would be surprising to all except for Chen’s command staff. Despite the media broadcasts and the propaganda, Feng had to admit to himself that he was fighting this war with far fewer aircraft available to him than what Beijing realized. The J-11s and the J-10s and the KJ-2000s made for a glorious pictorial, but the bottom line was that these aircraft represented a small percentage of the total fighter force on paper. A fact lost to most commentators even within the Chinese decision making structure!

A result of what happens when a side starts to believe their own propaganda!

Sure the Chinese force of J-11s and J-10s was bigger than the IAF put together at the beginning of the war, but it was also responsible for protecting a landmass twice the size. Beijing would not release all of the available J-11s facing the Taiwan Theater and had to reserve some for the eastern coastlines facing possible threats from the Americans operating out of Japan or using their carriers. The J-8s, the JH-7s and the other fighter units would be slaughtered without higher level support from the third generation fighters such as the J-11s and J-10s, not to mention the required AWACS and EW support aircraft!

Once India got beyond the initial state of shock following onset of hostilities, it could move massive levels of its IAF fighter forces into the fight. Operating from near sea-level conditions, the fighters could be armed heavier and have longer endurance in combat. They had no other borders to be worried about thanks to a coastline jutting into the vast openness of the Indian Ocean. And as for the Pakistani threat, the same airbases that could be launching strikes against the TAR targets could instantly refocus and launch strikes against targets in Pakistan. And the Pakistanis knew it.

And so the PLAAF depended a lot more on stand-off cruise missiles. And ballistic missiles…Feng forced himself to admit now. The threshold for use of conventionally armed missiles was far lower within the command structure on the Chinese side than the Indian side. And to a certain extent the cruise missile attacks had delivered close to expectations. The Chinese had managed to displace the Indian higher military and political command from the command centers in New Delhi within the first few hours of the war. The airbase at Thoise had been destroyed. And the airbases at Leh, Bareilly and Baghdogra were barely operational and mostly combat ineffective at this point in the war. But the Indians had a lot more available airfields and dispersal options near to the frontlines than the Chinese had in the TAR. When a J-10 needs two kilometers of runway to take off from high altitude airbases, it makes it so very much easier to disable all launches from that base even if the enemy strikes a location one-third the length of the massive runway. Other airbases outside of the Tibetan plateau were too far out to properly concentrate available forces even if aircraft launched from there could make the trip to the Indian targets with enough fuel to fight and return.

The tanker force was the only support option in such cases. And while the Indians were easily doubling the endurances for their fighter patrols because of the close proximity between the airbases and the AO, it was taking a flight of J-11s three tanker refuelings simply to bring the aircraft to the AO and allow it to maintain a decent sized CAP. So how do you concentrate forces between such widely displaced airbases and light tanker units?

You don’t...Feng told his inner voice as he picked at the rice on his plate with his fork.

And cruise missiles were not the answer. They had to be launched by standoff aircraft and now that the Indians had gained a certain level of dominance over the aerial battlefield, they were thinning out the slow moving missile barrages with air-to-air missiles before they could hit the targets. So while some missiles from each barrage were getting through, it was creating an attrition rate far lower than anticipated by Feng and his command staff in all pre-war simulations.

What about the Indians? What was their response? Predicting that was the key for the PLAAF here, wasn’t it? Feng thought to himself as he put down the fork for the final time and looked out the massive windows of the dining hall where he could see the last vestiges of orange-pink skies as the sun went below the horizon to the west. As he wiped his hands and got up from the table he invoked several turned faces and conversations that abruptly silenced as others in the room took notice of the senior commander leaving his dinner behind. Feng was lost in his own thoughts. As he walked over to sill of the window and stared up, he could see the darkening skies above and the reflection of the dining room behind him in the glass of the windows. As he touched the windows he felt the coldness outside as the first snowfall of the night was beginning.

