Possible Indian Military Scenarios - Part IV

b_karan
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Post by b_karan »

Philbert wrote:
Murugan wrote:guys might be jumping the gun.

shankar, don't worry, let it come naturally and spontaneously, you are doing one of the best jobs.

let others know that wildlife is very much part of battle scenes, sometimes you have to survive on it...

your wildlife and battlelife narrations are unmatched.

kudos

I plead no contest to shankar doing one of the the best jobs here hell he is the best here according to me :twisted: NOTE TO SHANKAR:- Shankar if you dont mind could you mail me all your secnarios if you have them in any other formats i would like to read them all in one big document and is just for my personal reading no copyright infringment i promise my email id is philbertpereira AT gmail DOT COM :)

Hey Shankar,

Please send it to me also...... Your's narration is just mind blowing .

my mail id is karanbikash AT gmail DOT COM

Best Regards
mkulh
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Post by mkulh »

Absolutely fabulous story line keep it up Shankar
Last edited by mkulh on 21 Feb 2006 21:39, edited 1 time in total.
mkulh
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Post by mkulh »

:) excellent writing Shankar. let the story develop naturally as it is. Romance or no romance the battle is going on so no problem. If you are sending your contributions then please send me too. kulharia@gmail.com
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Post by Shankar »

ANGOLAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE - FISH RIVER CANYON -DAY 31
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General nobutu was mildly surprised since for the last 24 hrs there have been no major airstrieks on his formation and 600 odd tanks in his formation ahve slowly and carefully advanced to the fish river canyon along the main expressway towards windhoek . He knew from his intel sources within windohek and walvis bay that a substantial indian armour and heavy guns have been offloaded but till now there was no sighn of them comming to battle . Even the vaunted indian airforce after first few days of intense close air support mission seems to have lost the taste of war and presently concentrating on defending the namibain capital and the the deep sea port.

Though he was happy the way things were and expected to be within sheeling range of windoheck city and international airport within 36 hrs something in his trained military mind warned him of great danger like alull before storm . So he decided to take a break and do one last check of his air defenses before commencing the final assault on namibain capital

His main strength wuld be ofcourse the t-62/55 tanks .One of the first of the smooth bore 115 mm tank guns was considerably more powerful than contemporary 90 and 105 tank guns. This smooth bore feature gave it the additional capability of firing armour piercing fin stabilised discarding sabot shells and also significantly better range when firing high explossive anti tank shells .Atomatic unloading feature made the job of loader easier .First time the tank was put to combat in any significant quantity was during yum kippur war of 1973 when israeli forces managed to capture intact nearly 400 syrian and egyptian t-62s and after the war upgraded them with laser range finder,explossive reactive armour and improved general electric diesel engine. However during the libyan invasion of chad in 1982 lot of these tanks were destryed by unorganised militia by attacking from the side with recoilless rifles by attacking the comparitively thin side armour .Another weakness of t-62 is its homogeneous armour which makes it particularly vulnerable to fire from larger 125 mm guns being fielded by the indian contingent.

Against these 600 odd tanks indian contingent had about 300 t-90s divided into two blocking brigades on the outskirts of diamond restricted area spaced out to attack and destroy the angolan formation in a synchronised pincer movement as they were expected to retreat form the city of windhoek under intense air operation . Other than sukhoi 30 mkis which have been tasked with protection of low flying aircraft from both air and ground threat while the indian mig 29ks, mirage 2000s,jaguars along with israeli f-15 is supported by south african alphas ,gripens and cheetas will deal a devastating blow in a series of tightly co ordinated strikes to break the back of angolan offensive . For the angolan armour there would be one escape route available and as they move down that route the indian armour brigades will move in and block the escape . And then it will be the day for the FH77B and BM21 and the kornet .

It was a daring plan ,allowing such a large armour column come in close to capital city ,lulling them into a sense of false security and then hitting with everything -a typical israeli style of battle but then they happen to be the best in the world in close air supprt ops proved time and again .The few days gained by taking such risk was utilised fully to make all available aircraft ship shape and then load up the ammo and fine tune the striek timmings of individual flight packages .There was no chance of error .

The pilots rested and had a good meal and slept -for them tomorrow will
start early and for quite afew it will be the last dawn they willevr see.

Far in the west along the blazing namib dessert the tank crews made the final preparations for the comming battle ,cleaned the air filters ,lubricated 5001 points ,cleaned the fuel injectors and checked track ension repalcing weak elements .The bmp 3 crew checked the missiles and launchers one last time checking the firing mechanism the lasr designators replacimg the batteries and cleaning up the radiators of loose sand which kept on ingressing whereevr possible.

The bofors gun crew sighted their powerful battle tested guns on the expected killing field and checked the heavy shells stored in open by side of the guns one last time . Nearby the 122 mm rockets were loaded up the multibarrel launchers and their hydralic arms checked for smooth operation one last time . Everyone took one salt tablet and drank lot of water -tomorrow they might not get time for one drink too when the desperate t-62 would open up to make escape .It was their job to ensure none succeeds .
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Post by Shankar »

INS VIKRAMADITYA-0400 HRS- 100KM FROM NAMIBIAN ATLANTIC COAST
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-Steer course 210 -clear deck for helo launch
calmly ordered commander Vinay first officer of carrier very very selfconcious of his actions with the force commander Bhasin on bridge who was personally monitoring the the decisive onslaught on angolan forces some 350 kms to north east .

The ship heeled sharply as the new course was entered into her navigation computer and the underwater contrl elements responded smoothly to the masters command .Within 8 minutes she was on her new heading with a powerful 20 knots ocean breeze over the deck

-launch helo -clear deck for aircraft launch
- sea dragon -cleared for take off- set course 270 -distance 5 kms -altitude
100 ft .
- roger that tower -taking off now -the response from sea king pilot was immediate who already had the urbine rpm upto red mark in anticiaption of launch order .He had no role to play in the comming strike operation except to rescue any piot taking an unwilling dink in the ocean .He would be patrolling the carrier at extra low altitude watching the fixed wing aircrfts take off from a safe distance and be on the scene of any acciedent first with fully equiped sea rescue team on board .

The sea king lifed off the deck awkwardly and then quickly gained airspeed as it set the nose down and headed for its patrol position few kms away .It also happened to carry two sea eagle anti ship missiles slung underneath for just in case evantuality since any carrier is most vulnerable to surface or subsurface striek at the point launching or recovering her aircraft .

-omega tango flight you are cleared for take off -climb to 5000 ft -contact star eye on frequency alpha secondary back up frequency delta -over
-roger that tower-climb runway heading -make altitude 5000ft-shall contact star eye on alpha band - over and out ,responded lt commander vikram chadda as he signalled the crew chief and lowered his left arm over the throttle ,one last look at the multifunctional displays ,left shoeing him the air search radar -on standby ,central one showing the engine and aircraft set parameters everything from flap settings to individual engine rpm to exhaust temperature to lub oil and hydraulic pressure all in the green ,all the three landing gear lights were in gren confirming locked status of the three locking bars which prevent the wheels from folding up during violent take off from carrier deck and more importantly arrested wire landing . The left showed him the theweapon status in all his weapon pylons from 1thru 6 all yealow .In the outermost pylons that is weapon station 1 and 6 he had one r-73 each ,2 and 4 were carrying 16x 57 mm air to ground unguided rockets essentially for tank busting role and the two centre line pylons 3 and five carried 1000 kgs dumb bombs essntially for area domination purpose .

The quite of the ocean sky shattered as the twin rd-33s came to full power and after a delay of few seconds as the thrust level built up to minimum launch value as computed by the flight computer depending upon the air velocity over the decks and exact weapon plus fuel load of the aircraft it signalled the lauch restrainer on the deck to release its hold on the wheels .The fulcrum sushed out to meet the dark ocean and at the last moment decided tofly instead as the lift forces on its extended wing managed to overcome the deadly pull of gravity trying to attract it to depths of ocean
powered by the enormous thrust generated by the twin engines consuming fuel at aprodigious rate of more than 1.5 kg of fuel per kg of thrust per hour . About 18% of the fuel in the eextra large spine tanks will be burnt off by the time the mig 29k has even reached its designated cruise altitude .Thankfully a gas station in the sky was available in form of IL-78 MKI or rather would be available on way back .

The dramatic process was repeated 11 more times and after roughly 30 minutes the deck became quite once again . The sea king resumed its routing anti sub patrol around the carrier group knowing there is no sub in the area but then that was his job

-omega tango flight - star eye -i have control
-roger that star eye - omega tango lead confirms - altitude 5000 ft -course 210
- omega tango change course 073 repeat 073 - make altitude 2000 ft-repeat 2000 ft - your altitude celing is 3000 ft max and 1000 ft min confirm
- star eye -omega tango -changing course 073 - understand altitude ceiling 3000 ft max and 1000 ft min -speed 550 knots
-roger that omega tango -make speed 450 knots till over grid sector bravo-orange -your time over target is 0500 hrs ingress altitude 2000 ft
-weapons free clearence mandatory over target area over
-roger that star eye -keeping frequency open- please note IFF is off

So at last the indian counter offensive was on its way -thought brigadier joushua as he looked over the multitude of monitors each represnting a battle sector aboard the israeli phalcon awac .Each battel zone was monitored and controlled by a senior airforce officer usally of rank major or colonel and almost always having direct battel field experience in the type of battle he was responsible to direct and ofcourse monitor . Out fo 12 monitors no3 was now dedicated to indian navy strike group of 12 mig 29k tasked with destruction of lead tan elements with 57 mm rockets and iron bombs .No 5 panel just by side of 3 panel displayed the synthetic apperture radar plot and track in ghostly orange and yeallow orange the current position of individual tanks and yeallow lines showing how they have moved over the last 30 minutes . The track showed as expected there was not much movement so early in the morning except some customary armoured patrol around the periphery of night camp .So far so good .

AIRFORCE BASE MAKHADO -SOUTH AFRICA -THUNDER FLIGHT 12XF-15I
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The 12 eagles taxied to end of runway quitely or as quite as they can be with thier twin pratt and whitney f-100-pw-229 powr plants at 20% power .They were under direct control of phalcon 40000 ft up in the sky some where close to this base . As the first eagle turned into take off position and the others lined up neatle behind the flight lead opened the radio transmision for a very brief trafic protocol nessecery t enter a busy air space.

-star eye -thunder lead - request clearence for take off
- thunder lead hold on for a minute intoned the air battle controller as he checked the latest air ways congestion around the target zone and expected situation after approximately 35 minute before he gave the take off clearence
- thunder lead -you are cleared to take off -climb and maintain 15000 ft altitude - your max celing is 20000 ft and minimum 12000 ft -take of at 60 second interval on visuals -no atc services availble atthe mom,came the sweet and firm voice over r/t

- roger that -rolling now and the lead eagle went into full take off power and after a few seconds lit the tail the second eagle was already rolling as the first cleared the runway barely 1/2 the lenght uilised ,israeli pilots are not known for patience .

