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December 28, 2020. ARABIAN SEA:
"Radar contact, bearing one-three-five, range two hundred kilometres," a talker announced. "Inbound course, speed five hundred knots."
The Admiral turned to his fleet-operations officer and nodded. Captain Mehta lifted a phone and spoke. His fleet was off the normal commercial sea and air routes, and the timing told him what the inbound track would be. Four Pakistani JF-17s from PNS Minhas on Naval Detachment streak across the skies skirting the Pakistani exclusive economic zone of the Arabian Sea.
The INS Vikramaditya shook as the first MiG-29K rolled of the deck and leaped into the sky off the ski jump. The Alert Five aircraft quickly form up and as the primarily fleet defense aircraft climb into Combat Air patrol profile.
He'd put four up today, two from Vikramaditya and two from Vikrant, to intercept the four, probably four, JF-17 Thunder, and the pilots would wave and nod in a show of good humour, even at the times of high tension.
''We could light off our SAM systems, show them that we tire of this game," Captain Mehta suggested quietly. The Admiral shook his head. "No. They know little about our SAM systems, and we will volunteer them nothing." The Indians' precise radar frequencies, pulse width, and repetition rates were not open information, and the Pakistani intelligence services had probably tried to find out but the heavily encrypted and secretive radar information had been kept under wraps. That meant that they might not be able to jam or spoof his systems-probably they could, but they wouldn't be certain of it, and it was the lack of certainty that would worry them. It wasn't much of a card, but it was the best in Chandraskatta's current hand. The Admiral sipped at his tea, making a show of his imperturbable nature.' 'No, we will take notice of their approach, meet them in a friendly manner, and let them go on their way."
Mehta nodded and went off without a word to express his building rage. It was to be expected. He was the fleet-operations officer, and his was the task of divining a plan to defeat the Pakistani flotilla, should that necessity present itself. That such a task was virtually impossible did not relieve Mehta of the duty to carry it out, and it was hardly surprising that the man was showing the strain of his position. Chandraskatta set his cup down, watching the MiG-29K leap off the ski-jump deck and into the air.
"How are the pilots bearing up?" the Admiral asked his air officer.
"They grow frustrated, but performance thus far is excellent." The answer was delivered with pride, as well it might be. His pilots were superb. The Admiral ate with them often, drawing courage from the proud faces in the ready rooms. They were fine young men, the equal, man for man, of any fighter pilots in all the world. More to the point, they were eager to show it.
But the entire Indian Navy had only forty-five MiG-29K/KUBs. He had but thirty at sea on both Vikramaditya and Vikrant. All because they had entered the race first, won it, and then declared the games closed, Chandraskatta told himself, listening to the chatter of his airmen over an open-voice channel. His fears being an possible move of aggression might be the breakout of total war, with the best odds of getting away with a limited engagement.
Admiral Chandraskatta watched the MiGs disappear over the horizon guided by the GCI on board the Ship to intercept the JF-17s. He did not wish for the intercept to go hot, this time it would be personal..his son had launched off the Vikrant along with his wingman and had formed up with the two Fulcrums from Vikramaditya as they pointed their nose due North and sped off.
BACKGROUND
December 25, 2020
Following a series of terrorist attacks in India on Christmas eve, India accused the Pakistani Government and Military behind the attacks and decided to mobilize its forces for a possible short strike against selected targets in Pakistan. Countering India's Cold Strike Doctrine, as a preventive measure, Pakistan Armed Forces swung in action by deploying all its available strength on their wartime locations.
The first one to respond was PAF. PAF red alert fighters immediately started flying BARCAP (Barrier Combat Air Patrol) missions. PAF formations started flying close to the borders and regular ADA (Air Defense Alert) missions were called whenever there were signs of any Indian Aircraft formation flying close to the border. This move foiled IAF plans of a surprise pre-emptive strike. But the threat of surgical strikes loomed overhead Pakistan as heightened IAF activity near the border ensured that action is somewhat near.