He smiled and brought his hands behind his back in the formal stance but continued to stare out the window. He could now see two J-8IIs lighting up their afterburners as they took to the skies in a paired formation. Followed soon by others, the flight of fighters quickly switched off the afterburners and disappeared into the night sky…

The Indians were not big on the use of cruise missiles the way his own side was, Feng thought once more. No. That was not right. It’s not their willingness to use cruise missiles but their ability to do so that was missing. They had no carrier aircraft other than their newly modified Sukhois to hoist the only credible cruise missile they had: the Brahmos ALCM. The problem with that configuration was that each fighter could only carry one of the supersonic missiles during a single sortie. So that meant a flight of several Su-30s configured for the launch role could launch at best perhaps a half-dozen missiles at a time. Better still, doing so required them to move precious heavy fighters away from the air-dominance role and into the strike fighter role at a time when they could least afford it. By comparison, Feng could deploy six missiles from a single H-6 launch aircraft and not have to divert his J-11 force into this task. The Brahmos ALCM was high speed and low range compared with true tactical cruise missiles. The Nirbhay had not entered service yet, which was fortunate for the Chinese. The Brahmos was a purely SEAD specific missile and had been used as such by the Indians. Then there was the availability of the missiles. The ALCM was new to the Indian inventory and had been acquired only a year ago. Production rates in India did not even compare with Chinese numbers and so they had 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 to himself. The only reason he was where he was now with this air war was because of the effective use of that small force of missiles against his air-defense batteries. Once those batteries had gone down, the same launch fighters had returned to their fighter roles soon enough. But the important factor was that the Indians were now mostly out of their small ALCM inventories. A reserve force was being maintained for use against Pakistani targets if required.

Probably…Feng thought. He really didn’t know for sure. But it was what he would have done in their shoes…

So that meant that the Indians would now be forced to depend on their remaining force on Jaguars for the strike missions against Chinese airbases and other targets. What was nice about that prospect for Feng and the PLAAF was that their airbases were not the main focus of the Jaguars till now. Thanks to the massive ground offensives taking place for the last week, the Indians had dedicated the majority of their Jaguar sorties for the close air support roles on the front-lines and interdiction of logistical arteries of the PLA. And in doing so they had encountered losses. Not enough to make the Indian Jaguar fleet ineffective by any means, but enough that Feng could breathe a sigh of relief and could instead concentrate on countering the Indian fighters instead. But that was days ago.

Tonight the war was on a different footing. The ground offensives had lost momentum on both sides. The Ladakh battlefields were a junkyard of prized weaponry from both sides in return for tactical gains into each other’s territories. Both sides had exhausted their armies in that sector. To the east the offensive into Bhutan had made spectacular gains but was now feeling the heat from the Indian counter-offensive. Frankly, it had failed a strategic objective but had provided a very useful card for the Chinese to play: the Indians could not allow this war to end while Chinese ground forces were embedded deep inside Bhutan. That meant they would be focused on that theater from now on. That made them predictable by pivoting their forces to that theater. Perhaps an advantage lay there?

But unless the situation changed for the better in those hills, Feng had to accept the fact that he now faced a battered, but-not-yet-beaten, Indian deep penetration Jaguar strike force licking its wounds in their airbases in Punjab. He remembered that they had taken the commanding officer of the Indian Tuskers squadron as a prisoner during their strike missions on the Aksai Chin S-300 batteries several days ago. He was still alive and being interrogated…

Feng paused his thoughts and walked back to the table where the waiters were still waiting near his abandoned plate with food. He apologized to them about that courteously and asked for his belongings. A few seconds later his orderly arrived with his winter overcoat with all the ribbons and insignia attached as well as his cap. 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 left the building entrance 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 for the Kashgar airbase, he had probably risked it more than he should have anyway. But he had enjoyed the breath of fresh cold air outside as compared with the air-conditioned and temperature controlled air inside his headquarters.

As he got back into the open doors of his black sedan, he saw his ADC, Major K. Li, jumping out of the second vehicle and walking up to greet his commander...
“You should try the food tonight, it is very good.” Feng said to the Major as he buttoned his overcoat.
“Sir, you should not be out here. It is not safe!” the Major said.
“Yes, yes. I know. But I needed the fresh air and to eat alongside the men who 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,” Feng said to the much younger officer. Li smiled at the unperturbed response of his charge.
“And? What was your impression?” he asked.

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” Li nodded at that as he spoke:
“Indeed. The pilots and officers you saw are from the 17TH Air Regiment that deployed here as per your request to General Chen this morning. More are deploying now. And the 19TH Division has been released to our control and is already deploying initial detachments to Golmud and Urumqi airbases as we speak.”
“A lot happened during my meal then!” Feng said and turned to face the young officer. He removed the smile from his face as he spoke:
“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 said in response.

