Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Khalsa
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by Khalsa »

Vivek,
when will the book be out on Amazon ?
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by RamaY »

Vivek Ji...

Pls send a copy of Fenix book to Sri Sheshadri Chari :)

http://youtu.be/DGOpIF3afYU
vivek_ahuja
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

RamaY wrote:Vivek Ji...

Pls send a copy of Fenix book to Sri Sheshadri Chari :)

http://youtu.be/DGOpIF3afYU
Indeed saar. :D If the Pakis can copy the terrorism ideas from the novel, why shouldn't our own guys learn the response mechanisms? 8)

Khalsa wrote:Vivek,
when will the book be out on Amazon ?
So Fenix is currently being edited. Give it another two weeks before that gets done. At that point it goes into publication.

Fenix should be available in hard copies and kindle soft copies globally via amazon and flipkart.

The first limited edition of the book in print will be hardcover (~500 copies; intended for the faithtful BRF readers here). All others after that will be in paperback.

-Vivek
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by rohankumaon »

The first limited edition of the book in print will be hardcover (~500 copies; intended for the faithtful BRF readers here).
Eagerly waiting for this! :D
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by jamwal »

Sir jee, I hope that it becomes available in India as soon as it's launched. Wouldn't like to wait again.
member_28803
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by member_28803 »

Boss, when's the next dose coming??

Yeh dil maange more!
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by kancha »

vivek_ahuja wrote: The first limited edition of the book in print will be hardcover (~500 copies; intended for the faithtful BRF readers here). All others after that will be in paperback.

-Vivek
One copy for me please!
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by member_28652 »

How does one order?
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by KLNMurthy »

anand_sankar wrote:Vivek,

For once I have to say, I am not convinced with the Pakis nuking Lahore themselves. It is an impossible sell for them to say the Indians did it. For one, India has a 'stated' no first use policy. And there was plenty of opportunity to retaliate for Mumbai if they wanted to, but they went conventional instead. It is far easier for the Indians to sell the idea that Pakistan is out of control and the Jihadis are in control of the nuclear arsenal.

That said I am a huge fan of you exploring the use of nuclear weapons in your storylines. It is a line no writers want to cross because it is so difficult to conceptualise what happens next.

You better not vanish for 3 months now!!!
There are enough journalists in India and opposition politicians who will set up a clamor that Jndia has violated its no-first-use policy etc.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by chaanakya »

vivek_ahuja wrote:

So Fenix is currently being edited. Give it another two weeks before that gets done. At that point it goes into publication.

Fenix should be available in hard copies and kindle soft copies globally via amazon and flipkart.

The first limited edition of the book in print will be hardcover (~500 copies; intended for the faithtful BRF readers here). All others after that will be in paperback.

-Vivek
Great News. I hope Hard cover is available on Flipkart or amazon.in immediately. Last time I had to order from Amazon.com which exported to India with all postal charges. I could have ordered two on price of one. It occupies pride of place on the Shelf.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Image

CHANDIGARH AIR FORCE BASE
INDIA
DAY 2 + 2010 HRS


Ansari unbuckled his seatbelt and got up just as the other passengers did the same. The whining noise from the four turboprop engines outside became visibly lower and changed pitch as they wound down. The air-force warrant officer walked past them in his green overalls and wearing his comms headphone. Towards the rear of the cabin he activated the controls and moments later the hydraulics went into action, lowering the cargo ramp. Ansari as was the first one outside as he jumped off the ramp of the C-130J and hoisted his personal baggage over the shoulders.

He smiled as he saw Gephel walking over from his parked Axe vehicle.

“How long have you been waiting?” Ansari said as he reached earshot of Gephel. The background noise of aircraft taking off and landing made that distance very short. The background chaos of the airbase in war didn’t help.
“Not long,” Gephel shouted just as a IL-76 lifted off the tarmac and disappeared into the night sky. All aircraft were flying without their navigation lights at this time. And the winter sun meant that by this time in the evening, it was already pitch dark except for whatever lights the ground vehicles had on. “We arrived an hour back.” Gephel continued. “The other crews landed just fifteen minutes ago and are being offloaded. We should be ready to leave in another half hour, max.”

“Excellent.” Ansari replied as Gephel waved him to the parked Axe vehicle. “I want us up and away as soon as we can arrange it. We are time critical on this one.” He hoisted his baggage in the back of the parked vehicle and jumped in the rear. Gephel took the seat next to the driver, who took the cue and drove on.

“Where are we going?” Ansari asked over the noise of the vehicle.
“Other end of the airbase, next to those C-17s over there,” Gephel pointed. Ansari looked through the front glass and saw two parked C-17s with a lot of activity around them. He made out the silhouettes of two LCH gunships being offloaded from their ramps. Two others were parked behind the aircraft and ground crews were busy installing their main rotor blades and weapons pylons. Ansari also saw several parked Dhruv utility helicopters in the grass beyond the tarmac.

“Those are our guys?” Ansari pointed towards the Dhruvs.
Gephel nodded: “Jagat and his Panther troops. Our ride from here back to our forward operations center.”
“Who’s leading the gunships?”

“Our old friends,” Gephel smiled. “Group-captain Dutt and his boys. They just got airlifted in from Leh.”
“What?” Ansari blurted out as the driver brought the vehicle to a stop some distance away from the nearest C-17. “Why are they being airlifted in? Aren’t they needed for the Ladakh and Siachen fronts? What if the Chinese step in?”

“Didn’t you hear?” Gephel asked as they disembarked the vehicle. “Our boys are clobbering the Pakis on the Siachen front. They always held dominant positions there and don’t need much help finishing off the enemy. And the reasoning is that if the Chinese do step in, Dutt and his crews will get airlifted back to their theater. The twenty odd Apaches and the two dozen LCHs we have on the western front are stretched far too thin. This was the only way.”

Ansari was not satisfied but nodded anyway. Wartime decision making was always like this. Ironically, in the last war with China, Dutt and his former test-pilots had to be airlifted into Ladakh on an ad-hoc basis. Now in this war, they were having to be airlifted out of there in a similar manner. The Indian military was just not prepared to fight intensive wars on two fronts simultaneously. One front had to be cannibalized to beef up the other. Just the nature of things.

The two men walked over to where Dutt and Jagat were conferring with maps. They turned to see the two special-forces guys approaching but otherwise kept going. Ansari shared a look with Gephel and spotted what he thought was a brief smile. No matter what service you were from, one thing was common: the shared mistrust of the black ops guys…

“Gentlemen, how’s it looking?” Ansari said as he joined the discussion.
“Proceeding.” Dutt said flatly. “We will be dusting off within minutes. My boys and I are just making sure we know precisely where we need to be. Jagat and his pilots are far more acquainted with the geography in our eventual A-O than we are.”

“Good.” Ansari replied and then turned to Jagat: “Are we flying with you?”
Jagat nodded and then turned to the parked Dhruv nearest to them: “Right. That bird there. We are fueled up and ready to leave just as soon the air-force crews are briefed and their choppers loaded with fuel and weapons.”
Dutt folded the maps and shook his head: “No. We are all set. Don’t wait up for us. Considering the conditions of this war, it is not safe for all of us to be sitting around here, clustered like this. I suggest you get your birds in the air. We will depart soon enough behind you. The C-130 paradrops for the FARP will go ahead as planned, so we will bring our own gear and ammo.”

