To counter the Indian fighter presence, the Chinese had responded by deploying forward elements of the PLAAF 26TH Air Division and its subordinate 76TH Airborne Command and Control Regiment along with its compliment of KJ-2000 and KJ-200 AWACS aircraft. The 26TH Air Division and the 76TH Regiment commanders and their staff had deployed to Korla while detachment of KJ-2000s were deployed further south with an aircraft each at Lhasa, Hotien and some reserve aircraft at Korla. The turboprop powered KJ-200s were lesser capable than their bigger brothers, the KJ-2000s, and were deployed further to the east near Chengdu for filler missions.
The Chinese fighter compliment had been brought up to very respectable strengths by the forward deployment of three Fighter Divisions and one more in strategic reserve. The 6TH Fighter Division deployed to Lanzhou airbase with their J-11s to protect the precious assets of the 26TH Air Division. The 33RD Fighter Division deployed around Lhasa, Shigatse and Golmud airbases and the 44TH Fighter Division deployed Regiments to Urumqi, Hotien and Kashgar airbases. The 19TH Fighter Division was the theater reserve with its J-11 Regiments.
With such massive tit-for-tat deployments in air-power over the last month, the aggression in the skies had increased, mostly as a result of orders from both capitals to display their respective strengths in defending their nation’s airspace. This meant that the margin for compromise was razor-thin now and live weapons were being carried by all fighters from both sides…
In the skies above the sands of the Taklimakan desert, four J-11s from the 33RD Fighter Division punched afterburners and accelerated southwards to take escort position near their J-10s flying out of Kashgar. As the four fighters headed south, another aircraft entered the airspace fifty kilometers behind them. This one activated its onboard radar and sent a wave of radio energy hundreds of kilometers to the south where it was detected by its counterpart beyond the Himalayas.
“More inbounds! Active airborne radar signatures!” the radar console operator shouted over the intercom. Verma was behind him ten seconds later.
“Sitrep,” he ordered.
“Four inbound fighters in line abreast formation heading south. Active airborne radar aircraft forty to fifty kilometers behind the fighter formation. Computer thinks that we are looking at four Su-27s and a KJ-2000 entering the airspace. I am inclined to agree,” the console operator reported. Verma took a deep breath. No need to get excited unnecessarily. They had dealt with such aggression before.
“Okay. These will be the CAP support for that J-10 we spotted out of Kashgar. And they are bringing AWACS support with them. We see them, and I bet they see us. Now it’s about numbers,” Verma said out loud. A few moments later he was using his intercom to alert the Phalcon pilots up in the cockpit as well as the pilots of the flight of three Su-30s flying alongside as escorts. These fighters moved between the inbound threats and the Phalcon they were charged to protect. The latter was taking evasive maneuvers. All strobe lights were now switched off and combat conditions were initiated on all aircraft. On board the Phalcon, Verma was already in contact with the operations staff at the Western Air Command (WAC) where Air Marshal Bhosale, the commander in chief of WAC (CINC-WAC) was overseeing the deployments of his units against the Chinese should things get ugly.
This was not a new setup by any means. The Chinese had been flying aggressive patrols with their Su-27s in this sector for several days now. But now they had brought in their KJ-2000s to provide airborne radar coverage and real-time airborne command for all their aircraft. The IAF was already doing this so it could not be considered an escalation as such. But such were the stakes in this kind of environment that one misunderstanding could cause the massive coiled springs on either side to come undone on each other.
Misunderstandings could lead to war. Wars based on misunderstandings were always the bloodiest. Yet, actions demanded responses and the cycle continued on its merry way to Hades…
The slippery snow and rocky terrain were not making things any easier. The next set of hills was as far away as ever, and to their rear the sounds of the gunfire refused to die away. The terrain was cold and they were not. Any thermal imager would pick them up against the background whether it were on an unmanned aerial drone, a manned aircraft, helicopter or even an attached optical sight in front of an enemy soldier’s eyes. Gephel and his team had such imagers mounted on their Integrated Multi-Function Sights or IMFS, which they used to scout out territory from long-range. Fortunately, intelligence data suggested that the PLA units involved in suppressing the Tibetans in this sector were not well equipped. So the chances of them being spotted were remote. Even so, it only took one such device to ruin their night and everybody in the team knew it.
“Inbound chopper!” one of the team members pointed out to the north as a PLA Mi-17 helicopter suddenly popped over the top of the next set of hills against the greenish background of their night-vision optics. It took the others only a couple of seconds to spot the threat before the sounds of the main rotor blades whipping through the thin mountain air reached their ears.
“Oh shit! Everybody: down! Now!” Gephel shouted but noticed just as quickly that all of them had already done so. He took cover behind a clump of rocks and hoped the ragged rocky outline would make them hard to spot.
A few tense seconds passed during which Gephel could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. But it was soon clear that the Mi-17 was not looking for them. And sure enough, it flew past the crouching team members by a leisurely five hundred meters. A minute later it was beyond the peaks the team had been on when they had been overlooking the village. Gephel motioned for the rest to stay where they were for another minute to make sure the threat had dissipated. Fifty seconds later it was clear that the Chinese helicopter was busy dealing with the Tibetans to their south.
“Doesn’t look like they know of our existence,” Ngawang noted for everybody. Gephel shook his head:
“You can thank the Tibetans for that. Looks like they are giving the Chinese, what the Americans call ‘a run for their money’. Okay, let’s move out.”
Ngawang got up from above the rocks and took a few steps before a dark delta winged aircraft swept over their heads and streaked to the south, the sounds of thunder sent the team diving for the rocky ground yet again.
“What the hell was that?” Ngawang shouted as the thunder in their ears subsided. Gephel was already on his back and staring at the southern peaks to see where the aircraft had gone. The hills were dark, but the green sky in his night-vision optics picked up the dark blob in contrast as the aircraft reached for the sky at much slower speeds now: the pilot was positioning to visually acquire his target…