Chimera (33 page)

The massive blades of the Mi-26 heavy-transport helicopter whipped through the thin mountain air of Sikkim as two of the large helicopters made their way through the valleys and headed north. These heavy-duty birds from the No. 126 ‘
Featherweights
’ Helicopter Flight were slow moving and not nearly maneuverable enough. But the flight-crews were not worried. The skies over Sikkim were secure. Above them, three Mirage-2000s were patrolling over northern Sikkim.

No. They had other things on their minds.

The vibration inside the cockpits of the two Mi-26 was very high. The engines were groaning at full power in the high-altitudes and the pilots could almost count every single “whoop” of the massive blades as they passed over the cockpit due to the relatively low RPM on the Mi-26. The pilots were a bit uneasy about enemy action but otherwise accustomed to the dangers.

They were flying in the Yumthang valley at an altitude of ten-thousand feet above sea-level.

And
they were carrying a relatively heavy payload.

They were below the mountain peaks on either side of the valley, and that left little margin for error and maneuver. There was little that the Mi-26 crews could do to protect themselves against an enemy threat out here.

“Three minutes out people!” the navigator shouted over the background noise. Behind the two pilots, the flight-engineer was carefully monitoring the readings on both D-136 engines for signs of danger. At these altitudes, engine failure could mean instant loss of aircraft…

“Feather-One to –Two! Three minutes to Dee-Zee! Over,” the pilot said into his headset speaker and strained his neck to the left out of the cockpit glass.

He saw the other Mi-26 one kilometer to their eight-position.

“Roger! Feather-Two copies!”

The pilot then looked back down the cavernous interior of his helicopter to see the loadmaster sitting near the opening on the floor from where he kept an eye on the under-slung cargo.

The pilot brought up three fingers and the sergeant nodded.

“One minute out! Scanning for visual identification!” the co-pilot shouted.

This time both crew-members began looking through the cockpit glass up front.

“I have visual! Green smoke at eleven!” the pilot said.

“Feather-One to -Two. Confirmed green smoke at primary Dee-Zee. We are inbound! Out!”

The loadmaster sergeant in the cabin behind was already on his knees and leaning over the small opening on the floor to see the under-slung cargo buffeting in the wind as the helicopter went into hover…

On the ground below, Indian soldiers looked on as the two hovering beasts in front of them created a massive downwash in the valley from their main rotors. But their cargo was finally here. The wheels of the Tatra vehicle touched down on the helipad a few moments later. The loadmaster flipped his control switch and the tough ropes fell clean from their attachment on the Mi-26.

The cargo was on the ground.

A few minutes later the second Mi-26 had done the same and both helicopters began heading down the valley to the south to pick up the next set of vehicles. The soldiers on the ground below got started on their end of the work. Within the next thirty minutes the first of the Pinaka MBRL launcher lurched forward on its own power and moved out of the grassy clearing, followed by its replenishment vehicle…

SASER

LADAKH

DAY 4 + 1445 HRS

Dutt gingerly landed his LCH on the rough gravel clearing at FARP-Saser. As the engine turbines spooled down, he jumped out of the cockpit and shivered as the biting cold temperatures of Ladakh swept into the open cockpit. He scanned the valleys and the peaks around his new home.

FARP-Saser was just astride the supply road from Shyok to DBO. The relatively flat site nearby had been cleared of large rocks to create a forward helipad for Dutt’s helicopters. He looked east and saw several cuboid shaped command vehicles parked there. The roofs of these trailers bristled with antennae and dishes. He had to jerk his head almost vertical to see the tip of the huge mountains around him.

The An-32s from No. 48 Squadron had dropped enough supplies in the first few flights to construct the FARP with basic supplies and equipment. The local army engineers had used bulldozers to clear out the rocks and clean up the space for helicopters to land. A small truck convoy had brought in additional equipment and ammunition for the helicopters and the Mi-17s had airlifted the required personnel to man the FARP. With just two LCHs on hand, the base didn’t require too many men and supplies in any case…

A flash of lights emerged behind them.