“Fair enough,” Jagat replied with a single nod and then began walking to his parked helicopters. His crews saw him coming and he rotated his lead finger in the sign of ‘start them up’. The pilots and crews began dispersing. Ansari and Gephel followed behind Jagat. Ansari saw that the other two Dhruv helicopters were already loaded to the max with what looked like Nag anti-tank missiles and crates of equipment and ammo. He could only surmise how much the Indian government had staked on this operation: Basu and SOCOM had pulled out all the stops…

Several minutes later Jagat’s Dhruv lifted off the grassy field and dove to the southwest, flying fast and low over the airbase. The other two helicopters did the same and took position behind Jagat. The three helicopters disappeared into the darkness within moments, but left the lingering sounds of their rotors on the airbase.

Behind them, Dutt crossed his arms as they watched the last of the four LCHs being offloaded on to the tarmac…
Last edited by vivek_ahuja on 08 Jan 2015 20:53, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Image

THE RAJASTHAN DESERT
DAY 2 + 2040 HRS


“Sir! Warning message from Mongol-three. We have inbounds heading towards Rhino!”

Brigadier Sudarshan and his senior staff looked up from the map table to see the projected map on the digital screen showing vectors provided by the Phalcon AWACS aircraft ‘Mongol-Three’ controlling this sector. The vectors had speeds and altitude provided next to them. And they were inbound and converging on the section of the N5 highway controlled by Kulkarni’s tanks. The vector also showed what the computer on board the Phalcon thought they were: AH-1 Cobra gunships of the Pak army. Further west, another eight vectors were overtaking the slow moving choppers. These the computer identified as being low-flying Babur cruise missiles launched from somewhere near Quetta, in western Pakistan. Sudarshan knew this for what it was: a strike to weaken the Indian defenses around the highway. This corroborated well with what Sudarshan’s long-range unmanned aircraft were already showing to be two columns of T-80 tanks, one heading north and the other south and both converging on Rahim Yar Khan. All in all, a formidable attack.

But one that was hardly surprising to Sudarshan. He knew what his armored task forces had taken from the Pakistanis out here. He knew they would strike to take it back. He also knew that the almost quashed resistance by the Pakistani tank battalion and an infantry brigade inside Rahim Yar Khan would have reminded the Pakistani commanders, that time was running out for them to launch a counterattack before the Indians solidified their defenses. The question had been when and how. Both those answers were right here.

He turned to the staff around him: “All right gentlemen, here comes the Pakistani counterattack. We have prepared for this. Make the ba$tards pay! Let’s go! Let’s go!” He pounded the table with his fist for emphasis. The staff ran in different directions as though struck by lightning.

He walked over to the comms personnel: “Get me Lt-Colonel Kulkarni out at waypoint ‘red’.”
“Steel-central to Rhino-actual, over.”
After three seconds of static: “Rhino-actual here. Over.”

One of the comms officers handed him a speaker: “This is steel-actual. Be advised, we are detecting massed enemy movements towards waypoint ‘red’. You have inbound cruise missiles and enemy attack choppers. And we are detecting mechanized columns of T-80s heading out to you from north and south along the highway.” He paused for that to sink in.

“Roger. Uh…rhino-actual copies all.”

Sudarshan noted the response to be a bit hesitant. So he decided to make things clear: “Listen to me clearly, son. We can see all of these buggers moving in for the kill and we are not about to sit here wriggling our thumbs and letting it happen. We have anticipated this and will respond. Rhino is ordered to dig in and wait. Finish off whatever we miss. But do not let the enemy take control of waypoint ‘red’. Is that understood?”
“Understood, sir. We will make our stand here.”

Sudarshan nodded, more to himself than anyone. “Good. Steel-actual, out.” He handed the speaker back to the comms officer. “Now this show is in the hands of our fly boys. They had better pull it off, or Rhino is dead meat out there.”
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by jamwal »

Ansari turned to see Basu waving him into the conference room. He walked over to find the diminutive RAW man with balding hair and a brown suit standing near the table as younger members of his team poured over maps and paper printouts of what looked like transcripts of conversations. Ansari smiled at that. RAW doing what it did best: behind the scenes dirty work
Minor nitpick: Shouldn't it be pore over ?
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by srai »

Axe!

Nice ... was wondering which LSV was selected by the army. Last news was from 2008 and trials were going on.

Winter trials for the army's Light Support Vehicles
19 February 2008

Image

Here's a family photograph of the vehicles that are competing for the army's requirement of 228 Light Support Vehicles (LSV). These are for the Reconnaissance Platoons of the mechanised infantry battalions.
...
The vehicles in the line-up are (left to right): The Mahindra Axe, the Vectra LSV, the Flyer being fielded by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), and the Tata LSV. From what I hear, the Mahindra Axe is the best-performing vehicle in the trials, but it is unlikely to win because of the L-1 system.
...
And this from 4 Feb 2014: Auto rivals gear up for defence order
...
New Delhi, Feb. 4: The Tatas and the Mahindras will square off with one another for Indian Army’s Rs 2,000-crore order for about 20,000 station wagons tailored specifically to the needs of the military.

The army held rigorous trials of the variants of Tata Safari Storme and Mahindra Scorpio in the deserts of Rajasthan and eastern Himalayas in Sikkim. It is expected to announce its preferred vehicle and place the order later this year.

The entire army will use the new vehicle, which will replace their current fleet of Gypsies and Mahindra Jeeps. The Tatas are tipped to be leading the race, but the deal could be split given the huge size of the order.
...
However, the army has now split its requirement into three — a station wagon, which will be a basic people mover, a light armoured specialist vehicle that can have weapons such as a machine gun mounted on it and a light-armoured multi-role vehicle, which will have a blast-proof underbelly to protect it from mines.

The Mahindras will also be bidding for the second category — a 4-5-tonne light specialist vehicle — for which a tender is expected in March this year. The Mahindras will use the Axe platform for the vehicle.

Col. Sukhvinder Hayer (retd), senior general manager of Mahindra Defence Land Systems, said, “We have developed our own vehicle for this category and it will be competing with the Tatas here.” The market for the various kinds of specialist vehicles required by Indian Army is estimated to be worth $10 billion.
...
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Image

SKIES ABOVE RAHIM YAR KHAN
DAY 2 + 2045 HRS


The airspace in western Rajasthan had been crowding up ever since Mongol-three first detected the Babur cruise missile launches east of Quetta. Ever since the war had started, the unique radar signature of the ground-launched Pakistani missile had been passed around between all the Indian airborne radar aircraft for future reference. This allowed greater detection time and earlier warnings.

As was the case here. Mongol-three had spent the time after the detection of the subsonic missiles to bring up interceptor aircraft capable of shooting down such a threat. They had also alerted the ground based anti-air units of the Indian army out near Rahim Yar Khan. The latter would work as a second layer defense, mopping up whatever the air-force fighters were unable to get.