“Indeed I did. But there is a difference between wanting from choice and wanting from desperation, is there not? The men I saw today in the dining hall are eager to get into the fight, as well as they should be. But they are also yet to be bloodied by war. The former J-11 units here that we have now withdrawn from combat because of their crippling losses last week were also similarly eager. And they had better equipment at hand when they joined the war. These new units, barring the 19TH Division, are second line units at best and will now be facing battle-hardened Indian pilots on their own battlefields. So what do you expect the outcome to be? Hmm?” Feng said neutrally and then looked out of the darkened window of his vehicle as it went down the entrance of his underground command center. Soon the darkness outside was replaced with lines of yellow color lighting along the cavernous interiors of the center. As the car came to a halt and soldiers opened the doors of the car, Feng turned back to Li:

“Expect the Indians to begin launching strikes against our airbases in TAR and especially here. Put the base on full alert and have a sizeable portion of the available fighter force on two-minute launch warning. The ground offensive will no longer occupy the Indians as we had hoped it would. Their first target will be here. Its dark outside already and if I were the Indian commander, I would be ordering my planes to strike right about now. There are no more S-300s available between us and them anymore. Our only defenses are the fighters from the 17TH Air Regiment. Get them ready to fight for their home base tonight, understand?”

“Yes sir!” Li said and leaped out of the other side of the seat. Feng stood after getting out and looked at the massive red colored Chinese flag draped on the wall at the entrance to the operations center. He nodded to himself as he stared at the flag, for which the sentries nearby exchanged a quick look amongst themselves. Feng yelled back at Li who was already heading into the entrance of the center:
“Major!”

“Sir?” the Major said as he stopped just before showing his identification card to the sentries.
“Where are Generals Chen and Jinping right now?” Feng said as he walked up.

“General Chen is here and getting some sleep. He said he is not to be disturbed for the next couple of hours. General Jinping is at his HQ in Lhasa.” Li said.
“Inform General Chen that I wish to speak to him right away. And get General Jinping on the comms. It’s about time we heard what moves the PLA has left up its sleeves on the ground side of this war. If what I expect to hear becomes true, get the TAR commander for 2ND Artillery on the phone.” Feng said as he pulled Li outside of the hearing radius of the soldiers nearby.

“They won’t cooperate very well, Sir. We are not authorized to contact them directly. It has to come from Beijing. The 2ND Artillery deploys its units pretty much on direct authority from Beijing.” Li said to which Feng responded in several choice expletives before continuing:

“How are we expected to coordinate our forces with theirs if everything has to be routed from a thousand kilometers away? Well, never mind. We will try to get General Chen to call them directly. Perhaps that will work. Once that happens, I want you to personally go to their TAR headquarters north of Lhasa and get embedded with their operations staff. I will manage the other stuff from here with the rest of the command staff. I want you to get them to open up their operational plans for the TAR so that we can maximize their chances of success without things escalating out of hand. Do you understand?” Feng noted to his protégé. Li had nervousness written on his face, as Feng noted instantly.

“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 territories as the attempt to shut down our major airbases supporting the Laddakh front, Beijing might take that as a last straw and take control away from General Chen and myself and hand it over to the PLA commanders in the 2ND Artillery. When that happens, I want somebody I know who understands the tactical aviation side of things to be on hand when they begin to deploy. It will make my life a lot easier having you there. You understand now?”

“Yes sir.”
“Good. Then get this done and start packing your bags. I want you set up over there before first light tomorrow morning.”

Li saluted and Feng returned the salute. As Li brisk walked down the corridors and disappeared, Feng walked slower and headed to the operations and comms room. He reached for the doors, sighed and walked inside. The soldiers on either side of the entrance door heard the old balding man with white hair mutter to himself as he walked through:

“End moves”

DAY 7 + 2100 HRS (L)

TASHICHHO DZONG
THIMPU
BHUTAN

“Okay, time to get up. Wake up you lazy bozos!” Pathanya jokingly kicked Ravi and then Vikram as they lay on the floor of the room in their sleeping bags. Ravi jerked awake immediately and went for his rifle, lying by his side. Vikram simply mumbled something and turned over to his side, hoping the Captain would simply go away. It was not to be. Pathanya kicked him again, slightly harder this time.

