Tibet was still inaccessible by Indian air-force aircraft. Despite the air superiority established over the past five days against the PLAAF, the IAF was having a hard time disabling the Chinese S-300 batteries deployed near Lhasa. And despite the severe losses inflicted on the S-300 force in Tibet in the last few days, isolated batteries were still alive and could exert a dangerous presence over sections of Tibet.
Over the previous day of air-strikes, five Indian pilots had found this out the hard way. Four of those had not lived to fight another day.
But the Chumbi valley was far from Lhasa and outside the effective air-defense bubble. The lower-capability Chinese copies of the S-300 deployed in here had been knocked out quickly enough. And currently missions were being flown by Indian Mig-27s with relative impunity.
Losses were still being incurred on account of high volume of low-tech anti-air weapons. One Mig-27 had been lost early in the morning over the valley after having taken several direct hits from anti-air shells. But all in all, the transit of Chinese units in the valley over open roads was proving deadly under Indian controlled skies.
It was about to get worse.
The thin mountain air at these altitudes was particularly helpful for artillery systems since it helped increase their effective range by a decent margin. With the heavy 214mm Pinaka rocket system, it allowed increased options for the Divisional commander…
The morning serenity was rudely interrupted by the thunder and flash of rockets as several Pinaka rockets left their launchers and headed eastwards into the Chumbi-valley.
Operation Chimera had begun.
The rumbling noise and vibrations of the four turboprop engines were monotonous and tiring when exposed to it for hours on end. For the twelve-man Indian navy flight-crew on board the Il-38 anti-submarine-warfare and maritime-patrol aircraft flying over the waters of the Malacca strait, it was the fifth hour of the long patrol.
The aircraft was flying at a low enough altitude that the spotters inside were busy with their binoculars and other optics as they checked the few fishing vessels and other merchant ships still making their way through this passage. Most other commercial shipping had long since stopped transiting through this area.
With the morning sun up, it was hot, humid and sunny outside. The skies were clear blue and the waters below reflected the same. From this distance the small islands and the Malaysian coastline were mere green blurs on the horizon…
“We have inbounds!” The port spotter said over the intercom.
“Friendly?” the pilot asked as he peered outside cockpit glass.
“Neutral. Su-30s. RMAF markings,” the spotter said. He lowered his binoculars as the two new aircraft closed on them.
The two Malaysian Su-30MKMs flying in a tight formation flew by the lumbering Indian Il-38. Both sides managed to take a good look at each other…
“Okay, I have visual! Confirmed RMAF markings. Good call!”
“What are they doing?” the co-pilot asked.
“Maintaining situational awareness.”
“Two more visuals!” the starboard spotter said. “Long-range… single-engine high-altitude contrails to the west. Possible Indonesian F-16s!”
“It’s getting real crowded over here now,” the co-pilot said.
“Yeah, no kidding! Soon the Singapore jets will start piling in as well. We better call in additional support of our own!”
Two Su-27s finished refueling from the two escorting H-6U tankers and climbed away back to cruise altitude and speed. As they did, they left pairs of high-altitude white contrails against the bright blue sky. The H-6U tankers changed course and began flying back towards Hainan. They would be replaced with another pair of tankers when the two Su-27s returned from patrol over the Malacca Strait…
One of the side-effects of moving further and further east beyond the LAC was made clear to Colonel Sudarshan and Brigadier Adesara after their requests for fixed-wing air-support was denied on account of presence of the PLAAF and the S-300s. Though their men were busy snatching the ground from the Chinese, the skies above were neutral at the moment.
Captain Kongara looked above to see the cloudy gray sky and put his worries aside given that there was not much they could do about it. He walked into the forward command post of the 10TH Mechanized Battalion and found Colonel Sudarshan in a foul mood.
“Where the hell is the 4TH Mechanized? They were supposed to be here an hour ago!” Sudarshan shouted into his radio set.
People from his staff were running around through the tents set up between several parked BMP-IIs and being used as the forward battalion headquarters. Kongara walked past the snow covered vehicles and realized that he was stepping on slushy-wet mud made by the vehicle tracks. He silently cursed as his feet sank into one such shallow hole.
And it wasn’t restricted to the men either.
The tracks on the BMPs were getting worn out because of this slush, the gravel and the hard rocky terrain. While the advancing elements moving east over fresh terrain were facing less of a problem, repeated back and forth movement on the same terrain was causing trouble. Several supply trucks had gotten bogged down this way in the last few hours.
And it was about to get more congested out here.
The 4TH Mechanized Battalion was also inbound to the sector and was near Saser at the moment. Behind them, the 3RD Mechanized Battalion was assembling east of Leh for their drive into the sector. Lieutenant-General Gupta had requested for and been granted resources to turn the relatively minor spoiling attack by Brigadier Adesara into a major mechanized offensive by the reinforced Division into Chinese controlled Aksai Chin.
As things stood, the 10TH Mechanized Battalion had sliced across Chinese controlled sectors south of the Chip-Chap River and was placed to launch a hook maneuver to the north to drive into the Chinese left flank. Meanwhile the 4TH Mechanized, when they arrived, were supposed to be engaging the enemy in a free rolling advance into the Aksai chin in the general direction east by southeast, securing 10TH Mechanized Battalion’s right flanks by keeping the Chinese unbalanced.
In theory, at least…
Kongara reminded himself as he wiped his boots clean of the slushy mud. The tents were fluttering in the crisp cold winds. In the background he could hear the muffled thunder of falling artillery. Kongara looked around and then walked over to a colleague from the operations staff standing by the map table.
“Don’t even ask me how the advance is going, okay?” his friend said when he saw Kongara walking up. He then sighed, smiled and grabbed Kongara by the shoulders.
“Glad to see you are still alive, buddy boy!”
“And I see you haven’t drowned into the pool of slush you have going outside there!” Kongara shook his head towards the tent entrance. Then both men lost their smiles.
Time to get back to it…
“Trouble?” Kongara asked. His colleague grunted.
“You don’t know the half of it. The reconnaissance force ran into an advancing party of Chinese armor heading south about an hour ago. Four commie T-99s here…” he pointed on the map and continued: “Our boys lost three BMPs within seconds. The Nag missile vehicles further south nailed all four T-99s within minutes though.”