The first set of aircraft that dived from altitude were a trio of Mirage-2000s from No 1 Squadron. They would go after the inbound Babur missiles. The quartet of Su-30s at high altitude switched afterburners and accelerated west to ensure that the PAF did not threaten the diving interceptors at any point. An indicator of how high this battle ranked in the Pakistani mindset, three F-16s were detected by Mongol-three as they lifted off from Quetta. Considering the state of the PAF by this time in the war, the use of their remaining fighters as top cover for the inbound ground forces was noted by Mongol-three and passed on to the Indian army commanders below. The Su-30s would ensure that they posed themselves as a solid wall of fighters between the F-16s and the diving Mirage-2000s.

Further east, Five Mig-27s thundered over the international border markers in the desert on full afterburner as they headed west. They could concentrate on the inbound enemy attack helicopters, forcing them to abandon their attack and retreat or fight through the Indian aircraft. Sending fixed wing aircraft after low-flying helicopters was an iffy business. The best counter for an attack helicopter was another attack helicopter. Especially in terrain where the attackers could stay out of range of the defending ground forces and their organic anti-air capabilities. Ideally, the Indian Apache gunships would have gone after the Pakistani Cobras, but they were already moving into positions to play hell with the inbound T-80 columns…

To support this armada of fighters, bombers and attack helicopters, two IL-78 refueling tankers entered the cold skies above the Indian desert. They would stay in their patrols here waiting to refuel whoever was thirsty after combat. The Phalcon, however, had to be closer to the happenings. It entered Pakistani airspace by two dozen kilometers. It was technically over Indian controlled Pakistani land, but this marked the first time an Indian AWACS aircraft had penetrated enemy airspace.

And it wouldn’t be the last.
Last edited by vivek_ahuja on 10 Jan 2015 22:23, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Image

NEAR THE INDUS RIVER
WEST OF RAHIM YAR KHAN
DAY 2 + 2105 HRS


The Pakistani army were learning the hard way what it meant to fight in skies controlled by the enemy. And their ground and aviation forces were paying the price. For the army aviation forces, the reversals in the skies above them had proven extremely costly. Amongst all the elements that made up the Pak army, the highest attrition rate had been within their helicopter squadrons. They had gone into battle armed with French Puma transports, some American Huey transports and Cobra gunships, Russian Mi-17 and Mi-35 gunships as well as an assortment of utility helicopters. Almost all of these had now been ravaged to the point of extinction after more than a week of aerial strikes in Kashmir followed up with two days of continuous, intensive combat with the Indian forces.

The Mi-17 units had been used exclusively on the Kashmir fronts. They had the endurance and power to be able to fly in the very high altitude conditions in the Himalayas. Same went for the UH-1 Huey units, although they were also being used in the Punjab and Jammu fronts along with the handful of Mi-35s in a light gunship role wherever the situation presented.

Out in the desert, however, the Puma and Cobra units were in play. Pakistan had a fleet of heavily used and somewhat outdated Cobra helicopters provided to them by the United States in the 1980s and then augmented by additional attrition replacements and a modest fleet increment in the two decades since. They had been used heavily against the Pakistani Taliban when they were fighting the Islamabad government. And the hours showed on the machines. The two major units operating the helicopters was deeply experienced in counterinsurgency combat, almost to the point of weariness.

But that experience didn’t necessarily translate into experience against a technologically advanced enemy. And the initial mistakes made by the Cobra crews against Indian defenses had cost them nearly a third of the overall fleet in the first few hours of the ground war. Of course, that was when their air-force was putting up a stiff fight against the Indians in the skies above. But as that air cover had eroded, hour by hour, to the point of being negligible, the Cobra units had begun to feel the effects. What was at first a straight trip from the forward area rearming points to the battlefield had now degenerated into long, arduous and winding paths avoiding the attention of Indian fighters above and Indian airborne radars to the east. Flying had become an art of hop, skip and jump from cover to cover. And if they did somehow make it to the frontlines, the threat of anti-air units firing at them from all directions added to the stress. Finishing that, it was a similar trip back to the rearming point. Not only did it dramatically increase the time between turnaround flights, reducing their presence and effect on the frontlines, it also made the crews exhausted and tired, and wore out the machines.

The net attrition was enormous. And the Pak Cobra units had become a nearly spent force.

This effort tonight required the army aviation force to muster all available Cobras for the attack on Indian armor blockading the N5 highway. The fact that the entire force of Cobras, once an awe inspiring sight of dozens of machines, now represented just five helicopters had been a sobering sight to the senior pilots and gunners as they had made their way to their parked birds. One thing about fighting over home turf: the crew recovery from downed helicopters was relatively high, though there had been severe casualties. As a result, the units now had more pilots and gunners than they had machines to allow them to fly in. As a result, only the senior crews were going out on missions to maximize what little effect they could make…

As the five helicopters came to a hover over the trees on the west bank of the Indus, their gunners were scanning for targets. There was no way to tell if the eastern bank was now occupied by the Indians or not. Chinese satellite intel pictures had shown fast moving columns of Indian recon units near the east bank of the river, ahead of their main armored thrust near the highway, further east. That meant that if the Cobra crews got shot down on the eastern bank of the river, there was no guarantee of recovery. This is what made the N5 chokepoint at Rahim Yar Khan so strategic. The nearly parallel Indus river severely limited east-west motion of Pakistani army units except at crucial bridges, which had been destroyed by Indian cruise missile strikes. The armor columns now attempting to retake lost ground were being funneled into the north south axis by a river on their west and the Indian forces on their east. A very dangerous situation.

The pilots saw the specks of light amplified by their helmet night-vision optics as the Babur missiles streaked over the river, some kilometers to the north. These missiles would then turn south to hit important targets along the Indian logistics lines before the T-80 columns engaged in combat.

A massive flash of light to the northeast reflected off the waters of the Indus and disappeared. The Cobra pilots continued to hover, being unsure of what that had been. The massive rumble of the explosion passed through their cockpits moments later, rocking them sideways as the pilots brought the birds under control again. And then another explosion further west…

Against the greenish night sky they spotted the clear delta-shaped silhouettes of Indian Mirage-2000s as the latter began intercepting the predictably flying Babur missiles. The numerous explosions showed the Cobra pilots that already their counterattack was going wrong.

They had to push on, regardless of the obvious threat around them. Under the command of their squadron commander, the five Cobra moved out of hover and flew low over the waters of the river as they made their way east. Their gunners kept a close eye on the maneuvering Indian fighters to their northeast, guiding the pilots into cover whenever one of them came close to spotting them. Neither did, so within minutes the helicopters were doggedly making their way east. They were now within a few kilometers of sighting the Indian armor on the highway…

The fast moving flight of five Mig-27s caught them all by surprise. Not least of which were the Indian pilots, who could not spot the low, hovering Pakistani helicopters in their night optics against so much clutter. They flew past their hovering prey and crossed the river behind them. They then began to make a lazy arc around to try another pass.

The Pakistani pilots now knew that they had been spotted on Indian radar. There was no other way to explain the precision with which the Indian pilots were visually looking for their targets out here. No way. They must have been vectored here. Perhaps they could not see the helicopters on radar at the moment because the latter were hovering in the ground clutter. But that would have to change. And soon. There was only so much fuel on board, after all…

As the Mig-27s again flew within three hundred meters of the Cobras and didn’t see them, the latter decided they would have to fight their way out of here. All five helicopters carried with them a pair of Stinger missiles on their outermost stub pylons. As two of the Mig-27s broke pattern and climbed up to get a better view, the other three aircraft swept over the river again, north of where the Cobras were.

