Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XII

vijyeta · Post by **vijyeta** » 21 Jan 2011 01:50

Singha wrote:er to my knowledge none of the chinese flankers have TVC (?) .....

Correct

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 21 Jan 2011 03:05

Why would Bison carry R-60 missiles when they have far superior AA-11.

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 21 Jan 2011 04:30

Made some corrections in the post. Edited for the TVC inclusion error in the writeup. Apologies on that one.

Also edited some minor grammatical issues.

Thanks for the feedback.

-Vivek

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 21 Jan 2011 05:42

Karan M wrote:Why would Bison carry R-60 missiles when they have far superior AA-11.

The war's dragging on. R-73 stocks would need to be conserved and I believe the IAF would have a fairly large R-60 inventory.

Vivek, I think you have mixed up Bullrider-three and four. You have mentioned Bullrider four getting shot down and yet it resurfaces later on. I think you meant Bullrider three there.

Awesome writeup nonetheless.

Santosh · Post by **Santosh** » 21 Jan 2011 08:11

Didn't the first salvo of India R77's take any casualty? Aisa kyon?

Cain Marko · Post by **Cain Marko** » 21 Jan 2011 08:12

vivek_ahuja wrote:Made some corrections in the post. Edited for the TVC inclusion error in the writeup. Apologies on that one.

Also edited some minor grammatical issues.

Thanks for the feedback.

-Vivek

WOW! now that was an adrenaline rush! TVC or no, the Su will out manouver and out turn the Bison any day. The presence/lack of TVC won't change the outcome imho. I don't see any luck for fighter - bison/rafale etc if they don't see the flanker first. If it happens as it did in this scenario where the flanker came in from nowhere, you are toast.

ONe thing though - doesn't the Bison also have an HMS? Was that how the R60 was cued?

CM.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Jan 2011 11:24

I measured the distance from tezpur to thimphu @ 330km and from guwahati to thimphu @ 250km....in wartime all the flankers might not be concentrated in tezpur and chabua their main bases but disperse into other suitable bases like jorhat (some kinda IAF transport a/c base), silchar, guwahati (normally just a Mi17 unit but large aprons and HAS areas).

so assuming 5 mins for hot 2 standby fighters to complete checks, taxi and get airborne and start accelerating, to reach atleast Mach1 , transit and climb to 25,000ft+ for thimphu ops probably add another 15 mins there...overall atleast 20 mins for the first flankers to reach thimphu after brake release in tezpur,,,around 15 mins from guwahati. I am being a bit realistic here not the PAF's 2 mins to get 300 a/c airborne onlee to face down the hindus

that clock started when the AEW called for urgent support. the clock was ticking when the Bisons bought some time and took out the J-10s and one flanker and led the other flanker on a chase....sacrificing themselves ...probably 10 mins bought there.

so now a race between the 3rd wave of ground attack a/c and the flankers (unknown number - but unlikely to be more than 4 if 2 came from tezpur and 2 from guwahati) trying to head them off in T-shaped intercept.

but Mashallah we shall teach them a lesson! over to V sir !

Mihir.D · Post by **Mihir.D** » 21 Jan 2011 13:18

Singha wrote: I am being a bit realistic here not the PAF's 2 mins to get 300 a/c airborne onlee to face down the hindus

When did PAF say that ? Do you have a link ?

The only realistic solution to the above scenario would be a dozen mig-21/LCAs taking of from Panagarh/Purnea. Now that Vivek has posted his scenario , lets hope IAF will fast track development of the Panagarh/Purnea bases and deployment of fighters there.

Just my 2 pence

jai · Post by **jai** » 21 Jan 2011 14:46

Hi Vivek,

Any chance of seeing the Spyder / PAD/AAD, Nirbhay and other Indian Missiles, C 130 J's and C 17's in action ??

Brilliant scenario !

Cheers !!

Ghatotkacha · Post by **Ghatotkacha** » 22 Jan 2011 00:35

Nicely Done Vivek!

I know many people wont agree with me on this. I think it should be fine if Vivek takes a week or two to write nice scenario. Meanwhile try to read books or something

rohan_kumaon · Post by **rohan_kumaon** » 22 Jan 2011 06:29

I agree with you...atleast you have one supporter!

asbchakri · Post by **asbchakri** » 22 Jan 2011 08:34

Brilliant posts vivek. Sad llosing the bisons

but make sure none of the PAF flights reach home safely

chiru · Post by **chiru** » 22 Jan 2011 21:18

^^ paf ???

vivekji take ur time but plz continue ur awesome scenario at the earliest

Ghatotkacha · Post by **Ghatotkacha** » 24 Jan 2011 21:12

If we are bringing in LCH. I think not-bringing new Chinese stealth fighter in the scenario, wont make it realistic or fair.

