Possible Indian Military Scenarios - Part IV
ANGOLAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE -DAY 37 -0900 HRS
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it was a big force and so was its dailt water intake . At this time of the year the fish river canyon was almost dry ,most of the water being stored in dams upstream .Water was release in a miserly manner which olected in a series of small pools along the canyon .The angolan army supply corps simply pumped them up in a a large number of decommissioned fuel tankers and supplied to various troop locations all over the day on a loose scedule .
The main collection point of water was a comparitively large natural pond formed within the river bed by natural errosion over millions of years and incerased every year its depth during wet season flooding when the narrow river will turn into a raging monster washing evrything on its way and filling up the few natuarl pools along the way .On angolan maps this particular pool was simply marked as WP 078 and on indian maps it was not evn mentioned .It was expected the pilots tasked with its destruction along with fleet of water tankers and pumps will simply have to find it on thier own and do the needful.
As squadron leader manjit and jasbir flew down the worlds second largest canyon looking for thier target at a leisurely speed of 450 knots and at 5 the 500 ft altitude over the rim of the canyon they were looking for signs of life and that they hoped will lead them to the sources of water . Both of them were carrying 8 250 kg iron bombs which evryone fely sould be more than adequate to neutralise the angolan water supply at least for afew days and will help bring the advancing army to thier knees .The jaguars they were flying were relatively old and carried just the mandatory 150 rounds for its twin aden guns and twin magic missiles for any air to air evantuality .
- ostrich flight -star eye -maintain present course and altitude - do you have targets in sight
-negative star eye - still looking - maintaining course and altitude -shall inform before commencing attack
The fish river canyon is unique amonst all canyons of africa and surpassed only by colorado grand canyon .Almost 180 kms long and some places 500 mts vertically down streches south from seeheim to orange river which forms the border between namibia and south africa. The angolan army at the moment was almost at its souther end close to orange river and the two jaguars flew in from north to avoid over passing the heavily armed convoys with a large number of tripple a s and shoulder fired sams .The pilots route markings betrayed the nature of the terain they were flying over like rock pinnacle,baboon mountain,camelthorn rest,german soldiers grave ,bandage pass, emergency canyon exit,four finger rock,lost bend,fish eagle pool harbel pools and like
The fish eagle pool appeared the largets of the water bodies and even from the distance the shades of green could be noticed . The first water tanker could be spotted about 10 kms from the pool laboriously making its way up a steep gradient ina storm of dust .and then quickly they could spot the long line of tankers waiting for thier fil of life giving water for thier troops and the four dark green water hoses snaking out of a makeshift pump house towards the tanker filling point .The driver were also spotted some distanc away resting in the shady bushes with thier weapons carelessly lying around . For them it was not a war zone
- star eye -ostrich flight -target loacated -commencing attack run now -request weapon free
- ostrich flight -star eye - you are weapons free in target zone only -do not climb over 3000 ft -good luck
- star eye -ostrich flight - understand weapons free-flight celing 3000 ft -commencing attack now
The first jaguar peeled of and dived straight into the pumping station with its network of reinforced plastic hoses and diesel powered pumps . The first two bombs dropped clean thru the roof of the filmsy shelter and exploded with a muted thump throwing all the pumps and its interconnecting pipeline into stratosphere .The other six bombs dropped in a single line along the line of filled tankers and set firs to a few of them but rupturing and spilling the precious cargo in almost all . As it went up and took up patrol position the second jaguar came down much fast this time as the challenging tracers could be seen even in shady daylight and targetted the long line of empty tankers ,droppin one bomb at precise 100 ft interval and then lit the after burner and turned in to gain altitude and safety .
-star eye -ostrich one -target destroyed -request return vector to base
- good work ostrich flight -we see 4 bandits-type mig 23 - 090-10000 ft
-stay on deck -arranging reinforce ments
The jaguars could if need be take on the mig 23 s in a straight air to air fight but not today with very little fuel and just two short range air to air missiles it was no time to win gallantry awards ,decided the battle commander on phalcon
- zenith flight - target 210 -distance 75 kms -altitude 10000 ft - engage now - you are free on all aircraft over 5000 ft
The two mirage 2000s today on combat air patrol on the northern edge of fish river canyon responded immediately
-star eye -zenith flight - we see four floggers at 10000 -request confirm target identity
-zenith lead- target confirmed -engage now
The mirage pilot bent forward as he selected weapon station 3 and 5 holding the mica missiles and moved the cursor over the cursor over the radar image of the lead 2 mig 23s ,500 mtrs behind him his wing man did the same and then one by one they launched thier missile and watched with professional interest as the state of the art 0.25 million missiles raced forward to end the life of four brave angoaln pilots who did not even till then know that they have been targeted.
Only one fo the four mig 23s survived the micas simply because the pilot at that point decided to explore his own radar returns comming out of the sides of fish river canyon when he incredulously saw his flying mates blown up without any warning . As he pulled out of the dive the jaguars that he was trying to locate locked onto him and let loose a pair of magic missiles which locked on to his red hot exhaust pipe without difficulty and as the wings got ripped out of the air frame the angolan pilot smartly pulled the ejection handle .
-Ostrich flight - star eye -you are cleared to return base -make high speed ver pass over lead angolan armour formation -make sure the photos are good -over
- roger that star eye -turning photographer now -than the zenith group-we owe them some beer
And with that the jaguars slipped into photo recon mission and with that ended the first phase of indian counter offensive .
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it was a big force and so was its dailt water intake . At this time of the year the fish river canyon was almost dry ,most of the water being stored in dams upstream .Water was release in a miserly manner which olected in a series of small pools along the canyon .The angolan army supply corps simply pumped them up in a a large number of decommissioned fuel tankers and supplied to various troop locations all over the day on a loose scedule .
The main collection point of water was a comparitively large natural pond formed within the river bed by natural errosion over millions of years and incerased every year its depth during wet season flooding when the narrow river will turn into a raging monster washing evrything on its way and filling up the few natuarl pools along the way .On angolan maps this particular pool was simply marked as WP 078 and on indian maps it was not evn mentioned .It was expected the pilots tasked with its destruction along with fleet of water tankers and pumps will simply have to find it on thier own and do the needful.
As squadron leader manjit and jasbir flew down the worlds second largest canyon looking for thier target at a leisurely speed of 450 knots and at 5 the 500 ft altitude over the rim of the canyon they were looking for signs of life and that they hoped will lead them to the sources of water . Both of them were carrying 8 250 kg iron bombs which evryone fely sould be more than adequate to neutralise the angolan water supply at least for afew days and will help bring the advancing army to thier knees .The jaguars they were flying were relatively old and carried just the mandatory 150 rounds for its twin aden guns and twin magic missiles for any air to air evantuality .
- ostrich flight -star eye -maintain present course and altitude - do you have targets in sight
-negative star eye - still looking - maintaining course and altitude -shall inform before commencing attack
The fish river canyon is unique amonst all canyons of africa and surpassed only by colorado grand canyon .Almost 180 kms long and some places 500 mts vertically down streches south from seeheim to orange river which forms the border between namibia and south africa. The angolan army at the moment was almost at its souther end close to orange river and the two jaguars flew in from north to avoid over passing the heavily armed convoys with a large number of tripple a s and shoulder fired sams .The pilots route markings betrayed the nature of the terain they were flying over like rock pinnacle,baboon mountain,camelthorn rest,german soldiers grave ,bandage pass, emergency canyon exit,four finger rock,lost bend,fish eagle pool harbel pools and like
The fish eagle pool appeared the largets of the water bodies and even from the distance the shades of green could be noticed . The first water tanker could be spotted about 10 kms from the pool laboriously making its way up a steep gradient ina storm of dust .and then quickly they could spot the long line of tankers waiting for thier fil of life giving water for thier troops and the four dark green water hoses snaking out of a makeshift pump house towards the tanker filling point .The driver were also spotted some distanc away resting in the shady bushes with thier weapons carelessly lying around . For them it was not a war zone
- star eye -ostrich flight -target loacated -commencing attack run now -request weapon free
- ostrich flight -star eye - you are weapons free in target zone only -do not climb over 3000 ft -good luck
- star eye -ostrich flight - understand weapons free-flight celing 3000 ft -commencing attack now
The first jaguar peeled of and dived straight into the pumping station with its network of reinforced plastic hoses and diesel powered pumps . The first two bombs dropped clean thru the roof of the filmsy shelter and exploded with a muted thump throwing all the pumps and its interconnecting pipeline into stratosphere .The other six bombs dropped in a single line along the line of filled tankers and set firs to a few of them but rupturing and spilling the precious cargo in almost all . As it went up and took up patrol position the second jaguar came down much fast this time as the challenging tracers could be seen even in shady daylight and targetted the long line of empty tankers ,droppin one bomb at precise 100 ft interval and then lit the after burner and turned in to gain altitude and safety .
-star eye -ostrich one -target destroyed -request return vector to base
- good work ostrich flight -we see 4 bandits-type mig 23 - 090-10000 ft
-stay on deck -arranging reinforce ments
The jaguars could if need be take on the mig 23 s in a straight air to air fight but not today with very little fuel and just two short range air to air missiles it was no time to win gallantry awards ,decided the battle commander on phalcon
- zenith flight - target 210 -distance 75 kms -altitude 10000 ft - engage now - you are free on all aircraft over 5000 ft
The two mirage 2000s today on combat air patrol on the northern edge of fish river canyon responded immediately
-star eye -zenith flight - we see four floggers at 10000 -request confirm target identity
-zenith lead- target confirmed -engage now
The mirage pilot bent forward as he selected weapon station 3 and 5 holding the mica missiles and moved the cursor over the cursor over the radar image of the lead 2 mig 23s ,500 mtrs behind him his wing man did the same and then one by one they launched thier missile and watched with professional interest as the state of the art 0.25 million missiles raced forward to end the life of four brave angoaln pilots who did not even till then know that they have been targeted.