Pakistan Army also responded by moving large numbers of its troops to the Indian border. Following the Chief of Army Staff meeting with his senior corps commanders, the Pakistan Army started massing troops and heavy armour along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Boundary (IB).
To counter the Indian threat, Pakistan turned up towards friendly countries for support, and Turkey was the first one to respond with frontline weapons along with two squadrons of F-16C Block 52 fighters. While the F-16s arrived along their support equipment within 48 hours of the request, remaining material was sent by sea with components of Pakistan Navy escorting the Turkish vessels. Indian intelligence agencies picked up the news and Indian Navy decided to enforce a blockade in the Arabian Sea.
December 28, 2020
PAKISTAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA, 2200 HOURS
It was a dark moonless night. In this darkness, there was a flurry of activities in the Arabian Sea. Two Zulfiqar Class Frigates, PNS Zulfiqar and PNS Aslat along with three Tariq Class Frigates, PNS Babur, PNS Shah Jahan and PNS Khaibar were on an escort mission. They were ordered to escort two Turkish Vessels. The fleet was provided aerial cover by the ZDK-03 AWACS (which provided a coverage of almost 500 km of any possible enemy aerial and surface threat). Two P-3C Orions were also patrolling the path using their onboard sensors for the detection and identification of enemy surface and subsurface combatants.
The four JF-17 Thunder Block-II aircraft of No. 2 Squadron had just topped up their fuel tanks by an orbiting IL-78 Tanker and were thundering south at Mach 1.2. Their job was to defend the fleet from any unwanted aerial and surface threat as they were adequately equipped to handle both threats with the following load out:
Four SD-10A BVRAAMs
Two A-Darter WVRAAMs
Four more Thunders were on cockpit standby alert at Masroor AFB, in case the enemy decides to throw the challenge. Six additional Thunders were on high alert at Faisal AFB. They were additionally equipped with CM-400 AKG missiles, it was known that the saturation limit for a supersonic cruise missile attack for an Indian Frigate is 12 missiles and six aircraft were enough to saturate the defence of one Indian warship. Six more were on 10 minutes alert in case something goes wrong.
INDIAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA, 2215 HOURS
The formidable Indian Navy Carrier Group was sitting 400 km away SE from the PN flotilla.
It contained the Indian Navy's carriers INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant, the new lead ship of the Vishakapatnam class destroyer (INS Vishakapatnam), two Kolkata Class Guided Missile Destroyers (INS Kochi and INS Kolkata) being led by a Delhi Class Guided Missile Destroyer (INS Delhi) , two Shivalik Class Frigates (INS Satpura and INS Shivalik), two Kamorta Class Corvettes (INS Kamorta and INS Kadmati) and INS Aditya (Replenishment and Repair Ship). The flotilla was powerful enough to rip through the Pakistan Navy but since both countries were not at war it was only a matter of who developed the itchy trigger finger first.
INS Chakra had already assumed its patrol inside Pakistan controlled waters. The Indian upgraded Kilo class submarines had been skirting the EEC for a while creating acoustic black holes in the sea to form underwater listening stations of sorts.
The Indian Admiral decided to launch four MiG-29Ks as he expected that if the aircraft are inercepted inside Indian Airspace they would have the advantage over enforcing their authority.
The MiG-29Ks were armed with the R-77 Adder, R-27ER/ET BVRAAMs along with the R-73 CCMs.
R-27s in limited numbers were borrowed from the IAF for a recent exercise for weight simulations, but with the sudden launch of the CBG, the cache of the R-27s stayed onboard and were quickly fielded on the Naval Fulcrums
INTERNATIONAL WATERS NEAR PAK MARITIME BOUNDARY, 2230 HOURS
PNS Saif, another Zulfiqar Class Frigate was already leading the Turkish ships right from Tukey. Shadowing PNS Saif and the Turkish ships was PNS Hamza, an Agosta-90B Submarine at a depth of 500 ft. Equipped in a Hunter-Killer configuration, the submarine was prepared to attack both surface and subsurface combatants if need arises. Alongside the fleet were two Harbin Z-9EC anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters airborne with both their surface radars as well as other sensors to detect the enemy submarine INS Chakra, which was reported in this area.