Dutt and his other pilots jerked around and saw launches of large rockets from Smerch MBRL battery on the south side of the road. They were busy triggering off another barrage against some Chinese ground targets beyond the LAC.

Dutt smiled at the sight of the rapidly ascending columns of smoke from the Smerch launchers.

Perhaps we can work with these guys for some joint operations…

He put on his padded gloves to keep the fingers from numbing. The road from Shyok had dozens of trucks, armored vehicles and other machines from the 10
TH
Mechanized Battalion.

By this time the squadron ground crewmen were already at work on the two helicopters. They were removing weapon pallets from the supply trucks and bringing them over. Fuel was being filled from aviation-fuel barrels that had been brought in as well. Other airmen were loading the trenches near the eastern edge of the valley with critical supplies in case of a Chinese attack on this location…

He noticed two officers walking up to him. One of the two men was his operations officer and the other was from the army.

“Sir, this is Major Narayana from Brigadier Adesara’s staff. He has been deputed by the Brigadier as our liaison to the Brigade headquarters,” Dutt’s operations officer said by way of introductions.

Dutt returned the salute from the Major and shook his hand.

“Nice to have you with us, Narayana. I assume you are here to brief us on the happenings up at DBO?” Dutt asked.

“Yes sir!” Narayana said.

The three officers began walking away from the parked helicopters and towards the command trailers… 

“The 10
TH
Mechanized Battalion under Colonel Sudarshan has just entered the sector, as you can tell by the large vehicle convoys going back and forth on the road here. The three Infantry Battalions in the Brigade have taken heavy losses but we
are
holding. The air-force has proven decisive in the battles over the last few days. The landscape east of the airstrip is littered with destroyed Chinese armored vehicles. However, we have lost twenty-five BMPs of our own so far and the air-force has lost at least three Jaguar strike aircraft in support of operations here. Initial estimate of casualties on our side are around three-hundred-sixty-five dead and wounded. And we are still counting,” Narayana said.

“Good
god!
What is the Chinese strength opposite our forces?” Dutt asked as they opened the doors of the trailer and stepped inside.

“We believe there are at least two Chinese Infantry Divisions backed by armor involved in the attack as of now, but they are heavily under-strength now. We
think
a fresh Mechanized Division is being rushed to the sector from Sinkiang, but are not sure where it is. The remaining S-300s near the Qara-tagh-La and northern Aksai Chin are effectively blocking all attempts by the air-force to conduct attacks against Chinese convoys reinforcing these under-strength units. The artillery units under these Divisions are now mere wreckage thanks to our Smerch units here at Saser, but we are still attempting to locate the Chinese headquarters. The Chinese have proven very effective in camouflaging their locations from our UAVs. But rest assured: we will find and kill them,” Narayana said.

By this time Dutt’s operations officer had spread a paper map on the table inside the trailer and the Major was showing exact unit locations.

“What is the strength of the Chinese anti-air units that your Brigade has seen so far?” Dutt asked.

“Heavy. It is in fact a credit to the Jaguar pilots that they lost
only
three aircraft. We saw the amount of firepower put up by the Chinese against our aircraft. It was massive. Nevertheless, we believe that our bombers using stand-off weapons took out a good portion of the organic anti-air units within these two Divisions. They still have the independent reinforcements pouring into the sector. Heavy on manual and radar directed guns, relatively low on high-tech equipment,” Narayana said.

“What about their helicopters?”

“Few. None that I have seen personally but some of the men claimed to see a few transport helicopters operating on their side.”

Dutt’s operations officer nodded on hearing that:

“That sounds about right, sir. Just like us, they have very few dedicated Z-10s flying as of now and that bird can barely fly at these altitudes. And this sector is not the right place for adapted gunships like FFAR armed Mi-17s.”

“Well then,
that
gives us the advantage, doesn’t it?” Dutt smiled.

