Even more importantly, unlike the Ladakh and Arunachal-Pradesh fronts, the Indians could not allow this war to end while the Highland Division forces were still embedded inside Bhutan. That meant they would be focused on that theater from now on. And that made them predictable.
An advantage to exploit?
But that was for the CMC in Beijing to consider. On the sharp tactical end of the war, Feng had to accept that he now faced a battered but alive Indian Jaguar and Su-30 strike force licking its wounds…
Feng walked back to the table where the waiters were still waiting near his abandoned food plate. He apologized to them about the wasted food and asked for his uniform coat and cap. A few seconds later an orderly arrived with his winter overcoat with all the ribbons and insignia attached. He put those on and walked out of the room while everybody jerked into a standing attention in the middle of their meals. He did not return their salutes as he left the room.
As he exited the building and felt the biting cold winds outside, he saw his three-car convoy pulling up to take him back to the command center. In planning to have his meal in the peacetime operations buildings here, he had probably risked more than he should have. But he had enjoyed the breath of fresh air as compared with the thermal-controlled air inside his underground operations center.
As he prepared to get into the open door of his black sedan, he saw Major Li jumping out of the second sedan and walking up to him.
“You really should try the food here tonight. It is very good,” Feng said as he buttoned his overcoat.
“Sir, you should not be out here. It is not safe!” Li said.
“Yes, yes. I know,” Feng said. “But I needed the fresh air. I should eat alongside the men whom I order into combat every day. It was nice to see what their faces look like. When you get to my level of command, Li, you will understand why that is important.” Li smiled.
“And? What was your impression?” he asked Feng.
Feng exhaled a breath of cold air and decided it was time to get into the vehicle. Li got inside with him.
“They looked far fresher than I had hoped. Eager as well!” Feng said as the vehicles started moving. Li nodded and agreed with his CO.
“Indeed,” he said, facing Feng. “The pilots and officers you saw are from the 17TH Air Regiment that deployed here as per orders from General Chen after your meeting with him. More are deploying now. And the 19TH Fighter Division has moved initial detachments to Golmud and Urumqi airbases!”
Feng turned away from the shaded windows of the vehicle:
“So! A lot happened during my meal then!” he said. “But do you think it will be enough, Li?”
“I don’t understand. You told General Chen that these units are what you wanted.” Li responded with concern in his voice.
“Indeed I did. But there is a difference between wanting from choice and wanting out of desperation, is there not? The men I saw today in the dining hall are eager to get into the fight, as well they should be. But they are also not yet bloodied by war. The men from the former J-10 unit here from the 44TH Division were also similarly eager. And they had better equipment at hand when they joined the war eight days ago. And they died at the hands of the Indians despite their eagerness. These new units, barring the 19TH Division, are second tier at best and will now be facing battle-hardened Indian pilots. What do you expect the outcome to be?” Feng asked neutrally and then looked outside as the convoy went down into the entrance of his command center.
Soon the darkness outside was replaced with lines of yellow lighting along the tunnel. As the end of the tunnel, the cars stopped. Feng turned back to Li:
“Expect the Indians to begin launching strikes against our airbases in Tibet and even here. Put the base on full alert and have a sizeable portion of the available J-7s on immediate launch readiness. The ground offensives in Ladakh will no longer occupy the Indians as we had hoped they would. And their first target will be here. If I were Air-Marshal Bhosale, I would be ordering my planes to strike Kashgar right about now. There is nothing to stop them anymore other than our fighters and the AWACS. And these are the key. Pass the word to the 19TH and 26TH Division headquarters as well. I want round the clock AWACS and J-11 support for this sector from now on. Understand?”
“Yes sir!” Li said and stepped out of the other door of the car.
Feng stood after getting out and looked at the massive Chinese flag draped on the wall of the Tunnel at the entrance to the operations center.
He nodded at the flag, and the two sentries nearby shared a surprised look amongst themselves.
“Major!” Feng yelled back at Li who was already heading to the entrance gate.
“Sir?” Li said as he stopped just before showing his identification cards to the sentries.
“Where are Generals Chen and Wencang right now?” Feng said as he walked up to the Major near the entrance doors.
“Sir, General Chen is here and getting some sleep,” Li replied. “He said he is not to be disturbed for the next couple of hours. General Wencang is at the Junwei-Kongjun.”
“Wake up General Chen,” Feng said as he pulled Li outside of the hearing radius of the soldiers nearby, “His sleep can wait. And get a meeting set up with Colonel-General Wencang on behalf of General Chen and myself. Coordinate with his adjutant if you have to. Tell them both that I need to talk to them about our air operations in the next few days alongside the 2ND Artillery Corps.”
“Sir?”
“Listen to me, Li. This aerial war will go one way or another tonight. But if the Indians lash out at us here, deep inside our own territory as they attempt to destroy our major airbases supporting the Ladakh front, Beijing might take that as a last straw and take control away from the PLAAF high command and hand it over to Colonel-General Liu and his commanders in the 2ND Artillery Corps. You understand now?”
“Yes sir,” Li responded with some hesitation.
“Good,” Feng continued.
Li saluted and Feng returned it. As Li brisk-walked down the corridors and disappeared, Feng walked slower and headed to his office. He reached for the doors, sighed and walked inside.
The rumble of the turboprop engines reverberated through the cockpits as the flight-crew checked their instrumentations. The pilot had his hands on the control and was looking through the cockpit glass via his helmet-mounted night-vision goggles. The low-light optics was not really required as the aircraft was fully equipped for instrument flight. And at these altitudes, there was no chance of terrain collision. But the pilot was interested in the skies around them for other reasons. And as the aircraft flew south-east to their orbiting location one-hundred kilometers north of the peaks at Kargil, the skies were alive with danger…
The greenish-black view from his optics showed a flight of four F-16s calmly overtaking his aircraft two thousand feet above him in a loose finger-four formation. He could make out the black silhouettes of the four aircraft against the moonlight.
These were the escorts.
The pilot now turned his attention back to the front and saw no other aircraft. But that was very deceptive.
As the PAF ‘Karakoram-Eagle’ AEW aircraft moved into its AO close to the Line-of-Control with India, the radar and mission crews in the back of the aircraft began their job and started developing a radar picture of the Indian aerial warfare capabilities over Ladakh.