All the f-15s were armed with a mix of high speed anti radiation missiles and maverick anti tank missiles .They were to be first on battle zone clearing the way for the indian navy mig 29k s tasked to destroy the armour leads.
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Post by Shankar »

As the eagles started boring holes in the sky one after another captain david in the lead have already reached the designated cruise altitude as he levelled out scanned the the three multi functioanl dispalys and the wide view head up dispaly which funished him with all nesecery navigation and combat data. The two monochrome monitors on left and right of the central full colour montors showed the engine paramters and flight configuartions while the central one at the moment showed the data linked radar search map fo the region. the hands on throttle and stick system was the newer upgraded one to meet the extra capability of apg 70 radar and the low altitude targeting infrared and navigation system pods. To the right of the wide view head up dispaly was the improved data modem dispaly slaved to onboard have quick 2 radio and weapons delivery system . designed as part of joint service automated target hand of system allowing the f-15 to recieve targeting information from a varity of land and air sources but on this day from the phalcon awac only.Behind him the weapon system officer was busy scanning the four multifunctional displays getting its feed from the phalcon awacs air search radar as well as the lantrin pod and when the eagle switches on its powerful air search radar one of the mfds will be reserved to recieve the signal from apg 70 .Two of the multifunctinal displays in wso zone were full colour and the rest monochrome gree. The onboard digital video camra continiously recorded the head up display and the multi functional displays.The weapon systm oficer also had the criitocl responsibility of operting the alq 135 internal jammer ,the decoy launchers and also operate the iff transponder as per situational requirement

As the eagle formation neared the combat zone captain captain david expected to hear shrill beep of radar warning reciever any moment but theere was none .Surprisingly the angolans have kept all their air search radar on stand bu mode to save them from anti radiation missiles and that made the job of his weapon system officer sitting tensed up in the back seat very difficult

-star eye -thunder lead - need assistance
-go ahead thunder lead -what is our problem
- we need to spook the red armour now -
-stand by thunder lead -maintain position

WINDHOEK INTERNATIONL AIRPORT
-----------------------------------------
the four jaguars were waiting for just such a situation ready for immedite take off at the end of the runway and barely 5 minutes flight time from the combat zone as the calm voice of air battle commander came over the radio waves

-spook flight - star eye - you are cleared for immediate take off -climb to 1000 ft and execute plan bravo when in range .-you are weapons free at altitude
-roger that star eye -rolling now

The four jaguars did a spectacular formation take off on thier stubby wings with twin engines on full after burner ,retracting their flaps and undercarriage even when climbing and executing the sharp turn , each carrying a 2000 lb laser guided bomb in the centre line pylon along with 2 mica aam on thier over wing pylons for purely self defense .The crossed the sonic barrier at 800 ft over ground level as the four aircraft lined up in single file at 1000 ft over the fish river canyon heading for the advance elements of the angolan army
Spread before them was the vast angolan invasion force with nearly 600 tanks and equal number of armoured personenl carrieres along with numerous trucks and arty pieces and trucks and four wheel drives it was a dream come true for the jaguar pilots . Their mission orderwas very specific do a max speed alow altitude precision bombing runs ,target ammo dumps and the command vehicles and if possible sam launchers .That was the stated tactical objective but the real strategic objective was to unnerve the angolan air defense and force them to light up thier air search and track radars so that the eagles can pluck them out one at a time with their high speed anti radiation missile .

- star eye -spook flight - executing plan bravo now ,intoned the flight lead as he pushed the control stick forward to push the aircrft t ground and leveled up barely 50 ft over the rushing valley ,behind him the three other s did the same and the canyon floor reverbated with the thunderous beat of 8 rolls royce engines as the jaguars raced towrds thier objectives .

General nobutu looked west at the sound of approaching thunder along the canyon as all the guns opened up from the large tank guns to the ak 47s of the individual soldiers and the 2/4 barreled shilkas on full auto .As the jaguars approached the cordon of steel the flight lead deployed the air brake and gently moved the target designator with his right hand to aim at the first sam launcher now swivelling in its hydraulic arm to firing position as the radar warning reciever started its shrill warning . As his right hand quickly armed up the weapon station 3 and came back to to release the bomb from stick first of the 30 mm shells hit his aircraft dead on wing roots taking it off in aclean sweep evn as he released the 2000 kg bomb and then cartwheeled to ground still at supersonic speed in a ball of fire .

By now all the airsearch and track radar were on active mode as they desperately tried to lock on to the maruding iaf jaguars flying very low and very fast across the streched column . The jaguar pilots knew thier chances of coming out alive of this engagement was low but that did not deter them from carrying out the mission ,each selected a target and released thier single heavy bomb eyeballing them all the way to target . But none survived ,brought down mostly by volley of undisciplined small arms fire from more than 100000 assault rifles and deadly shikas defending the sam sites . All in all four sa-3 launchers and six field ammo dumps were destryed in primary attack by the 2000 kg bombs and seconday fire started by the bombs .Though all the pilots reported successful ejection the angoaln forces will not be confirming any prisnor of war next day .

But the sacrifice of the jaguar pilots did not go in vain -as the angoaln airsearch and target radars came on line despeately trying to tarck the fast moving indian jets ,they disclosed thier position to the phalcon above and very soon ,in a mater of seconds the target co ordinates were being downlinked to the israeli eagles waiting with thier deadly load of harms.
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Post by Shyam_K »

Shankar wrote: But the sacrifice of the jaguar pilots did not go in vain -as the angoaln airsearch and target radars came on line despeately trying to tarck the fast moving indian jets ,they disclosed thier position to the phalcon above and very soon ,in a mater of seconds the target co ordinates were being downlinked to the israeli eagles waiting with thier deadly load of harms.
I don't think they would sacrifice jaguars for a mission like this. Couple of cruise missiles or even UAVs would achieve the same thing without loss of aircraft and pilots.
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Post by Indrajit »

Shyam_K wrote:
Shankar wrote: But the sacrifice of the jaguar pilots did not go in vain -as the angoaln airsearch and target radars came on line despeately trying to tarck the fast moving indian jets ,they disclosed thier position to the phalcon above and very soon ,in a mater of seconds the target co ordinates were being downlinked to the israeli eagles waiting with thier deadly load of harms.
I don't think they would sacrifice jaguars for a mission like this. Couple of cruise missiles or even UAVs would achieve the same thing without loss of aircraft and pilots.
Well,thorah Hero giri(read Hara Kiri) ho jaye toh problem kya yaar? :D
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Post by Shyam_K »

Indrajit wrote:
Shyam_K wrote: I don't think they would sacrifice jaguars for a mission like this. Couple of cruise missiles or even UAVs would achieve the same thing without loss of aircraft and pilots.
Well,thorah Hero giri(read Hara Kiri) ho jaye toh problem kya yaar? :D
It is not hero giri yaar, it is being realestic. Especiatlly since IN used th esame stratergy earlier on in the narative.
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Post by kantak »

Shankar wrote: But the sacrifice of the jaguar pilots did not go in vain -as the angoaln airsearch and target radars came on line despeately trying to tarck the fast moving indian jets ,they disclosed thier position to the phalcon above and very soon ,in a mater of seconds the target co ordinates were being downlinked to the israeli eagles waiting with thier deadly load of harms.
shankar why follow the low-low profile when the jags could have flown higher and bombed from altitude using anti tank missiles against the tanks .The radars would surelly be then turned on and the 15's could take them out.Following a low profile was murder even to the brtish tornados during the gulf war.
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Post by Shankar »

The loss of 4 jaguars would way heavy in the minds of all in the dys to come and the decision of air group commander would be questioned time and again particularly in the light of cruise missile decoy tactics used by the navy in same battle arena few days back. However there were several reasons which justified the deployment of jaguars in low level strike mission in an intense low altitude air dfense environment .

1) The naval plan suceeded because it was the first time and the flight profile of clubs could fool the angolan air defense operators sinec they did not expect a sub launched sub sonic missile strike so early in the conflict. The timming and the flight profile of the incomming missiles managed to create an effective illusion of aircraft strike .The most critical element of any strike mission "surprise" was on indian side that day

But the angolans learned and learned fast .They soon realised if they keep their air defense search and track radars switched on all the time very soon there will be no radars ,so they went on selective usage pattern or rather use only when absolutely needed .This cerated a new problem for allied air force which though armed with advanced anti radition missles could not use them till confirmatory real time intel on their position is available . Since most of the sam systems in angolan convoys were on the move and hence inherently mobile getting such intel was almost impossible .Satelite imagery was not vey effective becasue extensive use of cam nettings to obscure the shape of the antenas and also availability of plety of shrubs and bushes around the advance path of angolan army .

2) High altitude saturation bombing was not an option since then the bombers themselves will become easy target for even the primitive sams .Secondly niether the indian nor the israelis had any such capability in the region and us air force was busy in Iran and could not deploy in south africa.

3) In any strike mission the low altitude fighter bombers are always worst hit like in gulf war the maximum numbe of aircraft lost in the opening days were the raf tornados and jaguars when they went in low to attack the airbases and air defense positions .Or as in kargil one mig 21 was shot down which tried to help the mig 27 going out of action due to a compressor stall.

B-52 still today train at 500 ft dropping altitude even though there is strong lobby in usaf against low altitude flying .The most damaging to any low flying aircraft is always the anti aircraft guns with high rate of fire like the shilkas angolans employed to bring down the indian jaguars.

An RAF pilot described an air field attack as "at 520 knots and 180 ft radar altitude thru what seemed like a solid red and white wall of tracer .Lt gen charles horner ,air group commander during gulf war actually raised the training altitude restriction from 500 ft to 1000 ft after a series of trainig acciedents .

Whether to fly low or not essentially depends on the attack profile and weapon being used even if the losses may be heavy .3 tornados were lost in gulf war in air base attack most likely dropping jp 233 mines from 200 ft .On the second day of gulf war a b-52 on low altitude strike had to abort mission when faced with intense ground fire .

After few days gulf war air combat planners in fact concluded that that risk and misison accomplishment factors did not justify low altitude attacks. Consequently the strike altitude changed to 15000 ft and above that is midium altitude profile.But this change was not specifically ordered by horner ,the air force commander but he did ultimately approve of the change in plan.

but the usaf in gulf war had a distinct advantage while executing this change in tactics that is switching from low to medium altitude strike for heavily defended targets .The f-117 was specifically designed to carry out strike missions at medium altitude out of range of anti aircraft guns and man portable sams. Accurate delivery of laser guided bombs always works better if done from medium altitude since this gives the bombs control surfaces enough time to move the bomb towards target but this needs a radar evasive delivery platform like f-117 or as in some cases in afganistan the 2 billion us a piece b-2 .

However even in gulf war usaf with its massive numerical and technical superiority had to go low very low in fact as the ground war started with the need to visually aquire targets before weapon releaseand only then the tank kills rose exponentially.Horner later wrote "the lower altitude allowed the a-10 pilots to find targets more easily than before and the tank kills rose " so did the battle damge of the a-10 deployed in anti armour duty.

As the availabilty precision targeting system became more wide spread low altitude strike missions became less and less but still not totally avoided like in bad weather or in low cloud celing condition since even when using advanced targeting devices the target have to be visually aquired by line of sight except in case of satelite guided jdam ammo .This means in a geographic location like in fish river canyon i nambia medium altitude bombing will not be very effective since it is almost impossibele t aquire a moving target inside rocky canyon from 15000 ft . JDAM or its equivalent were still not available to indian air force .

During nato air operatons in yogoslavia the recently initiated altitude restriction made acuurate strikes more and more difficult.Quote "we had to find identify and strike target and the 15000 ft restriction became more difficult in the dynamic attack environment".Another f-16 pilot once said "attacking from medium altitude is like bungee jumping from top and trying to pick out the details on the way down"

But critics also said because of usaf pre occupation with safe altitude an area of battle space have been created where pilot fear to go and low altitude region is a kind of lost battle space which allows valuable targets to slip away .On the other side fo the coin supprters of medium altitude strike option say"we did not go to medium altitude because we had to for risk avoidance ,we went to medium altitude because we have develope airframe and associated systems (read precision guided weapons) to do it and still remain. effective"

The argument would go on long after the dusts of these battles have settled over the harsh dessets and mountains of namibia but this was not te time to discuss and deliberate .Blood has been let and revenge was in the air -about to fly in at 5 times the speed of sound at the angolan air defense radars responsible fr the loss of the four jaguars .