“Get up, get up. We got to go. Move!”

Ravi was already up and sitting inside his sleeping bag by this time. The room was still dark, the town having lost electricity some days ago when the Chinese attack on Bhutan started. They could all see each other’s cold breaths in front of their faces as they spoke.

“Boss, we just got to sleep an hour ago. Most of us haven’t slept in days! Come on!” Ravi protested while Vik fumbled about and forced himself to get up. Pathanya could very well sympathize with his men. Spear team had been on the frontlines of the ground war in Bhutan for quite some time now. They had screened the Chinese advance into Bhutan all the way to Winchester-Charlie when General “Warlord” Potgam had ordered his unit to hold the screening and begin harassment operations against the leading Chinese Battalions. They had done so and lost a man in the process. Three others were injured to varying degrees but had gotten themselves patched up and stayed with the team. Delta-Flight and their helicopters from Haa Dzong that had been their lifeline had also lost one of their helicopters in the process along with both crewmen. And then they had helped defend Thimpu until the screening force of Paras from Colonel Misra’s Battalion had landed earlier this day and relieved them from that duty.

That had allowed Pathanya to finally afford his men some rest, time to rearm and to refocus. But sleep had been a luxury not on the cards. The war was not waiting around for them. And Colonel Misra had told Pathanya about that in no uncertain terms. He had hinted that the situation in Bhutan needed to be resolved within the next forty-eight hours or less. Else they might be forced to stay where they were now and in doing so lose a large chunk of Bhutan to the communist Chinese.

Not after what we have been through! Pathanya had told Misra during the briefing.

The Colonel had nodded his agreement and given his team the first operation of the counter-offensive in Bhutan. As Pathanya saw his team waking up and figuring out their bearings in front of him, he looked at the collection of maps in his hands and then stuffed them inside his uniform chest pockets. Outside, two Paras on sentry armed with Tavor rifles walked by and peeked in at the whispered commotion. They nodded to the Captain and walked off.

Vikram finally got to his feet and walked up to Pathanya as both men left the room and entered the courtyard of the palace building outside. The dim flashes of light from the north and west confirmed the reality of the ongoing war. A sudden thunderous roar overhead and both men saw what looked like two Indian Mig-27s streak by and head north of Thimpu. Pathanya had been briefed by the Colonel on his Battalion’s efforts to destroy the remaining company sized units of the Chinese Battalion just north of Thimpu. Sure enough, there was a large wall of flames that erupted some kilometers north of the city that lit up the entire valley in a wall of hellish orange-yellow décor before the flames disappeared into the cold skies above. Another napalm strike mission completed.

And hopefully a large number of reds wiped out… both men thought.

“So what’s the deal, boss? Where we going?” Vik asked a few seconds later.
“Place west of Barshong, about twenty-five kilometers north of here. The Paras are pushing hard against the battered remains of the commie Battalion that we were engaging before the Colonel got here. They have managed to push them north as far as the village of Dotanang, about twelve kilometers north from the northern outskirts of Thimpu. That’s where all these strike missions are going to be striking pretty soon. The second Chinese Battalion behind this one is at Barshong. Once the Paras finish off the one at Dotanang, they are going to move further northwest and engage the one at Barshong. For now we are going to be deployed in between Barshong and Dotanang. To ensure the two Chinese Battalions are severed from each other,” Pathanya said as he pulled out the maps from his pocket.

“So we are going behind the enemy’s lines on this one.” Vik noted dryly.
“Yup. So get everybody kitted out accordingly. The fly-boys from Delta are bringing in two of their helos for us to use for deployment from the west. It will be fast, low-altitude and at night in the mountains.”
“Yeah that sounds like real fun.” Vik noted but nodded at the necessity of it all.

“Ahh, cheer up,” Pathanya said as he folded the maps and began putting it back into his pockets. “This isn’t Jammu and these aren’t the jihadis we are fighting. As long as the Colonel has his Paras engaged with them all through the way and pressing on their heels, they will be forced to fight conventionally. And when they are forced to fight conventionally they yield the initiative to us, remember? We are going to do to them exactly what they did to us fifty-four years ago. Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?”

