Possible Indian Military Scenarios - Part VII

vivek_ahuja
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Post by vivek_ahuja »

Uh, guys,

i have the maps all ready for my scenario, especially tthe Nagaland theater and III Corps deployments (for my story, not the official ones :wink: ), but how do i post it here other than as a link?

i think shankar had asked that before but i didn't seem to understand :?: ...can't i just post it here similar to the "Miscellaneous Pictures" thread?
kindly advise.

also, if, in addition to some adivise that you give here, if you have any corrections to make in my posts, feel free to make them and send them to me at my email address given below:
vivek_ahuja123@yahoo.com
thanks.
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Post by Sudhanshu »

I have just one request for our esteemed authors :) PLEASE try not to delay posting your stuff more than one day... try to understand the agony and apathy of your readers.. they are addicted to your work.
In meantime I already re-read your older posts 3 times. My purpose of requesting is just to avoid me doing that again :).

Vivek, I have one question for you ... WHERE WERE YOU??? why you took this long to start your scenario. Man, your stuff is just great. I must appreciate your writing, I can understand how much thinking would be involved in constructing such scenario and offcourse, the labor involved in typing it. I must appreciate your efforts. Keep up the good work!!
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Positive feedback

Post by prasadha »

Hi all

I really appreciate the contribution from all the members.

May I kindly request the members providing feedback to concentrate only on any technical details (Equipment, Location etc.,). I feel the flow of the story, time of the story and various actors should be the writer's choice.

Let us not try to stop the flow of imagination by forcing the author to think within certain parameters. After all, the author knows best.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Regards

Pras
menon
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Post by menon »

I am starting a de addiction centre. Anybody wants ?? just $375 per day
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Post by Sudhanshu »

[last non-technical post]

Pras you are probably right. Actually Mai bhawnao me bah gaya tha :)


Menon... :) don't you think those figures are a bit higher.
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Post by menon »

naaah its more than reasonable considering the location!! in the middle of nowhere in the african continent with millions of wilde beasts and other herbivores passing by (along with the retinue of lions, hayenas, cheetahs and leopards.
It will make you 10 years younger instantly.
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Army War Room and PMO in same building.

Post by HarshS »

Vivek,

Sorry for the nitpicking. The army's war room and communication center is in South Block. The PMO is also in South Block. There's no need to take a car from one place to the other--one can walk across.

However, if the Prime Minister and the FM were meeting in the PM's residence on Race Course Road, then the RM would have driven down then five minutes it takes to get there.

There could be no option to take a helo. The route is direct. There's no helipad in South Block and the closest helipad to Race Course Road is safdarjung Airport. It would take four times the time to fly than to drive.

Normally, at 0800 hrs the meeting would have taken place in the PM's residence, not his office, so you're right about the RM driving down. If it was later in the day, then the PM might have been in the PMO and the RM would have walked--thus also avoiding the newscameras that are always stationed outside RCR.

End of nitpicking. Continue with your scenario. It's great because:
1) It involved a new country after Bangladesh (the start of the first scenario two years ago) and Pakistan.
2) it once again involves China.
3) Its description of the NE bases is realistic.
4) Finally, Damn Good Writing. Keep it up and to hell with the nitpickers like me!
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Post by Shankar »

SONAR ROOM –USS TICONDEROGA –NORTH ARABIAN SEA

Lt commander Rottier felt rather than knew, some thing was wrong. The unidentified echo picked up several hours back have now disappeared and for the last 2 hrs he has been trying to pick up the acoustic trace with no success .Of course the multiple thermo clines and widely varying salinity of coastal Pakistan was not helping .Now that the ship has reduced its speed to 4 knots and the towed array deployed ,Rottier hoped his chances of making a positive confirmation was some what higher . Though the French have parted with screw signature of the agosta 90Bs in Pakistan navy service they did not have any data on the acoustic signature of the MESMA air independent propulsion system since it was fitted in Karachi and all sea trials were done under highest level of secrecy. Strangely even Indian navy also had very little information on the system and that made his job doubly difficult. The captain has given him exactly 10 minutes before the ship will again resume normal cruise speed of 30 knots and follow a zig zag course to confuse the firing solution of any sub that may be tracking them . In that 10 minutes he has to either firm up a contact and generate a firing solution for the onboard torpedoes or wait for another chance may be after 6-7 hrs.

Though decommissioned in 2004 and moth balled ,Ticonderoga was re commissioned when it became apparent US military intervention in Pakistan is inevitable if the war on terror have to succeed. She was fitted out with the latest AN/SQQ-89 ASW combat system consisting of an integrated undersea warfare detection, classification ,display and targeting capability. The system combines and processes all active sonar information along with processing and displaying all SH-60B light airborne multi purpose system (LAMPS) MK 3 sensor data .

The AN/SQQ-89 under surface warfare combat system is essentially a fully integrated real-time distributed system that contains acoustic and environmental sensors, mission control, contact management along with weapon fire control subsystems. Legacy AN/SQQ-89 combat system suite consist of AN/SQS-53 hull mounted sonar,AN/SQR-19 towed array sonar,AN/SQQ-28 LAMPS.AN/SQS-25 SIMAS and ASW control system.(ASWCS) MK116 system. These legacy systems are linked via NTDS interfaces to form an integrated combat system .In order to engage and launch weapons against a subsurface threat The AN/SQQ-89 has external interfaces to mk 331 torpedo setting panel ,mark 41 vertical launch system and of course the aegis weapon system

The SQQ-89 tactical sonar suite is composed of hull mounted sonar SQS-53B,tactical towed array sonar fully integrated to LAMPS helicopter of the ship. The AN-SQQ-89 also happens to be the most advanced anti submarine warfare system in the world on date and consequently makes the aegis cruiser not just one of the best equipped anti submarine platform in existence .

In the sonar room next to Ticonderoga’s combat information centre and linked to it thru a narrow dimly lit tunnel ,Lt commander Rottier looked at his sonar team of half a dozen men on whom the safety of this ship and amphibian fleet heading towards gwador port. The men sat motionless in front of the flat screens and luminous green sand drifted across the screed each grain representing a blip of sound. The men were in fact watching for sounds rather than listening for it . Small green and red lights glowed on the powerful computer bank which connected to the array of hydrophones outside converted the tiny sound impulses into visible dots of blue green. Complex programmes analyzed each sound and compares to an extensive data base and flashed a warning on screen if some of the sound matched a threat or was suspected to be man made.

Ticonderoga had sharp eyes over the waves but below she was blind. She only listened but listening is not as simple as it sounds particularly when your trying to sort out the noise of sailors feet clad in rubberized shoes at a depth of 300 mtrs and at a distance of tens of miles coming thru acoustic corridors rife with unusual structures and ambiguous echoes . The top layer in contact with solar radiation forms a surface duct in which sound waves are “trapped “ as if in a pipe because of variation of sonic velocity with density of the water thru which it is traveling .Thermo cline boundaries between warm water on the surface and cold ocean water in the deep are superb reflectors of sound waves and a careful submarine commander moving below the thermo cline is almost impossible to detect by a surface mounted sonar . It is here the variable depth towed array sonar comes into its own .Away from the sound of its mother ship and dropping below the thermo cline boundary it listens for that one man made sound which will tell its masters the presence of a dangerous threat and also its location so that the threat can be destroyed .