-thunder flight - you are cleared to initiate missile launch profile -weapons free on all targets - execute now
captain david needed no urther encouragement as he pulled the stick forward and the eagle went vertical gaining altitude for the multiple missile launch . Behind him his wing man did the same as they came up to 12000 ft and leveled out ,all the missiles already warmed up and gyros running

- star eye -thunder lead -launching at pre designated targets now -confirm no friendlies in area
- roger that thunder lead -you are free to launch high speed missiles -no friendlies in vicinity .

The eight high speed anti radiation misisles leaped of the rails of lead and wing eagles as fast as the pilots could cycle the firing switch and weapon stations at target co ordinates already down loaded ino their robotic brain. The sleek missiles with thier pre fragmented warheads and two stage thikol made solid rocket motors pushing them on thier way accelerated past mach 1.5 even before thier first stage burnt out and the sustainer motor kicked in .As they approached their individual targets thier terminal speed crossed mach 4.5 even as the angoaln sam radars tried desperately to fire a counter volley at the launching aircraft .They had no chance as the eight missiles hit the launcher errectors and their radars within a span of 10 seconds from each other initiating a series of bright orange explossions followed by dull thuds of secondary ones as the the loaded missiles started cooking off one by one .

Up above the eagles have climbed out and away to avoid possible counter fire came back into firing position once again and other 8 eagles joined in a wide c formation and together they lit their after burners closing in for the maverick launch form point blank range ,with the threat of sams temprarily out of the way .

- star eye -thunder lead -request clearence for secondary weapon launch
- thunder lead -star eye -you are free for maveric launch -no friendlies in area - good hunting -target pririties are at grid sector --------

And then one by one the eagles released their deadly load at pre selected and prioratised targets at the command tanks at the arty placements,at the anti aircraft gun positins and at the fuel dums and the ammo dumps .Within 5 minutes the angolan army base was a raging inferno ,with no effective air defense cover ,troops using whatever they could lay thier hands on to fight the fire and officers desperately trying to bring some order in the chaos .The massive armoured column came to a stand still .
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Post by Shankar »

The loss of 4 jaguars would way heavy in the minds of all in the dys to come and the decision of air group commander would be questioned time and again particularly in the light of cruise missile decoy tactics used by the navy in same battle arena few days back. However there were several reasons which justified the deployment of jaguars in low level strike mission in an intense low altitude air dfense environment .

1) The naval plan suceeded because it was the first time and the flight profile of clubs could fool the angolan air defense operators sinec they did not expect a sub launched sub sonic missile strike so early in the conflict. The timming and the flight profile of the incomming missiles managed to create an effective illusion of aircraft strike .The most critical element of any strike mission "surprise" was on indian side that day

But the angolans learned and learned fast .They soon realised if they keep their air defense search and track radars switched on all the time very soon there will be no radars ,so they went on selective usage pattern or rather use only when absolutely needed .This cerated a new problem for allied air force which though armed with advanced anti radition missles could not use them till confirmatory real time intel on their position is available . Since most of the sam systems in angolan convoys were on the move and hence inherently mobile getting such intel was almost impossible .Satelite imagery was not vey effective becasue extensive use of cam nettings to obscure the shape of the antenas and also availability of plety of shrubs and bushes around the advance path of angolan army .

2) High altitude saturation bombing was not an option since then the bombers themselves will become easy target for even the primitive sams .Secondly niether the indian nor the israelis had any such capability in the region and us air force was busy in Iran and could not deploy in south africa.

3) In any strike mission the low altitude fighter bombers are always worst hit like in gulf war the maximum numbe of aircraft lost in the opening days were the raf tornados and jaguars when they went in low to attack the airbases and air defense positions .Or as in kargil one mig 21 was shot down which tried to help the mig 27 going out of action due to a compressor stall.

B-52 still today train at 500 ft dropping altitude even though there is strong lobby in usaf against low altitude flying .The most damaging to any low flying aircraft is always the anti aircraft guns with high rate of fire like the shilkas angolans employed to bring down the indian jaguars.

An RAF pilot described an air field attack as "at 520 knots and 180 ft radar altitude thru what seemed like a solid red and white wall of tracer .Lt gen charles horner ,air group commander during gulf war actually raised the training altitude restriction from 500 ft to 1000 ft after a series of trainig acciedents .

Whether to fly low or not essentially depends on the attack profile and weapon being used even if the losses may be heavy .3 tornados were lost in gulf war in air base attack most likely dropping jp 233 mines from 200 ft .On the second day of gulf war a b-52 on low altitude strike had to abort mission when faced with intense ground fire .

After few days gulf war air combat planners in fact concluded that that risk and misison accomplishment factors did not justify low altitude attacks. Consequently the strike altitude changed to 15000 ft and above that is midium altitude profile.But this change was not specifically ordered by horner ,the air force commander but he did ultimately approve of the change in plan.

but the usaf in gulf war had a distinct advantage while executing this change in tactics that is switching from low to medium altitude strike for heavily defended targets .The f-117 was specifically designed to carry out strike missions at medium altitude out of range of anti aircraft guns and man portable sams. Accurate delivery of laser guided bombs always works better if done from medium altitude since this gives the bombs control surfaces enough time to move the bomb towards target but this needs a radar evasive delivery platform like f-117 or as in some cases in afganistan the 2 billion us a piece b-2 .

However even in gulf war usaf with its massive numerical and technical superiority had to go low very low in fact as the ground war started with the need to visually aquire targets before weapon releaseand only then the tank kills rose exponentially.Horner later wrote "the lower altitude allowed the a-10 pilots to find targets more easily than before and the tank kills rose " so did the battle damge of the a-10 deployed in anti armour duty.

As the availabilty precision targeting system became more wide spread low altitude strike missions became less and less but still not totally avoided like in bad weather or in low cloud celing condition since even when using advanced targeting devices the target have to be visually aquired by line of sight except in case of satelite guided jdam ammo .This means in a geographic location like in fish river canyon i nambia medium altitude bombing will not be very effective since it is almost impossibele t aquire a moving target inside rocky canyon from 15000 ft . JDAM or its equivalent were still not available to indian air force .

During nato air operatons in yogoslavia the recently initiated altitude restriction made acuurate strikes more and more difficult.Quote "we had to find identify and strike target and the 15000 ft restriction became more difficult in the dynamic attack environment".Another f-16 pilot once said "attacking from medium altitude is like bungee jumping from top and trying to pick out the details on the way down"

But critics also said because of usaf pre occupation with safe altitude an area of battle space have been created where pilot fear to go and low altitude region is a kind of lost battle space which allows valuable targets to slip away .On the other side fo the coin supprters of medium altitude strike option say"we did not go to medium altitude because we had to for risk avoidance ,we went to medium altitude because we have develope airframe and associated systems (read precision guided weapons) to do it and still remain. effective"

The argument would go on long after the dusts of these battles have settled over the harsh dessets and mountains of namibia but this was not te time to discuss and deliberate .Blood has been let and revenge was in the air -about to fly in at 5 times the speed of sound at the angolan air defense radars responsible fr the loss of the four jaguars .

-thunder flight - you are cleared to initiate missile launch profile -weapons free on all targets - execute now
captain david needed no urther encouragement as he pulled the stick forward and the eagle went vertical gaining altitude for the multiple missile launch . Behind him his wing man did the same as they came up to 12000 ft and leveled out ,all the missiles already warmed up and gyros running

- star eye -thunder lead -launching at pre designated targets now -confirm no friendlies in area
- roger that thunder lead -you are free to launch high speed missiles -no friendlies in vicinity .

The eight high speed anti radiation misisles leaped of the rails of lead and wing eagles as fast as the pilots could cycle the firing switch and weapon stations at target co ordinates already down loaded ino their robotic brain. The sleek missiles with thier pre fragmented warheads and two stage thikol made solid rocket motors pushing them on thier way accelerated past mach 1.5 even before thier first stage burnt out and the sustainer motor kicked in .As they approached their individual targets thier terminal speed crossed mach 4.5 even as the angoaln sam radars tried desperately to fire a counter volley at the launching aircraft .They had no chance as the eight missiles hit the launcher errectors and their radars within a span of 10 seconds from each other initiating a series of bright orange explossions followed by dull thuds of secondary ones as the the loaded missiles started cooking off one by one .

Up above the eagles have climbed out and away to avoid possible counter fire came back into firing position once again and other 8 eagles joined in a wide c formation and together they lit their after burners closing in for the maverick launch form point blank range ,with the threat of sams temprarily out of the way .

- star eye -thunder lead -request clearence for secondary weapon launch
- thunder lead -star eye -you are free for maveric launch -no friendlies in area - good hunting -target pririties are at grid sector --------

And then one by one the eagles released their deadly load at pre selected and prioratised targets at the command tanks at the arty placements,at the anti aircraft gun positins and at the fuel dums and the ammo dumps .Within 5 minutes the angolan army base was a raging inferno ,with no effective air defense cover ,troops using whatever they could lay thier hands on to fight the fire and officers desperately trying to bring some order in the chaos .The massive armoured column came to a stand still .
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Post by kantak »

great post and reburtal :)

by the way you seems to have repeated the last edition for emphasis.Could confuse :oops:
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Post by Shankar »

OMEGA TANGO FLIGHT - 12 X MIG 29K - 40 KMS NORTH OF FISH RIVER CANYON
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
lt commander vikram chadda looked down on the endless expanse of namib dessert spread out below him to his right he could see the deep blue of atlantic spread out for ever and the vague shape of african coastline .THE 12 MIG 29KS were spread out in loose arrow formation with bare minimum vertical seperation and fuel situation was comfortable even formation in thier centre
after the detour ordered by air nattle commander few minutes back. He did follow the tragic loss of four jaguars on the tactical data net and also hoped the pilot survived the low altitude ejection.He alerted his team mates to kep thier eyes peeled for possible smoke/radio signal in the vicinity of target zone and if spotted to report t orbiting phalocn so that a hot extraction can be planned and executed at earliest.

-omega tango lead-star eye -execute attack plan zeta charlie -report when in position- striek altitude 10000 ft -watch out for jaguar crews -over
- roger that star eye -executing zeta charlie -keeping eyes peeled for survivors -over

As he blinked on and off the navigation lights 3 times the fulcrum flight spread out in a wide dia circle and then strted closing in on the angolan ormation slowly with the still massive if somewhat disorganised armour
column in the virtual centre 10000 ft below

-star eye -omega tango lead- in attack formation -request weapons free
-stand by omega tango ,came the ever so cold voice of israeli air battle commander with a trace of american accent

The indian naval air strike power took a quantum leap with the integration of thes mig 29k along with vikramaditya .While sea harriers are good and effective in a low intensity strike situation like in falklands in a high intensity prolonged conflict operating in parallel with the worlds best aircraft like eagles they were simply out of class.Compared to older fulcrums initially purchased by indian airforce in response to aquisition of f-16s by pakistan thes k birds were a league and half ahead from weapons aiming systems and better radar to higher level of crew comfort to expanded fuel tankage everything harmonised seamlessly to create one of the most agile and effective carrier based interceptor cum strike aircraft ever made . THE R-73 RDM2 missiles carried today on its inboard weapon pylons coupled to always deadly helmet mounted sights was flying death to any angolan mig that may try to block its attack or befoolish enough to challenge its domination of the sky .Anything that vikram could see -he could kill all the way up to 40 km s into forward horizon a gift from the slot back no11m zhuk radar with true look down/look up capability .Though mechanically scanned but can scan a fighter size target at 100 kms in as litteltime as 2 seconds .The enhanced range of nearly 1200 kms without refuelling definitely has embedded better combat durability and survivability in any kind of battle environment from fleet air defense to medium range land strike mission like now. Changes in the airframe design included dog tooth on tail plane,larget wing chord and double slotted flaps to make it more cuitable for short take off run available from carrier deck.The ability to use its rd 33 (smokeless for a change )at almost 200% rated power for a few seconds allowed it to take off even with full fuel and wespon load and without assistance from any catapult .

