from INShips once it is defanged by IAF+IN combined. Waiting for the next posts.............Possible Indian Military Scenarios - Part VIII
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vivek_ahuja
- BRF Oldie
- Posts: 2394
- Joined: 07 Feb 2007 16:58
SKIES OVER TAWANG
NORTHWESTERN ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA
2105 HRS THURSDAY
The sounds of the artillery guns firing and the whooshing noises of the rockets were stills echoing around the mountains near Tawang when another noise was heard. This time it wasn’t music to the Indian army’s ears. The skies above were now filling with Chinese J-10 aircrafts, and there was nothing anybody could do about it at the moment. With the dozens of aircraft the Chinese had lost to the south and east to little gain, this was one success that had truly been achieved. There were no Indian fighters around anymore, as all of them had been pushed south by the SU-27s and SU-30MKKs. What had happened to them was another matter, but here, now, the Chinese were able to reach their targets unhindered and with full tactical coherence. This fight was theirs from the beginning.
The sixteen aircraft had come south in flights of four, one behind the other. As such, there were four such groups lined up south to north, and minutes behind each other. All were flying at high altitude for this first phase of the mission. The first two groups were armed for the SEAD mission, and were carrying ARMs in addition to several laser-guided bombs. The second group was also carrying cluster bombs to take care of the anti aircraft systems after the ARMs had crippled the Indian guidance radars. The last two groups were not carrying anti-radar munitions, but instead were carrying dumb bombs and napalm for that special attention that they intended to give the Indian gun batteries. Two aircraft of the third group were also armed with a couple of self-defence air-to-air, short-range missiles. The first two groups were already searching for the Indian radars.
On the defender’s side, there really wasn’t much they could do as long as the J-10s stayed at high altitude. There were no long-range high-altitude surface to air missiles at Tawang sector due to its close proximity with the battle zone, and in any case there was the one Chinese EW H-6 that was accompanying this battle formation from the east of Tawang. Instead, the air defence system at Tawang was designed to accept high altitude defence from the IAF fighters while the low to medium altitude levels were under the control of the local army Tunguska mobile AA systems and the extreme low altitude profiles under the control of the AA gun battery spread around the town as well as the Igla MANPAD systems. But there were no IAF fighter around at the moment, and the range of the Tunguska was limited to a dozen kilomtres for its SA-19 missiles and much lower for its 30mm guns. So, unless the Chinese dropped to that close a range, there was nothing that the Indian army units could do but to hunker down and wait it out.
Apart from that, there was single Indra-II tracking radar at Tawang that was operating. Two others were still unpacked and hidden within the hills around the town; as replacements should the first one take a hit. All Tunguska systems were taking data from this radar at the moment and were putting their systems on hold. No need to tell the Chinese where they were hiding, was there? The Igla crews were the only one doing their own IR tracking, but the targets were too far away for them to reach, so all they did was look at them through the thermal scopes as bright hot spots against the cold dark night sky behind them, waiting for the Chinese to come closer. That wasn’t about to happen very soon, and so the Indra-II didn’t last for too long.
The first wave of Chinese J-10s was near Tawang now, and the first ARM had already been released. The town below was under blackout, and thus under a veil of darkness, but soon that veil was lifted as a huge orange flash on the hill near the town informed all civilians there that the Chinese had arrived. Most were on the roofs of their houses and staring into the darkness despite the Civil Administration’s order to stay inside. That one flash vanished and was replaced by the yellow glow from a small patch of burning trees around the site where the radar had been placed. Then, in all absurdity, it went quiet again.
The lack of targets was the reason behind the silence as there were no more radars operating. The Tunguska crews were sitting with the hatches of their vehicles open and listening for the sounds of the aircraft. By the sounds they could tell whether the aircraft was roughly in their range or not. If their ears weren’t convinced, then the Chinese weren’t in their range. And if they weren’t in the range, why illuminate the radars unnecessarily and point themselves out to the Chinese? So the crews continued to sit with their headphones around their necks and all ears listening for the noise around them.
War is always supposed to be played with a functioning intellect. And the Indian crews were showing their resourcefulness at the grassroots level. They all knew that looking for hidden vehicles in dense urban and vegetated hilly backgrounds from the air is never easy during daytime, and at night it only gets worse, despite all the high-tech night vision systems. Their vehicle engines were also off, and had been off ever since they had arrived at their locations in the hills several hours ago, so as not to give out a thermal picture from the air to the Chinese. And with their internal systems switched off, their hatches open and the cold environment around, there were no heat sources to be found from the air, much to the frustration of the Chinese pilots in the first wave of four aircrafts.
And the inaction on the Chinese part was visible to all on the ground, as after the sudden destruction of the Indra radar on the hill nearby, there were no more explosions, but the sounds of the aircrafts were still there. Despite the woollen clothes the Tunguska crews were wearing, it was still freezing cold. But they were smiling through the snow at the inaction of the Chinese around them. Inaction bears frustration. Frustration leads to mistakes, and it wasn’t going to be long before the Chinese tried something that was against what they had planned.
The problem was that with the few minutes’ separation between the four J-10 groups, the first group was supposed to have destroyed the local air defence system before the second arrived to finish the job. Then the others would arrive at lower altitudes to get the artillery guns that were already packing and scrambling below. The longer the Chinese waited, the more likely it was that their strike’s effectiveness would reduce. Worse, the skies above were getting clogged with more aircraft with each passing minute. Something had to be done fast. Unfortunately, the Indian crews were holding their nerve.
There was not so much as a twitch from the Indian side, and the Chinese flight commander was getting weak knees inside his cockpit. This was where flexibility was required, and while the IAF strived to induce flexibility in their plans and for commanders to make decisions in such cases, the PLAAF strived for discipline and so did not attempt to induce such thinking at lower levels and this was the result.
The Chinese commander did not know what to do other than to direct his bombers into attack as planned earlier. He would stay at high altitude and at suitable range so that when the Indians opened up at the attacking J-10s at lower level, he would pounce on them. In effect he was ordering the third and fourth groups to go forward as bait, and it shocked most of the crews when that order came. However, there really wasn’t much that they could do other than to follow orders. And so they began their bombing run on the four different gun batteries around Tawang, two aircrafts per battery, carrying napalm and dumb bombs.
As the eight J-10s headed towards the town, the noise changed on the ground. That’s when the Tunguska crews swung into action. They clambered into the vehicle and shut the hatch above their heads. As all systems were brought on-line, the turret powered up and the radar picked up the pairs of J-10s in a shallow dive towards the batteries around the town. There were half a dozen Tunguskas in the hills, and they were spread out in a northwards facing arc around the town. The artillery batteries were to their south, so in order to get to them, the J-10s had to literally over fly the Indian Tunguskas, and that was equivalent to suicide, but they had no idea what was below them. That changed the moment the vehicle radars switched on, and the Chinese aborted their attacks on the ground targets to evade the numerous SA-19s that were heading towards them from the ground.
The first to get hit was a pair of J-10s heading for the easternmost battery near the town, and the leading aircraft in that group didn’t have time to react as two SA-19s slammed into the front part of the aircraft, sending the burning remains of the fuselage heading down. The second aircraft in that group flipped to one side and pulled to the right, dropping chaff and flares and unwittingly flew right into the gun range for another Tunguska to the right. The hill where that vehicle was based, lit up as the two powerful 30mm guns on the turret blazed away, sending yellow tracers at the rate of thousands of round a minute towards the target, guided all the way by the turret mounted radar. The tracers were like a thin beam of light in the sky and they made contact with the aircraft body in seconds as it flew past the hill, and with that number of bullets hitting the airframe, it took only seconds more for the aircraft to break apart into small pieces followed by a orange flash that blotted the aircraft out of the sky. Two J-10s were now down.
Further west, another group of two J-10s were bounced by a single Tunguska who had waited as long as he dared, and when he had finally switched on his radar, the J-10s were literally overhead. So his guns spoke before his missiles. The two Chinese pilots were also surprised by the suddenness of the acquisition and they took a bit longer to react while they dropped flares and chaff in frenzy. Then a beam of tracers went skywards from the hill below and initially passed between the two aircrafts and caused the two pilots to stare at the light between them before the both split, left and right.
The aircraft on the right was hit from behind by the gunfire and the single engine was knocked out from the hundreds of bullets that hit it within seconds, thanks to the Tunguska’s massive gunfire rate. That pilot had the luxury of ejecting. His comrade in the east avenged him by dropping al his ordinance of napalm in a single pass on the hill slope that housed the Tunguska vehicle in a radical turn and the hill below vanished in a massive set of flames as the napalm fell. Within seconds the flames vanished and left the hillside devastated with fires from burning vegetation and the burning hulk of the Tunguska vehicle.
More to the west, the remaining two pairs of J-10s were engaged by the remaining three Tunguska system’s SA-19 missiles and that blotted out three of the J-10s in quick succession, sending them down in balls of fire. The remaining J-10 was the lucky one to actually over fly this line of Indian defence intact and was suddenly over the town of Tawang. The pilot was extremely jittery after the murderous fire they had gone through and was thus not able to calm down properly to conduct the search for his targets.
In the mix of anger and fear, he conducted what was the first Chinese atrocity against civilians when he released his napalm ordinance over the civilian areas of the town. The bombs fell right on the town and a major part of it vanished within balls of fire and explosions that turned night into day for the areas around. the fire claimed the lives of dozens and dozens of indian civilians.
As the pilot of the J-10 turned towards the north to go back home, his aircraft was hit from all sides by the L-40 guns of the sole Indian air defence gun battery around the town. The aircraft was crippled and was blown out of the sky in a thundering explosion.
Below him the town ot Tawang was left amidst a mass of flames and smoke. But the battle wasn't over yet.