The flotilla was only 250 km away from Karachi at N22˚30' and just 80 km away from the RV point with the other PN ships, when PNS Saif received a message on the international maritime alert frequency. "This is the captain of INS Vikramaditya of the Indian Navy. We have enforced a Naval Blockade. You are not allowed to transit further north to Karachi. Change your course immediately otherwise you will be challenged."
The Commander aboard PNS Saif knew that he is facing a mighty armada but with close proximity with the other ships in the area he decided to press on, "We are operating in Pakistani Territorial Waters and does not honor your naval blockade. It is our intention to remain on course."
INS VIKRAMADITYA, ARABIAN SEA, 2230 HOURS
"No compliance Admiral, they're pressing on" Capt Mehta called out. Chandraskatta sipped on his coffee, looked at the aircraft flight charts and line up on the Bridge and called for a major scramble. "Maybe if we put a large enough envelope they may get intimidated". Turning to Capt. Mehta he calmly said, "Launch four of the fulcrums with Buddy tanks for aerial refueling, I want to set up a gas station in the air, we'll rotate accordingly".
The flurry of movement and scramble alert had the Indian formation excited as the MiGs went up into the air one by one.
"Zulu one-one to Zulu Main, large force scramble exercise in progress. We have 16 Fulcrums, awaiting further instructions".
"Zulu force, this is Zulu Main. This is not an exercise Gentlemen" Chandraskatta keyed the radio and looked at the now emptying deck. He looked at Capt. Mehta and said, "Get me the joint forces command, I need to speak with the Air Force strategic air command".
PAKISTAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA, 2231 HOURS
2231 HOURS: EAGLE ONE
A ZDK-03 AWACS, call-sign Eagle-One was patrolling over the Arabian Sea when it detected a single coming in from the East at a distance of 300 km away from PNS Saif. The Wing Commander, who was commanding the AWACS instantly, looked over to his air operations officer. "Let's get things started." His air controller nodded and picked up the microphone. "Falcon-1, this is Eagle control. One unidentified contact heading towards point 2230. It is closing in at angels 30, turn left 030 and move in for a VID."
2232 HOURS: FALCON FORMATION
Falcon-1 acknowledged and immediately banked in a climbing turn. As the formation moved in the RWR inside both the Thunders started to beep indicating that they are tracked by enemy fighter aircraft.
2232 HOURS: ROMEO ONE
"Thunders inbound" Lt Commander Chandraskatta called to his formation of four MiG-29Ks. "Romeo flight set up 5 mile trail and and hold FL400, we'll bait them".
"Roger wilco" came the reply as two MiGs pitched up and broke off
"Zulu Main, this is Romeo One-one, I have two inbound bogeys. Closure at over a thousand knots"
"Romeo one-one you are clear for intercept"
The MiG-29K's automatic warning for missile lock from the RWR started pinging off the active track.
"Unidentified aircraft, please clarify your motives, we are in international airspace" called out Lt Commander Chandraskatta on the open channel.
2233 HOURS: FALCON FORMATION
Both the JF-17 Thunders were now crossing 30,000 ft as they switched on their AI Radars from standby mode. But they were still painted by Eagle-One. "Falcon Lead, this is Eagle-One, we have two contacts heading towards point 2230, at bearing one-six-zero, range hundred nautical miles, count two contacts, course one-seven-zero, speed one thousand knots, at 27,000 ft AGL." "Leader this is Falcon-2! Contacts firming! Range 90 km, 27000 ft AGL!"