-omega tango lead -star eye - no friendlies in target area - you are weapons free on all ground targets in grid sector victor -delta - friendly forces in sector bravo charlie - bravo alpha and delta delta -keep off those grids - confirm and good luck
-star eye - omega tango lead - noted friendlies in bravo charlie-bravo aplha and bravo delta - clear target zone victor delta

Vikram switched on his navigatin lights and kept them on and the 11 other fulcrums dipped thier nose in unison -lit the afterburners and dove towrds the target launching thier 57 mm rocket s in salvos at the massed armour and looping out and away from the launch zone before the angolan anti aircraft gunners could get their act together .

This was no precisio strike ,it was pure and simple destruction ,the comparitively cheap unguided rockets tarvelling at nearly twice the speed of sound hit the angolans indicriminately and exploded in acontinius statco of rolling firecracker like explossion -creating death and confussion at the same time and more than the destruction it for the first time planted the idea of fear inthe mind of the angolans who have never before been subjected to such concerted air strike .The blocked crmour column got even more stuck as the lead and rear elements got blown up and scores of wounded soldiers screamed for medical attention .

But this was only the begining as the mig 29k s rushed back to the carrier for a relad ,this time 250 kg dumb bombs and 500 kg napalms .The israeli air battle commander will not give the indian naval aviators any respite till they carry out atleast 4 combat sorties a day or 6 hrs of combat flying . The usaf and russian airforec mannuals were given a quick burrial in the deep waters of atlantic . Indians were first time learning the mindset of israeli airforce -the deadly intent -its utter fearlessness -the drop dead limits of exhaustion and impeacable effort to meet the prescribed objective at any cost . The indian naval aviators considerd them good but now coached by the israeli methodology of war they started becomming excellent and beyond.
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Post by Jaeger »

Hey Shankar, if the IN had to make a first-pass strike against a massed formation and that too without using guided weapons, wouldn't it make more sense to use cluster munitions? It seems awfully... passe(or gauche or something) for spanking-new 29Ks to be using 57mm rockets on massed armour.
I would think a first pass with cluster munitions and air-burst 250kg iron bombs. Also if rockets need be used, I would think using 240mm S-24s in shallow dives would give more bang for the buck. The next wave could use the same combination with a touch of napalm to mop up infantry.
About that next wave... see the IN strike package wouldn't have hit all in one shot. The lag between the first wave and the second would be too great. There should have been a second wave heading in about 30 secs after the first one. And if that means less units in the first wave then so be it.
You want to hit them as hard and as fast as possible... but I'm sure you already knew that.

Waiting to see how this whole thing pans out...
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Post by Shankar »

It was obvious to indian air commanders that to really use the full capabilty of allied aircrafts in hand the angolan airfrce have to be neutralised for good .Ofcourse the sukhois in combat air patrol were doing a good job and so far angolans have not been able to execute a single air to air kill .But with the plans calling for more strike aircrafts to be inducted which included scores of south african alpha and cheetas which may find difficulty striking and defending themselves at the same time if faced with massed angolan counter air ops particularly sinc the sukhoi pilots needed to scale down thier combat air patrols over the next 48 hrs a bolder strike plan was definitely called for .

LUANDA INTERNATINAL AIRPORT ANGOLA
-----------------------------------------------
The tarmac was packed chok o block with migs ,in fact it looked more like an air show of primitive russian aircraft evrything from mig 21 to mig 23 and su-22 were there all armed and ready for fight ,onl the angolan airforec tacticians did not know how after the disasaterous air strike attempt at the indian carrier and highly dissapointing skirmishes over the namibian capital in the initial days of war . But atlast the decision was now made - the ruthless attack on angolan expeditionary forces on fish river canyon pushed them to the decision for a show of strength at least on numbers they were superior what with more than 3 squadrons of mig 21 and a squadron each of su 22 and mig 23 ready and waiting .It was finally decided to make a dusk strike simultaneous on the carrier and eros airport -the home base of b------- sukhois . the fuelling started almost immeditely and the pilots started heading for the briefing room for the final ops brief and then they will head for the kit room .All in all the angolan pilots were in a goos mood -atlast they have got the clearence to hit the stupid indians a hard lesson

WINDHOEK INTERNATIOANL AIRPORT -NAMIBIA- 1400 HRS -DAY 31
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The six mirage 2000 s looked somewhat delicate to an untrained eye more like dessert falcons that search the dessert skies than the robust harpey eagles of african bush .But their was nothing delicate about the 2000 kg runway denial durandle bombsthey carried on their centre line pylons or the 500 kg naplms they carried on their inner wing pylons or the twin micas they carried on outer wing pylons .The pilots were alreay strapped in and start up carts hooked up as they waited for engine start clearence fromtrafic police man up in the sky

EROS AIRPORT-NAMIBIA -1410 HRS
----------------------------------------
the four su-30 mkis looked as always very impressive and very deadly . All thier weapon stations were armed with 4 r-77 and 6 r-73 plus the elta broad band radio frequency jammer pods ,and of course the deadly accurate gasha on the flush mont ovee the cockpit . Two of them will act as advance screen and two will fly with the mirages for protection during actual strike . With phalcon support available all the way ,they were not supposed to switch on thier own powerful bars tillan actual bvr launch ned o be done well inside angolan air space

As the four sukhois taxied gently to runway end the take off clearence came long quickly
- silk mango flight -you are cleared for take off -climb runway heading-make your altitude 30000 ft-contact star eye immeditely after take off for course directive
- roger that tower - shall contact star eye at 300000 -executing spaced take off -ne at a time

The quality of runway surface at eros was not good and in last few days of almost continiuos high speed jet operation the chances of debris ingess into air intake blown out by precceding jets exhasy was high .So the sukhois took of one at time like they normally do back home at lohegaon but once in air quickly climbed to cruise altitude of 30000 ft as the israeli air battle commander aboard phalcon came on line almost immediately.

-silk mango - star eye -i have control
- star eye-silk mango -u have control - request update of target area
- silk mango - visibility 50 kms in target zone - we see 4 mig 21 on cap at the moment -more may be on 5 min alert down on tarmac- execute attack plan zeta red -now

Two sukhois turned north east and lit the afterburner sliding past the sonic boom zone without even a shudder as they targeted the four angolan mig 21 s on cap over luanda internatinal . Still they did not switch on the thier own radar -surprise was the key to this mission

WINDHOEK INTERNATIOANL AIRPORT - 1500 HRS
-----------------------------------------------------------
Squadron leader minak turned on the air conditining a few more notches as the dessert heat kept cripping in even thru the sealed cockpit windows and outside the heat haze formed on the perphery of air port perimeter.As he waited for the take off clearence as he listened to the comunication between his escorts and phalcon on the tac net . One more look on the instruments and the aircraft ,the engine tempeature was creeping up steadily in hot dessert air with no relative air movement over the intake to keep them cool . If he does not get clearence in another 5 minutes may be he has to shut down the engines and let them cool down somewhst also his fuel was down to 93 percent and with the heavy bombs attched to her belly ,minak was sure she will drink up lot of gas on the way up.To make maters worse in the morning notam all have been advised there will be know air refuelling support available till 1600 hrs due to some urgent resurfacing work being carried out on the runway at durban from where the pair of il-78s were operating for the last few days .The hot air really made take off tricky that too with heavy centreline load ,just like in maharajpura where the summer day time reaches 50 plus deg c in the open.Here in namibia no one even bothers recording daytime temp in the open when in shade temp can touch the magical 50plus celcius and stay there for most of the day .Fortunately the head wind was strong and this will some what mitigate the effect of thinner air during take off ,hoped minak

- dessert crab flight -star eye - you re cleared to taxi into position for take off
- star eye -dessert craab - rolling into take of position now
- dessert crab lead -cleared for take off -climb runway hading and maintain 8000 ft cruise altitude
-rolling now star eye -shall maintain 8000 ft at runway heading -over

The mirage 2000s took time to attain take off speed of more than 180 knots prescribed for this high ambient temperature take off with full payload ,even after take off the computer kept the aircraft on a shallow climb for some time till the air speed reached 350 knots after that the sleek aircraft was in her element as the flaps retracted and the airspeed jumper up to 400 knots
- dessert crab lead- set course 052 -altitude 2000 ft - distance to target -350+ kms at this heading .

-dessert crab -silk mango - we are on your wings - make speed 550 knots
-roger that silk mango flight ,replied squdron leader minak as he dialed in the new speed settings on the auto throtle panel and the engine responded immediately smoothly accelarting the heavy bird upto desired air speed ,burning some more fuel in the process .The digitl fuel content guage showed 84 % full and by the time the mirage reached 550 knot speed it dropped to 83% .

Far into the north eastern horizon on the dessert airstrip of luanda internatinal air port the first of the mig 23s finished fuelling and and the fuel bowser moved over to fill up the next in line .The armourers moved in to upload the fab 500 bombs .
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What's the US Air Force doing?

Post by HarshS »

Friends, reading this scenario reminds me of the Clancy novel, Debt of Honor. In both, the US Navy is otherwise occupied in containing another threat. In Debt of Honor, it is to deal with the Indian Navy in Sri Lanka, and in this scenario it is to deal with Iran.

Therefore, in both cases, other means are needed. Only two CVBGs are available to fight against Japan, and only the Indian Navy is available to fight against Angola.

In both scenarios, I fail to understand that even if India was about to attack SL or Iran was about to do something bad, why does it take only the USN and its CVBGs to stop these two countries? What about the USAF.

If Sri Lanka was seriously under threat, the USAF could fly in fighters, bombers, etc. to SL, to Diego Garcia to the Gulf to deter India.

If Iran was under threat (as in this scenario), the USAF could have flown in to SL, to Diego Garcia to the Gulf (repeating myself) or ... to India to deter Iran.

Further, the USN always has surge capacity. In Debt of Honor, with the US being attacked by Japan, how come the Atlantic Fleet didn't come in to support the Pacific fleet

In this scenario, again how come the USN's Atlantic Forces didn't come into Namibia? What about other Nato forces. There was talk about CDG moving in ... what about Ark Royal, etc.?

While this does not detract the superb quality of the scenarios, I was struck by the basic premise in this scenario and in Debt of Honor was that the USN was busy elsewhere, then what was the USAF doing?
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Post by Shankar »

LUANDA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT -1530 HRS
------------------------------------------------------
The first of the four mig 23s tok off slowly that is compared to its nrmal spirited take and comparitively less climb speed of 15000ft/min .As they tucked in their wings to 45 degree sweep and leveled out for the high speed dash to windhoek ,the angolan pilots did see some blips on the south west corner of thier air search radar screen and called out a general alert . Down at luanda four more mig 21s scrambels quickly off the tarmac and headed at max speed towards the incomming blips .

SILK MANGO FLIGHT -4XSU-3 MKI- 1532 HRS 75 KMS OF LUANDA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Silk mango-star ey bandit warning - 4 nos mig 23 flogger - 70 kms -038 -20000 ft
- oyu are cleared for bvr shot - engage now
- roger that star eye -going active -bandit at 07 attempting radar lock evasion- engaging now
- dessert crab -silk mango escort stay away from target zone - launching 77 - 5 6 4 3 21 -launch

The 4 r-77 s dropped free of the launch pylon and ignited their tails ,commencing thier supersonic remorseless run to target .The four angoaln floggers had no chance ,heavy with aor t ground ordance and not yet at their max cruise speed and hence limited manuvaribilty they were in fact a kind of sitting duck against the most ruthless man made predator in the sky that day.

The angolan troops on guard duty on luanda base perimeter watched with shock and awe as the four of thier best combat aircraft was converted to pieces of burning wreckage in a matter of minutes .they could actually see the smok trails of the incomming r-77s which tracked the floggeres relentlessly as the doomed pilots tried whatever they have learned from their cuban mentors a decade ago .