The way the sound waves behave in deep oceans is truly amazing. At approximately 4000ft there exists a deep sound channel and sound can travel in these channel very large distances some times half way across the earth. As sound refracts or bends towards the direction of lowering velocity because of increase in density of propagation media .Also it travels faster in warm water and also faster at higher water pressure,The net result is sound can go up to the surface meet the surface thermo cline and get refracted back to deep sound corridor and then again come up after facing a second refraction and the process can go on indefinitely like a snake moving fast . The point where it meets the surface layer is called convergence zones and in open ocean is usually about 35 miles apart .Thus a hostile submarine can be ranged in an open ocean comparatively easy with state of the art sonar but no so in shallow coastal water particularly in tropical countries like India and Pakistan or the gulf states for that matter where the variation of water salinity due to proximity of fresh river deltas can play havoc with targeting solutions of the fire control computer particularly if the ocean floor detailed datas are not available. the presence of these convergence zones also make it possible to track a silent sub at various ranges like 35-70-105-140-175 miles but makes it very difficult to locate and track one at say 18 or 20 miles away unless anti sub aerial support in form of both fixed and rotary wing aircraft is available .

Today only antisub chopper in air was indian navy sea king which have just taken off from Mysore and a P-3 orion on its way still 2 hrs out . A Viking have been promised but may arrive too late . Lt commander Rottier frowned as he calculated his best options.
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Post by joy_roy »

way too much detail and very little advancement of the story....shankar i think most jingos who lurk here knows a lot about these stuffs a lot....can you please keep the technical details a little short so that we can concentrate on the story...just my 2 cents...
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Post by vivek_ahuja »

TWO ALH HELICOPTERS (CODE: GRIFFON ONE AND TWO)
ARMY AVIATION ADVANCED OPERATING BASE AND C3I
JORHAT, ASSAM
0815 HRS THURSDAY

Jorhat is at the western foothills of the Nagaland hills and is similar in features to the Arakan plains on the east side of these hills. To its north are the massive Himalayas, and it is based near the river Brahmaputra. Given the time of the day therefore, the sun had not yet penetrated completely through the Nagaland hills. The sun was beginning to pour through of course, between the peaks, that is. Even so, it was relatively dark at Jorhat. The place was crawling with army aviation ground crews and pilots alike and in the early hours of the day, the few vehicles plying about on the apron still had their headlights on. The squadron of ALHs parked on the apron were still in the shadows of the hills and the lack of sunlight on them made them look sleek and dark. Of the dozen or so parked ALHs, however, the two at the extreme end of the apron were the ones where the current activity was focussed.

The two flight crews and their ground crews were outside, and the senior pilot among them, a Colonel, was holding a folded map while the others were around him, staring at the waypoints marked on the map. It was going to be a relatively short flight: Only a hundred and ten kilometres, one-way. The Colonel’s Co-pilot, a Major, was holding a small red flashlight to illuminate the map details as the colonel went over them respectively. The Colonel was using a small pen from his pocket to go over the route once again, although they had discussed this several times already. But this one was different. This one was going to be the last one.

Ten meters to their side, the ten members of the Indian Para Commando team were busy checking their gear. The loud click-clack sound of their gear disturbed the pilots and their thoughts but not overly so. This team was relatively young, as compared to the pilots, but then again, they had to be. The team was being led by a Captain, and the team was coded Hotel Bravo by the SOCOM boys who would be running the show today. The weapons were young too. Being the heavily modified INSAS rifles fitted with optical and Infra red lasers for day and night targeting, as well as Optical Scopes, the fitment being so radical that the gun had come to be known as the Franken-INSAS by the SOCOM officers who had overseen their development.

As it was, the guns barely looked like the INSAS they were born as, and the few guards roaming around saw and then compared their rifles with the Franken-INSAS and absorbed the smiles given to them by the Paras. The communication gear was being checked as well, as was the personal intercom systems. The equipment now weighed as much as the soldiers themselves, but the Paras bore the burdens with no apparent effort, much to the surprise of the ground crew watching them. The soldiers then took the cue from the Colonel who had put the pen in his shoulder pocket of his green overalls and had started walking to the cockpit with the Major while the other crew, which was anyway closer to their chopper, started opening the doors to enter the cockpit, with the ground crews assisting.

Two minutes later the Paras were on board the helicopters and the main blades were staring to rotate, the red anti collision lights flashing, for now. The Colonel was already in touch with the local SOCOM C3I and was told in turn to standby. The blades were now rotating at full speed and the surrounding long, green grass next to the apron was blowing as if due to a hurricane, which it might well have been. The ground crews had cleared off and the helicopters were now waiting to lift off, with the sun looking as if it was just about to break through the mountains. Already the first long thin beams of sunlight were trickling through. It was going to be a clear day, wonderful for flying, but ironically this mission was better off done now then later in full daylight. In any case, it was light enough now that the pilots didn’t bother with their helmet mounted NV goggles, which were locked upwards on the helmet, the extra weight of which they could feel on their necks.

Jorhat was the location of the new Army Aviation Advanced operating base and C3I centre from where COIN Ops had been launched for the last two years. It had already been the site of army flights before, but now it was separate from the IAF base, had its new concrete apron, and zero dependency on the Air Force ground crews. Now, it even had its own rough landing field for fixed wing aircrafts, and the SOCOM had wanted their C-130J to come here, but that would have been too insulting and inconsiderate for the Air force, who had got their own base highly developed for strategic airlifts. And in any case, the IAF base was better equpeed to take these large aircrafts for extended periods, while the army strip was suitable for cmall duration vists, mostly for landing, dropping off supplies or people, and then leaving immediately. And for this mission, the duration and the timeline had so far been undefined. So the C-130J was waiting at the apron at AFB Jorhat, ready to take off in a moment with the Communications equipment for Singkaling Hkamti, while Griffon Flight was at the Army Airfield and the local SOCOM HQ was at Dimapur, co-located since the last few days with III Corps HQ. This diversification was somewhat unnecessary, and would not have happened in normal times, but these weren’t normal times. The ‘Cold Start’ Doctrine should have helped avoid this kind of problem, but that doctrine hardly expected to have to provide assistance to another country, as was the case.

So the war was now defined along three fronts, requiring three different doctrines. One was the threat from China, for which the ‘Cold start’ Doctrine was being used. The second was the COIN Ops going on simultaneously, which had no fixed Doctrine. The third was the assistance operations for the Burmese loyalists, for which the Doctrine was evolving as things went along.

“Griffon Fight, this is Control, you are clear for take off. Switch to Victor for airborne control. Good luck. Over.â€
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Post by ramana »

joy_roy you want to interfere with artistic freedom? When you write you implement your suggestions.
Shankar is what he is because of his style.
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Post by Shankar »

PNS OMARA – ATTACK POSITION ON 1ST AMRINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

Captain Hasmat relaxed a little as at last omara sailed into final attack postion ahead of the slow moving troop ship convoy helped not insignificantly by the weather and confusing sea conditions so typical of coastal Arabian sea.Evading the Indian and us escorts were not easy but nothing a good sub commander could not do in a modern ship as long as he did not act in haste. The lack of air search did fox him a bit but he did not have any idea about the heli- deck damage on the American cruiser and bad search luck for the Indian sea king sent out to track a possible contact

- fire control –captain has the con
- aye sir
- do you have a in firing solution on the lead troops ship
- yes sir –we have ,replied the first officer acting as fire control officer for the coming attack
- we have solutions for all the four target ships the two troop ships and also the two escorts . But the escorts are speeding up for possible search and attack mode ,most likely alerted by the cruisers of our presence
- what is your best solution –xo
- sir ,the best solution is for the lead troops ship ,designated master 34 followed by tanker ship designated master 36 and then a smaller landing ship designated master 35 and finally the escort American cruiser designated master 37 .