The Pakistani squadron commander brought his helicopter around and pitched it up, a maneuver they had learnt from their Indian counterparts in the China war. This instantly put the burning exhausts of the Indian jets in clear contrast with the cold night sky behind them.

A moment later the first stinger missile leapt off its pylon and arced across the night sky, chasing its target.

Now the game was up. The arcing trajectory of the missile showed the Indian pilots exactly where the cobras were. The five mig-27s broke pattern and dived in different directions, lighting up the entire night sky with a massive pattern of flares that looked like a manmade star horizon. It rendered the entire terrain in flickering shades of orange and yellow. It also destroyed what night vision any of the Indian and Pakistani pilots had. The Stinger was an outdated missile by modern standards. At least the version of it in Pakistan’s hands. It flew off into the flare clouds and kept climbing until it ran out of fuel, and then dropped out of the sky like a rock.

But the battle had just begun. All five cobra crews scattered in different direction as the Mig-27 pilots made strafing passes over them. The helicopters were slow, but they were maneuverable. And their gunners were busy lacing the night sky with tracers of their own…

A burst of cannon rounds tore into the tail boom of one of the cobras, instantly shearing off the tail rotor and sending the helicopter into an uncontrolled rotation. The tracers from its main chin turret were flying in a circular arc as the helicopter spun and lost altitude. It splashed into the waters of the Indus near the eastern bank and its rotor blades flew off wildly in all directions, twisted and broken.

Three more stingers raced for the sky above. This time one of the Indian Mig-27 pilots flew past and was caught in a tri-lateral threat in the azimuth. He pulled his control stick into his stomach and the aircraft went nearly vertical, climbing on fully burner and punching flares like a cone behind it. But the gravity was against the aircraft and the missiles were much faster and lighter. Their climb rate was much higher. Two of the missiles struck in quick succession against the flaming engine exhaust of the aircraft and detonated. The pilot ejected just in time as the aircraft shattered to pieces and lost vertical momentum. The burning debris began flying in arcing trajectories in all directions.

The explosion also lit up the entire sky. And the flickering shadows of the rotating blades became instantly visible. Three of the Mig-27s dived from high altitude and followed their tracers in, their rounds impacting the helicopters on the top. It was a deadly place to get hit on because that was where all the glass was in the cockpits. Two more helicopters lost control as the blood-splattered bodies of their crews coated the glass. They flew into the trees east of the river. The fourth helicopter detonated under the impacts and disappeared into a fireball amidst some houses in a village nearby.

By the time the four mig-27s recovered at higher altitude, two of them were already dangerously low on fuel. The other two pilots went to work protecting their downed comrades like a pair of hawks until a Garud SAR team made its way there to recover him. The fifth cobra pilot made good his escape and lived to fight another day, flying west at so low an altitude so as to shear treetop branches with his landing skids…
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by kancha »

vivek_ahuja wrote:Image

SKIES ABOVE RAHIM YAR KHAN
DAY 2 + 2045 HRS


The airspace in western Rajasthan had been crowding up ever since Mongol-three first detected the Babur cruise missile launches east of Quetta. Ever since the war had started, the unique radar signature of the ground-launched Pakistani missile had been passed around between all the Indian airborne radar aircraft for future reference. This allowed greater detection time and earlier warnings.
One small nitpick - shouldn't it be 'lesser' detection time?
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vila »

Vivek Sir,

Why the Indian Apaches didn't attack the Paki Cobras and Jags or Mig 27 attack the paki armour with cluster ammo? Wouldn't it be more convenient?
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by parshuram »

Vivek Ji,

Very Well narrative indeed. Just my two cents With PA esp PAF being beaten black and blue . It is very highly unlikely that Islamic countries will not react.

I think Pakistanis will plead to death to get Arabian Arsenal during war with kufr Hindu nation. Turkey or UAE with their more advanced F 16 ' s or more likely for those for which pakistani special forces have fought in past The Saudi's can lend their Typhoons which will be a formidable challenge to IAF esp MKI 's.

It would be a great pleasure if you touch this aspect

More Power to you.Keep Writing .
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by chaanakya »

They have not intervened during '65 or '71. They may not do so even now. Arabs are traders.
Paki hope lies in Unkil support which they tried in '71 and during kargil. I doubt it would be any more effective then on earlier occasions.

Posts are due and I am getting serious withdrawal symptoms. Pleez post something even if it is your response to comments.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by Rahul M »

many arab nations sent weapons even aeroplanes in 65 & 71. we even destroyed one such.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by jamwal »

Pakis have been helped by Cheenis and Arabs in previous wars. But counting on their support in a nuclear conflict is foolhardy.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

So the question about Arab air forces intervention is a valid one. And something I had toyed with when writing Fenix. But I could never convince myself on what conditions would need to exist for these countries to send material aid (in the form of airplanes, equipment etc.). Allow me to raise these doubts:

1. It is true that in 1965 and 1971, they sent the aid to the Paki air force in the form of replacement jets. But back then, the backdrop of complete destruction of these aircraft was considered unlikely by the Arabs since nuclear weapons usage was not a concern. With nuclear weapons already unsheathed and used by the Pakis on two occasions already in this war, would the Arabs still be willing to send their expensive equipment to the aid of Rawalpindi?

2. The Pakis were on extremely good terms with the western states back then, despite their genocidal activities. But with the state of affairs as they are today, does the same conditions apply? Considering how the economic state of the world is now, would the Arab states still be willing to part with billions of dollars worth of equipment when the state of the war is such as it is?

3. What level of aid could be provided, if they did agree to do it? Surely sending a few airplanes would hurt the Indians but would not turn the tide of the war. What would be needed is dozens of aircraft plus tankers and even some E-3 type coverage. Is that something the Sauds are going to go out on a limb for the Pakis?

Just some thoughts.

-Vivek
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by chaanakya »

Rahul M wrote:many arab nations sent weapons even aeroplanes in 65 & 71. we even destroyed one such.
Well what I had in mind was 7th Fleet like interventions which had potential to change the course of war. Arabs could have been far more formidable had they lent full weight politically to the War as well as send their armies to bolster the paki efforts. A resolution in OIC or sending few weapons ( could be for a price) may not qualify as intervention. Supplies are always procured from many sources. India did source weapons and ammos during Kargil war from Israel and few other countries. Does it mean that Israel intervened in the war?? It was unkil which was trying to intervene.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by chaanakya »

vivek_ahuja wrote:So the question about Arab air forces intervention is a valid one. And something I had toyed with when writing Fenix. But I could never convince myself on what conditions would need to exist for these countries to send material aid (in the form of airplanes, equipment etc.). Allow me to raise these doubts:

1. It is true that in 1965 and 1971, they sent the aid to the Paki air force in the form of replacement jets. But back then, the backdrop of complete destruction of these aircraft was considered unlikely by the Arabs since nuclear weapons usage was not a concern. With nuclear weapons already unsheathed and used by the Pakis on two occasions already in this war, would the Arabs still be willing to send their expensive equipment to the aid of Rawalpindi?

