PART-1




                       THE CLOUD BURST

7 Race Course

NEW DELHI

23rd MAY 2020

21:30 HRS

“Where is Mr. Singh?” asked British ambassador.

“I don’t know” foreign minister Vikram Sharma replied.

Although it was a celebration organized by the PMO for completion of one year of central government, Mr. Prime minister was not interested in attending the party. He was there but left after an hour.

“Ok, its ready and now I must inform them immediately.”

“Ajay, go to the function and tell all the cabinet ministers to attend the tomorrow’s meeting in my office and tell also that it’s urgent”.

As his PA Ajay left the room, Prime Minister Surya Pratap Singh took that draft and put it in his table’s drawer. Next day his government was going to introduce that bill in the parliament which was highly controversial in nature. He knew what he was going to do and its consequences. Although he was a popular leader but there were many who were against this move. But he was confident because of his decades of research and the things he saw improving over the years. PM Singh was M.Sc. in defense studies and a former IAS with 20 years of experience in ministry of defense which makes him mature enough in military and strategic issues.

RAJAURI SECTOR

LOC

5th JUNE 2020

20:10 HRS

The rocky terrain of pir panjal range were never a comfortable place to live be it summer or winter. Climate remains extremely cold always. To make things worst, there were several hundred heavily armed militants, ready to cross the LoC.

“Inbound. Group of seven. Range 3500 meters northwest.” A night vision device operator screamed.

“Oh no, it has started” said Col. Mehta to himself. He has been eagerly watching almost every T.V. debate on the controversial ‘Zero Tolerance Act’ which was passed recently by the parliament. He himself was confused whether to support the act or not. But at the movement, infiltration was taking place and the time was to stop thinking and start acting.

“Hawk Eye to Bravo force, Proceed 500 meters northwest and lay an ambush. Seven bogies. You are weapons free” he ordered Maj. Shukla.

[In year 2002, India started fencing of loc to prevent militants from infiltrating in. Later entire fencing was electrified. The loc was given three tier cover of security forces and night vision devices were installed. These devices were purchased from Israel and were extremely powerful. They can even see through trees and bushes. With range of few thousand meters, it was almost impossible to escape from them. This resulted in more and more terrorists being killed while infiltrating. The no. of terrorists in J&K was between 5000 to 8000 in the decade of 90s. But after 2002 there no. came down substantially. By 2006 only 2000 were remaining and by 2010 only 1500.]

Maj. Shukla proceeded towards ambush area no. 4 with his team. A hand held UAV (Unmanned Ariel Vehicle) was launched to give complete information about infiltrator’s movement. Cold wind was blowing but it can’t stop Major and his team from sweating as tension was in the air. The tense silence was broken when one jawan spotted them by his night vision device. By radio set he informed his teammates and now all started waiting for a signal from the Major.

12 INSAS rifles loaded with 5.56 mm bullets were ready to shower the death. As militants approached near, Major Shukla inserted a 30 mm grenade in the under barrel grenade launcher attached with his INSAS, raised it and fired. Grenade exploded between the group of militants and then the entire area was trembled by loud noise of gun fire.

“Two are escaping others are down” shouted the UAV operator. All 12 soldiers of 8^th Dogra regiment started chasing the two militants. Dense jungle was not a problem as real time data on their movement was available through the UAV. But the militants got the advantage of being near to the LOC and they crossed over it. They ran towards the Pakistani army’s post named Al-Fateh and Maj. Shukla had to stop as he can’t cross the LOC.

7 RACE COURSE ROAD

NEW DELHI

5th JUNE 2020

21:30 HRS

“What happen General? Why you called me now” asked PM Singh.

“Sir I won’t take much time as you have a busy schedule. As per the latest circular issued by Ministry of Defense, the new act has instructed all the corps commanders to give the detail of infiltration attempt in their area to the Prime Minister. So, I would like to inform you that moments ago 7 heavily armed terrorists tried to enter our side from Rajauri sector. They were intercepted and 5 were neutralized but two managed to escape.” Said Lt. Gen. Sushant Kumar, GOC (General Officer in Command), XV corps

“Where the two militants went after crossing LOC?”