2233 HOURS: EAGLE ONE
The position of the point of origin was marked immediately as it provided the general direction of the Indian Navy Carrier Group. Meanwhile the Radar Controller warned the Indian fighters on international frequency to stay at least 300 km away from PNS ships otherwise they should be engaged at will. But since war had not been declared the Rules of Engagement clearly stated that enemy can only be engaged if it has crossed the border or fired at your assets.
Keeping this in mind the AWACS ordered both the Thunders to take an aggressive position to challenge the MiGs.
MASROOR AFB, 2233 HOURS
Two JF-17s (Shahbaz Formation) kept on point defence over Masroor had just been topped off from an orbiting tanker and were charging south at Mach 1.2, while the remaining two fighters (Shaheen Formation) were leaving the ground. As they headed towards Arabian Sea they were ordered to keep their airborne radar at standby mode and received the complete picture via the ZDK-03.
PAKISTAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA, 2235 HOURS
Meanwhile Zulfiqar and Aslat also picked up the two aerial contacts which were almost 100 km away from them. Keeping in mind the threat from the BrahMos Missile, they decided to take Electronic Counter Measures and readied their newly acquired HHQ-9A SAM. The Zulfiqar Class Frigates had recently been modified to carry four 6-cell VLS, having 24 missiles in total.
INDIAN WATERS NEAR PAK MARITIME BOUNDARY, 2233 HOURS
Searcher II UAV from a secret Naval drone base in Gujarat heads out towards the Pakistani flotilla and begins a progressive ISR loops over the water at its cruising altitude of 20,000ft.
The aim was to distract the Pakistani air assets rather than have them focus on a single formation.
PAKISTAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA,
2234 HOURS: FALCON FORMATION
Meanwhile the JF-17s initiated a steep climb and zoomed up to 40,000 ft before pitching down. They were at an advantage now, as utilizing kinetic energy (flying downhill) and thinner cold atmosphere enabled them to utilize the maximum range of their SD-10A missiles.
INDIAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA , 2235 HOURS
The lead Indian MiG-29Ks lit up their afterburners and pitched up nearing 35,000 ft and climbing in an attempt to throw off the JF-17s bearing down on them. The RWR inside the MiGs also indicated that they have been locked by the AI Radar of the Thunders. The mutual distance between them was now less than 70 km with the Thunders coming in at high speed.
"Zulu Main, this is Romeo One-One we are totally defensive and locked on, permission to engage, shit! launch launch"
"Fox One active" Romeo Two-One called out as he and his wingman lauched the R-27s.
PAKISTAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA , 2236 HOURS
ROUND ONE (4 JF-17s vs. 4 MiG-29Ks)
Both the MiGs had crossed the line. While the leader remained on course, his wingman pulled up, pointing the large nose of his MiG-29K at the Thunders in order to lock them up using its high powered radar. The RWR in both the Thunders lit up indicating that both were locked, with suddenly the MAW wailing loudly. The MiGs has taken the first shot, but the warning came in late as the thunders were will within the lethal no escape Zone of the R-27s.
R-27 ER/ET can be launched with a EOS lock. EOS or TWS tracking can be used to provide target info via datalink to R-27ER/ET in mid-course. TWS (Track While Search) mode would not ping the RWR as it is passive track and the LOAL terminal phase of the missile allows it to be guided by the data link. TWS (Track while search) will allow the Missile to only be active in its terminal phase, well within the lethal kill zone.
Falcon-Lead fired two SD-10A missiles at the inbound threat. Due to the acceleration during diving, the missiles got the kinetic start at the start of the flight enhancing their range. Immediately after firing the missiles, both Thunders dispensed chaff as they conducted a very high G turn in opposite directions to put the radar target at the edge of their scopes.
The trailing JF-17s too launched their SD-10As on active off the rails.
The multi seeker advantage of the R-27s had a nasty surprise for the JF-17s as the Chaffs launched were to spook the semi active R-27ER while the Infrared guided R-27ET bored in and the proximity fuses went with the Frag shredding the lead JF-17 formation.