They would worry more about their moolah then supporting pakis. In fact Iran would encourage India to take punitive action should Arabs play truant. Their supply lines can by harassed. And threat of Long Range missiles giving them a lesson or two when they can not attack directly via land route should give them something to chew on. In Nuclear eventuality all bets are off unlike conventional warfare. They dare not intervene lest they may get a taste of Nukes.


2. The Pakis were on extremely good terms with the western states back then, despite their genocidal activities. But with the state of affairs as they are today, does the same conditions apply? Considering how the economic state of the world is now, would the Arab states still be willing to part with billions of dollars worth of equipment when the state of the war is such as it is?

Its not equipments but their economies. If oil interests are threatened Ubkil would surely intervene to contain the conflagration and not allow the war to expand to more theatres. They would risk pakis to keep oil bearing ME intact.


3. What level of aid could be provided, if they did agree to do it? Surely sending a few airplanes would hurt the Indians but would not turn the tide of the war. What would be needed is dozens of aircraft plus tankers and even some E-3 type coverage. Is that something the Sauds are going to go out on a limb for the Pakis?

Whether saudis would risk being nuked??


Just some thoughts.

-Vivek
My two cents.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

vila wrote:Vivek Sir,

Why the Indian Apaches didn't attack the Paki Cobras and Jags or Mig 27 attack the paki armour with cluster ammo? Wouldn't it be more convenient?
Ideally, yes. That is correct, as I have also stated in the scenario:
vivek_ahuja wrote:Sending fixed wing aircraft after low-flying helicopters was an iffy business. The best counter for an attack helicopter was another attack helicopter. Especially in terrain where the attackers could stay out of range of the defending ground forces and their organic anti-air capabilities. Ideally, the Indian Apache gunships would have gone after the Pakistani Cobras, but they were already moving into positions to play hell with the inbound T-80 columns…
But the issue here was the time factor. The Apaches and Cobras move much slower than the fixed wing aircraft. Considering when and where the Cobras were detected, there wasn't much time to send the Apaches after them. By the time they would have reached within range of the Cobras, the latter would already have been hammering Rhino tanks on the N-5.

The Mig-27s could interject faster, but were obviously much less suited for the task, as you have noted.

The Apaches at the time were also kitted out with Hellfires rather than for the air-to-air role. Considering that we only have (or would have) only a few dozen Apaches for the entire massive frontline with Pakistan, there wouldn't be the luxury of keeping some on standby waiting for an air-to-air threat to show up. Their only usage in the air-to-air scenario would be if they encountered enemy helicopters while already executing some other mission.
Last edited by vivek_ahuja on 11 Jan 2015 23:23, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by Rahul M »

true, as that recent book on nixon-kissinger showed much of that arab help was actually cover for US help.

in these cases also US would decide whether help will be forthcoming. I for one would assume that they would stick to balance of power theories.

btw there's a theory that some paki nukes are in saudi mated to NoKo supplied IRBMs. there are some GE images of facilities which look like that. the understanding being that even if pak is destroyed India can still be attacked from saudi and US/world would prevent India from counter-attacking them to protect oil reserves.

vivek, wont the LCH carry IGLA's ?
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by chaanakya »

If that is factored then Sauds are marked target. And would be actively monitored for any signs of launch or military movement around the sites. They can not remain immune unless they give verifiable assurance to india that they would not intervene . Few show of support here and there by Paki minders would be ignored and may be they could be roped in to help restore balance to Paki thinking, when their own existence would be under threat by indian Strike.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

wont the LCH carry IGLA's ?
I believe they would eventually do that, saar. But haven't seen anything definitive on that yet. Perhaps that scenario will change in a year?

-Vivek
Last edited by vivek_ahuja on 12 Jan 2015 10:24, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Image

THE DESERT
SOUTH OF RAHIM YAR KHAN
DAY 2 + 2140 HRS


Twelve Apache gunship helicopters of the Indian air-force’s No. 125 Squadron flew over the desert bushes and dunes. They were flying low enough to leave branches and leaves in their rotor wakes. The Gladiators, as the unit was called, were out on a hunt tonight.

Painted almost jet black, the two-man crews of the helicopters were doing exactly what the Cobra pilots had been trying to do to the Indian presence on the N5 highway. Except that the Apaches didn’t have to fear any Pakistani aerial interference. The skies above were under dominance of the Indian Su-30s. That made it easier for these helicopter crews to focus on the job at hand…
Their target was the northbound convoy of Pakistani armor, heading towards Rahim Yar Khan. It represented the southern jaw of a north-south pincer maneuver that the Pakistanis hoped would wrench back control of the two and break the Indian chokehold on the highway. There were forty-five T-80s in this force and twice that number of mechanized personnel carriers, ferrying infantry to the battle. A smaller force of T-80s was inbound from the north of Rahim Yar Khan. Against all this were just twenty Arjun tanks and a gaggle of infantry units holding the blockade on the highway. Some more tanks were nearby on flank protection positions but not nearly enough to go toe-to-toe with this force of T-80s. Basically, the Pakistanis were throwing everything they had at the Indians in the town, short of the kitchen sink.

But the Gladiators were out here to lend a hand to their army brethren. The helicopters each carried sixteen Hellfire missiles each. At twelve birds in the formation tonight, that made for more missiles than there were targets. Unlike the TOW missile carried by the Pakistani Cobras, the Hellfire missiles were fire-and-forget designs that did not require the Apaches to expose themselves after launch to guide the missile to the target. It was a well-established missile of over twenty years combat experience with the US army aviation units. And the latter had shared with their Indian counterparts their experiences in Iraq.

The only real threat that the Indian helicopters faced were not the enemy anti-air capabilities, but rather the low-visibility telephone and power cables that crisscrossed the villages and towns in this area of Pakistan. These were extremely had to detect when flying at high speed at low altitude during daytime. At night it got even worse with the limited field of vision of the helmet night optics and the non-reflectivity black of the poles and cables. Of course, pay too much attention to these and you might miss something else important, such as a silently waiting anti-air gun mounted on some rooftop, or a perimeter shoulder-fired missile crew waiting for just such a juicy target…

The twelve Apaches caught up with the enemy convoy a few kilometers south of Rahim Yar Khan. They flew in from the side and had the entire convoy trying to move north along the highway. The urban environment had the same funneling effects on these T-80s as it had on the Rhino columns. Both sides were forced on to the roads. And that made for a neatly lined column of targets for the twelve Apache gunners.

Within seconds, they began launching Hellfire missiles in a free-for-all environment. The gunners simply moved the target tracker boxes from one tank to the other as they ripple-fired their missiles…
Last edited by vivek_ahuja on 12 Jan 2015 10:22, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Image

ON THE N-5 HIGHWAY
WEST OF RAHIM YAR KHAN
DAY 2 + 2145 HRS


The explosions showed up on the Arjun tank’s optics as white flashes of light against a green-black horizon. They couldn’t see the enemy tanks just yet, of course, but the enormous flashes of light and the deep thunder under their feet was clear enough.

Kulkarni pushed his head away from the optics and considered his plans. Sudarshan had kept his word and had brought in every available combat element under his command to bear against this incoming enemy counterattack. But Kulkarni had to deal with whatever made it through this aerial onslaught and reached within range of his tank guns.