Vivek -
remember, you got 2 weeks absolute max

Shankar -
We equally enjoy your scenarios. Please feel to write some stuff when you get chance.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 24 Jan 2011 21:49

during parakram this claim was made after the searcher uav shootdown near lahore. in a forum ofcourse,not officially.

asbchakri · Post by **asbchakri** » 24 Jan 2011 22:45

asbchakri wrote:Brilliant posts vivek. Sad llosing the bisons but make sure none of the PAF flights reach home safely

oops sorry i meant PLAF

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 25 Jan 2011 06:31

PARU AIRPORT
IMTRAT-COM LOGISTICAL NODE
BHUTANESE F.EB.A
DAY 6 + 1135 HRS

There were no klaxons ringing on the ground at the airport. It was not a military base. It had been a civilian airport. The massive black pillar of smoke at the southern edge of the airbase perimeter marked the location where one of the Bullrider Bisons had gone down, witnessed by the entire Para contingent securing the airbase. Now the local IAF FACT commander, Squadron-Leader Mitesh Gupta, had signalled the enemy air-strike warning over the Para comms as well as the “Heavy-Hauler-One” Mi-26 crew. The latter was now the only aircraft on the ground in front of the terminal building being used as a logistical offloading point for General Potgam’s forces.

This aircraft had been caught on the ground when the battle for the Bhutanese skies had erupted an hour ago. There had been some scepticism and uncertainty on behalf of the ground-crewmen and the Paras regarding the nature of the unseen threat around them. That was the case until they had seen the two Mig-21s of Bullrider Flight streaking over the valley at high speeds before one of them was blown out of the sky, its pilot and the aircraft scattered within the fiery and blackened remains at the southern edge of the airbase perimeter. The suddenness, magnitude and ferocity of it all had shocked the Paras on the ground, unaccustomed as they were to the nature of modern air-combat. So when S/L Gupta had fired off the air-strike warning signals, they had needed little motivation to bolt for cover outside the airbase.

Soon enough, the only people left on the airbase were the FACT members and the one two-man team manning the only anti-air cover available at Paru: Igla Man-Portable-Surface-to-Air Missiles. The closest Tunguska Anti-air vehicle of the Indian Army had just crossed the Indian-Bhutanese border, far to the south and well out of range of the current action, unless of course one of the J-10s mistakenly flew over there, of course. To the north, on the tarmac at Paru lay the very vulnerable Mi-26, its stationary blades vibrating in the cold winds within the valley...

“Here they come!” the FACT observer shouted from his OP on top of the terminal building. Gupta turned around to see his observer pointing in the direction of the inbound aircraft. A second later he turned back to see that the tarmac evacuation was still far from complete. Around him, on the tarmac in front of the terminal building, the IAF personnel and a good bit of logistical equipment and supplies were still vulnerable in the open. No time now...

“Everybody get into cover! Now! Now! Now!” Gupta shouted as he picked up his INSAS rifle from the nearest supply crates full of ammo before breaking into a sprint away from the tarmac. Everybody else was doing the same now. He was shouting as he ran back through the terminal’s main doors:

“Go! Go! Don’t stop! Get out of the terminal building to the other side! FACT-Two: abandon the O-P now! Move!” On the roof, the other IAF FACT members had already grabbed their rifles and equipment and were rappelling down the ropes on the other side of the terminal building to make good their escape...

In the skies above, the four J-10s armed with a heavy load of dumb-bombs had cleared the valley peaks and had broken formation as they began their approach into the mouth of the Paru valley from its north-western opening, slowing speed and locating the airbase and their target vectors. It was all in visual range now. The two Igla teams at the airport had already seen the black specks against the blue skies after cueing by the CABS-AEW crew via the FACT comms. Now they were also looking for IR images, but range and terrain was against them: they won’t get lock-on their targets until the latter were very close, and even then the kinetics would negate a missile shot against an inbound target. Rather, they could only take their shots after they had passed by the airport, which meant that it was after the J-10s had unleashed their payload over the airport. But there was no avoiding it now...

A few seconds later the aircraft flew over the airport, and the Paras on the perimeter of the airport returned fire from their LMG as best they could. But it didn’t matter. The first J-10 flew over the tarmac where the Mi-26 was parked alongside scattered logistical supplies and released his entire load of dumb bombs as it streaked past at full afterburner. A split second later the series of thunderous blasts ripped through the tarmac area, shredding the Mi-26 into smithereens and consuming the stored ordinance in its developing fireball. The shockwave smashed through the terminal buildings and the control-tower building, followed to some extent by the fireball and ordinance explosion effects, gutting the side of the buildings facing the tarmac, and filling the skies around with a massive dust and black smoke cloud...