The Indian pilots on the other hand had now two missiles heading his way and he had to take evasive action to avoid taking it in the face. He tried to conduct a similar maneuver known as "F-pole" maneuver while deploying countermeasures. Knowing the distinct disadvantage against the missiles having more energy, the pilots cancelled FLCS-G limiter and yanked hard on the stick pushing the aircraft to its structural limits as they broke lock on the home on jam SD-10A.
The EL/M-8222 jammer pods having more peak power burned through the active radar seekers of the SD-10A. Since the SD-10 active warhead is the same, the odds of defeating a ripple of SD-10As is easier than countering multiple seeker head R-27s.
Despite the SD-10A having home-on-jam the FOV of the missile in that mode is very little and a small change flight would break the counter ECM track.
The MiGs disengage and head back as their RWR lights up as he was now tracked by the fire control radar of HHQ-9, multiple surface search radars as well as the fire control radars of two remaining Thunders.
"The early odds are never in our favor" reflected Lt Commander Chandraskatta as his flight headed back after an intense fight.
The Thunders low on fuel were relieved by four more Thunders which by now had reached their CAP station.
INDIAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA, 2239 HOURS
Aboard INS Vikramaditya, everyone was shocked to hear of active combat over Pakistani Territorial Waters. The Indian Fleet Commander ordered the guided missile destroyer INS Kochi and the guided missile frigate INS Shivalik, to increase their speed and take on against Pakistani escorts. Both the ships separated from the fleet in order to conduct an effective BrahMos saturated attack on the Pakistani and Turkish ships.
The rest of the Indian battlegroup followed suit.
A few MiG-29Ks were armed with Kh-35s AShMs as a deterrent to Paksitani ships from getting ambitious.
Two Ka-31 Helix helicopters acted as forward command posts for both the helicopters and aircraft, while a Boeing P-8I Poseidon was placed to pinpoint the location of Pakistan Navy flotilla. With both sides enjoying Network Centric Warfare capability it was now a game of tactics.
PAKISTAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA, 2240 HOURS
While JF-17 Thunders of 'Shaheen' formation orbited over the PN flotilla, JF-17 Thunders of 'Shahbaz' formation of them headed towards the inbound threat at high speed and high altitude.
Eagle-One: "Shahbaz Lead, this is Eagle Control. Two bandits have just crossed the border. They are closing in at angels 30, and heading towards point 2230. Start climbing to angels 40 and set course two-six-zero. Check your status before the engagement."
Shahbaz Lead: "Roger that Eagle Control, fuel status checked, arming switches checked, ready for engagement." Both JF-17s engaged jammers and climbed to 40,000 ft.
INDIAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA, 2315 HOURS
INS VIKRAMADITYA AND INS VIKRANT:
With Romeo flight recovering onboard the carriers, the Carriers were steadily sailing towards the Pakistani Flotilla with upto 16 MIG-29K/KUBs forming an air superiority bubble over the Carrier Battle Group.
The massive Zulu aerial formation was to keep the JF-17s at bay incase the JF-17s attempted to press on with a Naval attack against Indian Ships.
The CAP profile extended to over a 1000Km around the CBG with continuous radio chatter calling out bandits and enemy formations.
The MiG-29K's Zhuk ME's Radar module is bigger with more TRMs and more peak power compared to the KLJ-7 which would allow the MiG-29K to have "first look" on the JF-17.
INS KOCHI: 2330 HOURS
INS Kochi and INS Shivalik had moved in close enough to acquire PNS Saif on their radar. Moving in for missile firing range, The Indian Ships launch designate three BrahMos missiles per target for system saturation, even a single BrahMos missile would blast through the hull of Pakistani escort ships, causing an explosion which would sink it in minutes.