NORTHWESTERN ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA
2105 HRS THURSDAY
The sounds of the artillery guns firing and the whooshing noises of the rockets were stills echoing around the mountains near Tawang when another noise was heard. This time it wasn’t music to the Indian army’s ears. The skies above were now filling with Chinese J-10 aircrafts, and there was nothing anybody could do about it at the moment. With the dozens of aircraft the Chinese had lost to the south and east to little gain, this was one success that had truly been achieved. There were no Indian fighters around anymore, as all of them had been pushed south by the SU-27s and SU-30MKKs. What had happened to them was another matter, but here, now, the Chinese were able to reach their targets unhindered and with full tactical coherence. This fight was theirs from the beginning.
The sixteen aircraft had come south in flights of four, one behind the other. As such, there were four such groups lined up south to north, and minutes behind each other. All were flying at high altitude for this first phase of the mission. The first two groups were armed for the SEAD mission, and were carrying ARMs in addition to several laser-guided bombs. The second group was also carrying cluster bombs to take care of the anti aircraft systems after the ARMs had crippled the Indian guidance radars. The last two groups were not carrying anti-radar munitions, but instead were carrying dumb bombs and napalm for that special attention that they intended to give the Indian gun batteries. Two aircraft of the third group were also armed with a couple of self-defence air-to-air, short-range missiles. The first two groups were already searching for the Indian radars.
On the defender’s side, there really wasn’t much they could do as long as the J-10s stayed at high altitude. There were no long-range high-altitude surface to air missiles at Tawang sector due to its close proximity with the battle zone, and in any case there was the one Chinese EW H-6 that was accompanying this battle formation from the east of Tawang. Instead, the air defence system at Tawang was designed to accept high altitude defence from the IAF fighters while the low to medium altitude levels were under the control of the local army Tunguska mobile AA systems and the extreme low altitude profiles under the control of the AA gun battery spread around the town as well as the Igla MANPAD systems. But there were no IAF fighter around at the moment, and the range of the Tunguska was limited to a dozen kilomtres for its SA-19 missiles and much lower for its 30mm guns. So, unless the Chinese dropped to that close a range, there was nothing that the Indian army units could do but to hunker down and wait it out.
Apart from that, there was single Indra-II tracking radar at Tawang that was operating. Two others were still unpacked and hidden within the hills around the town; as replacements should the first one take a hit. All Tunguska systems were taking data from this radar at the moment and were putting their systems on hold. No need to tell the Chinese where they were hiding, was there? The Igla crews were the only one doing their own IR tracking, but the targets were too far away for them to reach, so all they did was look at them through the thermal scopes as bright hot spots against the cold dark night sky behind them, waiting for the Chinese to come closer. That wasn’t about to happen very soon, and so the Indra-II didn’t last for too long.
The first wave of Chinese J-10s was near Tawang now, and the first ARM had already been released. The town below was under blackout, and thus under a veil of darkness, but soon that veil was lifted as a huge orange flash on the hill near the town informed all civilians there that the Chinese had arrived. Most were on the roofs of their houses and staring into the darkness despite the Civil Administration’s order to stay inside. That one flash vanished and was replaced by the yellow glow from a small patch of burning trees around the site where the radar had been placed. Then, in all absurdity, it went quiet again.
The lack of targets was the reason behind the silence as there were no more radars operating. The Tunguska crews were sitting with the hatches of their vehicles open and listening for the sounds of the aircraft. By the sounds they could tell whether the aircraft was roughly in their range or not. If their ears weren’t convinced, then the Chinese weren’t in their range. And if they weren’t in the range, why illuminate the radars unnecessarily and point themselves out to the Chinese? So the crews continued to sit with their headphones around their necks and all ears listening for the noise around them.
War is always supposed to be played with a functioning intellect. And the Indian crews were showing their resourcefulness at the grassroots level. They all knew that looking for hidden vehicles in dense urban and vegetated hilly backgrounds from the air is never easy during daytime, and at night it only gets worse, despite all the high-tech night vision systems. Their vehicle engines were also off, and had been off ever since they had arrived at their locations in the hills several hours ago, so as not to give out a thermal picture from the air to the Chinese. And with their internal systems switched off, their hatches open and the cold environment around, there were no heat sources to be found from the air, much to the frustration of the Chinese pilots in the first wave of four aircrafts.
And the inaction on the Chinese part was visible to all on the ground, as after the sudden destruction of the Indra radar on the hill nearby, there were no more explosions, but the sounds of the aircrafts were still there. Despite the woollen clothes the Tunguska crews were wearing, it was still freezing cold. But they were smiling through the snow at the inaction of the Chinese around them. Inaction bears frustration. Frustration leads to mistakes, and it wasn’t going to be long before the Chinese tried something that was against what they had planned.
The problem was that with the few minutes’ separation between the four J-10 groups, the first group was supposed to have destroyed the local air defence system before the second arrived to finish the job. Then the others would arrive at lower altitudes to get the artillery guns that were already packing and scrambling below. The longer the Chinese waited, the more likely it was that their strike’s effectiveness would reduce. Worse, the skies above were getting clogged with more aircraft with each passing minute. Something had to be done fast. Unfortunately, the Indian crews were holding their nerve.
There was not so much as a twitch from the Indian side, and the Chinese flight commander was getting weak knees inside his cockpit. This was where flexibility was required, and while the IAF strived to induce flexibility in their plans and for commanders to make decisions in such cases, the PLAAF strived for discipline and so did not attempt to induce such thinking at lower levels and this was the result.
The Chinese commander did not know what to do other than to direct his bombers into attack as planned earlier. He would stay at high altitude and at suitable range so that when the Indians opened up at the attacking J-10s at lower level, he would pounce on them. In effect he was ordering the third and fourth groups to go forward as bait, and it shocked most of the crews when that order came. However, there really wasn’t much that they could do other than to follow orders. And so they began their bombing run on the four different gun batteries around Tawang, two aircrafts per battery, carrying napalm and dumb bombs.
As the eight J-10s headed towards the town, the noise changed on the ground. That’s when the Tunguska crews swung into action. They clambered into the vehicle and shut the hatch above their heads. As all systems were brought on-line, the turret powered up and the radar picked up the pairs of J-10s in a shallow dive towards the batteries around the town. There were half a dozen Tunguskas in the hills, and they were spread out in a northwards facing arc around the town. The artillery batteries were to their south, so in order to get to them, the J-10s had to literally over fly the Indian Tunguskas, and that was equivalent to suicide, but they had no idea what was below them. That changed the moment the vehicle radars switched on, and the Chinese aborted their attacks on the ground targets to evade the numerous SA-19s that were heading towards them from the ground.
The first to get hit was a pair of J-10s heading for the easternmost battery near the town, and the leading aircraft in that group didn’t have time to react as two SA-19s slammed into the front part of the aircraft, sending the burning remains of the fuselage heading down. The second aircraft in that group flipped to one side and pulled to the right, dropping chaff and flares and unwittingly flew right into the gun range for another Tunguska to the right. The hill where that vehicle was based, lit up as the two powerful 30mm guns on the turret blazed away, sending yellow tracers at the rate of thousands of round a minute towards the target, guided all the way by the turret mounted radar. The tracers were like a thin beam of light in the sky and they made contact with the aircraft body in seconds as it flew past the hill, and with that number of bullets hitting the airframe, it took only seconds more for the aircraft to break apart into small pieces followed by a orange flash that blotted the aircraft out of the sky. Two J-10s were now down.
Further west, another group of two J-10s were bounced by a single Tunguska who had waited as long as he dared, and when he had finally switched on his radar, the J-10s were literally overhead. So his guns spoke before his missiles. The two Chinese pilots were also surprised by the suddenness of the acquisition and they took a bit longer to react while they dropped flares and chaff in frenzy. Then a beam of tracers went skywards from the hill below and initially passed between the two aircrafts and caused the two pilots to stare at the light between them before the both split, left and right.
The aircraft on the right was hit from behind by the gunfire and the single engine was knocked out from the hundreds of bullets that hit it within seconds, thanks to the Tunguska’s massive gunfire rate. That pilot had the luxury of ejecting. His comrade in the east avenged him by dropping al his ordinance of napalm in a single pass on the hill slope that housed the Tunguska vehicle in a radical turn and the hill below vanished in a massive set of flames as the napalm fell. Within seconds the flames vanished and left the hillside devastated with fires from burning vegetation and the burning hulk of the Tunguska vehicle.
More to the west, the remaining two pairs of J-10s were engaged by the remaining three Tunguska system’s SA-19 missiles and that blotted out three of the J-10s in quick succession, sending them down in balls of fire. The remaining J-10 was the lucky one to actually over fly this line of Indian defence intact and was suddenly over the town of Tawang. The pilot was extremely jittery after the murderous fire they had gone through and was thus not able to calm down properly to conduct the search for his targets.
In the mix of anger and fear, he conducted what was the first Chinese atrocity against civilians when he released his napalm ordinance over the civilian areas of the town. The bombs fell right on the town and a major part of it vanished within balls of fire and explosions that turned night into day for the areas around. the fire claimed the lives of dozens and dozens of indian civilians.
As the pilot of the J-10 turned towards the north to go back home, his aircraft was hit from all sides by the L-40 guns of the sole Indian air defence gun battery around the town. The aircraft was crippled and was blown out of the sky in a thundering explosion.
Below him the town ot Tawang was left amidst a mass of flames and smoke. But the battle wasn't over yet.
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vivek_ahuja
- BRF Oldie
- Posts: 2394
- Joined: 07 Feb 2007 16:58
CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST:
SKIES OVER TAWANG
NORTHWESTERN ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA
2115 HRS THURSDAY
Now the Indian Tunguska systems began taking hits. The eight SEAD optimised J-10s had now locked on to several radars and had released their ordinance and these hit the three vehicles out of the remaining five. The remaining vehicles moved out of their locations after shutting down their radars and moved back down the reverse southern slopes to evade destruction. That’s when the Chinese J-10s flew over the town at high altitude.