- star eye -silk mango- splash 4 floggers -confirm kills please
- roger that silk mango -kills confirmed - bandits approaching high speed 070 altitude 12000 -type fishbed mig 21 - distance 55 kms -your are cleared to engage
- roger that star eye ,came the still cold voice of wing commander vikash who have just been credited with four mig 23 kills
- silk mango 2 and 3 -engage bandit -altitude 13500 ft and climbing -fish bed -on intercept course -use ur discretion in weapon selection -engage and destroy targets now

The two sukhois peeled off smartly and lit thier after burners and at the same time switched on the powerful bars to active mode and also the four r-77 to arm .They launched the r-77s and dove down and away then turned on thier tail 10 kms from the initial missile launch zone and armed up 4 r-73 for any angolan mig 21 that might escape the long range attack. Only one angolan mig was so lucky and one of the sukhois closed in to 25 kms bringing the unfortunate pilot within sure kill envelope of r-73 and then without remorse launched a single missile .The blunt nosed sleek missile leaped off its rail and crucifor fins moved to position the missile in tracking position then it folloed the desperate angolan mig all the way bring thru pitiful attampts of the angolan pilot to escape one of the mst accurate and agile air to air missiles in the history of air combat -to a flashy and fexplossive death .

- omega silk 2 and 3 good work -confirm 3 and one kill respectively -good work -star eye says
-dessert crab -sky clear -launch attack immediately

The mirage 2000s knew what was happening and the moment clearence came they released thier laser guided bombs .The first two hit the runway intersection and the control tower ,the second two landed amonst the mass of parked aircraft on the apron and the last two landed on the taxiway connecting the parking apron to runway .In about 3 minutes from launch the heavy bombs practically brought end to all attempts of angolan airforce to provide any serious suprt to thier expedition force in fish river canyon.

Then the fire started from the fuel tankers and already refuelled aircraft ,the loaded bombs strted going off adding more destructive power to already raging inferno and millions of dollars worth of combat systems turned to melt scrap burnt by the very energy they hoped to unleash on indian forces .None of them even saw a single indian aircraft which caused such havoc in such short time .
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Post by Shankar »

LUANDA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT -1530 HRS
------------------------------------------------------
The first of the four mig 23s tok off slowly that is compared to its nrmal spirited take and comparitively less climb speed of 15000ft/min .As they tucked in their wings to 45 degree sweep and leveled out for the high speed dash to windhoek ,the angolan pilots did see some blips on the south west corner of thier air search radar screen and called out a general alert . Down at luanda four more mig 21s scrambels quickly off the tarmac and headed at max speed towards the incomming blips .

SILK MANGO FLIGHT -4XSU-3 MKI- 1532 HRS 75 KMS OF LUANDA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Silk mango-star ey bandit warning - 4 nos mig 23 flogger - 70 kms -038 -20000 ft
- oyu are cleared for bvr shot - engage now
- roger that star eye -going active -bandit at 07 attempting radar lock evasion- engaging now
- dessert crab -silk mango escort stay away from target zone - launching 77 - 5 6 4 3 21 -launch

The 4 r-77 s dropped free of the launch pylon and ignited their tails ,commencing thier supersonic remorseless run to target .The four angoaln floggers had no chance ,heavy with aor t ground ordance and not yet at their max cruise speed and hence limited manuvaribilty they were in fact a kind of sitting duck against the most ruthless man made predator in the sky that day.

The angolan troops on guard duty on luanda base perimeter watched with shock and awe as the four of thier best combat aircraft was converted to pieces of burning wreckage in a matter of minutes .they could actually see the smok trails of the incomming r-77s which tracked the floggeres relentlessly as the doomed pilots tried whatever they have learned from their cuban mentors a decade ago .

- star eye -silk mango- splash 4 floggers -confirm kills please
- roger that silk mango -kills confirmed - bandits approaching high speed 070 altitude 12000 -type fishbed mig 21 - distance 55 kms -your are cleared to engage
- roger that star eye ,came the still cold voice of wing commander vikash who have just been credited with four mig 23 kills
- silk mango 2 and 3 -engage bandit -altitude 13500 ft and climbing -fish bed -on intercept course -use ur discretion in weapon selection -engage and destroy targets now

The two sukhois peeled off smartly and lit thier after burners and at the same time switched on the powerful bars to active mode and also the four r-77 to arm .They launched the r-77s and dove down and away then turned on thier tail 10 kms from the initial missile launch zone and armed up 4 r-73 for any angolan mig 21 that might escape the long range attack. Only one angolan mig was so lucky and one of the sukhois closed in to 25 kms bringing the unfortunate pilot within sure kill envelope of r-73 and then without remorse launched a single missile .The blunt nosed sleek missile leaped off its rail and crucifor fins moved to position the missile in tracking position then it folloed the desperate angolan mig all the way bring thru pitiful attampts of the angolan pilot to escape one of the mst accurate and agile air to air missiles in the history of air combat -to a flashy and fexplossive death .

- omega silk 2 and 3 good work -confirm 3 and one kill respectively -good work -star eye says
-dessert crab -sky clear -launch attack immediately

The mirage 2000s knew what was happening and the moment clearence came they released thier laser guided bombs .The first two hit the runway intersection and the control tower ,the second two landed amonst the mass of parked aircraft on the apron and the last two landed on the taxiway connecting the parking apron to runway .In about 3 minutes from launch the heavy bombs practically brought end to all attempts of angolan airforce to provide any serious suprt to thier expedition force in fish river canyon.

Then the fire started from the fuel tankers and already refuelled aircraft ,the loaded bombs strted going off adding more destructive power to already raging inferno and millions of dollars worth of combat systems turned to melt scrap burnt by the very energy they hoped to unleash on indian forces .None of them even saw a single indian aircraft which caused such havoc in such short time .
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Post by Shankar »

NAMIB DESSERT -25 KMS WEST OF ANGOLAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE LEAD ELEMENTS - DAY 33
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fight lt manjit and squadron leader dipak were in big problem .After ejecting from thier stricken jaguar they have som out trucks ane how managed to take shelter in a hole in the ground most likely a fox or snake burrough to escape cursory search by angolan forces to trace downed pilots . The search and capture mission was further cut short as the second wave of mig 29k screeched overhead with thier load of cluster and napalms and the search pary quickly took shelter behind burntt trucks and tanks as the detonations started all around

For manjit it was too many problems at one time . One hand he had to take car of sq leader dipak who had multiple cuts and possibly a collarbone fracture after ejecion and secondly their drinking water bottle was dry .To top it all the survival radio batteries were running low and he did not even know if the distress signal was reaching the phalcon commander .

Still he tried one last time as he clicked on the pre designated distress frequency and spoke cool ,just like he was trained to do and just as he has seen in the movie iron eagle 2

-star eye 1 - manjit flight lt - no 345672 india-lohegaon-dragon - request immediate extraction -20 klicks from red force -location grid veta zeta
-identification green smoke -low on battery -over -sq leader dipak injured -no 453216-ambala -injured -with me -over

-This time the response was swift
- stand by manjit-star eye verifies -come back in 5 minutes

It was a long wait and the search and rescue coordinator on board awac came after almost 30 minutes

- flight lt manjit pl answer quickly following verification questions

- your wt
- 67 kgs
your mothers name
- jaspreet
- your village
-hosairpur
your nda batch no
-2002

-ok flt lt your credentials are verified and accepted .-helo on the way-keep this frequency open - stand by for hot extraction.

the south african airforce search and rescue chopper appeared within an hour .Flying real low barely 10 mtrs from ground it flashed past the reported postion of downed pilots as manjit threw out the orange smoke grenade and the chopper pivoted in mid air as the door gunners spreayed the nearby bush witha deadly burst of door mounted mini gun as the rescue commandoes jumped out and helped the two pilots climb aboard and the powerful machine was on way back withon 6 minutes from making tis first appearence .

LUANDA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - DAY 33
-----------------------------------------------------
The air officer commanding angolan air force detachment at luanda could not just believe at the swath of destruction before him .Almost three squadrons of his countries best comabt aircraft have been destoyed by a classic pre emptive strike at the most vulnerable moment . This reminded him of the israeli preemptive strike on egyptian air bases at the beginning fo the six day war in 1963 which changed the concept of effective use of air power for ever .

IN 1967 israels main concern were the egyptian mig 21 s and the tu-16 badger bombers if used correctly capable of causing unacceptable damage to israeli cities..On 5th june operation moked meaning focus wa launched where almost all of 197 combat jets of isreal air force were deployed leaving less than a dozen for homeland defense.At that point of time egyptian air defense infrastructure was poor and no armoured bunkers were available for protecting the egyptian war planes from air attck while on ground.The israeli headed out towards mediterian before turning inwards into egypt .The egyptian misfortune was further compounded by temporary shuting down of its entire air defense system in sinai region since they were afraid of egyptian rebel troops might shoot down field marshal amer returning to cairo after visiting troops in forward location. The israeli aircrafts penetrated the egyptian radar screen at 30 ft over ground level ,well below the point at which the egyptian sam 2 missile system could have been effective .The two ponged israeli attack consisted of straffing the egyptian aircraft on tarmac as well as destrying the runway themselves with tarmac shredding bombs making it impossible for the surviving egyptian aircrafts to take off making them easy target for subsequent israeli wave of attack .Nearly 300 egyptian aircraft were destroyed with less than half a dozen israeli losses .Average 4 sorties per day were executed calling for a super human effort from the pilots and the ground crew . But in the end a single days of outstanding effort and team work managed to destroy the egyptian air force in asingle day.This was followed by simialr attacks though on much less grander scale by israeli airforce against air fields in syria,jordan and iraq when israeli air force will even starfe the runways to deny thier immediate use .

The indian strike on luanda was very similar though only a single wave was used and runway starfing was avoided . The importance of real time intel provided by the marine commandoes landed almost a month will never be publicly acknowledged but would always be remembered .
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Post by Shankar »

INDIAN FIRE BASE XRAY ZULU -34TH DAY -15 KMS FROM ANGOLAN LEAD ELEMENTS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major sunil loked at the distant dust plumes angling away from him and knew it was the advanced elements of angolan armour making thier way across the fish river canyon . Still out of effective range of his bm-21 multi barrel launchers ,he waited with growing restlessness at the slow speed of advance of the target column. He knew angolans have taken a terrible beatings in the last few days from indian and israeli air strikes but still it continued on its determined course towrds the namibian capital city . His detachment was on the irght of the advancing column in a blocking position and right opposite was the Bofors fire base code named masai gamma also tasked with the same objective of turning the mammoth for mation away from the intended victim city and into the open namib dessert where some pleasent surprises waited thier arrival .

Above his head four more mirages scremed in .He could clearly see thier 2000 kg napalm canisters carried on center line pylon and in few seconds a dense plume of black smoke came up from expected position f the angolan force ,the sound of explossions which appeared as one was some what muted at the distance but no doubt it was effective as his signal intercept officer reported almost immediately

Sunil loked at his brand new air to ground transiever which decided to come alive right then and the metalic voice of israeli air-ground battle co ordinator came on line

- xray zulu -star eye - convoy advancing towards your position -estimated contact time 4 -6 hrs -shall be within firing range in 2 hrs - you are required to have fire clearence before initiating fire -over
- roger that star eye - x ray zulu confirms ready to fire status -shall obtain weapons free clearence in 2 hrs time -over

Behind major sunil the 12 odd bm 21 multi barrel rocket launchers each with 40 rockets each arranged in 10 rows of 10 each were ready as they can be ,swivelled up on thier hydraulic lifting arms from the transport position of 0 degree elevation to present elevation of 43 degree for max range firing .Beteween them they carried a formidable area saturation fire power in 480 rockets capable of being fired in 6 seconds and within 10 minutes will be available to do an encore for additional effect .No army can sustain such barrage and the angolans were no different .