“Sir, as usual, inside the nearest Pakistani Army post.”

“So Pakistani Army helped them in infiltration.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Ok then send your men and destroy that post.”

“What?”

“I won’t take much your time as you will have a busy schedule tonight. Good luck.” PM ended the call.

“Oh no, it has started” the same line, which Col. Mehta had said moments ago, came into the mind of General Kumar.

GUREZ ARMY BASE

JAMMU & KASHMIR

6th JUNE 2020

00:15 HRS

Col. Roy was a little nervous because on his table was a fax from the GOC. As he was the in charge of the army’s aviation wing here, he had to plan and execute the order. Around him were other officers of aviation wing. After the brief brainstorming session ended, he walked towards the hanger to see the main work horse of his unit which was going to cause mayhem across the LOC.

The 5.5 ton class LCH (Light Combat Helicopter) was being armed with the lethal HELINAs.

[After the kargil war, an assessment was made. It was found that if India had an attack helicopter at that time, the casualties would have been less than the half. Almost 530 Indian soldiers were killed in that battle. But the fact was no country had ever produced an attack helicopter which could operate in such a high mountainous terrain. India decided to go all alone. After years of hard work, LCH finally made its first flight in year 2010. It was the only attack helicopter which could fly at very high altitude with all weapons and other payloads. It was also designed to engage the armed drones. LCH could carry 8 ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missile) HELINA or four air to air missiles or four air to surface missiles.

The HELINA (HELIcopter launched NAg) is a third generation fire and forget anti-tank missile. The first generation anti-tank missiles were radio command guided, in which missile needs continuous guidance from missile operator for engaging the target. These missiles could be easily jammed by employing powerful radio jammers. There range were between 1 to 4 kms.  The second generation anti-tank guided missiles were mainly wire guided, infra-red guided & laser guided. Due to wire guidance, missiles needed continuous guidance but it couldn’t be jammed. Using wire with every missile made there range limited to 2-2.5 kms. Infra-red guided missiles could be jammed by using flares and laser guided missiles can’t work in fog, rain, sand storm etc.

The third generation missiles were IIR (Imaging Infra-Red) guided. It means these missiles can SEE and identify the targets just like humans do. They don’t need command after firing and they cannot be jammed. That’s why these missiles are called fire and forget missiles.  In year 2008, India developed Nag which was a third generation missile. It had a range of 4 kms. HELINA was an air launched version of the Nag and had a range of 7 kms.]

Captain Patel and Captain Verma entered into the cockpit of the two seater LCH, checked various sub systems and turned on the engine. Two Shakti turboshaft engines roared while producing 1000 kW power each. That indigenously build helicopter took off and headed towards the west direction. The sky was clear and there was no movement below. The powerful infra-red camera was giving clear picture of the hilly terrain and the multi-functional displays were displaying it .As they came close to the LOC, the helicopter came down to tree top level in order to evade the enemy’s radar.

The LCH was hovering over a pre-determined point which was 6.5 kms away from the LOC. Captain Verma positioned the camera towards the point about which he was instructed by the army troops of forward location and zoomed it to 100X. The Al-fateh post was clearly visible. A watch tower and four bunkers were there.

Captain Patel took a deep breath, locked 5 HELINAs toward 5 targets and pressed the fire button. Within a second, the target data was transmitted to the missiles, engines were ignited and 5 missiles, with complete fiber glass body, raced towards their targets. The 8 kg warhead of each missile has capacity to penetrate 1000 mm of steel. It means 1 meter thick steel wall can be destroyed by the missile and at the moment their targets were structures made up of bricks and cement.

As the missiles exploded, the bunkers were reduced to rubbles and the pieces of watch tower spread over the entire area. The Al-fateh post was completely destroyed and all 15 soldiers manning that post were dead.

This information was immediately transmitted to the GOC Lt. Gen. Sushant Kumar.

“Although the mission is completed successfully, only God knows what would be its consequences” he thought.