They still had several LGBs with them to use against the Indian artillery batteries that the other eight aircraft had failed to attack. But with so much delay in the attack, the most of the Indian guns were already under cover, and the IR scanners on the J-10s weren’t helping, thanks to the massive fires within the town and the massive thermal radiation signature. Despite that, one battery was located and it’s several guns were hit with the guided bombs. The northern battery, which had already taken murderous losses earlier in the day was also found and hit again, and this time its command centre was hit, ending the last vestiges of what had been a proud battery of 155mm guns. By the time the third battery was found, the Chinese aircrafts were running low on ordinance and were forced to break off after killing several guns.
All eight aircrafts headed north and made their egress back into china unchallenged, ending the first savage attack on Tawang. It had cost the Chinese half of their force of sixteen aircrafts and had led to the destruction of four of the six Tunguska systems at Tawang. In addition, a radar system had been destroyed, but the two packed replacements were already being brought online. Three artillery batteries had been hit. Two of them were now out of action. The third was heavily damaged. But the Smerch battery had survived, thanks to its shoot-and-scoot capability. Dozens of Indian soldiers and crew had been killed. The Indian air defence and artillery capability in and around Tawang had been severely weakened, but at heavy loss to the Chinese, who had lost eight of their new J-10s in this attack.
But the main loss of the battle had nothing to do with each side’s military. A lone Chinese pilot had hit the town of Tawang in an act of anger. Although he was now dead, he had taken at least a hundred Indian civilians with him. The town of Tawang was burning and as the fire fighters fought to contain the massive napalm induced fires that were lighting up the sky, the civilian casualties mounted steadily. Within minutes the first news of the attack was going out via the media, and it was one that was to have severe international repercussions. Before that happened, however, the news reached the Indian command centres.
It also reached the office of the PLAAF commander. He sent out a congratulations message to the J-10 unit for avenging the Indian attack on Khaleb in Tibet that had occurred earlier in the day. It didn’t bother him that it hadn’t exactly been planned, or that the attack on Khaleb hadn’t exactly claimed any civilian lives. From there he went to directly meet the Chinese Premier in his office with the good news in his hands.
The news also reached the office of the Indian Defence Minister. And his reaction was to slam the table in front of him with his fist.
SKIES OVER TAWANG
NORTHWESTERN ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA
2115 HRS THURSDAY
Now the Indian Tunguska systems began taking hits. The eight SEAD optimised J-10s had now locked on to several radars and had released their ordinance and these hit the three vehicles out of the remaining five. The remaining vehicles moved out of their locations after shutting down their radars and moved back down the reverse southern slopes to evade destruction. That’s when the Chinese J-10s flew over the town at high altitude.
They still had several LGBs with them to use against the Indian artillery batteries that the other eight aircraft had failed to attack. But with so much delay in the attack, the most of the Indian guns were already under cover, and the IR scanners on the J-10s weren’t helping, thanks to the massive fires within the town and the massive thermal radiation signature. Despite that, one battery was located and it’s several guns were hit with the guided bombs. The northern battery, which had already taken murderous losses earlier in the day was also found and hit again, and this time its command centre was hit, ending the last vestiges of what had been a proud battery of 155mm guns. By the time the third battery was found, the Chinese aircrafts were running low on ordinance and were forced to break off after killing several guns.
All eight aircrafts headed north and made their egress back into china unchallenged, ending the first savage attack on Tawang. It had cost the Chinese half of their force of sixteen aircrafts and had led to the destruction of four of the six Tunguska systems at Tawang. In addition, a radar system had been destroyed, but the two packed replacements were already being brought online. Three artillery batteries had been hit. Two of them were now out of action. The third was heavily damaged. But the Smerch battery had survived, thanks to its shoot-and-scoot capability. Dozens of Indian soldiers and crew had been killed. The Indian air defence and artillery capability in and around Tawang had been severely weakened, but at heavy loss to the Chinese, who had lost eight of their new J-10s in this attack.
But the main loss of the battle had nothing to do with each side’s military. A lone Chinese pilot had hit the town of Tawang in an act of anger. Although he was now dead, he had taken at least a hundred Indian civilians with him. The town of Tawang was burning and as the fire fighters fought to contain the massive napalm induced fires that were lighting up the sky, the civilian casualties mounted steadily. Within minutes the first news of the attack was going out via the media, and it was one that was to have severe international repercussions. Before that happened, however, the news reached the Indian command centres.
It also reached the office of the PLAAF commander. He sent out a congratulations message to the J-10 unit for avenging the Indian attack on Khaleb in Tibet that had occurred earlier in the day. It didn’t bother him that it hadn’t exactly been planned, or that the attack on Khaleb hadn’t exactly claimed any civilian lives. From there he went to directly meet the Chinese Premier in his office with the good news in his hands.
The news also reached the office of the Indian Defence Minister. And his reaction was to slam the table in front of him with his fist.
My one suggestion would be that the PLAN's use of Carriers is highly unlikely in the time frame we are dealing in.may be you should try to write your scenario or make explicit suggestions to improve bala's...
Its 2007 today and the Chinese have NO operational Carrier. From what i have been told by a very senior IN gent was that it would take close to a decade to be able to deploy a carrier effectively once it has been bought. (with Airwing)
Not only do you have to learn and master Carrier based Operations for Aircraft but also Maritime DACT without land support.
Then you have to learn Carrier based operations within Carrier Groups and how to protect the carrier,etc. Then you have to develop and Practice tactics and Doctrine (which takes time... Just look at how long InAF has taken to develop BVR tactics eventhough we have had BVR rounds for years).
Effectively if the PLAN was to get a Carrier today ..i dont see how it can be deployed in indian Waters before 2013-2015. Keep in mind this is not about Excersies or Goodwill visits. This is a real war. Far From home in Enemy waters.
IMO the Capabilities of the Indian AF/Navy should also be upgraded (keeping in mind the time frame) accordingly.
Given that india has only around 300-400 pieces of 155mm artillery and majority will be deployed against pak, is indian artillery concentration in the NE enough to take on the chinese threat?
Also,is indian SAM/radar concentration in the NE so high as in the story or is it just an exagguration??
these are genuine questions onlee.....
Wont aksai chin be attacked as chinese have better mobilisation and firepower that side compared to the indians??
Also,is indian SAM/radar concentration in the NE so high as in the story or is it just an exagguration??
these are genuine questions onlee.....
Wont aksai chin be attacked as chinese have better mobilisation and firepower that side compared to the indians??
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vivek_ahuja
- BRF Oldie
- Posts: 2394
- Joined: 07 Feb 2007 16:58
nope.Given that india has only around 300-400 pieces of 155mm artillery and majority will be deployed against pak, is indian artillery concentration in the NE enough to take on the chinese threat?
i am not sure you have read the previous posts properly. the entire battle so far has been for the Tawang sector only. the rest of the border is getting shelled by the chinese without problems so far. so we need more artillery, sure, but we can also play smart and maximise concentration in an area to increase superiority there and defeat the chinese there rather than to try and match their capabilites across the whole spectrum.
also, the deployment against Pakistan does not mean that if there is another war, in another theatre, they won't be airlifted to that theatre. that will leave the pakistan border based artillery thinly spread, but what are you going to do? lose a war to keep the pakis in place?
no, that's no exaggeration. we have that capability. its also a question of concentrating them at one crucial sector. that's where intelligence somes in. also, i don't think i portrayed the concentration as too high. its a single group of six Tunguskas and supporting Iglas who are deployed at Tawang. its just that they played it smart and with superior tactics than the chinese.Also,is indian SAM/radar concentration in the NE so high as in the story or is it just an exagguration??
your reaction is what the chinese pilots would have felt when they ran into that ambush, don't you think?
its been a single day of war. check the timezones i mention in each post.Wont aksai chin be attacked as chinese have better mobilisation and firepower that side compared to the indians??
its been a war of provocation and counter-provocations so far, not an all out invasion, yet. remember the posts on the tibet bumber hunt and Pivot strike? where do you think the chinese troops were heading for in the north-WEST from Lhasa?
hang in there...
Vivek Ahuja
-
member_10761
- BRFite -Trainee
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Quick Posts
Please send quick posts sir! Situation is increasing BP. 
We would probably need that dam for our energy needs.. after sending our men to Beijing without a passport or a visa.-
vivek_ahuja
- BRF Oldie
- Posts: 2394
- Joined: 07 Feb 2007 16:58
IAF PHALCON AWACS AIRCRAFT (CALL SIGN: VICTOR ONE)
2 TACTICAL AIR CENTRE (1 TAC)
ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA
2110 HRS THURSDAY
The air war was being managed from the operations centre at Kalaikunda, but it was from the inside of this aircraft that the real tactical decisions were being made by middle grade officers of the Air Force. The classic example of this system was the current operation being coordinated, Operation SUPPORT-SWIPE. The decision to go ahead with this operation had been made at the EAC command centre by the Air-level officers, but the second that decision was taken, the operational command of the mission passed to the Mission commander inside the Phalcon AWACS aircraft, and the supporting operators. They had been alone for some time now. No longer.
The Indian aerial surveillance system over the Northeast was now expanding by the minute. Another Phalcon, VICTOR-FIVE, was arriving on station far to the west, in 1 TAC to coordinate operations there. That meant that VICTOR-ONE could coordinate the operations in 2 TAC and 3 TAC. The coordination was mutually inclusive and not simply exclusive. There were several overlaps to ensure smooth transition of control over combat flight groups as they passed from one sector to another. There was also continuous data transfer from both Phalcon aircrafts to each other. This avoided tunnel vision and produced an overall picture of the sky over the Indian northeast. This produced extraordinary results as far as battlefield transparency was concerned. Everybody knew what everybody else was doing, and that led to fast track operations. It also produced somewhat dramatic results. At the moment, a battle being fought in 1 TAC was being witnessed and studied by the operators in the Phalcon flying further east, covering 2 and 3 TAC while they coordinated their current task under the fast evolving battle situation with the six Mig-21s involved with SUPPORT-SWIPE.