Captain now had to take a snap decision .He could launch all the four torpedoes at lead troop ship and make sure the kill with heavy loss of lives .But that will surely draw attention of all the escorts and his chances of making any kind of escape would be remote. Alternatively he could launch attack on all the four targets within range and in the confusion get away safely ,to fight another day

Hasmat choose the later option –he did not join the navy to commit suicide and he still had the responsibility of his ship .

-load torpedoes tube 1 thru four and report –do not open the outer doors
- aye sir
- tubes 1 2 3 4 loaded and ready in all respects
- ship to battle stations
The tension in the close confines of the agosta was electric as faces turned grim and serious suddenly realizing the risk and danger of taking on the mightiest navy in the world
-torpedo room open outer doors 1 thru four
-con –torpedo room –outer doors opened –tubes one two three and four

Captain hasmat could feel the icy sweat forming up in his armpit and suddenly the stench of diesel was overwhelming as he scanned the fire control console one last time and took in a long breadth


- firing point procedure –tube 1 master 34 –tube 2 master 37-tube 3 master 36 –tube 4 master 35
In the back ground the lt commander in charge of combat systems reported the targets current speed course and postion mechanically

- sonar –con –stand by
- con –sonar –on stand by
- fire control –match sonar bearing and shoot tube 1 –master 34
- con –fire control –tube one fired
- fire control –con – match sonar bearing and shoot-tube 3 master 36
- con –fire control –tube 3 fired
- fire control –con-match sonar bearing and shoot tube 2 master 37
- con –fire control – tube 2 fired
- fire control –con –match sonar bearing and shoot tube 4 –master master 35
- con –fire control-tube 4 fired

The four torpedoes were now in water unerringly rushing towards their individual targets who now being alerted were initiating violent evasive maneuvers and also started launching the anti submarine rockets with high explosive warheads .It did not have any effect on the agosta or its deadly spread of torpedoes .

- con –sonar –time to acquisition master 34 is 14 minutes –master 35 11 minutes-master 36 17 minutes –master 37 21 minutes
- torpedo room-con –close outer doors –reload tubes 1 and 3 with torpedoes –tubes 2 and 4 with harpoons
- - con-torpedo room –tube 1 and 3 loaded with torpedoes –tubes 2 and four with harpoons
- Con-sonar –we have detonation on master 34 and master 36 –other two have broken lock and on reciprocal course -20 knots and accelerating
- Dive officer –con –make depth 300 meters-switch –to battery power
- Make speed 12 knots

It was time to escape to the deeps
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Post by joy_roy »

ramana wrote:joy_roy you want to interfere with artistic freedom? When you write you implement your suggestions.
Shankar is what he is because of his style.
err...it was just a suggestion...not a fatwa :roll: .ramana i have been reading shankar`s scenarios from day one...and am a big fan of his works.so make no mistake there.but on the other hand..this is a forum.it is supposed to be a place where people can express their opinions and discuss on things and as an admin you must be aware of it. i just did that...now to accept my suggestion or not is upto shankar only.
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Post by Sudhanshu »

vivek_ahuja wrote:You b*******…so, you thought you could surround us…you thought we will sit on our hands and wait, didn’t you? You thought we would sit on our Asses and wait while you surround us…well…guess what… you thought wrong. We are going to kick your Asses back to Beijing and beyond. This isn’t 1962. We don’t have fools leading our country this time. This is our chance and you just gave it to us on a silver plate…Premier Wang, I hope you like it when I shove a Agni missile up your…
Truly speaking, that part was aderline thrusting and it once again reminded us some unfinished business.
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Post by Sudhanshu »

{please don't take it too seriously}

Joy_ray buddy, you know there is only rule/code in a forum: never mess with forum administrator. Otherwise, you might end up losing your democratic right of posting your views. :)

And, I believe, sometimes suggestion can be expressed as if you are not forcing something on anybody.

{Before you jump on me, I would say if you don't like my comment then ignore it}
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Post by HariC »

Joyroy Hey if you dont like it no body is putting a gun to your head to read the stuff. Lets leave the chaps who are doing this alone.
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Post by joy_roy »

Sudhanshu wrote:{please don't take it too seriously}

Joy_ray buddy, you know there is only rule/code in a forum: never mess with forum administrator. Otherwise, you might end up losing your democratic right of posting your views. :)

And, I believe, sometimes suggestion can be expressed as if you are not forcing something on anybody.

{Before you jump on me, I would say if you don't like my comment then ignore it}
sudhanshu mate...if an admin is doing( or saying) something to me he/she shouldnt have then i do reserve my right to protest or atleast clarify my position...if that hurts anybody`s ego...then he/she can feel free to ban me ..i dont mind( which will be a typical tspian forum attitude.." you dare to say we cant pull out a dozen or so ssbns with 50 loooooooooong range ding dongs out of our musharrafs???ban the kafir :twisted: " but never mind that)...apart of that it was a suggestion indeed and nothing else...if i was rude than that was totally unintentional..and i apologise to shankar if he felt like so.

and haric..aka ramana wasnt that a lil juvenile to try to hit me back with another id....i mean atleast you could have changed the joining date so it would have been a lil harder for people to figure.....

anyways..this is going wayy off topic...my last post on this matter...
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Post by Shankar »

USS BOXER –NORTH ARABIAN SEA -3 MINUTES AFTER AGOSTA STRIKE

Major general Stoneway was stunned by the ferocity of the impact .The single 533 mm torpedo fired possibly from a Pakistani agosta class have stuck the boxers amidships and opened up a large jagged hole almost 1 meter across. Sea water was poring in thru the hole in a torrent and so far all efforts by the hastily assembled damage control party in stopping the flow was not meeting with much success. The heavy torpedo have entered the forward vehicle storage area and exploded killing at least 23 sailors and two officers who were at that time supervising the imminent disembarkation off the coat of gwador.

To complicate the mater further a large fragment of the exploding warhead have severed the high pressure steam line to the turbine and supply to turbine have automatically stopped as the pressure gauge on the boiler sensed a sudden drop in line pressure and activated auto valve closure preventing a major superheated steam spillage in the engine room area . The damaged pipe was being replaced but taking time as the dangling end pieces were still to hot to handle. So for the time being the entire marine expeditionary force centered around boxer was almost standing still waiting for her to be on way as soon as possible.

Both Mysore and Ticonderoga have move in close to offer protection to the convoy and at last the anti sub choppers from both ships were in the air trying to locate the Pakistani sub . The S-3 Viking was also expected to join the search anytime.