Recoginised as one of the most effective rocket launchers of all times bm-21 were used to greast effect in direct firing mode during kargil conflict .First made appearence in russian army in 1963 .The rugged and comparitively simple reloading system allowed it to repeat a volley fire every ten minutes , capability un matched by any similar mbrl s even today.It was also he first russian mbrl systems to have integrated blast shields for crew protection and and capability of being fired remotely from a distance of as much as 60 mtrs increasing the loader and operator safety many fold should a rocket explode inside the tubes.Avariety of warheads including frag e ,incediary or chemical can be used in counjunction with this system and today it was mostly frag he with a sprinkling of incidery for effect .Max rate of fire thogh very high to conserve tube life today it was decided to fire one rocket every 5 seconds that is 12 rockets per minute and just over three minutes to empty the entire load before reloading and changing the firing elevationby 0.5 degree to compensate for target convoys advance movement during the time and also spread the goodies far and wide .

INDIAN FIRE BASE MASAI GAMA - 0900 HRS
--------------------------------------------------------
Captain rakesh was a relaxed person even when he was supposed to start firing his 24 fh-77b bofors 155 mm howitzers within next hour or so .One reason was ofcourse the superb fire control microprocessor on bard the excellent guns which make the job of any arty officer much simpler . All he has to do is to unch in the target co ordinates and fire mode and the gun will do the rest with super human accuracy.He was requierd to wait till the first salvi of 122 mm rockets have been launched from x ray zulu before joning in on alternate salvos .

The first warning from sky came in right on schedule

- masai gama -star eye - expect o commence fire in 90 minutes-weapon clearence required -confirm please
- roger that star eye - status ready to fire -shall avail weapon fire clearence -over

Behind him the familiar shape bofors guns loomed large and besides the many cases of 155 mm shells of all type behind a rocky out crop .He decided to launch his searcher 2 uav right then for last minute target information but had to take tactical clearence first

-star eye -masai gama - request permission to launch siera alpha recon drone now
- masai gama -you are cleared to lauch siera alpha for next 60 minute-pleae dial in the iff code -- before launch

And the delicate loking bird was soon in air winging its way towards the advancing angolan column and sending high quality black and white digital photographs all the way back home
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Post by Dileep »

Sunil loked at his brand new air to ground transiever
What? No SATHI terminals? :evil:
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Post by kantak »

star eye 1 - manjit flight lt - no 345672 india-lohegaon-dragon - request immediate extraction -20 klicks from red force -location grid veta zeta
-identification green smoke -low on battery -over -sq leader dipak injured -no 453216-ambala -injured -with me -over
I think no body will give their credentials on the guard channel.For SAR normally code words preassigned to the pilot are used for authentication.SIGNIT assets of the enemy can easilly access mayday transmissions .
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Post by Shankar »

The bm 21 arty rocket system is perhaps one of the most sucessful weapon system ever developed . BM 21 launchers with 9f37 racks and 9m22u unguided rockets with high explossive fragmentation warheads all manufactured seperately and hence easily repalcable in field is at present in use by more than 50 countries world wide .More commonly it is also simply refered as the grad system .Developed in erstwhile ussr in 1963 by tula association under the supervision of chief designer a ganichev it soon caught the fancy of the world and was extensively used in vietnam by the vietcong particularly during tet offensive ,by all arab countries during middle easten conflicts and by india in kargil to great effect .Modular nature of the system allowed mass production in many countries having reasonable machine shop capabilities like romania ,bulgaria and slovakia. In fact the bm 21 system was so appreciated in most user countries that many of them started developing and or upgrading their own systems based on this basic design .Over the years several copy cat systems will beseen all over the world. Splav state research and production association responed by creating even larger calibre and more accurate systems like 220 mm uragan and ofcourse the much talked 300 mm smerch rocket system.Development of the grad mlrs system also continued and following developments came into market over next few decades
- 122 mm rockets capable of deploying anti personnel mines -a salvo of 20 rcokets can effectively cover an one km front line at a reduced range of 13+ kms
- 122 mm rockets fired in salvo to deploy anti tank mines over same front line
-rockets with smoke generating warheads capable of creating a smoke field of 1 sq km approx area at max range of 20 kms with a single salvo of 10 rockets .
- rockets with radio jamming /interfearence warheads fired in seven rocket salvo over the entire vhf band 1.5 to 120 mhz at a range of 4.5 to 18.3 km
- rockets with illuminating warheads capable of illuminating a1000 mtr circle from a ht of 500 mtrs for 90 seconds .

The next stage of rocket upgradation consisted of increasing its range from 20 to 36 kms plus with better mixed propellent motor and enhanced power warhead and use of a varity of fuses like contact ,electronic and mechanical .

Loading time for reloads was reduced by containerisation of the rockets ,each launcher is initailly loaded with two containers of 20 rocket each and after the salvo is fired the empty containers are quickly taken off and new ones fitted into the launch vehicle in less than 10 minutes .The containers are dispensable and as such much lighter and easier to handle .

Like all sucessful military equipment the origin of katyusha rocket system is also german to some extent though it is pre dominantly a soviet product. In 1930 s ther was reportedly atechnical exchange programme between the nazi germany and the soviets . NII3 was developing ros 82 combat rockets for soviet air force strike aircraft and larger ros 132 for launch from bombers . At that time the germans were developing six barrled rocket mortar nebelwerfer . When this new development
became known to soviet authorities they wanted a similar system for red army.Consequently NII3 developed two basic vesions of multi barrel rocket launchers -the 82 mm bm 8 and 132 mm bm 13 ,both types were suitable for carrying chemical and incendary warheads and mounted on zis 5 and zi6 trucks.The first large scale test was done in 1938 but the arty was not happy with long reload time of nearly one hour for 24 round salvo to be fired.All those problems were sorted out over time one by one and was extensively used by the red army against german mechanised infantry through out second world war .

Major sunil ofcourse knew all these almost by heart but still when he looked at the massed fire power at his disposal could not but help think about thier development history and how they were used by various armises over time like russians as anti armour weapon and flame throwers against german invaders to defend thier fatherland or the palestine millitants to kill civilians in border kibbutzes of israel or indian army for destruction of NLI bunkers in tiger hill.

The real time pictures from searcher two strted comming in datalimked from fire base masai gama on his sathi terminal clearly identifying the anti air craft guns ringing in the advancing column ,the self propeeled 130 mm art pieces and the blocks of armour threading thier way past the obstacles in fish river canyon at a maestic average speed of 5 km/hr .He quickly selected the target co ordinates from the screen and fed in the range and elvation data to the first of six 40 rocket launchers and contacted phalcon for clearence to commence fire . He hoped the advance marine command team who at he moment will be acting as arty spotters are in position because all said and done nothing like a pair of human eyes on ground to confirm you are hitting ok and hitting them good

- start eye - x ray zulu -in range -request weapons free
- x-ray zulu -stand by
- x ray zulu- we confirm no friendlies in area - you cleared to open fire between grid co ordinates --- for next 60 minutes
- clear to fire between grid co ordinates specified for 60 minutes -x ray ziulu copies .

Sunil picked up the battery power loud hailer and a hush fell over the some what noisy group as every one checked on thier ear protectors and mved away from the launchers and the gunners crouched over thier remote fire console units as the expected command was shouted out

- Fire units 1thru six -targeting rounds only

The six 122 mm rockets leaped out of thier lauching tubes and headed for the angoaln army units balanced on a tail fire and lots of smoke .

The feed back came over the data link from the searcher 2 directly over the target arae and also spotters on ground

- x-ray zulu- cheetah 1 - 500 mts over - 3 degree to left

Aquick correction on the launch consoles as the ground feed back data was incorporated in the fire solution and the second salvo launched

- x ray zulu - dead on target - fire for effect .

This time all the six bm 21 started firing on sequence each to his pre designated target grid one rocket every 5 seconds .Once the finished hte second set of six bm 21s opened fire with clinical efficeancy rotating and advancing thier fire based on real time feed back from uav up in the air and marine commando spotters on ground .

Then they did only reasonable thing under the circumstances -just started their engines and quickly left the fire base for secondar loaction few kms down -to avoid in evitable counter battery fire from the angolans .
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Post by ashdivay »

Murugan wrote:yes, yes,
do start a thread on your experience with the chicoms et al
do we really need to use a word liek that for our eastern friends .
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Post by MN Kumar »

ashdivay wrote:
Murugan wrote:yes, yes,
do start a thread on your experience with the chicoms et al
do we really need to use a word liek that for our eastern friends .
Friendship mein sab chalta hai. Voh to pyar se hum pukarte hain.
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Post by ashdivay »

Shankar wrote:But the sacrifice of the jaguar pilots did not go in vain -as the angoaln airsearch and target radars came on line despeately trying to tarck the fast moving indian jets ,they disclosed thier position to the phalcon above and very soon ,in a mater of seconds the target co ordinates were being downlinked to the israeli eagles waiting with thier deadly load of harms.
did ya intended on makin those good pilots into martars ... for more intresting readin .....as far as i understand indian forces would be compleatly capable of launchin bromos msls from air ,sea or land based pltfrms...
overall i like your story and way ya put it.
Thanks
Ash
(DCH Freak)
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Post by Shankar »

INDIAN FIRE BASE MASAI GAMA -0100 HRS -DAY 35
--------------------------------------------------------------
Captain rakesh polished off the last of what you can call asumptious field dinner consisting of good ols style buttered chapatis and dal with a bowl of packed yoghurt along with alarge portion of barbequed impala steak . Know one really knows how the cook got hold of the dead impala some distance away from the camp most likely killed during angolan counter bombardment few hours back in the evening or may be as he suspected some of his younf jawans have "acciedentally " shot and killed the deer in course of duty being unable to distinguish the deers shadow and thought it to be an intruder .

As he came back after a night patrol arond the fire base holding 24 spanking new fh-77b s all ready for the nights counter counter bombardment mission ,and relaxed on top of a massive dead tree trunk just outside his camp ,to take his mind off the immediate problem opened up his personal collection fo world war to stories on the subject of his choice .Sometimes it was george c pattons instructions to his commanders of third army ,some times admiral nimitzs thoughts before going into the decisive battle of midway or as on today it was an unnamed russian commanders diary translated in to english , on the eve of couter bombardment opration during battle of kursk.

" Experience has shown that repulsing the first wave of large scale enemy attack is repulsing the offensive in general.Counter preparation is perhaps the most decisive factor in disrupting the enemies attack. In preparation of repulsing the german offensive in oral-kursk sector we were convinced the artilery in the counter preparation would first and foremost neutralise the enemy artillery and mortars, followed by troop concentrations ,troop head quarters and road junctions should also be kept under fire .However thes were suplementary or secondary problems . It was assumed that if the german artillery and mortar positions are thoroughly neutralised the enemy infantry and tanks would be without fire support and this will greatly weaken his attack greatly. A detailed plan of artillery engagement was drwan up long before the coomencement of bombardment.The plan was distributed to batter commanders who prepared details pertaining to thier sectors..The postion of enemies artillery and mortars were marked on each battery commanders map .The commanders knew that at a definite signal he was to fire at a specific target for a given length of time and with adefinite number of rounds .It stands to reason the plan was flexible and was modified as more and more intel regrading enemies disposition became available .Particular attention was given to enemies firing positions to didtinguis between main ,secondary and dummy positions.