The last group of SU-27s over Indian soil was being destroyed in a clinical fashion by the SU-30MKIs in 1 TAC. There were twelve Chinese aircrafts in the region. Four coming on a north-south axis from Tawang and eight coming on an east-west axis to form an L shaped formation. Behind them there were five EW H-6s that were the primary targets for SUPPORT-SWIPE. Facing them now were more than sixteen SU-30MKIs coming from the west, and divided into three groups. Eight of these aircrafts were of the former force that had been here from the beginning. The other eight were reinforcements from the west. The first eight had already engaged, with four SU-30MKIs around Bomdila going after the north four SU-27s and the other four aircrafts engaging the main force of eight aircraft from their south. And in the west, the sight reinforcements were directly facing the Chinese was about to engage. This time, there were no hide and seek tactics. The IAF pilots had been told to finish the battle with a direct assault through the main SU-27 force. The battle went badly for the Chinese SU-27s from the start.
They were outnumbered for the first time by the IAF in a tactical situation, thanks to the losses and the failure of their comrades in the other two SU-27 forces to finish their own jobs. This is what is called tunnel vision. They were also qualitatively outmatched. There was little that could have been done by the Chinese commander to alter the equation this late in the game in any case. And he knew it. He also didn’t have any idea of what was ahead because the massive opposing force in front of him was keeping active radar on standby and using feed from the Phalcon. The Chinese commander didn’t have that luxury. It was therefore only a matter of time before it ended. The one realistic choice that he had was to pull back and cut his losses. But when he should authorise that was a question that he could have answered only when he knew what lay ahead. He didn’t. But he made a note in his head that if something were to go wrong now, he would make that decision. The ‘wrong’ part started in earnest.
The northern force was the first to be chopped off. The four SU-27s there didn’t know what was around until the first SU-27 on the left side of their force received a hit from the rear and was destroyed in the air in a massive fireball that also peppered the port wing of the SU-27 on its right with red hot pieces of the airframe. There was no warning from any system. That meant that the missiles were IR guided close range missiles…and that they had been bounced. The Chinese radars were active and should have given them a look at the front acquisition cone of the radar, but the four Indian fighters were not there.
They had been directed to the rear hemisphere of the Chinese aircrafts after moving northwest of Bomdila, over Bhutanese airspace, then north and then southeast again into India. At one point on this path the four Indian SU-30MKIs had come close enough to Tawang that they had nearly been in range of the northwards fleeing J-10 force of eight aircrafts, but they had been too late to change the matters on the ground there since that particular battle had already been over. They had actually seen the orange glow on the horizon caused by what must have been napalm-induced fires. That had only increased their determination, if not ruthlessness. They finished the job before the Chinese knew what happened.
The second aircraft took a hit three seconds after the first one had gone down, and as the first flare was dumped out by a third aircraft, it too received a hit. There were just too many missiles coming after the hot engines of the Chinese aircraft and from very close range. There was literally no human reaction time. The last aircraft had just managed a flip to its left when the last two missiles slammed into the engines and slashed the aircraft from the air in a huge flash of fire and thunder in the night sky. And in as many seconds, four Chinese SU-27s had been lost.
This was the ‘wrong’ part that the Chinese commander was waiting for. He saw that he had lost a third of his force in a span of a few seconds. And there were more Indian fighters out there for sure. With the survival of the Indian Phalcon, it had been a lost cause for his aircrafts long ago. Now he decided to save as many as he could. The order was passed to the others and within seconds the eight aircraft began to flip on their right and then move in a northeasterly course to escape back to china. The southernmost group of two aircrafts didn’t even make it that far as the southern Indian SU-30MKI force had also engaged, and claimed two shot down before the rest engaged reheat and attempted escape. The main force of eight SU-30MKIs was not yet in range, and when they saw a Chinese retreat, they also engaged reheat to give pursuit.
The Chinese decision to abort led to severe consequences for the Jorhat based Mig-21s that were going after the Chinese EW H-6 aircrafts. They were not yet in range, and there were other problems for them now. The ARC B-707 that was to provide positional data had not anticipated a Chinese retreat and was thus not on station yet. And there was no time now.
Further, with the six remaining SU-27s of the western barrier force heading northeast in front of them, and the three remaining SU-27s of the former Chinese centre force also heading northeast below them, the Mig-21s ran the risk of being surrounded from both sides as the Chinese aircraft flew on. Once that happened, they would run the risk of being engaged by the SU-27s whose pilots might see them as targets of opportunity on the way home. A fast decision had to be made by the operators of the Phalcon covering 2 and 3 TAC, whose zone of control the Chinese were now entering after escaping 1 TAC. The success or defeat of SUPPORT-SWIPE hung in the balance.
Aboard the Phalcon, the mission commander was reviewing the data from the radar screen before deciding that this little decision had to be taken by someone higher up the chain of command. He was soon on the line with EAC HQ (Operations), after which he was asked to hold. Then the voice of Air Marshal Shankar came on-line. This was the air marshal’s personal mission, and thus he had the final say.
“This is Air Marshal Shankar, what the hell is going on?â€
2 TACTICAL AIR CENTRE (1 TAC)
ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA
2110 HRS THURSDAY
The air war was being managed from the operations centre at Kalaikunda, but it was from the inside of this aircraft that the real tactical decisions were being made by middle grade officers of the Air Force. The classic example of this system was the current operation being coordinated, Operation SUPPORT-SWIPE. The decision to go ahead with this operation had been made at the EAC command centre by the Air-level officers, but the second that decision was taken, the operational command of the mission passed to the Mission commander inside the Phalcon AWACS aircraft, and the supporting operators. They had been alone for some time now. No longer.
The Indian aerial surveillance system over the Northeast was now expanding by the minute. Another Phalcon, VICTOR-FIVE, was arriving on station far to the west, in 1 TAC to coordinate operations there. That meant that VICTOR-ONE could coordinate the operations in 2 TAC and 3 TAC. The coordination was mutually inclusive and not simply exclusive. There were several overlaps to ensure smooth transition of control over combat flight groups as they passed from one sector to another. There was also continuous data transfer from both Phalcon aircrafts to each other. This avoided tunnel vision and produced an overall picture of the sky over the Indian northeast. This produced extraordinary results as far as battlefield transparency was concerned. Everybody knew what everybody else was doing, and that led to fast track operations. It also produced somewhat dramatic results. At the moment, a battle being fought in 1 TAC was being witnessed and studied by the operators in the Phalcon flying further east, covering 2 and 3 TAC while they coordinated their current task under the fast evolving battle situation with the six Mig-21s involved with SUPPORT-SWIPE.
The last group of SU-27s over Indian soil was being destroyed in a clinical fashion by the SU-30MKIs in 1 TAC. There were twelve Chinese aircrafts in the region. Four coming on a north-south axis from Tawang and eight coming on an east-west axis to form an L shaped formation. Behind them there were five EW H-6s that were the primary targets for SUPPORT-SWIPE. Facing them now were more than sixteen SU-30MKIs coming from the west, and divided into three groups. Eight of these aircrafts were of the former force that had been here from the beginning. The other eight were reinforcements from the west. The first eight had already engaged, with four SU-30MKIs around Bomdila going after the north four SU-27s and the other four aircrafts engaging the main force of eight aircraft from their south. And in the west, the sight reinforcements were directly facing the Chinese was about to engage. This time, there were no hide and seek tactics. The IAF pilots had been told to finish the battle with a direct assault through the main SU-27 force. The battle went badly for the Chinese SU-27s from the start.
They were outnumbered for the first time by the IAF in a tactical situation, thanks to the losses and the failure of their comrades in the other two SU-27 forces to finish their own jobs. This is what is called tunnel vision. They were also qualitatively outmatched. There was little that could have been done by the Chinese commander to alter the equation this late in the game in any case. And he knew it. He also didn’t have any idea of what was ahead because the massive opposing force in front of him was keeping active radar on standby and using feed from the Phalcon. The Chinese commander didn’t have that luxury. It was therefore only a matter of time before it ended. The one realistic choice that he had was to pull back and cut his losses. But when he should authorise that was a question that he could have answered only when he knew what lay ahead. He didn’t. But he made a note in his head that if something were to go wrong now, he would make that decision. The ‘wrong’ part started in earnest.
The northern force was the first to be chopped off. The four SU-27s there didn’t know what was around until the first SU-27 on the left side of their force received a hit from the rear and was destroyed in the air in a massive fireball that also peppered the port wing of the SU-27 on its right with red hot pieces of the airframe. There was no warning from any system. That meant that the missiles were IR guided close range missiles…and that they had been bounced. The Chinese radars were active and should have given them a look at the front acquisition cone of the radar, but the four Indian fighters were not there.
They had been directed to the rear hemisphere of the Chinese aircrafts after moving northwest of Bomdila, over Bhutanese airspace, then north and then southeast again into India. At one point on this path the four Indian SU-30MKIs had come close enough to Tawang that they had nearly been in range of the northwards fleeing J-10 force of eight aircrafts, but they had been too late to change the matters on the ground there since that particular battle had already been over. They had actually seen the orange glow on the horizon caused by what must have been napalm-induced fires. That had only increased their determination, if not ruthlessness. They finished the job before the Chinese knew what happened.
The second aircraft took a hit three seconds after the first one had gone down, and as the first flare was dumped out by a third aircraft, it too received a hit. There were just too many missiles coming after the hot engines of the Chinese aircraft and from very close range. There was literally no human reaction time. The last aircraft had just managed a flip to its left when the last two missiles slammed into the engines and slashed the aircraft from the air in a huge flash of fire and thunder in the night sky. And in as many seconds, four Chinese SU-27s had been lost.
This was the ‘wrong’ part that the Chinese commander was waiting for. He saw that he had lost a third of his force in a span of a few seconds. And there were more Indian fighters out there for sure. With the survival of the Indian Phalcon, it had been a lost cause for his aircrafts long ago. Now he decided to save as many as he could. The order was passed to the others and within seconds the eight aircraft began to flip on their right and then move in a northeasterly course to escape back to china. The southernmost group of two aircrafts didn’t even make it that far as the southern Indian SU-30MKI force had also engaged, and claimed two shot down before the rest engaged reheat and attempted escape. The main force of eight SU-30MKIs was not yet in range, and when they saw a Chinese retreat, they also engaged reheat to give pursuit.
