Chimera

“Eagle-Eye-One here. We have another inbound flight of J-10s on possible offensive tasking heading in from the northeast. Suggest all ground-tasked missions to abort and egress immediately. All D-C-A missions will advance to contact. Eagle-Eye-One has the ball. Out.”

The brief message from the Phalcon mission commander was enough to cause the Jaguar pilots to start sweating. They saw the three Mig-29s above them dropping their external fuel-tanks and lighting up afterburners as they accelerated into combat somewhere to the east.

It was becoming dangerous out here for bomb-laden Jaguars…

“You heard the radar boys, buddy. Find me a target or we are bugging the hell out of here in thirty seconds. I am not waiting around to see whether the Fulcrum drivers win their fight or not!” the pilot said urgently.

“Hold on, boss! I can find a target here. Our boys down there need us to take out as many targets as we can before their assault. Give me fifteen seconds over here and I will find you a commie tank!” the WSO replied.

“Roger. Fifteen seconds. Make it count!” the pilot said. He spotted three small flashes of light near the departing Mig-29s to the east. The lights were from the Mig-29s firing their air-to-air missiles. He saw the Fulcrums breaking formation and dropping flares…

RHINO FORCE POSITIONS

LADAKH

DAY 7 + 0620 HRS

The floor of the tank shuddered under the shockwave from the laser-guided-bombs exploding amidst the Chinese defenses. Kulkarni smiled as he watched the show from his turret optics. He keyed his comms:

“Rhino-One to all Rhino elements: we are weapons free! Let them have it! Engage all moving targets!”

Six of the ten Arjun tanks in the line had acquired targets already. Those tanks lit up as their main guns fired and each tank went into autonomous killing mode while on the move. This terrain was not meant for anything larger than small unit maneuvers, which meant that it was a slugfest. Whichever target presented itself to any tank under Kulkarni’s command would be engaged, destroyed or trampled over under the mass of the Arjun tank.

Chinese forces facing Kulkarni were already reeling from the incessant artillery and precision high-altitude air-strikes. The PLA Division commander had been screaming for air-cover and Lieutenant-General Chen at Kashgar had surged forward several flights of J-10s to run interference and cause the Indian aircraft to abort their strikes. On the ground, Colonel Sudarshan’s plan called for no lull to deny the enemy time to regain their composure.

Blitzkrieg at its finest.

The PLA soldiers on the two hills bracketing the valley had taken heavy losses. Their positions were still covered in smoke. Those that had not been killed outright were reeling from the pressure waves that had rippled through their bodies in seconds, literally burying dozens in their bunkers and trenches.

Between their two hills lay their armor units defending the left flank of their MSR from the Aksai Chin. This was point-victory for the 43RD Armored Regiment, the 4TH Mechanized and the 9TH Punjab battalions of the Indian army in DBO. The PLA Lieutenant-Colonel in command of the western hill watched from his NVG systems a line of ten Arjun tanks rolling down the valley, their turrets rotating left and right as they engaged what remained of his positions.

His first response was to call his armored force commander, but that thought passed when he saw pillars of fire amidst the dozen or so T-99s available to him. The ZBDs were doing no better. Several of them were moving past the burning chassis of the vehicles ahead of them to get a clear line of sight and engage the Indian tanks.

But to no avail.

The Arjun tanks outgunned and outperformed the optics on any of the PLA vehicle types. They were picking out and eliminating any vehicle that managed to pull past the wrecks around them even before the crew of that vehicle could see who was shooting at them.

Several Chinese T-99s did manage to fire their main guns once the Arjun tanks got closer, but the vastly superior armor of the Indian tanks prevented losses. One Arjun tank did come to a stop after being hit. Its turret blow-off panels flew off under an explosion and directed the impact energy away from the crew compartment. Three crewmembers of that tank piled out of the turret as its engine caught fire.

In return, other Arjun tanks simultaneously fired at the two remaining Chinese T-99s and sent fireballs flying underneath their turrets, destroying each tank in catastrophic explosions. There were no survivors in either tank. No such chance existed.

As the horrified Chinese commander realized what was happening, he picked up the radio and changed unit frequencies to forward a warning order to the rear-echelon units and his reserve ZBD force.