He moved his sights around and saw the flickering of light and white-grey columns of smoke rising into the sky from the town to his east. Further southeast, a thick column of smoke rose into the night sky where a Babur missile had struck the Indian counter-battery radar unit, codenamed “Ferrite”. It was now off the air permanently, with almost hundred percent casualties from the direct strike. Luckily for Kulkarni, the other missiles had been intercepted well before they made their way here. Same applied for the enemy attack helicopters that had been turned away after encountering severe casualties. And to his north, Indian Jaguar strike aircraft were busy hitting the southbound columns of twenty-four T-80s and several M113s.

There would be survivors from both these columns. And they would be looking for a fight when they got here.

Kulkarni knew this.

But he had to make up his mind. Should he go after the northern column, since they were far more likely to survive the Jaguar strikes? Or should he wait here for them to come to him? The southern column was another story. He hoped that the Apaches would lay waste to that column so much that they would, at the very least, be delayed in their coordinated attack with the northern column and at best, realize the hopelessness of the cause and retreat further south before the Apaches returned with more missiles and fuel to finish them off.

He brought up taskforce comms: “All rhino-alpha elements, this is rhino-actual. We are moving to contact against the northern column of enemy armor. Alpha-three will hang back and hold the line against anything that the Apache drivers miss. Hold your ground until we return. Everyone else, prepare to move in five. Out.”

He then looked forward to his crew: “You heard the plan. Questions?”
The gunner and the loader shared a look and then shook their heads. The silence from the driver’s seat was his answer. Kulkarni nodded and muttered an “okay” to himself before bringing the ABAMS screen around.

“Driver,” he said after bringing his comms mouthpiece close, “we will lead the charge. Bring us out of this defilade and on the west side of the highway facing north. We will lash out to the northwest towards the Indus river and then swing back east, hitting the enemy column on his right flank. Hopefully he will be expecting an attack on his left flank and that will buy us some tactical surprise.”

“Understood, sir. Ready when you are.” The turret vibrated as the engine came alive. The loader removed a sabot round from the storage and pushed it into the gun breech. The latter closed with the clang.
Kulkarni looked at his loader: “how’s our supply of tank rounds?”
“We have enough for this battle, sir. But after that we have to rearm.”

Kulkarni made a mental note of that and went back to peering through his sights. They had been using up their high explosive rounds at a much higher rate in this urban terrain than they had accounted for before the war began. Sabot rounds were well within pre-calculated usage limits. As always, the army commanders had been caught preparing for the last war, not the next one. The urban combat being encountered by the Indian tankers all along the border from Punjab to Rajasthan were soaking up the logistics…

“Rhino-alpha, move out! Rhino-actual has the lead!”

The tank lurched forward and pitched up as it climbed over the sand embankment created by the Trishul combat-engineers and then down over the other side. As they became horizontal and the gunner moved the main gun to auto-stabilization, Kulkarni went to his sights, rotating it around to see fifteen other tanks following him. At the moment all of his tanks were staggered randomly. He would have to change that in order to bring some sense of cohesion amongst his units. He pushed some commands on the ABAMS screen to indicate to platoon commanders where he wanted them to be relative to his tank. Within minutes, he saw the platoons making abrupt changes in their motion relative to his tank…

“Steel-central to Rhino-actual, over.” The radio squawked.
“Rhino-actual, receiving five-by-five. Send traffic, over.”
“Rhino-actual, this is steel-actual,” Sudarshan’s voice replaced the earlier one. “Care to explain what you are doing?” Kulkarni noted the irritated tone in his commander’s voice and internally muttered an “uh oh”.

“Steel-actual,” he shouted over the increased rumble of the tank engines, “we are moving to contact, sir. Rhino will not sit idly and wait for the enemy to seize the initiative. We have the advantage of fighting on the move better than those T-80s and have the tactical element of surprise. And we intend to use it! Over!”

“I hope you know what you are doing, son,” Sudarshan noted after several seconds. But he understood, being a former tank commander himself. In Kulkarni’s shoes he would have done the same. And that was all there was to it. Sudarshan was not one to second-guess his field commanders in the midst of combat.

“Roger, steel-central. Rhino will move to engage surviving elements of the enemy. Suggest you pass the word to the air-force pilots above us. Rhino is moving to I-R beacons for I-F-F. Over.”
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by shaun »

need 4 posts! greedy!
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by arshyam »

Vivek sir, about the Apaches - have you considered US not allowing us to use them against the Pakis, or withholding spares? This is a likely scenario, given their penchant for sanctioning us over one thing or another, asking for intrusive inspections, etc. which is why India thinks twice before buying any US maal. Maybe I have missed out some posts where you account for this as US policy change after the Mumbai attack, but wanted to get your thoughts on this.

Also, Chimera had a lot of LCH action, and by now, shouldn't the product have matured and be deployed in more numbers? Do you have any action in store for them?
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

arshyam wrote:Vivek sir, about the Apaches - have you considered US not allowing us to use them against the Pakis, or withholding spares? This is a likely scenario, given their penchant for sanctioning us over one thing or another, asking for intrusive inspections, etc. which is why India thinks twice before buying any US maal. Maybe I have missed out some posts where you account for this as US policy change after the Mumbai attack, but wanted to get your thoughts on this.

Also, Chimera had a lot of LCH action, and by now, shouldn't the product have matured and be deployed in more numbers? Do you have any action in store for them?
Arshyam,

The assumption here is that the weaponry sourced through the US will be used regardless of whether the US would want them to be used or not. Additional spares can be withheld, but there are enough spares in the inventory of these purchases to last through the operations for at least the duration of the war.

Note that the scenario had posts much further back that talked about US policies regarding disabling of GPS systems on both sides, etc.

-Vivek
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by vivek_ahuja »

Image

ON THE N-5 HIGHWAY
WEST OF RAHIM YAR KHAN
DAY 2 + 2205 HRS


Okay…Kulkarni told himself as he exhaled and relaxed his mind. The infrared beacons on top of the Arjun tanks would ensure that friendly fighter-bombers above would be able to tell the difference between friend and foe tanks. Hopefully. If the Pakistanis switched on their beacons too, it would be chaos and the bombers would have to abort their attack runs and leave the fight to Rhino to finish…

“Flashes on the horizon,” the gunner announced, “to the north.”
Kulkarni brought his sights around. He had noticed during his talk with Sudarshan that the gunner had rotated the turret off axis and was now pointed close to seventy degrees off to the right of the chassis of the tank, given their motion. The driver was leading the tank to the northwest, and the gunner was facing targets north.

“Range?” Kulkarni asked as he looked through his sights.
“Hard to tell, sir,” the gunner replied, “too much obstruction from house and trees.”

“And add zero depth perception on the night optics,” Kulkarni added. His own sights were having the same problem out here. He saw the flashes on the horizon just as the gunner had indicated. It was clear that the air-force Jaguars were busy causing mayhem and carnage out there. Kulkarni hoped that Sudarshan had managed to warn those pilots about the sixteen tanks with flashing infrared beacons heading northeast, south of the enemy column. It reminded him of the brutal days of combat in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector during the China war. They had worked closely with the Jaguar pilots for that battle as well. And despite best efforts, numerous mistakes in coordination had been made by both sides. Since then a lot had improved. But the system was still far from perfect. And during battle, mistakes could be expected…

Kulkarni checked his ABAMS screen with its rolling map display and brought up his comms mouthpiece: “Driver, enough westward motion. Bring us due north for roughly two kilometers. We will turn east and take up positions there.”