Only one fo the four mig 23s survived the micas simply because the pilot at that point decided to explore his own radar returns comming out of the sides of fish river canyon when he incredulously saw his flying mates blown up without any warning . As he pulled out of the dive the jaguars that he was trying to locate locked onto him and let loose a pair of magic missiles which locked on to his red hot exhaust pipe without difficulty and as the wings got ripped out of the air frame the angolan pilot smartly pulled the ejection handle .
-Ostrich flight - star eye -you are cleared to return base -make high speed ver pass over lead angolan armour formation -make sure the photos are good -over
- roger that star eye -turning photographer now -than the zenith group-we owe them some beer
And with that the jaguars slipped into photo recon mission and with that ended the first phase of indian counter offensive .
Yeah, I agree as well. I wonder if admins could take all of Shankar's posts from the past onwards on this thread and combine it into one of his very own. Although it is entertaining to read, I think they are different enough in style from the original ones to warrant their own thread.JCage wrote:Yup. Shankars versions are too far removed from reality to be mixed up with the old one imho. But some folks like it that way, so split the two.
With no offense meant to anyone at all, I personally prefer the continuing and linked scenario(s) posted by the likes of Singha and Sunil, et al.
HYENA COMPANY - BM3 X 4 -1800 HRS
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Captain Vikash very acrefully raised his infrared binos to have one more look at the group of 12 angolan t-55s positioned 3 kms away in the ridge of a low lying hill . He has travelled almost 300 kms in a roundabout way to reach is designated attack point and was following the tanks for last several days till the orders to engage at least came on the tac net . His task was plain and simple -carry out diversionary attacks from the flank so that the main armour counter aatck group consisting almost entirely off t-90s can close in to missile firing range wihout much bothering about any surprise arty strike . Behind him his small and light but very very potent force was in hidding careully camaflaged behind dense bush and large tree . The 12 t-55s were positioned in a box like formation with thier guns pointing outwards and a small group of infantry with ak 47s and rpgs posted on sentry duty . Half the tanks had thier turrets open whether they were manned or not he was not sure . So he decided to carry out a missile striek on the closest tanks first followed by if time permites the tanks further away which had their turrets open . His total missile inventory was 64 and he had more than enough for this job but again some needed to be saved for the long trek back to ammo dippo in the suburbs of windoheck .As Vikash raised his clenched fist sky wards ,gunners in all the four bmps 3 switched on thier missile tracker and the the powerful v shaped utd 29 500 hp engines came to life as the individual bmp 3 came alive with throaty growl and moved over their heavy duty tracks perfectly alligning up on thier selected target .
The lights on 1v539 ballistic computer started blinking as the laser range finder got activated and 2e52 armament stabiliser took up the hydraulic pressure . Individual vehicle comanders used thier tkn 3 day night sight to focus on the target soon to be obliterated .For her considerable wt of nearly 19 tons the bmp 3 was still quite agile having a peak speed of over 70 km/hr over flat ground and 45 km/hr over uneven trrain like the one in the vicinity of fish river canyon today in namibia.
The production of bmp 3 though started in 1980s was not very widely used outside soviet union primarily because of its cost the vehicle as well as the anti tank missiles she carried like her elder sister bmp 2.The first major or rather landmark success came when south korea an out an out us ally went on to purchase bmp 3 inpreference to bradley armoured personnel carriers.UAE till date has the largest inventory of these vehicles outsidev russia and the inventory is nearly 400 and then kuwait about 100.
The reason for this armoured figting vehicle in being is ofcourse the 100 mm 2a70 gun missile launcher which can fire eiether high explossive fragmentation rounds or as on today ubk 10 anti tank guided missiles .The 9m117 laser beam riding missile is particularly suitable for destrying targets with explossive raective armour blocks like the t-55s were today.
Capt vikash brought his hand down sharply and the four toungues of flame leaped into sky as the four anti tank missiles snaked over the barren landscape in a swiftly darkening sky remorselessly towards thier individual target ,following uneeringly the laser beam guidance towards th junction of hull and turret . The launch was comparitively silent with but a strong rush like sound and the angolans did not have any laser warning reciever installed on thier tanks . The four distinct impacts were some what muted by the distance but thier was no mistaking in the orange flashes as the missiles hit home .And four t-55 s were history .
Vikash raised his hand once again and the powerful diesel roared as the 4 bmp 3 quickly rushed back to secondary fire position and vikash brought down his hand . Four more missiles launched into sky and then turned into the targets with mamba quick reaction prodded by the guidance from the refelected laser beam . This time the tarcks and rear fuel tanks were targetted and the flame balls were larger and black with soot as 100 s of gallons of high speed diesel caught fire covering the angolan armour contingent in a wash of wavering light ,dirty smoke and death .
The BMP 3 retreated swiftly into darkness ,just in time as the second round of missile flashes were spotted by alert angolan gun crew and they strted firing off thier main guns in general direction of the escaping bmp 3 . It was a good attempt and a bit too late .The indian carriers have already dissappeared in the dark of the dark continent .
The angolan tank guns firing however drew the attention of a most unwelcome visitor .A lone israeli f-15 returning from asortie deep inside angola spotted the gun flashes and quickly took clearence to engage ,who in turn verified indian bmp3 position and gave clearence to engae . The f-15 took a slow lazy turn as its on board forward looking infra red sensors locked on the hot barrels of the t-55s with ease and 4 mavericks dropped fre of the rails ignited thier solid boosters and raced in to finish what the indian apvs have started barely 10 minutes back.
------------------------------------------------
Captain Vikash very acrefully raised his infrared binos to have one more look at the group of 12 angolan t-55s positioned 3 kms away in the ridge of a low lying hill . He has travelled almost 300 kms in a roundabout way to reach is designated attack point and was following the tanks for last several days till the orders to engage at least came on the tac net . His task was plain and simple -carry out diversionary attacks from the flank so that the main armour counter aatck group consisting almost entirely off t-90s can close in to missile firing range wihout much bothering about any surprise arty strike . Behind him his small and light but very very potent force was in hidding careully camaflaged behind dense bush and large tree . The 12 t-55s were positioned in a box like formation with thier guns pointing outwards and a small group of infantry with ak 47s and rpgs posted on sentry duty . Half the tanks had thier turrets open whether they were manned or not he was not sure . So he decided to carry out a missile striek on the closest tanks first followed by if time permites the tanks further away which had their turrets open . His total missile inventory was 64 and he had more than enough for this job but again some needed to be saved for the long trek back to ammo dippo in the suburbs of windoheck .As Vikash raised his clenched fist sky wards ,gunners in all the four bmps 3 switched on thier missile tracker and the the powerful v shaped utd 29 500 hp engines came to life as the individual bmp 3 came alive with throaty growl and moved over their heavy duty tracks perfectly alligning up on thier selected target .
The lights on 1v539 ballistic computer started blinking as the laser range finder got activated and 2e52 armament stabiliser took up the hydraulic pressure . Individual vehicle comanders used thier tkn 3 day night sight to focus on the target soon to be obliterated .For her considerable wt of nearly 19 tons the bmp 3 was still quite agile having a peak speed of over 70 km/hr over flat ground and 45 km/hr over uneven trrain like the one in the vicinity of fish river canyon today in namibia.
The production of bmp 3 though started in 1980s was not very widely used outside soviet union primarily because of its cost the vehicle as well as the anti tank missiles she carried like her elder sister bmp 2.The first major or rather landmark success came when south korea an out an out us ally went on to purchase bmp 3 inpreference to bradley armoured personnel carriers.UAE till date has the largest inventory of these vehicles outsidev russia and the inventory is nearly 400 and then kuwait about 100.
The reason for this armoured figting vehicle in being is ofcourse the 100 mm 2a70 gun missile launcher which can fire eiether high explossive fragmentation rounds or as on today ubk 10 anti tank guided missiles .The 9m117 laser beam riding missile is particularly suitable for destrying targets with explossive raective armour blocks like the t-55s were today.
Capt vikash brought his hand down sharply and the four toungues of flame leaped into sky as the four anti tank missiles snaked over the barren landscape in a swiftly darkening sky remorselessly towards thier individual target ,following uneeringly the laser beam guidance towards th junction of hull and turret . The launch was comparitively silent with but a strong rush like sound and the angolans did not have any laser warning reciever installed on thier tanks . The four distinct impacts were some what muted by the distance but thier was no mistaking in the orange flashes as the missiles hit home .And four t-55 s were history .
Vikash raised his hand once again and the powerful diesel roared as the 4 bmp 3 quickly rushed back to secondary fire position and vikash brought down his hand . Four more missiles launched into sky and then turned into the targets with mamba quick reaction prodded by the guidance from the refelected laser beam . This time the tarcks and rear fuel tanks were targetted and the flame balls were larger and black with soot as 100 s of gallons of high speed diesel caught fire covering the angolan armour contingent in a wash of wavering light ,dirty smoke and death .
The BMP 3 retreated swiftly into darkness ,just in time as the second round of missile flashes were spotted by alert angolan gun crew and they strted firing off thier main guns in general direction of the escaping bmp 3 . It was a good attempt and a bit too late .The indian carriers have already dissappeared in the dark of the dark continent .
The angolan tank guns firing however drew the attention of a most unwelcome visitor .A lone israeli f-15 returning from asortie deep inside angola spotted the gun flashes and quickly took clearence to engage ,who in turn verified indian bmp3 position and gave clearence to engae . The f-15 took a slow lazy turn as its on board forward looking infra red sensors locked on the hot barrels of the t-55s with ease and 4 mavericks dropped fre of the rails ignited thier solid boosters and raced in to finish what the indian apvs have started barely 10 minutes back.
Hey, last time I tried saying this, i got chastised for it.. Split the thread into possible action versus fiction...No offence intended, but the original work by YIP, Singha was entirely believable and in a class of its own. There were some real gems by P Saggu and some political skullduggery about a political wheeler dealer (Haji Suttar?) which was excellently done. This thread is too Tom Clancy now & has gone off on a wild tangent. OTOH, Shankars initial stuff in that thread was better (somewhat more realistic), but this is a wild tangent, so it could be split or continued elsewhere, while the original restarts. JMHO.