The Chinese decision to abort led to severe consequences for the Jorhat based Mig-21s that were going after the Chinese EW H-6 aircrafts. They were not yet in range, and there were other problems for them now. The ARC B-707 that was to provide positional data had not anticipated a Chinese retreat and was thus not on station yet. And there was no time now.
Further, with the six remaining SU-27s of the western barrier force heading northeast in front of them, and the three remaining SU-27s of the former Chinese centre force also heading northeast below them, the Mig-21s ran the risk of being surrounded from both sides as the Chinese aircraft flew on. Once that happened, they would run the risk of being engaged by the SU-27s whose pilots might see them as targets of opportunity on the way home. A fast decision had to be made by the operators of the Phalcon covering 2 and 3 TAC, whose zone of control the Chinese were now entering after escaping 1 TAC. The success or defeat of SUPPORT-SWIPE hung in the balance.
Aboard the Phalcon, the mission commander was reviewing the data from the radar screen before deciding that this little decision had to be taken by someone higher up the chain of command. He was soon on the line with EAC HQ (Operations), after which he was asked to hold. Then the voice of Air Marshal Shankar came on-line. This was the air marshal’s personal mission, and thus he had the final say.
“This is Air Marshal Shankar, what the hell is going on?â€
-
vivek_ahuja
- BRF Oldie
- Posts: 2394
- Joined: 07 Feb 2007 16:58
AMBALA AIR FORCE STATION
INDIA
2145 HRS THURSDAY
The difference between wartime dispositions of the aircraft based in the east and the north and those placed further inwards was startling. Those in the east and north were under a constant threat of attack the moment this crisis had started. But the Indian air defence system was still up, and that meant that the bases that were more inwards were safe from actual attack as such and this reflected in the dispersal tactics among these bases as compared to the frontier based ones. And the threat to the north and eastern bases was real and deadly. During the course of the single day of war, the IAF had suffered severe attacks at Bareilly, and Sukerating. Both had been knocked out of action for the next few hours at the minimum. The Chinese had suffered severe losses in making these attacks, and that was the sole comfort for the Indian planners for the night.
The dispersal at Ambala was semi-real. That was because of the mixture of caution and risk that was being taken on the tarmac to speed up things. For example, the aircrafts that were not involved in any action for the moment were safely housed in their individual HAS, but those that were about to go on operations within the hour were housed in the open and together, on a section of the tarmac close to the main taxiway. Technically they too should have been in the shelters, but that slowed down preparations and launching, and that was something the Air Force could not afford. Things were taking place within minutes, not hours, in this initial hectic phase of the war as both sides were throwing everything they had at each other. That would slow down over the days as each side suffered the inevitable attritions and exhaustion. The theory for parking the aircraft marked for operations close to the runway was that if a threat was indeed detected, they could all scramble into the air long before the threat materialized.
The threat itself was all theoretical, this far inland, and the Pakistani threat on the western side wasn’t so much at the moment. But a wary eye was being kept on them as well. The Pakistanis could not have failed to notice the Indian deployments to the east and northeast that were reducing the force structure on their border, and sure enough, a couple of Pakistani Erieyes were in the air since the aborted Chinese strike against targets in Delhi in the afternoon. This timeline coincidence could not be ignored, and it was possible that the PAF was indeed handing over information of IAF deployments that were heading to the east from the WAC bases, to china, as active real-time intelligence. But short of shooting sown those two aircrafts, there was really nothing that could be done at the moment. Also, there were no PAF fighter deployment changes as of yet, confirmed by the DIA as well as the Aerostats deployed at the border. So there was no immediate threat. But that could change in a matter of hours.
There were a large number of Jaguars at Ambala and part of the force was the entire TO&E of the 14 Squadron, christened “Bullsâ€
INDIA
2145 HRS THURSDAY
The difference between wartime dispositions of the aircraft based in the east and the north and those placed further inwards was startling. Those in the east and north were under a constant threat of attack the moment this crisis had started. But the Indian air defence system was still up, and that meant that the bases that were more inwards were safe from actual attack as such and this reflected in the dispersal tactics among these bases as compared to the frontier based ones. And the threat to the north and eastern bases was real and deadly. During the course of the single day of war, the IAF had suffered severe attacks at Bareilly, and Sukerating. Both had been knocked out of action for the next few hours at the minimum. The Chinese had suffered severe losses in making these attacks, and that was the sole comfort for the Indian planners for the night.
The dispersal at Ambala was semi-real. That was because of the mixture of caution and risk that was being taken on the tarmac to speed up things. For example, the aircrafts that were not involved in any action for the moment were safely housed in their individual HAS, but those that were about to go on operations within the hour were housed in the open and together, on a section of the tarmac close to the main taxiway. Technically they too should have been in the shelters, but that slowed down preparations and launching, and that was something the Air Force could not afford. Things were taking place within minutes, not hours, in this initial hectic phase of the war as both sides were throwing everything they had at each other. That would slow down over the days as each side suffered the inevitable attritions and exhaustion. The theory for parking the aircraft marked for operations close to the runway was that if a threat was indeed detected, they could all scramble into the air long before the threat materialized.
The threat itself was all theoretical, this far inland, and the Pakistani threat on the western side wasn’t so much at the moment. But a wary eye was being kept on them as well. The Pakistanis could not have failed to notice the Indian deployments to the east and northeast that were reducing the force structure on their border, and sure enough, a couple of Pakistani Erieyes were in the air since the aborted Chinese strike against targets in Delhi in the afternoon. This timeline coincidence could not be ignored, and it was possible that the PAF was indeed handing over information of IAF deployments that were heading to the east from the WAC bases, to china, as active real-time intelligence. But short of shooting sown those two aircrafts, there was really nothing that could be done at the moment. Also, there were no PAF fighter deployment changes as of yet, confirmed by the DIA as well as the Aerostats deployed at the border. So there was no immediate threat. But that could change in a matter of hours.
There were a large number of Jaguars at Ambala and part of the force was the entire TO&E of the 14 Squadron, christened “Bullsâ€
Vivek
Good work on this action packed scenario(s).
But in last two posts there is not much progress.
There is too much head-office talk in this fast pace action.
You run the risk of dis-interest, if you do not lead the readers into another set of action sooner than the later.
Every now and then, you have to recap wins, losses, defeat and victories both yours own and the enemy's. That will keep the scenario very upto-date.
Good work on this action packed scenario(s).
But in last two posts there is not much progress.
There is too much head-office talk in this fast pace action.
You run the risk of dis-interest, if you do not lead the readers into another set of action sooner than the later.
Every now and then, you have to recap wins, losses, defeat and victories both yours own and the enemy's. That will keep the scenario very upto-date.
On the contrary, I think Vivek is doing a great job. Wouldn't want him to change his style for anything. Ofcourse, he could always quit his day job and start posting here full-timeHari Sud wrote:Vivek
Good work on this action packed scenario(s).
But in last two posts there is not much progress.
There is too much head-office talk in this fast pace action.
You run the risk of dis-interest, if you do not lead the readers into another set of action sooner than the later.
Every now and then, you have to recap wins, losses, defeat and victories both yours own and the enemy's. That will keep the scenario very upto-date.
Hari; do us all a favor; Vivek is doing a great job and certainly does not need your suggestions. As others have suggested; if you feel the need for improvement; write your own scenario, but please shut up on the comments business.Hari Sud wrote:Vivek
You run the risk of dis-interest, if you do not lead the readers into another set of action sooner than the later.
Vivek great scenario; I cant see how it would get better; oh yes unless you start making like 5 posts every day.
Hold on guys.. don't argue..
I would like to suggest Hari to be more careful while suggesting .... because including me Yahan bahut bhawook log hai. I don't know why he likes to "draw fire".
Vivek you are doing just fine. Please carry on.
By the way, Bala where are you.. we are waiting for your posts. Don't care about who don't like your posts..at least care about us and thousands other who cannot post their opinion because they lack some work or official e-mail address to register.
Shankar... it is sad we didn't hear from you long time. Since your writing is completely different, we would love to see you back.
P.S I think we need a moderator here, who would co-ordinate between the authors.
I would like to suggest Hari to be more careful while suggesting .... because including me Yahan bahut bhawook log hai. I don't know why he likes to "draw fire".
Vivek you are doing just fine. Please carry on.
By the way, Bala where are you.. we are waiting for your posts. Don't care about who don't like your posts..at least care about us and thousands other who cannot post their opinion because they lack some work or official e-mail address to register.
Shankar... it is sad we didn't hear from you long time. Since your writing is completely different, we would love to see you back.
P.S I think we need a moderator here, who would co-ordinate between the authors.
Feedback on scenarios
Hari
Please restrict your feedback to technical issues. Let the author decide what he wants to write, the way he wants to write at a frequency at which he wants to write. I personally would like him to post more but it is upto him and his imagination to write scenarios. Either way, I am fine with what the author is providing for us.
Regards
Prasad
Please restrict your feedback to technical issues. Let the author decide what he wants to write, the way he wants to write at a frequency at which he wants to write. I personally would like him to post more but it is upto him and his imagination to write scenarios. Either way, I am fine with what the author is providing for us.
Regards
Prasad
Hari, instead of trying to micromanage vivek's scenario why don't you write your own scenario ??
if you do know about everything that needs to be done to create a good scenario why don't you apply it ??
either do that or do us a favour and shut up !!
your advices and picking holes are getting very irritating !!
if you do know about everything that needs to be done to create a good scenario why don't you apply it ??
either do that or do us a favour and shut up !!
your advices and picking holes are getting very irritating !!