LOHEGAON AIRBASE

PUNE, INDIA

DAY 4 + 1600 HRS

Chakri stepped off the stairs and onto the concrete tarmac at the military side of the airbase amidst hectic activity. The smell of aviation fuel was in the air as aircraft engines spooled down. The Prime-Minister was already on his way to the secure base-operations facility. From there he would begin interacting with other government heads as needed. Everybody on the PM’s cabinet agreed that New-Delhi was not safe until the war was over.

Chakri and the home-minister disagreed.

Perhaps during first two days the national capital had not been safe. But that assessment no longer applied. By now the IAF had secured a level of superiority over southern Tibet and were beating back the PLAAF attacks in the northeast. In Tibet, only the S-300 batteries prevented the IAF from practically wrenching total control of the skies.

If the Chinese launched a cruise-missile from anywhere now, the IAF could and would detect it in time.

Chakri looked around and saw another Embraer ERJ-135 jet parked near their B-737 from the IAF Communications Flight. The crew of this aircraft would be taking him and the home-minister back to New-Delhi while the Prime Minister and other officials stayed in the secure facilities in Pune.

Fifteen minutes later they were both aboard and a young Flight-Lieutenant closed the doors of the Embraer from the inside. The flight-crew up in the cockpit throttled up the engines and the small jet began rolling towards the runway.

DAULAT BEG OLDI

LADAKH

DAY 4 + 1700 HRS

Brigadier Adesara walked inside the bunkers west of the destroyed airstrip. Once inside, he heard the chaos amongst the staff officers as everybody was trying to complete their tasks at the same time. They were supposed to have dedicated command trailers for this kind of work on the modern battlefield but the Chinese UAVs in the skies above had rendered that possibility suicidal.

They had been trying to locate and terminate Adesara and his staff for days now. Their tactic was simple: if they spotted anything that remotely looked like his command post, he could expect an artillery strike on it within minutes. The Chinese had been doing that for days. 

Till they had been able to, that is!

The Smerch counter-battery launchers near Saser had effectively neutralized the field guns and short-range rocket launchers within the two Divisions facing Adesara’s defenses. That had brought a welcome respite to Adesara’s besieged staff. Still, he insisted on maintaining headquarters security.

“So how is the deployment taking shape?” Adesara asked Colonel Sudarshan.

The two mauled Chinese Divisions were digging in while they awaited the arrival of reinforcements. Once they had replaced their losses, the assault against DBO was expected to be restarted.

“Moving ahead. 10
TH
Mechanized is deployed and ready for operations. General Gupta has arranged for the arrival of two more Mechanized Battalions as well,” Sudarshan said as he stood alongside the map table with Adesara.

“So good news then?” Adesara queried.

“That’s not all. We also heard that the first two attack helicopters arrived at Saser a couple hours ago!”

Adesara whistled at that.

“Pretty soon we should have enough to push the Chinese on their side of the LAC and then some!”

“Agreed.”

“So what’s the bad news?” Adesara braced himself for the inevitable.

“We lost one Heron UAV an hour ago after it was detected by one of the surviving Big-Bird radars operating near the Qara-tagh-La. The air-force has called off all long-range UAV flights in that sector until they are able to take that threat down. So DIA is now pushing for priority satellite Intel on the PLA inbound forces. But given requirements over Sikkim, Tibet and the northeast, there are not enough assets to go around. However, we do know that at least two fresh PLA armored battalions are beginning to arrive east of us,” Sudarshan said. His voice was laced with concern. Adesara noted that.

“Okay. So if we sit on our hands we inadvertently let the fresh Chinese Division slide into the pre-prepared positions left by the first two Divisions we fought off. Once that happens they have a prepared base of fire against our defenses.
Again!
No way are we letting that happen again. We stop that from happening by acting right
now!
”

“I agree, sir,” Sudarshan nodded. “We need to shut down the Chinese now while we have the initiative. We destroy their prepared positions at the LAC and they lose their base of fire. Their incoming reinforcements will then be forced to fight us on the move.”

“My only concern,” Sudarshan said, “is these two incoming Chinese tank battalions. Mechanized infantry cannot take on heavy armor head-on. We will need some air and artillery support to handle them!”