Never got to know what happened after YIP's battle & Karna's death. We were anticipating an epic showdown.
Never got to know what happened after YIP's battle & Karna's death. We were anticipating an epic showdown.
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Dileep
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We also started some effort to compile the stories together. Then Sunil went MIA and nothing much was done on the same.
Also, there was disagreement and confusion about the end game in the backchannels. The way it developed, there was no realistic endgame possible. Then Shankarji took over and ended it in a Clancyish fireworks.
I liked Singha's alternate reality, and in fact tried to join the yarn. but realized it is way over my head. Man, we miss YIP :-(
And the whole background has changed now. Probably, we should update the old yarn with new backgrounds and advance the time line by five years. Wat say gurus?
Also, there was disagreement and confusion about the end game in the backchannels. The way it developed, there was no realistic endgame possible. Then Shankarji took over and ended it in a Clancyish fireworks.
I liked Singha's alternate reality, and in fact tried to join the yarn. but realized it is way over my head. Man, we miss YIP :-(
And the whole background has changed now. Probably, we should update the old yarn with new backgrounds and advance the time line by five years. Wat say gurus?
Let Shankar write his stuff. I dont see any of the complaining guys contribute. Atleast he is writing and pretty soon will give Clancy a run for the money. With all this 'democrazy' pact his scenarios might not be too far off. India might have to be in far of lands to secure energy and restore civil order in its 'democrazy' mission.
Could start with UP & WB
Could start with UP & WB
I dont think there is a need to open another thread. Anyway our topguns have quit writing possible scenarios long back. Simply rename this thread to "Indian Military Scenarios - A future Fantasy".
I still cannot understand such a huge Indian deployment in Africa, when we have just finished (donno if its finished yet with the wicked general still not caught) a war with Pakistan. One more thing is the absence of active involvement in combat by the African countries when their own Sovereignty is at stake. It looks more like an American operation in Afghanistan. Pakis providing the basing and Allied forces lauching attacks from there.
My main concern is how do we deal with a post war Pakistan?
BTW nothing personal against Shanker. Its just that I think we are missing a real near scenario here just as this thread had started.
I still cannot understand such a huge Indian deployment in Africa, when we have just finished (donno if its finished yet with the wicked general still not caught) a war with Pakistan. One more thing is the absence of active involvement in combat by the African countries when their own Sovereignty is at stake. It looks more like an American operation in Afghanistan. Pakis providing the basing and Allied forces lauching attacks from there.
My main concern is how do we deal with a post war Pakistan?
BTW nothing personal against Shanker. Its just that I think we are missing a real near scenario here just as this thread had started.
PRIME MINISTERS OFFICE -NEW DELHI
---------------------------------------------
the soft spoken prime minister of india looked thru the military reports sent in by the military head quarteres on the situation in african front. So far the war has been going quite well if the reports from military and news papers are to be believed . The attached cost reports both direct and associated were very impressive too almost 103 crores a day for a total force strenght of 1 squadron of su-30 mki,one squadron of jaguars ,1 squadron of mirage 2000s and the carrier battle group . Though the united nations in its latest resolution have promised re imbursement of all expenses in toto still it was a significant burden in the taxpayer .
As he looked into the figures the prime minister could not but help the momentous event nearly two years back when the us president signed the landmarke civilian nuclear nuclear deal culminating in blossoming of indian civilian nuclear programme with best of worlds technology and total isolation of military nuclear programme . However the nuclear deal had an unwritten understanding - in times of need india will help us maintain internatioanl order anywhere in world not just in south asia .That was the minimum price to be paid to ensure continued near double digit economic growth and growing affluence of middle class indians numbering more than 300 million in fact more than the population of usa and all of whom were spending like no tomorrow first time tasting the freedom of disposable income .
Even as early as early 2006 that is just about 2 yrs from date indian military was bit unsure of its overseas reach but whenever it reached out from maldives to srilanka to congo to zambia to sudan to siera leone everywhere they were very very effective and popular too amongst local population way over the white skinned troops ffrom europe and canada .The reason was very simple -the indians did not have the arrogance of westerners when dealing with thier comparitively poor african brethren . Indian troops were no stranger to dust and heat or bad sanitation which managed to turn most western soldiers away.
Sri lanka was ofcourse a different story ,while even here Indian armed forces left thier mark in no uncertain way the decisive meeing o objective was not to be had ,snatche dfrom thier hand by an indecisive political leadership and complex local situation where the both conflicting sides blamed their reverses on indian army and in the end it was the indian army which went in the first place to save the tamils ended up fighting a bitter semi guerrila war with them when they needed to be disarmed.
However the situation was totally different .From congo to sudan from siera leone to zambia - indian army was a much sought after commodity and so when the angolan crisis started the african nations as one india to come to fore front of resistance while other nations like israel who had serious strategic interest in the region chipped in.
The objecive of this expensive mission was many and some of which were
- establish a reliable source of uranium supply by comming to the aid of namibia /south africa in times of need . Namibia is one the largest supplier of natural uranium to the world and at the aftermath of indo-us nuclear deal australian prime minister pointblank refused to supply uranium to india since she has refused to sighn on the non proliferation treaty ,the 100 billion plus people could turn to only two reliable suppliers russia ,with its huge stock of weapons grade uranium which after diluted with inert materials could possible be used for power reactors and namibia and its rossing mine the best option so far .The indian energy policy clearly stated to have 25% of all power needs to met by nuclear power reactors of all type from pressurised heavy water reactors to first breeder reactors to futuristic thorium based advanced technology reactor all of which at the starting point of its fuel chain needed natural uranium .
- Influence of china in africa in early 2000 s was also growing steadily in african continent and indian military presence became a nessecity that could not be overlooked .The angola -namibia conflict provided the ideal situation were indian armed forces can flex their muscles just so much and help bring stability in the region ,earning the gratitude fo all the nations in the region in the process .
- Just like indian market was the target for all worlds developed economy in 2000 s the afriacn growing market was expected to be in similar take off point around 2030 a huge oppertunity for indian goods and services and to have a reasonable stake in such potentially huge market india had no other option but to stake its presence and ensure the region does not go the old way .The angolan conflict just happened to crystalize the situation quickly .
- Ofcourse their was international pressure mainly from us andwho import about 18 % of its oil from africa as on day and also preoccupied with almost to break out iran conflict needed indian help and you do not normally refuse the world only super power in need who also happens to be your largets trading partner and the source of most advanced technology including those comming in for civilian nuclear reactor design projected to come up almost 2 reactors evry 5 yrs .
It was the price paid to ensure indias growing affluence in an energy hungry world . The prime minister concluded it was a price worth paying .
---------------------------------------------
the soft spoken prime minister of india looked thru the military reports sent in by the military head quarteres on the situation in african front. So far the war has been going quite well if the reports from military and news papers are to be believed . The attached cost reports both direct and associated were very impressive too almost 103 crores a day for a total force strenght of 1 squadron of su-30 mki,one squadron of jaguars ,1 squadron of mirage 2000s and the carrier battle group . Though the united nations in its latest resolution have promised re imbursement of all expenses in toto still it was a significant burden in the taxpayer .
As he looked into the figures the prime minister could not but help the momentous event nearly two years back when the us president signed the landmarke civilian nuclear nuclear deal culminating in blossoming of indian civilian nuclear programme with best of worlds technology and total isolation of military nuclear programme . However the nuclear deal had an unwritten understanding - in times of need india will help us maintain internatioanl order anywhere in world not just in south asia .That was the minimum price to be paid to ensure continued near double digit economic growth and growing affluence of middle class indians numbering more than 300 million in fact more than the population of usa and all of whom were spending like no tomorrow first time tasting the freedom of disposable income .
Even as early as early 2006 that is just about 2 yrs from date indian military was bit unsure of its overseas reach but whenever it reached out from maldives to srilanka to congo to zambia to sudan to siera leone everywhere they were very very effective and popular too amongst local population way over the white skinned troops ffrom europe and canada .The reason was very simple -the indians did not have the arrogance of westerners when dealing with thier comparitively poor african brethren . Indian troops were no stranger to dust and heat or bad sanitation which managed to turn most western soldiers away.
Sri lanka was ofcourse a different story ,while even here Indian armed forces left thier mark in no uncertain way the decisive meeing o objective was not to be had ,snatche dfrom thier hand by an indecisive political leadership and complex local situation where the both conflicting sides blamed their reverses on indian army and in the end it was the indian army which went in the first place to save the tamils ended up fighting a bitter semi guerrila war with them when they needed to be disarmed.
However the situation was totally different .From congo to sudan from siera leone to zambia - indian army was a much sought after commodity and so when the angolan crisis started the african nations as one india to come to fore front of resistance while other nations like israel who had serious strategic interest in the region chipped in.
The objecive of this expensive mission was many and some of which were
- establish a reliable source of uranium supply by comming to the aid of namibia /south africa in times of need . Namibia is one the largest supplier of natural uranium to the world and at the aftermath of indo-us nuclear deal australian prime minister pointblank refused to supply uranium to india since she has refused to sighn on the non proliferation treaty ,the 100 billion plus people could turn to only two reliable suppliers russia ,with its huge stock of weapons grade uranium which after diluted with inert materials could possible be used for power reactors and namibia and its rossing mine the best option so far .The indian energy policy clearly stated to have 25% of all power needs to met by nuclear power reactors of all type from pressurised heavy water reactors to first breeder reactors to futuristic thorium based advanced technology reactor all of which at the starting point of its fuel chain needed natural uranium .
- Influence of china in africa in early 2000 s was also growing steadily in african continent and indian military presence became a nessecity that could not be overlooked .The angola -namibia conflict provided the ideal situation were indian armed forces can flex their muscles just so much and help bring stability in the region ,earning the gratitude fo all the nations in the region in the process .