Rahul M
you have ample opportunity to read my writing in the two websites below
(There about one hundred papers here)
http://saag.org/searchb10.asp?search=ha ... &B1=Submit
Also in this website
http://www.upiasiaonline.com/columnist. ... mnistID=82
Again I do edit Shankar's scenarios when he was posting. Also I do tender advice to Vivek when he seeks some (not thru this thread).
Now, please do shut up. I have given you enough to read about.
Hari Sud
you have ample opportunity to read my writing in the two websites below
(There about one hundred papers here)
http://saag.org/searchb10.asp?search=ha ... &B1=Submit
Also in this website
http://www.upiasiaonline.com/columnist. ... mnistID=82
Again I do edit Shankar's scenarios when he was posting. Also I do tender advice to Vivek when he seeks some (not thru this thread).
Now, please do shut up. I have given you enough to read about.
Hari Sud
Dear Hari Sud,
thanks for the ample opportunities that you have generously provided !!
now plz go on and post whatever you want to anywhere you want to (even on BRF if you want to) but plz do not derail this superb thread (which it is despite your absence, I must say !!) with your high nosed and "know-all" comments.
let vivek write without you picking holes in his scenarios.
do shut up or be greased ! as you wish it !!
OT, but you even lacked the courtesy to acknowledge it !!
thanks for the ample opportunities that you have generously provided !!
now plz go on and post whatever you want to anywhere you want to (even on BRF if you want to) but plz do not derail this superb thread (which it is despite your absence, I must say !!) with your high nosed and "know-all" comments.
let vivek write without you picking holes in his scenarios.
do shut up or be greased ! as you wish it !!
yah, I should know ! I was the one who sent you the pdf versions, if you can remember !!Again I do edit Shankar's scenarios when he was posting. Also I do tender advice to Vivek when he seeks some (not thru this thread).
OT, but you even lacked the courtesy to acknowledge it !!
I feel sorry for this buddy.......................Hari Sud wrote:,
you have ample opportunity to read my writing in the two websites below
(There about one hundred papers here)
http://saag.org/searchb10.asp?search=ha ... &B1=Submit
Also in this website
http://www.upiasiaonline.com/columnist. ... mnistID=82
Again I do edit Shankar's scenarios when he was posting. Also I do tender advice to Vivek when he seeks some (not thru this thread).
Now, please do shut up. I have given you enough to read about.
hope he recovers from hallucination about self.-
nikhil_p
- BR Mainsite Crew
- Posts: 378
- Joined: 07 Oct 2006 19:59
- Location: Sukhoi/Sukhoi (Jaguars gone :( )Gali, pune
I Have just recovered (almost) from a long layoff due to an accident...but what kept me going was vivek, shankar, and bala.
Great work guys.
and BTW
please check out the video on this link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub5NnjDugXQ
(read the previous posts to understand why!!!!
ha ha!!!
please take it in the right sense, no hard feelings...
Great work guys.
and BTW
please check out the video on this link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub5NnjDugXQ
(read the previous posts to understand why!!!!
ha ha!!!
please take it in the right sense, no hard feelings...
hi nikhil !!
good to hear from you after a long time !!
I have sent 2 emails to your lycos ID. plz answer them !
good to hear from you after a long time !!
I have sent 2 emails to your lycos ID. plz answer them !
please check out the video on this link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub5NnjDugXQ
nikhil_p wrote:I Have just recovered (almost) from a long layoff due to an accident...but what kept me going was vivek, shankar, and bala.
Great work guys.
and BTW
please check out the video on this link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub5NnjDugXQ
(read the previous posts to understand why!!!!
ha ha!!!
please take it in the right sense, no hard feelings...
Simblee Great ............ Don't you think you are on wrong thread?? You could be a great help on "Indian Economy" thread. JMTHari Sud wrote:Rahul M
you have ample opportunity to read my writing in the two websites below
(There about one hundred papers here)
http://saag.org/searchb10.asp?search=ha ... &B1=Submit
Also in this website
http://www.upiasiaonline.com/columnist. ... mnistID=82
Again I do edit Shankar's scenarios when he was posting. Also I do tender advice to Vivek when he seeks some (not thru this thread).
Now, please do shut up. I have given you enough to read about.
Hari Sud
Please guys.....refrain from provoking. Hari Sud, please edit and remove details and pics of yourself........you could be target of unwanted attention.
JMT.
Nobody have a doubt on your intelligence or wisdom. But person of your stature are utterly careful not to give anyone chance to slander him.Hari Sud wrote:Rahul M
you have ample opportunity to read my writing in the two websites below
(There about one hundred papers here)
http://saag.org/searchb10.asp?search=ha ... &B1=Submit
Also in this website
http://www.upiasiaonline.com/columnist. ... mnistID=82
Again I do edit Shankar's scenarios when he was posting. Also I do tender advice to Vivek when he seeks some (not thru this thread).
Now, please do shut up. I have given you enough to read about.
Hari Sud
Don't you think some of your actions are only compelling you to advertise yourself about your past work. Great people never advertise about themselves, in fact they are automatically known.
By showing carelessness while wording your suggestions you are losing your own credibility among the readers.
-
vivek_ahuja
- BRF Oldie
- Posts: 2394
- Joined: 07 Feb 2007 16:58
CHAPTER 4
THE TWENTY CLICK HAUL
THE ROAD FROM BUM-LA TO TAWANG
NORTH OF TAWANG,
ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA
2200 HRS THURSDAY
The sky was dark enough, but the man made fires were denying it the all-enveloping nature it normally possessed. The hills were silhouetted with the orange glow from the fires that seemed to be all around, but were actually a world away, at least for Captain Shukla and his men. There was the orange glow silhouetting the northern hills in china, and that was due to Indian artillery that had stopped sometime back. The hills to the east were glowing because of the Chinese artillery that was still hitting the Indian positions in the east of here. The southern hills behind them were backlit with the same glow and they were due to the pounding that Tawang had received a short while earlier. Something had been hit bad, Shukla and his men knew, as the intensity of the glow suggested, even from this distance. They had no idea that a Chinese pilot had attacked the town of Tawang itself, the one thing Captain Shukla and his men were out here to protect.
They had also had no idea of the intense air battles that their comrades in the Air Force had fought in the skies to the south. The only aircrafts they had seen had been the eight J-10s that had screamed over their head as they had gone back into china to the north on full afterburner, the orange cones of their engines making them visible against the night sky to the Indian troops below. Apart from that, the only thing flying that the troops here had seen had been the Chinese helicopters buzzing around Bum-La to their north, three of whom were now nothing more than twisted piles of burning metal thanks to the Smerch attack on Bum-La. Another Chinese reconnaissance helicopter had been knocked out of the sky by one of the local Igla teams, and it had crashed on the western slope of the hill to the east of the current location of the Indian troops, making the small mass of fires clearly visible to the Indians and a source of warmth to them as they sat on the rocks in the hills in the cold dark night.
The current location was the ‘zero’ line of defence for the Indian army north of Tawang. It was called the ‘zero’ line because it was not so much a defence line as much as a harassment and delaying line, built up with experienced mountain troops and having high mobility equipment so that once the pressure from the Chinese infantry started to build, they would simply fall back and fold the zero line into the first line of defence further south. In the meantime, however, they were to cause as much delay as was possible without losing a significant portion of their soldiers and equipment. They were expected to fight smart. Their bravery was already assumed, and they all knew it.
They were other considerations as well. And this had more to do with the overall tactical situation. Tawang was a mere Twenty Kilometres to the south of the zero line, and the easiest way to go there was by the road that went from Bum-La to the town. But with the closure of Bum-La to all Chinese heavy vehicles, the threat had again changed to the Chinese infantry that was beginning to amass in the hills to the north. They could easily overwhelm the relatively small number of Indian defenders here, in a situation that was becoming more like the 1962 war all over again. And this time too there were to be little, if any, close air support strikes by the Air Force, not because of any political bungling, but because there were no fighters in the EAC that could now be allocated to the close air role, and holding on to the air superiority itself was proving hard enough right about now. But there was a trump card that the Indians had.
Two days ago, several T-90 Squadrons of the 1ST Armoured Division had been airlifted to Tezpur where their crews had had the unwanted honour of seeing their tanks dismantled in front of them into the smallest pieces to be then Heli-lifted part by part, tank by tank, to various locations in Arunachal Pradesh. That meant that Tawang now had a group of Twelve T-90 tanks for the local defence. But it had been more than that. This had been a whole new war tactic, untested and unproven. Tanks in this part of the country were unheard of so far, but that was about to change.
There had been a lot of teething troubles of course. The crews, for one, had only begun training for this eventuality in a training program called ‘Steel White’ that had begun a few months back. They were all trained tankers, to be sure, but charging around the open areas of Punjab and facing classic armoured warfare is a whole lot different from the creeping slow movement and infantry support that was their job definition here. They were designed to be the close support long-range firepower that was to support the Indian infantry who in turn would support them. It was all part of a system. The tanks couldn’t fight alone, as they would fall easy prey to swarms of anti-tank missiles from all around. The infantry on the other hand couldn’t move alone either, especially against the far larger numbers of Chinese infantry. So the idea was of mutual support and survival, if played smartly.
Then there had been the equipment and logistical problem. Stores of reserve anti-tank rounds had to be built up in Tawang, most of which had to be brought in by trucks and helicopters. The crews needed familiarisation that could only be provided by the local experienced mountain troops. A new chain of command for the tanks had to be set up within the existing framework of the infantry chain of command. The tanks themselves were painted in their old overall sand coloured Desert camouflage pattern. So the Indian army had improvised a new paint scheme from the paint available locally, which gave the T-90s a new look in the form of brown and white painted streaks that was officially known as ‘Disruptive pattern Himalayas’ became popularly and unofficially known as the ‘The Himalayan Hue’ camouflage scheme. The crews had loved it. But that had been two days ago.