PAF BASE FAISAL, 2330 HOURS
Perceiving a ship borne threat six CGM-400AKG equipped JF-17 Thunders were scrambled, as two Indian ships had been detected in the 310 km radius of PNS Saif (their speed and heading indicated their hostile intension).
PAKISTAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA, 2345 HOURS
Situation was getting tense as the ZDK-03 AWACS witnessed two Indian ships moving in fast towards PNS Saif. The Thunders scrambled from Faisal, by now were moving in fast inbound for their station. Two JF-17 Thunders of 'Shaheen' formation were relieved of their CAP duties and were heading home, while the remaining two aircraft of 'Shahbaz' formation were vectored to the nearest tanker.
PNS SAIF: 2345 HOURS
The Indian ships were moving in fast and menacingly close to PNS Saif, which was compelled to travel at a slower speed as it was escorting the Turkish vessels. It was still 50 km away from the RV point. Amidst tensions PNS Saif, a loud alarm sounded, indicating incoming missiles. Quick as a flash, the Commander of PNS Saif authorized the use of HHQ-9 SAM as his flotilla was under missile attack. This was now a naval war as a frontline Pakistan Navy asset had been attacked in Pakistani waters. Six missiles were fired off at a range of 300 km (their extreme range) at a Hi-Lo altitude profile.
Within 15 seconds from the detection of the Indian BrahMos Missiles, six HHQ-9 missiles blasted off its vertical launcher. Travelling at a speed of 1 km/sec, the BrahMos were now at a range of 50 km as the sixth HHQ-9 blasted off from its VLS. Tracking the Indian missiles, PNS Saif launched a salvo of eight of its FM-90 short range SAM while its Type 347 CIWS was ready for the final defence.
The Hi-Lo-Lo BrahMos barrage of missile engaged at 50Km, would have the total time to travel being 48 seconds. The missile at this point would be in Lo-Lo profile SAMs account for the trajectory launch variance from the VLS and dive down at the Mach 3 bogeys, assuming a total of 3-4 targeting each missile. This is particularly interesting because the CIC launch feed needs to process the target acquisition and make changes which engaging a flight profile not natural to the SAM especially the HHQ-9.
Also none of these ships have an AEGIS combat system for that sort of processing either way; so to engage a total of lets say 12 BrahMos (which again not quite as that's less than a Ship's complement by itself) would require atleast 48 SAMs to engage.
The point defense systems being the FM-90 with a range of a mere 15 kilometers have 14 seconds to engage the BrahMos before the entire missile rips through the ship.
Again unlikely as at this point the BrahMos will begin executing the S-maneuver which has high probability of strikes even against soft kill CIWS.
Assuming the point defense units manage to strike the BrahMos, the sheer kinetic energy of debris at Mach 3 would pulverise the ship. Imagine a Shot gun, only around a ton's worth of buckshot at Mach 3, The Pakistani ships would look like perforated cheese.
INDIAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA, 2355 HOURS
INS Vishakapatnam:
The Indians prepared to fire another salvo as the end game, this time of eight BrahMos missiles when their loud buzzer sounded. "Incoming missile!" shouted 'SAMs' - the Officer manning the Surface to Air Missile console. Far above him, electronic beams from the Israeli built MF-STAR (Multi-Function Surveillance, Track and Guidance Radar) had homed into a clear and present threat.
The CIC automatically designates targets with two missiles per target on the LR-SAM.
During a lull in battle the two of the PAF JF-17 Thunders had broken through fired two CM-400 AKG missiles at them. "Third missile incoming!" shouted the officering manning the combat control room as the radar began tracking a third, and then a fourth and fifth hyper sonic missile headed towards INS Kochi's direction.
The CM-400AKG is only is said to be Mach-4.5 in terminal phase allowing for the Barak-8 for mid course interception of the missile, the Missile's being guided by the KLJ-7 are limited to the Radar's FOV.
