Chimera

The army ground-crews immediately opened the sliding doors to allow Generals Yadav and Suman and two other Brigadiers to clamber out onto the dust filled air holding their caps. They were directed away from the helicopter by a ground crew-man who then banged on the cockpit glass to notify the pilot to get the hell out while he still could. The pilot nodded and immediately pulled the Dhruv back into the air with every strut and bar inside groaning under the stresses. Within a minute both helicopters were streaking away to the west at treetop heights and the dust around the helipad dissipated away…

Yadav and Suman were met outside the helipad by Lieutenant-General Chatterjee and his senior staff officers. The IV Corps commander was not in a happy mood and Yadav and Suman soon found out why as they clambered on board the three AXE vehicles nearby. The vehicles took them from the helipad to the headquarters further into the foothills where there was more cover against missile attacks.

“What’s the situation up north?”

Yadav asked Chatterjee as their convoy finally moved off on the dusty road and towards a clearing in front of the entrance to the headquarters. The majestic snowcapped Himalayan peaks could now be seen on the northern horizon.

“We have the 13TH Group-Army trying to fight its way past my Divisions all along the Arunachal Pradesh border from Tawang to Walong. Their missile attacks on the first day did heavy damage to my artillery forces and RPV units just before the 13TH Group Army pounced on my boys. But we are holding in all sectors! For now anyway. 13TH Group-Army has suffered heavy losses and is consolidating its forces at the moment,” Chatterjee shouted over the sounds of their speeding vehicles.

“Be warned,” Suman added, “that the 21ST Group-Army from Lanzhou is also deploying into the sector to replace losses taken by the 13TH Group-Army Divisions. The air-force says they are going to have a knock at the inbound convoys heading into southern Tibet. If that fails we might have to go in for some attacks of our own using Brahmos units. We will see how that works out.”

“Roger that!”

“How’s our own readiness right now?” Suman asked as he looked at the convoys of army trucks they were bypassing.

“I have the sector covered. But I can always use additional artillery units. Especially if the 21ST Group Army units start reinforcing the existing units opposite my boys,” Chatterjee shouted from the front seat as they reached their destination.

OVER NORTHERN ASSAM

INDIA

DAY 3 + 1715 HRS

The inbound 44TH Fighter Division J-7s entered Indian airspace over the Chaukan pass hills at the extreme eastern edge of India. The twelve J-7s flying in a loose line-abreast formation now punched off their external fuel drop-tanks. This was immediately noticed by the radar crew of the Indian CABS AEW aircraft to the west as the screen became cluttered with small fading radar intercepts dropping behind the fast moving jets…

The Chinese knew what they were up against.

The path they were taking skirted around the handful of Indian Akash surface-to-air batteries protecting the high value targets in the region. This was also noticed by the AEW radar crew, and the mission commander made a mental note to ask those battery commanders to relocate. At the moment though he had other things on his mind. Now that his hopes for a few kills at the hands of the ground missiles was nothing more than just hope, he turned to the group of fourteen Mig-21 Bisons assembled in the skies west of Chabua airbase.

A few minutes later both the Bisons and the inbound J-7s traded shots. And twenty-six missiles ranged out in quick succession with fourteen more a few seconds later. The Indian Mig-21s had released two quick salvos of R-77 beyond-visual-range missiles while the Chinese had reciprocated with a salvo of their new AIM-120 knockoffs called the PL-12. Seconds after the Indian fighters had launched their second salvo, the Chinese reciprocated with another twelve PL-12s.

There were now fifty two missiles in the air…

All twenty six fighters broke formation to evade the swarm of missiles heading towards them.

Results were mixed. Five Indian Mig-21s were lost in exchange for six Chinese J-7s before the survivors from both sides merged into visual range. A desperate dogfight broke out in the skies above the Digboi oil refinery.

The AEW controllers were pragmatic. They realized immediately the futility of their involvement in the chaotic battle now taking place. The mission-commander realized that the Chinese J-7s had lost the initiative and unit cohesiveness, as had the Assam based Bison pilots. The J-7 pilots were also unlikely to be able to make their way home if they did not break contact soon given the short-range of their aircraft. In case any of the J-7 pilots decided to make a run for the Indian AEW aircraft to the west, the two Su-30 escorts flying alongside the aircraft could be dispatched on to the threat.