It seemed like an eternity had passed when Gupta opened his eyes, smoke and dust filling his lungs and the space around him. Broken glass and pieces of debris covered every inch of the ground, and large chunks of the building were collapsing around him. All of it was strangely quiet to him and it took him a second to realize that all he heard was painful ringing in his ears. He brought his hands up to his face to see the blood coming out of some minor wounds and a whole bunch of other scratches, but felt no pain. His brain was still taking its time to begin processing the pains and the aches. He got up to see his uniform covered in dust and small pieces of burning debris, which he shook off as he began to look around and see where he was...

Another member of his FACT team suddenly was beside him and was literally dragging him away for some reason. Gupta’s mind had still not caught up to the events after that powerful blast had knocked him out. Right now, all he could see was that his dust covered rifle was left behind from where he lay, even as his legs were making their drag path through the dust covered floor while his colleague was pulling him away:

“My weapon...Damn it! It’s over there! My weapon’s on the ground...over there! Don’t leave it there!”
His colleague however, had other things in mind as he heard the enemy jet engine noises overhead: “Leave it! God damn it! We have to get out of this building now! It’s going to get hit any second!”

“We are at the front, soldier! I need that rifle! I...” Gupta’s thoughts finally began catching up to him even as the two men nearly reached the exit of the building and into the open on the outer side of the building: “...are they still overhead? Wait: what about the others? Wait!”

Before the reply could come, however, another jet screamed overhead and a split second later the series of blasts destroyed the area the two men were in moments ago. This time, however, they were far closer to the explosions, even if not inside the blast zone itself. The powerful shockwave swept like a moving wall of bricks through the entrances, and sent both men a couple of other Paras also running out at the same time, flying into the air amidst a cloud of debris and dust. They fell close to each other on the road just outside, about ten meters away, rolling into the glass and debris covered road and overturned and burning cars...

It took several seconds of coughing before Gupta rolled over his back and used the open door of a nearby abandoned Army truck to stand up, leaning on the vehicle heavily as he staggered on to his feet. He had been shielded a good bit by his colleague, who now lay on the ground motionless, a pool of blood nearby. Gupta saw another dust covered Para also staggering over to his colleague, and several other IAF ground-crewmen rushing to help him and the others screaming from pain all around him. When Gupta turned to face the airport, he could only watch in horror...

There was a massive gaping hole where the main terminal building had been in front of him. A massive pillar of smoke was gushing into the air and the dust cloud was hanging in the skies above for dozens of feet. The control tower was a pillar of blazing fire now, and looking east and west, it seemed the main hangar at the airport had also been bombed along with sections of the runway, although it was hard to tell. There were two thin trails of white smoke that signalled the attempts by the Paras to take out the attackers using their MANPAD systems. Even so, any luck with that effort was hard to tell in the chaos above. When Gupta turned his head upwards at the sound of jet engines, he could only hear unfriendly ones. Two or three black specks were still flying over Paru against the clear blue sky, seemingly picking targets against the helpless airbase. Gupta’s thoughts finally began catching up to him: Where were the friendly guys up there?

But a shriek of pain from someone nearby followed by a yell that another J-10 was making a pass on the airport caused all reverie to stop. Gupta began getting his motor skills back in action and staggered over to the open ground where all the wounded were laying while others attempted to provide first aid:

“Don’t stay in the open here, damn it! Get the wounded back on the other side of the road and into cover! Go!” He then ran over to a bleeding Para radioman who had managed to escape the nightmarish cauldron inside the building and grabbed him by his radio harness:
“Is your CNR working?”

The Para radioman, however, was more shell-shocked than it appeared. He struggled to comprehend the question. Gupta call over an IAF Warrant officer with a hand motion:
“Help me get this CNR set off this soldier! I need to get in touch with our guys back to the south!” While both men removed the harness, Gupta continued without looking at the airman helping him: “Have you seen the FACT Comms team members anywhere? I cannot locate them anywhere.”

“No sir. We lost sight of everybody right before the attack, I...” the warrant officer’s sentence was broken in mid sentence as another thunderous explosion rocked the airport perimeter to the west. Both men looked up to see a J-10 streak by in a blur a split-second later, its afterburner noise drowning all conversations around. In the meantime, the CNR was back in Gupta’s hands. He turned to the airman:

“Okay, get this guy behind cover and keep him there. I am going to see if we can get anybody up the chain of command on the horn! Go!”
He then switched the CNR on and got the comms mouthpiece and ear-set out: “Warlord-Central! Warlord-Central! This is FACT-Actual! Requesting priority air-support for Paru!

We are getting slaughtered down here!”

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 25 Jan 2011 06:32

SKIES ABOVE PARU AIRPORT
BHUTANESE F.EB.A
DAY 6 + 1145 HRS

“Roger that, FACT-Actual! Warlord copies all! Standby for immediate support missions! Hang in there! Help is on the way. Warlord-Central out!”

