Fictional Indian War Scenario: Skirmishes over the Arabian Sea – Part 2

The  flight of The F16 Block 52  based out of Jacobabad belonging to 5(MR) Squadron, the 39^th Tactical Air Wing were armed with a  deadly mix of  the  AIM120 AMRAAM  and GBU-10  Paveway laser guided bomb kits attached to Mk-82 bombs which was generously gifted out at discounted price by the US Government.

While 4 of the planes were armed with 2 AIM120 AMRAAM and 2 AIM9M Sidewinder WVR ( Within Visual Range Missiles) the other 4 were armed with the GBU 10 Paveway laser guided bomb kits attached to the Mk-82 bombs , the intended recipient of which was to be the Petrochemical plant in Gujarat.

The “team” had gone through simulated exercises and had practiced the attack numerous times.

The idea was to keep the plan simple, the key was to ensure stealth, remain undetected before the attack was initiated on the gigantic petrochemical plant. Post the attack the plan was to hit on the afterburners on their Pratt and Whitney engines and escape to the protective bubble of the SAAB 2000 Erieye AEW&C and the additional F16 Block 52 which would be available as part of this operation.

Being the professional force they claimed to be Bashir had ensure that the plan was drilled into each of those participating in this operation. He knew that the  the IAF on its part exercised regularly out of IAF Base Kailkunda in West Bengal with the Singapore Airforce F16’s which were superior to the F-16 at the PAF’s disposal ,he was banking on the element of stealth together with their training to get them through.

Luck was unfortunately not on Bashir’ side today.

03:30 Hrs, somewhere over the Arabian Sea. INS Visakhapatnam.

Knock Knock….

2 knocks on the door was sufficient, Captain P Sen, being the light sleeper he was had already opened the door before Commander K Vikram , Vikki to his batch mates had the opportunity to knock for the 3^rd time.

Years of being in the navy had made Captain Sen a light Sleeper. At 6 feet with greying hair, Captain Sen belonged to the old school .Blessed with a razor sharp intellect and a photogenic memory he had topped his batch at the Naval Academy and had breezed through the Post Graduate course at IIT Delhi. His gruff voice and calm demeanour under pressure endeared him to his “troops”, the term he used often to address those serving under him.

Captain Sen had no time for those who dilly dallied ,seeing Vikram’ s expression and the fact that he was woken up from the 5 hours of sleep that he habitually took at midnight , he knew something was up.

“Sit rep Vikram “questioned Captain Sen.

8 inbound bogies Sir, the MFSTAR is tracking them and have identified them as F16’s.

Additionally we have picked up the radar signature of an SAAB 2000 Erieye and an IL78 Midas tanker off the coast of Karachi.

The 8 inbounds have been assigned the call sign Bogey 1 to 8.

We have notified INS Kadamba and Joint HQ at New Delhi has also been notified on the developments, shot off Vikram without drawing a breath, while Captain Sen got ready.

“Lets go” the veteran sailor nodded towards the direction of the Vizag’s bridge which housed heart, ears and eyes of the 7000 tonne monster.

The Indian Rafale’s Part 2 – The Unique One

A lot of controversy has arisen on the price tag of the Indian Rafale's. While not wishing to indulge in mudslinging to the detriment to national security it is pertinent to look at some of the IAF specific requirements which has inadvertently lead to the increase in the Rafale's cost.

The IAF Rafales would be the F3R+ versions with the following India unique features, most of which are of Israeli origin and design.

1.       Rafael's LITENING G4 target acquisition/designation pod instead of the Damocles designation pod which is the standard targeting cum acquisition pod for the Rafale.

2.       Elbit's Targo II HMDS  instead of the Sextant Avionique developed TopSight

3.       Rafael's Spice-1000 standoff PGM and its related data-link, in addition to DRDO developed standoff precision ground to air ammunition under development.

4.       Quad-pack ejectors for SAAW EMP-emitting standoff DEW PGM.

5.       Optimisation of the M88 turbofan’s jet-fuel starter for operating in sub-zero temperatures at altitudes above 3000 Meters. Specifically to take off from Leh/Ladhak and the North East keeping in mind the twin PAF and PLAAF threats.

6.       Enhanced SPECTRA EW suite to accommodate low-band, medium-band and high-band directional jammer apertures.

7.       Towed Decoy system, most likely being the Rafael’s X-Guard.

8.       Increased capacity of on board OBOGS, this to ensure more long ranged mission, allowing the fighters to take off from deep within India for strikes across the borders.

In addition there is speculations that the IAF Rafales could also mount the Indian Astra missile and the Bramhos NG although integration and flight testing of these 2 missiles could take considerable time, effort and money which with the shrinking defence budget is unlikely.

