By comparison, the Pinaka crews were in the very lap of luxury. Sitting inside a protected cabin and having the ability to control most operations via automation, they were extremely quick and highly precise over long ranges. And as Pakistani artillery crews had found to their frustration, extremely hard to pin down…
In these mountains, the range of the Pinaka system was enhanced by reduced density-altitude conditions such that a nominal range of fifty kilometers was achievable. Consequently, the three Pinaka batteries in this sector were laying waste to Pakistani fixed artillery positions, command-and-control centers and logistics. Each new target was handed down via the army’s artillery-combat-command-system. This system networked with the airborne sensors in the form of unmanned drones and manned stand-off sensor systems to find target locations, which were then passed along with other strike information down to the individual Pinaka autonomous groups. The system had worked well during the war with China. And like that war with China, most of the Pinaka crews were spending time taking out the opposing artillery forces during these initial stages.
But these vehicles were an exception to that mission.
The three vehicles shuddered as the launch tubes emptied with the large warhead rockets leaping off their tubes in ripple-fire mode. The vehicles were instantly backlit with the orange-yellow glow of the rocket exhaust before disappearing under their smoke. All three vehicles were engulfed in the back-blast of the rocket exhaust. As the last of the rockets leapt of the tubes, the lead vehicle rumbled to life. It was followed by the other two vehicles as they reformed into a convoy and swerved back on to the road. Two kilometers west, they would meet up with their rearming vehicles and drop the spent tubes and pick up new ones. By the time the Pakistani radars back-calculated their now-deserted launch position and responded in kind, the three vehicles would already be rolling further down the highway, delivering death at every turn.
Every long-range strike needs damage-assessment to determine its fruitfulness. On the line of control, this was often provided by the eyes of the friendly infantry hunkered down in their bunkers. When possible, the eyes were above the targets via unmanned-aerial-drones.
This one was somewhere in between.
“Kaboom!”
Jagat noted with a wicked smile as they watched the shared forward-looking-infrared, or FLIR, feed from Dutt’s LCH “leopard-one”, hovering further up the ridgeline. The TV view was silent, but they heard the sounds soon enough as the shockwaves rolled down to them.
“Shit!” The radio squawked. Jagat recognized the voice of the crew on “leopard-two”, assisting Dutt’s helicopter on the ridgeline.
“You okay, — two?” Dutt chimed in, voice laced with concern.
“All green, leader. Um… the smoke just ate up my visibility, though. Have to readjust position. Standby.”
“Don’t stray too far.”
“Wilco.”
Jagat ignored the chatter between the two air-force crews, focusing instead on the steady video feed from Dutt while the other LCH maneuvered to a better vantage point. The black-and-white infrared TV showed them what the FLIR sensor on the LCH hovering a half-kilometer ahead was seeing to the north. Such sharing of sensors between cockpits was a result of sensor-fusion enhancements to the LCH and Dhruv helicopter fleets. It was extremely useful for special operations. The LCH being a gunship was much thinner, smaller, more agile and well-designed for an observation platform for friendly artillery units. Up in these mountains where most helicopters struggled to hover or climb gently, the LCH had the horsepower and light-weight design to allow it to climb at rates far in excess of what was needed to avoid enemy detection or fire. It’s thin-frontal cross section and composites cover made it impossible to detect on radar amongst the rocky terrain behind it. And it’s pixilated, digital camo made it very difficult to detect on infrared scanners. If one of these birds-of-prey happened to be looking at you when you spotted it visually, chances were that you were already dead but just didn’t know it yet…
“What do you see, — two?” Dutt’s voice chimed in again.
“Strike highly effective, leader. I see one, maybe two, bunker positions still untouched, though.”
Jagat shared a look at his co-pilot: “Is leopard-two sharing his feed?” The co-pilot nodded and changed the knob setting to a different position. The display shifted from leopard-one to leopard-two and showed the FLIR zoomed in on what looked like an inactive Pakistani bunker on the line-of-control. It was hard to determine whether it was still occupied just by looking at the infrared view. That was the problem: the rockets had lit up the entire southern side of the Pakistani controlled ridgeline. Everything was showing up on thermals! But they had to fly past it into Pakistani territory, so it couldn’t be ignored…
“Is it operational, — two?” Dutt asked.
“Can’t say, leader.”
“We can’t take the risk,” Jagat finally joined the conversation. “Take it out! And make it quick! We are burning precious fuel here!”
“Wilco, panther-actual,” Dutt replied. “Leopard-two, you have the ball. One Nag should do the trick. Aim for the bunker entrance.”
“Roger!”
Jagat saw the view angle of the bunker seen on the FLIR of leopard-two move to the right as the helicopter maneuvered into a proper position. A couple seconds later the view shuddered slightly and Jagat jerked his head up to see a speck of rocket exhaust go up from the otherwise complete dark visibility to his northeast. The radio chimed in for everybody’s benefit:
“Missile is away,” the calm voice noted. “Impact now… now… now!”
The silent display showed the Nag anti-tank missile as it slammed into one of the slit-entrance of the bunker. The explosive warhead detonated in a flash of white-black on the screen and enveloped all of the interior. Flames leapt out of the supposed firing positions within the bunker a split second before the roof flew off underneath an inverted cloud of concrete and dust. The crackling explosion echoed through the valley.
“Good kill, leopard-two,” Jagat said as the FLIR view backed out of zoom. “Leopard-actual, are we clear?”
“Roger, panther. Leopard-three and — four will cover our rear and suppress what we missed. I suggest we go.”
Jagat looked to his copilot and nodded as he lowered his night-vision goggles and brought the helicopter out of hover. The other two Dhruvs did the same.
“Leopard-one, I have you at my eleven position at one kilometer,” Jagat saw the rotating blades and dark silhouette of the LCH near the top of the ridgeline against the greenish sky of his optics. The last thing he needed now was a mid-air collision…
“Leopard copies. We will keep our distance, panther.”
Jagat saw the LCH rise from its pop-up position and pitch down as it disappeared on the other side of the ridge. A few seconds later the three Panther choppers were also doing the same. Jagat felt the weightlessness as the helicopter crested the top of the ridgeline and dived on the other side. They were now directly facing the Pakistani positions on the other ridgeline to the north. But these were now dead. Smoke was bellowing in thick plumes from the bunker complex that leopard-two had hit with a Nag missile. Other positions had dust clouds hovering above them as the seven Indian helicopters flew past.