- Just like indian market was the target for all worlds developed economy in 2000 s the afriacn growing market was expected to be in similar take off point around 2030 a huge oppertunity for indian goods and services and to have a reasonable stake in such potentially huge market india had no other option but to stake its presence and ensure the region does not go the old way .The angolan conflict just happened to crystalize the situation quickly .
- Ofcourse their was international pressure mainly from us andwho import about 18 % of its oil from africa as on day and also preoccupied with almost to break out iran conflict needed indian help and you do not normally refuse the world only super power in need who also happens to be your largets trading partner and the source of most advanced technology including those comming in for civilian nuclear reactor design projected to come up almost 2 reactors evry 5 yrs .
It was the price paid to ensure indias growing affluence in an energy hungry world . The prime minister concluded it was a price worth paying .
Ofcourse this possibilty was not exactly overlooked by indian military planners as they kept on clamouring for more and more funds for modernisation and inlussion of force multipliers in indian armed forces .It started with inclussion of the aerial refuellers il-78 mki and long range air dominace aircraft like su-30 mkis ,simple modifications like inflight refuelling probes in jaguars and mirages ,expensive capital aquistions like Vikramaditya , regualr exercises with other advanced airforecs thatt included south africa.us,singapore and france . While the value of iaf gained during those exercise and what it gave in return will always be debated one thing it definitely earned in the process was the confidence to mount long range missions ,multiple air to air refuelling over ocean ,operating in full vombat mode over unfamiliar terrain and high air defense ground environment so by the time angolan conflict broke it was ready to meet the role demanded out of it
Not just the airforce the army too did its share in overseas deployemnt in some what less showy way most critical of which would be in congo and sieraleone which and their familiarity with terrain and african way of doing things would prove invaluable in the future and that included the enormous good will indian army earned from common african villagers who looked upon indian army personenl as god sent angels who some how manged to halt the tide of mind less savegery of ill defined civil wars and reighn of war lords .No less welcome was the service of the indian army mdical and educational corps who did to thier best ability reached absic health care to many war ravaged nations .
All these ofcourse would not have been possible without a controlled dispaly of recessed military might like the mi-35 in congo or mi-17 in sudan and the bmp 2 s and the apparently fearless ordinary jawans who risked their life every day to bring order and stabilty to nations far from thier home land
To summarise the significant military deployement in africa/namibia in early 2008 was quite expected as early as 2005/06 mainly because of following reasons
- The involvement was not a percussor to a third world war as many critics would try to make us believe but some what opposite . With most of the worlds major powers having direct high ecomic military stake in the souhern part fo the continent like oil for us,military equipment sales for russia,uranium for china which it used for both civilian and military ourpose,industrial diamonds for germany and france ,some what ill defined military realtionship between south africa and israel -it was only india which on date did not have any indispensible economic or military interest in the region overtly .This put indian on an unique position to use military force to enforce peace and stability in the egion with minimum possibilty of a back lash which could have led to a conflict of continental dimension
- The friendly relationship with all most all the countries in the region was a big plus - south africa, zambia,namibia,mozambique,congo ,zimbagawe all were friends form past . While the same could not be said for us or china or for that matter russia .
-the internatioanl pressure for significant indian military deployment in a far away land was nothing new and most recent of which was during iraq conflict .That time indian govt did manage to avoid a commitment citing tense pak border situation and tero induced instability in kashmir .even then it was very clear to india policy makers next time it may not be possible -if the country has to maintain her military -economic credibilty in the world stage being more and more controlled by USA.
Not just the airforce the army too did its share in overseas deployemnt in some what less showy way most critical of which would be in congo and sieraleone which and their familiarity with terrain and african way of doing things would prove invaluable in the future and that included the enormous good will indian army earned from common african villagers who looked upon indian army personenl as god sent angels who some how manged to halt the tide of mind less savegery of ill defined civil wars and reighn of war lords .No less welcome was the service of the indian army mdical and educational corps who did to thier best ability reached absic health care to many war ravaged nations .
All these ofcourse would not have been possible without a controlled dispaly of recessed military might like the mi-35 in congo or mi-17 in sudan and the bmp 2 s and the apparently fearless ordinary jawans who risked their life every day to bring order and stabilty to nations far from thier home land
To summarise the significant military deployement in africa/namibia in early 2008 was quite expected as early as 2005/06 mainly because of following reasons
- The involvement was not a percussor to a third world war as many critics would try to make us believe but some what opposite . With most of the worlds major powers having direct high ecomic military stake in the souhern part fo the continent like oil for us,military equipment sales for russia,uranium for china which it used for both civilian and military ourpose,industrial diamonds for germany and france ,some what ill defined military realtionship between south africa and israel -it was only india which on date did not have any indispensible economic or military interest in the region overtly .This put indian on an unique position to use military force to enforce peace and stability in the egion with minimum possibilty of a back lash which could have led to a conflict of continental dimension
- The friendly relationship with all most all the countries in the region was a big plus - south africa, zambia,namibia,mozambique,congo ,zimbagawe all were friends form past . While the same could not be said for us or china or for that matter russia .
-the internatioanl pressure for significant indian military deployment in a far away land was nothing new and most recent of which was during iraq conflict .That time indian govt did manage to avoid a commitment citing tense pak border situation and tero induced instability in kashmir .even then it was very clear to india policy makers next time it may not be possible -if the country has to maintain her military -economic credibilty in the world stage being more and more controlled by USA.
HYENA BRIGADE- 0200 HRS MOUTH OF FISH RIVER CANYON
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The t-90s clsoed in a perfect semi circle like the coils of a gabbon viper about to strike. Each tank was spaced from the next by 50 mtrs some what less than conventional spacing of 100 mtrs practised during a plains combat but the reason lay in the terrain and to some extent on the shoot and scoot attack plan finalised for the first armoured assault to be practised by indian army in this part of the globe . It was a simple but highly effective plan with some amount of inherent risk involved . The cordon of tanks closed in within 3200 mtrs of angolan armour formation for a first gun salvo in total radio silence and all laser range finders in standby mode and ballistics computer set for max range fire . As the tank group came into firing position .an errie calm came over the group as individual tank commanders waited for the signal to energise the laser .The signal came in form of a signal flare from the corner of formation and the 100 range finders lit up in unison and fed the target distance and orientation to the ballistics computer which also sensed the iar velocity ,course and temperature before deciding on the barrel elevation and orientation all in the sapce of less than a second . The leaflet predicts a first hit to kill probability of 80% for the t-90s main gun today it will be somehat less about 73% for the unusal diffractive nature of surrounding terrain .
The strobe from commanders cupola confirmed the clearence to fire and 100 125 mm smooth bore guns fired in unison with each sharp crack blending into next amking the accoustic effect of a rolling thunder.As each shell came out of the extar hardened barrel the aluminium sabot protecting the delicate fins came of and the small triangular fins deployed automatically by spring pressure as the restrictive influence of sabot was lo longer there . As individual tunsten projectiles made thier hypersonic dash towards the doomed target the tanks which have just fired revved up their 1000 hp engines and raced back to thier secondary firing positions and waited for the command to fire the second volley . The first volley hit the totally unprepared angolan t-55s were it hurt most in the junction of the turret and hull and in some cases on comparitively lightly prototected plating covering the tracks.The destruction of the tanks were but inevitable as the turres blew up into sky with the effect of enormous kinetic energy of the ultra high velocity projectiles got absorbed into protecting armour generating enormous heat flux causing the meatl to first buckle at the point of impact and a micro second later disintegrate as the strain generated was more than the elastic limit of the alloy steel possesed.
This also alerted the gun crews of the angolan t-55/62s but as they tried to search the attacking tanks in dark with thier some what outdated night vision devices the indian tanks have already moved out of the range of thier enemies range finder in pre pared secondary firing positions and fired the second gun salve this time all at the same time and then scooted back to the missile firing position almost 4000 mtrs away as the the angolan shells strted landing dangerously close to thier firing positions .
This time the auto loader of t-90s guns were told to load anti tank missiles from the carousal and it did so without question . As individual tank commander selected thier targets from the screen ,making sure no two targets were repeated the grid coordinates and the speed vector of the targets got fed into the missiles guidance chip via the short thick data chord and the ready light came on the fire console .Each missile snaked out of the barrel and rushed towards the freshly doomed tanks in a mindless robotic frenzy as the firing tanks themselves quickly backed out into welcomming darkness of african night far out of reach of angolan tank guns .
The battle damage assesment carried out next morning would confirm what the armoured group commander already knew .The back of angolan forces were broken in that deadly night assault carried out with clinical precision. A total of 200 apfsds rounds and 96 anti tank missiles were fired . The angolans lost 173 tanks ,37armoured personnel vehicles ,22 130 mm field guns in one night of savage attack .More than that it started loosing the very will to fight
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The t-90s clsoed in a perfect semi circle like the coils of a gabbon viper about to strike. Each tank was spaced from the next by 50 mtrs some what less than conventional spacing of 100 mtrs practised during a plains combat but the reason lay in the terrain and to some extent on the shoot and scoot attack plan finalised for the first armoured assault to be practised by indian army in this part of the globe . It was a simple but highly effective plan with some amount of inherent risk involved . The cordon of tanks closed in within 3200 mtrs of angolan armour formation for a first gun salvo in total radio silence and all laser range finders in standby mode and ballistics computer set for max range fire . As the tank group came into firing position .an errie calm came over the group as individual tank commanders waited for the signal to energise the laser .The signal came in form of a signal flare from the corner of formation and the 100 range finders lit up in unison and fed the target distance and orientation to the ballistics computer which also sensed the iar velocity ,course and temperature before deciding on the barrel elevation and orientation all in the sapce of less than a second . The leaflet predicts a first hit to kill probability of 80% for the t-90s main gun today it will be somehat less about 73% for the unusal diffractive nature of surrounding terrain .