“That can be arranged. But remember the bigger picture! Take the 10
TH
Mechanized straight up the Chinese gut. When your other two Mechanized battalions catch up and reach here, use them to expand on the attack and secure this entire territory east of the LAC and south of the Chip-Chap River. Smash any and all enemy units in your way and keep rolling east!”

PALAM AIRPORT

NEW DELHI

DAY 4 + 1735 HRS

The smoke spread through the air as the wheels of the Embraer ERJ-135 aircraft touched down on the concrete of the runway. As the slight vibrations receded and the aircraft settled on the ground, Chakri thought about removing the cover from his window to see the airbase outside, but decided against it. He had had enough of flying all over the country now. He wished for his feet to be back on terra firma…

The air-force Flight-Lieutenant had already unstrapped himself and was walking up the cabin. Chakri could feel the aircraft turning as it rolled along on the taxiway. He noticed the home-minister yawning and awakening from his short one hour nap. Chakri cursed himself for not following his colleague’s lead on that one.

The aircraft halted a few minutes later. Finally he got up from his seat and walked down the cabin to the front where the Flight-Lieutenant had already unlocked the door. The cold, polluted air of New-Delhi felt like a welcoming committee to Chakri and the home-minister. They realized that they hadn’t been back here for almost three days.

As the two ministers stepped onto the tarmac and looked around, they could see one of the terminal buildings that were nothing more than a pile of rubble. Some of the burnt out ground vehicles were also nearby…

“How bad were our casualties here? Chakri asked the IAF Group-Captain who met them near the aircraft. The latter looked at what the Defense-Minister was pointing to and shook his head:

“Fifteen dead at the airport here. A lot more died when our air-headquarters building took a direct hit.”

Before the defense Minister could say anything else, the rumbling noise of two Mig-29s taking off from the runway behind them filled the air. The Group-Captain motioned for both men to head towards the two parked AW-101 helicopters nearby that would take them to South Block.

Five minutes later the helicopters were spooling up while the two ministers sat inside along with the air-force officer. He handed both of them headphones that allowed them to talk over the sounds of the rotors via the aircraft intercom. The home-minister turned to Chakri:

“I have arranged a meeting with the Ministry of External Affairs. They say they have been in touch with the Pakistanis regarding their air-force operations over Ladakh. Do you want me to set it up in your office?”

Chakri nodded. A meeting with the Foreign-Minister would clear up the Pakistani angle on the ongoing war.

About time too…

The IAF was none too pleased having Pakistani F-16s on their blind side when they were busy fighting the Chinese…

“Okay. Assuming that the Pakistanis try to milk this situation for all its worth, we need to be sure where the boundaries are. Air-Marshal Bhosale says that he can shut down the PAF activities in Kashmir within a day. The problem is, that brings the war down to the western front and that’s something that we don’t want just yet. We need to be
sure
about what the Pakistanis are up to!” Chakri shouted over the rotor noise outside.

“Indeed! The question is: what if they are acting in collusion with the Chinese? I have a RAW report that I will be going in detail once we land that suggests high level contact between Beijing and Islamabad the last two months. And based on what you told me on the way over, the Chinese are having a tough time against us all along the front. What if they try to dissolve our strengths by pulling the Pakistanis into the mess?” the home-minister asked. Chakri thought about that before he answered:

“That’s a very real possibility. And I will have to talk to the Service Chiefs to see what we can do to prevent the Pakistanis from taking any false steps in support of the Chinese. But my gut feeling is that Islamabad will see the trouble Beijing is finding itself in and decide it does not want to jump aboard a sinking ship!”

SILIGURI

INDIA

DAY 4 + 2020 HRS

“So where are they now?”

Lieutenant-General Suman asked. The Brigadier in charge of operational intelligence for XXXIII Corps walked over to the large digital map on the wall in the Corps Operations Center and pointed to a place on the map that showed an attached label: ‘
Pagri
’

“Right here, sir.”

