Chimera

The now empty launchers were quickly approached by their replenishment vehicles to rearm for a second barrage. This barrage was intended to deliver a cluster of small proximity-fused mines designed to choke off avenues for the enemy. As the ground crews loaded the still smoking tubes of the launchers with new rockets, the counter-battery WLRs near DBO attempted to determine the high-arcing trajectories of the newly arrived PLA tube-artillery units hitting Kulkarni’s tanks.

SASER

LADAKH

DAY 7 + 2020 HRS

The dust cloud picked up as soon as the LCH flared above the helipad. In the dark of the night, it approached with all ground visual nav-aids switched off and only a pulsing infrared beacon to serve as a bearing on the helicopter’s chin-mounted FLIR turret.

Dutt released the collective and adjusted the tail rotor power to bring the fuselage around just as he felt the slight bump of the landing gear touching the shifting gravel below. The hydraulic legs of the undercarriage pushed up with a slight swish and absorbed the load while the engine powered down. Dutt and his WSO switched off all equipment inside the cockpit.

Airmen from his unit were already rushing to make the helicopter ready for its next mission. Empty weapon pylons were being removed by one set of airmen while others brought in sets of ready-to-fire anti-tank missile rounds. For the last day, all they were carrying for each mission besides the chin-gun ammo were the HELINA missiles. These latest generation fire-and-forget missiles developed in India by the DRDO were being used excessively by Dutt and his pilots to help delete the PLA armor numerical advantage on the battlefields of Ladakh.

Dutt’s crew-chief was knocked on the side glass of his cockpit and opened it. Freezing cold air and falling snow flakes rushed into the cockpit. Dutt removed his breathing mask and took a deep breath of fresh air.

The men flying the two LCHs from 199HU were approaching physical exhaustion. They had now been flying and fighting without break for an extended duration. The same applied to the ground crews working day and night to keep the helicopters operational.

The helicopters were not much better.

Engine exhausts were grimy and the side of the fuselage behind them was blackened with soot. Same for the chin-mounted cannon barrel. It had fired more rounds in the last two days than it had in the last two years of testing put together. It would need replacement soon, and Dutt’s operations officer had made urgent requisitions from HAL for new cannons. Even if they could be rushed to Leh, it might take days to arrive down the congested logistical artery from Leh to Saser…

In the meantime, the war went on.

Dutt unbuckled himself and with the help of his crew-chief, managed to step outside onto the snow covered ground below. He saw the empty helipad where his second helicopter would normally be, but it was off on another desperate mission to prevent a small platoon of Gorkhas under Adesara’s command from being overrun east of the airstrip.

Same shit, different day…

There were other helicopters at Saser as well. A couple of armed Dhruvs were parked nearby and further away Dutt could see a Mi-17. He extended his hand out and saw a few flakes of snow fall on it. He shrugged it off and stared into the night sky above. He could not see any stars, which meant there were clouds overhead. The weather was not cooperating…

“What’s the forecast for the next few hours?” he asked his metrological-officer as he walked up to the latter’s bunker near the base of the eastern ridge.

“Not good,” the Squadron-Leader replied. “Sharp snowfall later tonight will close everything down till tomorrow morning. I suggest moving our birds under cover and make sure everything is secured before the driving snow hit us. We should be clear again tomorrow just before noon.”

Dutt was not happy to hear that. The ground war would not wait for the weather to clear for his helicopters. The only advantage the Indian side had was the local air power…

Before Dutt could say anything, a jeep pulled up with a screech on the loose gravel and the three men turned to see. Narayana jumped off the jeep and ran over.

“Shit. This can’t be good.” Dutt’s WSO observed on seeing Narayana’s body language as the latter approached. Dutt snorted.

“What is good around here to start with?”

“Sir, request from Colonel Sudarshan,” Narayana said urgently. “We need to move operation Sickle-swipe forward right now. 43RD Armored has been forced to retreat and is taking heavy enemy arty. The Chinese have their drones in the sky there and are using them as spotters. These guys,” he gestured towards the parked Smerch launchers arrayed to the west, “are going to drop hell on the enemy guns once they locate all of them. But the Colonel wants us to take out the Chinese drones above our guys right now!”

Dutt turned to his metrological-officer:

“How long do we have before the weather cripples flying altogether?”