Chimera (7 page)

“We are detecting Indian fighters over Ladakh,” the Major reported calmly to Feng after lowering his comms mouthpiece with one hand.

“Looks like they are posturing,” Feng said as he looked over the radar data on a geographical overlay on one of the computer screens. 

Beijing wanted aggressive, so let’s give them aggressive...

“Order the SU-27s to activate their radars.” Feng ordered.

AIRSPACE OVER LADAKH

INDIA

MAY 15, 2040 HRS

“Active radar signatures! We are being painted!” Khurana’s wingman shouted over the radio as a screeching noise from the RWR filled his ears.

“Must be those Su-27s. Hold it together people: they are testing us!” Khurana shouted back before switching the comms frequencies:

“Eagle-Eye-One, this is Claw-One. We are being painted by commie fighters to our north. Request permission to return favor, over.”

“Roger. November-two-four is climbing out of the muck. Light up the bugger. Over.” Khurana smiled underneath his oxygen mask and changed frequencies once again back to his pilots:

“Claw-One to all Claw elements. November-two-four is climbing to meet us. Time to light up the sky…”

AIRSPACE OVER SOUTHWESTERN TIBET

TIBET

MAY 15, 2044 HRS

The three fulcrum radars activated nearly simultaneously, but were looking eastwards and not back at the Su-27s to the north. A dozen kilometers east of the LAC, the lone J-10 was now climbing out of the hills to head home. The pilot inside the aircraft was still inspecting the fuel gauge and wondering if he would need to refuel with a tanker along the way. As he cleared the peaks, his worries instantly changed. His threat board lit up immediately to show the southern skies swarming with Indian Sukhois and a single Phalcon. To his east there were three Indian contacts activating their missile guidance radars...

AIRSPACE OVER LADAKH

INDIA

MAY 15, 2050 HRS

“Missile launch! Missile launch! November-two-four has pickled off his radar guided missiles!” Khurana’s wingman shouted over the radio frequencies before Khurana’s voice overrode it:

“Oh
shit!
The bugger has engaged! All Claw elements: Break! Break! Break!”

The three Fulcrums immediately dived out of the sky and broke formation. They also dropped chaff as they headed face down into the hills below to force the two inbound PJ-12 missiles to break radar contact. There were three fighters and two missiles. One of the three was therefore already out of danger. The pilot of that Fulcrum was the first one to dive and level out just above the peaks of Ladakh before engaging afterburners and heading north. He was already switching to his long-range R-77 missiles while his aircraft accelerated. A few seconds later he flipped the control stick to the right and headed into banking climb to the northeast. This maneuver brought him facing the evading J-10 and his threat board lit up. The lone Chinese J-10 was now acquired on radar as it escaped to the northeast, low on fuel. A few seconds and he would fall within the range of the armed R-77 hanging from the left wing of Claw-Three...

AIRSPACE OVER SOUTHWESTERN TIBET

TIBET

MAY 15, 2051 HRS

Come on, come on...

Okay, that peak looks good enough. Time to punch off another barrage...

The rocky peak swept by a moment later and Khurana flipped the control stick to the right even as he released another round of chaff behind his aircraft. He then pulled back on the stick and the aircraft swept around the top half of the peak and streaked back towards the eastern border. The PJ-12 missile however continued towards the cloud of chaff he had left in his wake and detonated in a small fireball that illuminated the darkened cockpit of the fulcrum a second later. Khurana’s night-vision view disappeared under the flash of the explosion behind and he pulled up instinctively to gain altitude while his vision restored. In a few seconds he was above the peaks and the aircraft was soaring into the cold skies above…

It took a second for Khurana to find his bearings. He had lost situational awareness in the time he had been flying between the peaks below to evade the Chinese air-to-air missile. That was not good and he knew it. He had lost sight of his other pilots and right now there was no one to his left or right. And the skies were still dangerous. His RWR was still tracking the radar emissions from the four Su-27s to the north. His onboard electronics also detected friendly airborne radar to the south. But there were no friendly fighters around for some reason.

Damn…

But as he began to recollect his bearings, this fact did not surprise him as it had a few seconds before. Unlike the Chinese Su-27s acting aggressive with active onboard radars, the Indian Su-30s were running in a blackout mode to the south, and somehow that seemed more deadly and reassuring to Khurana despite the opinion of his RWR. At the moment his first priority was to find out where his other squadron pilots were and what had happened to them. In that instant the radio jerked back to life with dozens of different voices simultaneously filling the skies:

“Claw-One, this is -two! Declaring emergency! I have taken a hit!”

“This is Claw-Three. I have a lock on November-two-four. Engaging!”

“This is Eagle-Eye-One to Claw-Flight. You are
not
authorized to engage! What the hell is going on over there? Over!”

This is getting out of control
...Khurana thought as he began to orient himself in the three-dimensional skies around him. The Chinese J-10 pilot had misread the tense situation and had bungled up. But now it was going downhill. One Indian fulcrum had taken a hit from a Chinese air-to-air missile while another was about to take down the Chinese J-10 in retaliation but without clear orders to do so. Emotions in combat could be very disruptive, as he knew. And right now both sides were displaying their fair share of it…

A bigger danger remained beyond the Chinese J-10. Four more Su-27s were bearing down from the north while a dozen more Indian fighters were now being vectored to the area by the Phalcon airborne controllers. It was time for him to bring things under control. He switched his comms:

“Claw-Three, this is -One. Do
not
engage! Repeat, do
not
engage!”

“Claw-One, this is -Three. We have already
been
engaged! I have the bugger locked on a single R-77 over here. Requesting permission to bring that son of a bitch down! Over!”