The R/T chatter was being monitored by the Observer crew on board the CABS-AEW flying to the south in near real-time. Group-Captain Tikkar was not listening, however. He was already leaning over the shoulder of his ROC and looking at the screen as the first of two flights of four Su-30MKIs each peeled off from formation high above the Bhutanese Himalayan peaks and began diving down into the Paru valley...

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 25 Jan 2011 06:39

PARU AIRPORT
IMTRAT-COM LOGISTICAL NODE
BHUTANESE F.EB.A
DAY 6 + 1147 HRS

Even before Gupta had lowered his CNR mouthpiece and removed the headset around his head, the sudden explosion in the skies above caused him to jerk his head up from where he and the rest of the men were. A small fireball had just turned into smoke above the airport and an aircraft began falling out of the sky behind a pillar of black smoke. As the stunned Indian survivors at the airport looked up, wondering what had happened, a grey painted canard equipped fighter streaked overhead on full afterburner even as the burning wreckage of what was a Chinese J-10 began smashed into the peaks north of the airbase...

“Holy shit! That was an MKI!” Gupta turned around to face the wounded paras: “Our boys are here! And they are kicking commie ass for us!”

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 25 Jan 2011 06:58

SKIES ABOVE PARU AIRPORT
BHUTANESE F.EB.A
DAY 6 + 1147 HRS

“Juliet-Tenner at your Three, Leader!”
“Roger, I have him! He’s not going anywhere!”

The first two Indian Su-30s in the valley had caught the Chinese in a scatter pattern of their own doing. Instead of waiting for a clean BVR annihilation of the J-10s above the peaks, the Su-30 leader had decided to intervene and break up their attack runs at Paru. The valley was already covered in smoke and dust clouds emanating from the airport, and blazing fires were clearly visible from the ground. Within the thin walls of the valley, the J-10 had serious limitations in manoeuvrability. Not so for the Su-30MKIs with canard control and TVC. The flight leader had already dispatched one J-10 even as he had entered the fray, without the J-10 pilot ever knowing what had happened. Even before that fireball hit the ground, the two Su-30s were already mixing it with the remainder of the Chinese J-10s, who were now fighting for their lives. Their attack on Paru was at an end. Their struggle to make it home alive had just begun...

The Su-30 leader flipped his aircraft to the starboard a full ninety degrees, pulled back on the stick and switched to GUNS and laced the skies ahead of him with tracer rounds. Most of these found their mark, and yet another J-10 smoked out and flew into the valley walls amidst a trail of breaking fuselage pieces and other debris. For the Su-30 leader, it was clean and efficient. No mistakes.

“Smackdown!” was his reply over the R/T as he saw his prey exploding into a fireball within the alpine trees of Paru valley... “Two down! Two-to-go! Do you have a visual, Number-Two?”
“Uh, roger that, Number-One! I see two J-10s bugging out to the northeast end of the valley, heading generally north and gaining altitude!” his wingman replied.

“Huge mistake! Wouldn’t you agree, Blue-Leader?”

There was a slight chuckle over the R/T before the reply came from the other flight leader, a senior Group-Captain, waiting over the peaks of Paru with a nice clean view of his prey attempting to climb away from the valley to gain manoeuvring space:

“Roger that, Red-Leader. Blue has visual. Blue has acquisition...” he and his wingman depressed the launch button and felt the R-77s falling away amidst the aircraft jitter: “...And Blue has engaged. Standby.” He said matter-of-factly as the four R-77s from the flight streaked away, trailing a white smoke exhaust, tail-chasing the two J-10s on afterburner at ten klicks...

The result was predictable. Four missiles, two targets and favourable kinetics for the attackers. Seconds later two near-simultaneous fireballs announced the destruction of the last two J-10s. Blue Leader was not impressed with the now dead Chinese pilots:

“Bunch of amateurs! Okay: Blue declares the skies all clear. Now let’s go find ourselves that loner Sierra-Uniform bird to the north.”

A second later the two aircraft pushed afterburner on and began accelerating northwards. The other two Su-30s in the valley began climbing out, and four other Su-30s of the other flight took positions over Paru airport.

The vulnerability window over Bhutan had now been closed...

Mihir.D · Post by **Mihir.D** » 25 Jan 2011 08:33

Vivek,

Reading that post was the best way to start our day

Cheers.

Bala Vignesh · Post by **Bala Vignesh** » 25 Jan 2011 08:42

^^ Second that... First thing i did when i got up... And now have a hop in my step...

Ghatotkacha · Post by **Ghatotkacha** » 25 Jan 2011 09:11

Very Nice Vivek.

This post is awesome. I loved the characters' development.