(Defence budget as a % of GDP is at the lowest since the 1962 war with the Peoples Republic of China)

The 36 Rafales ,28 single seaters and 8 twin seaters would equip 2 squadrons of the IAF and would be based out of Ambala in the North West  and Hasimara in the North East , this to act if required against both China and Pakistan. What is not highlighted is the capital cost incurred to build the base infrastructure to house the Rafales. Additionally the state of the art training facilities which would be part of the base infrastructure is generations ahead of what the IAF pilots have been exposed to for fighter planes.

The training modules in Ambala and Hasimara would be connected to each other and to Gwalior, the home for the upgraded Mirage 2000 I fleet and more importantly the cradle of IAF fighter tactics and weapons development the TACDE (Tactical and Air Combat development Establishment) where future generation of India’s top guns are born.

One of the stand out features of the agreement is the 75% PBL clause which has been mentioned in Part 1 of our feature. Maintenance crews along with the fighter pilots would be trained in France before the fighters are officially inducted into the IAF. The Microsoft HoloLens-based virtual/augmented reality hands-on documentation and training system (HADOC) is also being touted to be part of the overall package negotiated in the Government to Government deal.

To be continued

Transport Issues of the Aam Admi

Transport Problems faced by the Mango (aam) Junta:

Not sure how much it will strike a resonance amongst fellow travellers but I have noted down a few basic transport issues that I face while commuting daily from home to office and back in Bangalore previously fondly referred to as the “Garden City” Of India.

Clamp down on Errant Autos:

Instead of behaving like pot belied louts going only after private owned

Cars why cannot the god fearing transport cops go after the autos who ply without meter fares.

Example: There are dedicated auto stands in Electronic City police station one

Near Wipro Bus stop where the autos charge passengers as per their whims and fancies

with the so called police station hardly 1 km away.

One needs to wonder how much hafta is paid by the errant auto drivers to the cops to

the detriment of the amm junta. Yet these so called protectors of justice only flag down 2 wheelers and private owned cars (they do not touch taxis) to have a mid-afternoon "chat" on national issues such as to why the Driving Licence has been issued in a different state, forgetting that we do live in the same country, salute only one flag and travel internationally under only one passport (unless we are Nirav Modi!!)

Get those steel barriers off the road:

For a country obsessed with building and maintain autobahns we sure love those steel barriers to prevent the odd car from driving at mach1 speed.

Apart from slowing down traffic and causing traffic congestion in an already poorly managed traffic system i cannot fathom in my wild imagination as to how those rusty steel barriers can actually help in reducing accidents.

Get Tough on those Tempo Travellers:

The spotless clean no nonsense incorruptible RTO/Government/Police/ needs to  ensure not just having speed governators and in built speed caps, but also need to clamp down on sound pollution especially for those #@$$! Tempo travellers who seem to own the roads of Bangalore.

BMTC bus conductors please CHANGE:

Request to all those BMTC conductors who think that the amm junta traveling in their 1st class transportation owns their own mini RBI approved mint to churn out pocket change, You need to keep change ready, do not expect the customer to give you the change (no this is not tips for the great service that you guys provide to us).

Seems most busses have yet to have the cash less facility of swiping available (who would forsake the opportunity of having his chai gutka funds blocked by a machine which provides cash less facility)

Trust some of the issues highlighted above are acted upon to make the life of the less than ordinary folks who work hard and pay taxes a tad easier.

Jai Hind !

Fictional Indian War Scenario: Skirmishes over the Arabian Sea - Part 1

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 5^th Squadron, 39^th 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, 1^st 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……

The Indian Rafale's - Part 1

2019!

Eagerly waiting for the year to come when we would start receiving the 1st of the 36 contracted

Rafales. Suffice to say, without making it sound like a cliché, those Rafales would be a game changer

in the increasingly challenging and complex Asian security scenario.

Armed with the deadly MICA and Meteor AAM (Air to Air Missile) cued on by the superb RBE radar

 most of the PAF fighters would be toast if it were to tangle with the IAF.

Currently in the BVR (Beyond visual Range) scenario at least on paper the PAF is at near parity with the IAF. The IAF do have the superb and heavily armed Su30MKI but the R-77 BVRAAM missile that it carries is plagued by manufacturing issues and cannot be counted as a guaranteed protector against a likely swarm attack of US AIM120C AMRAMM equipped F16 Block52.

Intractable issues with the R-77 BVRAAM NATO reporting name AA-12 Adder forced the IAF to hunt for the R-27 NATO code name AA-10 Alamo from Ukraine and support whole heartedly the home grown Astra AAM missile. So desperate is the situation with the R-77 that the IAF is even looking at arming the Meteor with the Su30-MKI.

IAF fighter pilots responsible for evaluating fighter jets in the now cancelled protracted MMRCA contract have rated the Meteor+Rafale combination very highly and subsequently would more than likely have war gamed the Meteor+Rafale against the PAF F16 and the PLAAF Su27/Su30 copies.

