Chimera

“All Baker elements, this is Baker-Actual. A few hours ago the Chinese launched an attack on this country and this unit using massive salvoes of cruise-missiles. Now they have started the ground war along our borders! This aggression will not be allowed to stand. They failed in their attempts to eliminate this battery before the ground war started. The battle has begun, and we are still alive. Now it’s our turn to return the favor, and unlike the red bastards attacking our country, we shall not fail. No mercy is to be shown or given!

“Commence Fire!”

The three Pinaka launchers now adjusted pod elevation and azimuth based on the data coming in from the northern WLR crew. The vehicle’s own sensors had already established outside atmospheric conditions that would affect the flight of the rockets and had compensated for it. The crewmen inside the sealed front cabin of the launchers had now fixed the data within seconds of the orders coming in. They now switched the launch mode to “Ripple” for the twelve rounds on each launcher. Finally, on command from the battery C3I control, they depressed the launch button and the vehicle cabin shuddered.

Outside, the vehicle was already enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Above the smoke cloud were streaks of light that were racing across the cloudy early morning sky…

NORTH OF THE MCMAHON LINE

DAY 1 + 0850 HRS

The Indian attack was unexpected and the damage was catastrophic. The three Pinaka vehicles had each targeted one Chinese field battery and one of them had split its rockets between a field gun battery and a Chinese MBRL battery that had hit the Indian guns under Lieutenant-Colonel Nath’s command. These Chinese batteries had been well dispersed so that a general attack could not suppress all of them at once, but since an entire Pinaka launcher was now directed against them, there was sufficient concentrated firepower and sophisticated precision within the twelve rockets of each launcher to wipe out these batteries as a whole.

And they delivered as advertised.

A few hundred feet above ground the twelve rockets from each launcher dispersed the smaller sub-munitions that carpeted a large tract of ground underneath them. With ripple fire inbounds, once the first rocket appeared over the Chinese guns, it was all over in just as many seconds as it had taken between the first and last rocket release for each launcher. A massive crumbling noise echoed the valley as hundreds of sub-munitions scattered red-hot shrapnel all over the Chinese field guns and their crews. Sympathetic explosions added to the devastation. By the time the last rocket from each launcher appeared over the target, the ground below was one big cloud of smoke…

HILLS NORTH OF WALONG

ARUNACHAL PRADESH

DAY 1 + 0851 HRS

It stopped just as abruptly as it had started.

The last shells slammed into the hillside before the frightening howl of the incoming shells stopped. It took several minutes before the echoing noises receded and some more minutes before the ringing in the ears of the Indian soldiers receded.

Major Krishnan stood up from his trench and dusted off his uniform and weapon as he looked around to check the status of the other soldiers. He wasn’t taking any chances. It was possible that the halt in the attack was a feint designed to draw the victims out in the open to tend to the wounded only to be caught in a renewed round of shelling. But after several minutes of silence it was clear to Krishnan that something else had changed his fortunes for the better…

EASTERN BANK OF THE LOHIT RIVER

NORTHEAST OF WALONG

ARUNACHAL PRADESH

DAY 1 + 0855 HRS

Lt-Colonel Mohan noticed with satisfaction that the ground under his feet had stopped vibrating and the thunder from the north had died away abruptly. His WLR crews had confirmed that all assigned targets had been terminated.

But the battle had only begun.

His deadly strikes had warned the Chinese that he was still around and as lethal as ever. And such arrogance was unlikely to go unpunished by the Chinese. Mohan walked back to his AXE utility vehicle and sat down in the front seat as his driver pulled back on to the road back to Walong with a swerve. Behind him the three Pinaka launchers were already beginning to move out while their crews considered their next location, next reload and next attack…

HILLS NORTH OF WALONG

ARUNACHAL PRADESH

DAY 1 + 0930 HRS