The ships captain was handling every aspect of the damage control and casualty evacuation calmly and with professional competence. Stoneway made a mental note to mention that in his dispatches to pentagon in the evening along with a stern comment of the us navy escorts which allowed such an attack to take place .

The first of the Indian sea kings landed on the aft deck and quickly took off loaded with causality stretchers strapped on .Even from the distance stoneway could make out the blood drenched field dressings around the sailors torso .The chopper will carry him to one of the carriers where fully equipped O.T will be able to take care ,may be save a life .The second sea king this one a us navy one came in next and the causality evacuation air bridge was slowly taking shape .

A small fire started up dangerously close to the aviation fuel storage tank no 2 . A small group of fire fighters rushed in immediately with portable halon cylinders .

Another fire was reported form the engineering space just above the place where the torpedo have stuck .Flames flashed out out of the port holes and another group of sailors rushed in with carbon di oxide cylinders on the double .

The main damage control party trying to close the jagged hole were at last having some success .The bilge pumps were at going flat out and the water level was receding in the engineering area .Still stoneway estimated nearly 7000 tons of sea water needed to be pumped out before any permanent repair to the damaged section could be attempted .

Slowly the exploded torpedo sections were winched out to open deck from the hold and after a few photos thrown overboard .Deck space was at a premium on uss boxer that day.

The fire near the aviation fuel storage tank no 2 was put off but for the fire fighters there was no respite as they were redirected to attend to the leaky diesel lines on auxiliary power generators which have started smoking suddenly .

Two indian sea kings came in and settled on the deck as first of the Indian welding teams jumped out with their specialized under water welding equipment and oxy acetylene gas cutting sets . Followed almost immediately by a us navy seaking from uss wasp with replacement steel panels and structural sections and complete set of power tools and a portable battery operated winch which will be required to hoist the heavy steel plate into position during welding . The two teams became one as their leaders sat down over the deck and started an animated discussion on the best way to plug the leak.

Major general Stoneway smiled ,after all the series of exercises with indian navy for the last 7 yrs –have not gone in vain ,and then the scowl was back in place as he strolled purposefully towards the argumentative groups ,to kick some ass the us navy way.
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Post by Sudhanshu »

:) Attack of clones!!! <- New possible scenarios...
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Post by joy_roy »

pandyan wrote:
urrr...there are 51 other people with the same joining date....are they all clones???? :-o
may be they are :lol: ...or atleast some of them are :P .
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Post by ksmahesh »

menon wrote:I am starting a de addiction centre. Anybody wants ?? just $375 per day
please let us evaluate by giving a free trial version ( :D )
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Post by menon »

ohhhhhhhhhhhh just take the plane to Kilimanjaro airport, you will be met :twisted:
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Post by Shankar »

INS MYSORE –NORTHERN ARABIAN SEA


Commander Bhatia scanned the horizon with dismay. The weather front has at last moved in enveloping the sea with a dirty grey blanket. Mysore have been made the lead ship, to hunt down the Pakistani Agosta and the aerial assets have arrived overhead. He could see the sea kings lashed down on the flight deck and the single orion trying to make sense of the acoustic mess underwater with her magnetic anomaly detector at least trying to ensure a second strike does not take place. Western naval command has promised additional under water asset most likely a kilo should be in position in another 8 hrs and by that time the search circle for the hostile sub will become just unman gable.

Commander Bhatia was an underwater warfare expert but just now all his expertise in tracking the target sub was quite useless .The sound generated by the crashing waves with occasional 20 ft swells made any kind of tracking a hilarious mess. All rotary wing operation was suspended and the aircrews down in the mess catching up on the latest war news on satellite tv and some checking up on the last maintenance records with the crew chiefs.

The troop ship convoy has slowed down to almost 8 knots and keeping up even that speed was difficult in face of 20 ft waves crashing head on. The 6700 ton destroyer was being tossed up and down giving the sailors the taste of a real life giant roller coaster. The every time the bow went down into a trough ,it felt like emergency brakes have been applied and then it lifted up suddenly throwing everyone almost out of balance. The deck was almost deserted except a few sailors entrusted with checking up the asrocs tubes and uran launchers were well protected from salt water spray. All of them were wearing life preservers and hooked to the guard rail by nylon safety lines though the chances of any one going overboard in this weather coming out alive was really very slim.

Still Bhatia loved the spray of salt water on his face .Braced with feet placed wide apart and hands tightly holding on to the stairway to bridge he tried to think what the Pakistani submarine commander might be thinking right at this moment. Submarines are essentially one sensor platform .They depend on their sonar to kill and to survive. Right at this moment with all the ships in the convoy running flat out just to keep up minimum speed and crashing wave selecting and tracking a particular target was impossible. A brave sub commander may try a periscope depth approach for a snap shot but then that will expose him to the search radars of the ships and more particularly the low flying Orion. Even then in near zero visibility a submarine will have to get very close before an ensured kill can be made. What made the situation more complicated was that the a sub has to be well within the asroc range before launching a torpedo and that is likely to be an unacceptable level of risk for any sub commander.

As far as Mysore was concerned the bow mounted sonar was useless as it moved on a wide arc in and out of water creating more confusion than information. The towed array was deployed and being in comparatively calmer water at a depth of 70 ft from violent surface was performing better. But the background noise was too high and to make out the screw noise of an ultra quite modern submarine like agosta was again if not impossible close to it. The only way the towed array can positively track an agosta in this weather was if the sub was running at maximum speed with a noisy screw directly towards mysore or away from it .Sadly the Pakistani submarine commander knew it too and was not obliging.

Up above the USN orion kept on searching now below the low cloud cover at around 1500 ft and Bhatia felt sorry for the crew, being buffeted by strong wind and trying to keep station in near zero visibility.

In short the bad weather was a short break for everyone from the nerve wrecking tension of war. The met department predicted the weather front to clear up in 24 hrs and then Bhatia knew the hunt for Pakistani agosta will start in earnest. It had to be neutralized before the marines start landing near Gwador.

What Bhatia did not know was there was not one but two agosta 90bs that were zeroing in on the invasion force and they were also waiting for the weather to clear
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Post by vivek_ahuja »

THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (PMO)
NEW DELHI, INDIA
PRESENT DAY
0800 HRS THURSDAY
The defence minister came back from the adjoining room where he had just received a call from the COAS. The PM and the Foreign Minister were waiting for him.
“I just got word from General Sinha that the Special Forces team has been inserted into Myanmar to try and establish communications with the Loyalist Generals for us.â€
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Post by Sudhanshu »

Shankar wrote:...What Bhatia did not know was there was not one but two agosta 90bs that were zeroing in on the invasion force and they were also waiting for the weather to clear...
:eek: That was real surprise...
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Post by Shankar »

INS SINDHUVIJAY-LAXMI BASIN AREA-NORTH EASTERN ARABIAN SEA


Captain Saukat Ali carefully read the latest signal from western naval command.It was a general alert for a Pakistani agosta likely to drift into his patrol area after escaping the anti submarine screen around marine expeditionary force, taking advantage of bad weather.

Lurking in the most treacherous submarine zone of Arabian sea , a zone only a kilo can confidently move around ,Shaukats orders were clear find ,engage and destroy the Pakistani sub at any cost. The infinitely more capable los angeles and Virginia boats were simply not suitable for the shallow sub sea mountainous area off the coast of Karachi and about half way to saurastra coast. And secondly at high speed any interception attempt will surely alert the agosta crew who have just proven by a partially successful strike on uss boxer that they meant business.