That’s tempting
...Khurana thought. But he also knew that if that Indian Mig-29 took down the J-10 then the four Su-27s would return the favor with a volley of their own BVR missiles against that offending Indian aircraft. And it would be for nothing: they were not at war.

Yet.

Besides, Khurana knew it was all a huge mistake. He was not going to be responsible for giving the Chinese a reason to start one. Not without proper authorization, anyway…

“Negative, -Three. Do
not
engage! Break contact and return to formation. Claw-Two is hit and needs assistance back to base. Standby,” he changed frequencies: “Eagle-Eye-One, this is Claw-One. Claw-Three has taken a hit from a Chinese missile but is still aloft. Barely. Claw-Two has the enemy J-10 locked on and ready to engage. I need authorization to engage or I am ordering my flight to break contact right away before this thing snowballs on us! Over.”

On board the Phalcon to the south, the airborne-controller looked back at Verma who in turn clenched his fists in anger at what had happened but was also professional enough to realize the huge mistake it all was. A few seconds later Khurana got his response:

“Copy, Claw-One. Assist the crippled bird back to base. We have Su-30s entering the airspace now and will establish BARCAP between you and the Su-27s. Good luck. Over and out.”

By this time Khurana had taken up position alongside Claw-Two as they made way back to Leh. Khurana turned his head to see the damage and came away with mixed feelings. The port side of the aircraft had been shredded. The port wing trailing edge control surfaces had been destroyed. The port side dorsal fuselage area panels had been blown away but luckily the engine was still apparently running. The port vertical stabilizer was also two-third the size it should have been. And one weapon pylon with its R-77 payload on the port side was missing. It was not pretty, but the damage was repairable.

In a few months, perhaps
...Khurana thought to himself as he realized that this particular aircraft was going to go off the No. 28 Squadron’s order-of-battle as soon as it came to a stop on the runway. But most importantly the pilot was still alive and unhurt. That in of itself seemed like a miracle considering the shape the aircraft was in. Khurana radioed to him the results of his visual inspection of the aircraft even as Leh airbase control tower finally checked in on the comms. Khurana was equally relieved to see his third aircraft return from the north a few minutes later and line up alongside with all his R-77s still attached.

AIRSPACE OVER SOUTHWESTERN TIBET

TIBET

MAY 15, 2120 HRS

As the Indian Phalcon crew under command of Verma were bringing the situation under control on their side, to the north Feng was also in full action as he tried to determine what had gone wrong.

“Order all Su-27s to shut down their radars and order them to pull back to the north right away,” Feng barked his orders to the airborne control officer.

Feng walked over to the single porthole to see the dark starlit skies outside. He knew he would have to answer for this. Pushing the situation was all right when done within limits. Out here, the situation had deteriorated severely and always the thinking officer, Feng had adapted. He knew that the J-10 pilot had panicked and bungled. He knew the Indians had evaded the missiles and were making their way back to base. But for all that they had restrained themselves. He was obliged to do the same. This was not a time to push the Indians.

At least not when all I have are just four Su-27s on hand...

But that was not to say that lessons had not been learned in the tense half hour. One of the things that had alarmed him was the speed of the Indian response. Within minutes of the missiles being fired, his radar controllers had detected multiple flights of Su-30s entering the airspace against his four on-station Su-27s. The Indians had laid claim to these skies, and it worried Feng that those sitting at the Junwei-Kong-Jun did not realize the level of the threat this kind of force posed to the PLAAF units in the region. He realized that the only way he was going to be able to accomplish the task of reasserting the PLAAF presence in these skies would be when he had a much larger force at his disposal.

He sighed at that prospect. He knew exactly what General Jinping was going to say. Worse, Major-General Zhigao would exude supreme yet naïve confidence when presented with the question of reinforcements for his 6
TH
Fighter Division. Small man that he was, he would make it a case for his personal ego and honor. And in doing so he would cripple any efforts by Chen and Feng to streamline the PLAAF combat units in the region. The Su-27UBKs and the J-11s in Lanzhou region were deployed under Zhigao for now. And he held very little regard in Lieutenant-General Chen’s and Senior-Colonel Feng’s eyes for his competence.

Zhigao was a man typical of the many senior officers in the PLAAF who lacked the competence required of good, competent leaders and who had instead spent the majority of their careers milking the vast military-industrial complex in China for personal gains. Corruption within the Chinese military was not new. Neither was the knowledge that none of these older commanders had ever faced combat against a professional enemy. The Indian Air-Force was formidable and flexible. Feng wondered whether his own forces would ever get the opportunity to do the same.

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE (MOD)

NEW-DELHI, INDIA

MAY 16, 0810 HRS

“Well, I think it is safe to say that this is typical snafu,” Basu remarked dryly. He looked around and saw the other three men in the room nod their heads in agreement. He walked over and took his seat on the cushioned sofa and sank in. As Ops-Director for the RAW, he was not having a particularly good last few days. 

“That about sums it up. Was that a regular PLA Battalion?” Vinesh Chakri, the Indian Defense-Minister, asked from where he sat, watching the tape on the television screen showing the IR view of the Heron over Shiquanhe.

“Not the first one. That was a police battalion from the Chinese 38
TH
Police Division. They got ambushed and mauled during the day’s fighting with the Tibetans. That’s when they called in their PLA buddies who, in all their genius, rolled in with armor and heavy guns and neutralized the whole damn village. No question of civilian losses. You see that? There on the left? That’s a complete block of civilian houses demolished by Chinese heavy artillery. Those guys fight insurgency with a heavy hand. And bottom line is that it works. Out Tibetan friends lost a good chunk of their men in this region in just one day’s fighting,” Lieutenant-Colonel Ansari said and paused the tape.