The strobe from commanders cupola confirmed the clearence to fire and 100 125 mm smooth bore guns fired in unison with each sharp crack blending into next amking the accoustic effect of a rolling thunder.As each shell came out of the extar hardened barrel the aluminium sabot protecting the delicate fins came of and the small triangular fins deployed automatically by spring pressure as the restrictive influence of sabot was lo longer there . As individual tunsten projectiles made thier hypersonic dash towards the doomed target the tanks which have just fired revved up their 1000 hp engines and raced back to thier secondary firing positions and waited for the command to fire the second volley . The first volley hit the totally unprepared angolan t-55s were it hurt most in the junction of the turret and hull and in some cases on comparitively lightly prototected plating covering the tracks.The destruction of the tanks were but inevitable as the turres blew up into sky with the effect of enormous kinetic energy of the ultra high velocity projectiles got absorbed into protecting armour generating enormous heat flux causing the meatl to first buckle at the point of impact and a micro second later disintegrate as the strain generated was more than the elastic limit of the alloy steel possesed.
This also alerted the gun crews of the angolan t-55/62s but as they tried to search the attacking tanks in dark with thier some what outdated night vision devices the indian tanks have already moved out of the range of thier enemies range finder in pre pared secondary firing positions and fired the second gun salve this time all at the same time and then scooted back to the missile firing position almost 4000 mtrs away as the the angolan shells strted landing dangerously close to thier firing positions .
This time the auto loader of t-90s guns were told to load anti tank missiles from the carousal and it did so without question . As individual tank commander selected thier targets from the screen ,making sure no two targets were repeated the grid coordinates and the speed vector of the targets got fed into the missiles guidance chip via the short thick data chord and the ready light came on the fire console .Each missile snaked out of the barrel and rushed towards the freshly doomed tanks in a mindless robotic frenzy as the firing tanks themselves quickly backed out into welcomming darkness of african night far out of reach of angolan tank guns .
The battle damage assesment carried out next morning would confirm what the armoured group commander already knew .The back of angolan forces were broken in that deadly night assault carried out with clinical precision. A total of 200 apfsds rounds and 96 anti tank missiles were fired . The angolans lost 173 tanks ,37armoured personnel vehicles ,22 130 mm field guns in one night of savage attack .More than that it started loosing the very will to fight
The Politics of War
PM Arora was waylaid on his way to the Parliament by his coalition partners, the Communists of India. They were totally unhappy with the warlike intentions of the supposed doves of Indian democracy.
Arora had earlier promised to Karat, that the policy on the diamonds of Namibia or the Uranium of South Africa were to be drafted by the respective members of the Cabinet, requiring approval from atleast the members of the coalition, which has been left in the lurch again.
"How did it happen that the Defence Ministry was ahead of the curve in the politics of this country? At this rate, tomorrow there will be a coup by the good generals of the Indian Army, would you tolerate that too? What has become of democratic governance in this country?"
"Your total lack of approach towards policy has enraged us. We are not going to threaten to bring your government down. This time we will take part in your cabinet. We are going to take the ministry of defence." Karat said.
And thus came into process yet another miracle of Indian democracy.
PM Arora was waylaid on his way to the Parliament by his coalition partners, the Communists of India. They were totally unhappy with the warlike intentions of the supposed doves of Indian democracy.
Arora had earlier promised to Karat, that the policy on the diamonds of Namibia or the Uranium of South Africa were to be drafted by the respective members of the Cabinet, requiring approval from atleast the members of the coalition, which has been left in the lurch again.
"How did it happen that the Defence Ministry was ahead of the curve in the politics of this country? At this rate, tomorrow there will be a coup by the good generals of the Indian Army, would you tolerate that too? What has become of democratic governance in this country?"
"Your total lack of approach towards policy has enraged us. We are not going to threaten to bring your government down. This time we will take part in your cabinet. We are going to take the ministry of defence." Karat said.
And thus came into process yet another miracle of Indian democracy.
what man Rajpa are u a supporter of the current govt that u expect it to remain well into the future.The average life of a coalition is less then 5 yearsrajpa wrote:The Politics of War
PM Arora was waylaid on his way to the Parliament by his coalition partners, the Communists of ......another miracle of Indian democracy.
But kudos to you for adding a political view to shankars military future,Bravo and keep it up
The indian armour strike broke in fact quite a few ground rules of modern tank warfare like initiating the strike with guns rather than comparitively longer range and safer missiles . Minimising contact with enemy to minimum and escaping to wilderness when the enemy wanted a fight . It was more in the line of a commando raid but a commando raid which used close to 200 of worlds most advanced main battle tanks.This was also the first time t-90s were used by indian army overseas and helped the russain arms industry book order for almost 500 tanks by middle eastern countries and some african states like sudan and congo in a matter of days in preference to leopard2 and mia2 abrahams which was not taken very kindly by the american military industrial compelx but then it was one more such thing which the world was slowly comming to realise -at last indians have mastered the art of military -economic intervention .
Back home things were not so rosy ,while majority of indian population like always were proud of its armed forces fighting a difficult war in a far away land ,oppertunistic politicians were already on the warpath particularly the communists and some regional parties of up and bihar whose only qualification to political prominence was the governance of their respective states thru naked muscle power of its cadres or hired goons .The average education level of most of thes politicians who opposed african deployement according to a tv survey conducted by surkha dutt was class 7 pass and about 10 percent of them could speak pasable gramatically incorrect english for about 3 minutes without breaking into a sweat .
But they never did or ever will represent the people of india or thier true aspiarations . The normal indians from the punjabi truck drivers to the jat farmer from asameese landowner to bengali industrial worker from gujrati trader to flm lands spot boy they did walk on that day with thier heads held a bit higher and their walk had on the day a springy step which was not thier day before .
Rear admiral Bhasin did however recieve a congratulatory message with a cautionary note advising him to take things a bit easy . he went thru it and then edited out the cautionary part and e mailed it to his field commanders along with a personal message of good show . It was all the majors and lt colonels needed for the next battle soon to be fought on the arid deserts of namibia.
Back home things were not so rosy ,while majority of indian population like always were proud of its armed forces fighting a difficult war in a far away land ,oppertunistic politicians were already on the warpath particularly the communists and some regional parties of up and bihar whose only qualification to political prominence was the governance of their respective states thru naked muscle power of its cadres or hired goons .The average education level of most of thes politicians who opposed african deployement according to a tv survey conducted by surkha dutt was class 7 pass and about 10 percent of them could speak pasable gramatically incorrect english for about 3 minutes without breaking into a sweat .
But they never did or ever will represent the people of india or thier true aspiarations . The normal indians from the punjabi truck drivers to the jat farmer from asameese landowner to bengali industrial worker from gujrati trader to flm lands spot boy they did walk on that day with thier heads held a bit higher and their walk had on the day a springy step which was not thier day before .
Rear admiral Bhasin did however recieve a congratulatory message with a cautionary note advising him to take things a bit easy . he went thru it and then edited out the cautionary part and e mailed it to his field commanders along with a personal message of good show . It was all the majors and lt colonels needed for the next battle soon to be fought on the arid deserts of namibia.
ANGOLAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE -DAY 40 -1100 HRS
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General nobutu looked out at the tank graveyard of fsh river canyon exit . It was not a good sight to see for an armoured corps general.. At last the remnant of still functiong vehicles have been taken out of the log jam and come under some order of support . His air force comrades have promised some "tough" action later in the day when more than two squadrons of mig 23s will make a dedicated strike at expected indian t-90s somewhere in the open dessert .Luanda airbase was atlast reported operational with mobile atc and reserve anti aircraft batteries back in position.So far indian and israeli aircraft have not visited that part of his country since last hit few weeks in past.
Around him the rocky river bed was full of blown up turrets,burnt out shells,severed limbs attracting a horde of vultures and hyena s which even the most determined effort by the angoaln soldiers. Surprisingly there was not much blood except in the field surgical units which carried on the gory task of removing smashed limbs and the dustbin by the side of the surgeon filled up almost evry hour as the rush of soldiers needing amputation carried on regardless - a direct effect of high velocity armour piercing projectiles hitting a closed tank hull .Most vulnerable are the drivers legs and gunners hands and the unfirtunate commander usally never survives as he is blown out as the energy absorbed in the armoured
shell ultimately releases in an explossive burst .
Gen nobutu shrugged off the gory image and opened the map to identify the possible location of indian armour whivh have retreated deep into dessert after the brutal night attack.But his sources on ground have confirmed the presence of aleast 30 t-90s in an adjacent dry river bed skirting the dessert 30 kms due east .Nobutu still had nearly 450 t-55 and that he considerd a fair gambit even with air support the indians cannot possible win this battle thought he as he started route marking the axis of advance based on his intimate knowledge of the terrain . At 10 kms/hr aaverage it should take 100 of his best about 3-4 hrs to engage the indians and get back before dark the main column .
The terrain he selected was bush land bordering the namib dessert rich in wild life and somewhat difficult teritory for a close air strike missions.As he quickly issued the orders and the diesel strted belching out of the t-55 it looked like the indian armor was in for a nasty strike .
Almost - he did not know about the marine commandoes scatterd thru out the bush land in small groups and in constant sat radio touch with vikramaditya and thru that the indian /israeli air force .
---------------------------------------------------------------
General nobutu looked out at the tank graveyard of fsh river canyon exit . It was not a good sight to see for an armoured corps general.. At last the remnant of still functiong vehicles have been taken out of the log jam and come under some order of support . His air force comrades have promised some "tough" action later in the day when more than two squadrons of mig 23s will make a dedicated strike at expected indian t-90s somewhere in the open dessert .Luanda airbase was atlast reported operational with mobile atc and reserve anti aircraft batteries back in position.So far indian and israeli aircraft have not visited that part of his country since last hit few weeks in past.
