On the Indian side, however, the long-range bruiser was the Su-30MKI. This Flanker derivative had long range and endurance. Other fighters deploying from nearby bases at Leh, Srinagar and so on also meant that aircraft such as the Mirage-2000s and upgraded Mig-29s could and would join the fray as required. And in-flight refueling tanker support was available for those aircraft that needed them to get home.
All in all, the PAF was a defensive force whose only strategic objective was to retain control of their own skies. They weren’t going anywhere else beyond it and they knew it. The deployment of a good chunk of their newer F-16s to Skardu and Gilgit was as much about deterrence as it was about defenses.
Well, we will see how that holds up! Verma looked at his wristwatch. It was time.
The valley became backlit with orange-white glow as the first of the Block-III Brahmos missiles leapt out of the tubes into the cold night sky. The nine-meter long missiles climbed straight up on an expanding tower of flame and smoke and then slapped to their side using their maneuvering thrusters before accelerating to the north. They climbed above the Himalayan peaks around them. A few seconds later they ejected their booster rockets and the air-breathing ramjet engines roared to life. As the smoking boosters fell to the rocks below on ballistic trajectories, the first three Brahmos missiles created a vapor cone in front of their noses and broke through it just before reaching the line of control. They crossed into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir trailing supersonic shockwaves that shook the mountains…
On board the Pakistani Karakoram-Eagle airborne-radar aircraft, the sudden arrival of the Brahmos missiles on the radar screens sent a wave of chaotic comms chatter as Verma’s counterpart in this aircraft attempted to make sense of what was happening. They had two F-16s up on patrol near Skardu and these were ordered to punch afterburners and move into position to try and intercept the incoming cruise missiles. But the Brahmos missile launches were timed for precision alongside the input from the Indian airborne-radar aircraft. And the two Pakistani pilots became aware of this fact as they dived from position and had to reverse back on their flight path. They were facing the missiles coming straight at them at three times the speed of sound. Coupled with their own high speed, the closure rate was enormously high. And as such, there was no time for the two pilots to engage anything successfully. The two AMRAAM missiles they fired flew past their intended targets at a relative velocity of four times the speed of sound.
For their part, the three missiles were heading to their targets oblivious of the Pakistani attempts to stop them. They made it over their target area before a shot could be fired. These Block-III missiles had the ability for steep dives built in, which they put to use as they swept past the massive peaks surrounding Skardu airbase. The missiles passed the peaks and snap-dived into their targets: the Skardu runway.
At such high impact velocities, they slapped into the concrete of the runway at three precisely measured locations equidistant along its length. The inverted cones of smoke, dust and concrete thrown into the air rose up for a split second before the large warheads on the missiles exploded and the symmetrical cones were blown apart by a wall of flames…
Within minutes, the smoke began to slowly take shape in the form of mushroom clouds as the thunder rippled through the valley, echoing for several minutes across the peaks. The shockwave from the massive explosions also ripped apart one of the two F-16s that had been sitting on the operational readiness platform at the end of the runway.
As ground crews began to rush to the site of the strike, the word was passed up the command line: Skardu airbase was shut down.
To the pilots of the two F-16s flying overhead, this was clear as day and they didn’t need any confirmation from command. However it did complicate their lives substantially. It took the leader of the two-man flight only a few seconds to realize what had happened: their main force of backup was now stuck on the ground. This meant there would be no support around for a while until aircraft from Pakistan and from Gilgit could come down to lend a hand. As they scanned the skies above the southern peaks, they began to realize just how lonely they were out there…
“Pike and lancer leaders, weapons-free! Weapons-free!”
Wing-commander Oberoi smiled within his mask as he heard Verma’s message. As commander for the No. 28 Squadron, he had been rearing to get into the fight. His squadron had been flying well south of the maximum detection range of the kilo-echo. He flipped the comms: “pike-leader to all pike elements: punch tanks and move to contact on my mark! Three… two… one… mark!”
The eight Mig-29s comprising pike punched their two external wing drop-tanks in unison and accelerated with afterburners to the north. They now outnumbered the enemy four-to-one inside Verma’s aerial kill-box. The Indians had just acquired a much higher aerial-density in the skies above Skardu.
And Oberoi and his Mig-29 drivers intended to make it count.
“Bandits turning… heading south. Closure rate at fifteen hundred.”
“Pike copies all.” Oberoi responded to the input from Verma’s boys. He did the mental calculations to determine when the green dotted rectangle on his heads-up-display, or HUD, would turn into a solid one. This rectangle pair represented the input from Verma’s airborne radar aircraft and corresponded to the location of the two Pakistani F-16s north of them.
He noticed that there was sweat inside his gloves now.
So it is real after all!
He turned his attention to the aircraft. The attitude of his Mig-29 was stable: zero roll rates, positive pitch. The rumble of the afterburners reminded him that he was still accelerating whilst climbing. Sure enough, the velocity and Mach counters were registering the gradual increase in his kinetic energy.
The dotted rectangle turned solid with an audio tone in his helmet earphones. Now their own radars had also acquired the two enemy aircraft. Sure enough, the radio squawked: “Mongol-two to pike. Bandits handed over. Kill them all!”
“Wilco!” Oberoi looked left and right to see the other seven Mig-29s flying in a line-abreast formation. All aircraft would engage simultaneously. He switched frequencies: “Pike elements: here we go! Weapons release on my mark. Break the enemy formation and dive for the deck. Do not let the buggers keep you at arm’s length! We do our business better up close and personal!”
“First supersonics!” was the chorus response on the comms. Oberoi smiled. The squadron had really taken to its name with pride following the China war. Back then, they had been one of the first air-force units committed to combat against the Chinese aircraft in Ladakh. Now the phrase had taken had taken on a meaning of identity with the squadron as well as its charging battle-cry.
Like the cavalry leaders of old… Oberoi cycled through the R-77 missile targeting and release. He and the rest of his pilots were seconds away from reaching missile range. Each aircraft carried two of these missiles tonight. They also carried a pair of R-73 close-range heat-seeking infra-red missiles for the up-close-and-dirty work. The innermost pylons were empty now that the drop tanks had been punched…