Next day at afternoon, PM Singh was briefed about an unsuccessful attack on Srinagar bus stand. Two militants were gunned down as they were about to fire and throw grenades on a bus. Security personals managed to foil that attack because they had intercepted a radio conversation between the militants. The supreme commander of terror outfit ‘Kashmir Mujahedeen’ had himself instructed two militants to take the revenge of last night attack by killing large number of tourists in the Srinagar bus stand. He also told both the militants that the Director General of ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) had personally requested him to launch an attack. Necessary orders were issues by the PM Singh immediately.

NAGROTA ARMY CANTONMENT

JAMMU & KASHMIR

6^th JUNE 2020

22:00 HRS

Major R. Vijay couldn’t believe what he just heard from his commanding officer. The Artillery officer from Chennai looked towards the 6x6 Tatra vehical. On it was that weapon, which the entire western world was trying to copy since last several years but without any success. The hypersonic cruise missile Brahmos-2 was waiting for its prey.

[Unlike ballistic missiles which fly on a ballistic path and are less accurate, the cruise missiles fly low like an aircraft and are more accurate. But ballistic missiles are harder to intercept by a surface to air missile because of their high speed which are in the range of 3 to 15 Mach. (1 Mach is the speed of sound which is about .34 km/second) Cruise missiles developed by the western countries were sub-sonic and they were an easy target for the surface to air missiles. But India and Russia after years of research and massive investments on ramjet technology succeeded in developing the Brahmos which had a speed of 2.8 Mach. When it was first deployed in yeas 2005, there was no air defense system available in the world which could stop it from reaching its target. 10 years later by 2015 when western countries developed air defense systems which could stop cruise missiles flying at 3 Mach speed, the new unstoppable missile Brahmos -2 was ready with a speed of 6 Mach.]

Major R. Vijay, along with his men, started preparation for the missile launch. It took only 15 minutes for getting things ready. Then the entire missile firing group of the artillery brigade started waiting for the final go ahead from their commanding officer.

ADAMPUR AIRFORCE BASE

PUNJAB

6^th JUNE 2020

22:15 HRS

3 Mirage-2000 fighter aircrafts of the Battle Axe squadron were lined up on the runway. Squadron Leader Ashok locked the bullet proof canopy of the fighter, turn the throttle to full after burner mode and activated the RDY-3 multi-mode radar. The French build aircraft, loaded with 2 Sudarshan LGBs (Laser Guided Bomb), 2 Mica BVRAAM (Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile) and 2 R-73 WVR (Within Visual Range) Missiles, started moving on the tarmac and seconds later it was in the air. Other two fighters followed and the Mirage formation turned towards north direction.

-Victor flight this tower one confirm your status.

-Tower one this is Victor lead passing through waypoint three.

-Victor lead proceed towards target one, Victor 2 & 3 proceed towards target two.

-Copy that.

Several miles away, the air breathing propulsion of Brahmos-2 had started massive intake of the oxygen and was producing thrust of several thousand pounds. Speed of 6 Mach had heated the missile’s surface to hundreds of degree. The constellation of Glonass satellites was guiding the missile towards its target.

MUZAFFARABAD

PAKISTAN OCCUPIED KASHMIR

6^th JUNE 2020

22:17 HRS

Kashmir Mujahedeen’s chief Bilal Durrani was sleeping in his house. The house was located on the outskirts of Mujaffarabad and was away from the residential areas. There were 20 armed militants guarding the whole compound. Pervez, his personal bodyguard, was sitting near the balcony. His AK-56 was lying nearby with which he had fought against the Indian forces in Kashmir for 5 years.  As he was about to change his position, he heard a sound.

“Strange it is” he said to himself. The sound was of an aircraft. He thought what does a plane was doing here at this time. Seconds later the sound became clearer and he recognized it. It was the sound of a jet plane. A fighter jet. He ran towards the bedroom, asked Durrani to run as there could be a danger, both rushed towards the downstairs but it was too late.

A loud explosion was heard by the locals and they saw a mushroom shaped cloud made up of dust and smoke lifted up for about 25 meters.