Barshong and Dotanang. Thimpo is down right corner. Outskirts are visible where Pathanya Team is located. and move to isolate two Chinese companies by inserting themselves in between. Probably in Chinese territory or near IB. One can imagine the terrain . Towards north its snowcapped mountains. Supply lines must be either to the East ( Finger area Route S 204) or towards West .
Should we not move north from Sikkim and get onto S204 and also destroy Radar Domes near the border which could support Airi operations.





Broader Picture on Bhutan front.

chaanakyaji,
Could you kindly post a higher res map, please???

DAY 7 + 2130 HRS (L)

AIRSPACE OVER GILGIT
PAKISTAN OCCUPIED KASHMIR

The rumble of the turboprop engines reverberated through the cockpits as the two members of the flight crew checked the instrumentation. The pilot had his hands on the control and was looking through the cockpit glass via his helmet mounted night-vision optics while the co-pilot checked the moving-map-display to verify their current locations. The low-light optics was not really required as the aircraft was fully equipped for night instrument operations. And at the altitude they were on, there were no chances of impact with terrain. But the pilot was interested in the skies around him, and as the aircraft flew south-east to their orbiting location one hundred kilometers north-west of Kargil, he knew that dangers were around…

Sure enough, the greenish view from his optics showed a flight of four F-16s calmly overtaking his aircraft from a few thousand feet above him in a loose finger-four formation and heading the same direction as him. He could make out the black silhouettes of the four aircraft against the moonlight and the green skies above. These were his escorts. He turned his attention back to the front and saw no other aircraft. But they both knew that was deceptive.

As the PAF Karakoram Eagle AEW&C aircraft moved into its AO close to Indian airspace, 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 the Laddakh frontlines. 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. No. The real issue was how to integrate the capabilities of the PAF and the Pakistani missile forces into the Chinese operational plan without blunders being done. It was not as easy as it might sound. Running a full spectrum war with one’s own forces was a major task that required years of training and planning; And doing so with another country’s forces in addition to your own only made things more nightmarish for the planners…

But that did not mean that nothing could be accomplished; Far from it. The advantage for the PLAAF commanders lay in the fact that the Chinese were major suppliers for the PAF in the last decade. 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&C aircraft, with its airborne radar mounted on the heavily modified Z-8 turboprop transport –itself a reverse-engineered AN-12 aircraft- was a crucial game changer for the PLAAF.

Ever since the IAF had destroyed the Chinese ground based air-defense systems in southwestern TAR and Xinjiang, the PLAAF commanders had to pull back their airborne radar aircraft to safer distances behind the front-lines. And that had meant that they had lost a clear picture of the Indian aircraft on the Indian side of the border. And that was not desirable. It meant that the gathering of Indian forces just south of the Leh-Thoise airbase line was not visible to the Chinese anymore except for the intercepted long wavelength radar transmissions of the Phalcon AWACS systems. They could triangulate the patrol areas of the Phalcons and the Embraer AEWs on the Indian side through their electronic emissions but had no clue about the fighter/tanker concentrations at any given time unless the Indian BARCAP missions flew east of Leh on their regular patrol missions over the LAC.

At the outbreak of the war, the 26TH Air Division of the PLAAF had surged forward its 76TH Airborne Command and Control Regiment in support of the aerial offensives. Of all the aircraft losses and the decimation of the associated Fighter Divisions in the war, the 26TH Air Division and its precious electronic warfare and airborne control aircraft had successfully escaped attrition for the last ten days. Now, however, they were under pressure to help ensure that the IAF did not take the initiative in the air war over Laddakh. What few squadrons worth of J-11s that remained in theater were assigned close escort tasking for the 26TH Air Division and the PLAAF command and control nodes in TAR and Xinjiang region. But without a clear picture of what was happening behind the Laddakh FEBA was critical to any realistic defensive control strategy. And that was where the Pakistanis came in…

The PAF had now deployed two of its Karakoram Eagle aircraft to the Gilgit AO. Their job was to utilize the neutral stance between Indian and Pakistan to full advantage for the Chinese. The current aircraft was to fly within a hundred kilometers north of Kargil, well within the danger zone in case Indian fighters decided to take them down. But until India and Pakistan were at war, the aircraft was safe. In doing so, the Pakistani airborne radar was now snooping deep inside Indian airspace and looking through the left flank of the Leh-Thoise airborne defense line. It could easily see the dozens of fighters, helicopters and transports flying all over the region and could see the tankers moving to support the IAF BARCAP missions over Laddakh as well. All of which was now being shared with the Chinese operations center at Kashgar and then being data-linked with the KJ-200/2000s of the 26TH Air Division forces north of Hotien airbase. The Pakistanis had now closed a crucial gap in the Chinese airborne coverage of Indian airspace over Kashmir…