Just location of enemies gun positions is not enough it is also important to determine the exact time of commencement -to early or too late may not generate the specific ressult . "

Capt rakesh realised how little the essence of battle has really changed over the last 6 decades .The guns are more accurate ,real time target data of enemy deployment was more effective thru the searcher 2 uavs and the close air support available much faster if requierd but all in all the rules of the game remained same .
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Post by kantak »

GREAT GOING SHANKAR

That artillery strike was just great .I just hope there are enough tanks left for the T-90's to have for lunch :lol:
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Post by Shankar »

-masai gama -star eye -defer strike till 1800 hrs - alternate striek plan under way-confirm fire clearence
- star eye -masai gama - understood defer strike mission till 1800-over

Capt rakesh was dissapointed he was looking forward to the arty debut in africa immediately after the rocket attack to maximise damage but obviuosly the command have obviously decided on a different strategy .

He was dead right . The short but intense 122 mm rocket strike have in fact broken up the disciplined angolan formation and for the time being the air defense capability was almost zero . This was too good a chance to pass by when comparitively less capable south african airforce strike aircraft can be effectively used therby giving the indian flying crew some well deserved rest

ANGOLAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE - 1430 HRS
-----------------------------------------------------------
General Nobutu was shocked into silence at the aftermath of stalins organ concert played on with such deadly perfection. THE 300 odd 122 mm rockets have manged to do in 30 minutes what the air strikes of previous days have not suceeded in doing - it has broken th will of angolan soldiers too fight .Never in thier life they have ever seen such blatant display of fire power and the ressultant destruction . Most of the rockets had high explossive fragmentation warhead fused for both ground and air burst .Everywhere they stuck they destroyed tanks ,field guns,trucks,fuel tanks and most of all they killed indiscremently soldiers who were a tardy slow too react or to take cover . The dry rocky terraing of fish river canyon was slippery with angolan blood and the scream of the wounded filed the canyon in a horrible crescendo .He hoped this will not be repeated at leat not again on this day .

He was right .Their will be no arty rocket strike that day and he was also wrong angels of death were on thier way on wings of death and then the 155 mm big guns made in a small village in sweeden waited thier turn .

Up in the sky -40 kms to the south east the first flight of 8 grippens of south african airforce tuned landwards as the awacs came on tac net

- diamond flight -star eye - turn right 058-make altitude 18000- target in grid sector victor charlie- you are cleared for waepon launch
-roger that -star eye -going to medium altitude launch profile

The three flights of 4 each grippen broke of in space as each climbed for a classic lob toss delivery of 2000 kgs laser guided bombs at the identified command vehicles and modules as identified by the searcher 2 and the synthetic apperture radar on board israeli phalcon

The nosed up at almost 20 degree and 15 kms from target zone released theirr bomb load locking on the reflected laser energy .The heavybombs flew up for some time as they moved with aquired kinetic energy of the launch aircraft and then gravity took over as their trajectory flattened out then dipped slowly ,moving forward all the time with velocity of the launch aircraft close to 500 knots in a classic parabolic trajectory as the fins moved continiously keeping the nose towards the designated target. The bombs were fitted with contact fuse which allowed a marginl delay before initiating the detonation of the high explossive within the pre fragmented casing . The destruction within a 100 mtr radius was complete .

Even before the angolan army on ground have recovered from the shock of 12 near simultaneous massive detonation the next strike wave was alreay in position .

- gold flight -star eye - you are weapons free - make your altitude 12000 ft-course 075 -confirm
-star eye -gold flight -understand clear to release weapons -attacking now
The voice of the young south african airforce pilot was eager and nervous at the same time as he steered his alpha jet towards the target and pushed the throttle all the way forward as he flashed towards the advancing armour formation . It was a large 24 aircraft formation almost the entire south african alpha inventory each carrying asingle 500 kg bomb .

The alphas came in four at a time in tight diamond formation and at a spacing of 1000 mtrs into the attack area and in one smooth action 24 X500 KGS high explossive bombs rained down over already shocked angolan armour and mechanised infantry .There was no method in this latest round of bombardment - plain and simple shock and awe -to keep the angolans moving and towards the waiting t-90s of indian army . From now on they will have no respite ,no let up and worst of all no sleep for the invaders -morning or night or day or dusk .From now on it will the spectre of death always over the broken enemy .
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Post by ashdivay »

good one keep at it buddy!
<cant wait till the part where our armour kicks ass..
BTW wr are Arjuns or Tank -Ex ?
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Post by kantak »

ashdivay wrote:good one keep at it buddy!
<cant wait till the part where our armour kicks ass..
BTW wr are Arjuns or Tank -Ex ?
tank-ex may have remained as an experiment :wink:
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Post by Shankar »

T-90 LEOPARD BRIGADE - JUST OUTSIDE RESTRICTED DIAMOND AREA-NAMIBIA 1 800 HRS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major srikanth finished his usal walk around his command tank which apart from the awesome 125 mm smooth bore gun also sported 12.7 mm co axial machine gun and one extra light machine gun for low flying aircraft defense though the way the battle was going the chances of any angolan air strike next day or so was highly improbable . As he checked for signs of track wear and condition of the idler bushes and the drive gear teeth everthing appeared battle ready . He knew in the comming days the comparitively large angolan armour consisting mainly of t-55/62 and some t-72s will have to be taken on with his small force of t-90s head on till other tank brigade closes in from the north . His force will be the anvil and hammer will take shape from north . Once blocked into no retreat light and mobile bmp3 s will attack from flank to initiate a distraction move and as the angolan armour moves into this flank strike his armour has to move out of the semi dug out position and let angolans know what a modern armour strike is like or more simply what it is to be fighting real armoured cav rather than women and children . Like all he has heard about the atrocities of angolan forces in areas they have overrun in the first few weeks of war and was in no mood to show mercy .

Mobility and real time communication is the key to winning this battle ,that much srikanth was sure and that is why he checked and rechecked each and evry vehicle under his command atleast once a day .As they waited each and every soldier was busy oiling and cleaning the the tracks the air filters the gun barrels the turret turn table and the gun mounts . Working under the relentless african sun it was a tough call and men would sweat and drink water and take mandatory salt tablets and then go back to work so that when the time comes each and every tank will be 110% opetioanl and ready to do what it was designed for .

Once in a while ofcourse srikanth would think about the smart and attractive navy chopper pilot who would swoop down with some sensitive intel or emegency spares from the carrier group which was supporting thier deplyment in the namib dessert and then the days will take on a different colour . The sun will not be so harsh and evenings not so lonely.But then those respites will be few and far between .Like him she was all business but once in awhile srikanth have seen her looking at him in a distant speculative kind of way and he did not know what those looks meant .

Over lunch they would discuss the violent history of the land of thier deployment and now thier home away from home .Lt commander sudipta was a voracious reader and she would tell srikanth in her typical indianised english the epic of cecil rhodes the man who founded the cape colony which later on transformed into south africa and namibia . About how a small group of british adventurers took possesion of one the richest continent on earth .The history of south africa was very similar to british colonisation of india . Rhodes formed what is known as british south african company and assembles a native army .The native matables and their king chakka was anhilated in a series of bloody battles and cecil rhodes won most of them and the key weapon was 6 barrled water cooled maxim machine guns . Once victory was achieved each british soldier was granted 4000 acres of virgin farming land and mineral concessions for the mineral under . Most of them sold them back to his genearals for very few pounds and some times for as alittle as a botle of whisky . It was he who formed the de beers diamond company and was the richest man in british empire which at that time included india too.

But rhodes luck failed him in matters of gold . The whitewatersand gold fields is perhaps one of the richest gold fields in the world but it is said cecil rhodes when offered a share in the virgin field refused point blank saying the gold ores dont look as promising as the kimberly diamonds and walked rather rode off in his chestnut brown stallion -leaving behind 100 million pound worth of pure gold equivalent in those days prices.

The stories remained with major srikanth even after sudipta or rather lt commander sudipta has left in her kamov and as he stared at the horizon with the orange sun setting against the distant mountains and dessert he tried to fathom the mystries of this brutal continent and why it atracts so many to come here and die -it definitely is not just the lure of gold and diamond it has to be the magnetic attraction the continent itself with its incredible diversity of flora and fauna from the deadly coiled puff adder in morning grass to super quick mamab in the rat burroughs from the narrow waisted lionesses in the open dessert to the funny but vicious babboons camping outside the base for the left overs from the short sighted rhinos to the lightning quick cheetahs on the run after an antelope from the muddy banks of val river so maddeningly deceptive about its stong undercurrents to the majestic victoria falls to the monstrus nile crocodiles lying lazily on the mud flats and the obesse hippos to the graceful fish eagles it was all a creation never to be duplicated by god .

And today he was responsible for protecting a small part of that great creation and the simple people who inhabit that part of the world . He was sure he will not let them down .This was a promise srikanth made to himself as the radio came alive

- lima bravo -star eye - target movement started again -if on present course expect first contact early next morning - estimated strenght 570 t-55/62 /72 -hold on till 1200 hrs then retreat and regroup at secondary attack position - reinforcements from north expected to join in 1000 hrs
- roger that star eye - situation noted - moving into advanced contact position in 8 hrs - pl inform any change in enemy disposition
- shall do-star eye signing off and with that the land battle commander abaord phalcon brigadier patel this time switche off .

INDIAN FIRE BASE MASAI GAMMA - 1930 HRS
--------------------------------------------------------
With the muzzle caps off the 24 bofors fh 77b looked real deadly with thier long snouts pointing skywards and crates and crates of 155 mm shell lying ready a small distance away the night bombardment was ready to commence .

- star eye -masai gamma - ready to commence firing - request weapns clearence please . Rakesh was desperate to start the action .He was a typical arty officer black and tall and weighing nearly 85 kgs had a booming voice to match his physique .
- masai gamma - target area is clear -we see some movement to north west possible a tank formation trying to move out -suggest that be your first target
-roger that star eye -we confirm firts strike mission on target co ordinates --- commencing attacks in 5 minutes

Just one of the long barreled guns moved into firing position as the target co ordinates were entered in the fire console and the microprocessor decided optimum angle of fire taking into consideration target elevation and its own gps position and also the estimated wind velocity at the palce of launch and the barrle moved slightly down and sidewards

- cheetah one - targetting round on way -keep your eyes wide open
- we are awake -masai gamma - came the still cheerful voice marine commando officer -you are free to target

- fire ,boomed the throaty voice of rakesh who liked the second world war style of ordering like patton or rommel who rather than throaty whisper on the collar microphone .

The targetting gun acknowledged the order with a whiplash crack of high explossive as the barrle recoiled viciously and the tongue of flame pierced the sky

-way off masai gamma - 100 mtrs under and 35 mtrs to east -came the growling voice of marine arty spotter

the gunner looked shame faced as he punched in the new coordinates as dictated by the ground spotter

The bofors gun boomed once agin and soon acme the spotters observation

- much better nasai gamma - 25 mtr under and 15 mtrs to east

The final target round flashed out of the barrel and the confirmation came in quickly

- bang on the kid killers - fire for effect masai gamma

And this time all the guns got the revised fire cordinates thru already established loacl area network and all 24 guns boomed at once .The sound of 24 high velocity projectiles as it tore thru the sky made sound like atearing linen and shock wave of explossion followed .The first shells were all fused for air burst and it exploded 20 mtrs over the angolan soldiers and the sum total of effect was brutally devastating . After 5 minutes the second wave of projectiles hit the ground and exploded on contact .The sky lit up as the shells exploded in multiple fire balls and then the third round hit the centre of the formation as the bofors gunners walked the fire backwards .