Lieutenant-General Sen, the Corps commander, turned to face Suman:

“The Bhutanese have confirmed for us what DIA and our own Corps Intelligence assets had thought all along. The Chinese 55
TH
Division’s is now deployed against us. Their 11
TH
Division is moving south of Gyantse just behind the 55
TH
.”

“And what happened to their third Division?” Yadav asked.

“That force is no longer heading towards Gyantse. They were expected to reach Gyantse hours ago but according to RAW’s local assets we have had no eyeball contact with any new Division on the road from the Karo-La to Gyantse. They have disappeared,” Sen answered.

“Divisions don’t just disappear. They are up to something,” Yadav observed and put his hands behind his head.   

“Indeed! I think they might have gone off the road and headed south,” Suman chimed in.

“Speculation,” Yadav countered.

“So what? We have no clue where the three Brigades of that Division are. I say we speculate and see what comes off it,” Suman retorted.

Yadav grunted and relented.

“Very well. Let’s assume they went south from there. Where does that take them? Bhutan?” Yadav argued. 

“Now why on earth would the Chinese take a combat ready Division off their roster for the Chumbi valley and send them towards Bhutan? Surely the RBA is no real threat to them?” Sen argued.

“Can this movement by the Chinese be substantiated?” Yadav asked the Brigadier standing by the digital map.

“Yes sir, we could. But we are not faring our long-range UAVs that far out just yet. The aerial defenses around major nodes such as Gyantse and Lhasa inside Tibet are still guarded by their S-300s,” the Brigadier responded.

“They are trying to suck us into Bhutan all right,” Suman added. “First that incident at the three-lake region this morning and now this direct threat to Bhutanese sovereignty. Beijing is certainly playing a high stakes game here. They seem to be treating Bhutan as fair game in their war against us. They see that as too much of a strategic gain for their ground forces”

“Agreed.” Yadav said. “Call up Potgam at Haa Dzong in Bhutan and tell him to get his act together. Tell him that we are looking at getting authorization from the King of Bhutan to put the Royal Bhutanese Army under his command. In the meantime warn him that there looks like at least one Chinese Highland Division possibly preparing to enter Bhutan from Tibet. Ask them to submit a preliminary appreciation of the local situation immediately along with his readiness, TO&E and mobility requirements. I will pass the word to the Defense-Minister. He needs to make sure that the Bhutanese Government knows the threat of invasion on their northern border!”

“Yes sir,” Suman said from where he sat.

“What about the two Chinese Divisions entering the Chumbi valley?” Sen asked.

“I think they have reached far enough south. Time for us to stop them in their tracks. It’s time we initiated Operation Chimera.”

NEW DELHI

DAY 4 + 2230 HRS

“What is this?” Chakri asked as he took the sheet of paper from the Navy Lieutenant-Commander right as the Admiral walked into his office.

“It’s a warning issued by the US Navy about Chinese submarines leaving port. AVM Malhotra at the Aerospace Command confirmed it with overhead intel. Two of our Il-38 patrol aircraft launched from the Nicobar Islands a few minutes ago,” the Admiral noted as Chakri continued to read the report in his hands. A few seconds later he looked up:

“So we will know more in a few hours?”

“Yes sir. In the meantime I have put the Eastern Fleet on high alert. Almost all commercial shipping has been diverted away from the Malacca strait for days now so the threat to them is low. At any rate, I intend to keep the Bay of Bengal clean and the Malacca straits closed.”

day 5

DAULAT BEG OLDI

LADAKH

DAY 5 + 0355 HRS

The IMFS view flared out as a line of artillery explosions overwhelmed the optical scope’s ability to clean up the image…

Brigadier Adesara lowered the device and looked down at his feet as the thunder rumbled through. To the east the Chinese lines disappeared in dust clouds raised by the falling shells. As jet noises saturated the air, he instinctively looked up. He couldn’t see anything in the night sky, but he thought he saw the outlines of three Jaguar aircraft. A thunderclap erupted behind the Chinese lines and an inverted cone of dust went upwards…