Reading made me feel like I was right there into thick of action. Partially because you wrote about even smallest details of the event and partially because of your awesome way of story telling.

Misraji · Post by **Misraji** » 25 Jan 2011 10:29

Wouldn't the PLAAF strike package have been guided by their awacs too?
They should have seen the MKI's coming and would have taken appropriate measures.

~Ashish

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Jan 2011 13:20

maybe to preserve the element of surprise and avoid tipping the indians off, they preferred to keep the awacs away from the scene and have the attacking a/c approach suddenly behind the wave of cruise missiles launched on bagdogra. in any case the lone surviving SU30MKK is still lurking around the scene...even if anyone saw the MKIs coming in from the south, the J-10s were tasked to smack Paro and they did - mission accomplished.....nobody is going to be using Paro anytime soon from the descriptions of the smackdown it got.

so not a total loss for the chinese. they took 30 (4 bisons, paro destroyed), we took 70 (few expendable J10, 1 su30, few LACMs). and they still have the initiative attacking into bhutan, we are merely trying to save our skins there.

Bala Vignesh · Post by **Bala Vignesh** » 25 Jan 2011 15:00

Misraji wrote:Wouldn't the PLAAF strike package have been guided by their awacs too?
They should have seen the MKI's coming and would have taken appropriate measures.

~Ashish

Well AFAIK, noone will risk exposing such a high value target in an, as yet, unsecured skies. Its too damn valuable. The only reason we saw them coming was because our AEW was loitering in friendly skies and had a good enough range to see them coming in.
Combining that with the geography of the region which gives a wall of sorts to hide behind would anyways negate the advantage of having an AWACS on station.
Gurus please correct me if i am wrong.

sarabpal.s · Post by **sarabpal.s** » 25 Jan 2011 15:47

hey i find some basic call-sign pilot talk in it

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... clnk&gl=in

vivek_ahuja · Post by **vivek_ahuja** » 25 Jan 2011 16:09

PARU AIRPORT
PARU VALLEY
BHUTAN
DAY 6 + 1215 HRS

He had been lucky. It took quite a while before the ringing stopped in his ears. Blood had poured out one ear due to shrapnel wounds. Scratches and burns were everywhere. Vomiting had occurred after the blast waves from numerous explosions had ripped through the body, shaking it to the very core. He was still somewhat nauseous. And yet, he was luckier than the ones in front of him...

Squadron-Leader Gupta sat on an abandoned ammo crate near the main terminal entrance building while a Para-Corpsman tended to his slight ear wound. They were now laying the bodies of the dead on the side of the road, waiting for the trucks to come by and take them south. As he sat there, Gupta watched the seventeenth body of an Indian soldier or airman being brought out by the other Paras and laid in a line. Some more were even worse off, their bodies not being recoverable from the debris just yet.

Gupta sighed and looked back up at the wreckage that was Paru airport at the moment. Enough dust had been raised that even in this pristine mountainous valley of Bhutan, the sun’s rays poured through the golden brown dust haze all over the valley. It was beginning to settle back down, though. Now that the explosions had stopped, only the smoke from the craters remained to be extinguished in their entirety. Not that there were any fire-fighting equipment around to speak of. The fires were simply dying away because of the cold and the lack of flammable materials that were yet to be consumed...

“That should do it for now.” The medic said, leaving Gupta sitting on the crate as he walked away towards a bunch of stretchers where another wounded Para had been laid down, one of his legs blown away, and the cover of the stretcher red with blood. He, like all other wounded Indian soldiers around, was under painkillers and couldn’t feel the blinding pain. Gupta looked at him, squinted and then looked back again at the smouldering remains of the terminal building. Time to get back to work...

Gupta stood up, walking past the road now filled with Indian Army soldiers from Haa Dzong, General Potgam’s HQ ‘Warlord-Central’. There were no soldiers inside the airport though, as they were waiting to be told where to start and what to start. Looking at the vast mess that was left of the airport by the Chinese attack, it was a good question.

“Heck of a mess, old boy!” a voice behind Gupta said. He turned to his left to see a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Indian Army accompanied by a Major and two fully armed soldiers walking up beside him after dismounting their AXE mutli-terrain utility vehicle. The latter was wearing his standard Army woodland camouflage field uniform. His name tag said: ‘Fernandes’. Gupta snapped off a salute, jerking some of the concrete dust off his uniform during the sudden motion.

“Sir.”

“Easy there, son!” Fernandes said to Gupta, then turned to see the collapsed terminal building, the blazing control tower and the half dozen other black smoke pillars around the airport. His initial response was a whistle. He then looked back at Gupta: “Hell of a bombardment you guys went through. Casualties?”