General nobutu looked at the destruction of his army and shook his head sadly as the fourth round of 155 mm shell landed.
Murugan
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Post by Murugan »

Bomb Bomb Bole
Jay Jay Shiv Shankar
Shankar
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Post by Shankar »

T-90 LEOPARD BRIGADE - 0200 HRS
------------------------------------------
major srikanth tried to immitate the legendary general patton as much as he could even when resting and on the eve of a battle . The night was quite except the distant rumble of small squadrons of t-90s on patrol around the perimeter of the base . Main protection was ofcourse from the searcher 2 now aloft with its infra red imaging system on and the japaneese 767 based awac which has taken over from the israeli phalcon as overall battle commander linked both to the force commander bhasic aboard vikramaditya and each and every ground unites and supporting fire bases . The effect of bofors strike on advancing angolan armour have been much better than expected and the current battle damage assesment predicted less than 50% of once massive 800 tank formation will be able engage his formation of t-90s some times later tomorrow . The indian airstrikes both from the carrier and the nearby airbases ahave tapered off and everyone was taking a break except once in a while harrasing atack by indian jaguars and aouth african grippens in small 2/3 aircraft formations mainly to deny the enemy the vital few hours of uninterupted sleep.

Major srikanth rested against the old mopani tree trunk which formed the bed post of his command tent and streched out after an honest days work and slowly opened up a book on south african economy and its gold ,which lt commander sudipta has left behind during her last drop sortie.

The largets gold resourses in the world were found in the area of witwatersrand about a century back and ence it is not of surprise to anyone that south africa is todays worlds largets producer of yeallow metal .Like johensbergs other name is egoli meaning city of gold. At presnet the gold bearing reef is mined at considerable depth .For example the western deep level mine has shafts in depths excess of 3900 mtrs .Automatically it stands to reason minning at such depth is highly problamatic and often fatal despite best safety measures money can buy.The ambient temperature goes up by 1 degree every 33 mtrs and so at 900 mtrs and as such at 3900 the temperature which the mine workers have to face and work is almost 60 degree f or 30 degree c higher than surface temperature.Though geo thermal conditions of africa are some extent favourable for minning immense machinery and and substantial air conditioning effort is required to make the deep mines workable. The air is cooled down to 32 degree but still the workers have to manage almost 100% humidity .The material ,work and energy required for gold production today is enormous .To produce every single ounce of gold roughly 3.5 tons of ore have o be crushed,6000 ltrs of water used ,578 killowatt hour of energy pumped in and many many tons of different chamivcals and explossives used before the raw gold is brought to suraface ,and purified to its final marketable form .The price of gold was on decline for the last so many years mainly because of availability of cheaper options from russai and australia but with the war in namibia still showing no sighns of abetting the price of gold in london metal market has firmed up and showing sighns of going thru roof once again .

Srikanth closed the book -trying to understand how this increase in gold price or its fall would affect his impending marriage if it ever takes place .Not much he decided finally since this is one battle he did not intend loosing and secondly sudipta as he has known is not fond of jwellery.
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Post by Philbert »

:P Big guns and love always the perfect jodi
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Post by Shankar »

T-90 LEOPARD BRIGADE -0530 HRS
-----------------------------------------
Major srikanth had however one serious problem .He missed mi 35s in such alarge engagement when his tanks would be out in the open may be few disabled and quick decisive striek would be required or when in a highly dynamic modern armour engaement role an attack helicopter plays is sterling .Few days back he has requested for a small detachment fo helicopter gunships thru battle force commander to south african defense forces .At that point no commitment was available and srikanth resigned to fate assumed he would have to fight this battle without rotary wing support .

He was wrong . Initially though south african airforce did not want to commit its premier attack choppers in a bush battle over namibia their soon perception soon changed when the call from indian ministry of defense was routed directly to the prime ministers office at pretoria . The indian defense minister was catagorical in making it clear that while indian armed forces were deploying their best for protection and security of thier south african friend ,south african armed forces atleast should ensure avoidable loss of men and equipement is prevented regardless of cost . The message had the desired effect .

As the eastern sky started braeking into a rose coloured dawn the danel ah-2 rooivalks started appearing on the southern horizon . Each was carrying 16 nos 8000 mtrs range deadly mokopa anti tank missiles to provide further teeth to indian armour offensive about to begin in a day or two.The mopoka anti armour pint defense missiles system have the capability to track and attack moving targets via on board sighting systems . In an alternative mode each can carry upto 76 guidance free rockets for a typical arae saturation attack.For defense aginst fixed and rotary wing aircraft they were carrying 4 mistarl air to air missiles and a 20mm cannon slaved to helment mounted sight of the pilot for quick reaction strke and also if required as an accurate point defense weapon. The target vaquistion system apart from dual helmet mounted sights also includes tv/forward looking infra red system,laser range finder,laser designator and auto tarcker for mobile targets . The twin makila 1k2 turboshaft engines with a rating of 492 kw and emergency rating of 716 kw gives the south african attack chopper unprecedented survivability in battle field environment .The max speed of 167 knots though not spell binding is acceptable particularly when considerd in conjunction with its rated max take off load of nearly 9000 kgs and climb rate of 2620 ft/min.

After a standard low level circuit around the indian armour brigade base the 12 ah2-2 rooivalk settled down one by one on the semi prepared helipad in hail of hot air and sand . A detachment of military police immediately surrounded the landing zone and couple of BMP 3 and a pair of t-90s facing the main threat axis towrds the expected position of the nagolan armour .Very soon a pair of tungska air defense systems also joined the t-90s and that was all srikanth could afford at the moment for his south african aviator guests .

Wing commander john was a strapping 6 ft tall black south african and a vetern of bush war with mozambique and angola . He knew as rumours say each and every bush and valley and rivers that criss cross the namib desert and the angolan border with namibia . He brought with him the irreplacable knowledge required for any sucessful armour strike the knowledge of terrain and weather .

Also he was a air warrior per excellence -that srikanth could make out as he settled down with his new found friend in the make shift tent being used as battle planning cum mission briefing room . The air cooller manged at great trouble and cost was already fighting aloosing battle against the warming up wind of the dessert and gentle sweat forming up on evry one was a diplomatic reminder of the hot day yet to begin.Johns approach to role of atack choppers in large armour engament was very professional and very direct . He knew he had a force at his disposal which if correctly used could turn the tide of a battle in a matter of minutes as long as the surprise was on thier side .

With srikanth and a cold glass of buttermilk between them which the giant of a south african loved they decided on the attack strategy and the sequencing fo the strike misisons ,the air ground co ordination and the type of weaon systems to be used and when . Most importantly the communication protocol between low flying choppers and the fast moving t-90s . fall back position in case of an unexpected breakthru and or air strike . Also they discussed the targetting priority and worked out a rudimentary air tasking order and while on the job a very new idea which could drastically shorten the war came up from the south african wing commander .

The small group of officers and pilots in the war room were shoked into silence at sucha simply brilliant idea . Then they started planning in earnest . This would be thier first target priority .

It is true an army moves on its stomach but if denied they can manage atleast for some days from the dried rations or from the rich land .

Oil is critical and that all armies keep in seperate locations and though often targeted by air strike usally has a built in logistics chain which does the make up quickly and efficeantly .

Only one commodity in an army is not accorded such a priority ,on which the very life depends more so in a dessert and that commodity is

WATER . Take out the water and you will take the fight out of the angolans .That was the single line advice from the south african aviator .
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Post by kantak »

great going shankar .
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Post by Shankar »

The arrival of south african attack choppers allowed the allied battle co mmanders to involve the small but very potent indian armoured brigades integrate into a seamless air-land battle doctrine based on net centric warfare with due assitance available from the israeli phalcon and japaneese sentry awac .Ofcourse this is more easily said than done . Other than US which have studied this concept in detail and to some extent implemented during gulf war 2 and india ,australian armed forces have prioratised this rather unconventional mode of land warfare into its operational tactical doctrine .

According to Lt General Peter leahy in 2030 australian army will be constituted as a force that operates largely from air .Defined as hardening and networking the army initiative the HNA sceme is designed to deliver land power thru a combined arms team of infantry armour artillery to a battle space defined by networks and interdependence. Of the capabilities that enhance any armies capability in the air are of corse armed recon helicopters
and troop lift helicopters along with tactical unmanned aerial vehicles .The leopard brigade still lacked the troop air lift capability but since most of the ground troops deployed were ensconed inside t-90s and bmp 3s mobility or troops protection in a mobile war environment will not be a probelem thought major srikanth.

Modern day battle space is bounded by exponentially increasing lethality of weapon system available to the enemy which may be state force like in namibia or a non state or insurgent forces as in operation in kashmir,afganistan ot iraq. The availability of advanced weapon systems including anti aircraft and anti armour poses the greatest challenge.Under the circumstances the best option for the blue forces is to seek out and create a linear battlefield where the superior training and fire coordination will play a pivotal role rather than engage the enemy i complex tarrain or in cities like windhoek . That is why indian forces were putting max effort to flush out theangolan armour out of fish river canyon and push them into open dessert country of namibia.Srikanth listed out his battle field objectives to his team which obviously included the south african air force pilots

1)availability of fire where and when you need it
2)There is a need to hold ground
3)achieve superior situational awareness
4)harness the power of networking
5)balance command and control functions
6)understand both precision and discretion in use of force
7)develop trust in joint warfare
8)Identifying the needs of army from indian and saaf
9)integration of land and air attacks
10)fire support ,air lift and use of uavs
11)avoiding blue on blue killings land air interdependence -precision precision with discrimination

From theory to practice was more difficult and time consumming . Basically following operational doctrine and tactical plan of action was agreed upon and went for implementation .

Total tank stenght with leopard brigade was 104 t-90s . 65% of the same will go on offensive aginst the bottle necked angolans first light tomorrow .
The rest will on mobile reserve directly under command of srikanth to be pushed into battle wherever enemy resistance is too strong or unexpected reverses faced .

The second brigade was ordered to abandon the old russian style hammer and anvil atack plan and orderd for a flanking attack on the angolan armour from north west but in tight synchronisation with leopard brigade and the south african /indian airforec striek aircraft .For easy identification from air an orange fluroscent flag would be stuck on each indian tank .

The south afriac squadron of gunships will be used in first long range missile strike and may be another round but then revert to armed recon role providing real time target aquistion and battle damage assesment during daytime since sti;l the angolans possesed a large quantity of shoulder fired sams they can be deadly against low flying large gunships if caught in range particularly in heat of battle . They will be used as point defense weapons only if the situation is critical . The choppers will be deployed in two groups of four each and 4 will be held back in reserve against battlefield attrition .

The BMP 3 S 12 number will be deployed like hyena packs for close in attack on the flank and mainly in night with anti tank missiles so that they cannot be targetted by thier missile profile .

The bofors 155 and bm 21 122 mm will close in from the rear and mostly work independently except when critical fire supprt is required by the t-90s (highly unlikely or the bmp 3 more likely) 6 155 mm guns and 3 bm 21 launchers will be kept in reserve for just such a contingency .

All air to ground communication will be thru phalcon and the phalcon will also have the tactical authority to call in additional fire support or redeploy the armour formation to meet any changing scenario.Brigadier patel will the overall battle commander with rear admiral bhasin for the time being relegated to the role of managing air strike sequencing and weapon selection with brigadier joshua from phalcon.

In between lunch was served - the south african have brought with them (ofcourse un offcially four 200 lb kudu carcass freshly shot just outside thier air base ) and cooked indian tikka style with lot of chilli and massala and served burning hot with green chilli pickles and hot chapatis . Dessert was warn yoghurt and onion slices a poor immitation of classic raita but the south african pilot relished evry bit . It was then time agin to go back to planning as the seniot indian airforce pilots started dropping in ferried by the navy seakings from various south african and namibian air bases and then came the art commanders and it was full house for some time .The generals came in last almost when the sun was inking in the distant horizon in a mad dash of red and gold . As they cleared each and evry point one by one the old battle horses seemed to have the predatory glint in thier eyes once again
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Post by p_saggu »

I propose we start a New thread Titled "Shankar's Mil Scenarios" until the hardbound version comes out. The rest of the minnons can post their stuff in the regular thread.

Cheers
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