Chimera

No. They Bisons are on their own now.

Time to deal with the Su-27s…

The mission commander pointed to the inbound Su-27s on the screen in front of him:

“Tell me about these guys!” he ordered.

“They will be breaking into our airspace in a few minutes. Lima flight-leader has signaled his readiness. He’s maneuvering into position now.”

The mission-commander rubbed his eyes as he looked at the screen again. Two groups of Sukhois, one from the Indian side and the other from the Chinese, were moving parallel to each other but in opposite directions.

This was deliberate.

The twelve Chinese Su-27s from the 33RD Fighter Division were making a run for this airborne-radar aircraft and its crew. Everybody on board the aircraft knew it and the mission-commander could swear that he could sense their nervousness. But they were calm and manning their stations and that was all that mattered for now.

In between them and the inbound Su-27s was No. 8 ‘Pursoots’ Squadron and its gaggle of Su-30s. They were moving northeast and were near Tezpur.

To the east the dogfight around Chabua was ending at heavy cost to both sides. The last two surviving J-7s made a run for home but lost out when their fuel ran out near the Chaukan pass. Their ejections were noted on the radar screens aboard CABS AEW aircraft…

“Our boys near Chabua are checking in…” the radar controller announced and then waited as information piled on both in his headsets from the surviving pilots as well as the radar returns.

“… Seven survivors. All of them diverting to Chabua. Two of them declaring fuel emergency,” he said after a minute.

“Okay. Get them to Chabua to rearm and reload. We may need them again pretty soon,” the mission-controller ordered.

“Roger.”

“The Pursoots have engaged!” the other operator announced.

The eight Su-30 pilots fired sixteen R-77s at the inbound Su-27s over the snowcapped Se-La just as the last rays of sunlight illuminated the peaks below. The missiles arced into the darkening night sky and disappeared from view. The Indian flight-crews lowered their helmet-mounted NVGs and adjusted themselves in their cockpit seats.

But the Chinese Su-27 pilots were also spoiling for a fight.

The Chinese response was quick and the Su-27 pilots fired a barrage of PJ-12s and immediately broke formation, dropping chaff all over the sky whilst diving for the safety of the peaks below. A few seconds later five Su-27s were blown out of the skies above Arunachal Pradesh by the volley of R-77s. Two Su-30s were also knocked out by the PJ-12s. But the odds had been evened and now it was to be a knife fight within the Great Himalayan Mountains…

CHABUA AIRBASE

EASTERN ASSAM

DAY 3 + 1743 HRS

Two of the five remaining Mig-21 Bisons in Assam were on open tarmac at the airbase as airmen were attaching drop-tanks on the inner pylons and a single R-77 on one of the outer pylons on each aircraft. The corresponding pylon on the other wing was loaded with an external electronic-warfare pod. The pilots were still strapped into their cockpits as the crew-chief was leaning over their shoulders with bottles of water to drink. It was essentially like an F-1 racecar pit-crew.

It had to be. Especially when turnarounds on returning aircraft were the key to operations.

A few minutes later the crew-chief slapped on the pilot helmets and closed the cockpit glass behind them. Others on the ground visually inspected the new load-out and showed a thumbs-up to the two pilots who nodded. Seconds later the two aircraft began rolling towards the runway…

Two minutes later two Mig-21s were climbing steadily over the foothills of the Great Himalayan peaks as they headed northeast, away from the raging dogfight between Indian and Chinese Sukhois to the west. The pilots checked fuel usage: they were using up the external fuel tanks first…

By this time the skies to the east were a shade of dark blue. The silhouettes of the mountains were still visible with their western slopes lit by the fading reddish light.

Like the Sukhoi pilots, these pilots also lowered his helmet mounted NVGs and changed the visceral colors in front of them into a greenish-black hell-scape. The stars suddenly became visible almost as if they were lights that had been switched on. The Himalayan mountains were blanketed in light green coloration now…

The two Mig-21s were burning the external fuel fast as they built up speed and altitude. The HUD showed all the required statistics.

The external fuel tankage indicators were on their way down. A minute later the two Mig-21s reached twenty-five thousand feet altitude and the pilots brought their aircrafts down to zero climb-angle. But the afterburners were still on and the acceleration was high.