At the moment, five of the twelve tanks were in their dug in positions in the gradual hills along the road from Bum-La, further south, and thus part of the main lines of defence. Five of the remaining number were in the Indian army positions on the outskirts of the Town itself, where they could move more easily and thus act as fast moving reinforcements as well as the last line of defence for Tawang. The last two were not in any dug-in positions or in the town. They were out on the road itself, and at the moment were on the stretch of road that belonged to the ‘Zero’ line troops, as they eyed the movements across the Bum-La crossing and waited for the Chinese troops. The Tank Force commander was a Colonel from 1ST Armoured, and he was with the rest of the commanders in Tawang. Out here, Captain Shukla was leading the two tanks at Zero Line.
At the moment the two tanks were parked behind a turn on the road that blocked the Chinese view from the north. The engines were off, and the crew hatches were open. On both sides of the road the Mountain troops were busy setting up their defences against the first Chinese attack south that was now probably moments away. The infantry commander for the Mountain Troop battalion was Major R. V. Patel. He was the overall local commander of Zero Line. While his men fixed their defences in the night, he was standing just around the turning on the road with Captain Shukla. Both men had their low-light binoculars out and hanging from their necks. From this position they could see the Chinese troops milling about at the Bum-La crossing two kilometres away. The Chinese seemed to be waiting for something at the moment.
The Chinese on the other hand had their jobs made difficult by the Indian artillery attacks. Especially the Indian Smerch Launchers that had put a dent in their original plans. Now, they had Recon Infantry securing the perimeter while they waited for the engineers to arrive and clear the minefield that had been laid out at the crossing point. And until that happened, their heavy vehicles could not begin to arrive. Their light vehicles were starting to arrive, though. The first of the heavy Z-8 helicopters had delivered the first set of three light Recon vehicles to this position, so that the Recon teams could start thinking about movement. Several regiments of infantry were now coming down from the hills to the north so that they could begin the infantry assault against the first Indian line of defence to the south. The Chinese had known of Zero line’s existence ever since their first Z-9WZ Recon helicopter had been blown out of the sky in front of them by the Igla missile. The Chinese commander had decided to launch a standard infantry assault against the Indian positions to overwhelm and then overrun them. They didn’t know about the two Indian tanks at Zero Line.
With the crossing at Bum-La secure, and the Indian artillery and air defences at Tawang attacked, the Chinese were now finally feeling a little safer. Their infantry was now coming down from the hills to the north in large numbers, and were soon beginning to show themselves on the thermal imaging scopes mounted within the Indian lines. This was going to be a night time infantry battle, and that was easier for the attacking side because no matter how good the night vision systems of the defenders was, it wasn’t the same as looking in daytime, and with superior numbers attacking, it was always going to be losing battle. Only long-range firepower used pre-emptively by the defenders could ease the pressure out. How to use them and when were the main questions at the moment in the minds of the two Indian commanders watching the Chinese from the Zero line.
Bum-La and its surrounding landscape was a flat area that was somewhat depressed in terms of altitude as compared to the hills to the south. Even the path to Tawang first went higher before coming back down near Tawang. As a result, the defenders were automatically on the high ground at Zero Line as compared to the Chinese at Bum-La, and it had been one of the reasons behind not choosing to defend Bum-La as such. So now the Chinese were being forced to come lower from their hills from across the border and then attack the Indian troops placed higher up. But the ‘high ground’ was not nearly as much as what one might imagine being. It was merely a gentle slope up from Bum-La, and about two kilometres to the south of Bum-La. As a result, Zero Line was not a permanent defensive line and it could not be. The other lines to the south were. The Chinese were to be harried here, not stopped. And there is no better way to harass the enemy other than a pre-emptive shock and awe strike.
The main Chinese infantry regiments were still coming down from the hills to the north, and were thus still a kilometre north of Bum-La. They were also in the open. That made them vulnerable. It also meant that for a little while more, the Recon troops at Bum-La were low on support and potentially vulnerable. It was a good enough chance. Major Patel decided to go for an attack against the Chinese Recon Troops while there was still some time. Captain Shukla ran back and started to clamber atop his parked T-90 under cover and shouting for his men to do the same. Soon the crews of the two T-90s were shutting the hatches on top and lighting up the systems inside. But they were told not to switch on the massive diesel engines for fear of giving up the element of surprise by the engine noise.
Major Patel ran back to his command bunker and got on the radio to the artillery command at Tawang. There were two batteries worth of guns that had survived the savage J-10 attacks and these were now standing by. The Smerch battery was not available for this mission. The target for the 155 mm guns was not the Bum-La, but the hills to the north where the Chinese troops were coming down towards Bum-La. Priority was given to the these targets and the Zero-Line Forward Artillery Controllers were given direct contact with the individual batteries as they would need to shift fire in short notices. Of the two batteries, one was to hit the peaks northeast of Bum-La and the other Northwest. With that coordination done, the Indian gunners at Tawang elevated the guns on the zenith and azimuth as given by the FACs at Zero Line and rammed the shells into the breeches along with the propellant casing.
Then they waited. Each gun was given a slightly different zenith to ensure that something called as Simultaneous TOT was achieved. This would ensure minimum response time for the exposed enemy, as the shells from different guns would hit at the hills simultaneously. A final confirmation was reached and the ‘Fire Mission’ was ordered to commence. It was directly a ‘Fire for Effect’ type fire, with no ‘bracketing’ fire first. The target bracketing would be done in real-time by the FACs to ensure maximum effect on the enemy.
The Tawang skyline was suddenly backlit with massive flashes as the Indian guns fired their first shells at the Chinese. The cacophony of thunderous noises from the guns filled the air. With the first rounds on their way to a target twenty Kilometres away, the Indian gunners went into a rapid fire mode, as they rammed in shell after shell and sent them leaving the guns in continuous flashes of light and thunder. The effect on the receiving was devastating.
The entire range southern slopes of the hills in China that had so far been silhouetted against the dark night were suddenly lit up in all clarity as dozens of high explosive shells slammed into the rocky mountainside and sent fireballs surrounded by rock and mud flying hundreds of feet into the air. The Chinese soldiers coming down from the hills had been on these very slopes and they were caught off guard. Nearly a hundred soldiers were killed outright, and more would have died except the Indian batteries had been decimated in terms of numbers first by the Chinese artillery during the daytime warfare and then during the night by the J-10 strikes. As the remaining enemy soldiers jumped behind cover of the rocks, the flashes continued to erupt and they were pinned down by it. The noise from the explosions was ear shattering.
That was what the Captain Shukla was waiting for. With that amount of background noise, his engines would not be heard even from twenty metres away, and that had been the plan. Now, the two Indian T-90s started their diesel engines and the first HE shell was rammed into the tank guns. The tank commander was now waiting for the artillery fire to stop so that he could move out from behind the cover and launch his own small blitz at the Chinese Recon troops that were digging themselves in at Bum-La. His plan was to move in, hit them and their vehicles and then pull back after a few minutes back into cover to avoid giving any Chinese attack helicopters or any adventurous Chinese anti-tank team a chance to hit him. He also planned to use the confusion of the Chinese troops who were pinned down to make his attack since the confusion would increase the Chinese response time before they realised who was attacking them. But he couldn’t move in now, as it was still nighttime, and his thermal imaging systems would be blinded by the massive flashes of fire hitting the Chinese troops. He had to wait till they stopped.
Then all of a sudden the Artillery indeed stopped, as the main objective of killing exposed enemy soldiers was over, and now the shells were just raising dirt around troops who had gone under cover. As soon as that order from the FAC had gone out, Major Patel gave out the order to Captain Shukla, who in turn passed out the command to his own crew as well as to the second tank behind him.
“Advance, Advance, Advance!!!â€
THE TWENTY CLICK HAUL
THE ROAD FROM BUM-LA TO TAWANG
NORTH OF TAWANG,
ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA
2200 HRS THURSDAY
The sky was dark enough, but the man made fires were denying it the all-enveloping nature it normally possessed. The hills were silhouetted with the orange glow from the fires that seemed to be all around, but were actually a world away, at least for Captain Shukla and his men. There was the orange glow silhouetting the northern hills in china, and that was due to Indian artillery that had stopped sometime back. The hills to the east were glowing because of the Chinese artillery that was still hitting the Indian positions in the east of here. The southern hills behind them were backlit with the same glow and they were due to the pounding that Tawang had received a short while earlier. Something had been hit bad, Shukla and his men knew, as the intensity of the glow suggested, even from this distance. They had no idea that a Chinese pilot had attacked the town of Tawang itself, the one thing Captain Shukla and his men were out here to protect.
They had also had no idea of the intense air battles that their comrades in the Air Force had fought in the skies to the south. The only aircrafts they had seen had been the eight J-10s that had screamed over their head as they had gone back into china to the north on full afterburner, the orange cones of their engines making them visible against the night sky to the Indian troops below. Apart from that, the only thing flying that the troops here had seen had been the Chinese helicopters buzzing around Bum-La to their north, three of whom were now nothing more than twisted piles of burning metal thanks to the Smerch attack on Bum-La. Another Chinese reconnaissance helicopter had been knocked out of the sky by one of the local Igla teams, and it had crashed on the western slope of the hill to the east of the current location of the Indian troops, making the small mass of fires clearly visible to the Indians and a source of warmth to them as they sat on the rocks in the hills in the cold dark night.
The current location was the ‘zero’ line of defence for the Indian army north of Tawang. It was called the ‘zero’ line because it was not so much a defence line as much as a harassment and delaying line, built up with experienced mountain troops and having high mobility equipment so that once the pressure from the Chinese infantry started to build, they would simply fall back and fold the zero line into the first line of defence further south. In the meantime, however, they were to cause as much delay as was possible without losing a significant portion of their soldiers and equipment. They were expected to fight smart. Their bravery was already assumed, and they all knew it.