DAY 7 + 2145 HRS (L)

“ZEUS” AIR OPERATIONS GROUP
UDHAMPUR AIR FORCE STATION
INDIA

“Are they poised to engage?” Air Marshal Bhosale, the IAF Western Air Command CO asked his operations staff. The MC from the Phalcon AWACS, Eagle-Eye-One, was on the secure comms with his command center.
“Negative, sir! They are set up to snoop on us. We count four escort birds high above them waiting to sweep in on any potential threats, but no offensive capabilities on display so far. But they are watching everything in the air north of Jammu.”
“And you can be rest assured they are feeding all of this back to their comrades up at Kashgar!” Bhosale said to the speaker on the comms station as if it were a person.
“That’s affirmative, sir. E-S-M suggests it is one of their Chinese Zulu-Delta-Kilo-Three aircraft type. They must have opened up data-links on their airborne radars with the Chinese at Kashgar.” The MC replied instantly. Bhosale rubbed his hands over his lips as he considered his options…
“Fine! Let the Pakis look all they want and feed the Chinese whatever they want. What I want is a flight of eight Su-30s deployed just south of the Kargil LOC. I don’t care if you have them leaning over into Pakistani occupied airspace, but I want the message sent to them right now that they can watch from where they are all they want, but one wrong move and we will shoot them out of the sky! And while that is happening, I want to proceed with operation PIVOT-STRIKE as we planned. If the Chinese see us coming because of the Pakistanis then it can’t be helped. Understood?”
“Wilco. Eagle-Eye-One copies all” the R/T voice said.
“Good. Zeus-Actual out!”


DAY 7 + 2150 HRS (L)

OPERATION PIVOT-STRIKE
SECURE COMMS FROM ZEUS-OPS
INDIA
TO ALL PIVOT-STRIKE ELEMENTS
PIVOT-STRIKE ATTACK PLAN-D-3 AUTHORIZED
EAGLE-EYE-ONE HAS AIRBORNE C-3I
ALL PIVOT-SUPPORT ELEMENTS FALL BACK TO WAYPOINT BRAVO AND SWITCH TO EAGLE-EYE-TWO FOR AIRBORNE CONTROL
EXECUTE. EXECUTE.


DAY 7 + 2152 HRS (L)

SKIES ABOVE SHYOK
LADAKH
INDIA
As the message came through on the comms, the large force of sixteen Su-30MKIs in two line-abreast formations of eight aircraft each switched on their afterburners and accelerated north by north-east of Leh, heading straight over what used to be Chinese S-300 dominated skies above the Aksai chin and beyond…

Bala, images of larger size could break the readability of thread and load time would be longer. I can link with large image is you want. But Vivek should tell is areas shown roughly corresponds to his theater of operations.

Vivek, India is technically at War with both Pakistan and China. 1962 and 1971 declaration of War due to external aggression is not yet lifted by India. There is CF on the border by the warring parties. Hence ASFPA fully applies to all the Borders with Pakistan and China..

Army or Air force are not acting due to CF. In a state of active aggression they are authorised for hostile operations. Except that they don't have control of strategic forces directly. This is to avoid unwarranted escalation beyond what is mandated. I am sure KKM and Gilgit, claimed Indian territory, during War would be unavailable to Pakis unless they feel adventurous and could be put out of order in no time.

I think Rafale would be available during War, if Victor Force is available. Timeframe seems to be same for both deliveries.

Chakra may not be available for actual first strike due to conditionalities in agreement, but as a second strike.
Both Ari-series would be available in the same timeframe for first strike but with limited range and smaller yield. Need to lurk near SCA or ECA for credible strike .

JMHT

hi Vivek,
Thanks a lot for your efforts in this scenario. Many airfields/air strips have been damaged in the past few days in the war.
I was wondering if you could you include the repairment of air strips in your analysis? I mean usage of quick setting concrete by both the sides.

link :http://www.throop.com/rapidset-cement-concrete-advantages.php

From the looks of it, a partially damaged air strip could be repaired in couple of hours !!