His ship was ideal for the task he knew it and the fleet commanders knew it too.Lurking in the dark depths ,surrounded by underwater ridges and valleys and at 3 knots just enough to maintain steerage power ,sindhu vijay was nothing but a personification of silent and sudden death to anything that dared to move in the kill envelope of her six 533 mm torpedoes.

The batteries were fully charged ,shaukat having taken advantage of the noise of the surface storm have ordered snorkeling ,the most risky part of operating a kilo and now once again he was back in the depths of ocean . At 600 ft below sea level the kilo was undetectable .

During the cold war era ,the American sub commander’s biggest headache was a kilo in the shallows . The running joke in us navy was “ if you find a very quite ocean be sure there is a kilo lurking near byâ€
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Post by Rakesh »

Shankar...the helmsman's direction is wrong. It should read course 130 and not course 139. Thanks.
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Post by vivek_ahuja »

IAF PHALCON AWACS (CALL SIGN: VICTOR)
FLYING OVER EASTERN ASSAM
0845 HRS THURSDAY


The IAF Phalcon crew had been having a busy week so far, and there was no sign of let up. Day in and day out they were flying over Assam, keeping an eye on the Chinese aerial movements in the Tibet Autonomous region where it was now building up to enormous proportions, as well as keeping an eye on the Myanmar theatre of operations. Another Phalcon had been deputed to this region, but as it was, rotation of the aircraft for around six hours each was necessary to give the crews barely adequate time for rest, mandatory for efficient working. But it still meant that the crews were flying two whole missions every day, and the strain on them was getting visible. It had taken a full-blown scenario for the main operators in Air Headquarters to realize that despite the surge in the AWACS fleet caused by the induction of the home grown AEW&C aircrafts; they simply did not have the numbers to maintain 24/7 coverage of the entire Chinese border.

And ground based picket fence radars were only an interim measure. It was highly probable that as soon as hostilities would begin, these fixed and highly vulnerable radars could be expected to be knocked out by cruise missiles on both sides. It just was simple logic in the age of electronic and information warfare. So when the chips were down, it came down to how many AWACS you have. And the IAF just didn’t have enough, and neither did the PLAAF, but that was hardly a consolation to the IAF planners. And any changes now were impossible, only improvisations were feasible. So the first step had been to deploy a mobile radar station to the hills of Kohima, whose location was excellent due to the fact that they had excessive height and the Arakan plains to the east were devoid of any such hills for long ranges, mostly in the hundreds of kilometres, and that allowed good long range of vision. It was almost as good as an AWACS. Almost. But it was still fixed, but that couldn’t be helped now.

It was another case of Geography helping one side and denying that advantage to the other side, and no one at Air Headquarters had complained when this idea had been mentioned in one of the briefings. It just made sense. But the downside was that it was still a day away from resuming operations, and so the Phalcon aircraft was again flying, this time coordinating the first influx of Indian troops into Myanmar.
“Where’s Griffon Flight now?â€
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Post by Angaar »

menon wrote:I am starting a de addiction centre. Anybody wants ?? just $375 per day
Mail order details please!!

Imagine here I am visiting "Down Under" Oz-land, and what do I do?

Open Laptop around the neck, walking like a zombie, checking wi-fi connectivity so I can get my fix!!

Shankar, Vivek, roll on!!!
ksmahesh
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Post by ksmahesh »

Hi shankar and Vivek,
Excellent job. It is great scenario. I hope the story unfolds quickly as shan-ekphilia is extremely dangerous disease and menon refuses to help (with de-addiction) poor us. I believe the only cure possible now for addicted patients (like yours truly) is crusing napaki forces on west and chini on east.
Menon here is SOS. Donot be businesslike and for sake of charity help with de-addiction package.
mahesh
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Post by Shankar »

USS BOXER EXPEDITIONARY GROUP -NOTHERN ARABIAN SEA

Major general stoneway looked almost happy as happy as a marine core general can look under combat condition and having survived an almost devastating sub surface attack. The torpedo damage repair work was almost complete and painters were busy putting on a thick coat of anti corrosive marine grade paint on the raw metal welded on to close the ugly gash in the hull . The welders have no doubt done a good job and the holds were now almost dry. The severed high pressure steam line section have been replaced and now the engineers were slowly pressurizing it to operating level and in afew hours hopefully boxer will be ready to go to war-a war which was waiting just around the corner.

A final softening of the pakistani coastal defenses were already in the pipeline and once he gave the go ahead the aerial bombardment will start a 24 hr non stop saturation bombing by carrier and land base aircraft followed by naval guns and then he and his marines will be going in along with indian para and marine commandoes to establish the vital bridge head just east of port city of gwador.

The chinnok from uss george washington came in with 15 day old newspapers along with ops orders and final strike details.The marine colonel smartl saluted ,handed over the package to the general and again saluted before rushing of to supervise loading of live ammunition on the ready to roll out armoured convoy .

Major general stoneway ,grimaced as he looked at the two week old washington post and its headline

USS Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG 5) to get into combat in Arabian Sea

The USS Boxer (LHD 4), --which is the flagship for the Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG 5)-- which left Sandiego few weeks back , is scheduled to join the two other naval strikes groups. ESG 5 is comprised of USS Boxer, Bunker Hill, USS Dubuque (LPD 8), USS Comstock (LSD 45), USS Benfold (DDG 65), and USS Howard (DDG 83). ESG 5 also includes PHIBRON 5, the 15th MEU, Coast Guard Cutter Midgett (WHEC 726) for a possible invasion off the coast of pakiastan.

“We are about to enter a part of the world that can be very dangerous,â€
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Post by menon »

ksmahesh wrote:Hi shankar and Vivek,
Excellent job. It is great scenario. I hope the story unfolds quickly as shan-ekphilia is extremely dangerous disease and menon refuses to help (with de-addiction) poor us. I believe the only cure possible now for addicted patients (like yours truly) is crusing napaki forces on west and chini on east.
Menon here is SOS. Donot be businesslike and for sake of charity help with de-addiction package.
mahesh
I am not a businessman :oops: all u ppl have to do is to take a flight to Kilimanjaro airport. The flights available are KLM and Ehiopean. KLM from amterdam and Ehiopean Mumbai-Addis-JRO.
The Lodges here average $150 per day.
The best are in Serengeti and Ngorengoro. Then There is Gibbs farm where the rate I think is $100. You choose.
However I am heading home for a month. Be back after easter. Anyone is welcome.
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Post by vivek_ahuja »

FOUR MIG-21 ‘BISON’ AIRCRAFTS (CALL SIGN: ALPHA - ONE THROUGH FOUR)
JORHAT AFB
ASSAM, INDIA
0852 HRS THURSDAY


The sun had come up by now and the day was bright and sunny at Jorhat AFB. Not the kind of day you would expect with the job at hand, the pilots reflected. It would have more normal for a dark overcast of sorts. The pilots had been next to their aircrafts when the Klaxons had started, and it had taken them barely two minutes to climb into the aircraft. Next on the ladder had been the crew chief, leaning on the ladder as he helped the pilot strap himself. Within seconds the powerful turbojet engines were rotating and the noise was excruciating enough that all ground crewmen nearby had their earphones on, the new model ones, which allowed them to communicate to each other as well as to shield their hearing abilities for later use. The ladders were removed quickly and the MIG-21s were ready to roll, the pilots simultaneously talking to the Base Control centre, as the ATC was about to be shut down as part of the alerts now activated. The base control itself was taking the tactical data from the Phalcon AWACS and making sense of it, and giving the relevant data to the pilots waiting in the cockpits. There was no need to give them any more data at the moment other than the initial vectors, altitude and command links. In this case, Base control would hand over airborne control to Victor, and Victor would then conduct the aerial engagement, keeping the Base control in the loop, because, after all, the fighters and the pilots belonged to this airbase.