Around him the rocky river bed was full of blown up turrets,burnt out shells,severed limbs attracting a horde of vultures and hyena s which even the most determined effort by the angoaln soldiers. Surprisingly there was not much blood except in the field surgical units which carried on the gory task of removing smashed limbs and the dustbin by the side of the surgeon filled up almost evry hour as the rush of soldiers needing amputation carried on regardless - a direct effect of high velocity armour piercing projectiles hitting a closed tank hull .Most vulnerable are the drivers legs and gunners hands and the unfirtunate commander usally never survives as he is blown out as the energy absorbed in the armoured
shell ultimately releases in an explossive burst .
Gen nobutu shrugged off the gory image and opened the map to identify the possible location of indian armour whivh have retreated deep into dessert after the brutal night attack.But his sources on ground have confirmed the presence of aleast 30 t-90s in an adjacent dry river bed skirting the dessert 30 kms due east .Nobutu still had nearly 450 t-55 and that he considerd a fair gambit even with air support the indians cannot possible win this battle thought he as he started route marking the axis of advance based on his intimate knowledge of the terrain . At 10 kms/hr aaverage it should take 100 of his best about 3-4 hrs to engage the indians and get back before dark the main column .
The terrain he selected was bush land bordering the namib dessert rich in wild life and somewhat difficult teritory for a close air strike missions.As he quickly issued the orders and the diesel strted belching out of the t-55 it looked like the indian armor was in for a nasty strike .
Almost - he did not know about the marine commandoes scatterd thru out the bush land in small groups and in constant sat radio touch with vikramaditya and thru that the indian /israeli air force .
War Council - VII
PM Arora, Rao from RAW, new defence minister Yelamanchi, Gen Shastri, rest of CCS.
Arora: "We have taken steps to secure our national interests by interjecting in territories previously unfamiliar to us and our defence forces have performed as we expect of them. Gen Shastri, you have led the forces well, our national defence policy is.." He seemed a little weak in his statement and was quickly interrupted.
Yelamanchi: "Non-existent. Sorry for the interruption, PM Sir. I have a document to circulate to the CCS and to the War Council." He let out several sets of papers to the members of the War Council.
He continued, "From my investigations into this whole matter of securing national interests, it turns out that we have not only offended the NSG but have also got the rest of the international community seething in rage against us for our blatant violation of the NPT. You made a commitment, much as our forefathers did, of abdicating nuclear warfare through global disarmament, of getting finally into the NPT as a nuclear weapons state and then convincing world bodies of renouncing the nuclear option. Yet, here we are fighting wars in remote corners of the world, in a bid to hog nuclear fuel, and you have the temerity to claim the failure of diplomacy."
"What is it now? Are we under the magical spell of nuclear lobbyists? Who are these people who have taken us this far from our general stated policies since Independence? My party has taken a stand that you have not had the courage to keep up with. Your own leaders you have forsaken, Gandhi and Nehru. It is time to reclaim the Indian soul, for the sake of humanity", he thundered.
"The military forces will forthwith publish the war document for the short, medium and long terms. The nuclear policy will be furnished by me within a week. We shall see how we can scale back to sanity."
(to be contd.)
PM Arora, Rao from RAW, new defence minister Yelamanchi, Gen Shastri, rest of CCS.
Arora: "We have taken steps to secure our national interests by interjecting in territories previously unfamiliar to us and our defence forces have performed as we expect of them. Gen Shastri, you have led the forces well, our national defence policy is.." He seemed a little weak in his statement and was quickly interrupted.
Yelamanchi: "Non-existent. Sorry for the interruption, PM Sir. I have a document to circulate to the CCS and to the War Council." He let out several sets of papers to the members of the War Council.
He continued, "From my investigations into this whole matter of securing national interests, it turns out that we have not only offended the NSG but have also got the rest of the international community seething in rage against us for our blatant violation of the NPT. You made a commitment, much as our forefathers did, of abdicating nuclear warfare through global disarmament, of getting finally into the NPT as a nuclear weapons state and then convincing world bodies of renouncing the nuclear option. Yet, here we are fighting wars in remote corners of the world, in a bid to hog nuclear fuel, and you have the temerity to claim the failure of diplomacy."
"What is it now? Are we under the magical spell of nuclear lobbyists? Who are these people who have taken us this far from our general stated policies since Independence? My party has taken a stand that you have not had the courage to keep up with. Your own leaders you have forsaken, Gandhi and Nehru. It is time to reclaim the Indian soul, for the sake of humanity", he thundered.
"The military forces will forthwith publish the war document for the short, medium and long terms. The nuclear policy will be furnished by me within a week. We shall see how we can scale back to sanity."
(to be contd.)
MARINE COMMAND0 LOOK OUT SQUAD
---------------------------------------------
Manjit looked at the advancing t-55 column intently thru his high powered field glasses ,as the first of the two tanks entered the bush country and behind them around 100 mores lined up in some what irregular fashion loking for he best way in thru the densely vegetated savanah.Oily smoke belched from thier tail indicating poor maintainace and most of the tank commanders were standing on the turret as they commanded the drivers by the pressure of thier toes around the obstacles . As the formation entered the bush it was no longer possible to kaeep any kind of planned advance as each tank commander found his way around the rccks nd th large trees and gulleys and dried out streams . The speed of advance slowed down to 3/4 kms per hour and the bush was more than 20 kms deep before it tapered of to meet the wide expanse of namib dessert
A short kick in the butt from his companion broke manjits attention and he turned to give ranjoy a piece of his mind in choicest punjabi for disturbing unnessecerily in midst of a vital intel gathering mission -when he froze
The african pythons are known to be one of the most silent and deadly effective ambush predators god ever made and the one which was slithering towards him was almost 23 ft long coiled around the branch of mopani tree just over the fork where he was nestled in and slowly it was uncoiling its massive bulk as the forked tongues continiously sensed the environment more particularly his body heat and made a thermal image of the prey(manjit )in her reptilian brain . As she uncoiled more and more the massive body slithered along the thick tree branch propelling her unerringly towards the intended victim ,beady eyes focussed unblinkingly at the torso of well built commando .
Ofcourse manjit could have taken it out with a single shot of his hi power browning or the silenced ak-74 just a few feet away but that would be giving aay his position to angolan column passing almost underneath and then his chances of surviving would be too remote even to guess.
The brute head with is rows of reverse curved teeth were now barel 6 ft away from manjit and he could make out it was getting ready to launch its attack whichwould typically mean a quick bite into the victims body as the more than 20 ft of coiled muscles wraps around his body and then th slow death by asphyxation as the coils would tighten every time exhales .She was so close that he could almost se the intricate patterns on her skin and the movement of dorsal muscles as it tensed and relaxed alternately to move the heavy body smoothly forward .Manjits left hand moved as smoothly to his commano dagger with a 12 inch double edged razor sharp blade and which he took out and threw in the same movement .The bright steel caught the sunlight for a second and then arched over and stuck the reptile just behind the neck .pinning it to the tree and killing it insantly as her spinal column was neatly severed . Manjit wiped off his brow and could feel the cold sweats of death fear trckling down his armpit as he picked retrieved the dagger and switched on the encrypted sat termianl to pass on the movement of angolan tanks towards the indian tank hospital .
---------------------------------------------
Manjit looked at the advancing t-55 column intently thru his high powered field glasses ,as the first of the two tanks entered the bush country and behind them around 100 mores lined up in some what irregular fashion loking for he best way in thru the densely vegetated savanah.Oily smoke belched from thier tail indicating poor maintainace and most of the tank commanders were standing on the turret as they commanded the drivers by the pressure of thier toes around the obstacles . As the formation entered the bush it was no longer possible to kaeep any kind of planned advance as each tank commander found his way around the rccks nd th large trees and gulleys and dried out streams . The speed of advance slowed down to 3/4 kms per hour and the bush was more than 20 kms deep before it tapered of to meet the wide expanse of namib dessert
A short kick in the butt from his companion broke manjits attention and he turned to give ranjoy a piece of his mind in choicest punjabi for disturbing unnessecerily in midst of a vital intel gathering mission -when he froze
The african pythons are known to be one of the most silent and deadly effective ambush predators god ever made and the one which was slithering towards him was almost 23 ft long coiled around the branch of mopani tree just over the fork where he was nestled in and slowly it was uncoiling its massive bulk as the forked tongues continiously sensed the environment more particularly his body heat and made a thermal image of the prey(manjit )in her reptilian brain . As she uncoiled more and more the massive body slithered along the thick tree branch propelling her unerringly towards the intended victim ,beady eyes focussed unblinkingly at the torso of well built commando .
Ofcourse manjit could have taken it out with a single shot of his hi power browning or the silenced ak-74 just a few feet away but that would be giving aay his position to angolan column passing almost underneath and then his chances of surviving would be too remote even to guess.
The brute head with is rows of reverse curved teeth were now barel 6 ft away from manjit and he could make out it was getting ready to launch its attack whichwould typically mean a quick bite into the victims body as the more than 20 ft of coiled muscles wraps around his body and then th slow death by asphyxation as the coils would tighten every time exhales .She was so close that he could almost se the intricate patterns on her skin and the movement of dorsal muscles as it tensed and relaxed alternately to move the heavy body smoothly forward .Manjits left hand moved as smoothly to his commano dagger with a 12 inch double edged razor sharp blade and which he took out and threw in the same movement .The bright steel caught the sunlight for a second and then arched over and stuck the reptile just behind the neck .pinning it to the tree and killing it insantly as her spinal column was neatly severed . Manjit wiped off his brow and could feel the cold sweats of death fear trckling down his armpit as he picked retrieved the dagger and switched on the encrypted sat termianl to pass on the movement of angolan tanks towards the indian tank hospital .