Since there has been no mention of the Rafale in this scenario till now, I think it should be left out. It would just create questions about why they weren't used earlier.

If I'm not mistaken the timeframe here is about 2015-16. Even if India signs the agreement in say March 2013 (this is a very optimistic estimate), the first rafale still wouldn't arrive until Feb-March 2016. The IAF will require a lot of time after that to get it's pilots trained and combat ready and develop effective tactics. As such, they would be unusable in any war during this period. As an analogy recall that IAF's shiny new Mig-21s were hardly used during the 1965 war.

any early ones we get for instructor training and building cadre would likely be used as manned recce platforms or providing EW escort to formations of Jags "going in", using spectra to provide early warning, threat triangulation and countermeasures beyond what the Jags have...and flying just behind the Jags to take SAR "photos" for immediate BDA.

in that sense Vivek could deftly introduce a small troop of say 10 rafales based out of goa or charbatia for training but relocated in small units north to help the war effort , embedded with the hub of jaguar squadrons in punjab...this could be after a high level IAF commanders conf to see how best to help the worn out jag and mig27 units.

have a patriotic frenchman wearing a triangular cap who chose to stay behind with his boys and be a ground guru of sorts on strategy and employment...kind of like the french officer in "the patriot"



also I hope a russian freighter loaded to the gunwales with yakhont and KH59 reloads "has departed the black sea port of sevastopol"

Excellent Vivek Saar ... More realistic and likely that Talib-e -jihadis not letting down this opportunity showing there true colors.... so if they want it let 's give them the bloody noose ... after all it is war and anybody coming to aid of chinese has already declared war against us ...

@nachiket

Most likely, Raffes would be available sometime in third quarter of 2015. Pilots would already be undergoing training even before first Raffe arrives in India. They would be RTU. As you might recall Raffe is almost Combat ready platform and ready for production. In War ( we would nto be caugt by surprise this time so advance info of bad intention would be available to us) deliveries would be premature , say 7 months instead of full 9 months . That would constitute surprise element for Chinese who would be thinking that Raffe would be combat ready by 2016.

I also think Kashi AFB needs to be taken out. So far we have done Hotien (Hotan) AFB. Feng should be defenged. The problem is China would run out of options and resort to further escalation. So it is necessary to show up in international waters off the Coast of Philippines. or near Japan. But Victor Force would be busy with Malacca strait and Andaman Sea.

So we need one or two IAC ready to show off to Chinese in the event requiring to send message.

Bhutan would be difficult to hold for China. I think they have gambled badly there. If Sky is dominated then the plains across the border could be easily occupie3d and defended and roads are excellent so if we take out tank regiment somehow across the mountains we can bog down large chinese forces there.
All we need is a good staging area inside our border , good road from there to S204 and dash across
to take advantage of good construction quality of Chinese. Nearest support they would have are Shigaste and Lahsa and both would be ineffective. Probably Tank regiments could easily drive up to Lahsa with close Air logistic support.

Let us see how this war is going and what additional things are needed. VKS seemed to plan for freedom of Lahsa ( as one BRFite remarked in another thread) and that does not seem impossible. Also let us have some use for ITBP and SFF.

War should turn into a nightmare for China as it is clear we don't have objective of Occupy, Hold and Negotiate.

There is a Bhutan travelogue going on in teambhp. Gives some perspective on what is at stake and what we are trying to protect from the enemies.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogu ... ri-la.html

Unlike nepal, bhutan discourages backpackers and budget tourists. All tourists to bhutans scenic areas in north must mandadorily have a guide and take some expensive pkg i think.

The contract states that the first deliveries are to be made 36 months after the contract is signed. Ergo, we are not going to see a single Rafale in IAF colors before 2016. As for being combat ready, the aircraft itself may be combat ready, the question is whether the IAF would be ready to go into combat with them. IAF received it's first Mig-21s in 1963, 2 years before the war. Yet they were kept back and used sparingly for low threat missions. Training pilots and support staff, developing combat tactics and learning the strengths and weaknesses of the aircraft takes time.
Singha saar's idea of using a small number of rafale's for recce and EW support missions seems a plausible though, if we are talking about late 2016 period.