The aircrafts themselves were armed with R-77RVV-AE and R-73 missiles, but drop-tanks were not being used, seeing the short range in which they would be operating. In addition, each aircraft was carrying external EW pods, to be used in an EW intensive environment, which again was somewhat unexpected as far the current engagement was concerned.
The situation at hand was however more complicated, and was one that required careful planning. The PLAAF aircrafts were just beyond the hills of Kohima, and while the Phalcon AWACS had been tracking them while they made their ingress to the target, it had lost track of them when they had gone low, probably trying to evade detection as well, although their final destination was well fixed. The hills of Kohima prevented the Phalcon from looking beyond. As a result, Alpha flight could be directed on a vector towards Singkaling Hkamti, and they in turn would remain blind all the way to the hills, but after which they would have immediate acquisition.

The problem lay there. Having crossed, the hills, the distance to Singkaling Hkamti was barely fifty Kilometres, and that meant that whatever advantage of the long-range BVR engagement lay with the use of the R-77 air-to-air missiles was gone. Also gone was the inherent advantage of the Phalcon AWACS, that is, the positional advantage that would have been possible if the enemy had been visible to the AWACS radar. Alpha Flight would have to acquire and engage the enemy on their own. The only thing going for the pilots right now was that they had the advantage of surprise with them. That was because the PLAAF aircrafts had so far operated with impunity, and were only now gearing up to face the IAF over Myanmar. A nice advantage to have on your side, but one that would not last for very long. The pilots just had to make the most of it before it vanished.

Having said that, it was also true that once the IAF fully entered the conflict, the Phalcons could then be directed further eastwards and above the hills of Kohima, thereby negating the corresponding blind areas. At the moment, however, the first engagement between IAF and PLAAF aircrafts would be outside the radar coverage areas of the Indian and Chinese Aerial ISR networks.

The first MIG-21 to roll down the runway belonged to the Flight leader, having call sign Alpha One. The massive power of the engine in the MIG-21 became apparent as the aircraft took off on full afterburner whose orange-yellow conical exhaust was clearly seen despite the bright sun. Then more sounds were heard, and in quick succession the remaining three aircrafts were airborne and hurrying to catch up with the Flight leader who had already concluded his talks with Base Control and had begun his next conversation with Victor Flight as he shifted airborne control to the AWACS. The first vector given the four aircrafts flying in a finger-four pattern made them turn southeast. Ten minutes later the pilots had been informed about the possible type of the PLAAF aircrafts: J-8II. The line of hills east of kohima representing the international border was now visible on the horizon against the clear blue sky. Thirty seconds later the four aircraft thundered over Hill 2999 at murderously low altitude. The MIG-21s were trying to keep as low as possible.

Why let the Chinese know unnecessarily about the wrath of god that is about to strike them, not they acknowledge what god is, of course, but what the hell… Alpha One thought, and then to his colleagues:
“Alpha One to all Alpha units, prepare to engage.â€
vivek_ahuja
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Post by vivek_ahuja »

AIRSPACE OVER SINGKALING HKAMTI
0903 HRS THURSDAY


Alpha flight was now taking the same route that the ALHs had taken earlier. They were flying fast and low through the valley next to Htangsan and doing so eastwards. Following the Nam Soleh River for the next twenty kilometres would bring them to the junction where another river, the Nampak, would join the former and both would head east to eventually join the Chindwin River. But waypoint two was the junction, not the Chindwin River, and from the junction Alpha Flight would go southeast for ten kilometres in order to reach Singkaling Hkamti.

Engaging the J-8s was another matter, however. Having reached the junction, the MIG-21s could turn south for a kilometre or so, and then pop up to medium altitude and then destroy the PLAAF aircrafts with R-73 missiles, given that they would be engaging them at twenty Kilometres or so. In addition, the pop-up manoeuvre would allow the Indian pilots to gain positional advantage in terms of height as the Phalcon had clearly informed them that the J-8s were attacking the C3I locations at low altitude. They would be laden with air to ground ordinance while the Indian MIG-21s were equipped with air-to-air missiles. It was hardly fair, but the Indian flight commander didn’t give a damn about that particular fact.

Within a minute the four aircrafts thundered over the junction and then began the turn to the south. In doing so, the aircrafts also changed relative positions so that the finger-four formation was now line abreast, more suitable for volley fire of air-to-air missiles. The aircrafts were thundering over Myanmar at an altitude of a few hundred feet. The onboard radars were off. This made sure that the Chinese aircrafts would not receive a warning from their radar warning receivers or RWR, that they were being watched, or that a threat was looming to the north. Flying without radar was dangerous, of course, because it made the host aircraft blind as well, but there was little to fear at the moment. The Chinese weren’t prepared and weren’t expecting a fight, which was the major factor for the mow threat perception.

And the Phalcon AWACS would pick up any inbound fighters coming at medium to high altitude from the Yunnan province long before they could pose a threat, and it was unlikely at best that those fighters would come at low altitude for such long ranges. So that meant that the MIG-21s could continue to keep their onboard radars off and take the data from the Phalcon which was informing the pilots that there were no inbound PLAAF aircrafts at the moment. It was also highly unlikely that the Chinese could launch any fighters in air-defence configuration in the short while that the Indian fighters would be over Myanmar Airspace. Further, the MIG-21’Bison’ variant was equipped with the Tarang RWR on the tail section of the fuselage which was recording no threats, although it was encountering what could only be some rebel ground based tracking radar at extreme range to the northeast, probably beyond the river Irrawaddy, near the Chinese Yunnan province. As is the problem with such radars, the range at which they return a signal is different, and lesser, than the range at which their electronic signature is picked up by any passive airborne EW device. Couple that with the chaos in the Myanmar airspace for the last few days wherein aircrafts had been moving to and fro from all sides, and it became highly improbable that this radar could represent any threat. Still, it gave the Indian pilots another reason to stay low until it suited them to gain altitude. All factors taken, however, the external threat was low, and the ball was in the Indian court.