INDIAN ARMY TANK HOSPITAL-NAMIB DESSERT
-------------------------------------------------------
Colonel randhawa was busy ,very very busy indeed . The conflict in fish river canyon was not without some loss though insignificant to the namibian losses it was stil significant .The damage report he had on his told the story
- v23/36/76//86/114/115/222 - both tracks damaged ,idlers to be replaced,reactive armour tiles o be replaced
-v 11/17/27/148/ 201 - diesel tanks punctured and heavy fuel leakge reported by crea ,fuel tank protecting panel to be replaced
- v7/94/ 97/119 /200 - man gun stabilisation system damaged ,hydraulic fluid leakage,gun allighment to be redone
The rest of the tanks had minor rpoblems from non functional air conditioning to auto loader in correct movement some mild damage to turret turn table pinion and so on .
He had about a dozen t-90s in more or less battle capable condition and another 3 orfour could be pushed into action in a few hours if push comes to shove . Others were and can be used only as a fixed arty piece if required and vey vulnerable if a angolans decied to strart an attack on the move ,in which case they cannot move to get into quick gun/missile firing position .
Up in the bright sky the four sea kings from navy ships could be seen comming down with thier heavy package of underslung loads mostley the fresh set oftracks and some came in with the replacement ammo from the navy supply ships somewhere in the western atlantic . These old choppers had been ferrying in stores and supplies for the last two days almost without respite and that made his job somewhat easier .
It was then his xo came running out of a damaged command tank which had sat com gear operatioanl witht he new about impending angolan armour atack in a few hours .From the information he could make out two things
1) the angolan tanks are making very poor speed thru thick bsuhland 3-5 km/hr average
2)They are comming in very loose formation and so the attack may not be a very well concerted one and effectiveness will depend on the capbility of individual tank commanders rather than overall command and control syste.
Randhawa s position was not attractive even from a defensiv point of view as he watched the sea kings unload the cargo in hover and take off in westernly direction for one more stores delivery run . He knew if he allowed the angolan tanks to surround him then it will be bad since half of the avialble ire power wil not be allowed to bear because of lack of tank/gun mobility . His best chance would be to confront the enemy head on in which case even the damaged tanks can contribute as the angolan armour breaks out of the vegetation .He also hoped some of those fancy delta winged mirages will be diverted his was to even out the odd just a wee bit .Like all armoured corps officers he had a healthy disdain for those cock sure fighter jocks and did not really expected much efective support on this day . But he also has seen then perform in the preceding battle and hoped some of that peformance is repeated .
He was not likely to be disspointed .
Then the unthinkable happened . The first of the drops from sky fell on hard baked earth and was immediately soaked up without a trace and then the second drop fell as the cloud formation from atlantic coast moved into namibia by some fluke of low pressure zone created inland and started depositing its heavy water load on the perched dessert lanscape an beyond on the semi arid bush countries where the angolan tanks were negotiating a passage with much difficulty .
Randhawa looked at his first african rain with total amazement. The drops wer much bigger than back home in jullundhar and once strted it vfell ceaslessly for minutes and then hours and then days . As the repair crew quickly rigged up some kind of make shift cover to keep the work going and thanked god for this heaven spent relief from heat they also saw the dessert bloom in front of thier eyes. Seeds of unknown flowers left dormant fo years came alive as did millions of wasps and locusts in the bowels of earth . Small vegetation started comming up in matter of hours and so did dormant life form of namib dessert from the sidewinder snakes to the onyx to the rare dessert falcons and large scorpions which feed on the millions of insects that started comming out in droves .
And behind the herd of onyx came the elusive predator of namibia the super fast cheetahs in small packs of 2 and three . Suddenly th dessert was no longer so barren as it first appeared .Muddy streams strted forming along the dried river beds and soon became raging torents making it impassable for any heavy vehicle to move and that included the angolan t-55s even with their fording gear could not just cross te small muddy streams which would just colapse under the track pressure . The war on nmib came to a standstill -at least for the time being
In the meantime the dessert bloomed in a riot of colours and myriad life forms .It was but atemporary phenmna but for those 70 odd hours nature presented indian soldiers a rare glimpse into its innards and its beauty -may as a final thank for saving the country from savagery .
-------------------------------------------------------
Colonel randhawa was busy ,very very busy indeed . The conflict in fish river canyon was not without some loss though insignificant to the namibian losses it was stil significant .The damage report he had on his told the story
- v23/36/76//86/114/115/222 - both tracks damaged ,idlers to be replaced,reactive armour tiles o be replaced
-v 11/17/27/148/ 201 - diesel tanks punctured and heavy fuel leakge reported by crea ,fuel tank protecting panel to be replaced
- v7/94/ 97/119 /200 - man gun stabilisation system damaged ,hydraulic fluid leakage,gun allighment to be redone
The rest of the tanks had minor rpoblems from non functional air conditioning to auto loader in correct movement some mild damage to turret turn table pinion and so on .
He had about a dozen t-90s in more or less battle capable condition and another 3 orfour could be pushed into action in a few hours if push comes to shove . Others were and can be used only as a fixed arty piece if required and vey vulnerable if a angolans decied to strart an attack on the move ,in which case they cannot move to get into quick gun/missile firing position .
Up in the bright sky the four sea kings from navy ships could be seen comming down with thier heavy package of underslung loads mostley the fresh set oftracks and some came in with the replacement ammo from the navy supply ships somewhere in the western atlantic . These old choppers had been ferrying in stores and supplies for the last two days almost without respite and that made his job somewhat easier .
It was then his xo came running out of a damaged command tank which had sat com gear operatioanl witht he new about impending angolan armour atack in a few hours .From the information he could make out two things
1) the angolan tanks are making very poor speed thru thick bsuhland 3-5 km/hr average
2)They are comming in very loose formation and so the attack may not be a very well concerted one and effectiveness will depend on the capbility of individual tank commanders rather than overall command and control syste.
Randhawa s position was not attractive even from a defensiv point of view as he watched the sea kings unload the cargo in hover and take off in westernly direction for one more stores delivery run . He knew if he allowed the angolan tanks to surround him then it will be bad since half of the avialble ire power wil not be allowed to bear because of lack of tank/gun mobility . His best chance would be to confront the enemy head on in which case even the damaged tanks can contribute as the angolan armour breaks out of the vegetation .He also hoped some of those fancy delta winged mirages will be diverted his was to even out the odd just a wee bit .Like all armoured corps officers he had a healthy disdain for those cock sure fighter jocks and did not really expected much efective support on this day . But he also has seen then perform in the preceding battle and hoped some of that peformance is repeated .
He was not likely to be disspointed .
Then the unthinkable happened . The first of the drops from sky fell on hard baked earth and was immediately soaked up without a trace and then the second drop fell as the cloud formation from atlantic coast moved into namibia by some fluke of low pressure zone created inland and started depositing its heavy water load on the perched dessert lanscape an beyond on the semi arid bush countries where the angolan tanks were negotiating a passage with much difficulty .
Randhawa looked at his first african rain with total amazement. The drops wer much bigger than back home in jullundhar and once strted it vfell ceaslessly for minutes and then hours and then days . As the repair crew quickly rigged up some kind of make shift cover to keep the work going and thanked god for this heaven spent relief from heat they also saw the dessert bloom in front of thier eyes. Seeds of unknown flowers left dormant fo years came alive as did millions of wasps and locusts in the bowels of earth . Small vegetation started comming up in matter of hours and so did dormant life form of namib dessert from the sidewinder snakes to the onyx to the rare dessert falcons and large scorpions which feed on the millions of insects that started comming out in droves .
And behind the herd of onyx came the elusive predator of namibia the super fast cheetahs in small packs of 2 and three . Suddenly th dessert was no longer so barren as it first appeared .Muddy streams strted forming along the dried river beds and soon became raging torents making it impassable for any heavy vehicle to move and that included the angolan t-55s even with their fording gear could not just cross te small muddy streams which would just colapse under the track pressure . The war on nmib came to a standstill -at least for the time being
In the meantime the dessert bloomed in a riot of colours and myriad life forms .It was but atemporary phenmna but for those 70 odd hours nature presented indian soldiers a rare glimpse into its innards and its beauty -may as a final thank for saving the country from savagery .
shankar - nice as always. however - it is oryx not onyx, or gemsbok in afrikaans (pron: hemsbok). also, cheetah are too timid to hunt anything but the smallest of gemsbok calves, and they wont normally since the mothers are seriously dangerous to all living beings in proximity to their calves. cheetah's like springbok in southern africa and thomson's gazelle in east africa
ANGOLAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE -DAY 43 -1200 HRS
---------------------------------------------------------------
General Nobutu had needed to take a hard decision and take that fast . The untimely rain has brught his battle plans to a virtual stanstill. Almost 50 percent of his armour was totally destryed and and another 20% not fir for combat . The latest r/t reports indicated the armoured detachment sent out in pursuit of small column of indian tanks in the dessert has bogged down in the muddy flats and not likely to achieve thier objective in any foreseable future . So far he has not layed his hands on even a single kg of of uranium or single gm of gold or a single crystal of diamond. If this continues the angolan nation will not have even the minimum military strength to defend itself and capturing the gold and diamond mines of namibia looked like an ill concieved dream .
There were more bad news in the international media . CNN reported a possible deployment of USS Ronal Reagan to namibian coast to join the indian effort to stop and destroy the angolan forces now comming into the open dessert country and expected to get within aircraft launching range in a matter of days .
The angolan border with Mozambique was also getting heated up with reports of sporadic shelling and gun fire in otherwise quite brder-no doubt te handi work of indian politicians becasue the whole thing started after visit of indian external affairs minister to the country few days back .
South africa too atlast was beging to flex its military muscle and intel reports suggested a possible build up of 500 olifant mark 2 tanks in namibian border with heavy arty support .Whether they will move out was a matter of conjencture but if they do it will definitely not be a good news .
It looked like the world was getting tired of angolan adventure and have t last decided to act to bring a swift end to this war game .It was upto him to read the underlying message before it was too late .
In any case the seven day blitzkrig type invasion he planned simply have not worked and the window of retreat was also closing in very very fast .
General Nobutu could not think any more .After issuing the nesscery retreat order he went back into his command tent and then there was a loud crash as he put the muzzle of his 0.44 magnum in his mouth and pulled the trigger .