“Roger.”

As the differential track motion of the tank caused everyone inside to hold on, the gunner brought the turret in alignment with the front of the chassis. The flashes on the horizon were now to their northeast…and subsiding in frequency.

“Looks like the Jaguars are leaving the airspace,” the gunner remarked.
“We must be closing in on the enemy,” Kulkarni replied and then corrected his assumptions: “or they are leaving to rearm and refuel. Can’t tell just from the flashes.” He then looked at his paper maps to see where a good place might be for them to turn east and wait for the enemy. What he needed was a good line of sight for his tanks. Something to open the volley with. After that, they would move to contact and engage the enemy at close range…

There…he found what looked like enough of a gap between the nearest clumps of houses and tree clusters to allow at least ten of his tanks to fit in, facing east. He then looked up at the ABAMS screen and pushed in the coordinates of the grid so that it would show up as a marker on the respective screens of all of his tanks as a rally point. He knew his platoon leaders were smart enough to see what their commander’s intent was without him having to spell it out.

He then checked his own tank’s position relative to the position he had marked and brought up his comms: “Driver. Keep moving for another two hundred meters. Then traverse right and bring us facing east in that clearing.”

“Roger, sir.”

Kulkarni liked the fact that his crew operated with the bare minimal of doubts or questions. It was like they were of the same mind. Either that or they just mindlessly trusted him. Either way, their lives rested on his conscience.

And on my decisions…he reminded himself as he folded the paper map back into neat squares. He then pushed it back into his overall’s zipper pocket. He won’t be needing it now.
The vehicle jerked to a halt and then twisted about its position to the right, bringing the turret to face straight through the opening Kulkarni had intended. He rotated his sights to see other tanks also moving into position in a line abreast formation. Nine of his tanks took up position as the first line, followed by the remaining seven in the second line behind. The formation was spread over three hundred meters, north to south. It also represented something else: a firing squad.

Kulkarni smiled at that realization and gripped the sights in close to his eyes. His tank was the northernmost tank in the formation. His gunner was already swiveling the turret to the northeast as they waited for enemy movement. Kulkarni flicked on the thermal view on his sights. The view instantly changed from the green-black of the night optics to a white-grey-black monochrome. The thermals registered on his sights as black. And cold objects were being rendered white. That was his personal preference setting. This view instantly showed him the black-grey columns of smoke from the Jaguar strikes, one kilometer northeast of them…

“There!” He exclaimed as the first black blob on his screen moved in jerks that only a tank crew understood. Then two more. And then half a dozen. All heading south. The Pakistanis appeared to be reorganizing their formations following the Jaguar strikes. As Kulkarni expected, the center of gravity of their formation was towards the southeast: the direction they expected the enemy positions to be.

“All Rhino-alpha tanks,” Kulkarni shouted into his comms, “hold your fire until we have enough of the ba$tards for our first line gunners! I say again, hold fire!”
The last thing he wanted now was a premature initiation of his ambush. Once that first sabot round left an Arjun tank’s gun, the surprise would be gone and the enemy would reorient towards them. No, that won’t do. He had to take maximum advantage of his surprise while he had it. Additionally, there was no way to tell how many more targets were behind these ones on his sights…
“Come on…come on…” he muttered to himself as more and more black blobs began aligning themselves across their line of sight. “Keep coming you ba$tards!”

He counted off the blobs as the seconds ticked by. Ten. More than the guns in his first line…

“All tanks! Fire!”

The night sky was instantly shattered with the orange-yellow flames erupting from the nine Arjun tanks. All nine gunners fired nearly simultaneously. At less than a kilometer separation between them and the Pakistani T-80s, the sabot rounds reached their targets in a second.

Kulkarni watched through his sights as smoke from his gun dissipated and seven explosions erupted in black coloration within the enemy lines. Three catastrophic detonations occurred in quick succession as some of the T-80 turrets went flying into the air and fell aside their blazing chassis. Four others shuddered to a halt or were stopped dead in their tracks, smoke and flame spewing from all hatches. The three surviving T-80s drove past the explosion and instantly disappeared behind smoke clouds as their commanders went into evasion mode. Kulkarni saw the other tanks behind these ones reorienting themselves to face this sudden threat on their right flank.

“Rhino-alpha! Advance! Advance! Advance!” He shouted into the comms as his gunner let loose another sabot round: “Fire at will! Kill them all!”

All sixteen Arjun tanks rumbled forward, firing main guns on the fly. Enemy mortar rounds began impacting around them as the enemy infantry further north started supporting their tanks. The remaining three T-80UD tanks began moving east in full reverse. They fired their main guns through the smoke cloud in desperation. But the smoke obscured everyone’s visibility. The Arjun gunners kept their calm and focused on secondary targets instead.

As they made their way through the drifting smoke clouds and beyond, the Arjun tanks went into free-fire mode. The Pakistanis had several Al-Zarrar tanks supporting their T-80UDs, but these were obsolete tanks more suited for infantry support operations rather than frontline combat with enemy armor. Based on the Chinese Type-59 tanks, the Al-Zarrar were upgraded with reactive armor systems and a better fire control. But they were still old tank designs and could not fight on the move the way the Arjun tank could, especially in an ABAMS networked environment.

As the Al-Zarrar crews halted their tanks to take aim, the Arjun tanks kept moving. This made it even harder for the enemy gunners but did little to hinder the Arjun gunners. Two dozen sabot rounds flashed back and forth in the darkness lit by the orange glow of blazing fires and explosions. The Al-Zarrar crews did not stand a chance. Their only hope was to hit the Arjun lower in its chassis and hope to kill its mobility. Or a chance shot in one of the few weak areas in its Kanchan composite armor panels. In the darkness and against moving targets in a chaotic battlefield, it was a slim hope they had…

Kulkarni watched as his gunner rotated the turret just as they moved past a burning T-80 chassis. Center in that view was an Al-Zarrar facing them at point-blank range. It fired its main gun before anyone could respond. The enemy sabot round slammed straight into the right frontal Kanchan panel on the turret and the sparks and smoke flew off in all directions. The entire tank was literally dragged aside by the momentum of a point-blank sabot round. Then another explosion rocked the interior of the tank and smoke and sparks lit up the dim lighting inside.

Kulkarni shook his head and saw blood dripping from his forehead. He had what felt like a severe headache. His arms and legs ached as well. The radio was blaring away in chaos as the battle raged outside. Inside the turret, however, there was the sounds of shuffling as the crew moved back into their seats. Almost all were suffering from concussion. But they were alive. And that was all Kulkarni cared about at the moment.

“You guys okay?” He asked as he ran his fingers to his forehead and saw that they had turned bloody. He must have a gash somewhere. But no mirrors for him to see it in. He felt around the wound with his fingers and realized it to be just a gash. He must have hit something when the explosion knocked him off.

He heard the muffled voice of his driver on the comms. Looking around , he noticed his helmet headphone laying by the side of his seat. He pulled it up and put it back on. The voices instantly became clearer:
“Sir, we are you okay back there?!”