The main terror camp of Kashmir Mujahedeen received the same treatment from Mirage-2000s when four 500kg Sudarshan LGBs exploded in its compound killing all 79 terrorists who were present there.

ISI HEADQUARTER

ISLAMABAD

6^th JUNE

22:18 HRS

Unknowing the fact that just a minute ago mirage fighters have destroyed kashmir mujahideen's largest training camp also killed it's chief, the Director General of ISI Lt.Gen. Nadeem Khan, along with all other top officials of ISI, were waiting for a call from his Indian counterpart Vijay Rathore R&AW (Research and Analyzing Wing) chief. It was an unusual development as generally both the intelligence chiefs do not communicate with each other. But a request was made by the Indian side to discuss the current events and Pakistani side had agreed.

“These types of matters are dealt by foreign ministry and not by us. We must tell the Indians to talk with foreign ministry peoples.” Said an ISI official.

“True, but let’s just hear what they want to say.” Said another official.

Hot line was now activated and the R&AW chief was first to speak,

“When ever a militant crosses into our side of the LOC he has to face fencing, landmines, bobby traps and three tiers of security personals. But in your side there is no such arrangement so that an escaping terrorist could hide there quickly. This shows the level of confidence you have developed, despite being a smaller and weaker nation. You think you can send militants to harm us at your will and get away without being getting punished.”

“Have you called me to tell all these things only?” asked Lt. Gen Khan.

“I just want to say that we know it was you who had given orders to carry out a terror attack on Srinagar bus stand. As you tried to kill innocent citizens of our country, get ready to face its consequences.”

As Lt. Gen. Khan was about to speak, the Brahmos-2 slammed into the ISI headquarter and exploded. The entire left portion of the building was blown up killing the ISI chief along with all other top officials. Only a few, among those who were at the right side of the building, survive but were under tones of debris and bleeding profusely only to die within a few hours.

UNDERGROUND BUNKER

RAWALPINDI

7^th JUNE 2020

06:30 HRS

Last several hours were of total chaos in the Pakistan Army headquarter. Initially no one knows the cause behind the destruction of ISI headquarter. Slowly the things became clear as the radar station gave information that 3 Migare-2000 fighters were behind the attack in POK and a very fast missile was tracked which was moving towards Islamabad. The unusual request made by Indian side to have conversation with ISI chief at the time of attack made it clear that it was India which was behind this mess. Fearing more such attack the Army chief General Aslam Waheed was shifted to a underground bunker which was made to withstand even the nuclear strike. A copy of India’s Zero Tolerance Act was in his hand. The Act was short, unclear and various different interpretations could be made out of it. The only thing that was clear was, India would retaliate immediately after a terror strike and the Prime Minister could give order to retaliate without consultating cabinet committee on security. After 2001 Indian parliament attack and 2008 Mumbai attack, Pakistan had warned that if India sends fighter aircrafts to carry out surgical strikes, Pakistan would retaliate immediately and destroy that airforce base from where those fighters would come. But this time Pakistan had no idea from which airbase the Mirage-2000s came. So General Waheed gave order to destroy the Maharajpura airbase (Gwalior) which is the home base of Mirage-2000 fighters and is also India’s largest airforce base by launching 10 Babur land attack cruise missiles against it. And to teach India a lesson,  four J-10 fighter aircrafts were to destroy petroleum refineries near Jamnagar, Gujarat so that Indian investments worth billions of dollars could be ruined. All surface to air missile units were activated by Pakistan so that no IAF jet could cross into there airspace. After a brief meeting with all corps commanders it was decided to arm four Gauri-3 and Shaheen-3 long range surface to surface missiles with nuclear bombs as a situation may arise to use them.

In New Delhi, PM Singh was waiting in the war room. The Air force officials arrived and presented before him various plans and strategies which were made to counter this type of situation. He choose file no. 07. The operation which was going to be carried out using this strategy was give a name “Operation Cloud Burst”.

End of Part 1 of 5.

Next post on 28-11-2010