Angolan armour formation started its retreat almost immediately in some what disorderly way . The israeli phalcon was first to notice and this was son followed by couple of low level photo recon by the jaguars .What they saw confirmed he basic observation of the phalcons synthetic apperture radar -the angolans have accpted defeat and going back . No guns fired and all the soldiers were not even interested in looking up at the low flying jets . Indian armed forces announced a 48 hrs cease fire unilaterally as the angolans made thier slow way back home .
As token of good will all striek missions planned for the day was cancelled and the aircraft were kept on the tarmac ready but just as an insurance .The tanks put the muzzle cover on and the bofors retraced from thier advanced fire positions into deeper inlands . All in all the short and brutal war in angola was more or less over .
The total cost of the angolan intervention to govt of india came to around 10000 crores which the united nations promised to reimburse but till date have not done . A special postal surcharge was levied at the rate of 25 paisa per letter and one rs per courier to recover the cost which wuld go on for the next 25 yrs just like the bangladesh postal surcharge long after the cost of the war have been recovered many times over.
The indian contingent however did not withdraw .Based on a request by namibian govt and seconded by pretoria they started creating a more permanent infrastructure with prepositioned aircraft and armour for quick intervention in the region if and when required . This was not taken well by the leftists and the peoples republic of china who strongly opposed such overseas presence of indian military but the army stayed put atleats for nextv 3 -5 yrs as they estimated till the region attains more political stability and namibia attains the capability to develp its own borders .
A new overseas command will be formed for all the troops located in african continent from zambia to namibia to sierra leone to congo and sudan integrating all the three services in the like of andamans and nicobar and was expected to get functional in a years time .
The entire parliament stood to a thunderous standing ovation when the soft spoken prime minister of india announced total withdrawal of angolan forces from namibia and comendations from across the world to india and her armed forces for thier sterling contribution towards mantaining world order .
Back in namibia the israeli phalcon escorted by the eagles quitely left thier yet unknown south african base and headed for annother unk nown air base in namib dessert . Just after take off they quickly topped up from the il-78 mkis over atlantic and dipped thier wings before dissappearing into night sky .
The japaneese sentry did stay on for a few more days because its no 4 engine was overheating and took time to arrange a replacement engine being flown in from osaka .In the meantime the japaneses crew and pilots took outthier nikkons and went mad all over krugger national park photographing the same lion and same crocodile about 3500 times till the battery ran down .
Some where to the north Lt commander sudipta touched down softly into the golden brown wet sands of namib and some one was wating for one more ops order . On the western horizon the sun was about to set in a golden splendour
---------------------------------------------------------------
General Nobutu had needed to take a hard decision and take that fast . The untimely rain has brught his battle plans to a virtual stanstill. Almost 50 percent of his armour was totally destryed and and another 20% not fir for combat . The latest r/t reports indicated the armoured detachment sent out in pursuit of small column of indian tanks in the dessert has bogged down in the muddy flats and not likely to achieve thier objective in any foreseable future . So far he has not layed his hands on even a single kg of of uranium or single gm of gold or a single crystal of diamond. If this continues the angolan nation will not have even the minimum military strength to defend itself and capturing the gold and diamond mines of namibia looked like an ill concieved dream .
There were more bad news in the international media . CNN reported a possible deployment of USS Ronal Reagan to namibian coast to join the indian effort to stop and destroy the angolan forces now comming into the open dessert country and expected to get within aircraft launching range in a matter of days .
The angolan border with Mozambique was also getting heated up with reports of sporadic shelling and gun fire in otherwise quite brder-no doubt te handi work of indian politicians becasue the whole thing started after visit of indian external affairs minister to the country few days back .
South africa too atlast was beging to flex its military muscle and intel reports suggested a possible build up of 500 olifant mark 2 tanks in namibian border with heavy arty support .Whether they will move out was a matter of conjencture but if they do it will definitely not be a good news .
It looked like the world was getting tired of angolan adventure and have t last decided to act to bring a swift end to this war game .It was upto him to read the underlying message before it was too late .
In any case the seven day blitzkrig type invasion he planned simply have not worked and the window of retreat was also closing in very very fast .
General Nobutu could not think any more .After issuing the nesscery retreat order he went back into his command tent and then there was a loud crash as he put the muzzle of his 0.44 magnum in his mouth and pulled the trigger .
Angolan armour formation started its retreat almost immediately in some what disorderly way . The israeli phalcon was first to notice and this was son followed by couple of low level photo recon by the jaguars .What they saw confirmed he basic observation of the phalcons synthetic apperture radar -the angolans have accpted defeat and going back . No guns fired and all the soldiers were not even interested in looking up at the low flying jets . Indian armed forces announced a 48 hrs cease fire unilaterally as the angolans made thier slow way back home .
As token of good will all striek missions planned for the day was cancelled and the aircraft were kept on the tarmac ready but just as an insurance .The tanks put the muzzle cover on and the bofors retraced from thier advanced fire positions into deeper inlands . All in all the short and brutal war in angola was more or less over .
The total cost of the angolan intervention to govt of india came to around 10000 crores which the united nations promised to reimburse but till date have not done . A special postal surcharge was levied at the rate of 25 paisa per letter and one rs per courier to recover the cost which wuld go on for the next 25 yrs just like the bangladesh postal surcharge long after the cost of the war have been recovered many times over.
The indian contingent however did not withdraw .Based on a request by namibian govt and seconded by pretoria they started creating a more permanent infrastructure with prepositioned aircraft and armour for quick intervention in the region if and when required . This was not taken well by the leftists and the peoples republic of china who strongly opposed such overseas presence of indian military but the army stayed put atleats for nextv 3 -5 yrs as they estimated till the region attains more political stability and namibia attains the capability to develp its own borders .
A new overseas command will be formed for all the troops located in african continent from zambia to namibia to sierra leone to congo and sudan integrating all the three services in the like of andamans and nicobar and was expected to get functional in a years time .
The entire parliament stood to a thunderous standing ovation when the soft spoken prime minister of india announced total withdrawal of angolan forces from namibia and comendations from across the world to india and her armed forces for thier sterling contribution towards mantaining world order .
Back in namibia the israeli phalcon escorted by the eagles quitely left thier yet unknown south african base and headed for annother unk nown air base in namib dessert . Just after take off they quickly topped up from the il-78 mkis over atlantic and dipped thier wings before dissappearing into night sky .
The japaneese sentry did stay on for a few more days because its no 4 engine was overheating and took time to arrange a replacement engine being flown in from osaka .In the meantime the japaneses crew and pilots took outthier nikkons and went mad all over krugger national park photographing the same lion and same crocodile about 3500 times till the battery ran down .
Some where to the north Lt commander sudipta touched down softly into the golden brown wet sands of namib and some one was wating for one more ops order . On the western horizon the sun was about to set in a golden splendour
The perfect end of indian armed forces campaign in angola did generate a new type of strategic expectation of global community from india that of a force of friendly restraint which would soon replace he role of united nations peace keeping forces in various truoble spots of the world where the conflicts are expected to be of short duration and where indian goodwill or lack of direct economic interest would be welcome unlike US which was getting more and more isolated in the world stage . Iraq was acontinuing disaster an Iran a disaster in the making . Continious cut back on defense expenditure just made it impossible for usa to paly the global policing role as it used to by the end of first decade of new century . European union somehow was simply not interested in overseas deployment because of strong domestic compulsions .Russia though a very capable military power did not have the resourecs for that kind of opeartion though her econmy was showing sighn of resurgence.Huge oil deals with china and gas deals with europe made her more comfortable on the finance front and allowed lot of waiting modernisation to her armed forces but the quite president of russia was in no mood to do policing in states which were of no direct interest .
The military relationship between us and india with israel entered a new phase that of a true ally where india willingly took up lot of formers global duties with a smile much to the consternations of peoples republic of china but then they were also unwilling to take on an overtly hostile attitude to indias new found power projection capability because of booming trade relations betwen the two countries .
Australia did not like the new equation and made its displeasure known in quite clear ways like refusal to sale its uranium even 2 yrs after us congress finally ratified indo us landmark civilian nuclear deal .
But they say history is not written by thinkers it is in factmade by people who are ready to act on their thoughts .A very unusal development was in fact at the moment taking place in a predominantly muslim country close to austarlian shore which would put australian nation in grave danger and there was only one nation on earth who would extend a helping hand without batting an eye lid .
Under normal circumstances US would have been there ,but then 2012 was not anormal time . Iran was quigmire bigger than iraq sucking up us troops and resources like there is no tomorrow . Russian getting real edgy over such intense conflict so close to their own caspian sea border and to top it all Taiwan was planning announcing formal independence in a few weeks time
In short the world was sitting on a powder keg with several players moving around with lighted match .
The secret meeting of Indonessian cabinet went on for more than 12 hrs and then
The military relationship between us and india with israel entered a new phase that of a true ally where india willingly took up lot of formers global duties with a smile much to the consternations of peoples republic of china but then they were also unwilling to take on an overtly hostile attitude to indias new found power projection capability because of booming trade relations betwen the two countries .
Australia did not like the new equation and made its displeasure known in quite clear ways like refusal to sale its uranium even 2 yrs after us congress finally ratified indo us landmark civilian nuclear deal .
But they say history is not written by thinkers it is in factmade by people who are ready to act on their thoughts .A very unusal development was in fact at the moment taking place in a predominantly muslim country close to austarlian shore which would put australian nation in grave danger and there was only one nation on earth who would extend a helping hand without batting an eye lid .
Under normal circumstances US would have been there ,but then 2012 was not anormal time . Iran was quigmire bigger than iraq sucking up us troops and resources like there is no tomorrow . Russian getting real edgy over such intense conflict so close to their own caspian sea border and to top it all Taiwan was planning announcing formal independence in a few weeks time
In short the world was sitting on a powder keg with several players moving around with lighted match .
The secret meeting of Indonessian cabinet went on for more than 12 hrs and then