Once the Meteor armed Rafale and the Astra/Meteor armed Su-30MKI gets inducted the complete dominance of the IAF vs the PAF would be restored.

We will look at an air war scenario in depth in future write ups , lets now concentrate on what additional the Rafale brings on to the table.

Apart from the Air to Air dominance that the Rafale would bring in assuming the current inventory of the PAF does not gets upgraded ;with its RBE radar, SPECRTA electronic warfare system, fusion sensors and MICA+ Meteor WWR/BVRAAM missiles, the most striking and least talked about factor in the $9Bn+ USD (at 2016 prices) deal for 36 Rafales is the PBL or Performance Based Logistics that is engrained into the contract. At any given time 75% of the Rafale fleet must be operational as per the PBL clause in the contract. For an air force facing squadron shortage and Russian designed and developed aircrafts having poor serviceability and turnaround time the PBL of 75% is extremely critical to ensure the deterrent against PAF and PLAAF squadrons based out of Tibet.

More to follow in Part 2

Book Review: Gentlemen Bastards On the Ground in Afghanistan with America's Elite Special Forces

Book Review: Gentlemen Bastards On the Ground in Afghanistan with America's Elite Special Forces

Author: Kevin Maurer

ISBN-10: 0425253597

ISBN-13: 978-0425253595

This books looks into the war on terror being fought by a group of elite American Green Berets in Afghanistan through the eyes of an embedded journalist .It brings out the respect and admiration of the journalist for America’s finest and the grudging trust and comradeship that is built up between the author and the soldier during his time with them. 

If you are looking for a nail biting, on the edge action packed book then this book will look you disappointed. This book is not about elite troops rappelling down helicopters in the middle of the night

To take out a Taliban HVT (high value target). Nor is it about intense fire fights or hair raising missions to capture or kill terrorist.

It  is more  about  the training of the Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP) by American Green Berets , the efforts by the Green Berets to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people  and the myriad problems that they encounter from bureaucracy to rampant corruption during their deployment.

The Afghan troops are not always projected in good light, while the Afghan interpreters working with the Green Berets are solid and brave soldier’s the ANCOP are often shown as poorly disciplined and corrupt.

Another interesting fact that is brought about in the book is the friction between the conventional soldiers of the US Army and the non- conventional/special forces Green Berets.

The author also does a decent job of bringing to light the personal traits and the background of the individual operators of the unit who are there to fight America’s war on terror being thousands of miles away from their beloved homeland! Their courage, sacrifice, steely determination and never say die attitude in a foreign land is well captured in this book.

Overall a good read which gives a fascinating account of how a journalist becomes part of the story

I would give it a 6 on a scale of ten.

The Datsun redi GO

Tell me a person who is not crazy about cars? I don't know anyone who isn't. My wife a big car enthusiast though. Not just for riding, for driving, in fact. But you know, Ferraris and Lamborghinis remain a dream most of the time! My current car is going good but sometimes I think I settled for less. It’s almost six years that I am driving my hatch back. But what I want now is something different, something that will give me power, will look sporty yet I’ll have room to park it almost anywhere!

I was going through several sites for checking on the new cars that are getting launched in India. A lot of them are promising power, some promising good sleek looks. But it’s important to have all of it together.

The Datsun redi-Go is looking promising at this moment. It’s an urban cross – a bit of the both worlds. I like how sporty and wide it looks – almost gives a feeling of driving a SUV. It looks like it is going to provide a unique combination of style and comfort with the best of technology for the land of Japan.

I like the YUKAN DESIGN.  It’s smooth and sleek, the dynamic side character lines gives it just that necessary edge over others in the same class. The best part though is the GROUND CLEARENCE. If you are driving in India you know how bad the roads are so good road clearance is what you need in a car. The Safety features look cool too. A reinforced crash protection shell, which means the strengthened Datsun body structure, is optimized for Torsional Rigidity and stiffness and better Frontal Offset Crash performance. The H shaped Suspension System is also pretty good. It has double pivot arms to give high stability and cornering performance. A car that looks good and feels good and you also know at the back of your mind that it is going to keep you safe.

Feature wise this car looks power packed. It has the front airbags, power windows, sporty interiors, good legroom space. I like how the exterior looks – wide and sturdy – pretty much a man’s car. I think it will be quite spacious for the family as well.  

If I had the choice I will straight away take it to Mumbai Pune highway and drive for a few hours. It’s just pathetic to drive in the city these days specially with all the traffic and the auto rickshaws and bicycles who do not maintain their lanes nor any traffic rules. And I simply hate the traffic lights. Some elevated roadways in Bangalore gives you that peace of driving traffic lights free – but still Mumbai Pune Expressway is a dream to drive on. I should try and get a test drive at least to see how it feels and performs. That will boost my deciding factor. I’ll keep you guys posted.

Fun. Freedom. Confidence. The ultimate Urban Cross - Datsun redi-GO - the capability of a crossover with the convenience of a hatchback.