But the Indian ships had an answer - the Barak-8 LR-SAM, a long range SAM developed jointly by Israel and India. "Another missile inbound. That makes it six missiles inbound!" - this was a worst case scenario - a saturation attack. The fate of the Indian ships was now in the hands of a highly-automated weapon system.
Now in fully automatic mode, the first Indian Barak-8 blasted off its vertical launcher ahead of the bridge of the destroyer. Accelerating quickly to four times the speed of sound, the missile shot straight up before arching in a parabola in the direction of the enemy missile it was assigned to intercept.
But the CM-400 AKGs were launched from a height of 30,000 ft and were intercepted mid course by the LR-SAM engagement envelope from layered SAM coverage of the Indian ships. 100 km away from INS Kochi, the first Barak-8 was about to make contact with the first CM-400 AKG.
Unlike the BrahMos the CM-400AKG follows a predictable flight path even during the terminal phase and from a Hi-Hi engagement envelope is open to all defensive systems at maximum target engagement range.
Now both INS Kochi and INS Shivalik kept firing as the incoming missiles closed in, the automatic system assigning two missiles each to the Pakistani missiles. This meant that each of the Pakistani missile had to defeat four Barak-8s to destroy their targets. This claimed two of the hypersonic antiship missiles at a range of 70 and 50 km respectively.
Inside the Ops. Centre, the Commander of the Kochi focused straight ahead at a large LCD screen that dominated the Ops Centre. On it, critical data from 'SAMs' console was now being shown. And as they tried their best to focus on their individual systems, different officers manning other systems would glance up at the big screen to get an idea of what was happening. They all knew that this was life or death. And they all knew that there was nothing really left for them to do. Unless they chose to deliberately intervene, the system was completely automated - Barak-8 surface to air missiles would keep on shooting off the fore and aft deck of the Kochi until every last incoming missile was destroyed. Or every last Barak missile had been fired.
Two of the four Russian-designed AK-630 anti-missile guns had now started to spew a collective 10,000 rounds per minute, creating a wall of lead between the inbound missiles and Kochi. Ellora, the Electronic Counter Measures system would try and jam the radars of the incoming missiles while 'Kavach', an indigenous system would fire aluminum chaff in the area to confuse the sensors and make the missile veer away harmlessly from the ship.
Two more Pakistani missiles were defeated (One fell to Barak-8 at 20 km away while the other one was obliterated by the AK-630 anti-missile guns) but the last two seemed unstoppable. One of them was intercepted just at a few kms away from INS Kochi by the last Barak-8. The Shivalik and Kolkata's combined CIWS shredded the remaining CM-400AKG at an optimal engagement range of 3000m.
While the Indians held their nerves after surviving a deadly missile attack, they were shocked to see 8-10 C-802 Anti Ship missiles being fired by PNS Zulfiqar and PNS Aslat which had their fire controls still operational while trying to recover from the damage sustained. Though sub-sonic and sea-skimming these missiles sped off towards the Indian ships. All remaining layered Barak-8s engaged the threat effectively with more to spare as the extra deck space onboard Indian frigates and destroyers were given additional VLS to make effectively make them an air defense missile truck.
It was this instant that INS Vikrant picked up a three aerial contacts heading towards them inside Indian Air Space. These were two JF-17 Thunders of Shahbaz formation, escorting a lone P-3C Orion armed with Harpoons. The P-3C was vulnerable to the MiGs on CAP and with just two escorting Thunders was engaged by two flights of MiG-29Ks.
The PAF airbases were preparing for bigger formation sorties to aid their stricken flotilla. Seeking revenge the Mirage IIIs were also being activated to aid the JF-17 thunders in a large strike formation.
PNS MINHAS 0000 HOURS
The commander was going over the battle plans trying to organize a defense to bring the Naval flotilla home. The strike formation being formed was taxiing for launch when he received a call from Intelligence operations with news from the ZDK-03 AWACS.
He called up the Operations Room, "Stand Down"
INDIAN MiG-29K ZULU ONE-ONE
The Air commander was holding the formation together with the continuous operational rotations.
