“It’s Sumdorung Chu all over again,” Potgam noted and sighed.
He had been a young Lieutenant back in 1986 during that crisis. The threat of nuclear weapons use by China in response to any Indian offensives into PLA controlled territories had forced India’s hand to quite an extent despite superiority against the PLA. It was happening again…
“Yes it is!” Suman agreed. “We push them too hard and they will move to the nuclear threshold.”
“Which gives us little time on the ground here,” Potgam added.
“Exactly. How much time do you need?”
“Damn hard to say, Suman,” Potgam said as he considered that question. “This is war we are talking about here. I can’t give you an estimate because we don’t know how hard the survivors of the Highland Division north of Thimpu will fight. Only thing I can say is that every bit of support, men and time you can buy for us is useful. Colonel Misra leading the Paras is fully aware of the overall situation and is expediting things. That is the only guarantee I have for you right now!”
There was silence on the radio for several seconds.
“Very well, warlord,” Suman said finally. “You have the ball. Run with it as best as you can. Meantime, I will get my operations people to divert as many resources as we can free up. We are fighting under a nuclear umbrella now, my friend. Let’s keep that in mind. Panther-actual, out!”
The first rays of sunlight sneaked under the low hanging clouds and illuminated the eastern slopes of the mountains. But none at the airbase had time to muse over the beauty.
As the valley reverberated under the characteristic whine of Il-76 engine noises, few looked up. The KJ-2000 touched down on the concrete of the runway, leaving puffs of smoke in its wake and rolled all the way to the end of the runway. Aircraft landing at such high altitudes had to land faster and had substantially longer roll distances. It sped past the main tarmac where a smaller KJ-200 was parked with engines switched off. The tired and weary crew of that aircraft were stepping off and boarding a military bus that would take them to their secure bunker residences.
Further down the line five Su-27s stood on the tarmac, loaded out to full capacity with air-to-air weapons. Two of their brethren were rolling to take their place on the runway for take-off just as the large AWACS aircraft rolled off it and headed towards its designated area under the guidance of a utility vehicle in front of them.
The EW operator on board the Indian CABS AEW aircraft checked his watch and noted the time on his notepad with a pencil. He looked over his shoulder to see Group-Captain Roy standing with his arms crossed, looking at the data on the screen.
Twelve hours to the mark… Roy thought and smiled.
The PLAAF had gotten complacent and fallen into a cycle of operations that had become highly predictable. Just a few minutes ago the replacement KJ-2000 for the one that had returned to Golmud had broadcast its radar emissions for him to see and detect.
The Chinese 76TH Airborne Command and Control Regiment and the rest of its parent 26TH Air Division were running defensive operations like clockwork out of Golmud with Su-27 and J-11 support from 19TH Division’s roster. Almost all of these aircraft were now on DCA tasking over central Tibet.
It doesn’t matter why they fell into complacency. Just that they did… Roy thought as the EW operator typed up the latest track information and transmitted it to the operations center at Shillong.
As he had done before.
In the fields north of the airfield, word came down to the battery commander and his crew from SFC headquarters. They had been briefed beforehand and had several hours to prepare.
They were ready.
Within minutes the noise from the hydraulic pumps filled the air and the first of three Agni-I ballistic-missile launchers elevated their precious cargo. As the missiles reached their elevated position, they jutted above the nearby trees. The sunlight glistened on the green-brown camouflaged missile fuselage carrying the black re-entry warhead on top.
Moments later the ground reverberated and an exhaust of fire and smoke flashed out of the nozzles on the first missile, filling the air and forming a cloud that enveloped the missile within seconds. The tip of the missile elevated above the gathering exhaust and the missile lifted into the clear blue morning skies underneath a pillar of flame.
It was followed seconds later by the second missile and then the third.
Within a minute all three missiles were in the air and their pencil thin trailing exhaust outlined their northbound parabolic trajectories for all the citizens of Baghdogra to see…
There was little time for the Chinese to respond.
The KJ-2000 airborne radar aircraft over Lhasa immediately picked up the launches as the missiles moved above the elevation of the Tibetan plateau and accelerated far above into the upper atmosphere. Soon they were above and beyond the detection range of the Chinese radars.
The warheads separated from the boosters and fell back into the atmosphere. The three black warheads moved above all remaining Chinese air-defenses and entered the atmosphere on their way down south of Golmud…
Klaxons were sounding off at the airbase there as the warning from the airborne KJ-2000 radar crew came down via the 26TH Air Division HQ at Korla. But there was no defense possible. As every Chinese soldier on the ground ran for cover, dumping whatever they carried with them at that moment of time, the three one-thousand kilogram conventional warheads streaked through the atmosphere above their heads. At the speeds involved, it might as well have been instantaneous for those on the ground below.
The first warhead exploded a few dozen meters above the camouflaged revetments being used by the crews of the 821 Brigade detachment including their three CJ-10 GLCM launchers, command, control and support vehicles.
The expanding ball of white flame flashed through the area, ravaging the ground and reflecting the shockwaves across the hard terrain in all directions radially. The thunderclap instantly deafened anyone within the Golmud valley and the expanding circle of destruction behind a wall of gravel and rocks swept through the outer perimeter of the airbase…
The second warhead slammed moments later into the concrete tarmac being used by the 76TH ACCR and the inverted cone of flame and concrete rose hundreds of feet into the air, expanding outward and sweeping across the parked Chinese AWACS and AEW aircraft.
The mushroom cloud of dust and smoke was now rising thousands of feet into the air when the last warhead, a bit delayed at launch, swept overhead and crushed its way into the runway midway along its length.
In one brutal and sudden sweep the Chinese 26TH Air Division and its organic 76TH ACCR had lost the bulk of its AWACS and AEW assets. By the time the thunder and echoes of the explosions rippled through the hills and dissipated away, the three mushroom clouds of dust had enveloped the airbase as they rose silently into the gray skies above.