The PLAAF J-8s, on the other hand, did not have any such extensive coverage and real-time data to support their operations at the moment. They were operating near the Indian border, where every advantage lay with the Indians both geographically, politically, militarily and psychologically. At the same time they were operating away from their home bases, and outside the coverage of their home grown AEW aircrafts mounted on the modified AN-12 platforms that had just begun their operations. Most importantly, however, they were without dedicated fighter escorts, which was unforgivable as far as the Chinese Fight commander was concerned. It was true that they had secured air supremacy over the loyalists within the first twenty-four hours, and the succeeding days had built up a level of complacency with regard to air operations within the PLAAF, but considering that the Indians had pledged their support for the loyalists should have stirred the PLAAF high staff a little, but it had not. And the only reaction from them had been laughter and jokes about the Indian air combat capability as compared to massive PLAAF strike force built up over the years and now assembling in the Yunnan and Xizang provinces. That it would take another two days to get them all in theatre had not been discussed. There had been further talk of correcting their mistakes from 1962, about how the PLAAF should have acted then to disrupt the Indian transport flights, again ignoring the fact that their inability to project power in that war had been due to different reasons, and that the current situation was somewhat different.

In 1962, not using air power for the entire duration of the month long war had been the result of political bungling at south block, not the result of incompetence on behalf of the IAF. Now, in this ‘war’, the use of air power had been authorized from day one. The Indian AWACS fleet was up, so were their fighters and their deployments were ahead of similar deployments on the Chinese side of the border. The Chinese knew a lot about the IAF capabilities, with information coming from their Pakistani allies who had set up spy networks in India, from their own EW aircrafts now flying over Tibet and northeast Myanmar and some other information from the rebels in Myanmar, who had happily handed over the Indian donated military equipment for evaluation to the Chinese ‘Advisors’.

But while this technical information had been sent up the PLAAF chain of command, the local PLAAF commanders knew more. They knew for example, the Psychological data coming from across the border that was difficult to put into words or in some report in organization such as the Chinese military. They were the ones who saw and recognized the subtle but still aggressive behaviour and the burgeoning confidence of their enemies. And small things could alert them to such things, right from closeness of the Indian AWACS flight path to the border to the movement of their fighters trying to mirror the PLAAF strike missions from across the border since the last day or so. Further, while the younger generation of PLAAF commanders could and did accept that the technological edge, understanding and competence was on the Indian side thus far, the older, senior generations would not. There were just too many racial factors involved in their case. And as a result any young officer who would have said that the IAF was competent and deserved our attention during any meeting of the PLAAF Brass might find himself on some remote airbase on the Mongolian border, and that wasn’t desirable, was it?
So when the PLAAF commander commanding the J-8II regiment in the Yunnan province had demanded SU-27 escorts for his four aircrafts heading near the Indian border, he had been overruled and as a result the four J-8II aircrafts found themselves laden with cluster bombs and rockets, without fighter escorts, and facing the threat from all sides and from both the air and ground dimensions. Diving low to evade the Phalcon’s radar had been among the only things he could do at this stage, after calling for support yet again, that is. But that was a while back, while they had made their ingress to the target zone. Right now, the Chinese Flight commander had other things on his mind, one of which included evading the wall of flak that the loyalists were putting up in front of him and his fellow pilots.

They had discovered a real hornet’s nest here, and he had already delivered a message to his superiors about the location of what he now knew to be the main loyalist C3I facility in the region.
His first high speed pass over the rebel base had caught them by surprise, but that hadn’t lasted for too long. His second pass had been slower, and the flak had been heavier, but still inaccurate, and that had allowed him to take out a single Tunguska anti-aircraft vehicle with unguided rockets before its crew could react. That had been the first order of business for the Chinese pilots: take out as many triple-A systems that you could within the first two passes. The other J-8s had some success as well, having destroyed several AAA systems while flak continued to go off around them. Some damage was inevitable, of course, and one of the J-8s was trailing a thin trail of smoke by the time the flight leader had decided to break off the attack. Among the screeching of his RWR systems trying to tell him that there were literally dozens of AAA ground radars tracking him, there was a new distinctive tone, this one warning the flight commander what he feared most: they were being acquired by airborne radars.

“Acquisition! Alpha One has acquired bandit head-on at Two-One Kilo-Mike. Alpha One to all Alpha units, weapons free…weapons free. Tally ho. Kill them all!â€
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Post by Shankar »

INS VIKRAMADITYA – NORTH WESTERN ARABIAN SEA

The weather cleared and the air operations resumed .With the landing imminent, it was imperative all identified coastal defenses particularly air search radar installations and surface to air missile batteries be taken out before the troop carrying helicopters carrying the lead elements of us marines and Indian paras take off –scheduled in less than 24 hrs.

All the six carriers were busy generating maximum number of strike sorties and that included rafales from Charles de Gaulle, mig 29k s from Vikramaditya and off course hornets from carl Vincent, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Regan.

And like all intense combat operations emergencies in air and on deck was but expected . The call from a mig 29k declaring in air emergency was taken calmly by vikramaditya air traffic controller and passed on instantly thru dedicated data link to other carriers in the vicinity so that a safe and straight approach path could be established from its last reported position from where the emergency was declared.

SEA EAGLE FIGHT – 3XMIG 29K – 100 KMS FROM VIKRAMADITYA

- victor 1 –sea eagle lead – declaring in air emergency –request approach clearance
- sea eagle one –victor one –please describe nature of emergency
- victor one –sea eagle one – possible damage by ground fire – left engine indication unstable-over
- sea eagle one –victor one – can you make it –over
- roger that victor one- still have enough thrust in right engine and hydraulics look good –EGT port engine high- other engine so far normal –getting 70% power – do I get permission to land
- sea eagle one –victor one –you are cleared for approach -turn to heading 085-descent rate 350 mtrs per minute max on single engine – confirm intercept on glide scope indicator
- roger that victor one and thanks – never liked the idea of ejection over blues anyway
- good luck sea eagle one –keeping the frequency open
- sea eagle two and three –make a visual inspection now and report –over


Lt commander manjit first noticed the problem when immediately after a low bombing run over a surface to air missile site and as he was pulling out sharply a salvo of ack ack fire caught him on the left wing and then the vibration started on and off .The flat panel configured for engine performance monitoring flashed the EGT high alert on the left engine and then the power level on that engine started dropping off slowly from full military power to 70 % and then went back up again to 90% and then dropped back to 87% and then to 75 percent. The digital fuel guage showed still 45 minutes flying left before hitting the bingo state. As he tried to stage into the after burners first one engine at a time and then both together the process was much slower than normal. The variable engine vanes were oscillating and that was surely not a good sign. He came out of the reheat zone one at a time and the thrust quickly dropped to 73% on left engine .But he could not afford the fuel to stay on the afterburner all the way to the carrier and the roundabout approach being practiced by all aircraft to keep the defensive sam envelope effective .

Manjit knew the problem could be a simple loose connector or a faulty thermocouple but that did not make him relax a bit. Landing on the small flight deck was difficult enough, with a possible faulty engine which may flame out any moment was scary to say the least.

Occasionally the engine power output matched the indicated rpm but then again the power fell and the automated engine control system increased rpm on the other good engine to maintain the selected air speed and descent rate.

40kms from the carrier now an elongated dot in the blue expanse of Arabian sea the left engine temp showed 1300 degree Celsius a totally unsafe condition since during normal operation it should not exceed 950 Celsius .Either the engine is going to melt off anytime or the indications were all rubbish thought manjit as lined up on the approach beacon of vikramaditya and delayed deploying the flaps ,in case he was too low .The right engine vane oscillation indication came on right then and right engine caution light blinked on.

