Four… Three… Two…
“Incoming!” Sarvanan said as his head jerked up at the incoming howls of landing rockets.
The ground just beyond the outskirts shook as inverted cones of gravel and rocks flew dozens of feet into the air around the leading mass of Chinese soldiers moving tactically forward. The shockwaves took a few seconds to reach Vikram and the others at their post. The concrete floor under their feet rumbled and the snow on the roof shook itself loose. Two dozen large 214mm rockets had pummeled into the ground around the Chinese soldiers, leaving nothing more than a dust cloud in the valley…
Vikram’s radio burst to life:
“Kaboom! Good impact, Hotel-Six! Wasted those suckers!”
An excited voice spoke up from warlord-central. None of the men in Spear had any such energy left. They also got to see up close and personal the nasty effects of these strikes and it was not pretty. Maybe it looked cleaner on the Searcher-II optics. No explosions to hear, no pressure waves rippling through the body and no screaming cries of help from wounded Chinese soldiers to be heard.
It did seem fun when you removed these elements…
Vikram knew that Pathanya was also listening in. But neither man had anything to add right then. The radio conversation continued regardless:
“Yeah, roger that! What’s the assessment on the barrage? I can’t see anything through that dust cloud we raised!”
“Switch back to thermal?”
“Uh… negative on thermal. Too much I-R scatter. Stick to visual and hold off on second barrage until we have a clear target. Let the boots on the ground out there confirm what we are seeing up here.”
That was Vikram’s cue.
He tried hard to make out anything through the haze, but it was not possible. However, one thing was confirmed: the leading Chinese infantry company had been massacred out of the clear blue sky…
“This is Spear-Two. Fire-mission successful and good effect on target. Impossible to verify specifics but the leading wave of soldiers took heavy losses. Over,” Vikram said finally.
He fully expected to hear: “Yeah, no shit, genius!”
“Roger, Spear-Two. Warlord-central copies all. Hotel-Six, what’s the E-T-A on the second fire mission?” the voice from Haa-Dzong said.
Guess General Potgam must be standing around…
“Two minutes! Send targets!”
“Roger. Second target is the battalion headquarters half-click north of grid baker-quebec-on…”
Vikram lowered his headset and looked around, seeing Sarvanan and Tarun quietly manning their posts. To the north the haze began to clear.
This is proving too easy. What are we missing?
He changed frequencies and pulled up intra-team comms to Pathanya.
“Spear-One, this is — Two. Do you copy?” he spoke quietly.
“Go,” Pathanya’s voice came through.
“Boss, this is proving too easy. Why are they not advancing under artillery cover? They are not even suppressing Hotel-Six,” Vikram said.
“Is that a problem, Vik? You make it sound like it’s a bad thing!”
“Negative, boss. I am just saying that the Chinese will not take this kind of mauling lightly. Thing is, I can’t figure out what they can do. For sure they are bringing in heavy mortars to support their assault on Thimpu, but that’s point artillery. Where are their long-range guns? Their rocket systems?”
“Maybe we took all of them out. I know we took out three of their direct support gun batteries yesterday, so maybe they haven’t had time to replace them yet,” Pathanya speculated.
“Then why make this kind of suicidal advance now? Why not wait it out until they can provide suppressive arty?”
“Maybe they are on a timetable for something.” Pathanya offered.
“Perhaps.”
“Or maybe,” Pathanya continued, “they know this is their only window for capturing Thimpu before our boys arrive and turn this place into a fortress. Look, I have enough things to worry about here. Let’s leave the speculation to warlord and his commanders. Stay sharp and keep your eyes peeled!”
As Pathanya chimed out, Vikram remained lost in thought.
He was pulled out of it when the first flashes of light appeared further north and the Chinese battalion lost its headquarters to murderous fire from Hotel-Six rockets. Twenty near-simultaneous flashes destroyed the Chinese ability to control the momentum to Thimpu. While they sorted it out, they gave Colonel Misra the time he desperately needed to deploy into the Bhutanese capital.
The three flights of J-8IIs from the PLAAF 37TH Fighter Division lit afterburners and accelerated away from their H-6U tankers. As the sunlight glinted from their cockpits, the pilots of the nine J-8IIs could see the three Su-30MKKs from the 33RD Fighter Division flying a few thousand feet above their tankers on BARCAP duty…
The J-8II squadron-commander realized that these Flankers were not going to provide support to his pilots today. Not after their murderous losses in the last seven days. The remaining Chinese Su-27/30s in theater were now being pooled from various depleted squadrons and tasked with defensive missions.
What that meant for the less-prestigious mud-movers like the J-8II and J-7 units was not something the squadron-commander wanted to dwell on today. As they left the tankers and their precious escorts behind, the J-8IIs switched off afterburners, spread into a loose formation and headed south.
Once again the PLAAF had been tasked with hitting Paru airport. A J-10 unit had done this successfully the day before. And died doing it. Not one single pilot had returned from the eight aircraft sent. But the attack had been successful and Feng and Chen were pleased enough to try it again. This time they were throwing a J-8II squadron on the job.
The PLA General leading the Highland Division on the ground in Bhutan was convinced that the airport at Paru must be shut down permanently in order to secure victory. As one of the only theaters where any chance of success now lay for the battered PLA, Beijing had allocated priority and Wencang had been asked to assist with his fighter-bombers.
Then there was also the issue of a Indian MBRL battery at Paru, which was laying waste to the Highland Division’s attempts to break into, and capture, Thimpu. Chinese satellites had located the battery north of Paru and three of the J-8IIs were tasked with the elimination of that target. Another three were armed purely for air-to-air combat.
The squadron-commander knew what he was leading his men into. That was why he was commanding this mission despite strict orders from his regiment’s political officer. Everybody knew what the chances of survival from this mission were.
But if they could get in and strike their targets, that was all that would matter at this point. If they were lucky, some of them would make it back. If not, they would most likely be ejecting over areas of Bhutan already under control of the Highland Division…
The squadron-commander checked the map display in front of him and then scanned the sky around. Ten more minutes before he would order his flights to hit the deck and approach the Bhutanese border as low as possible. For now, fuel was to be conserved for combat.
A KJ-2000 AWACS to the north was providing him airborne radar coverage. His radar warning receiver squawked and started giving warnings. The Indian AEW radar had spotted them…
But we are still ten minutes out from our low-profile phase!
He double checked his maps. The Indian AEW bird was flying far towards the north and probably over northern Bhutan right then!