Location:
Somewhere over the Arabia Sea
Time: 03:00Hrs
4 pair of 8 PAF F16 Block 52’s are streking over the Arabian Sea, their target the Jamnagar petrochemical refinery located
in the state of Gujarat. Cruising at just below Mach 1 the ETA to target is 1
hour and 45 mins.
Code
named Operation Zarb e Hind the plan of the Pakistan armed forces and
Intelligence agency the ISI Directorate was to attack India’s industrial and
military infrastructure with a series of coordinated simultaneous strikes.
Code
Named operation Strike Eagle one such plan was to attack and destroy the gigantic
petrochemical plant at Jamnagar, Gujarat, causing economic damages worth
billions of dollars and more importantly show casing the ability of the
Pakistani armed forces to inflict damages to their arch enemy at the time of
their choosing.
The F16 Block
52’s+ (Advance) were the most advanced fighter jets in the PAF’s inventory .Decades
of poor economic growth and faced with a tribal insurrection at their western
border which sapped their defence budget the Pakistan Arm Forces were dependent
mainly on Chinese and America aid. Chinese aid was in the form of subsidised
equipment and the American aid was in the form of “Coalition Support Fund”
which on paper was for reimbursing the cost incurred by Pakistan for conducting
counter terrorism operations.
In addition
to the CSF funding from the USA Pakistan had also continued to receive
subsidised and sophisticated defence equipment from the US Government in the
guise of fighting terrorists.
Part of
the deal to help the US fight terrorists in Afghanistan and capture Al Qaida
operatives in Pakistan was to get the advanced version of the F16 fighters that
the PAF came to love and which the IAF came to respect.
As part
of Peace Drive 1 the US Government provided 12 F16C and 6 F16D (Block 52+)
fighters from 2010.
Now
after a decade of being in service with the PAF, the F16’s were finally being
put to use against their intended adversary.
At an
altitude of 15000 ft. above ground, Squadron leader Bashir Ahmed of the 5th
Squadron, 39th Tactical Air Wing of the PAF looked over from the
bubble canopy of his F16 Block 52+ C, nicknamed Khyber, to check on his wingman,
young flight lieutenant Sajid Khan fresh out of the elite Combat Commander
School based out of the sprawling PAF Sargodha. Bashir Ahmed need not have worried ,at 27 Sajid was one of the youngest Flight Lieutenants
in the PAF , known for his cool head under pressure and aggressiveness at all situations Sajid had topped the CCS
course the year before and had won plaudits from the Turks and Americans in
joint exercises. Bashir whistled softly to himself while he checked on the Fuel
meter in the Multi-Function Display after having topped off by the hulking IL78
Tanker over the Arabian Sea. All seems to be going smoothly as Bashir mused as
they approached the final phase of Operation Strike Eagle.
What
instead should have troubled Bashir was the lurking presence of the 7000+tonne
INS Visakhapatnam, 1st of its class of ships of Project 15B series
of destroyers of the Indian Navy .Bashir and the planners in PAF HQ had failed
to factor in the presence of the highly sophisticated and heavily armed
destroyer in their air war plans. Unknown to the PAF the INS Visakhapatnam was
going through the routine exercises required by the Indian Navy before her
official commissioning into the Indian Naval Fleet. Part of the exercise
included shooting down enemy aircraft and missiles with the help of the Israeli
MF STAR AESA+ Barak8 NG combination.
10Kms
ahead and on the left was Flt. Lieutenant Akram Khan. Information between PAF
F16’s were being exchanged through the secure data link-“Link 16” that the F16
block 52’s possessed.
The
superb AN/APG 68 radar was turned off for the time being to ensure no radar
waves were transmitted to be picked up by the Indian radar battery operated out
of Bhuj AF base as the flight approached the Indian coast line in total radio
silence.
The Plan
as to fly close to the sea surface to confuse enemy radar and take advantage of
the sea clutter and bypass the radars installed in IAF Station Bhuj. Additionally
once over Bhuj the F16 would turn on the ALQ-211 EW system to defeat the Indian
radar network specifically the Akash NG and the Sypder SAM combination that
might exist as per latest Intelligence reports. Bhuj was also home of the IAF’s
No15 Squadron the Flying Lancers which were equipped with the superb Su30MKI
fighter. 2 Su 30 fighters were assumed
to be part of the Quick Reaction Force with additional 4 on operational
readiness mode but the Air Planners at Sargodha hoped that with the IAF radars “tricked”
the Su30’s would be a danger only after the mission was accomplished.
In
addition to AF Station Bhuj, the IAF noting the strategic importance of
Jamnagar had commissioned an air base at Jamnagar which currently was home to
the No 28 Squadron: The First Supersonics equipped with the IAF Mig 29’s know
world over as one of the best dog fighter. Legend has it that during the Kargil
War when the Mig 29’s or Baaz as its fondly referred to in the IAF flew top cover
as the Mirages were bombing the life out of the hapless Pakistani intruders, an
F16 A (early version of the F16) was locked on by the Mig 29 radar, the Baaz
followed the Governments ill advised dikkat of not engaging beyond the LOC let
its prey go!
To be continued……
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