“Considerable, sir. We, uh, lost a lot of the air force guys trying to evacuate as much of the supplies and logistical equipment on the tarmac just before the attack. Some guys are still unaccounted for within the airport. The Paras were okay for the most part, given their deployment around the base rather than in it. My FAC team suffered near total fatalities...” Gupta choked as he completed that last sentence. It caused Fernandes to look back away from the terminal building towards the young officer in front of him.

“Tough business, isn’t it? They did their job as they were trained to do. You did the same. There will be time to reflect on that later. Believe me. For now, let’s get this business straight. You haven’t met me before: I am the commander of Hotel-Six MLRS battery that moved northeast of this airfield earlier this morning. It’s our supplies that you guys were bringing in. We saw the attack on the airport from our locations. I suggested to Warlord that I head over there to assess the damage since I was the closest commander at the time. When someone higher up the command list comes along, I will be on my merry way. For now, however: I am taking command.

“Now. This airfield...” Fernandes gestured his hands around... “...is my logistical node. I need rockets and I need them today. The ground convoys are taking their time getting here from the Indian border with my rockets because every Indian field commander in Bhutan and his grandmother wants his supplies to have priority. So I am betting my money on this airport becoming operational again. In effect, it means that I am putting my money on you. I love to win, Gupta. I really do. So are you the guy who’s going to deliver or not?”

Fernandes stared at the young Air Force officer in front of him. Gupta managed to pull his thoughts together along with his mental faculty quick enough to meet that stare and not wilt. Fernandes saw that and realized that the youngster had pulled out of it. Time to get into it then...

“Okay, son. You know this airbase better than I do. What say we go and have a look see in there?”

As Gupta walked over to the crate he had been sitting on and picked up his new INSAS carbine that he had picked up from one of the dead officers from his FACT team, a few minutes before. In the meantime, Fernandes motioned to the Major and then gave out his first orders:

“Get things organized over here. Get those trucks moving with the casualties to the medical centre at Haa Dzong. They still have helicopters operating out of the golf course over there. They can get these guys out...” He motioned to the numerous wounded soldiers on stretchers nearby on the debris covered road... “...Also, see if you can find the Para detachment commander. Either he’s dead already or he’s probably somewhere in there. If he is dead, then get the Paras organized under your command and get the comms up and running. Last thing we need is a Chinese spec-ops team rushing this location from the northern hills. Warlord has RPVs overhead, but I wouldn’t trust them completely to keep us safe. I would rather want those Paras over there, armed and pointing their weapons at that alpine region over there just as soon as you can arrange it. Go.”

Just as the Major had run over a few feet, Fernandes shouted out to him again: “Oh, and I am taking the comms guy with me while I tour the area. Get the alternate set from the AXE up and running, will you?”

“Yes sir!” the Major said and ran off towards the few Paras standing a couple dozen meters away by the Army trucks, waiting for orders from anyone who was in command. Fernandes looked at Gupta who was waiting with his rifle strap over his shoulders and said:
“Let’s go son. Lead the way. I am right behind you.”

The group of three men walked carefully through the debris covered wreckage that was the terminal building, bypassing the crushed supply equipment and the building materials. The hazy sunlight was now beginning to get brighter, even as the smoke poured into the skies. Fernandes looked up and saw the orange coloured dusty sun where there should have been no sun at all. The roof of the twin storey building had all been reduced to rubble that they were walking on now. Each step was risky, but the three men made it through to the other side with Gupta leading the way and reached the mess that remained of the tarmac area on the other side...

“Good god! What a mess!” Fernandes said.

Yeah. Gupta thought as he walked around a burning piece of wooden crate, originally carrying signal flares by its marking on the side. The shattered Mi-26 lay on the tarmac, bellowing a pillar of black smoke from its engine area. The only identifiable piece of the fuselage was the tail boom section, lying on the green grass a few hundred feet away from where the rest of the helicopter wreckage was. A massive series of craters had been excavated out of the tarmac area. The latter had never been of very solid construction anyway, given the civilian nature of the airport. And now it showed. What would have been lesser damage at a military airbase had terminated the tarmac area for all effective purposes at Paru. Gupta looked to his right and almost felt the heat from the blazing control tower building where he and the rest of his FACT members had been running the aerial logistical operations here. To his left, he saw the burning remains of the only large hangar on the other side of the airport. The runway, however, was remarkably intact, with several bomb craters chipping away the sides, but no central crater on the runway itself. Still, it didn’t matter...

“Damage looks pretty intensive. Thoughts?” Fernandes said as he surveyed the damage as well.

“Bad, sir. Normally this level of damage is repairable at a military airbase with the right supplies of repair equipment. Not over here. We don’t have anything resembling the equipment we need to repair this base until the ground convoys bring up the necessary equipment from the south.” Gupta said, walking towards the nearest deep bomb crater in front of him.

