Chimera

“Because they are not moving. We are not sure why. One theory is that they could be earmarked for an invasion of Bhutan,” Yadav offered.

“Bhutan?” Chakri said in surprise.

“Yes sir. The Chinese may attempt to use Bhutan as an entry point to strategically outflank our forces in the Tawang sector from the west and to beef up their forces in the Chumbi valley and deny us that route,” Suman added his speculations to the mix.

“But Bhutan is sovereign nation. Why on earth would Beijing be looking to invade them?”

“Perhaps because they don’t see it the same way as we do? We know the Bhutanese government has been taking a lot of flak from Beijing on the whole Tibetan revolt issue. If this entire war is meant to be a repeat of 1962 in their minds, they might want to threaten Bhutan into taking a harder line against the Tibetans as well. Add to this our defense treaties with the Bhutanese and you can see why Bhutan could be dragged by Beijing into this war,” Yadav added. Chakri stayed silent and focused in his thoughts.

“It may make sense to talk to them at some point about this?” Suman added.

“Who? The Bhutanese?” Yadav asked.

“Yes. If there is a threat to their sovereignty, they have a right to know about it beforehand.”

“But we don’t know that there is indeed a threat. It’s just a theory at this point,” Yadav countered. Chakri re-entered the conversation.

“General Yadav, let’s try and confirm that theory as soon as possible. For the time being let’s concentrate on the more pressing issues. Now. Tell me about operation Snow-Thunder…”

EAST OF DIRANG

WESTERN ARUNACHAL PRADESH

DAY 1 + 1540 HRS

The soldiers were busy removing the snow-camo netting over the two vehicles. They were parked on a grassy clearing on the eastern bank of the frozen Khouma River. The road from Bomdi-la to Dirang to Se-La and then to Tawang was parallel to the river along this section. And the soldiers on this side of the river bank could see convoys of trucks moving through the slight snowfall to Tawang. The personnel of this particular unit, however, were busy with their own little war.

The two vehicles now being uncovered were the TELs for the 862 Missile Regiment of the Indian army. Each vehicle was armed with three launch canisters. Each of these canisters was loaded with a Block-II variant of the Brahmos cruise-missile. They had enough firepower within these two launch vehicles to decimate the better part of a small town within five minutes. But that was not why there were here today.

Two vehicles with three missiles each meant a total of six deadly warheads. A cruise speed three times the speed of sound and a travel distance of three hundred kilometers to target allowed for a roughly five minute flight. Such a short launch to impact time could surprise anybody, anytime and anywhere.

The issue however, was terrain.

The current launch point was at six-thousand feet above sea-level. Se-La peaks to the northwest were at fourteen to fifteen thousand feet above sea-level. The Great Himalayas peaks went as high as sixteen thousand feet, and then the Tibetan plateau remained at roughly the same altitude from there to Lhasa. High supersonic velocities like those of the Brahmos missiles do not allow low-level terrain-contour-matching or TERCOM flights through the valleys without drastic reduction in range, if at all. So the missile had to climb above these peaks rather than fly between them and in doing so make themselves visible to Chinese air defenses. But that could hardly be avoided at the moment.

The Major in charge of the two launchers walked around the back of one of the vehicles after having done his visual checks. He walked past the driver’s cabin on the front and slapped the door twice, letting the personnel inside know he was done with his checks. On their end they had already gone through their pre-launch process. Once the Major gave them the go ahead, the two TELs came to life with the hydraulic pumps pushing the canister tubes from horizontal position to vertical.

Inside the launch control cabin, several officers were busy loading target information into the missile fire-control system. The Major in command of the detachment was monitoring the activities over the shoulder of the men sitting on the consoles. By this time small orange warning lights were flashing near the vehicles for everybody to clear the area. The Lieutenant sitting at the fire-control console announced a “Ready” to all in mobile command trailer. The Major verified the numbers and turned to the Lieutenant:

“Fire!”

The Lieutenant flipped open the cover over the lit button labeled “LAUNCH” and then depressed the button.