They were other considerations as well. And this had more to do with the overall tactical situation. Tawang was a mere Twenty Kilometres to the south of the zero line, and the easiest way to go there was by the road that went from Bum-La to the town. But with the closure of Bum-La to all Chinese heavy vehicles, the threat had again changed to the Chinese infantry that was beginning to amass in the hills to the north. They could easily overwhelm the relatively small number of Indian defenders here, in a situation that was becoming more like the 1962 war all over again. And this time too there were to be little, if any, close air support strikes by the Air Force, not because of any political bungling, but because there were no fighters in the EAC that could now be allocated to the close air role, and holding on to the air superiority itself was proving hard enough right about now. But there was a trump card that the Indians had.
Two days ago, several T-90 Squadrons of the 1ST Armoured Division had been airlifted to Tezpur where their crews had had the unwanted honour of seeing their tanks dismantled in front of them into the smallest pieces to be then Heli-lifted part by part, tank by tank, to various locations in Arunachal Pradesh. That meant that Tawang now had a group of Twelve T-90 tanks for the local defence. But it had been more than that. This had been a whole new war tactic, untested and unproven. Tanks in this part of the country were unheard of so far, but that was about to change.
There had been a lot of teething troubles of course. The crews, for one, had only begun training for this eventuality in a training program called ‘Steel White’ that had begun a few months back. They were all trained tankers, to be sure, but charging around the open areas of Punjab and facing classic armoured warfare is a whole lot different from the creeping slow movement and infantry support that was their job definition here. They were designed to be the close support long-range firepower that was to support the Indian infantry who in turn would support them. It was all part of a system. The tanks couldn’t fight alone, as they would fall easy prey to swarms of anti-tank missiles from all around. The infantry on the other hand couldn’t move alone either, especially against the far larger numbers of Chinese infantry. So the idea was of mutual support and survival, if played smartly.
Then there had been the equipment and logistical problem. Stores of reserve anti-tank rounds had to be built up in Tawang, most of which had to be brought in by trucks and helicopters. The crews needed familiarisation that could only be provided by the local experienced mountain troops. A new chain of command for the tanks had to be set up within the existing framework of the infantry chain of command. The tanks themselves were painted in their old overall sand coloured Desert camouflage pattern. So the Indian army had improvised a new paint scheme from the paint available locally, which gave the T-90s a new look in the form of brown and white painted streaks that was officially known as ‘Disruptive pattern Himalayas’ became popularly and unofficially known as the ‘The Himalayan Hue’ camouflage scheme. The crews had loved it. But that had been two days ago.
At the moment, five of the twelve tanks were in their dug in positions in the gradual hills along the road from Bum-La, further south, and thus part of the main lines of defence. Five of the remaining number were in the Indian army positions on the outskirts of the Town itself, where they could move more easily and thus act as fast moving reinforcements as well as the last line of defence for Tawang. The last two were not in any dug-in positions or in the town. They were out on the road itself, and at the moment were on the stretch of road that belonged to the ‘Zero’ line troops, as they eyed the movements across the Bum-La crossing and waited for the Chinese troops. The Tank Force commander was a Colonel from 1ST Armoured, and he was with the rest of the commanders in Tawang. Out here, Captain Shukla was leading the two tanks at Zero Line.
At the moment the two tanks were parked behind a turn on the road that blocked the Chinese view from the north. The engines were off, and the crew hatches were open. On both sides of the road the Mountain troops were busy setting up their defences against the first Chinese attack south that was now probably moments away. The infantry commander for the Mountain Troop battalion was Major R. V. Patel. He was the overall local commander of Zero Line. While his men fixed their defences in the night, he was standing just around the turning on the road with Captain Shukla. Both men had their low-light binoculars out and hanging from their necks. From this position they could see the Chinese troops milling about at the Bum-La crossing two kilometres away. The Chinese seemed to be waiting for something at the moment.
The Chinese on the other hand had their jobs made difficult by the Indian artillery attacks. Especially the Indian Smerch Launchers that had put a dent in their original plans. Now, they had Recon Infantry securing the perimeter while they waited for the engineers to arrive and clear the minefield that had been laid out at the crossing point. And until that happened, their heavy vehicles could not begin to arrive. Their light vehicles were starting to arrive, though. The first of the heavy Z-8 helicopters had delivered the first set of three light Recon vehicles to this position, so that the Recon teams could start thinking about movement. Several regiments of infantry were now coming down from the hills to the north so that they could begin the infantry assault against the first Indian line of defence to the south. The Chinese had known of Zero line’s existence ever since their first Z-9WZ Recon helicopter had been blown out of the sky in front of them by the Igla missile. The Chinese commander had decided to launch a standard infantry assault against the Indian positions to overwhelm and then overrun them. They didn’t know about the two Indian tanks at Zero Line.
With the crossing at Bum-La secure, and the Indian artillery and air defences at Tawang attacked, the Chinese were now finally feeling a little safer. Their infantry was now coming down from the hills to the north in large numbers, and were soon beginning to show themselves on the thermal imaging scopes mounted within the Indian lines. This was going to be a night time infantry battle, and that was easier for the attacking side because no matter how good the night vision systems of the defenders was, it wasn’t the same as looking in daytime, and with superior numbers attacking, it was always going to be losing battle. Only long-range firepower used pre-emptively by the defenders could ease the pressure out. How to use them and when were the main questions at the moment in the minds of the two Indian commanders watching the Chinese from the Zero line.
Bum-La and its surrounding landscape was a flat area that was somewhat depressed in terms of altitude as compared to the hills to the south. Even the path to Tawang first went higher before coming back down near Tawang. As a result, the defenders were automatically on the high ground at Zero Line as compared to the Chinese at Bum-La, and it had been one of the reasons behind not choosing to defend Bum-La as such. So now the Chinese were being forced to come lower from their hills from across the border and then attack the Indian troops placed higher up. But the ‘high ground’ was not nearly as much as what one might imagine being. It was merely a gentle slope up from Bum-La, and about two kilometres to the south of Bum-La. As a result, Zero Line was not a permanent defensive line and it could not be. The other lines to the south were. The Chinese were to be harried here, not stopped. And there is no better way to harass the enemy other than a pre-emptive shock and awe strike.
The main Chinese infantry regiments were still coming down from the hills to the north, and were thus still a kilometre north of Bum-La. They were also in the open. That made them vulnerable. It also meant that for a little while more, the Recon troops at Bum-La were low on support and potentially vulnerable. It was a good enough chance. Major Patel decided to go for an attack against the Chinese Recon Troops while there was still some time. Captain Shukla ran back and started to clamber atop his parked T-90 under cover and shouting for his men to do the same. Soon the crews of the two T-90s were shutting the hatches on top and lighting up the systems inside. But they were told not to switch on the massive diesel engines for fear of giving up the element of surprise by the engine noise.
Major Patel ran back to his command bunker and got on the radio to the artillery command at Tawang. There were two batteries worth of guns that had survived the savage J-10 attacks and these were now standing by. The Smerch battery was not available for this mission. The target for the 155 mm guns was not the Bum-La, but the hills to the north where the Chinese troops were coming down towards Bum-La. Priority was given to the these targets and the Zero-Line Forward Artillery Controllers were given direct contact with the individual batteries as they would need to shift fire in short notices. Of the two batteries, one was to hit the peaks northeast of Bum-La and the other Northwest. With that coordination done, the Indian gunners at Tawang elevated the guns on the zenith and azimuth as given by the FACs at Zero Line and rammed the shells into the breeches along with the propellant casing.
Then they waited. Each gun was given a slightly different zenith to ensure that something called as Simultaneous TOT was achieved. This would ensure minimum response time for the exposed enemy, as the shells from different guns would hit at the hills simultaneously. A final confirmation was reached and the ‘Fire Mission’ was ordered to commence. It was directly a ‘Fire for Effect’ type fire, with no ‘bracketing’ fire first. The target bracketing would be done in real-time by the FACs to ensure maximum effect on the enemy.
The Tawang skyline was suddenly backlit with massive flashes as the Indian guns fired their first shells at the Chinese. The cacophony of thunderous noises from the guns filled the air. With the first rounds on their way to a target twenty Kilometres away, the Indian gunners went into a rapid fire mode, as they rammed in shell after shell and sent them leaving the guns in continuous flashes of light and thunder. The effect on the receiving was devastating.
The entire range southern slopes of the hills in China that had so far been silhouetted against the dark night were suddenly lit up in all clarity as dozens of high explosive shells slammed into the rocky mountainside and sent fireballs surrounded by rock and mud flying hundreds of feet into the air. The Chinese soldiers coming down from the hills had been on these very slopes and they were caught off guard. Nearly a hundred soldiers were killed outright, and more would have died except the Indian batteries had been decimated in terms of numbers first by the Chinese artillery during the daytime warfare and then during the night by the J-10 strikes. As the remaining enemy soldiers jumped behind cover of the rocks, the flashes continued to erupt and they were pinned down by it. The noise from the explosions was ear shattering.
That was what the Captain Shukla was waiting for. With that amount of background noise, his engines would not be heard even from twenty metres away, and that had been the plan. Now, the two Indian T-90s started their diesel engines and the first HE shell was rammed into the tank guns. The tank commander was now waiting for the artillery fire to stop so that he could move out from behind the cover and launch his own small blitz at the Chinese Recon troops that were digging themselves in at Bum-La. His plan was to move in, hit them and their vehicles and then pull back after a few minutes back into cover to avoid giving any Chinese attack helicopters or any adventurous Chinese anti-tank team a chance to hit him. He also planned to use the confusion of the Chinese troops who were pinned down to make his attack since the confusion would increase the Chinese response time before they realised who was attacking them. But he couldn’t move in now, as it was still nighttime, and his thermal imaging systems would be blinded by the massive flashes of fire hitting the Chinese troops. He had to wait till they stopped.
Then all of a sudden the Artillery indeed stopped, as the main objective of killing exposed enemy soldiers was over, and now the shells were just raising dirt around troops who had gone under cover. As soon as that order from the FAC had gone out, Major Patel gave out the order to Captain Shukla, who in turn passed out the command to his own crew as well as to the second tank behind him.
“Advance, Advance, Advance!!!â€