Chimera

The only road link from Leh via Shyok was crammed with military vehicles and was fast becoming a choke point for the two Indian Corps fighting the Chinese in Ladakh. The same was not true for the Chinese. The relatively easy terrain on their side meant that they had a larger number of tactical roads heading into the mountains from their arterial roads through the Aksai Chin.

This operation was the brainchild of the Air-Marshal Bhosale and Lieutenant-General Gupta at Leh and was designed to get the equipment and supplies to build and maintain a forward-area-rearming-point or FARP at Saser. Once established, it would take over the role that the airstrip at DBO played before it had been destroyed by Chinese artillery fire three days ago. It would turn Saser as the heart of the DBO sector pumping vital lifeblood to all Indian army units nearby…

The radio inside the cockpit chirped:

“Eagle-Eye-One to Switchblade-One. You are approaching enemy detection range. Keep your eyes open. Out.”

The pilot and co-pilot shared a look.

“Okay. What’s our exact location?” the pilot asked.

“Twenty kilometers east of Saser entry point,” the navigator replied after consulting his charts the old fashioned way.

“Okay then. Go time!” the pilot said to his crew.

He changed radio frequencies:

“Switchblade-One to all Switchblade elements, align your approach!”

The two Mig-29s providing top cover continued on their path but the two An-32s began their steep spiraling descent. So far they had been high enough to stay out of the range of man portable anti-air weapons. That would now change…

“Keep your hand on those flares…” the pilot suggested to his co-pilot as they watched the mountains around them becoming larger.

“I got my hand right on the button!”

The two transport aircraft were making what was in effect the Afghan-Tactical-Approach. It was a technique used by the soviet pilots during their war in Afghanistan in the late 1980s when the threat from Stinger missiles fired by the Mujahedeen against soviet transport aircraft near their bases was very high.

The idea was that arriving or departing aircraft would approach the airbase from high enough altitude to be safe from these missiles. Once over the airbase, they entered a spiraling descent within the security zone around the airbase while dispensing flares to ward off missile threats. This tactic worked. Within limits.

“Approaching eighteen-thousand feet!” the co-pilot said.

“Roger. Leveling!” the pilot replied.

He stabilized the aircraft and spotted Saser just as the aircraft recovered from the spiral descent.

“Approaching Saser! Visual acquisition and signal flares sighted! Go Red!” the pilot shouted.

The co-pilot pressed the button that opened the cargo doors in the back where two airmen were waiting for the order to start pushing the cargo out. The lights next to them on the ramp now went red and they began pushing the equipment to the edge of the cargo-hold…

“Drop on my mark! Three! Two! One! Go Green!” the pilot ordered.

The two airmen saw the light switch turn green and began pushing the cargo. The pallets slid out the back of the aircraft ramp and deployed under large white parachutes. Several seconds later they were clear and the second An-32 was making its approach behind them.

The flight-crew anxiously scanned the peaks around them as their aircraft flew down the valley. They could see no activity but that meant nothing. They were just waiting for the all-clear from the loadmaster in the cargo hold…

“We are clean! All cargo deployed under open canopies!” the loadmaster’s voice came on the radio. The pilot turned to his right:

“Close the cargo doors! And launch a flare barrage as we pull out!”

While the co-pilot did this, the pilot was already pushing the throttle for both engines forward and the engines groaned under the strain. The aircraft picked up speed…

Both aircraft were now climbing out of Saser, dropping flares all the way until they were well on their way to the southwest. When the aircraft had gone beyond thirty-thousand feet, they leveled out and reduced power.

“I wouldn’t want to do that very often!” the navigator said over the cockpit intercom.

“Get used to it, old boy! We will be doing a lot more of those in the days to come,” the pilot said as he loosened his tight grip on the controls…

LEH AIRBASE

DAY 4 + 1345 HRS

Wing-Commander Dutt saw a utility-vehicle racing down the tarmac from the base operations center. He and his pilots were standing next to their helicopters on the tarmac. There were two LCHs, a single Dhruv and two Mi-17 helicopters parked nearby with pilots in their flight-suits waiting for the all-clear from Dutt.

The other four LCHs under his command were parked further away under camouflaged netting where they were being assembled after having arrived recently. His entire force of helicopters was in now in the area of operations…

The rumble of the jeep’s engine became louder.

Dutt turned to see the base commander for Leh jump of the front seat. Dutt walked over to him.