We shall see, won’t we?
It was because of the delicate nature of operations against the Indians that he had personally chosen the pilots of the Su-27s. These men were known to be quick thinkers and experienced to the core. And while their independence of thought caused them to be viewed suspiciously by the country they served, they were actually well liked by the core of the PLAAF who saw them as the future. With such men Feng was sure that he could be aggressive and yet prevent mistakes. And tonight would be a real test of their skill…
The PLA had gotten itself into a mess around the village of Shiquanhe for the past day and were having a rough time. As a result, Feng’s carefully choreographed plan had been trashed when the first bomb laden J-10 took off from Kashgar airbase without his permission. In fact, he had been notified about the strike only after it had actually taken off the ground. Something that he had discovered after an angry outburst from Chen caused the operations staff at the Chengdu region command to open up about their ongoing operations in that sector. It was, in all honesty, an administrative and operational screw-up. So Feng had been forced to launch his operation to provide airborne cover haphazardly. He had boarded the KJ-2000 at Korla minutes before it had departed for a flight over the Taklimakan desert on its way south. The Su-27 detachment from the 16TH Air Regiment of the 6TH Fighter Division had scrambled shortly thereafter behind the lumbering airborne-radar aircraft…
“We are detecting Indian fighters over Ladakh,” the Major reported calmly to Feng after lowering his comms mouthpiece with one hand.
“Looks like they are posturing,” Feng said as he looked over the radar data on a geographical overlay on one of the computer screens.
Beijing wanted aggressive, so let’s give them aggressive…
“Order the SU-27s to activate their radars.” Feng ordered.
“Active radar signatures! We are being painted!” Khurana’s wingman shouted over the radio as a screeching noise from the RWR filled his ears.
“Must be those Su-27s. Hold it together people: they are testing us!” Khurana shouted back before switching the comms frequencies:
“Eagle-Eye-One, this is Claw-One. We are being painted by commie fighters to our north. Request permission to return favor, over.”
“Roger. November-two-four is climbing out of the muck. Light up the bugger. Over.” Khurana smiled underneath his oxygen mask and changed frequencies once again back to his pilots:
“Claw-One to all Claw elements. November-two-four is climbing to meet us. Time to light up the sky…”
MAY 15, 2044 HRS
The three fulcrum radars activated nearly simultaneously, but were looking eastwards and not back at the Su-27s to the north. A dozen kilometers east of the LAC, the lone J-10 was now climbing out of the hills to head home. The pilot inside the aircraft was still inspecting the fuel gauge and wondering if he would need to refuel with a tanker along the way. As he cleared the peaks, his worries instantly changed. His threat board lit up immediately to show the southern skies swarming with Indian Sukhois and a single Phalcon. To his east there were three Indian contacts activating their missile guidance radars…
“Missile launch! Missile launch! November-two-four has pickled off his radar guided missiles!” Khurana’s wingman shouted over the radio frequencies before Khurana’s voice overrode it:
“Oh shit! The bugger has engaged! All Claw elements: Break! Break! Break!”
The three Fulcrums immediately dived out of the sky and broke formation. They also dropped chaff as they headed face down into the hills below to force the two inbound PJ-12 missiles to break radar contact. There were three fighters and two missiles. One of the three was therefore already out of danger. The pilot of that Fulcrum was the first one to dive and level out just above the peaks of Ladakh before engaging afterburners and heading north. He was already switching to his long-range R-77 missiles while his aircraft accelerated. A few seconds later he flipped the control stick to the right and headed into banking climb to the northeast. This maneuver brought him facing the evading J-10 and his threat board lit up. The lone Chinese J-10 was now acquired on radar as it escaped to the northeast, low on fuel. A few seconds and he would fall within the range of the armed R-77 hanging from the left wing of Claw-Three…
Come on, come on…
Okay, that peak looks good enough. Time to punch off another barrage…
The rocky peak swept by a moment later and Khurana flipped the control stick to the right even as he released another round of chaff behind his aircraft. He then pulled back on the stick and the aircraft swept around the top half of the peak and streaked back towards the eastern border. The PJ-12 missile however continued towards the cloud of chaff he had left in his wake and detonated in a small fireball that illuminated the darkened cockpit of the fulcrum a second later. Khurana’s night-vision view disappeared under the flash of the explosion behind and he pulled up instinctively to gain altitude while his vision restored. In a few seconds he was above the peaks and the aircraft was soaring into the cold skies above…
It took a second for Khurana to find his bearings. He had lost situational awareness in the time he had been flying between the peaks below to evade the Chinese air-to-air missile. That was not good and he knew it. He had lost sight of his other pilots and right now there was no one to his left or right. And the skies were still dangerous. His RWR was still tracking the radar emissions from the four Su-27s to the north. His onboard electronics also detected friendly airborne radar to the south. But there were no friendly fighters around for some reason.
Damn…
But as he began to recollect his bearings, this fact did not surprise him as it had a few seconds before. Unlike the Chinese Su-27s acting aggressive with active onboard radars, the Indian Su-30s were running in a blackout mode to the south, and somehow that seemed more deadly and reassuring to Khurana despite the opinion of his RWR. At the moment his first priority was to find out where his other squadron pilots were and what had happened to them. In that instant the radio jerked back to life with dozens of different voices simultaneously filling the skies:
“Claw-One, this is — two! Declaring emergency! I have taken a hit!”
“This is Claw-Three. I have a lock on November-two-four. Engaging!”
“This is Eagle-Eye-One to Claw-Flight. You are not authorized to engage! What the hell is going on over there? Over!”
This is getting out of control… Khurana thought as he began to orient himself in the three-dimensional skies around him. The Chinese J-10 pilot had misread the tense situation and had bungled up. But now it was going downhill. One Indian fulcrum had taken a hit from a Chinese air-to-air missile while another was about to take down the Chinese J-10 in retaliation but without clear orders to do so. Emotions in combat could be very disruptive, as he knew. And right now both sides were displaying their fair share of it…
A bigger danger remained beyond the Chinese J-10. Four more Su-27s were bearing down from the north while a dozen more Indian fighters were now being vectored to the area by the Phalcon airborne controllers. It was time for him to bring things under control. He switched his comms: