Chimera

Wencang had delivered as he had promised, and Jinping had signed off on it. So now Chen was commander of the unified MRAF for the ongoing operations. And Feng was his operations officer at Chengdu. Feng had brought down his staff from Lanzhou and merged them with the Chengdu staff for conformity during the last month and right now they were working fluidly.

Feng had to oversee the deployment of units at the larger levels and leave the war-fighting aspect to the unit commanders. He wasn’t too comfortable with some of the commanders, but that was something Chen and Wencang had been unable to change in such a relatively short period of time. Most of the guilty ones were too politically well dug in.

For now, Feng was more concerned with the strategic layout of the PLAAF against the IAF. And his main concern was the vulnerability of their Tibetan airbases to Indian attacks. His list of counter-measures to Wencang two months ago had covered this in detail. And Wencang had delivered on most of them. As a result, aircraft such as the Su-27/30 had not been deployed to the potentially vulnerable airbases in southern Tibet. Neither had the H-6 tankers and cruise-missile carrier aircraft done so. The only aircraft that were really forward deployed were the JH-7s, J-8IIs and a few J-10 detachments.

The war for the PLAAF had already begun. The cruise-missile barrage had done its job and now the manned fighters would do theirs. From all indications coming in, the cruise-missile attacks against Indian airfields had been a fraction of the success they were supposed to have been. The Indians had detected the launches and dispersed in time to take really serious damage. Feng had seen the report on the adjusted satellite orbits of the Indian Aerospace Command and put the picture together in his mind.

Bad luck… he thought.

But luck was as much a reality in war as tanks and missiles, and good commanders learnt to plan for it as well. Feng had certainly done so.

And to a certain extent, the missile attacks had done their job. The main idea had never been to destroy the IAF on the ground. And indeed, the idea itself was ridiculous. The main idea was to push the IAF further south of the border by destroying the infrastructure that gave them the advantage over the PLAAF in Tibet. Now both sides were far from the border and had almost similar aircraft types and numbers over the battlefield.

This is good.

Overall, senior PLAAF commanders down from Wencang to Chen and Feng knew very well that the terrain handed the IAF a clear advantage of operating close to the borders with near sea-level operating conditions. That meant that they could maintain a higher “aerial-density” over the battlefield. Now that this density had been reduced for a day or two, it gave the Chinese a fighting chance in the air war.

Feng also understood that if the PLAAF was going to keep the IAF from stopping the PLA logistics convoys dead in their tracks as they headed for the border, they would have to maintain this pressure on the IAF airbases using missiles and manned attacks. Actual destruction of Indian aircraft was secondary. If his pilots shot down Indian fighters and bombers while doing their primary jobs, then that was a bonus, but nothing more.

Feng looked at his watch. It was time to go. He put his papers away inside his briefcase and snapped it shut. Chen walked into his office as Feng was putting on his winter uniform coat.

“When do you leave?”

“In an hour. You sure you don’t want me here?” Feng asked again, hoping against hope that Chen would let him stay.

“Of course I want you here. You know that. But we have been over this before. The J-11s and Su-27s of the 6TH Fighter Division are going to prove a crucial element of the war in southwestern TAR. Zhigao is not up to the task on his own. I need you to take over his operations staff and be my eyes and ears out there. I can handle this sector without too much trouble. You know what to do,” Chen said. Feng finished buttoning his coat and picked up his briefcase from the table.

“Yes sir, I do understand.” Feng said finally and saluted. Chen returned the salute and patted Feng on the shoulder.

“Hopefully we will all make our way through this in one piece. Take care of yourself out there. And consider that one an order!” Chen smiled.

Feng returned the favor and both men walked out of Feng’s office, with Feng closing the door behind him after giving it a one final look. His personal baggage had already been loaded on to the Tu-154M transport aircraft waiting at the airfield to take him to Kashgar airbase in the Sinkiang region.

When he would arrive there, Feng would assist Major-General Zhigao maintain control of the PLAAF ground and air defenses covering the PLA forces in the Aksai Chin…

SOUTHEASTERN TIBET

DAY 1 + 0730 HRS