“Which could take days, son. I need a better choice from you.” Fernandes said as he walked over to the crater as well. Gupta was shaking his head after peering over the side of the crater:

“I don’t know what to tell you sir. This damage is total...” he looked over to the north and saw the small tar extension to the concrete runway usable by light aircraft and helicopters and maybe one fixed wing aircraft at a time. Gupta then turned to face the Lt-Colonel: “Sir, you see that tar area over there? We could perhaps use that to at least restart some basic helicopter operations from this airport. Mi-17s, Dhruvs and the like. Area is good enough and the undamaged runway looks long enough to bring in maybe one or two Dorniers at a time. Maybe even one of the An-32s. Not more than that. It’s a trickle of what we were bringing in before, but that’s the best that is physically possible.”

Fernandes was not happy at that. But he realized it was not Gupta’s fault that this was the case. He was looking around when his radioman’s CNR started squawking and he picked it up. A moment later he turned to face the Lt-Colonel:
“Sir. Warlord-Central is informing us that Warlord is coming in for an inspection via helicopter right away.” That comment caused Fernandes to raise an eyebrow as he replied back:
“ETA on Warlord’s arrival?”
“Momentary.”

“So the old chap is coming in himself, huh?” Fernandes said to himself and then back to Gupta: “Okay. Can they land over here?”
“Yes sir. That tar area over there I was showing you.” Gupta replied.

“Good. Mark it with a Green-Very flare.” Fernandes looked over to his radioman who handed Gupta a Green-Very. Fernandes continued to talk to the radioman: “Tell Warlord-Central that we are clear over here. LZ is open and marked with green smoke. Tell them to consider all other areas hazardous for now. Do it.”

A few moments later Gupta had green smoke bellowing from the flare in his hands just as the sounds of an ALH filled the skies. It was the first friendly helicopter noise the Paras had heard for some time now, and it sounded good to them. Gupta and Fernandes looked over from the green-grass near the LZ as the ALH crew circled around the airbase perimeter and then approached the small cloud of green smoke coming from the opening at the centre of the airport. The helicopter touched down a few second later, dissipating the green gas clouds under the main rotor wash. As the engines wound down, Gupta and Fernandes walked over just as four Paras armed with INSAS-UBGLs jumped out of the rear and side doors and took up positions alongside the LZ. A couple seconds later Lt-General “Warlord” Potgam stepped out and received a sharp salute from Gupta and Fernandes which was not returned.

Instead, the gruffy and old Potgam looked around and saw the devastation at his main logistical node in Bhutan. He had a frown on his face that would wilt a junior officer in less than three seconds. He was also in his combat fatigues with a belt mounted sidearm. The cold winds in the valley caused him to remove his cap and cover his balding head. Only after the cap fit him snugly, did he bother to face Fernandes and Gupta and snapped off his return salute, allowing the former to return to ease. Neither Fernandes nor Gupta said anything until Potgam opened the conversation:

“They will pay for this, gentlemen. Mark my words. They will pay for this.” Potgam turned to face Gupta, who nearly froze under the stare of the three star general in his face:
“Son, are you the FACT commander?”
“Yes sir!” Gupta replied back.

“Damn fine work under the circumstances boy. I heard the comms between my HQ and your boys. Tough situation overall. Handled well. I heard your Air Force boys suffered pretty high casualties?” Potgam said in as polite a voice as he could manage, which wasn’t much. Gupta managed to choke out a few words:

“Yes sir. FACT-Alpha is combat-ineffective now. We need a replace FACT to come in and take charge of operations down here.”

“And have a wet nosed boy take command of this shitty mess? No. You stay right here. I have arranged FACT-Bravo to replace your losses, but you stay in command. You aren’t getting off this warfront that easily. This war is stretching our limits and resources very quickly. We need all the experienced guys we can get. Unless of course you have lost the nerve to stay here and fight! Have you?” Potgam said.

“No sir!” was the sharp reply.

“Good. Okay gentlemen. Let’s go. We don’t have much time. Latest RPV Intel suggests that the Chinese Infantry Regiments stacked against Thimpu are now advancing. Initial contact in less than two hours with our Special Forces guys up at the sharp end. Once that happens we will need all the support your battery can provide, Fernandes.” Potgam said as he led the way back to the terminal building area, followed by his entourage, Fernandes and Gupta. Potgam continued to talk:

“Fernandes, get things organized a bit over here and then leave someone to manage things. I need you back at your Battery HQ when the shit hits the fan in the next few hours. Gupta over here can coordinate with your and my Liaison over here and get this mess sorted out. We are prioritizing some anti-air assets for this area now. The first two Tunguskas will arrive here later today. When they do, I am splitting them up between the airport here and your Battery location to the northwest. Additional Paras will arrive and replace airport security over here. Coordinate with Colonel Patil when he gets on the ground here with his Para forces. He will be the overall Para commander for Bhutan. I have tasked him to weed out the Chinese spec-ops teams to the north of here and between Thimpu and us. Cannot have them running in the weeds causing trouble.