"Zulu Main this is Zulu One-One, restricted operations from Zulu Zero-Two (INS Vikrant) has me running a really tight ship up here, advise information on relief"
"Zulu One-One, this is Victor One Actual, Heard you could use some help around here"
And as the engagement with live shots had been fired......guess who decided to show up to the party, Su-30MKIs and MiG-29UPGs along with DARIN III Jaguars equipped with Harpoons out of Jamnagar and Lohegaon AFS to cover IN fleet and compliment the Indian Carriers air wing.
You thought IOR is just an all IN area of op? IN got big fleet and aircraft. But it's constantly complimented by IAF. And at this situation it's numbers game. India got enough numbers to deploy to the south and seawards area of operations too.
The Jaguar-Ms from No.6 squadron kiss the deck flying at Mach 1.1 barely 15 feet off the sea, as they pitch up to launch the Harpoons which join the barrage of BrahMos the MF-STAR has been designating targets too.
The enemy now faced Su-30MKIs and MiG-29UPG/K air superiority bubbles with the Su-30MKI tracking targets at upto 300Km with the massive BARS radar with high peak power than anything the PAF can can put up, Since the SD-10As only have one seeker head, the Su-30MKI's ECM pods can overpower all of them, but they have to worry about multiple seeker heads coming at them with LOAL. 12 Racks of R-27ER/ET with R-77s. And that's per airframe.
INDIAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA, 0040 HOURS
On board the INS Vikrant, a MiG-29K had an accident during recovery which led to the carrier suspending operations for a while till the deck was cleared.
Meanwhile Admiral Chandraskatta onboard INS Vikramaditya decided to call it off for the day, as he knew that despite being capable of destroying the complete PN flotilla, he might lose some of his own assets, and as war had not been declared it was futile to lead his flotilla in combat.
The Indian Air Force had ensured an established access denial zone which could not be countered by the Pakistani ships and aircraft.
The Air force had come in force, expecting a counter attack from PAF F-16 Block 50/52+ which never came. The US had denied operations outside PAF airspace as per the end user claim; PAF F-16s have to get their sorties authorized by US observers and were primarily handed over for WoT which after crumbling ties had become even more hard to deploy offensively against another country.
PAKISTAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA, 0050 HOURS
Nearby the PN flotilla was the notorious Indian nuclear submarine, INS Chakra.
It had stayed away from the path of the ASW helicopters and aircraft, but was still close enough to shadow the vessels.
Rather than engaging the submarine commander looked at his XO and said, "So they do all the job and we get the prize? I love this job"
PAKISTAN CONTROLLED ARABIAN SEA, 0100 HOURS
PNS Saif was also heavily damaged but was still able to sail slowly. It might not be able to survive another BrahMos attack but at the moment was able to protect the Turkish vessels. As soon as PNS Saif rendezvoused with the PN flotilla and they headed back, the commander of PNS Saif was tempted to reply back to his Indian counterpart on the international maritime alert frequency but restrained to do in order to not instigate another battle.
The rest of the Pakistani ships began slowly limping back as the Turkish vessels had turned tail and were retreating.
INTERNATIONAL WATERS 0130 HOURS
The Turkish Vessel was listing at 11 degrees and had lost power after being hit by heavy fragmentation. The Ship's captain wasn't declaring an SOS fearing repercussions for transporting crates with F-16s without authorization from the United States.
He looked at the surface radar and noticed two returns
Two rigid bottom inflatable boats were approaching fast.
"Pirates Skiffs? But this far out to sea would be unlikely" He thought as he called his radio to his crew for anti-piracy procedures.
INS CHAKRA 0200 HOURS
"The commander was looking at his watch when the phone rang, He picked it up and spoke, "Got Them? Good."
He called his XO, "Call the American, I believe they have a few unaccounted F-16s out in the sea our Marcos have caught for them"
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