He could feel the sweat and his own fear as he lined up for the final approach smack on the glide scope
- victor 1 –sea eagle one –request clearance to land
- sea eagle one –victor one –you look good –cleared for immediate landing

Lt Commander manjit heaved a sigh of relief (he just hated the idea of an ejection)as he quickly moved the flap level forward and as the air speed dropped and nose pitched up lowered the undercarriage followed by the tail hook .The air speed bleed off 230 knots ,rate of descent on HUD was 350mtr/min and distance to the first arresting wire 15 kms and decreasing. Very slowly he reduced power to right engine to get some semblance of balanced landing.

On flight deck everyone was out and most praying for a safe landing .The fulcrum came in hard and fast hitting the reinforced steel deck at more than 200 kms per hour almost 30 kms per hour over normal landing seed but then this was no normal landing. She missed the first two wired but the hook caught the third wire when it looked certain she is going for the dink and sharply brought her to stand still in less than 50 ft . Fire fighters rushed in and crew chief rushed up the wings to help open the canopy from outside. A sweaty manjit appeared shaking his head and a loud cheer went up all around .

- Clear deck for aircraft recovery –clear deck for recovery, came the deep voice of air group commander over the scratchy public address system and it became business as usal for the crew of INS Vikramaditya.
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Post by Shankar »

INS SINDHUVIJAY – LAXMI BASIN-ARABIAN SEA


She slid thru the treacherous depth of Arabian sea fast and sure ,the muted hum of her powerful electric drive motors propelling her forward with hardly any cavitations in the giant seven bladed screw. For the outside world both above and under the waves –she simply did not exist . No sensors could track her at this speed, at least not with any degree of certainty .

Captain shaukat –leaned into the attack plot and a slow suspicion began to form in his mind. The agosta was being two obvious and that can be because of two reasons. The agosta commander was a suicide prone individual or truly he did not have any inkling of the kilo –possible but not expected, with super sensitive hull mounted and towed array sonar at disposal it is highly unlikely the Pakistani sub did not at least guess the possible presence of a hostile sub in this shallow waters .

And then there was a third more likely possibility . The agosta was just a bait, trying to draw him off into disclosing his position either by inducing him to make an active search prior to weapon launch or by making him change speed and course both in an attempt to keep tracking .All the while the agostas partner lay waiting in the dark sonar shadows of laxmi ridge ,waiting for the kill .

(Just at the moment ,shaukat had no idea how close to truth he was .PNS Islamabad lay waiting in the shadow of paniket ridge at max immersion depth .waiting for any Indian sub to expose his presence).

A kilo is not a big submarine when you think of other giant Russian subs like for example a typhoon with a displacement of more than 21000 tons about three times more than a Delhi class destroyer. At 3000 tons submerged she is small but deadly and value for money like a maruti and an Egyptian cobra –not necessarily in that order. She traversed the oceans of the world with arrogance carrying usually a pair of nuclear tipped torpedoes to insure her inviolability. During cold war she was one of the most commonly flouted icons of soviet naval power from the icy depths of bar rents sea to the tropical waters of Indian ocean ,from the white sand meditarian to the unknown depths of pacific – a kilo was a threat NATO navies could never truly neutralize or track .She did not have the easy to recognize nuclear reactor signature topped by the coolant water pumps or the hull creaking noise at depth ,at 17 knots submerged speed she was reasonably fast and difficult to intercept. The large bank of accumulators gave her more than 750 kms of submerged run usually at optimum speed of 9 knots. (except when snorkeling )Even then a snorkeling kilo finished her noisy business quickly and then gets lost as easily in the depths of the ocean.

Tracking a kilo was never easy and to kill it even when a pair of agosta was on job was difficult proposition –as the Pakistani commanders were to find out soon the hard way

Captain shakat decided and acted quickly

- make speed 2 knots –deploy towed array
- aye sir speed reduced – towed array deployed
- - make course 270- make depth 250 mtrs
As the sub reduced speed and started a slow turn with towed array deployed and the sonar scope painted a visual picture of the acoustic world around
- con-sonar –contact –course 210 –speed 3 knots-possible agosta-designating contact master 2
- weapons officer –do you have a firing solution on both contacts
- aye sir –computer tracking both contacts –firing solution generated
- torpedo room load torpedoes tubes one thru four and report
- weapons – feed solutions for master one to tube one and two ,solutions for master two to tubes 3 and 4 .
- captain –torpedo – tubes one thru four loaded with torpedoes –ready in all respects

-XO I want both the sub together, hitting any one first will alert the other and he will either let loose with a barrage of his own on reciprocal bearing or go silent and escape for another day.
- con - sonar-master 0ne is now in range –maintaining course and speed
- con sonar – master 2 is now coming within effective range
-weapons –con – confirm all firing solutions fed and ready to fire
-aye sir – all tubes loaded –solutions fed and ready to fire
- torpedo room –con – open outer doors tubes one thru four
- outer doors opened one thru four –con
-fire tubes one and two
-tubes one and two fired –running true
-fire tubes three and four
-con tubes three and four fired –running true
-close outer –load torpedoes in tubes one thru four

The Pakistani agostas detected the torpedoes in water but too late. Both the subs deployed nixie torpedo decoys (courtesy USN) and tried to make a run for it but it was too late .As the torpedoes smashed into the ill fated pride of Pakistani underwater arm there was but a few muted explosions and then the sound of rushing water and then total silence .

The ocean will keep its secret for long

Captain shaukat took his boat to surface ,to check for any survivors but as expected there was none .The only visible sign of the underwater disaster of Pakistani navy was few scattered oil slicks and pieces of foam, of what was once the most powerful arm of Pakistani navy
Sudhanshu
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Post by Sudhanshu »

Thank you shankar for sharing such informative piece of submarine warfare.

By the way, if I am not wrong under such circumstances such commander (Shaukat) who destroyed two sub at a time would be awarded at least Maha-veer chakra in India.
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Post by ksmahesh »

Sudhanshu wrote:Thank you shankar for sharing such informative piece of submarine warfare.

By the way, if I am not wrong under such circumstances such commander (Shaukat) who destroyed two sub at a time would be awarded at least Maha-veer chakra in India.
I believe a PVC. LN Abdul Hamid got a PVC for destruction of 3 tanks {acording to wiki (it might be wrong)}. 2 subs definitely PVC (I would say).
ksmahesh
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Post by ksmahesh »

Sudhanshu wrote:Thank you shankar for sharing such informative piece of submarine warfare.

By the way, if I am not wrong under such circumstances such commander (Shaukat) who destroyed two sub at a time would be awarded at least Maha-veer chakra in India.
I believe a PVC. LN Abdul Hamid got a PVC for destruction of 3 tanks {acording to wiki (it might be wrong)}. 2 subs and with great tactics it is definitely PVC (I would say).
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Post by vivek_ahuja »

THE DIRECTORATE OF MILITARY OPERATIONS (DGMO)
ARMY HQ
NEW DELHI, INDIA
1000 HRS THURSDAY


“Okay people, listen up. The preliminary orders have just come through. We are deploying troops to Myanmar to assist the loyalists. The time hasn’t been decided yet, but it will be done. Our air force has already had a little skirmish with the Chinese, and both sides are preparing for a big one as we speak. But that’s the air force’s problem, and we have our own...â€
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