“I am coordinating a major Para operation with Patil once Thimpu is secure. The reason I am telling you this is because it all depends on this airbase becoming operational for us to be able to crush the Chinese Regiment drive on Thimpu using those Pinaka MLRS from your battery, Fernandes. Without these, Bhutan will fall, gentlemen. So understand the severity of the situation you find yourself in and stand up to it. If Patil has his way, we will be trapping the three Chinese Regiments in Bhutan in a death-trap of his choosing. And then he will kill them all.

Gentlemen, I plan to give him his way. And you had better not get in mine...”

jamwal · Post by **jamwal** » 25 Jan 2011 16:20

Awesome piece of writing

rohan_kumaon · Post by **rohan_kumaon** » 25 Jan 2011 17:58

“They will pay for this, gentlemen. Mark my words. They will pay for this.” - Great starting lines from three star "Warlord Central"...Truly amazing stuff!

Nihat · Post by **Nihat** » 25 Jan 2011 19:09

What a bonanza today Vivek sir, you have an amazing gift. I personally don't know how Iam going to wait for the next part to come online.

hpatel · Post by **hpatel** » 26 Jan 2011 01:23

Amazing writing

Indrajit · Post by **Indrajit** » 26 Jan 2011 07:17

Terrific stuff Vivekji! just wondered that the Paras are supposed to carry Tavors not INSAS.
JMT

Sidhant · Post by **Sidhant** » 26 Jan 2011 10:26

Vivek Sir.... Jai ho!! On the the auspicious day of 26th Jan, please give this Jingo some more posts to feed on....

nits · Post by **nits** » 26 Jan 2011 11:21

Vivek - i have no words... this stuff is truely amazing and masterpiece... You are a jenious... Bravo !!

Ghatotkacha · Post by **Ghatotkacha** » 27 Jan 2011 22:11

Vivek mate I owe you a drink

Let me know whenever you are in states.

disha · Post by **disha** » 27 Jan 2011 22:50

Ghatotkacha, can you pls. send him a case of beer? Or present him a single malt. Why wait for VA to come to Khanate, they will make him write more scenarios given that they are bereft of imagination ...

Vivek, waiting for your next hafta

bsatyaki · Post by **bsatyaki** » 29 Jan 2011 11:04

Has anybody gone thru the Carnegie Endowment report on MMRCA tender?
It makes nice reading, and hits the nail on the head when it mentions that final decision on all defence purchases are made by a group of politicians and bean-counters who mostly dont understand or take into account the real technical evaluation of the end-users, but are guided by greater geo-political reasons.I just downloaded and read the full report. Its free-to-download from the Carniegie Endowment site.

k prasad · Post by **k prasad** » 29 Jan 2011 13:04

link... http://carnegieendowment.org/files/dogfight.pdf

reading it right now. Very interesting. Very VERY interesting.

I still wonder why the hell IAF is stuck at the 39.5 sqn numbers... they'd rather start planning right now for 45 sqns by 2020 and 55 combat sqns by 2025 (by when all MMRCAs will be in full operation). 40 sqns was good for the time when we didnt expect joint Pak-China attacks, and when the seaward defence threats were non-existent. AND when we were still a 3rd world country without any larger geopolitical aims of power projection.

None of which are the case today, let alone in another 10 years. We will not only face PLAN threats from the sea, but would also need to control the straits (of Malacca) in any large war (and yes, we MUST plan for a large multilateral war at this point). We will also need to ensure that no enemy forces take even one step into our Northeast. All the time while maintaining combat readiness on the western and northern regions. None of which can be achieved with only 35 sqns. We'll need 35 4.5 Gen sqns.

andy B · Post by **andy B** » 29 Jan 2011 13:42

bsatyaki wrote:Has anybody gone thru the Carnegie Endowment report on MMRCA tender?
It makes nice reading, and hits the nail on the head when it mentions that final decision on all defence purchases are made by a group of politicians and bean-counters who mostly dont understand or take into account the real technical evaluation of the end-users, but are guided by greater geo-political reasons.I just downloaded and read the full report. Its free-to-download from the Carniegie Endowment site.

I would humbly disagree Ashli bhaiya is making a clear case for the F35 that we simply do not need at this point in time.
We have envisaged the AMCA get a foreign partner read NON US if need be and let us stick to it. It may not be as advanced as the F35, it may not have the plethora of munitions available to the F35 (oh but wait the F35 will only be able to carry a limited range of munitions anyway when they need to be stored inside the weapons bay), again it may not have the most TFTA sensors and the apple cockpits...but it will be OURS that is in my opinion mucho more impt.