Kulkarni gave the others a final look: “We are fine. How does the vehicle look?”
“The gun stabilization is off and the turret is off to the side. Left track is damaged but we should still be able to move. Right track is fine. Engine is fine. Looks like we took a round straight on the turret armor panel!”

Kulkarni pulled himself back to see his ABAMS screen disabled and switched off. He muttered an expletive and pulled his sights around: “Gunner, is the main gun responsive?”
“Stand by,” the gunner responded and tried moving the gun. It lifted jerkily and locked in its default stowage position. “Looks like the gun is still responsive, sir.”

Kulkarni rotated his optics and saw that the Al-Zarrar that had fired on them was still there. But its turret seemed tilted and flames were leaping out of all its turret hatches. The roar from its fires was heard even over the sounds of the battle.

“Looks like the ba$tard got hit before he could finish us off with a second round,” Kulkarni noted dryly.
On further rotation of his sights, he saw that the turret-mounted machine gun was dislodged from its position and there scorch marks everywhere. The main barrel of the machinegun was bent backwards.

“And we lost our external machinegun,” he noted for the benefit of his crew. He also noted the ABAMS antennae was damaged. That was the end of his network centric operations for the rest of this war…

He lowered himself back in his seat and winced at the pain on his forehead. But he also felt rage inside him. His tank was severely damaged. His networked fighting abilities were gone. The only good news here was that his mobility was still alive and so was his tank’s primary armament. And luckily, and most importantly, his radio.

The tank engines rumbled to life. He hadn’t even noticed that the driver had switched them off to prevent a source of secondary explosions in case the damage had been worse. He exhaled and cleared his head.

“Okay, gentlemen,” he said, “time to get back to the fight. Driver, get us moving. Gunner, check your main gun while I try to see what the hell is going on outside!” He switched comms: “Rhino-alpha, this is rhino-actual. My networks are down. Give me a verbal sitrep, over.”

As the various tank commanders started filling him in, he pulled out his paper map and stuck it in the gap between the ABAMS screen buttons. This map would be his main tool now. Time to do this the old fashioned way, he reminded himself.

Looking around, he saw that the battlefield was ablaze. Four of his tanks were damaged, including his own. Only two tanks had been completely destroyed. Ten Arjun tanks were fully operational and had hammered past the last remaining Al-Zarrar and T-80UD tanks. They were now rolling north under command of Rhino-alpha-two. The latter had taken command on the assumption that Kulkarni was either dead or incapacitated. And while they were relieved to hear that he was alive, Kulkarni had no intention of breaking their momentum to retake command. Not from inside a damaged tank, in any case.

So he let them continue their charge as they overran the rear-end vehicles of the Pakistani columns, about a kilometer north. He would take over and nurse the three other damaged tanks back to the south where Trishul had its engineering elements on the highway. He opened comms to Sudarshan:

“Steel-central, this is rhino-actual, over.”
After several seconds, the radio came alive: “Steel-central copies, rhino-actual.”

“Rhino-actual reports destruction of enemy armored and mechanized columns north of waypoint ‘red’. Enemy has been overrun and Rhino-alpha is in pursuit. We have two tanks dead and four more bruised but mobile. We are returning to waypoint ‘red’. Requesting medical evacuation for six crew members. Confirm receipt of message, over.”

“Steel-central copies all. Good work out there. Bring your injured vehicles back.”

Kulkarni sighed. He could feel the adrenaline causing his body to shake uncontrollably but forced himself to work past it: “Roger. Request sitrep on southern column on approach to waypoint ‘red’, over.”
“Southern column is in retreat, rhino-actual. They have incurred massive losses to their armored strength following strikes by Gladiator flight. Gladiator will rearm, refuel and pursue the retreating enemy. Rhino needs to return to waypoint ‘red’ upon destruction of north column remnants and fold back into the defenses there. Over.”

“Wilco,” Kulkarni said half-mindedly. He realized he was very much in concussion. That was to be expected being inside a metal box that had just been rattled by a fast moving projectile. He found himself having to shake off the blurry vision in his eyes.
“Rhino-actual, do you copy? Over.”
He forced himself to be attentive: “Wilco, steel-central. Rhino-actual copies all. Out.” He then changed comms: “Driver, we are heading back to waypoint ‘red’ to the south and are leading three other damaged tanks back to our lines. Get us on a most direct heading and move out.”

“Roger, sir.”

“Sir,” the loader said as Kulkarni fell back into his seat, “you have a gash on your forehead that is bleeding.” He got up from his seat and handed Kulkarni some bandages and painkillers from the turret first-aid kit. Kulkarni nodded his appreciation and took the bandage just as the tank reversed its orientation to the south and accelerated…
parshuram
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by parshuram »

vivek_ahuja wrote:So the question about Arab air forces intervention is a valid one. And something I had toyed with when writing Fenix. But I could never convince myself on what conditions would need to exist for these countries to send material aid (in the form of airplanes, equipment etc.). Allow me to raise these doubts:

1. It is true that in 1965 and 1971, they sent the aid to the Paki air force in the form of replacement jets. But back then, the backdrop of complete destruction of these aircraft was considered unlikely by the Arabs since nuclear weapons usage was not a concern. With nuclear weapons already unsheathed and used by the Pakis on two occasions already in this war, would the Arabs still be willing to send their expensive equipment to the aid of Rawalpindi?

2. The Pakis were on extremely good terms with the western states back then, despite their genocidal activities. But with the state of affairs as they are today, does the same conditions apply? Considering how the economic state of the world is now, would the Arab states still be willing to part with billions of dollars worth of equipment when the state of the war is such as it is?
Vivek Ji, Thanks The reason for support of Pakistanis by Arabs is fundamentally religion that still remains whether War goes Nuclear or not and using Nuclear Weapons in war with Kufr state India is much more that Sauidi's will nourish. PA SSG group involvement in Saudia in 2010 and Their involvement in state affairs with Miyan Sharif during Kargil war shows much more deep evolving relationship between Pakistan and Arabs. Do Remember India Never showed any kind of hard stand in 1971 war to Arabs for Supporting Pakistan So why should they take us seriously for any military reaction also per your scenario no NW has been used by India in this war. As far as Economy is concerned India War machinery also runs on Arab Oil we have to take that factor in account as well. and we cannot nuke them because that will bring Unkil In Picture

3. What level of aid could be provided, if they did agree to do it? Surely sending a few airplanes would hurt the Indians but would not turn the tide of the war. What would be needed is dozens of aircraft plus tankers and even some E-3 type coverage. Is that something the Sauds are going to go out on a limb for the Pakis?
Definitely Arabs will never want to be engaged in war full time atleast to start with, But Arabia can definitely pump in Money to acquire planes, tanks from China or do some token help like sending in a SQDN of Eurofighters. It would be a interesting take for Trained IAF pilotsflying MKI vs RSAF Typhoons... My Wish and Two Cents


Just some thoughts.

-Vivek
Avinandan
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by Avinandan »

Vivek Saar, no Al-Khalids ??
member_22539
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by member_22539 »

^Also, no Arjun MkII with ERA panels and other improvements?
jamwal
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Re: Possible Indian Military Scenarios - XIII

Post by jamwal »

No Kaali, Railgun, Surya missile, Tejas Mk-II, Rafales, Scorpenes, Arihant, Vikramaditya either. :(
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